Page 39 of Jump or Fall
Thefuckingdoor.
Dawson could see what time the biometrics were used to unlock it.
“Shit. Shit. Shit.”
She bolted to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face, her hands shaking.
The damn door. How did she not think of that?
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a small slot in the mirror—the same size as the key Gordon had given her. He mentioned when they’d met that he had an override key since his hand alone wouldn’t have worked.
A deep unease twisted in her gut. She needed to ask him for an override. But since he had wiped their chat log, she had no way to contact him.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and forced herself to eat a protein bar, choking it down with some water. It sat heavy in her stomach, but she needed the fuel.
Minutes ticked by, her stomach roiling.
Damn it. She couldn’t sit in her cage anymore. Even if she had to sit in the tunnel by herself, it would be better than this.
If Max was outside, then chances were Dawson was elsewhere. Probably being entertained by his new favorite.
She flipped on the television and slipped the modified gauntlets onto her hands.
Her eyes landed on the helmet. It couldn’t stay here—not with Dawson’s increased scrutiny. If he searched her apartment, he might take it away.
Mara shoved the helmet into a bag. It bulged awkwardly, but she didn’t care. Everyone in the building knew where she worked; no one would think twice if they saw her carrying a helmet.
She made it downstairs without anyone seeing and slipped out through the back exit.
The tension eased from her shoulders slightly, but she was still jumpy. The night air wrapped around her, thick with humidity and the distant scent of rain. She was starting to look forward to the secretive nighttime walks. Even while constantly looking over her shoulder, it was the only time she felt free.
Once she made it to the tunnel, she did a quick look around for any watchful eyes and retreated inside.
She took a seat on a ledge and pulled out the helmet. The synth-mind was already installed in this one. Another secret.
She powered it on and admired the amplified vision. A tap on the right zoomed in and out; a tap on the left toggled the thermal vision.
Mara got to her feet and roamed the tunnel, memorizing the painted symbols along the walls.
The thermal view revealed all the hidden details; a rat scurrying to her left, and a snake slithering into a crack in the wall to her right.
At a junction with four possible paths, she stopped and listened carefully.
There was a faint, rhythmic sound echoing through the space. The direction of its source was hard to place.
She tapped the forehead of the helmet to activate the eye. A dull whir filled the silence as it processed the data. Predictions appeared in the heads-up. It scrapped some and recalculated and at a pace that was impossible to follow. Finally, it settled on the most likely outcome: a human approaching from the second tunnel on the left.
Heart pounding with excitement, she waited. It settled on ninety-eight percent certainty.
She held her breath.
The steps grew louder.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Almost.
Gordon appeared from the exact predicted location.
