Page 9 (1/2)

Rick worked his jaw for a few seconds as he took one final look at the gravesite, then turned and headed back for the police car He, Dr Evans and Oles each took a ear and headed down into the building froh the rush of adrenaline and the sheer panic during the struggle with the Russians had left Rick te, he, Oles and Dr Evans had all felt violently ill during their trip back up

Passing through the halls and down the stairs, Rick stayed in the lead until they reached the bottom server room where he stood back and let Oles and Dr Evans sit in their seats Both were still nursing their wounds, but a quick bandaging of each other while Rick had been digging was all they had been able to afford due to their short timetable

“So you have the codes” Rick looked at the pair “What do we need to do to broadcast them out? Swap out this server with another one and use the dedicated line?”

“No,” Dr Evans shook his head, “ere in the systemthat it had specific authorization to work over their internal network If there is another authorized syste what it is”

“Hm” Rick turned and looked at the darkened servers—purposefully ignoring the shape of Jacob’s body still lying on the floor—as he pondered their situation “Are all of these systems clean? Or have they been compromised by Damocles?”

Dr Evans used his feet to push his wheeled chair over to another desk, then pointed at a box mounted to the wall “This whole room is sealed off from the outside world, and the only way to allow a connection through is by ether with this box One and only one system can connect to it at a time So no, I don’t see how any of these could have been compromised by Damocles”

“Good Where are the access keys for Damocles?”

Oles produced a small thumb drive from his pocket “Dr Evans and I made two copies before the system went down I have one, and he has the other”

“Oles, give me your drive You and Dr Evans et upstairs, get to the car and get the inverter hooked up and ready for me”

“What’ve you figured out, Rick?” Dr Evans narrowed one eye at him, as if he could read Rick’s mind A sly smile passed across Rick’s face and he looked back at the servers

“Hopefully saving our asses Now hurry up”

Outside, Oles and Dr Evans worked together, each favoring their injured arm The inverter was retrieved from the trunk of the police car, a power strip was retrieved froet a s table and chair set up, too They were just about to go looking for Rick when he staggered out of the front of the building, his head concealed by the server andin his ar, saw the table near the car and beelined for it, huffing and puffing in his mask

Thud!

The table groaned and creaked under the impact, but held firm Rick ripped off hisinto the chair Sweat poured down his face and neck, and he unzipped his jacket and unbuttoned the top of his shirt, pulling on it to help circulate cold air across his skin Dr Evans handed him a bottle of water and Rick took a few sips after his breathing slowed, then he zipped his jacket back up and looked at Oles and Dr Evans “It’s been a long tiot just how doggone heavy they are”

“Rick, I hate to say this,” Dr Evans began poking at the equipood is a server,to do?”