Page 114 of Rescuing Ally: Part 1

I swallow hard. “It didn’t start until I plugged that in.”

He nods. “That’s what she thought at first. Corrupted firmware or something embedded deeper. But it’s not just your laptop. She thinks whatever’s on that drive might have affected Hank and Gabe’s phones, too.”

My fingers tighten around the USB.

“That’s not possible,” I murmur, but my pulseskips anyway. “The drive never touched their phones. Whatever affected Hank and Gabe’s devices… it couldn’t have come from this.”

Malikai watches me, his expression unreadable.

“I checked it,” he says quietly. “Your data’s still intact. Mitzy combed through every layer—code, encryption, and even the backup sectors. It’s clean.”

Relief pulses through me like a current. At least that part of me is still whole.

“Then what’s going on?”

Malikai’s mouth flattens. “You’re not the only one seeing weird tech failures. My tablet locked up—hard. Like a full-system crash. They say it’s a firmware issue. I’m not convinced.”

He jerks his chin toward the counter. “Malia’s register keeps resetting. Espresso machine’s acting possessed. She’s had to call Mike several times this week. Something’s off.”

I glance over at Malia, who’s laughing with a customer—but her hand rests protectively on the register like she’s waiting for it to explode again.

Too many failures. In too many places.

But not all at once—spread out. Subtle. Easy to explain.

I glance down at the USB still clutched in my hand. At least this is intact.

“Thanks for bringing this by. I should go through everything,” I murmur. “Prep for my thesis defense. Make sure the models still hold.”

“Can’t hurt.” Malikai gives a small nod. “If you need someone to bounce ideas off of, just say the word.” His gaze lingers on the espresso machine a beat too long. Or maybe, he’s just checking in on his sister.

Not wanting to keep him, I shove the USB deep into my pocket.

“Thanks, Mal. I really appreciate you dropping this off.”

“Any time.” But instead of heading toward his sister, Malikai pivots sharply and walks out—his expression tight, like his thoughts are louder than the room around him.

Chapter 33

Hank and Gabe’sabsence is a physical ache, a hollowness that follows me through Guardian HRS like a shadow. It’s been twenty-four hours since they left, and the lack of communication is starting to wear on me. I check my phone obsessively, even though I know they can’t call during operations.

“They’re fine,” Malia assures me as we close up Guardian Grind for the night. “They look out for each other.”

I nod, not trusting my voice. The rational part of my brain knows she’s right. Charlie team is elite, trained for exactly these situations. But the knot in my stomach refuses to loosen.

“Ready for another movie night?” Malia smiles, though it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Safety in numbers. That’s what Stitch said.”

“Who’s Stitch?”

“Sorry, I forget you’re new here. Stitch is amazing. She’s a hacker. Got caught hacking into the NSA, was going to spend decades locked up, but Mitzy got her paroled,”

“Paroled?”

“Well, I don’t know if that’s the right term, but Mitzy worked something out with the Justice Department. If Stitch agreed to workfor Guardian HRS, her sentence wascommuted? Anyway, she and Jeb are a thing. Jeb was on Charlie team before a building basically came down around him and Stitch. He works with her and the techies now.”

“Wow. Now that’s a story.”

”Yeah. Technically, she’s a Charlie’s Angel, too. And speaking of … with Charlie team still out, it’s another movie night tonight.”

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