Page 68 of Coldwire
“Ward?” Kieren prompts. “Did you just get frozen again?”
A new banner waves into place.
Understand you are being recorded at all times. The internal files of your display are secure, but the messages you send and the searches you make are not. The key is for the safe.
I flip the key around. When the banner disintegrates, I remind myself that I have to breathe, or else I’ve instantly given up whatever precious little advantage I’ve stumbled onto. Kieren and I are on the same posting, but it looks like we’re accessing different information after all.
The office was coded to open for me. The banners are appearing directly in my display. What’s happening here?
“It’s a smart key,” I say, showing Kieren the back. The shape is entirely a decoy. “Probably for a safe.”
Kieren, immediately, narrows his eyes. “What are you seeing?”
Damn.
“What?” I try. “What are you talking about?”
“You saw a smart key and you assumedsafe?” he asks, flabbergasted. “There’s no safe at the data center. Everything is password-protected on the cloud.”
He makes a reach for the key. Instinctively, I yank it back, close to my chest.
And that only increases his suspicion. “Lia. Hand it over.”
“What is your problem? I recognize the brand, it pairs to a certain safe—”
He tries again. I dart out of the way once more.
“Lia, I swear—”
“Wait—”
Kieren finally snatches the key away from me, one hand wrapped around my wrist to keep me still and the other prying the metal from my fingers. I freeze, waiting for the accusation, waiting for the banners to enter his display too and his cries of fault.
But Kieren says nothing. He frowns, then turns the key over a few times, getting a good look. Nothing has appeared for him.
“I wastryingto tell you,” I huff. “It’s this company, Beam-Man Security.” I reach over to tap the key’s round teeth, where the logo is engraved at the end. “Look it up. The safes open on smart keys and a fingerprint. It’s probably in Chung’s home.”
A set of footsteps hurry by outside. Someone, in a rather flustered fashion, is calling for bottles of water—management is arriving. We need to get out of here before then.
“You think that’s where our energy is best spent next?” Kieren asks dubiously. “Chung’s safe at his apartment?”
I shrug. “If you were working on a program that half the world wants and encountered secret reasons that led to it being deleted, don’t you think you’d keep the important stuff at home?”
“No,” Kieren says. “I think I’d keep it in the real. Downcountry.”
“Heworkeddowncountry, but he had the funds to be upcountry. I’m sure he spent plenty of time at his upcountry Upsie apartment.”
Kieren tips his head back. My eyes are swiveling impatiently to the door, but Kieren seems to be in no hurry.
“Lia,” he groans, and I’m so unused to him using my real name that itsends a shiver down my neck. “Don’t you think Medan police will have cleared out his apartment by now?”
“Wrong,” I fire back immediately. “Maybe they stationed an officer to track who comes by, but they can’t treat it like a crime scene. He’s just missing. It’s not illegal to go missing.”
Kieren frowns. “It is illegal to delete government property.”
“Which a normal precinct can’t know about. Top secret, remember? Government higher-ups can only keep an eye on the situation. They won’t report the extent of it.”
Kieren still seems uncertain. “We should call Kam and check in. What if Medaluo’s higher-ups are sending their own people to sniff around?”
