Page 242 of The Texas Sterling Collection
“Hi, Garrett. What’s up?”
“I thought you should know that Dr. MacGowan escalated things. He wants everything entered by Friday evening.”
“Interesting news, Garrett. Thanks for letting me know. I’ll pass it on.”
“I’ll call you if anything else unusual happens.”
“You did well, my friend.”
“Thanks,” Garrett disconnected. He hoped everyone on both sides would be okay.
* * *
Wyl spent Thursday and Friday in the lab, answering questions and assisting students with entering their projects. By Friday afternoon, all work was entered, and the project was in the database, ready for the trial run. Wyl knew the trial run would fail, but wanted Ailbe to discover that for himself.
“Everything is in, Ailbe.” Wyl stood outside Ailbe’s office. “Do you want me to come for the trial run tomorrow?”
“No, Wyl. You and Rod enjoy your weekend. I’m sure there is a bit of tweaking, but we can handle that next week.”
“You and Declan have a good weekend. Rod and I may go up to the horse ranch and spend the weekend on horseback.”
“Sounds like a good idea, Wyl. What’s that place again? Free-Willy or something?” Ailbe asked.
“Carrowholly.” Wyl chuckled. “Westport County. I called to check them out, and they’d love to have two Texans straddling their steeds.”
Ailbe laughed. “Well, have fun. We’ll catch up next week.”
Wyl turned and left. Everything was ready for launch, or at least that’s what he wanted Ailbe to believe.
* * *
Wyl walked into the flat. “Hi, babe.”
“Hi, yourself. How was your day?”
“Interesting. Ailbe is ready to launch a full week ahead of schedule. I need to let Cross know.”
Concern scrunched Rod’s face. Things were moving more quickly than either of them anticipated.
Wyl pulled out his government cell phone and dialed Glenn’s MI-6 number.
“Cross,” Glenn answered.
“Glenn, Wyl here. I have news.”
“You sound worried, Wyl.”
“Ailbe is ready to launch. All codes are entered. He’s planning a trial run-through tomorrow.”
“Garrett Burke called to let me know the students were entering their projects with a deadline of today. I figured MacGowan wanted to launch early.”
“The launch won’t work. I inserted a step that will stop it before it completes. The sequence will fail when Ailbe does the test run, and the project will abort unless he enters the correct information.”
“I’m sure you remember the correct information, right?” Glenn said.
“There isn’t any. It’s three spaces. Anything else, and the program will abort.”
“That’s good, but we know how determined he is. You and Rod should be extra careful. When he runs that program, and it fails, he’ll want your help.”
