Page 66 of Set Fire to This Cardhouse

“Good.” Toby takes a deep breath, holding it in for several seconds in an attempt to slow his pulse down. “Okay, good. My password’s HMwbiJ10. Capital H, capital M, small w, small b, small i, capital J and then two digits, one and zero.”

“What’s it stand for?” The click of a pen. “Situation unchanged in the corridor. One armed at the elevator, Ken and two in the office.”

“Haley was born in July ‘10.” Toby’s own sweaty face stares back at him from a mirror across the room.

Mirror.

He snatches his jacket back out of the trash and wraps it around his arm, striking with just enough force to make fine spiderwebs grow on the mirror’s surface. The jacket muffles the sound when he hits the same spot again. Careful not to cut himself on their edges, he helps himself to two shards of glass.

“Anyway,” Toby continues, stepping back. “Run the program, authentication with the password. It’s a secure line—so secure that it’s almost useless ‘cause of how slow it is. Stick by the computer until the upload is done, make sure it all goes smoothly. Expect about fifteen minutes. Then...” He swallows dryly and turns away from his own pale face. “You pack and fly home. Alone, if necessary.”

“You’re joking.” Mike’s voice is blank. “You do not seriously expect me to sit here on my ass and watch some fucking progress bar while you—”

“I’m dead serious,” Toby interrupts. He grips the door handle, but doesn’t press it down just yet. “We’ve got orders, remember?”

“Don’t fucking—”

“All right, then,” Toby interrupts with false cheer. “Show time!”

Another deep breath. He tightens his grip on the door handle.

“Toby.” Mike sounds livid and helpless, just a little bit scared. It makes something in Toby’s stomach twist even though this is not the time, not the place. He lowers his voice, hoping that his tone comes out with a trace of humor.

“Wish me luck, Mike.”

Just as Toby is about to press the handle down, Mike says in a calm, decisive tone, “I’ll see you in a few.”

***

Everything goes smoothly until Toby makes it down to the lobby.

After dashing out of the restroom, he drops the first guard in front of the only elevator that goes all the way to the top floor. While he’s spotted from inside Chan’s office, the bullet-proof glass protects him, and by the time he steps into the elevator, the doors of the office are only just sliding open. He hits the button for the second floor—none of the windows there will allow for an easy escape, but they don’t know that he knows that. As long as Mike keeps manipulating the footage, they might believe he’ll try.

On that note... “Freeze all video footage, will you?”

It takes a couple of seconds before Mike says, voice tight, “Done. They’re coming down the stairs, so hurry up.”

“I’m fast.” Toby grins at the camera hidden in a corner of the elevator, preparing to rush outside as soon as the doors open. “Bendy, too. And I take corners like no one’s business.”

Mike snorts softly. “Prove it.”

Three, two, one—and Toby is on the move. Down the corridor, rattle a window that is sealed and barred, completely hopeless, but it will trigger an alarm that draws people. “Which floor?” he asks.

“Seven to six.”

Okay. Okay, that may just work.

Toby sprints up the stairs to the third floor, quiet, quiet, exiting into the corridor just in time to avoid Ken and his men as they trample down the stairs. Toby presses the button to fetch whatever elevator is closest.

“They’ve exited on the second,” Mike says. “Started looking into offices there.”

Grinning, Toby joins a bored-looking woman in the elevator. It takes him all the way down, and once he exits into the lobby, he falls into step with a group of workers on their way out, keeping his steps light and unhurried. Almost there.

Past the reception desk, and then there are shouts behind him. He quickens his pace without turning, but it’s too late: the guard at the entrance plants himself in front of the exit.

Toby could take him down.

He can, however, not take down that guy and the two guards approaching from the elevators with Ken close behind, especially not if they decide to start shooting without care for collateral damage. Most of CTS Consulting’s employees are unaware of ongoing illegal activities; they’re civilians caught in the wrong company at the wrong time.

---