The Girl Who Dared to Think 7: The Girl Who Dared to Fight

“It’s true,” she announced a few moments later, handing the pad back to me. “A virus was sent to him, but it has not been uploaded yet.”

I took it back, and then smiled at him. “Lidecher, I’m going to need your net, if that’s all right. Got some important calls to make. We’re also going to take your partner’s, to keep you from calling anyone and telling them you were unable to complete your mission. I’d prefer not to sedate you both to do it, but if I have to…”

I trailed off and turned to the wall, where I’d seen a first-aid kit sitting—right where it was supposed to be, per Tower protocol.

“Sure,” Lidecher said obsequiously. “But you realize that you can only use it to connect to other Eyes, right?”

I paused in pulling the bag from the compartment on the wall, and then shrugged it off. It was disappointing, yes—I had been hoping to call Leo and Grey and warn them about the legacies, if they didn’t know already—but that didn’t mean I didn’t have anyone to talk to. In fact, if there was anyone I needed to talk to, it was an Eye. And luckily, I had one in my pocket. “No matter. It can be used for other things,” I informed him. “Now, would you like to sit or stand?”

He eyed me and the bag, and then his eyes flicked to the chair. “Sit, I think.”

“Excellent choice. Dylan, would you mind extracting his net, please?”

Dylan came up beside me, and then hesitated. “Liana, you know we can’t use someone else’s net. The DNA scanner won’t accept another user.”

I pressed my lips together in frustration. She was right, of course. If I had Leo here, he could undoubtedly override it—and Quess as well, for that matter. The rest of the security features wouldn’t matter with the power out, but the DNA one was tricky. I thought about it for a second, and then noticed Lidecher shifting uncomfortably, as if he had a secret that no one else did. As if he knew exactly how to do just what I needed to do.

“Lidecher? You have something you want to share with the class?”

Lidecher cringed, and then gave me a furtive look. “I can do it for you,” he whispered. “But… But I need assurances that no one will find out about this. They’ll put me to death if they find out.”

I hesitated, wondering why he would betray his department like that, and then realized I didn’t care. I’d promise him the moon if he could help me get this net working. I needed information, and this net could help me get it.

I looked at Lynch. “I assume that if you survive what’s happening, you could find some way of hiding him?”

Lynch studied us both for a second, and then nodded. “Lacey gave us all alternative identities if our cover was ever blown. He can have mine. It’s in Water Treatment. He’ll have a contact there, one of Strum’s people. If she survived, she’ll cover for him.”

I turned back to Lidecher and raised an eyebrow. “Is that enough?”

He nodded nervously and then turned around. “Go ahead and remove it. I’ll need a minute or two to overload the circuit responsible for the DNA lockout.”

Dylan didn’t need to be told twice, and quickly moved to do it. I looked down at my watch and saw that we had lost four minutes with all this, giving us only ten more to get to Tony before Sage did.

A rush of impatience surged through me, but I shut it out, crossed my arms, and waited.





Three minutes later, I was trying not to wince as Dylan took the laser cutter to the back of my neck, the sting of it both familiar and irritating by this point. I’d changed my net out so often in the past month or so that it was beginning to feel commonplace. She slipped the modified net in, and before she could even seal up the slit she had cut, I felt the tendrils of the net begin to unfurl, creeping along my cerebral cortex like vines growing across the earth. I breathed through the process, closing my eyes against the image of slender fingers reaching out to grip my brain, and slowly counted off the seconds in my head.

By thirteen, the sensation had passed and Dylan had pressed a small amount of bio-foam into the wound, sealing it shut. I rotated my neck a few times, trying to release some of the tension, and then nodded at Dylan.

“It’ll do. Let’s go. We only have”—I paused long enough to check my watch, and then looked back up at her—“seven minutes to get to Tony.”

“Roger,” she replied, gathering up the items from the med kit and placing them back in the bag.

I turned away, focusing on Lynch. “Are you okay to watch them?” I asked.

He nodded. “I already called for backup, but I’ll be fine. I kept one of the pulse shields they were using, so if they step out of line…” He trailed off and gave Lidecher a speculative look.

Lidecher paled, his black eyes darting to me. “He’s not going to hurt me, is he?”

“Depends on whether you try anything stupid,” I replied indifferently, picking up his bag and slinging it over my shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll be fine, though. You seem to be good at making smart choices. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

I pivoted on my heel and headed out the door into the hall, moving a few feet away. Then I said, “Contact Dinah Velasquez, IT005-65C.”

I felt a moment’s apprehension as I waited for the familiar buzz to begin, but quickly let it go as the net kicked in a moment later, telling me it was transmitting. As I waited for Dinah to pick up, I waved Dylan forward, pointing down the hall.

There was nothing in the rulebook that said I couldn’t multitask.

Dylan led the way to the next door, the one that held the server farms responsible for controlling entry and exit from Cogstown, and housed Tony’s program. We were halfway down the hall when Dinah accepted the transmission.

I’m not sure who you are, but you’re not a part of my department, tech. What do you want?

I tried not to smile at the belligerent tone in the older woman’s voice—one that undoubtedly made her underlings quiver with terror. Guess again, Dinah, I thought at her, feeling the soft pop of the neural transmitter in my temple going off as it was transmitted. It’s Liana. I found a few Eyes in Cogstown and liberated them of their nets.

How did you overcome… She trailed off for a second, and her tone changed from one of wonder to one of determination in almost the blink of an eye. Never mind. I don’t really care. What’s going on? The last time we talked, you told me you were planning to arrest everyone related to the conspiracy.

We missed someone, I informed her, coming to a cautious halt as Dylan stepped up to the door. It was Sage. He set up one of the men we suspected to be a fall guy to disguise his part in all this. Brace yourself—he claims to be Ezekial Pine.

There were several long seconds of silence, but that suited me fine, as my attention was entirely on the door Dylan was about to open and the gun in my hand. Lidecher had sworn up and down that his team had been the only one from IT, but for all I knew, he could’ve been leading us on, pretending to help us, while setting us up to get taken out by another team of techs. It seemed unlikely, given that there were no guards posted outside this door, but I couldn’t just ignore it.

That’s not possible, Dinah announced a second later, just as Dylan pressed the button.

I sighted down the barrel of the gun, making sure the initial entrance was clear, and then nodded to Dylan, waving her in. Possible or not, he’s got control over Scipio, and has initiated a second Requiem Day. What do you know?

I was hoping she knew a lot. Dinah ran a section of the IT Department as head of the ethics committee, and part of her job was to act as Sadie Monroe’s check and balance. Her position meant she should have direct access to Scipio’s coding and could tell me how he was doing, and give us an estimate on how long we had before Sage was ready.