Human Error

BOOK 1 // NINETEEN: The Warning

He tried a six-digit code, pausing for a couple of seconds, his face remaining totally stoic when nothing happened. Then came a second code, and an even longer pause – accompanied by his determined rattling of the handle. But the door wouldn't budge. It was like something had sealed it off, and that something wasn't going to give way to any of the subsequent string of numbers that Jace tried.

He must've tried at least fifteen different combinations before he finally gripped the handle, shaking it with all the strength he could muster. "Come on," he muttered, panicked frustration underlining each word. "One of those has to have done something."

"It's like it's completely dead," I said. "Like it's... sealed itself, or something. I'm not sure any code is going to make it budge."

Jace gave the handle another insistent rattle, but I could tell he'd resigned himself to the fact that we weren't going to get in so easily. He pressed his forehead against the wooden door, eyes closed as if submerging himself in thought. "A security setting," he said eventually, in a voice so quiet I had to wonder whether I was even supposed to hear. "They must've triggered something, down in the panic room. Something that seals all the doors."

"Like a lockdown?"

"Yeah," he said, and the defeat in his voice had my heart sinking. We were only getting started, and already it seemed like it was all over. "It must be built into the system. It's overridden everything."

"There must be another way," I said, but we both knew my words were little more than wishful thinking. I just couldn't take the threat of failure, pressing in on both of us from all angles. There was barely enough room to breathe as it was. "We'll force our way in. What if we broke the door down?"

I spun on the spot, looking for anything that we could use for physical force, but the corridor was empty for as far as I could see. The door looked wooden, but I was willing to bet it was reinforced with something stronger – and I highly doubted mine and Jace's combined strength would be enough to shift it. Physically, at least, we were at a loss.

I looked back at him, if only out of sheer desperation to find some kind of optimism written across his features. Our eyes met, and I found myself wondering if his heart was pounding at the same unnatural rate, if only to make sure there wasn't something seriously wrong with me. I could no longer feel the blood seeping down my face, which had to be a good sign – but there hadn't exactly been the opportunity to stop for a full medical assessment.

Then, something flickered in Jace's expression.

"Your blood."

I was convinced I'd misheard, which was incredibly likely with such a loud roaring in my ears. "What?"

I could almost see the words on the tip of his tongue, but he seemed to stop himself, swallowing over whatever had been about to come tumbling out of his mouth. "Okay," he said instead, and I wondered what he seemed to be steeling himself for. "What I'm about to propose could well be the worst decision of my life. And I know that. But... right now, I'm not sure we have a lot of other options."

The look on his face was slightly terrifying, and yet I couldn't seem to drag my eyes away. "What are you talking about?"

"There's another setting," he said quickly, the words coming much faster now. "I remember my dad talking about it last time they updated security. If there's a lockdown, there's another option to override the system. Blood. It can take blood, and with a match for one of the high-ranking officials... it'll grant access."