My laptop isn’t there.
Shit!
I’ve been so unguarded lately that I’ve left it at Eli’s house the last few times I walked out the door. And I desperately need it now that someone is trying to access Timantha’s servers again.
Lara catches it immediately—whatever flashes across my face—because she straightens, and both Eli and Drake turn toward me.
“Max?” Lara calls gently. “Everything okay?”
“I need my laptop,” I say. “It’s at Eli’s place. And he won’t let me drive his truck and—” The words tumble out faster than I can organize them.
Hiccup.
Great. My nervous tick is officially back, too.
“I’ll drive,” Lara says, grabbing her coat. “Drake’s got Eli.”
She leans in and presses a quick kiss to Eli’s cheek. “Prayers for your mom, okay?”
He nods.
I hesitate, unsure of where I fit now that he’s pulled so far inward. The distance feels deliberate. Protective. I stand there awkwardly for a beat before settling on the simplest thing.
“I’ll…text you when we get there,” I say. “So you can unlock the door for me.”
Another nod.
Lara and I turn to leave.
“Max,” he calls and my heart leaps.
Hopeful.
I glance back. This time, he’s really looking at me. Something unspoken passes between us—heavy, unresolved.
“Thank you,” is all he says.
I nod once in return.
As we head for the door, one thought is louder than the alert still buzzing on my phone.
Peace didn’t make me careless.
It made me human again. And this—this not knowing what he’s thinking or where we land—being human is for the birds.
They’re Still Fingering My Firewall
Max
When we finally reach Eli’s house, the door unlocks remotely from his phone and I rush inside. The twenty-minute drive felt endless, stretched thin by me trying to walk Lexy through tracing the hack in real time—only to realize she couldn’t move fast enough to keep up. Neither could Reese.
I run to the guestroom where my laptop is, while Lara makes herself comfortable in the kitchen. She refused to leave in case I needed to go back to the hospital.
Even if it doesn’t seem like Eli wants me there.
I fire everything up. My stomach drops. Red alerts flash across the screen. System breach. Unauthorized access attempt. Multiple entry points lighting up like a damn Christmas tree.
It’s worse than I thought. Someone’s probing the firewall again, yes, but smarter this time. They’re rotating IPs, bouncing through compromised nodes, masking their signature just enough to make it slippery.
