Once I’m at my temporary desk surrounded by racks of tall servers, with my daisy in an old to-go cup next to me, I launch the standard systems checks and let my mind wander. Thanks to West, I’m addicted to those damn macchiatos now, and Broadcast Coffee is only two blocks away. My wallet might be doomed. I even bought a bag of their fancy beans for home. This can only end badly.Woman goes bankrupt from gourmet coffee habit. I can see theheadlinesnow.
The harsh beep startles me from my daydreams—mostly involving West and a naked Halo battle where the winner has a can of whipped cream—and I peer at the fault on the monitor. Error messages stack, one after another after another, and I scramble to try to shut the system down. The door to the server room thunders open, and I yelp insurprise.
“What the fuck is going on?” Royce towers over me, and the look in his eyes could melt glass. Or freeze lava. “I was just in LaCosta’s office when the call came in. We’re eating up a ton of network resources and slowing down his bookingsystem.”
“I know. I don’t know why. Oversight’s got the smallest footprint of any security system on the market today and half of the ones still in development.” I push to my feet, though Royce and I will never be on equal footing again. “I check the logs every day, and our network drain has always beenminimal.”
My heart rate skyrockets as I launch the sophisticated monitoring tools Royce wrote the year before he hired me. Every single gauge redlines withinseconds.
“We’re fucked.” Veins start to throb at his temples. “We’re going to lose all of the other Coana propertiesandZoomWare. We’ll be the laughing stock of the entire industry.” His tone takes on an accusatory edge. “Why didn’t you askforhelp?”
I clench my hands hard enough to send tiny needles of pain zinging my palms. “I ran diagnostics on Friday once I installed the first set of modules. Everything was perfect.” Fury chills my tone. “Better than perfect, in fact, because I’m a fucking genius with code, and you know it. I didn’t get a single alert all weekend. Whatever caused this happened in the past twenty-four hours. So get off my ass and leave me the hell alone. I’ll fix this, but I’m not going to do it with you standing watchoverme.”
“Shut everything down until you do. Everything. Get Lucas in here to help you. Or hell, tellmewhattodo.”
I’m already limping over to the network switch. “This isn’t my first day on the job.” Once I unplug the three cables that connect Oversight to the hotel’s network, I brace my hand on the table so I’m not tempted to punch Royce. Years of pent-up anger threaten to spill over in a single moment, and if I let go, I’ll lose so much more than I’m prepared for. “You know I work better alone. Go back to the office and let me do my job. I’ll find the problem. Tell LaCosta I’m going through the software line by line, and I’ll install additional monitoring to guarantee this won’t happenagain.”
He throws up his hands. “Fine. Have it your way. I want a detailed report by the end of the day. In person. Stop by the office on yourwayhome.”
I flinch as the door slams again, and my stomach roils. Alone, frustrated, and a little scared, I load the first module and gettowork.
* * *
By mid-afternoon,I’m sick. My hands shake with every keystroke, and my stomach burns from too much coffee and not enough food. Two of the original modules are back in production and performing perfectly. The third, however, threatens my sanity—andmore.
Royce keeps calling, but I can’t talk to him yet. Not without answers. Code unfolds before me, Oversight’s guts laid bare for dissection, and I tease out one particular line of code I’ve seen a dozen times today, but never before. Unless I blacked out—repeatedly—I never would have shuffled the processing like that, and the only other programmer with access—Lucas—should have known betteraswell.
“Talk to me, baby.” I rub the back of my neck to try to release some of the tension, but granite has nothing on my muscles. Every time I try to strip these lines of code from the system, Oversight grinds to a halt. Unable to see my way clear, I break down and textLucas.
I need you in theserverroom.
Five minutes. Ten. Twenty. When the phone finally rings, I can’t help snapping. “Where the hellareyou?”
“I’m on my way to TechLock. They wanted to meet in person and this traffic is killing me. What’s wrong?” He honks his horn and swears under hisbreath.
“The camera control module’s all fucked up and it’s taking down the whole damn system. Did you work on it thisweekend?”
“Cam, I haven’t touched a single line of code other than whatyousent me since Royceput me on cabling. I wrote that module two months ago. You said my work was flawless—the best I’d ever done,remember?”
“Then what happened? Because I can’t load the damn thing without the whole system crashing. You and I are the only ones who have access to the source code, and I know you want off cabling.” My voice has risen half a dozen notes, and my tenuous grip on my emotions threatens to snap as I scroll through line after line of complete and utter garbage disguised asOversight’scode.
My stomach flips as his tone turns defensive. “Whoa, honey. I’ve been working my ass off in cramped, hot crawlspaces since we started this project. The spiders know me on sight now. And Istillfound time to help you this weekend. If that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is. I would neverdo anything to jeopardize this install and I sure as shit wouldn’t hurt my best friend by ruining her career—which if you’re not paying attention, is what you just accused me of.” His car door slams. “If all goes well, I’ll be back to Coana in ninety minutes. We’ll figure this out together. After you apologizetome.”
If all goes well…The reminder shatters me, and I choke back a sob. “Oversight is my responsibility. I’ll fix it. When you’re done there, go back tocabling.”
“Camilla Delgado, you damn wellbetternot—“
As I end the call, my world crumbles beneath me, and with no one to pick up the pieces, I don’t know how to find solid ground again. I can’t breathe and push my chair back so I can drop my head between my knees. Where did I go wrong? Did Lucas lie to me? Jeopardize the biggest project of our careers because Royce put him oncabling?
He’d never do thattome.
My eyes start to mist and burn, and I hate myself for even considering the possibility that my best friend would betray me. If only I could see another option. Once the room stops spinning, I reach for my phone, needing an outside perspective. West’s voicemail greets me, and I have to clear my throat twice before I can say anything after thatstupidbeep.
“I… Something happened. Shit, that sounds so ominous.” I can’t help the high-pitched squeak that comes out as I try to laugh and fail. “Call me back as soon as you can,please.”
Almost as soon as I hang up, I regret the words, so I send himatext.
I just left you a vague voice mail. Consider it a 911 without any of the injuries or danger of death. Something happened with the project I’m working on, and I can’t talk toanyoneelse.
