“I’ll explain more later. When you get out of the city, just head west. Far west.”
She shook her head. “When I get out of the city?” She didn’t know it was possible to leave New Atlantic and live. She’d never known anyone who had, only rumors of people dying as soon as they left.
“For now, we have to get you out of the building.” On the floating display, he looked around his office, peering nervously toward the door. He turned back to look at her. “Okay. There’s an airshaft that goes from the computer server room straight out to the exterior of the building. I think that’s your best bet.”
“Where is the computer server room?” she whispered.
“It’s on the third floor. I can unlock the door for you when you get there. It’s got a high encryption on it, and they won’t assume you have the time to crack it. Hopefully they won’t look there until after you’re long gone and they’ve checked everywhere else.”
A map flashed up on her display, with an arrow pointing down the hall toward the stairs.
“But you’re going to have to navigate the stairs on your own. I can’t help you there.”
H124 took a deep breath. Her hand shook as she held the PRD. She was on the fifth floor. Two floors down felt as far away as another world. And security was crawling all over the hallways.
Everything in her rebelled against the thought of going back out there. She wanted to stay here in the darkness. To run out there felt like running into a fire.
“I might be able to buy you a little time,” he said. “Draw them away.”
She gripped her PRD. “Please.”
It was a simple word, and one she’d never had the occasion to use before.
“Okay. Get ready to run,” he told her. Then she heard his voice over the PRD. “Quick! Security! She’s come back to my office! Hurry!”
H124 opened the living pod door and peered out. The hallway was clear. She could hear shouts through his PRD as the security team returned to his office. She could also hear them clambering in the incinerator vents.
She muted her PRD and ran, pausing at the door leading to the stairwell. She heard men running up the stairs. “Get up to the fifteenth floor!” one of the men shouted. They passed her floor and kept going.
She slipped inside the stairwell, then leaned over the railing and listened. She could hear the men above her, but no one below. She took the chance and raced down the stairs, leaning heavily on the railing so she could jump down several stairs at once. She reached the landing of the fourth floor, then stopped to peer over the railing again. Above her, security teams shouted and ran, but below her it was still quiet.
At the door to the third floor, she stopped, pressing an ear to the metal. The hallway beyond sounded quiet. She opened the door and slid inside. The arrow floating above her PRD pointed left. She followed it, arriving at a nondescript steel door with a biometric scanner glowing red. When it turned green she slipped inside. The dimly lit room was so cold that her breath frosted in the air. A large air-conditioning unit labored along one wall. Huge servers covered the floor of the colossal room. She followed the vents for the air conditioner along the ceiling until she saw an open access hatch.
And then her heart sank. It was too high up on the wall. She couldn’t reach it. She hurried around the room, looking for anything she could drag over to the access door to stand on.
She was eyeing a large metal bin over in one corner when she heard movement outside the door. She pressed against one wall, out of sight. The door slid open, and someone entered. She slid along the shadows to a nearby bank of servers and hid between two rows of blinking machines. The door hissed shut, and moments later she heard more footsteps rushing past. They didn’t stop at the server room.
The person moved into the center of the room. She froze, not even daring to breathe. His shadow fell across the floor, moving along the bank of servers on the opposite side of where she hid. When he passed by a rack that separated them, she caught a familiar scent of exotic spices. She looked again at the shadow. It had spiky hair.
He rounded the corner, and she moved quietly to the next row. She caught the briefest glimpse of him between two server banks. It was Rowan.
She stepped out of the shadows, feeling her whole body shaking with adrenaline. “Rowan?”
He spun around, eyes fixed on her. Disbelief swept over his face. “What are you doing here?”
“Trying to get out,” she told him.
He looked grim. “Me too. It’s not going very well.” He patted the satchel slung over one shoulder. “But I have what I came for.”
“You risked your life to steal something?”
“It’s a game changer, believe me.”
An alarm suddenly erupted in the room, a deafening, high-pitched klaxon. A red flashing light swept through the shadows.
“I think they know we’re here.” He turned to her with the hint of a smile. “You know, if I’d known we were going to infiltrate the same building, I’d have suggested we team up.”
The footsteps in the corridor returned. They were running out of time.
“We need to get out of here!” she whispered. “This way!” Together they hurried back to the vent opening. “It’s too high,” she said. “We need something to stand on.”
“Give me a boost,” he told her, “and I’ll pull you up.”
She bent her knee. He placed one sprightly boot on her thigh, jumped up to the opening, and hung there for an instant. Then he pulled himself up and out of sight.
She waited for a tense moment as she heard movement in the vent. Was he leaving her?
Then his head popped out above her. He lowered his arms. “Okay! Grab on!”
She
