Conduit

Ch. 19

"I think I can help you both with this," he said.

I straightened, shifting in my seat to better look at him. My hands relaxed on my legs while I twiddled my thumbs. Frank, tugging at his shirt, took the stool seat beside mine and looked at Reggie the same.

"How can you do that?" he asked.

"Yeah," I waved a hand, coaxing him to explain, "share the details."

"Well, I am a 700 series," he said, "and I was created inside of this building."

Two things I already knew. I thought he'd come out with something different. Amazing. Hands waved around in my mind as if I expected pizzazz. Instead, I got the obvious. I chewed on the corner of my bottom lip. "Okay?"

I fished. I needed him to tell me more.

Reggie glanced down at the tablet in his hands before passing his index finger over the screen three times. Then he passed the device to me. I took it but held my breath. The screen wasn't what I had normally seen on this tablet. Rather than application icons and internet photos, there was a video photo and a map; a detailed blueprint of what I assumed with the building we were in.

I turned wide eyes in Reggie's direction. "How did you—is this what I think it is?"

Smiling, he loosely crossed his arms and smiled. "If you're asking if what you're seeing is Lyons headquarters, then the answer is yes."

Frank gasped, snatching the tablet from me. He stared at the screen before flipping it over, as if there was something underneath it. "How? How?"

My thoughts exactly, Frank. Taking the tablet back from his hands, I pinched my fingers across the screen and zoomed in on the twenty-seventh floor. On my floor. My apartment. There were two blue dots and two yellow dots. I could easily figure out who was who.

Blue is organic. Yellow is synthetic.

"As I've said, I was created in this very building. Meaning, my data is more ingrained with the security systems here. I should be able to go in and easily dismantle any cameras for a while, allowing you both a safe passage to the lower floors."

Pressing my finger against the side of the tablet, I blackened the screen. "How much time could you buy us?"

Reggie shook his head. "I don't know, I've never done this before." His gaze lifted, watching as Victoria moved around from the kitchen to stand at his side. He smiled at her. "But won't know unless we try," he said.

I blinked at both of them. He had been spending time with her, seeing the world through her eyes. Like this, it would be great. Placing the tablet behind me, I stood. "If you have this kind of access and you can share it, would it be between the both of you?" I pointed at them.

Victoria nodded. "If he wants, anything he sees, I can see."

"Okay," I rubbed my chin, "Reggie, are you able to shut off the camera in each of the stairways?"

"Stairways?" Frank stood beside me.

"Yeah," I glanced at him, "wouldn't it be safer than Katherine's controlled elevators? She'd know it'd be you controlling them, wouldn't she?"

He hissed and lowered his head. Passing his hand over his neck, he blew out a puff of air. "You're right," he agreed.

"Right." I looked back at Reggie. "So, can you? Just need to shut them off long enough for us to get the lower levels. Then, maybe you can control the cameras inside the floor, too? So no one knows we're inside."

"I've got one better for you." Reggie clapped his hand together before standing close to Frank and me. He placed his hands on both of our shoulders. "I can control them and allow the previous thirty minutes of camera feed to replay. This way, no one knows what's happening or would be aware the cameras are off, either."