CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

 

 

Kiera

My little area was set up so that I could do everything that I needed to do. In the center, I had two screens devoted to typing in commands. I could remotely access the system in the building from here, and I would pull up the desktops of the computers I needed in the center.

To the left, I had screens devoted to security cameras. On one screen were what the cameras were actually seeing. On the other screen were the loops that I had created—a brief bit of video of the area that the camera looked at, but set in a loop so that it seemed everything was normal and boring. Those loops would take over and be the only thing visible to the security guards whenever I was ready for that to happen.

To the right, I had screens for anything else I might need.

I had already rerouted certain calls in the building. When some people called IT, they were going to get me instead.

Right now, I was working on taking out the elevators.

It would have been easier if I could just take out the elevator down to the girls, the one that required a retinal scan. But all the elevators were controlled by one system, and so I would take them all out. Everyone would be stuck on the level where they were now, unless they decided to take the stairs. That also applied to the rest of the crew, who were going into the building.

No elevators for them.

I was going for blunt and easy to take down the elevators. I had thought about writing a little virus to take them out, but I had spent too much of my downtime sulking over shit that Demetrius did or didn’t do, and I hadn’t had time.

Instead, I remotely accessed the system that controlled them, got into the settings, and shut it all down.

No more elevators.

A few key strokes, and the security system went down too.

I could picture the guards at their desk, starting to get up, probably saying, “Ah, hell, we got trouble,” to each other.

But I snapped over the loops I’d prepared right away.

Ha. Just looked like a glitch.

I imagined the guards relaxing, settling back down.

“That’s right,” I murmured. “Everything’s fine down there.”

One last thing needed to go.

Easy peasy, not a big deal.

I took down the Wi-Fi for the whole building. I scrambled the modem. It couldn’t connect to the Internet, and now everyone was going to be pissed.

The phone rang.

It was the redirected IT number.

I answered. “Information Technology services. This is Kelly.”

“Internet’s down here,” said a voice.

“Have you tried restarting your computer?”

“It’s the Internet, not the computer,” said the person on the other end.

I just grinned. “Yeah, okay, we’ll send someone over to help out.”

“Thanks.”

I disconnected and then opened a channel to Demetrius and the others. “You guys ready? Call just came in.”

“Got it,” said Demetrius.

On the security cameras, I watched the doors where they were entering. I could see what the cameras really recorded. The actual guards didn’t see a thing, only my loops.

Demetrius, Cass, Ambrose, and Blaze all entered the building dressed as if they worked in the IT department. In this case, that meant that they were wearing untucked plaid shirts and khakis. They had all donned glasses.

“We’re in,” said Demetrius. “We clear? Anyone see us?”

“Nope,” I said. “So far, so good.”

* * *

 

Demetrius

“Okay,” said Kiera’s voice in my ear, “this is where you split up.”

“Here?” said Blaze.

“Yes, here,” said Kiera. “Down that hall is the elevator.”

Blaze saluted me and headed down the hallway. Cass went after him, waving.

“Don’t wave,” said Kiera. “You’re doing IT work.”

“Sorry,” said Cass.

“You guys,” said Kiera to Ambrose and me, “head down to the end of the hallway.”

“Got it,” I said.

Ambrose got ahead of me. “I’m doing the talking, yeah? You should let me go first.”

I nodded my assent.

He led the way, and I followed. We went past open doors, and people called out to us. “Hey, the Internet’s broken.”

Ambrose smiled at them. “We’re working on it. Hang tight, there.”

But people were starting to mill out into the halls. That was good. The more chaos we caused, the better. Chaos meant no one would be watching too closely.

We reached our destination, and Ambrose opened the door and came in. “You guys have a problem with your Internet?”

“About time,” said the guy behind the desk. His hair was slicked back, and he spoke with a thick Russian accent. He obviously worked directly for Nikolai doing Bratva business. “We cannot do anything. This is ridiculous.”

Ambrose grinned. “Well, step aside there, sir, and I’ll see what I can do.”

The man got up from his computer.

Ambrose sat down at the screen.

I nodded to another guy behind him. “You too. Your machine may be the problem.”

The other man shrugged. He got up. “Whatever you say.” He sounded Russian as well.

I slid behind the desk and jiggled the mouse.

“Well, we’re looking at the computers now,” I said, which sounded stupid, but was for Kiera’s benefit.

“I can see you on the cameras,” she snapped.

I flinched. Probably a bad idea to have had sex with her before all this went down, after all. I still couldn’t say I regretted it, but shit would be so much easier if she wasn’t mad at me right now.

Ambrose looked up at the workers, smiling easily. “You two might want to go get a coffee or something. It could be a while.”

“We will wait,” said the first guy.

Great.

Ambrose shrugged. “Okay, then.”

“Damn it,” muttered Kiera. “Okay, that’s fine, though. Just don’t respond to me out loud, got it?”

I almost said, “Got it,” but I squelched it. What was her problem? Why ask questions if she didn’t want them answered?

“Okay,” she said. “Ambrose, the doors are all controlled by a program called Verits. Pull it up. Hopefully, he’s already signed in.”

Ambrose and I had to do this because Kiera couldn’t get to these controls on her own. Someone had to be onsite to do it. So, she was walking Ambrose and I through the steps to get the doors open for the big cell downstairs, with all the girls in it.

Unfortunately, however, we couldn’t get to Natasha’s cell from this program.

Those cells were higher security and there was no way to remotely unlock the doors.

“Damn it, damn it,” said Kiera. “I can’t see your screen from the camera view, and I can’t remotely access that computer. Can you tell me if he’s logged in somehow?”

Ambrose cleared his throat. “This Verits program?”

“Yes,” said the man.

“You’re not logged in?”

“I restarted the computer,” he said.

“This computer is logged in to Verits,” I said.

“They both need to be logged in,” said Kiera.

Ambrose stepped away from the computer. “Can you log back in, sir? I think that the problem may be caused by the interaction between that program and the Wi-Fi.”

The man sighed. “That makes no sense. I can’t see how they could interact.”

“God, don’t improvise, Ambrose,” said Kiera. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

* * *

 

Kiera

“Kiera?” said a voice in my ear. It was Cass. “We’re having trouble with the elevator door.”

“Hold on, Cass,” I said. “I’m still trying to walk these guys through something.” But I peered at the camera that was trained on the elevator. Cass and Blaze were there, and Blaze was trying to pry open the doors.

“It won’t budge,” he said.

“Hold on a minute.”

“We might not have a minute,” Blaze said.

I sighed.

I turned back to the other security camera, where I could see Ambrose and Danger. Ambrose was standing over the man who worked there, who was typing on the computer.

“Oh, good, he’s logging on for you?” I said.

“Yes, thank you for logging on, sir,” said Ambrose.

“Kiera,” said Cass.

“I hear you, Cass,” I said. “Look, I might be able to trip something that will make the elevator door open. Just two seconds okay?”

I switched channels back to Ambrose and Danger. I could see on the cameras that Ambrose had taken the computer back from the worker. He was ready to do as I instructed. “Hey guys, you’re both on. I need you to pull down the file menu and go to Manual Override.”

I switched back to Cass. “Okay, I’m in the elevator system again. Hold on.” I typed furiously, and then clicked, and then typed, and then…

The doors started to open.

“Better, Blaze?” I said.

“Yeah, perfect,” he said.

I switched back to Danger and Ambrose. “Okay, Ambrose type exactly what I tell you to type. Verbatim.” I read it off to him slowly. Twice. “And Danger, you type this.” I read his off to him. Twice as well. “Now, hit enter. Then you’re going to wait, because it’s going to take a while to process. Look busy, and I’ll be back with you as soon as I can.”

I opened the channel to Cass and Blaze. I could see on the security camera that they were climbing down the elevator shaft now.

It was just the way they’d gone into Nikolai’s office before. Cass was leading the way, and Blaze was attached to her with a harness.

Cass tested the roped that held them. “You ready?”

Blaze made a strangled noise. “I don’t know why I’m always having to do this jumping stuff with you. I think Danger has it in for me.”

“I’m watching you,” I said to them. “You’ve got this.”

Blaze shook himself. “All right, let’s do it.”

The two swung out of the security camera frame.

Blaze yelled a throaty scream.

“You okay?” I asked.

Cass was laughing. “We’re perfect.”

“Is this where I get off?” Blaze asked.

“Yeah,” said Cass.

I pulled up another camera to see Blaze climbing out of a set of elevator doors. He looked pale, even in black and white.

“You good, Blaze?” I said. “Do you need a minute?”

“No, I’m fine,” he said. “I’m definitely fine.” He started jogging down the hallway. “Which room is it?”

“Next one,” I said.

He threw open the door to a storage closet and pulled out several small metal charges from his pack.

I switched camera views again. Now, I could see inside the closet.

“Okay,” he said. “Three, two, one…”

There was a bright blast, and the camera view whited out for a minute. When the smoke cleared, all I could see for a minute was fluttering paper.

Then that settled too, and I could see that there was a big hole in the floor of the storage closet.

Blaze knelt down over it. “Hey,” he called.

I couldn’t hear a response.

“Do you see her?” I asked.

“Yeah, she’s here,” he said. “I’m going down.”

I switched camera views again.

Now I was looking at the front door to Natasha’s cell.

Cass came running into the frame.

“Cass,” I said. “You made it.”

“Tell Cass to take cover,” said Blaze.

“I hear you,” she said. She ran out of the frame.

There was another bright blast, and the door to Natasha’s cell blew outward, right off its hinges.

After a few minutes, the smoke cleared and Natasha stepped out over the door.

“Hi,” said Cass. “We’re getting you out of here.”

Natasha threw her arms around Cass. “Is true? Matteo send you?”

Cass hugged her. “Matteo sent us.”