Page 97 of Never Again

“Yes, you did. You sent it to me last night, telling me that you needed my help. You said that Bailey was locked out of the server and she couldn’t remember the answers to the security questions that she’d set up and was hoping that I could help refresh her memory,” Kelly rushed to explain as Quinn watched Nathan and Casey go still.

“What kind of questions did he ask you?” Nathan asked as Quinn watched Tristan pull the phone that he’d confiscated off Kelly out of his pocket and tossed it to him. Without a word, Quinn caught it and slid it across the table to Nathan, who quickly handed it off to Casey.

“He wanted to know who Bailey’s favorite teacher was, what her first pet’s name was growing up, and where she was born,” Kelly said with a helpless shrug as Casey gained access to her phone really fucking fast and began searching through it and-

“They’re all in voice texts, even the ones sent out,” Casey said, frowning as she hit the first message, which was an artificial man’s voice asking Kelly to come here this morning.

“That isn’t my voice,” Quinn pointed out.

Licking her lips nervously, Kelly said, “I have dyslexia and dyscalculia. I c-can’t read letters or numbers. That’s why I used to make Bailey’s life a living hell. She found out and-”

“You thought that she was going to tell someone,” Quinn finished for her as a thought occurred to him. “And your criminal record?”

“Steve and Jennifer stole my social worker’s identity and used it to open credit cards and forged her checks. They used my bank account to deposit the checks. I didn’t know what they were doing until the police showed up at school, and by then, it was too late. The judge didn’t believe me because I’d deposited one of the checks into my account after Jennifer told me that it was my monthly stipend from the state. I couldn’t read the name on the check,” Kelly explained with a helpless shrug.

“Did anyone else at Haven Technologies know about this?” Quinn asked as he shared a look with Tristan.

“No,” Kelly said hoarsely, “Bailey made sure that no one found out.”

“Everything from her email to her calculator is tied to an A.I. voice program,” Casey said, looking even more confused than she was a minute ago. “She doesn’t have cell service and nothing is coming up for a Wi-Fi search.”

“Everything is down,” Tristan explained, watching Casey’s frown deepen as she slowly looked up from the phone.

“They’re blocking the cellphone signals and Wi-Fi to make sure that we can’t stop them,” Casey said, confirming their suspicions.

“They’re cutting us off,” Nathan said, making him wonder what they were up to.

“She shouldn’t be able to access the server without internet,” Casey said, looking lost in thought as she glanced from the cellphone on the table to the backstairs and-

“She knew my name.”

CHAPTER56

“Bailey?” came the soft whisper as the hand on her shoulder gently shook her. “You need to wake up.”

When she didn’t open her eyes, there was another shake, an annoyed sigh, and then the sounds of the bedroom door opening and clicking shut a few seconds later. Bailey kept her eyes closed as she lay there, counting to fifty in her head before she slowly opened them and-

“What gave me away?” Jess asked from the comfort of the oversized leather chair in the corner, looking completely relaxed while Bailey struggled to remember how to breathe as she took in the gun aimed in her direction.

“The virus,” Bailey said, swallowing hard as she glanced up to find Jess frowning until she added, “You hate spaces and you always use your initials to name your functions.”

Sighing heavily, Jess said, “I had a feeling that was going to be my downfall one day.”

“You know that this isn’t going to end the way that you think it will, right?” Bailey pointed out as she slowly pushed the covers off and sat up, deciding that her best option at the moment was to keep Jess talking until she figured a way out of this mess.

“You have no idea how I expect this to end,” Jess said as she gave the gun in her hand a small shake, gesturing towards the black laptop on the small table to her left.

“You could always tell me,” Bailey said as she moved to climb off the bed, her gaze remaining locked on the gun that was aimed at her chest.

“I could…” Jess murmured absently as her gaze shifted to the bedroom door.

“He’s never going to let you get away with this,” Bailey said, having absolutely no idea how Jess got in here, but she prayed that Quinn was safe.

“I think he’ll have other things to worry about than me,” Jess said as her gaze shifted back to her.

“Meaning?” Bailey asked, swallowing hard as she kept her gaze on the gun while she slowly moved across the room towards the table.

“That it would be in your best interest to stop trying to stall,” Jess said with a pointed look at the laptop.

---