Page 71 of Sky Song
“She was scared of me,” Lyle said.
“What changed this morning?” Cricket asked.
“I…” Paloma’s luminous violet eyes shifted. “I think we should all calm down and get to know each other better.” She glanced at Lyle meaningfully.
“No, this is a bad idea,” Cricket quickly said.
“I like that idea,” Lyle countered. “I am easy to get to know. How to say it? An open book.”
Cricket threw a disbelieving glance in his direction. He cocked his head in response, innocence personified inside the biohazard suit.
“That’s wonderful,” Paloma said drily. “I know you didn’t come here merely for the symposium.” She motioned at Cricket. “Even if she believes it.”
Cricket wanted to argue, but Lyle touched her arm, silently asking her to wait.
“Continue,” he urged Paloma, his tone as light as ever.
A subtle undercurrent ran between Paloma and Lyle that made Cricket feel excluded. The two of them were on the same wavelength, and she, sadly, was too naive and inexperienced to understand what it was that they knew and she didn’t.
“Oh, that’s about all I had. But seeing as we’re making friends and all that, if there’s anything you’re looking for, you just have to ask.” Paloma smiled at Lyle very brightly.
A beat of silence followed, charged with decisions being weighted. Lyle didn’t smile in return, and something stirred inside Cricket, something like fear. For the first time since their unexpected meeting in the hospital’s imposing conference room, when his eyes had changed depth and ensnared her for a few head-spinning seconds, she saw a predator’s soul that matched his physical characteristics.
The moment passed. Lyle crossed his arms but his tone remained pleasant. “I might just take you up on your offer. And it would build my confidence in your good will tremendously if you could do me a small favor.”
Paloma’s eyebrows arched. “Yes?”
“Who around here can crack an encrypted file for me?”
Cricket’s mouth formed a surprised O.
Paloma’s arched eyebrows remained arched. “An encrypted file, you say?”
Lyle pulled out the shiny device and held it between two fingers of his good hand.
Paloma pursed her lips tightly like she was thinking hard about Lyle’s request, but Cricket had an impression it was an act to buy her time to make a decision that could have irreversible consequences.
“I know just the person who can do it for very little money!” She held up a finger. “He’ll be out next month.”
Lyle smiled tightly. “That someone has to be super discreet, so I don’t have to clean up afterward. And I need the files next week.”
Paloma’s eyebrows came down and her face smoothed into its usual expression. She extended her hand, palm up. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Where have you been?” Terrance’s wide eyes roamed over Cricket’s flushed face as she rushed in the lab.
She wiped perspiration from her forehead. Summer was claiming its territory from the mild spring, and ditching the sweater before running all the way to work might not have been a bad idea.
“I was helping my neighbor deal with a water leak,” she lied, her eyes going to the main computer terminal on their own volition. Wrenching them away, she looked at Terrance. “Is everything alright?”
“Is everything alright?Our system’s completely crashed!”
“Oh, no!” She was getting quite adept at feigning ignorance. “The lab records?”
“The entire hospital’s records!”
“Oh, dear.” It wasn’t good. What about the patients? Cricket felt wretched. “I hope they fix it soon. Do you know what happened?”
“Somebody hacked it, what else?”
