Angie took a deep breath. "Well," she said, "I guess I'd better get
working, then, huh?"
Victor Eight grinned. "For Tyler's sake, that would be a good
idea."
"Let's try ... the FBI computers," said Angie. "It'll be a good warmup."
Victor Eight laughed. "A warmup?" He laughed again. "All
right. Let's see what you can do."
Angie set up a timer in the corner of the screen, set at 0:00. Then,
she accessed the FBI mainframe computer. The first menu showed the
FBI name and logo, and the words "Secure Server - Access Denied."
"Oh, secure, right, I forgot," she muttered. She took a piece of
code from Torren's disk and inputted it. A menu came up. She
hit a few more keys, then started the timer. "It'll take sixty seconds
for them to notice us," she said. "If I'm not in by then, they'll
be able to locate us and deny us access."
"You can do it?"
Angie used another piece of Torren's code. "Oh, I'm sure I can,"
she said. She hit a few more keys, her fingers flying.
0:23.
"I can barely tell what you're doing," said Victor Eight. "You're
fast.
Really fast."
Angie raised her eyebrows. She took another piece of code.
Three more menus popped up, data spewing across the connection. They
vanished again as she broke through another section of the security system.
0:39.
Another "Access Denied" menu flashed, then, as quickly as it had appeared,
it vanished.
Angie hit a few more keys. "Wait a second," said Victor Eight.
"You're fast, but you input that, and they'll find our location!"
Before Angie could do anything, he used a second keyboard to erase the
code Angie had written. "Keep going!" he ordered, hitting her on
the shoulder. "And if you try to be sneaky and almost let them discover
us again ... Rollie dies!"
Angie froze, and her shoulders slumped in defeat. She'd hoped he
wouldn't notice. But he had, and she'd just risked Rollie's life.
0:52.
She hit a few more keys, and inputted the rest of the code. Suddenly,
a green menu flashed.
FBI COMPUTER MAINFRAME - ACCESS GRANTED.
0:58.
Angie sighed. She'd made it.
"Good," said Victor Eight, smiling. "Very good. But that little
'mistake' was stupid. Don't do it again."
The screen flashed, and a list of options was presented. The entire
mainframe, including agent bios, missions, tasks, and classified files
was open to him. "Good," he said. "You can take a break now.
I'll take it from here. We'll crack the CIA next."
"Thank you," Angie said, sarcastically. "How very kind." She
got up, and moved to Rollie.
"Good job, Ange," he said. "Congratulations."
Angie allowed herself to smile. "It was close."
"I know," said Rollie. "Nice try, there. Too bad he noticed
your ... 'mistake.'"
"Yeah, well ... " Angie shrugged, defeatedly. But there was
a sparkle in her eye.
Victor Eight had fallen for the bait.
He hadn't noticed her second, subtle, simultaneous call for help.