ditioning and silence. It smelled of antis

the frosted gl

desk. He was young, maybe mid-twenties. He wore a white lab coat over a black t-shirt. His

r knuckles on th

she

ump. He slowly l

usted. Dark circles bruised the skin under his eyes. He had a days-

id, Fielding mu

cked up a steaming mug of cof

e yanked the door open. She reached in for an ice

or a s

here, meant to blend with her skin. But the heat of the day had loosened the ad

hape-part of

The laziness vanished. He sat up str

id. His voice d

e down, pressing the fabric agains

smoothly, not turning around immed

und, clutching

ing her. He wasn't looking at a student

ally have such perfect topol

wer, the door to the in

clutching a laptop, his face slick with sweat. He looked frantic

e counter. "The external security team is locked out! You're the only o

temples. "Lance, I'm the scho

when the district server crashed! It's bypassing the firewall

ptop was flashing red. Lines of script were casc

oor. She should leave

stopped her

ck vector. It was brute force, clumsy but

fore she could stop them. He's routing through Port 443. It looks li

le

. He looked up at Da

e looked at Dallas. Then he looked

es nar

Lance

hut. She gripped the ice pa

she said quickly. The

nd shoved th

Lance

walked fast, her heart h

tched the door swing shut. He picked up his pen an