Page 98 of Coldwire
My jaw drops. “That’s… absurd.”
“Think about what the bot was seeing. It’s rolling after us now. Give me a little kiss on the cheek.”
He’s only trying to be funny, but I feel my stomach do a nosedive nonetheless. It must be nerves from almost getting caught. I can’t believe he’d make light of the situation.
“Come on.” Kieren makes little kissy noises, as if that’s supposed to encourage me. I huff a breath, lean in, then bite him.
Kieren jerks away.
“Lia. Ow.”
“You’re so cute when you’re being nibbled on.” It was more satisfying than I’d have thought to get a mouthful of his face. “Can’t risk a kiss. We don’t want you getting a crush again, do we?”
The bot has entered a new exhibit. Kieren scoffs, pulling ahead. “Using my moment of vulnerability against me, I see. For shame.”
For a moment it really seems that I’ve hurt his feelings. He’s looking ahead, his shoulders stiff. I don’t understand at what point we switched from lighthearted to serious.
“Kieren—”
He turns around. There’s no hurt in his expression. The sight of his neutral manner should bring me relief, but another bout of nerves twists through my stomach.
What ishappeningto me?
I stride ahead. We’re approaching the exit, the light of the main atrium washing us white. “Bet I’ll get outside faster than you.”
27EIRALE
Blistering heat from the explosion licks into the basement, then recedes as the damage settles. A large piece of debris has fallen directly over us, propped up by the stair railing. The second floor has collapsed, raining chunks of ceiling plaster onto the ground level.
Slowly, I shift around, taking inventory to check for injuries. Through a tiny gap in the debris—a pinhole barely wider than my finger—I catch sight of broken steel pipes jutting out of the walls and rubble that has scattered to cover the stairwell. We would have been crushed where we stood if we hadn’t moved. I imagine Miz and Blare should have avoided most of the blow outside. The impact shot downward, not outward. And fortunately for Nik, both of his stolen server boxes were thrown out already with Miz and Blare.
Nik stirs, blinking hard under his glasses as he tries to adjust. I think he might have hit his head when the debris scattered, but I don’t have time to sympathize. He makes a confused noise, and I shush him.
“Be quiet,” I hiss.
I listen hard, trying to trace the path that the Medan authorities are taking as they enter the facility. Their boots crunch noisily on broken glass. Someone calls for them to disperse and ensure the space is clear; anotherofficer asks for confirmation about what they were called in about, and he gets a reply that there was a possible intrusion alert. One that succeeded, they say, given this mess.
Nik winces again, and I clamp down on his ankle in threat.
Footsteps press to the back stairwell. I inch lower, ducking under the line of light streaming through the pinhole in the debris. The steps keep moving after performing an inspection of the rubble.
“Hey,” I whisper to Nik, releasing his ankle. “We should wait it out. We can leave when the city police give their all clear. I don’t want to run into the units they’ve got around the perimeter.”
Nik doesn’t say anything in response, save for a grunt. I try to find a comfortable way to hunch beneath the slab of debris. My leg is caught at a cramped angle. I’m awkwardly situated, not wanting to sidle too close to Nik.
“Explosion came from the second floor. Surveillance tapes were stored locally there,” a faint voice reports near the front. “One camera at reception and one camera outside. Looks like our intruders wanted to get rid of the evidence.”
“Any damage?”
“No damage to the servers, but breaches in both rooms for National Defense. We’ll get an engineer in. Make a report of what was taken.”
While the police go back and forth over the rubble, Nik slowly lifts himself up from his slumped position. I’m relieved to see his bag on his shoulders: he didn’t drop it in our dive down, so there won’t be any signs pointing to the two of us hiding in the debris. I stay alert, waiting, listening, but the police don’t circle into the back stairwell again.
“Don’t move too much,” I murmur. “They’re still there.”
The police are in and out multiple times as the hour passes. New voices, streaming through the lobby and coming down the ground-floor corridor. Long red and blue lights as larger cars pull up. I have plenty of patience to stay put exactly where I am.
Nik, meanwhile, keeps drooping his head.
