Grandfather Guardian by Anthony W. Eichenlaub

Author:Anthony W. Eichenlaub [Anthony W. Eichenlaub]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Anthony W. Eichenlaub
Published: 2023-03-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

“Give me access,” Ajay said through his comm as he stalked through the dark walls.

“I’m a little busy,” responded Melinda. In the feed, he could see her orchestrating the defense. Waves of drones assaulted the property. They closed off access to the Civil War room, but three drones were already moving through the ducts.

“There are a thousand variables in a thousand locations, Melinda,” Ajay said.

“And I’m not giving you control of any of them.”

“Somehow I don’t think you feel quite the same urgency behind those bulletproof windows.” He pushed open an unmarked passage and found himself behind the refrigerator where he had been trying to hack the security node. “Tell me about the school.”

The woman was silent for a long time. “It’s survival training,” she finally said. “A lot of families send their kids to it.”

“Is Jocelyn listening right now?” When Melinda didn’t answer, Ajay said, “Give me access or I’ll take it.”

“You try that and the defense grid will collapse. You’ll fry every machine in the room.” She lowered her voice. “You might even start a fire.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

Melinda said, “If you run that program, you’re going to compromise security, fire response, maintenance. Even the cleaning bots will fail.”

Ajay stopped on the narrow stairs. “Cleaning bots,” he mused. He had seen them in the corners, but something didn’t quite click. “Everything is on the same network?”

“You’ll shut the whole security system down. How do you think things will go, then?”

“I’m guessing the cleaning bots would need to get involved.” Ajay’s hand hovered over the controls. He plugged into the box. It would take nothing to execute his sequence.

But what if Melinda wasn’t lying? If this did bring everything down, even temporarily, would that be enough to let Parks in? Quinn had gotten in while the system was up. Why not Parks?

The walls shook, and dust cascaded from the ceiling. The drones were getting close. He needed to act quickly.

“Olexie,” he said through his comm. The old Russian appeared in the corner of his vision. “Move your people to the foyer.”

“It’s just me here,” Olexie replied.

“Just you? Where are Zach and Benedict? You were supposed to keep an eye on them.”

“People have jobs to do. Not everyone can afford retirement.”

“Being a cook was just a cover. Doesn’t the countercapitalist group pay your bills?”

Olexie grumbled several seconds before answering, “CCS is not exactly well funded.”

“What do you know about Benedict, by the way?” Ajay asked.

“He started here not long before I did. He makes a pretty good crème brûlée.”

“What?”

“You know, with the sugar crust.” Olexie mimed breaking the crust off the top of a crème brûlée and eating it. “Even a bad one is wonderful, but Benedict’s were…” Olexie kissed his fingertips.

With a grunt of frustration, Ajay said, “Just get to the foyer,” and closed the line.

He stared at the security router. A whine of power buzzed, and he remembered all the times he’d executed hacks and failed. Even the best hackers didn’t do everything right on the first try. Not by a long shot.

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