Game of Fear (Montgomery Justice #3)(82)

Niko moved aside. “Let’s go. You’re almost out of time. Go to your computer desk and finish your assignment.”

Ashley rose and stared at him, but didn’t press further. She passed the tray of instruments on her way out.

“Don’t make me regret helping you,” Niko said softly, then opened the door. “He would have used them.”

Several armed guards marched down the hall, on alert, their weapons at the ready.

Niko shoved her into the corridor, then glared down at her. “Don’t try to remove that bracelet, Lansing. We’ve had enough of your tricks. It’s an automatic death penalty if you’re caught.”

One guard snickered and Niko gave her yet another hard shove in the direction of the computer rooms. “Walk faster. You have a lot of work to do.”

Ashley strode through the corridor beside Niko. Every third step, the bracelet around her ankle vibrated. Weird. It both tickled and hurt a little.

They finally reached the computer room and went inside.

No one spoke to her. In fact, a few even glared. She sat down at yet another new terminal. The monitor flickered on. She had to believe Justin and Dave would get to Deb. But could they do it soon enough? She had to have a backup plan. With a sigh, she straightened her crooked keyboard. An odd scraping sound followed the movement. One end of the unit tilted upward. A small piece of metal stuck out below the left edge.

Careful not to draw attention to herself, she placed her hand over the metal and grabbed it.

She fired up her computer and while it booted, she slid her hand to her lap and opened her fist. In her palm lay a tiny screwdriver with a very odd-shaped end. She didn’t recognize the metal it was made from, but she guessed what it was. Had Niko done this? When?

Even more important . . . why?

She pretended to cough and while bringing her hand back down from her mouth, slid the small screwdriver into the top of her bra. Her heart beat wildly. She swallowed hard to calm herself, even though that hurt like hell. If this meant that there was a chance she could escape, then she knew what she had to do.

She clicked various keys and entered the appropriate program. The subroutine she’d been working on in the background flooded the screen. It had taken forever to complete it. With the Warden and guards reviewing keystrokes, she’d had to go back and forth between commands so no one could infer her intent.

If she simply added this code, the program would leave a trail for the cybersecurity experts to follow.

She typed in a few keystrokes.

Immediately a red box flashed on her screen. “Don’t do it. They’ll know.”

She paled. Oh God. Someone knew. She closed her eyes. This was it. She deleted the keys and waited.

One minute. Two minutes. Five minutes passed.

Very carefully, she started back in. She had to be smarter. Yes. The administrative system. Just like before. Eat away at the program from the least likely point of failure. She burrowed in, keeping her regular program running on the surface. There had to be a way.

She half expected to be torn away from her terminal any second and dragged to the killing corner like Fletcher, but it didn’t happen. Terrified, but resolute, she planted the virus. The problem was, she had to trigger it live.

She’d just have to pray she could time it correctly.

If the virus remained dormant, nothing could be done to stop the Warden’s plans. Not unless Deb got here.

Eventually, they’d catch Ashley and she’d pay the price, but she no longer cared.

She was a Lansing, and maybe she couldn’t fight physically, like the rest of her family, but she certainly wasn’t defenseless. She had a brain that worked differently than most people’s. She’d always resented being so different. Right now, she was glad.

She, Ashley Lansing, sixteen-year-old brainiac geek, was going to take these suckers down or die trying. She would never regret being smart again.

She went back to her NSA program, knowing she’d have to give up the module tomorrow. Could she get word to Floyd about the virus in case they chose him instead?

The Warden had been keeping them far apart.

She’d have to play along until curfew. Then, maybe, Niko would tell her what the plan was and when she should take the ankle bracelet off. Two more kids had finished today . . . then disappeared. She didn’t know where they’d gone, but she didn’t think she’d see them again.

On a last-ditch prayer, she reset the security grids. The defenses they’d added to keep her out were laughable. But if she didn’t trip the sensors, then no one would know that the barriers would come down again tomorrow.

She only prayed she could find a way out and take some people with her, because as much as she loved her sister, she didn’t know if Deb could make it in time. Justin and Dave didn’t know they were set to be eliminated tomorrow.

Of course, if her sister had taught her one thing it was to never give up, never surrender. Okay, maybe that was the mantra from Galaxy Quest, but same difference. She’d fight to the end.

Ashley had one person to count on to get out of this place. And that was herself.





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CHAPTER TWENTY




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THE LEARJET’S PASSENGERS had been deathly quiet during takeoff.

Deb watched the others warily. Tension was so thick it was suffocating. The look Zach gave Gabe promised eventual retribution for keeping the existence of a half sister from him.