Page 133 of Coldwire
“What the fuck?” I say out loud.
The realization sets in, heavy as an iron vise wrapping around my throat. I finally have no choice except to hold still and parse through the facts I cannot deny. Running at the blocked door forced a hard reset. It put my display back into my control after it was coded to be hidden.
I’m still upcountry.
37EIRALE
Endless desert flowers pockmark the side of the road. I watch them fly by with a detached level of curiosity, waiting for the clusters to disappear when the dry plains grow larger in the horizon. They do not. The expressway continues to carry us forward. We’ve long left behind the elevated structures that pass over cities and towns. Instead the route courses solidly through brown earth and bedrock, the skies perpetually a dusty red shade.
With every mile closer to Offron, a new ripple of adrenaline overflows in my gut and spreads outward. I flex my fingers, then shift my feet. I’m paranoid that Teryn will try to get a message to me. Each time my gaze drifts to the screens on the dashboard, my eyes skate away in a fit before I shake myself back to reality, knowing there is nothing she could possibly use that Nik wouldn’t see.
Nik has grown quiet too. The dashboard map shows our location as a blinking red dot, the armored van crossing the long stretch between Wespic and Offron. At a certain point, Miz leaned over to ask Nik about two route options—one that was quicker and one that avoided the tolls scanning outside the city of Hibond—and Nik didn’t hear her until she thudded his shoulder with the back of her hand.
Nik and Blare are decrypting the two server boxes at the back of the van. I couldn’t begin to parse what they’re doing, three laptops open, disk readers and drives and wires in abundance on the floor. Miz sleeps at the driver’s seat, having set the vehicle on manual self-driving so she’d be able to take over if the alarm beeps at her. Downcountry roads are not forgiving in these parts.
I loll my head back and forth. I shift in my seat to face the side, and then Nik has appeared in my periphery, his brow furrowed while he stares at his laptop screen.
I would be lying if I said a part of me isn’t considering reneging my mission. A small part, a fanciful part, but a part, nonetheless. It’s only natural. I put so much effort into getting Nik Grant here, so I don’t want to give him up at the end. Farmers must feel this way raising their piglets for slaughter. But the supply chain must still be fed. Criminals need to answer for their warrants of arrest. Soldiers do as their employers say.
I turn in my seat properly. Blare has nodded off since I last checked, lying on the floor. Their mouth gapes open.
Maybe there’s a way to sneak Blare away before Teryn brings in her team. I could kidnap them. Blare wouldn’t even know what was happening if I blindsided them and shoved them into a self-driving car headed for Upsie.
Miz jolts in her sleep. I look to her, asleep with the frown lines between her brow smoothed out, and I have to tighten my fists to avoid twitching. NileCorp soldiers surrounding us. NileCorp soldiers taking them away. I can’t keep thinking down this track. I shouldn’t feel like this.
I tap the back of my seat, getting Nik’s attention.
“Hey.”
Nik types a few more commands before looking up. Light from the screen drapes the planes of his face, each line a harsh mark.
“You see something?” he asks.
“No,” I say. “Something occurred to me.”
Nik only raises an eyebrow, prompting me to continue. I point over to the server boxes he’s peeled open and undressed.
“These were stored in national data centers. Property of the Medan government.”
“Medaluo’s largest computing power provider is the government,” Nik counters, turning back to his screen. “Plenty of companies enter into contracts to use the facilities. Not everything is the property of the Medan government.”
The government can certainly access everything if it owns the facilities, though.
“In any case,” I continue, “you already said the corruption exploit belonged to the Medan government.”
Nik narrows his eyes. He keeps his focus on his screen. “What are you getting at?”
“I’m just musing about our final destination.” My eyes dart to the dashboard map again. It’s currently showing a preview to Offron. “Kunlun is private territory. That’s the only reason the International Assembly allowed it to remain as a virtual space. They would have erased it if Medaluo tried to claim sovereignty over the city. Other nations would also take tremendous issue if the Medan government was allowed to access decrypted information feeding out from it. That’s why we have to enter Kunlun and can’t just steal from Offron’s servers, right?”
Nik finally shifts, his laptop sliding off his lap. It takes the light off his face, softens his features instantly. He considers the matter. I haven’t spoken anything untrue. Medaluo is the one who hosts Kunlun, but they have no jurisdiction there.
“Your point being…?”
“My point being what sort of Medan program is split in thirds across Upsie, Threto, andKunlun?”
Nik stills. His eyes dance away. This is not a question he was prepared for.
“Nik,” I prompt when he stays quiet. “What are we walking into? If you don’t tell me, I can’t prepare accordingly.”
