Page 59 of Coldwire
I duck my head back in, just to make sure they understand me properly. “You’re the getaway driver. Do not come.” I put my palm out. “And give me the earpiece.”
Their mouth drops open. “What! The car drives itself!”
“Are you going to listen to me, or are you going to waste the expertise I was kidnapped for?”
Blare gives me a grumpy look. Still, they pull out their earpiece and drop it into my hand.
“I have wet earwax.”
I frown, looking at the small bit of metal. “Yippee. Stay inside.” I shut the door firmly. By the time I’ve given the earpiece a cursory wipe and shoved it into my own ear, Nik’s out of sight. I follow a hunch and stick close to the admin building, creeping forward parallel to the road. My shoes sink deep into the mud. It must be the sloshing that signals my approach, because when I finally spot Nik hidden in one of the bushes, he’s already waving me over.
“What was that all about?” he asks when I duck down. “Did you tell Blare to stay in the car?”
“I’m doing what you won’t,” I mutter. Thirteen-year-olds don’t need to be breaking into facilities. “Now you only need to clone two passes.”
“Blare is actually our hacker,” Nik says. “But they can do it remotely, too.”
I thought Miz was their hacker. Maybe they’re both the hackers. I don’t care enough about the clarification to ask further.
“You’re not any closer here. You still won’t be able to run a copy on the employees arriving.”
“I know.” Nik shifts, bringing his arm up. The screen on his watch has copied over the tab on his handheld. He unlatches his watch, then offers it to me. “I think if you approach the line of security, that should be close enough. I looked up the model of the bots already: They don’t have visual cameras. Only infrared. We can walk past fine once we have credentials.”
That means the bots guarding the facility will sound the alarm if people without credentials try to sneak through in the trunk of a car, but they’re not going to know if people holding stolen credentials stroll by in the open. No visual recognition.
It takes me a moment to register what he’s indicating by giving me the watch. Slowly, I begin to scrape back my hair, letting Nik hold the watch out for a few beats longer. My hair goes up in a ponytail—it’s too short to get everything into a bundle, so I have tufts sticking out at the base.
“The blueprints,” I say, taking the watch and strapping it onto my wrist, “they didn’t mark out any server rooms. Are they underground?”
Nik nods. I expected so. It’s a common feature when summers get too hot and the rooms use up excessive energy keeping cool.
“And you know the exact route to take once we’re in?” I continue. “Because I need access to the servers too. While you rummage for your file, I can work on finding a way into Kunlun.”
“Yes.”
Nik doesn’t say more.
“Howdoyou know the exact route?” I ask.
“Irrelevant.”
“Not irrelevant, because you think NileCorp might hit the facility soon too. Do you know more, or do they? Are they going to know you were there?”
“Assume we know best,” Nik says tightly, impatiently. He’s not hiding his alarm, his stiff shoulders, his gray eyes hurrying to shift into the distance. His disposition tells me he thinks he has said too much—but I don’t know why.
The watch on my wrist beeps to signal it’s ready for remote access. Nik takes the sound for his cue to start cloning again, the light on the other side of his glasses changing and covering up what might have glanced across his eyes. He gestures forward, onto the road.
I could press further. I could. But that would only prolong the mission without guaranteed answers, and besides, my aim is to get through this whole ordeal as fast as possible. I went to military school—if there’s anything I know how to do, it’s shut up and take instructions.
“I’ll do two laps,” I say. “That’d better be enough.”
“Be careful.”
I was about to stand, but my knees lock at his words. Nik turns briefly, seeing how I’ve stopped, and then his brow furrows to tellmeoff for being confused.
“Go on,” he prompts. “Don’t get caught.”
That’s more like it. I emerge onto the road. The moment I know I’ve become visible, I let my left foot drag, feigning disheveled. I’ve come from the promenade, and I’ve already been jogging for an hour. I shouldn’t require any inspection because I’m not a threat.
