Break the Code

by Megan Atwood

  After three bus transfers, Maiv got to the library at 7:55. And by 8:05, she and Colin Burnett were sitting across from each other in a locked, windowless study room.

  For the first time, Maiv really looked at him. She hadn’t gotten a good chance when she’d visited the store. His eyes had dark circles under them, and he kept clenching and unclenching his fists. His expression was a cross between terrified and hopeful, which was exactly how Maiv felt.

  She remembered how she’d erased his family’s insurance. She almost asked him if everything was OK with the store, but she couldn’t bring herself to. There would be time for that later.

  “Who are you?” Colin demanded.

  “My name is Maiv Moua. I’m working for the Benefactor—just like you, and Ana Rivera, and James Trudeleau.”

  James hadn’t shown up. Maiv figured he hadn’t seen her message on the back of the threatening note. But at least she and James went to the same school. She could find him tomorrow if she really needed to.

  “You seem to know a lot about the situation,” said Colin, eyeing her suspiciously.

  Maiv knew he had no reason to trust her yet. But she still bristled at his tone. “I’m finding out as much as I can. But the Benefactor is a bit . . . shy.”

  Colin grunted in amusement. “Yeah, that’s one way of phrasing it.”

  “And meanwhile, they’re putting us at risk. And our families.”

  Colin nodded, but he still looked tense. “Why did you agree to do this contest?”

  Maiv gave him the short version of her family’s financial problems and her own dilemma about college. “But the Benefactor isn’t interested in helping us.”

  “Right,” said Colin. He seemed on board now, ready to talk. “They’re interested in using us to do their dirty work and then framing us for whatever it is. And it’s scaring the crap out of me at this point. They’ve threatened my family, and my latest task was to buy a gun. I’m supposed to deliver it to Ana by Saturday night.”

  Maiv nodded, trying to look calm. So now there was a gun. If she’d had any doubts that they were in real danger, those doubts were gone. “We need to put an end to this before someone gets hurt.”

  “I’m with you there,” said Colin. “I was hoping it would help to figure out what the endgame is. Why they’re doing all this. It has to be part of a master plan.”

  “I think so too. I just haven’t been able to figure out what that plan is.”

  “Well, one of my tasks was to go to SolarStar, and someone there mentioned Huffman Industries. So I’ve been looking into that . . .”

  Maiv blinked. “SolarStar? Huffmann Industries? I haven’t heard of either of these places.”

  “They’re businesses. I think they’re working together on some kind of top-secret project, and someone wants that project to fail. Someone connected to Huffmann Industries, I’m guessing. See, a while back, Huffmann Industries was about to partner with an oil company, but that deal fell through. Instead Huffmann Industries teamed up with SolarStar, which does environmental stuff—way different from what the oil company was doing. I figure a bunch of people involved with Huffmann Industries were like, ‘Dude, that’s not what we want. We want to drill for oil, not—make solar power or whatever.’ You know?”

  “And you think someone was mad enough to try to sabotage the new partnership?”

  “Yeah. The Benefactor wanted to plant a bug in the SolarStar offices. I couldn’t pull it off but maybe Ana did. And some sort of important project is in the works with those two companies. Maybe the Benefactor wants to mess with that project.”

  “And instead of doing it directly, they’re having us do it.”

  “Yeah,” said Colin. “We’re each doing little pieces of the bigger plan, and eventually—”

  “The egg breaks,” murmured Maiv.

  “Huh?”

  She shook her head. “Never mind.” Then she smiled at him. “This is great, Colin. Now that I know these businesses are involved, I can hack into their systems and—”

  “Whoa, you can what?”

  “Oh. Yeah.” Maiv blushed. “I—I can hack into almost anything. It’s—just a hobby. I just like knowing how things work, being able to find my way around a firewall. The challenge of it, you know. I don’t ever do anything destructive, like steal information or . . . ” She stopped, thinking of the insurance.

  “Well, I think that’s an awesome skill,” said Colin. In a teasing tone, he added, “At least if you’re using it to snoop on the Benefactor and not on me.”

  Maiv took a deep breath. “Colin, I did use it on you. I hacked into your insurance company’s database and erased the records of your family’s insurance.”

  Colin’s face went white.

  “It was a task,” Maiv added quickly. “The Benefactor told me to do it. I—I felt awful about it. And I didn’t realize then that your store was—failing.”

  “It’s not your fault,” said Colin. His fists were clenched again, Maiv noticed. “And my mom is getting us a new policy, so I’m sure it’ll be fine. Not that it won’t be expensive.” He tried to slip back into a cheerful tone. “Another reason I really could’ve used that prize money!”

  This time, Maiv managed a small smile. “I’ll settle for getting to the bottom of this.”

  “Deal.”

  CHAPTER 13

  Maiv gave Colin her new secret email address, and he agreed to make one of his own so that they could stay in touch. Then Maiv headed to the library’s public computers. Time for some hardcore hacking.

  Her first target was SolarStar. It was an engineering firm that worked on green energy projects for businesses. According to SolarStar’s definition, green energy was basically anything that wasn’t oil or coal. But the company’s big focus was on finding new ways to get energy from the sun. Maiv moseyed around SolarStar’s firewall to have a look at their database and at the employees’ emails. Mostly she looked for references to Huffmann Industries.

  And she found them. Over the past six months, the CEO of Huffmann Industries, Corinne Huffmann, had exchanged a lot of emails with SolarStar’s deputy director, Len Steinberg. The messages were friendly, casual. But serious business was in the works.

  From Corinne: . . . Let’s not discuss the project details over email. I’ll give you a call later today . . .

  From Len: . . . and I speak for everyone here when I say we’re thrilled to be starting this journey with you . . .

  From Corinne: . . . I don’t need to tell you that I’m facing some resistance from my people. They had their hearts set on the ChemOil deal. A partnership with you folks just rubs salt in the wound. And my father’s not helping. Retired or not, he makes it clear when he doesn’t approve of my decisions. And plenty of powerful people in the industry agree with him . . .

  From Len: . . . We’ve been working with EarthWatch, an up-and-coming thinktank in St. Paul. You probably remember the name from when Paul Grayson used to work there. The product design will come from them, but we’ll vet it carefully before bringing it to you . . .

  From Corinne: . . . If any details about the project leak out before we have a prototype in the works, we could lose our edge in the market . . .

  Maiv didn’t follow most of this, but she got the gist.

  Huffmann Industries and SolarStar were planning to work together on a huge project. Lots of money was involved. Cutting-edge technology was being developed. And both companies’ reputations were on the line.

  Maiv sat back at the computer and rubbed her eyes. It was already 9:00. She’d told her parents she’d be home by now. But she just couldn’t yet. She had to investigate Huffmann Industries. Based on the emails, it seemed like everyone at SolarStar was excited about the partnership. But the people at Huffmann Industries—not so much. And if this whole contest had been designed just to ruin that partnership . . . then the Benefactor was connected to Huffmann Industries.

  Maiv jumped when the loudspeaker overhead announced that the library would be clos
ing in one hour. She needed to work fast.

  Huffmann Industries’ security was a fortress. It reminded Maiv of the Contest’s website: impossible for her to hack. At least not on such short notice.

  In desperation, Maiv went back to regular old Internet searches. She looked up Corinne Huffmann. And then she had an idea.

  She looked up someone else who had been mentioned in the emails.

  If she hadn’t been so exhausted, she would’ve done a victory dance.

  Maiv had what she needed.

  CHAPTER 14

  When Maiv got home, almost an hour late, her parents were sitting on the couch with grave looks. Maiv swallowed.

  “Hi, Niam. Hi, Txiv,” she said as she closed the door. Cai, who’d been sitting in the living room with their parents, got up and left, widening his eyes at Maiv before he did. She knew she was in some major, major trouble.

  Her mom said in a low, dangerous voice, “Young lady. Where have you been? We’ve been worried sick.”

  Maiv looked down. “I’m sorry, Niam. I lost track of time.”

  Now her father sat forward and clasped his hands. “I think you also ran out of friends. We called everybody we could think of that you could be studying with and no one had seen you.”

  Maiv’s heart dropped to her feet. The look of disappointment on her dad’s face nearly killed her.

  He shook his head. “Maiv, we trusted you. And you lied to us.”

  Tears started down her face. “No, Txiv, I didn’t! I swear! I was studying. I just went to the library . . .”

  Both her parents looked at her with sad faces.

  Her mom said, “We trusted you about the cheating issue at school. And now this, Maiv. How can we believe you? This is not the daughter we raised.”

  And that did it. Maiv burst into tears and ran to her room.

  She lay on her bed sobbing. They were right—though not for the reasons they thought. These past few days, she had lied, hacked, and worse. All for money. Her parents would be so disappointed in her if they knew about the Contest. She cried until she couldn’t open her eyes anymore. Lili and Kiab cried too. They hated to see their sister cry. But Maiv wouldn’t let them hug her. She didn’t deserve it.

  She finally dried her eyes and patted her sisters back to sleep, kissing each one on the cheek. She fell asleep with tears in on her face. At some point during the night, she felt her mom’s soft hand stroke her hair, but she pretended to be asleep. She didn’t deserve their forgiveness. She wasn’t the daughter they’d raised.

  *****

  Early Friday morning, Maiv woke up feeling awful and good at the same time. She felt awful about her parents and her actions. But she also felt good. Because she remembered all the progress she’d made last night. She’d met Colin. And she had a good idea of who the Benefactor might be.

  But that didn’t stop the Benefactor from giving her more tasks. Task 8 was to deliver another package to Ana’s house. Maiv hoped this would give her a chance to talk to Ana—if she could find Ana and get her away from her camera-filled home.

  Maiv got dressed and went to the kitchen to help her mom with breakfast. And to apologize. Before she could say a word, her mom wrapped her in a hug. “You know we love you, right?”

  And there the tears were again. She just nodded and said, “I’m so sorry, Niam.”

  Her dad walked in at that moment and stroked her hair. Then said in a booming voice, “It’s time for all kids to wake up!”

  Lili came in rubbing her eyes. She said to her dad, “Txiv, you are so loud in the mornings.” They all cracked up.

  I won’t let the Benefactor hurt my family, Maiv vowed. Or anyone else’s family. I won’t let that happen.

  CHAPTER 15

  For two days, almost nothing at all happened. No one seemed to be home when Maiv dropped off Ana’s package. Not that Maiv dared to look very hard. And the Contest website told Maiv to wait until Sunday afternoon before checking for her ninth task.

  TASK 8 COMPLETE

  Your ninth task is to run away. Leave a note in your handwriting that tells your parents you are leaving. Remember: once you complete this task, you only have one more task to complete before you receive $10 million. If you win, a $5 million check will be given to your family, and you will receive the other $5 million where you are.

  Tonight, by 12:45 a.m., go to the corner of Nicollet Mall and Jefferson Avenue. Find the white van and wait there for your last task.

  Maiv closed her eyes. Her heart broke yet again. Her first task came back to her now. The piece for the school newspaper, the article about teen runaways. About how more and more teens fell into this category. If she disappeared, that article would make it seem as if Maiv had been thinking about this, planning this, for a long time.

  She hadn’t planned it, but the Benefactor had. Which meant Maiv probably wasn’t the only one who would have to run away tonight. All the contestants must be close to finishing their ten tasks by now. And once those tasks were done, the Benefactor wouldn’t need them anymore. So why have them run away and meet at a white van?

  Maiv suddenly felt sick to her stomach. What do you do with software you don’t need anymore? You delete it.

  Especially if you don’t want to leave a trail.

  The contstants were the software.

  She needed to talk to Colin. Now. Which meant she needed a laptop. Which meant . . .

  Adam.

  For once, she didn’t need to lie to her parents. She told them she was going to Adam’s house, and they were thrilled. So was Adam when she texted him.

  When she got to Adam’s place, she didn’t waste any time. “My laptop’s broken. Can I use your computer?”

  He said, “Hello to you too!” Maiv laughed nervously. “I mean, sure. I’ll go get it. Are you doing a project?”

  Maiv lost her smile quickly. “Um. Sort of.”

  At Adam’s kitchen table, on Adam’s laptop, she logged in to her fake email. Colin was online, she saw with relief. She wouldn’t even have to email him—she could just instant message him. She typed out, Colin, are you there?

  Adam opened the fridge. “You want anything to snack on?”

  “Um, not right now, thanks.”

  I just got Task 7, Colin typed back. It was to pick up a van. A sketchy white van. I’m pretty creeped out.

  Well, that makes sense. Maiv quickly summed up her suspicions, ending with the worst one: I think the Benefactor is going to have us killed.

  There was a long pause before Colin responded. That’s insane. They’d never get away with killing us!

  Adam sat down at the table across from Maiv, but she kept her eyes on the screen.

  Why not? Maiv responded. No one else knows about the Benefactor. He’s scared all of us into not telling anyone. And if our families find notes in our own handwriting, saying we’re running away, what other conclusion could they draw? Four kids who have nothing to do with one another—no obvious connection—except that they happen to be runaways. What does that say to you?

  Colin typed, But they’d check our emails and see that we were connected by this Benefactor dude and the Contest website.

  Maiv sighed in frustration. She heard Adam clear his throat. She looked up and smiled at him but then kept writing. Don’t you think the Benefactor has ways to wipe the emails? They’ve bugged our homes, our phones, everything. I’m pretty sure they’re even having people following us. And they know at least as much about hacking as I do. I’m pretty sure they’ll have no trouble erasing any evidence that the Contest ever existed.

  After a long moment, Colin typed, Then we need to go to the police. Now.

  No way. Do you really think the police would believe two high school kids about something like this? Not without proof. And I mean real proof: proof of who the Benefactor is.

  Fair enough. So for now we keep playing along?

  Yes. I hate to hurt my parents, but we can’t risk making the Benefactor angry until we have enough info to expose him.
r />   She was about to tell Colin what she’d found out about the Benefactor, but she realized that Adam was looking at her with a puzzled, almost sad expression. “Must be an important project,” he said quietly.

  Maiv grimaced. “Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to barge in here and take over your laptop and ignore you.”

  “It all just happened so naturally,” said Adam dryly. The sarcasm caught Maiv off guard. Usually he was so earnest and sweet.

  “I am sorry,” she said again. And she meant it. “I know it’s not fair.” Her voice wavered.

  Adam leaned forward, all seriousness again. “Then why don’t you tell me what’s up? Something’s wrong, isn’t it? You’re looking totally spooked.”

  Maiv looked down at the computer and whispered, “I can’t tell you, Adam.”

  “Why? I want to help.” There was so much concern in his eyes. Maiv wanted to hug him.

  Instead she just said, “You are helping.”

  “By mailing a random package for you and letting you use my laptop? I can do more than that. Give me a little credit here.”

  Maiv reached across the table and put a hand on his arm. “Adam, if you mean that, I will ask you for help. Just not now. If I come to you later, do you think you’d still be willing?”

  Adam said, “Always.”

  Warmth rushed through Maiv. So . . . maybe he was a little more than a friend. Or had the potential to be.

  “I guess I could go for a snack,” she said, and Adam grinned at her.

  *****

  Before Maiv left Adam’s house, she checked her email again and saw that Colin had left her a message. I’ve got my last three tasks. I’m supposed to take the van to Nicollet mall tonight, close to midnight. I have to give James an envelope with instructions for breaking into SolarStar. Then I’m supposed to drive all four of us to the river. It’s just like you said.