“We can save a lot of people. We can do real good. Isn’t that what we wanted?”
“Not if we don’t stop arguing like children.” Somehow an irritated edge had come to sharpen the typically direct timbre of Takako’s voice.
“Takako’s right.” Jo rested her elbows on the table, leaning forward. As much as she wanted to know more about Pan, and Snow, and everything else, there was nothing to be gained yet on those fronts and far more to be lost by infighting. “So, what are we going to do?”
“We just have to move a few hundred thousand people.” Wayne leaned back in his chair. It was his turn to sulk now, it seemed. Jo and he were similar in so many ways, they could create a dangerous feedback loop of frustration if they weren’t careful. “Could just ask them all one by one, we have a lot of time.” Wayne looked at his watch and then put on an all too sweet tone to say, “Excuse me sir, madam, you’re about to die in hellfire. If you could just—”
“Enough, Wayne,” Eslar snapped, rubbing his temples.
Jo put her forehead down on the table and let the rest of the team squabble around her. The moment she closed her eyes, the newsreels she’d watched for a week played before her like an ominous premonition. How could they get all those people to move? What methods had she seen utilized in state- or country-wide evacuations? Hadn’t she assisted in one before, for a past boss or a cover-up? Surely there was something she could do, something she was overlooking. . .
She shot upward and, judging from the surprised looks the movement inspired, she’d had her head down for longer than expected.
“Great of you to join the class, dollface.”
“It’s simple,” Jo said quickly, ignoring Wayne. She had more important things to discuss now.
“What is?” Eslar asked. But when Jo spoke, it was directly at Takako. “All we need to do is hack into the evacuation system. Create a few falsified statements, issue a large-scale evac. It should just be a push of a button or two and then every man, woman, and child will get alerts on their bio bands.” Jo held out her wrist.
“You can contact every person just like that?” Nico seemed somewhat surprised.
“Warning systems were commonplace back in the early 2000s,” Takako mumbled, chewing on the thought. “They’ve only gotten more sophisticated over time. . .”
“It could work,” Jo urged. “We do it quickly, and then there’s plenty of time for everyone to move. By the time they realize the evac wasn’t government approved, everyone will already be out of the blast zone. And even if people try to go back, news of the actual disaster will start spreading. Everyone stays put and everyone stays safe.”
“You’re sure you can do this?” Eslar folded his hands and rested his mouth against them, his bony knuckles resting just below his nose. “We don’t have a lot of time on the calendar.”
“Leave it to me.” Jo flexed her arm like she was about to flex her skills with a computer. “I can do it all from the recreation room, even. It’ll be easy peasy.”
Eslar turned to Takako. “What do you think?”
Jo looked back to her friend and ally, realizing that for this mission, Takako had become their de facto leader. Snow would always have control over them, but this was personal for the woman, and that seemed to go above everything else. Takako locked eyes with Jo, who swallowed hard, giving a nod as if to say,I can do this. Let me.
“I give you my trust.” Takako nodded as well.
Pride swelled through Jo’s chest and then went right to her head, the pressure of anxiety hardening it into a dizzying weight right between her temples. Jo had pulled off far more complex jobs, certainly. But she wasn’t sure if she’d ever had a job with stakes quite this high.
Chapter 12
Easy Peasy
ICAN DO this,Jo repeated like a mantra as she left the briefing room.I can do this. Easy peasy.
“Hold up!” Wayne’s voice called after her. Jo paused just inside the hallway leading toward the rec rooms.
“Yes?” Jo glanced down the path he’d stopped her from going down, trying to not let the mental pathways being forged in her mind get off-course.
“Do you. . .” He shoved his hands in his pockets, mulling over his next words in a display of a surprising amount of tact for the man. “Do you need help with anything?”
“I’ll be fine.” Jo gave a small smirk. “Not sure how much your nickel would be able to help anyway.”
He didn’t back down so easily. “It’s a lot of pressure, and a big task. You made it sound simple but—”
“That’s because itissimple.” Jo wasn’t about to let him introduce doubt to her mind. There wasn’t any room for it. “All I have to do is access multiple databases that service the government in storing private bio-band information. Bypass security protocols. Plant and activate evac warnings at the highest possible threat level. And make it all look legit enough that no one questions.”
“Doesn’t sound simple to me, doll.”
“Turning on a computer doesn’t sound simple to you,” she countered.
