“The links are dead.”
I stiffen.
“How the hell did she do that?”
That’s virtually impossible; we own the server.
Shifting closer, I look at the screen. Regina can’t get back into Victoria’s chat; the app is showing a disconnected message.
“Did you get her phone number?” I ask. We take it as backup for instances like this.
If the woman might be in trouble, we make sure we aren’t relying solely on a system in case we need to track or help them out.
This is the first time we’ve ever had to use this measure.
Thinking about it, the last few weeks have been…weird.
“Yeah, I’m sure I did,” she says, pulling up a separate tab to find her file.
When she finds it, I get up and grab a burner from the kitchen drawer, then head back through.
She taps her finger off the screen, and I type Victoria’s number into the phone, withholding our blocked one for extra security.
A recorded message filters through the phone, the hairs on my arms shivering.
“The number you have called has not been recognised.”
Oh God.
What if he’s got to her?
Regina is typing away on the screen as I watch her, a million scenarios blurring through my mind on Victoria’s and her child’s fate, when all of a sudden, the pixels shudder.
“Fuck!” she yells, flying back against the sofa and furiously typing away on the keypad.
Panic grips my chest.
“What is it?!” I shout.
All the colour has drained from her face as she completely ignores me.
She types at rapid speed, the whites of her eyes flickering as she puts a code into the system. The laptop lid slams shut as she tosses it to the side, catapulting herself from the sofa to pound up the stairs.
I run to follow her, bursting into her office space when I see her on the computer at the desk.
“Regina, talk to me? You’re freaking me the fuck out here.”
She slaps a key with force, and a black tab pops up on the screen, a green bar scouring at the end and bringing up results on the side.
She’s breathless when she speaks, her shoulders rising and falling as she takes in air. Her hands are even shaking as they hover over the keys.
“I tried to slip in through the block. I have a program I’ve been testing to get through bollards like this, more so for hardwire CCTV. But…Victoria must have something encrypted on her system now. It tried to reverse hack me.”
My blood runs cold, and I drop into the chair next to her, my knees feeling weak.
“Did they get through?” I ask, my heart feeling like a ball of nails in my chest.
If anyone gets into our system, they’ll seeeverything.
