“Perfect,” Lingyi said. “Just turn on the Palm I gave you and direct it in front of those blinking lights. Press the green door icon.”
I did as she said. The door icon vibrated when I pushed it and emitted a green ray of light onto the rectangular server in front of me. “Done.”
“Now, just hold still,” Lingyi said. “And hope that this works.”
The vents expelling the cold air hummed around me as I stood motionless, praying to the Goddess of Mercy. I wasn’t religious, but it couldn’t hurt. Lingyi had explained that Jin’s security system was entirely contained and offline. It was why breaking in and gaining access was crucial; otherwise, there was no possible way to infiltrate their systems. Lingyi needed physical proximity.
“Doppelganger’s doing its thing,” Lingyi said, her pitch slightly raised in excitement. “It’s almost in.”
Lingyi had written Doppelganger, a program that, instead of breaking into Jin Corp’s security system, would mimic itself as part of the system. We don’t try and trample through the impossible doors they’ve built, she had explained in easy terms for us nonhackers. We wedge into the frame and then slither our way in.
Nine minutes later, according to my Vox, the blinking lights on the server suddenly all began to flash yellow.
“Uh. Boss . . . ,” I said.
“I see it. I know,” she replied. I could hear rapid and soft clicking as she worked on her keyboard. “Hold on.”
Sweat dampened my forehead and the back of my neck, despite the chill air whirling around me. Iris appeared from nowhere like a phantom by my side. Neither of us spoke. The yellow lights blinked five times in rapid succession, then all turned a solid glowing blue again. The green door icon on the Palm swung open, and a small female cartoon with Lingyi’s purple hair pranced out, then proceeded to do a jerky, triumphant jig.
“We’re in!” Lingyi said.
And when we get in, we make ourselves look exactly like the rest. We make the system think we’ve been there all along. Then Lingyi waved both her hands with a flourish, as if she were doing a magic trick.
“You did it!” I exclaimed. Iris and I bumped fists in celebration.
Lingyi’s laughter carried through so clearly, it was as if she were in the data center with us. “Not without your help.” Her elation was palpable. “Now get the hell out of there!”
“Right, boss,” I said. Tucking my Palm away, I waited as Iris checked the vicinity with her goggles, then nodded, and we quickly left the data center and were back in the stairwell within minutes. Again, Iris led the way. When we pushed through the exit door, the air felt damp and warm compared to the dry, cold air within the citadel.
“Can you cut the lights for us again, boss?” Iris asked.
“I’m good to go,” Victor said from the generator building.
We waited near the wall, careful not to trigger the blue sensors. Aircars wreathed in neon zipped in the far horizon, headed toward the high-rise districts, where the parties were just beginning at this hour for the yous.
Lingyi cursed again. “The power company’s shut me out. They must have rebooted the system after the initial blackout I forced.” She was typing faster than she was speaking. “It’d take a few hours for me to hack in again. I’ve got access to the citadel’s security system through our Doppelganger program, but activating a shutdown of the sensors will give me away. You’re just going to have to risk triggering their alarms. If we’re lucky, it’ll still work out.”
“Crap,” I said.
Iris was already pulling on her climbing gear, cool as ever. “We’ll deal with trouble as it comes, boss.” She tilted her chin up at me. “You’re a good fighter, right? And a fast runner.”
I laughed despite myself as I pulled on my gear too. “I’m a survivor.”
“I can back up on the ground,” Victor added through the earpiece.
“Stay hidden unless needed,” Lingyi ordered. “The fewer people involved, the better.”
“Got it, boss,” Victor replied.
“Go when I go,” Iris instructed. “Side by side, like on the way up.” We both went to the wall’s edge, facing the fifteen-story drop below. “Ready?” Iris asked.
I nodded, rolling my wrists.
She hoisted herself onto the shoulder-level wall with ease, and I followed. The entire rooftop flooded in red lights the minute we triggered the sensors. I slammed my handholds into the concrete wall, trying to find purchase with my shoes. Going down was much more difficult and awkward than the climb up. An alarm blared even as pulsing red light filled our vision.
“They’ve put the building on lockdown,” Lingyi said. “I’m monitoring everything from within.”
I wrenched my arm in my rush, not deactivating the handhold with the necessary wrist flick, and swung out from the building, clinging on by one grip and one foot. My heart leaped into my throat, certain I’d fall to my death.
“Steady,” Iris said, and her calm voice brought everything back into focus, even as the blood roared in my ears.
I flexed my arm still connected to the wall and pulled myself back, muscles straining, then thrust my shoe against the concrete, making sure I had a firm hold with all limbs before descending again, falling into a quick rhythm.
“They’re sending five men out,” Lingyi said. “They’ve scanned the cam recordings, but I’d wiped everything, so they think you failed on your attempt to break in. Exactly as I’d hoped. They’re waiting to intercept you on the bottom for questioning.”
Iris jumped down onto the ground just as two men rushed toward her with red tasers drawn. Before I even reached the ground, she had kicked the tasers from the hands of the two men and twisted one’s arm behind his back, before stabbing him in the neck with an injection. The big guy immediately slumped to the ground. I landed as she pulled two more syringes from the side of her pants in one swift motion, and jammed one into the throat of the guard scrambling on the ground for his weapon. He dropped like a sack of rice. The other three guards arrived, shouting in alarm as I flung my handholds down and reached for my throwing knives. One. Two. I knocked the tasers out of their hands, drawing blood from only one of the guards as Iris dispatched her third.
The unwounded guard charged at me, swinging wildly, eyes bulging. I ducked easily and punched him in the face, my knuckles exploding from the contact. He never knew what hit him when Iris slipped behind and stuck the injection at the back of his neck. He folded like raw, boneless chicken.
“Done,” Iris said. Her breathing had picked up, and there was a sheen of sweat on her face, but her expression gave nothing away.
I got my handholds and had to dig around for my knives, rolling a guard over to retrieve one of them. My pulse was racing, and my hand tremored when I tucked the knives away.
“Security inside doesn’t suspect a thing. They’ve never had a breakin before,” Lingyi said into our earpieces. “They’re waiting for the guards to bring you two back trussed like pigs. Time to disappear.”