choose to bypass the safeguards.”
My stomach turns upside down. I think of Chang and Moose, who constantly experiment with nonreg frequencies. They’re probably in the MEEP right now using one of their hacks.
“So Wyn must have used a nonreg code to bypass the timer?” Dad asks.
“Yes,” Salvador says. “So you see why I hesitate to activate a mass Awaken. Many lives might be at stake, including my son’s. Believe me, we’ve explored every angle. Your daughter is our last attempt at in-game retrieval. If Phoenix fails, however, I’ll take the risk and shut down the MEEP. I already have the best doctors in the world on call if that becomes necessary. I want my son back.”
“And what about everyone else?” I say. “The people who don’t have fancy doctors on hand and billions of dollars to pay hospital bills?”
Salvador shrugs. “I save my concern for those who play by the rules, Miss Bauer.”
So it’s Miss Bauer now. Apparently I’ve ticked him off. “I’ll be sure to pass that on to your rule-abiding son when I find him,” I say. “And I will find him. Just don’t turn off the MEEP.”
“Very well,” he says, rising to his feet. “Shall we?”
As we follow him out of the room, I feel my phone vibrate in my jeans pocket. My phone! I’ve got to call Chang and Moose now.
“Excuse me, I need to use the restroom first,” I say.
Salvador looks me up and down. I swear his eyes linger on the pocket where my phone is.
“Long flight, gallons of ginger ale,” I explain with a quick laugh, hoping I merely sound stupid instead of nervous.
Salvador narrows his eyes at me and we stare at each other for a bit. Finally, he nods at Kora. “Please show her to the guest facilities,” he says, then turns to me. “I’m sure I need not remind you of our privacy agreement.”
I give him my best poker face. “I’m a vault, Mr. Salvador.”
I follow Kora down the hall and she gestures to a door. “When you’re finished, you can meet us in Wyn’s room. Go back the way we came, past the conservatory, last door on your right.”
“Got it,” I say, then lock myself in the bathroom. It is, of course, bigger than my bedroom at home. I sit on a sofa-type lounge chair—do people really need to rest after using the toilet?—and dial Chang; Moose never keeps his phone charged, and besides, he’s usually with Chang anyway.
“Nixy,” Chang answers in his flat voice.
“Put Moose on speaker phone,” I tell him, keeping my voice as low as possible, and wait until I hear Moose’s signature greeting in the background.
“How’s tricks, Nix?” he mumbles through what sounds like a mouthful of something. Peanut butter Pop-Tart, if I know Moose.
“Listen,” I say. “I’m on a job and don’t have much time. You guys need to stay off any and all nonreg frequencies until you hear back from me. Don’t sell any more or give any out either. It’s important.”
Chang and Moose don’t say anything for a moment. I imagine them looking at each other, silently assessing my strange request.
“Look, Nix, it’s a holiday weekend, Christmas in the MEEP,” Moose finally says. “That’s big business for us. Half the high school’s texting us for overrides.”
“Well don’t give any more out,” I insist, trying not to raise my voice. “Look, you guys, I’m not messing with you. It’s dangerous. No more hacks.”
“Where are you, Nixy?” Chang asks.
“Can’t say.”
“You’re working for Diego Salvador, aren’t you?”
“Why would you say that?” I snap, inwardly cursing the Spock-like Chang and bracing myself for the checkmate I know is coming.
“One, you don’t have a great-aunt Martha. Two, my uncle is a janitor at the airstrip. He saw you and Vic board a Cessna Mustang this morning. And three, how else would you have inside information about the hack frequencies?”
“Whatever, Sherlock,” I say. “Just do what I ask . . . please?”
“All right, we’ll comply,” Chang says, though I hear Moose groan in the background. “But you have to bow out, Nixy.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t do it, whatever Diego Salvador is asking you to do.”
“Why not? It’s good money, Chang, and I’m already here.”
“So I was right,” he says.
Damn. I just gave away my hand like an idiot.
“Think about it, Nixy,” Chang continues. “If Salvador has hired you for a levelling job, that means no one else—not even his best programmers—could get the job done. Something’s not right about that. You need to walk away.”
“But it’s his son,”