Page 49 of Dig Your Grave

Nodding, he tapped keys to finalize the commands.The system blinked, going dark, then restarted.His hands shook as he typed lines from memory, Anubis’ decoy code that would create a secondary gateway.

Finally, the screen flickered to life, displaying a fake interface that mimicked the library’s security menu.If anyone from the Skulls accessed it, they’d see what looked like total access.In reality, we’d quarantined it.

I exhaled, adrenaline making my head spin.

“It’s done.”Anubis gently squeezed my shoulder.“We should check the second-floor server room too.That’s where the real data is stored.”

God.Another risk.But we had to sell the story.“Let’s go.”

We navigated the dim corridor, pausing whenever we heard a creak.Bookshelves loomed on either side, and the hush felt strangely alive, like the library was holding its breath.

At the server room door, the keypad glowed in the darkness.I swiped my staff keycard again, and to my relief, the door clicked open.We slipped inside.

Towering racks of servers hummed with fans, blinking lights reflecting off polished metal.The library’s digital brain, containing everything from old scans to rare manuscripts.

“This is the nerve center,” I whispered, stepping to the main terminal.

Anubis pressed the lock pick set into my hand, nodding at a small, locked cabinet to one side.“Might be the backup drives.If we sabotage them, it’ll look serious.”

I gulped.“I can’t do real damage,” I said, voice tight with conflict.“Too many important records are stored here, people’s academic futures.”

“Right,” he said, gently.“But we can look like we are.Wipe or corrupt some superficial records?”

My mind flashed to Toccara’s transcripts, perhaps her final semester records.The police might have scoured them after her death.Could they hold clues?

I cracked open the cabinet with relative ease, my trembling fingers aided by the adrenaline.Inside were smaller drive bays labeled by date.

I let out a quiet hum.“Let’s make a show of damaging them, delete minimal data but keep a hidden backup.We can’t blow up real files if we want to help the next potential Toccara.”

Anubis said he set up a partial data wipe on a few non-critical backups, old digital newspaper archives, defunct card catalog indexes.Enough to cause alarm but not enough to ruin lives.

Then I copied a few suspiciously labeled files referencing Toccara’s final weeks onto my phone.They were in a private admin folder, not easily accessible.Possibly old security logs.

Anubis’ brow furrowed as he watched me.“Those might be crucial.”

I stuffed my phone back into my jacket.“Let’s hope so.”

Finally, we restarted the system.The servers hummed as if nothing had happened, but we knew better.The sabotage was staged, the infiltration hidden.

We hurried out, triple-checking that no sign of our presence remained.By the time we locked the staff door behind us, sweat trickled down my spine.

“Think we’re good?”Anubis asked, voice low.

“I hope,” I whispered.“Let’s go.”

We slipped away, leaving the library in darkness behind us.

When we got back to the caretaker’s cabin, the rush from the night flung us into each other's arms.Our clothes were gone in no time.

Soon, Anubis loomed over me, entering me slowly.“God, Nubia.You’re fucking amazing.You’re brave and smart, and so damn sexy.I can’t get the image of you climbing out of that hot tub in your wet, whisky soaked panties out of my mind.”He pierced me with his cock.

Overwhelmed by the night and his words, I fell speechless.

His soulful eyes bore into me as he moved on top of me.“I know I said it before, but I feel it now… I… I think I’m in love with you.”

My throat hurt as I forced the words out, “I think I love you too.”It was a lie.I knew I loved him.

Chapter 19

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