Insidethese four walls, she remains justMia.AndIremain the man obsessed with the rhythm of her pulse.
Rippingthe intercom handset off the wall mount,Istare at the blinking red indicator.Loganis pacing the hallway upstairs.Ican feel thePresident'simpatience vibrating through the steel, likely already wondering if the 'GhostCode' that’s been haunting our servers for eight months is about to flare up again.
Mythumb depresses the talk button. "Logan."
Staticcrackles through the ancient speaker. "Aboutdamn time,Elias.Isthe room secure?Areyou two in one piece?"
Miawatches my face, entirely still.
"TheVaultis secure,"Ianswer, projecting a flat, absolute authority. "However, the data integrity remains compromised.Verifyingthe hash totals on the ghost ledger requires additional processing time."
Silencestretches over the line.Loganpossesses a genius-level intellect.HeknowsIcould verify encrypted hash totals in my sleep within ten minutes.
"Howmuch time?"Loganpresses, dark amusement bleeding into his deep tone.
"Twelvehours."
"Afull twelve hours?TheFedsplan to knock our gates down at sunrise, brother."
"Twelvehours.Holdthe perimeter."Igrowl into the receiver. "Nobodybreaches thisVaultuntilIgive the verbal authorization.Holdthe perimeter."
Releasingthe button cuts the connection before he can argue the logistics.
Heavy, private silence rushes back into the underground space.
Aslow, predatory smile curvesMia'slips, spiking the heat in my blood. "Twelvehours, huh?"
"Thering requires finishing,"Istate, turning my attention back to the workbench.Igrip the handle of a metal file. "Thealloy demands exactness and intense patience."
"WhatamIsupposed to do while you work?"
Glancingover my shoulder,Itake in the sight of her.Theruined pink cardigan lays abandoned on the floor.Myoversized flannel slips off her bare shoulder, fully exposing the dark, purple bite marksIleft blooming across the side of her neck.
"Readthe black ledger,"Ioffer.Handingover my trauma is the most massive sacrificeIcan make. "Checkmy math."
Thetension bleeds out of her posture.Sheunderstands the weight of the offering.Ijust handed her the keys to the kingdom and a direct map to the most broken parts of my psyche.
"Watchingyou work sounds vastly superior."Draggingthe heavy steel chair over to the workbench, she takes a seat andprops her chin on her folded hands. "Iwant to witness how you build something unbreakable."
Lockingthe band into the vice,Irun my thumb over the cold steel.Theambient temperature in the room steadily climbs.Iposition the file against the rough edge.
Thesharp grate of friction echoes off the concrete walls.
Theaggressive scrape of metal shaping metal fills the confined space.Onestroke.Twostrokes.Three.
Sheobserves every micro-movement whileIsystematically strip away the flaws.
Snowfalls heavily above ground.Enemiescircle the perimeter of the clubhouse.Thefederal government desperately wants to slap cuffs on her wrists and lock me inside a concrete cage.
Downin the dark, the numbers perfectly balance.
"Elias?"
"Yeah."
"Seventy-one."
Ipause the file. "What?"
