"Status,"Ibark, stepping directly behind her chair.
"Inbound," she rasps.Hervoice sounds thick with sleep, yet her fingers fly across the keys. "Packetflood.Massive.Adamn battering ram,Daniel."
Plantinga hand on the desk on either side of her,Icage her in.Mychest presses flush against her back.Herpulse races against her ribs, a frantic bird trapped inside bone.
"Source?"
"Routedthrough three proxies," she mutters, tracking the scrolling lines of code. "Singapore, then... wait.Thissignature."
"Costas,"Igrowl.Thecartel's name coats my tongue like ash.
"Theyfound the back doorIpatched," she says, her breathing going shallow. "They'retrying to brute force the encryption keys.Ifthey get in, they wipe the drives.Welose the location data forKevin."
"Noton my watch."
Reachingover her shoulder, my arm brushes her ear.Sheleans heavily back into my solid weight.
"Shiftthe load to the secondary server,"Iorder, my tone dropping to the low register that usually makesProspectspiss themselves. "I'llisolate the node."
"Ican't access the secondary from here.Thebridge is locked."
"Thenunlock it."
"Ineed your clearance code."
"Typeit."
Herfingers stall over the keys. "You'regiving me full access?"
"Typethe damn code,Kaila."
Herfingers hammer over the keys, the clattering plastic sounding faster than automatic fire.
Thescrolling screen holds my gaze, while the heat of her body seeps directly into my torso.Stalecoffee, metallic sweat, and sweet citrus and cool mint roll off her skin.Asoft scent that completely clashes with this war zone.
"They'refaster than me," she whispers.Abead of sweat tracks down her temple. "Daniel, they're cutting through the second firewall."
"Focus."Bringingmy other hand up,Icover hers on the mouse.Mycalloused palm swallows her smaller one whole.Herskin feels cold against my burning heat. "Wedo it together.Onmy mark, execute the kill switch for the external port.I'llreroute the traffic to the honey pot."
"Ifwe mistime it, we crash the whole system."
"Trustme."
Tiltingher head back, her dark eyes meet mine.Herpupils swallow her irises.Thecascading code and theCostacartel completely vanish from my radar.Thehard swallow bobbing her throat becomes the absolute center of the room.
"Okay," she breathes.
"Three,"Icount down.Mylips brush the shell of her ear, catching the sharp hitch of her breath.Good.
"Two."Tighteningmy grip on her hand,Iguide the cursor into position.
"One.Mark."
Wemove in absolute sync.Sheslams the enter key asItear the virtual cable from the socket.
Blindingwhite flashes across the screens before snapping black.
Silenceslams down.