"Two guards at the server room," Deke reported from his position. "But... wait. They're moving. Someone just called them away."
"That's me," Doc's voice carried satisfaction. "Reported a suspicious person in the parking garage. Amazing what a concerned citizen can accomplish."
The elevator opened to an empty corridor.
They moved fast now, Sarah's limp disappearing as adrenaline took over. The server room door loomed ahead. B-3. Electronic lock blinking red.
Sarah hovered next to the keypad. "Finn, I need that override code."
"Working on it... got it. Seven-seven-alpha-nine-nine-two."
She punched it in. Nothing.
"It's not working."
"They changed it," Zara said, urgency creeping into her voice. "Hold on, I need to?—"
Footsteps echoed from around the corner. Coming fast.
"Twenty seconds minimum," Zara said. "Their security cycles every?—"
"Too long." Griff positioned himself between Sarah and the approaching footsteps.
The footsteps stopped right around the corner. A voice: "Yeah, I'm at B-level now. Checking the server room."
Sarah and Griff exchanged glances. Nowhere to go.
"Wait," Finn's voice crackled. "The panel. Lower right corner. Should be a manual reset button."
Griff dropped to his knees, fingers searching. Found it. A tiny, recessed button. He pressed it.
Nothing.
"Hold it for five seconds while entering the original code," Finn said urgently.
The guard's footsteps resumed, seconds from turning the corner.
He held the button, punching in the code one-handed.
The guard turned the corner, saw them. "Hey! What are you?—"
The lock clicked green.
“Go,” Griff whispered, jumping to his feet.
Sarah slipped through as the guard reached for his radio. "Security, I need?—"
"Whoa, hold up." Griff stepped toward him with a concerned expression, pointing at the guard's shoulder. "Dude, is that a spider? Brown recluse, I think."
The guard looked down, hand moving toward his shoulder. "What? Where?"
In that split second of distraction, Griff moved. Sleeper hold. Perfectly applied. The guard's hand never made it to the radio's transmit button.
"Sorry about this," Griff muttered as the man went limp. Eight seconds of struggling, then unconscious.
He dragged the guard into the server room, Sarah already closing the door behind them.
"Brown recluse?" she asked, connecting her laptop to the main terminal. "That's your go-to distraction?"
