“What do you think?” Hale asked.
Kat ran a finger along the inner workings of the lock. “It’s been tampered with,” she said. “By someone pretty good.”
“And you know this because…” Silas prompted.
“I have hobbies,” Kat told him. “Seriously, Silas, someone who knew what they were doing was in here.”
“Well, at least I was robbed by a professional.” Silas dropped onto a stool almost as if his body couldn’t support the weight of his disappointment.
“Can’t you make another prototype?” Hale asked.
“Eventually. Maybe. But it wouldn’t do you or the company any good, Mr. Hale. That’s why I came to plead with Garrett. If the faulty prototype is unveiled at the gala, then I’m afraid of what will happen. To the company.” He leveled Hale with a look. “To all of us.”
“I’ll get you whatever you need, Silas. Just make me another prototype.”
“It’s not going to be that simple. After tonight I’ll no longer have a lab.”
“I’ll get you a lab.”
“And the plans are supposed to be stored on the company server, but they’ve been tampered with. My personal backup drives have been erased. Someone wants Genesis to disappear, Mr. Hale. And me with it.”
“What if we can recover the plans?” Kat asked. Silas raised his eyebrows, doubtful. So Kat shrugged and added, “We know a computer guy.”
“Oh, you do, do you?”
“Yes,” Kat said. She got the feeling that Silas was a man who saw right through her and actually liked what he was seeing.
“Your computer guy is welcome to try,” Silas said. “But it’s gone. Everything is gone.”
Hale said nothing. Kat saw that he was studying the whiteboards. She wondered for a moment if he was reading the math and the formulas, trying to fix a problem she didn’t even understand. But then he pointed to a list in the corner of one of the boards.
“That’s my grandmother’s handwriting,” Hale said, staring at the words.
Silas nodded. “It is.”
“She wanted this to work, didn’t she?”
“Very much,” Silas said.
“Okay,” Hale said. “He can fire you, but I can rehire you. Don’t worry, Silas. First thing tomorrow I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” Silas cut Hale off. “With all due respect, Scooter, Garrett is still the trustee and you’re still a minor. You’re a bright boy. Your grandmother loved you, so I love you, but until you come of age, I’m afraid there’s nothing you can do.”
Silas thought it was over. Kat could see it in his eyes. His shoulders were slumped and his hands trembled. And Kat thought he was probably going to stay at that desk until morning and the guards came to carry him away. He was making his last stand in the only way he knew how.
Fortunately, Kat and Hale knew another way.
“We can get your prototype back,” Kat said, coming to stand next to Hale.
“And how are you going to do that?” the old man asked.
Hale smiled. “That’s easy, Silas. We can steal it.”
The sun was not yet up over New York City when the owner of Hale Industries emerged from the building’s side entrance, a shorter-than-average teenage girl at his side.
A chill had settled into the air overnight, and as they walked, he removed his jacket and placed it around her thin shoulders. And there, in the middle of the city, the two of them were almost alone. Two kids who were out far too late or far too early, walking down a cracked and vacant sidewalk like they owned it.
“It was Marcus, wasn’t it?” Hale asked. “Who hired you?”