“You might have trouble,” she said. “Something’s wrong with the network. I can’t access patient records right now.”
I wondered why the Controllers would block them. No idea, but the program I sought popped up without hesitation, and I demonstrated to Lamont how easy it was to draw lines and type in labels.
I surrendered the chair to her. She caught on pretty quick. “This is fun.”
Her comment reminded me of my trip through the shafts. I asked her if she had any problems while I was gone.
“Not really,” she said.
“That’s not an answer.”
“One man stopped by to talk to you, but I said you were asleep and he said he’d come back later.”
“ISF?”
“No. Big guy with freckles. Kind of cute.”
Bubba Boom. I wondered why he came by.
“No trouble from him,” she said. “But what if the ISF comes by and you’re not here?”
That could be a problem.
“I need a way to contact you,” Lamont said.
I touched my earlobe, but remembered I’d lost my receiver in the riot, and the listening device on my uniform had been thrown into a hazardous waste bag. “I’ll see what I can find.”
“Did you locate Logan?”
“Not yet.” I lied, but thought the less she knew the better.
I spent the rest of week 147,023 fetching supplies for Logan. Sneaking into his room next to the main control room caused my pulse to race. And even though I had been here two times before, I still sweated.
This last trip was for me. I had planted all those listening devices, and they remained in position. Why not listen in? Logan had a device I could use. I also picked up a set of communication buttons and receivers for me and Lamont. Logan would program them so no one could overhear our conversations.
Back in the duct, I used Zippy to haul the supplies. Round with cleaning brushes and a vacuum, he rolled along, pulling the skid. The noise hadn’t bothered anyone so far. I’d encountered a few other cleaning trolls in the air ducts.
I reached Logan’s without incident and opened the vent. The diamond wire had sawed through the bolts and we had rigged them to appear as if they still secured the vent. I dropped the supplies I brought to him, then swung down. He had managed to disguise most of his new toys. I hoped his keepers wouldn’t check under his bed or under the couch.
“Who brings your food? ISF?” I asked him.
“No. The same two guys. Uppers, but not part of the ISF and I would know. Anne-Jade had me check into the background for all her officers to make sure they were trustworthy.” He chuckled. “They’re armed with stunners, but they have no idea their weapons won’t work in here.”
“Any luck?” I pointed to his computer. It looked the same, but according to Logan, he had installed all the important components behind the screen and the keyboard could be hidden before all the locks on the door were opened.
“No. They have built a wall around the important systems. I’m trying to find a way to slip inside without anyone noticing, but it’s been difficult.” He rummaged in the cushions of the couch, pulling out a long glass tube. It resembled a light bulb. He handed it to me. “One of Travas’s computers in Sector D4 has to be connected to the network. Use that to find which one.”
“How?”
“Get as close as possible and if the tube glows green, you’ve found it. Then…” He knelt next to his bed and reached under the mattress. Logan tossed me a small box. “Insert that into Zippy’s undercarriage and he should be able to knock out that computer.”
“Like when I used him to disable all the weapons in the control room?”
“Yep.” He straightened and wiped the dust from his pants.
“Why not use a stronger pulse and hit all the computers in Sector D4 at once?”
“It’s too risky over a large area.
