Earthlight Space Academy Boxset by Heather Lee Dyer

Author:Heather Lee Dyer [Dyer, Heather Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781735037714
Publisher: Amethyst Rush Press, LLC
Published: 2020-07-13T22:00:00+00:00

13

Going on Offense

When the lift opens the smell of fresh cut wood is intoxicating. I inhale deeply.

Before the New China government bulldozed the forests to create the Dragon Wall, it was a treat to travel across the border. Cam and I would walk through the thickets and smell the pine needles, freshly budding maple leaves, and enjoy the muted sunshine filtered through the upper branches.

I make a beeline for the back wall. Philip is sitting at a worktable and his eyes go wide when he sees Rand and Kai with me.

“Hey, Philip. Thanks for meeting us here to go over the project.” I talk slowly, probably making him think I’m a bit dense, but I don’t want him to say anything.

I point to the back wall and then to my tablet.

His face pinches in confusion. But he follows me over to a metal cabinet and opens the heavy doors for me. I place my tablet in the middle and he closes and seals it.

I turn to find all three guys staring at me. I motion away from the cabinet. On the other side of the room I finally say, “Philip says that cabinet is lined with something that will block any signals coming in or out of the tablet while it’s in there.”

Rand and Kai nod in understanding, but Philip looks like a rabbit about to be eaten by a coyote.

I smile at Philip. “Sorry I couldn’t explain earlier. But I need your help.” I take a deep breath and tell him about the anonymous messages and security trying to help out by adding the bugging square.

“I think we need to figure out who this is ourselves, since it doesn’t seem that security will.”

“And you believe I can do what the SIA can’t?” he asks, his voice squeaking a bit.

“Yes. You’re the smartest person I know with computer systems.”

His eyebrows rise. “You must not know many people.”

I chuckle. “True, but I do have an uncanny sense about people. Just watching you work those equations during our project time showed me that you know way more than you let on.”

He looks nervously between the three of us.

“You can trust these two. They’re my friends.” I introduce them, although I’m sure Philip already knows who they are.

Philip doesn’t look convinced, but he nods. “As long as no one finds out.” His pale face blushes a light pink and he takes a quick glance at Rand.

“You’re afraid of Josh and his friends finding out you’re helping us, aren’t you?” I ask gently.

“It’s not like I can fight them off.” His lips pull into a tight line.

“Trust me, I understand. It’ll just be between us. If they even suspect anything, just say it’s related to our class project.”

He nods slowly. “All right. What exactly do you want me to try to do?”

I smile. “I need to track down where the messages are coming from. The SIA has traced it back to their space net system, but they can’t narrow it further. This guy is threatening my little brother.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.