Page 46 of Coldwire
“Soldier,” he says, “we may not be in Kunlun yet, but your input is appreciated here nonetheless.”
“Trying to test me?” I ask wryly.
“I’d quite like to know what you’re thinking, so yes, I suppose it is a test.”
I tuck my loose hair behind my ears. NileCorp is waiting in Offron. NileCorp wants the program Nik is after, all three parts of it.
“You’re speaking about the receptionist being a human fail-safe,” I say. I gesture at the wall. “I don’t see them here.”
“This list is only the employees with security clearance throughout the facility,” Miz explains. “They’re the ones who can get us into the server rooms. The receptionist can only enter the lobby.”
“Pull up the receptionist’s profile.”
Nik frowns, visibly trying to catch up with my train of thought. Nonetheless, he taps open a new window on his handheld, and in seconds he’s on a government page, navigating the full roster for the data center’s public-facing employees.
“Here.”
Leung Xixi, graduate of Upper Sea University with a degree in information studies. She’s young—somewhere in her early twenties. I look from her smiling picture to Miz, then back again.
“What time is it?” I ask.
Blare checks the watch on their wrist. Nik lets them answer, though the time is sitting in front of him on his glasses, too.
“Six in the morning.”
“Around two hours before employees are expected at the data center, I’d estimate,” I say. “Any chance we can find Xixi’s address?”
Miz’s glasses light up. “You know what they say about our favorite surveillance state:If you hold it, you may as well upload it.I’ll browse through traffic cameras and search for a snapshot of her license at police checkpoints.”
“Are we bum-rushing her?” Blare asks.
“Yes,” I say simply. “And once we do, someone still needs to show up forwork so they don’t report a missing receptionist.” I look at Miz meaningfully. Her eyes catch mine behind her glasses, then flit away upon instinct. A second later, she freezes, understanding my idea. She turns slowly to the image of Xixi on the wall.
“You’re kidding,” she says.
“You look more like her than I do.”
“No one is going to think Iamher.”
“They don’t need to,” Nik cuts in. He’s understood too, and by his tone, he’s on board. “The employees will assume someone new got brought in. The cameras won’t be immediately suspicious if you have some resemblance to her, and we’ll get a face covering on you so facial recognition in the surveillance system won’t identify you as an intruder. This only needs to buy us enough time to get in and out once we clone the first available credentials from the parking lot.”
Miz drags her hands down her face. Out of the corner of my eye, I can sense Nik inspecting me, sentry to the slightest change in my expression.
I suppose he liked my contribution. I wonder if he set me up to suggest it, whether he offered up all the dots to connect. Again and again, I encounter the same simple question.Why?
A quickbeep beep beepsounds from Nik’s pocket. While I jolt, everyone else in the room scrambles, immediately prompted to action. Miz rushes to pull the curtains closed. Nik has already turned on his heel, waving Blare into the hallway.
“What is that?” I ask. “What’s going on?”
“Let’s go,” Nik returns. “Our presence here has been registered.”
12LIA
In my dream, I’m happy about a bowl of soup placed in front of me. I wrap my hands around the ceramic, and its warmth envelops my fingers, settles deep into my palms. The aroma wafts up—hearty, smooth, a hint of spice. My mother made this for me. She loves me, and I am safe. She brought me into this world. She’ll do whatever it takes to make sure I’m ready for it. The soup wavers when a shudder jolts through the table. I lift my head to ask my mom if she felt it too.
But when I call out, she won’t face me. She won’t even look at me.
I startle awake.
