Page 94 of Never Again

After making sure that she had everything set up, Bailey shot the closed office door one last look before she turned on the laptop and-

“MmmmBop!”

-felt her lips pull up into a smile when she saw what was waiting for her. In a matter of seconds, her program was taking control of the virus that had made its way onto Quinn’s computer along with quite a few of Haven Technologies’ files from the server. While she enjoyed a sip of Coke, Bailey absently nodded along to the song that was most likely meant to torment the receiver only to release a disappointed sigh when her program turned it off seconds later.

By the time her program finished scanning the virus, Bailey managed to finish off the first Coke and was taking a sip of her second Coke as she waited for her it to finish summarizing the virus and-

“Oh, that can’t be good,” Bailey murmured absently when she noted that the Wi-Fi had been turned off. Curious, Bailey reached over and picked up Quinn’s cellphone and turned it on only to sigh a moment later when she saw that there was no cellphone service either.

“Interesting,” Bailey mumbled, taking another sip of Coke as she shifted her attention back to the laptop, noting that the summary was ready.

“Hmm,” Bailey murmured as she read through the file, her frown deepening with every line that she read, looking for anything that would give the creator away, but there was nothing.

She also didn’t understand why this program had been released into Haven Technologies’ system, especially since it appeared as though it had been released to protect their files. It didn’t make sense, Bailey thought, going through the notes one more time before sighing heavily as she removed the thumb drive and went to grab the next one only to rethink that decision and reached for the one at the end. She never had to use this one before, but then again, something about this whole situation told her that she was going to need it.

Praying that this worked, Bailey slid the thumb drive into the slot, and after a few clicks, she told her program what she wanted it to do. After a slight pause, her program did what she’d created it to do and took over the unknown program, finding out everything that it could about it, when it was sent, and what it was meant to do.

Two beeps later, Bailey had her answer as she was presented with the virus that had been released into Haven Technologies’ system, making her swallow hard until she realized that the unknown virus had been stopped completely in its track, had been taken over, and sent back to the source.

Whoever was behind this was hoping that they’d focus on the virus meant to destroy their system and ignore the fact that they’d also tried to steal all their files. Whoever released the second virus had saved them from a nightmare, Bailey thought as she looked for the original virus, searching through the program that saved Haven Technologies and once again wondered who wrote this. She didn’t recognize this coding style, but she recognized the one that it stopped.

CHAPTER55

“Start talking,” Quinn said as he kept his gaze locked on the small woman who’d taken them by surprise when she’d walked up to the front door and rang the fucking bell.

“Just as soon you tell me what’s going on,” Nathan said as his gaze remained locked on Kelly as he pushed the small woman that had a lot of explaining to do behind his back when she moved to yank her hand free.

“Thanks for waiting for me,” Jess said with a heartfelt sigh as she walked into the house only to follow that up with, “What the hell’s going on?” when she spotted Kelly kneeling on the hardwood floor with her arms handcuffed behind her back.

“That’s what we’re about to find out,” Tristan said as his gaze remained locked on Pam as Nathan was once again forced to push her back. “Is this who I think it is?”

“Yes,” Quinn said, pushing away from the wall as he pulled another set of handcuffs from his pocket.

“Where’s Bailey?” Pam demanded as she glanced from Tristan to him.

“Somewhere safe,” Quinn said, pushing one of the metal cuffs open with his thumb as he made his way across the foyer towards her only to frown when he heard it.

“What the hell is that?” Tristan demanded when what sounded suspiciously like“Mmmbop”suddenly filled the house.

“My calling card,” Pam said with a satisfied sigh as Quinn shared a look with Tristan just as the music suddenly stopped playing.

After a slight nod, Quinn tossed the handcuffs to Tristan and made his way upstairs with Nathan close behind. Within seconds, he was cursing when he spotted the empty bedroom and moved his ass towards the backstairs, through the kitchen, down the back hall only to regret not locking the little pain in the ass that he loved more than anything in a closet when he spotted her slumped over Tristan’s desk before taking in the empty Coke cans next to her.

“Glad to see that you’re taking care of my sister,” Nathan drawled as he moved to go to Bailey only to end up glaring when Quinn beat him to it.

She really was a pain in his ass, Quinn thought, kissing her forehead before he tossed her over his shoulder and-

Fucking sighed when she started humming the theme song to “The X-Files” against his back. She really was too fucking adorable for words, Quinn thought as he started making his way back down the long hallway towards the foyer.

“I have no fucking idea what’s going on,” Quinn admitted, carefully shifting Bailey over his shoulder as he glanced towards the foyer, noting that it was empty before he made his way into the kitchen.

“You honestly expect me to believe that?” Nathan demanded as they walked into the kitchen to find Kelly sitting at the table, looking lost while Pam glared at him as she pointedly raised her cuffed hands.

Ignoring her, Quinn said, “I really don’t fucking care what you believe,” as he kept moving, noting the curious gaze that Jess was throwing Kelly and Pam or whatever the hell she was calling herself before reluctantly shifting her focus back to her laptop with a heartfelt sigh.

“And why’s that?” Nathan asked as they headed for the backstairs.

“Because you think that I had something to do with this,” Quinn pointed out as he made his way up the back stairs, praying every step of the way that Bailey took pity on him and stayed passed out until after this was all over.

---