“Is it Jang-Mi?” I asked, wincing against the loudness of my own voice. “Did she break free?”
“Give me a second,” he replied, emerging from under the desk. He remained on his knees but reached for the keyboard, his fingers moving faster than the speed of light. I held my breath while he worked, tension leaking from me. There was an itch on the back of my neck telling me that even now, Jang-Mi was taking aim at us. “I’m disabling the defenses and making sure that the assistant remains offline.”
I waited for several agonizing seconds, and when Leo frowned suddenly, I zeroed in on it. “What is it?” I asked. “Is it the defenses?”
His fingers resumed their tapping, but he answered as he worked. “No, they’re off,” he replied, his brows furrowing together. “But the hostile program that Rose was talking about isn’t a trap set by Sadie. It’s Jasper! He’s attacking Rose, trying to…” He trailed off, studying the screen. “I actually can’t tell what he’s trying to do! But whatever it is, it’s overloading Sadie’s systems. We need to separate them as quickly as possible.”
It took me a second to absorb that, but when I did, panic gripped my heart. If Jasper was attacking Rose, did that mean we were too late? Had Sadie already driven him insane?
But I could ask those questions later. Leo said he needed to break them up. I thought about it, then quickly pulled the bag off my shoulder and put it on the desk, rummaging through it for Jang-Mi’s hard drive. I found it and set it on the desk in front of him. “Here. What else do you need?”
Leo’s fingers were flying a mile a minute, the look on his face so intense that I almost hated interrupting his focus. But I had to—we needed to move as quickly as possible.
Brown eyes flicked over at the hard drive and back to the screen, his fingers never missing a beat. “We’ll need another one of those. Whatever Jasper’s doing, it’s an automated function. I don’t even think he’s in control of it.”
That didn’t sound good. If anything, that only made me more certain that we were too late, and that Sadie had driven Jasper insane. Without him, we’d never know how to fix Rose, or if there was anything wrong with Leo or Grey. We’d never learn the formula for Paragon, and worst of all, we’d never fix Scipio.
Worry about it later, I told myself as I came around the desk. Even if Jasper was insane, we still needed to recover him, if only to spare him from Sadie. Maybe we could restore him, like Leo had started to do with Rose.
I threw open the desk drawers, searching for a hard drive. The first few drawers contained files and manuals, and after some internal debate, I put the files on the desk. I’d go through them while Leo worked, and then put them back when he was done. Hopefully they’d contain something interesting.
The next drawer revealed seven hard drives, and I quickly grabbed one and put it on the desk as well. I started to close the drawer, and then reconsidered and began pulling the other hard drives out, stacking them right on top of each other. I wasn’t sure why Sadie had so many of them, but something told me that there was information on them, and I wanted to see what it was. If it was worth stealing… I’d take everything from the desk and then break it. I was certain the furniture collection system had a protocol for broken furniture, and I was hoping that protocol included wanton destruction. Hopefully, Sadie would assume the desk was damaged when the death protocol activated, and that those files were lost as well.
I closed my eyes and prayed that we weren’t leaning too heavily on luck, and then went around Leo and began opening the drawers on the other side.
The top one revealed three white chips that immediately caught my attention, and I reached out to daintily pick up one of the legacy nets. Now I was beyond certain that I had to steal everything from her desk; if these legacy nets held memories on them pertinent to what Sadie and her people had done to the Tower, then we could figure out how to undo it, and completely undermine everything they had done. We might even be able to find a way to fix Rose and Jasper.
I scooped up the other two chips and tucked them in my chest pocket, and then began emptying out the rest of the drawers—more files and manuals—and setting them in the corner. Leo’s eyes flicked over to me on my second pass, and he raised an eyebrow. “Taking everything?”
I nodded as I picked up another armload of files, this time stopping long enough to check the time. We’d been inside for five minutes now, and it already felt like this was too long. “I’m gonna damage the desk and hope that the retrieval system destroys it.”
He gave me a measured look, but didn’t say anything as he returned to his work. I could tell that he didn’t like it, and I could understand why, but the potential value of the information was incalculable. It was worth the risk, and he likely knew that.
I finished quickly and then began going through the cabinets behind the desk, but was disappointed when I only found a complete collection of IT manuals. They were valuable, but we had more than enough thanks to Cali’s collection, and we were already loaded down. In fact, I was a little worried that the things I had already set aside would be too much for the bag. It was part of the reason I was still searching—I might need another carrying tool.
When I didn’t find one, I decided to give up the search and just start packing the bag. I wanted to be ready to go when Leo told me he was done. I reached it just as he was picking up Jang-Mi’s hard drive, and gave him a look. “Did you separate them?”
He shook his head, and to my surprise, picked up a second hard drive. “I need more time to do it,” he informed me as he placed it on top of the other. “Hand me the black case in the bag?”
I quickly did what he asked, and watched as he unzipped it, revealing some cutters and wires. He pulled a wire from it and began attaching it to something in the back of the hard drive. I watched him doing it, and from the legacy memory I’d had the other day, I realized he was slaving them together. “They need more space?” I asked.
“Power,” he replied. “The fighting is eating a lot of energy. Each of these hard drives has a dedicated battery, but at the rate they’re going, they’d burn one out in ten minutes.” He fitted a third one on top of the other two as he talked and began attaching another wire to it, connecting it to the others. “I’m hoping by slaving them together, I’ll buy us at least thirty minutes.”
I nodded. If it kept them alive, then we needed to do it. We couldn’t afford to let either of them die. I checked my watch, my stomach clenching when I saw that we’d been at this for twelve minutes. It was already too long, but Leo still needed to download their programs. “How long is transferring them going to take?” I asked.
Leo carefully taped the stack of hard drives together and then gingerly lifted them up. He bent over, lowering them to the ground, and a second later disappeared underneath the desk. “Three minutes,” he replied. “I’m going to use the time to go through her files and take whatever I can find that links her to the legacies.”
“Okay, what about when we leave?” I asked, wanting to plan ahead so we were out before the death protocol activated. “Will we have time to get out?”
“Better than that,” he said, his voice muffled. “I figured out where the controls were for the emergency exit on Cornelius, and I’m going to open them right before we set the virus to go off. We can avoid leaving through the Core altogether, as the exit will take us right up to the Attic.”
“That’s perfect,” I said, relieved that we didn’t have to go back through the halls. We had only asked Dinah for a way in, figuring that Leo could do something to the cameras in the hall once he was inside, but if there was a way to avoid that option altogether, all the better.
He came back up from under the desk a moment later, and then clicked a few things on the keyboard. “Okay,” he announced. “They’re downloading. I’m going to start—” He paused mid-sentence, and his eyes narrowed.
A flare of alarm went through me as I realized something was wrong. “Are they not downloading?” I asked, coming around the d
esk to stand behind him.
To my surprise, he was looking at a camera image that showed Sadie’s living room—and then I noticed the movement in the left hand corner of the screen. I focused on it, and realized I was looking at a man walking past the room and heading farther down the hall. And closer to us.
We weren’t alone anymore.
Leo tapped a few keys, changing the camera angle, and I saw that there wasn’t just one, but five, striding confidently down the hall, as if they’d been there a hundred times.
And at their head was him, the man who’d slit my throat.
I quickly grabbed Leo’s hand and hauled him up, pulling him behind me as I reached out with my other hand to scoop the bag off the table. I let go of him as soon as I knew he was following, and descended the stairs at a run. I heard voices as I raced through the door, but didn’t hesitate as I hooked a left—away from them—and headed down the hall.
I cast a look over my shoulder to see shadows starting to form on the wall, and picked up the pace. I spotted a door and quickly pointed to it, and we raced over, Leo darting in first. I backed in, making sure we weren’t seen as I went. The door closed as I moved away, and I quickly looked around. We were in yet another empty bedroom.
I met Leo’s eyes, and realized three very important things at once. The first was that the man who had cut my throat had unrestricted access to Sadie’s quarters, cementing the fact that she was working with our enemies. The second was that we had left the slaved hard drives behind, which meant that those men would notice immediately that something was off.
The last and final thing was that we were trapped, but not necessarily without resources. I opened the bag in my hand and reached inside, easily finding the heavy weight of the gun. I pulled it out, the sensation of it in my palm familiar in spite of the fact that it was only my second time holding it. I passed it over to Leo and then retrieved the second one, chambering a round in an action that Leo echoed.
Then I sat back and waited, eager to have a chance to talk to the person who most likely knew who was responsible for my mother’s death, the danger to our lives, and the corruption of Scipio.
And once I was done with him, I’d have everything I needed to finally put a stop to things.
* * *
The end is near…
Ready for the PENULTIMATE book of Liana’s story?
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading The Girl Who Dared to Lead.
Book 6, The Girl Who Dared to Endure, is the thrilling penultimate book in the series, as we move toward the grand finale in Book 7!
The Girl Who Dared to Endure releases March 22nd, 2018.
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I’ll see you soon, back in the Tower…
Til then,
Bella x
P.S. If you’re new to my books or haven’t yet read my Gender Game series, I suggest you check it out. It is where the Tower’s story began and is set in the same world as The Girl Who Dared series—the two storylines complement each other.
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Read More by Bella Forrest
THE GIRL WHO DARED TO THINK
The Girl Who Dared to Think (Book 1)
The Girl Who Dared to Stand (Book 2)
The Girl Who Dared to Descend (Book 3)
The Girl Who Dared to Rise (Book 4)
The Girl Who Dared to Lead (Book 5)
The Girl Who Dared to Endure (Book 6)
THE GENDER GAME
(Completed series)
The Gender Game (Book 1)
The Gender Secret (Book 2)
The Gender Lie (Book 3)
The Gender War (Book 4)
The Gender Fall (Book 5)
The Gender Plan (Book 6)
The Gender End (Book 7)
HOTBLOODS
Hotbloods (Book 1)
Coldbloods (Book 2)
Renegades (Book 3)
A SHADE OF VAMPIRE SERIES
Series 1: Derek & Sofia’s story
A Shade of Vampire (Book 1)
A Shade of Blood (Book 2)
A Castle of Sand (Book 3)
A Shadow of Light (Book 4)
A Blaze of Sun (Book 5)
A Gate of Night (Book 6)
A Break of Day (Book 7)
Series 2: Rose & Caleb’s story
A Shade of Novak (Book 8)
A Bond of Blood (Book 9)
A Spell of Time (Book 10)
A Chase of Prey (Book 11)
A Shade of Doubt (Book 12)
A Turn of Tides (Book 13)
A Dawn of Strength (Book 14)
A Fall of Secrets (Book 15)
An End of Night (Book 16)
Series 3: The Shade continues with a new hero…
A Wind of Change (Book 17)
A Trail of Echoes (Book 18)
A Soldier of Shadows (Book 19)
A Hero of Realms (Book 20)
A Vial of Life (Book 21)
A Fork of Paths (Book 22)
A Flight of Souls (Book 23)
A Bridge of Stars (Book 24)
Series 4: A Clan of Novaks
A Clan of Novaks (Book 25)
A World of New (Book 26)
A Web of Lies (Book 27)
A Touch of Truth (Book 28)
An Hour of Need (Book 29)
A Game of Risk (Book 30)
A Twist of Fates (Book 31)
A Day of Glory (Book 32)
Series 5: A Dawn of Guardians
A Dawn of Guardians (Book 33)
A Sword of Chance (Book 34)
A Race of Trials (Book 35)
A King of Shadow (Book 36)
An Empire of Stones (Book 37)
A Power of Old (Book 38)
A Rip of Realms (Book 39)
A Throne of Fire (Book 40)
A Tide of War (Book 41)
Series 6: A Gift of Three
A Gift of Three (Book 42)
A House of Mysteries (Book 43)
A Tangle of Hearts (Book 44)
A Meet of Tribes (Book 45)
A Ride of Peril (Book 46)
A Passage of Threats (Book 47)
A Tip of Balance (Book 48)
A Shield of Glass (Book 49)
A Clash of Storms (Book 50)
Series 7: A Call of Vampires
A Call of Vampires (Book 51)
A Valley of Darkness (Book 52)
A Hunt of Fiends (Book 53)
A Den of Tricks (Book 54)
A City of Lies (Book 55)
A League of Exiles (Book 56)
A SHADE OF DRAGON TRILOGY
A Shade of Dragon 1
A Shade of Dragon 2
A Shade of Dragon 3
A SHADE OF KIEV TRILOGY
A Shade of Kiev 1
A Shade of Kiev 2
A Shade of Kiev 3
THE SECRET OF SPELLSHADOW MANOR
(Completed series)
The Secret of Spellshadow Manor (Book 1)
The Breaker (Book 2)
The Chain (Book 3)
The Keep (Book 4)
The Test (Book 5)
The Spell (Book 6)
BEAUTIFUL MONSTER DUOLOGY
Beautiful Monster 1
Beautiful Monster 2
DETECTIVE ERIN BOND (Adult thriller/mystery)
Lights, Camera, GONE
Write, Edit, KILL
For an updated list of Bella’s books, please visit her website: www.bellaforre
st.net
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The Girl Who Dared to Think 5: The Girl Who Dared to Lead Page 34
