Page 75 of The B-Team

“What do we do for him? Should we give him some meds or something?”

“Only if he’s in pain, but he’s out of it now, so we’ll just let him sleep it off. If he wakes up, there should be a syringe full of migraine meds in the first aid kit under the sink. Dimitri said the team’s put them everywhere and in everybody’s houses, just in case.”

“Poor guy,” Rodrigo said.

“He’s alive, and he’s making something of his life,” Katrina said. “I’d call that a win.”

“Yeah.” Rodrigo wasn’t so sure.

“So,” she said. “Please tell me you have the code.”

He dug in his pocket, pulled out the piece of paper, and handed it over. “Right where Isobel said it would be.”

Katrina placed it on the desk in front of her and smoothed it flat. On it, there was a long series of numbers, letters, and symbols.

She looked up at him. “This could mean the end of Benson Security,” she said solemnly.

“What other option do we have?”

They sat in silence, the thought weighing heavily on both of them.

“Do we call the team now or wait for Ryan to wake up?” she asked.

Rodrigo glanced at the clock. It was barely four thirty. “Is the hacker still on the server?”

Katrina typed on her keyboard until she found the information she needed. “No. Guess they’re only allowed into the server farm at set hours.”

“In that case, I’ll text the team back at Julia’s house and update them. We should probably get the lawyer to talk to Lake before we wipe out his business, and that won’t happen before eight. In the meantime, we take turns watching Ryan and getting some sleep. What do you reckon?”

She nodded. “I reckon it’s a good plan.”

“Great. You got any aspirin? I’m pretty sure I tore a muscle hauling his big ass around.”

With a smile, Katrina went to fetch the first aid kit.

Ryan woke with a groan and a sense of disorientation. His head ached, but it wasn’t so bad, and there was a sore spot on his thigh. It took him a second to remember what had happened, and he’d just put two and two together when his eyes met Katrina’s.

“I’m in the panic room,” he said.

“How are you feeling?” Her face was filled with compassion.

“Sore, but okay.” He rubbed his leg. “You gave me an injection?”

Katrina looked anxious. “You were whining in your sleep, and I was worried. It feels like I assaulted you, and I’m so sorry, but there was a syringe in the first aid kit labeled with your name and instructions for administering it. Did I do the wrong thing?”

“Hell no.” He smiled at her, still feeling a little foggy and a whole lot exhausted. “You did good. Thanks. How long have I been out?”

“Almost four hours. Rodrigo’s just about to call the lawyers and ask them to talk to Lake about wiping the server. Then we’ll check in with everyone else. We think it would be best to get all the partners’ agreement before going ahead with the plan.”

“That’s smart,” Ryan said before grinning at Rodrigo. “Do I want to know how we ended up in the panic room?”

He pointed at the security monitors. “We have it all on tape. You can watch it at your leisure.”

“Great.” Ryan groaned, but he was still smiling. “Yet another thing I’ll never live down.”

“It’ll make a good Saturday night movie.” Rodrigo was really enjoying himself now. “Grab some popcorn and turn up the volume. The scene where the cops argue about doing the hokey-pokey is my favorite.”

Ryan put his head in his hands. “Please tell me it’s not on our server. It would be really bad if the commander’s hacker got hold of it.”