Countermeasures. Janie Crouch

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      “Megan, I thought that since you asked me out last night you could at least call me Sawyer.” So much for his resolution not to tease her.

      He could almost physically see the heat suffusing her face. “About that, um—” Megan wasn’t looking in Sawyer’s eyes, but he could tell she was at least forcing herself to hold still and not fidget. “I apologize. My words didn’t come out correctly last night and then I didn’t handle the situation well.”

      Now Sawyer felt bad. He had thought it was kind of cute the way she had gotten so discombobulated, but she obviously was berating herself for the behavior. “Megan, I was just kidding. Don’t worry about it—”

      “I behaved childishly.”

      “You didn’t behave childishly. I deliberately misconstrued what you said and I shouldn’t have. I knew the entire time you weren’t asking me out. I should be the one apologizing, not you.”

      Megan finally looked up at him. “Fine. I accept your almost-apology, Agent Branson.”

      “Thank you, Dr. Fuller. But I do wish you’d call me Sawyer.”

      Sawyer wasn’t sure if Megan was about to agree or argue the point when one of the lab technicians came flying into her office.

      “Dr. Fuller, we have a huge problem in the vault. We need you to come right away.”

      A flash of relief crossed Megan’s face before it was drowned out by concern. She turned and hurried out of her office without another word. Sawyer followed right behind her.

      Obviously the lab tech’s definition of huge problem and Sawyer’s differed greatly, Sawyer realized. There was no smoke here in the vault, no bullets, no blood.

      The Cyberdyne R & D vault wasn’t a vault like that of a bank. Instead it was just a secure area, with a further locked door and a higher security clearance needed to enter. No stranger could just wander around any part of Cyberdyne from off the street; everyone was escorted by someone. Beyond that, only certain people were cleared to enter the R & D department. From what Sawyer could tell, it looked as if everyone had their own key-card that tracked who came and left out of the general R & D department.

      “The vault holds our more highly classified or secretive items,” Megan explained as they entered the secure room. “But really, it’s more of a safe place to store items than anything else.”

      “Who has access?”

      “Me and select members of the R & D team. And security guards, I guess.”

      That was good. Limited access definitely made any area more secure. Sawyer made a mental note to get to know the head of Cyberdyne security.

      “We don’t really use the vault to keep out thieves or anything like that,” Megan continued. “It’s more to keep important items safe from a much more treacherous enemy—human error. When you’ve got multiple people walking around day in and day out you’re bound to have spills, misplacements or other accidents. The vault is primarily to save important items from those sorts of problems.”

      Jonathan Bushman, Megan’s assistant, was sitting with rigid posture in front of a computer station in the vault.

      “What’s going on, Jon?” Megan walked over to stand right beside him.

      “It’s the hard drive that housed the Ghost Shell countermeasure. It’s critically damaged.”

      Megan pulled her glasses from the top of her head to get a better look at the drive. “What? It was fine the last time I accessed it.”

      Sawyer walked over closer to the two of them. “When was that?”

      “I don’t know, maybe eight weeks ago? We can check the logs to find out exactly.” She said all this without looking at Sawyer. “Can you recover anything, Jon?”

      “Nothing useful.” Jon spoke with a heavy sigh.

      Megan picked up the drive and held it in her hands like a wounded bird. Sawyer noticed some scratches on the outside of it.

      “See those scratches? Do you think it was external damage that caused the problem? Or is it more internal issues?” Sawyer asked.

      Jonathan just rolled his eyes and went back to scanning the screen looking for any recoverable data. Megan turned to Sawyer. “Something happening to it externally could certainly cause damage, if someone, say, stepped on the drive or put something heavy on top of it.”

      Sawyer nodded. “Could something internally have been done to it deliberately to make the data unrecoverable?”

      Both Jonathan and Megan turned to look at Sawyer sharply. “Like some sort of sabotage?” Jonathan asked.

      Sawyer shrugged. “It happens.”

      Jonathan was obviously about to take offense. Megan leaned back against the computer station so she was face-to-face with Sawyer. She put her hand on Jonathan’s shoulder.

      “I’m pretty sure we don’t have anyone working here who would do anything like that. Especially not anyone who has access to the vault.”

      Jonathan nodded vigorously.

      “But there’s no way of telling when the damage was done?” Sawyer asked.

      Megan shook her head. “No. It could’ve sat here damaged for weeks.”

      “Or it could’ve been damaged last night or this morning after you announced the team would begin working on the countermeasure.”

      Megan sighed. “Yes, Agent Branson. It is possible it happened within the last twenty-four hours. But I doubt it.”

      Sawyer decided not to push it since they had no way of knowing when the damage had occurred. “Do things get damaged in here often?”

      “Not often, but it has happened. It happens more often out there.” Megan gestured vaguely with a hand toward the general R & D area. Then she turned and refocused on the screen in front of Jonathan. Within moments they were in a deep discussion about what, if anything, could be salvaged. Neither looked very optimistic.

      Sawyer stepped back and looked around the vault. There were cabinets and shelves of varying size. Everything seemed highly organized and labeled—via Megan’s decree he was sure. Nothing lay around haphazardly or seemed to be damaged as far as Sawyer could tell. Like Megan had told him, the vault was equipped to protect its items from human accidents and mistakes. It seemed to do that very well.

      Except for in this one case. Sawyer couldn’t help but be suspicious of that.

      His phone buzzed in his pocket. Evan Karcz. Good, maybe now Sawyer could get an update on what was happening back at Omega.

      Sawyer walked out of the vault without saying anything to Megan and Jonathan. They were obviously deeply focused on the countermeasure salvage. Sawyer doubted they would miss him at all.

      “Evan. How’s it going in the real world?”

      Evan chuckled a little at Sawyer’s greeting. СКАЧАТЬ