Page 5 of Savage Ruin
A warm, dark hand comes down on top of mine. Following it up to its owner, I see the concern in Thiago’s eyes. And guilt. Loads of guilt. I tense.
“Mateo got the message you sent, but it didn’t contain enough information for us to find you. We would never have made it in time.” His voice is gruff and full of emotion as he admits this to me. The torment he felt at that moment is also reflected in his eyes. “We had help. Shortly after your message, Mateo received a video on the same channel you used to send the text. It was taken from a webcam, and it showed you sitting in front of it, beaten, with Diego behind you. Proof of its validity.”
I can see he isn’t going to be deterred, so I swallow and motion for him to go on.
“The video offered to exchange your location for unpublished software. We didn’t have much because Marcos kept everything in his office, but we had the two projects he sent you in the will. Mateo found them in your backpack. We promised him the AR/VR glasses along with the code,” he reveals slowly, as if he’s not sure how I’ll react.
I tilt my head while I think back to that moment. “I saw the webcam light on and knew someone was watching. I thought it might be the invisible man from the video since Diego seemed to delight in infuriating him. The request to trade for software sort of confirms it. He’s desperate. I’m sure his boss is furious with him for failing to decipher the key to unlock the AR software. He needed something to stay in their good graces,” I muse, satisfaction coloring my voice for a second.
When I see the guilt on all their faces, I realize I need to be just as transparent. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I continue. “Right before you got there, I figured you weren’t going to make it. How could you? I didn’t have a clue where I was, and the scant information I sent had been a Hail Mary in the last second of the final quarter. I thought—why continue to hope? Diego’s patience was gone. My time was up. The enemy won the battle, and I would pay the price.”
I clench my hands tightly together to help me get through the last bit. “I deliberately goaded Diego, hoping he’d make it quick and shoot me. Unfortunately, I pissed him off too much because he did the exact opposite of what I wanted him to do. At the time, I thought it was the stupidest decision I’d ever made, but it turned out to be the smartest. If he hadn’t decided to drag it out, I likely wouldn’t be here now.” The beating gave them the necessary minutes to get to me, although to say it sucked is a gross understatement.
Thiago’s face fills with a stormy expression.
Mateo shoves his hands through his thick hair and tugs hard. Grayson turns to look out the window.
“I’m thankful you didn’t give up, and I couldn’t care less about the glasses,” I say fervently, although I’m not sure the last part is one hundred percent true. A couple of tears slip down my cheeks when I think about those last few minutes in the warehouse. The thought of dying without having truly lived had been brutal and devastating. Relieved to have a second chance, I look up to find all three men staring at me. “Another minute, and I wouldn’t be here. Who took the shot?”
“Cruz,” Grayson replies hoarsely, his voice filled with emotion.
Hmm,I wonder if that’s the cause of the friction between Cruz and Thiago?
“Good. Cruz and I are absolutely even now. Once I get back, I’ll have to…”
Thiago holds up his hand. “No. This isn’t negotiable, Henley. The war isn’t over by a long shot. We don’t know who’s behind everything, how deep the corruption is at SEI or how far they’re willing to take things. More importantly, the enemy knows you’re involved now, and they can identify you. None of us wants you out of our sight. Instead, we want you to move into our house. It will be safer if we stay together.”
All three of them look like they’re holding their breath, waiting for me to protest.
As if.
My sigh of relief is loud and long. I might have made it through the last few weeks by myself, but going forward, I’ll take all the help and protection they’re willing to give me. It’s going to get ugly before the end, but I’m determined to make it out alive and find a real life not the half-life I’ve been living.
“Good.” I pause. “Our enemies are going to be really pissed when I release the AR software.”
CHAPTER3
HENLEY
Mateo jerks at the bomb I just dropped. “Wait, you have the software? An un-encrypted copy?”
“Marcos left two copies of the software. The flash drive I retrieved from his office the night of the explosion contained an encrypted copy, but I needed the key to un-encrypt it. His instructions sent me to find two files, so I knew the key could only be found with both.”
“But you didn’t take the file from SEI’s servers,” Mateo interjects.
“Right, but I didn’t need the actual copy. He named the file on the flash drive “Meus” and the file on SEI’s server “Pequenos Selvagens”, and the two together…”
“Meus pequenos selvagens,” Mateo states hoarsely, looking over at Thiago and Grayson. All three of them exchange silent words. “He used our phrase to encrypt the software. Even Diego wouldn’t have put much thought into an endearment he might have heard when we were kids. It only meant something to Marcos and us.” He chuckles and looks to heaven like he knows Marcos is listening. “Always one step ahead, even when your back is to the wall and time is limited. Something so incredibly simple, yet known only to a select few. Brilliant.” He returns his gaze to me. “How did you know?”
“Grayson and Marcos had the same picture on their desks, but Grayson’s had the moniker engraved on it,” I admit softly. “I snapped a pic when I saw the frame because I thought it might be a possibility. Unfortunately, the risk was too high to test the phrase because I didn’t know if Marcos had included any type of lockout threshold to limit the number of attempts. But when I saw the second file name, I knew it was the key. It’s why I didn’t need to download the additional copy from the server.”
“What are you going to do with the software?” Thiago asks gruffly, his voice strained with emotion.
“Get it into the hands of every doctor on the planet,” I reply with determination. “I’m not sure how I’m going to distribute it yet, so I’m open to ideas. I don’t want to put it up for auction again, but I’d like to generate some money for it. It took a lot of hours to create, and we put off finishing anything else. Without the revenue, we won’t have a donation for the rescue foundation, nor will we have seed money for new projects.” I bite my lip, thinking about the invisible man. “My biggest challenge is finding a way to prevent it from being pirated before it’s widely available.” I roll my neck to ease the tension creeping up the sides.
A firm hand cups the back of my neck and massages the tense muscles. “We’ll figure it out together,” Thiago states firmly. “For now, let’s go home. We need to get you better first.” His face is full of strength and confidence, and a tiny kernel of hope unfurls inside me.
* * *
