The lump in my throat threatens to choke me, and I look away so I don’t have to see the discomfort hunching Lucas's shoulders. “I can’t finish this project withoutyou,Luc.”
He touches my arm. “I wouldn’t leave in the middle of this install. Royce—and you—took a chance on me when no one else would.” As I meet his gaze, his voice cracks. “I don’t even know if they’ll offer me the job. You know my history. Even scoring an interview was alongshot.”
Though anger still simmers beneath the surface, he’s my best friend, and I can’t stand to see him so insecure. “There’s no way they’ll let you slip through their fingers. You’re better than you realize. The functions you wrote for me two weeks ago were the best you’ve ever done. Maybe betterthanmine.”
“Even if that were true…” He scuffs his shiny black dress shoe on the sidewalk and then takes my hand. His warm fingers tighten on mine, and he holds my gaze, pleading. “Don’t say anything to Royce. Not yet. Give me untilMonday.”
I’ve never been a very good liar. My mother always said I wore my emotions all over my face. “I’ve got to tell him something. I need Al and his guys to work the weekend—you too, by the way. We’re in danger of blowing the whole damn thing because of LaCosta’s stupid party. How am I supposed to spin this so Royce doesn’t blow agasket?”
“Tell him I got food poisoning or something.” Lucas raises his brows, hope smoothing the tiny lines around his lips and eyes. “Please,Cam.”
“You ate some bad shrimp last night, understand?” When he nods, I continue, “Change out of that suit and get your ass to Coana.” I pull away, then dig into my bag for my keys. “And look appropriatelynauseous.”
Lucas watches me as I drop awkwardly into the driver’s seat. “I’m sorry. I should have told you about theinterview.”
“Yes. You should have.” Before I can dwell any longer, I shut the door, leaving Lucas to watch as I pull intotraffic.
* * *
Only the quietclick of keys breaks up the silence of the office. If there’s one constant among programmers, it’s that we like our routines, which means Abby’s listening to Enya, and 90s grunge music leaks out of Shemar’s headphones. Orion hates music, but blasts white noise at an unhealthy decibel level. Me, I prefer Tibetan Bowls when I’m stressed, Pandora’s greatest hits when I’m not. Guess what I’ll be listening to thisafternoon?
After I dump my bag, I rap on the door to Royce’soffice.
“Come in.” His gruff voice scrapes like broken glass over my nerves, and I take a deep breath before I twist the knob. He doesn’t look up as I enter, which affords me a momenttogawk.
Dark circles swell under his eyes, and his hair sticks up on the sides as if he’s grabbed the short strands and pulled more than once. Takeout containers overflow the trash can, and the whole room smells like stale coffee. When he drags himself from whatever he’s working on, he nods. “Shut the door and tell me what’s going on atCoana.”
I sink into his guest chair, then pull out my iPad. “We’re running behind schedule on cabling. On the software side, I’ve installed the framework, but the core modules are stillbuggy.”
Royce frowns. “I thought we had this under control. I brought in additional help. Abby had me extend offers to two of the electricians this morning. What the hell is going on overthere?”
You mean besides Lucas looking for another job and bailing on me this morning?Clenching my jaw so I don’t blurt out Lucas's secret, I search for kernels of truth to offer. “We’ve discovered a dozen blind spots that we didn’t plan on, three employee-only areas that need upgraded biometrics, and the extra cameras we had to order won’t arrive untilMonday.”
“You’re not telling me something.” He narrows his eyes at me. Biggest disadvantage to working for your former CO? You can’t hide a damnthing.
“Lucas called in sick this morning. He’s faster than any of the rest of the cabling crew, including Al. Put us at least another half day behind,maybemore.”
“What the fuck? He’d better be on his death bed.” Royce slams his fist against the desk, rattling his cup full of pens. “Until this job is done, everyone works unless they’re bleeding from the eyes. Hang on. I want to talk to him. Right now.” He wrenches the receiver from his desk phone, and the momentum sends the base crashing to the floor. “Goddammit!”
If the universe wanted me on Lucas's side, this is all they had to do. No one talks to my team that way, and I’m not Royce’s punching bag. “He got food poisoning, Royce.” The lie rolls off my tongue, but the bitter flavor turns my stomach. “Did you really want him running cable while puking his guts out? No one needs to see that. Or hear,smell…”
Once he’s righted his phone and retrieved the sizable shard of plastic that broke off from the side, he scrubs his hands over his face. “Fine. But he better be backtomorrow.”
“He’s headed over to the hotel now. I talked to Al, and he offered to work the weekend—thinks he can pull in two of his guys to join him as well. Won’t put us completely back on schedule, but we’ll be close. I just need you to authorize the overtime.” I clench my hands in my lap, hoping Royce agrees and I can escape quickly to go back to my problematic code. At least when Oversight’s difficult, she doesn’t damage the officeequipment.
“Fine.” He pushes to his feet, then starts to pace as I blow out a breath. “I don’t care what we have to do.” Desperation tinges his words, and he rakes a hand through his hair, tugging at the brown strands as he stares at the ceiling. “I met with ZoomWare today. If LaCosta gives us the endorsement he’s promised, we have to be ready to turn on Oversight for all of ZoomWare’s offices in ninety days. And they want the facial recognitionsystem,too.”
I go in for a high-five, but Royce shakes his head, and I flop back into my chair. Why isn’t he celebrating? No one has a facial recognition system like we do. This should make himhappy.
He grabs his own iPad. “We’re going to be on another tight schedule for this one. You’re lead. I’m giving you Lucas, Orion, and Abby for this. If you think we need to hire, I’ll advertise. Shemar’s on the consumer app for the next month, and then he’syours,too.”
How am I supposed to handle a contract the size of ZoomWare without Lucas? He knows the code, how I like to work, and all of Oversight’s secrets. Breaking in another junior programmer is going to take weeks, if not months. Abby and Orion are fantastic, but they’re only partway through their Python certifications, and Shemar hasn’t even started. My palms dampen, and I fiddle with the hem of myblouse.
“Cam?” Royce inches forward. “Youokay?”
“Y-yeah. Sorry. Just trying to wrap my head around a project this size. If Coana’s happy, when would we have to start on their next property?” What’s that old cliché? When itrains…
“Let me worry about that. You tell me what you need to get facial recognition workingperfectly.”
