A Complicated Web

Chapter Forty-Nine: Hard At Work

Kally typed doggedly away at the keyboard. She had to get this finished before one of the guards realized she wasn't working on the program. Thankfully, most of them seemed practically computer illiterate, though there were a few who appeared to have more knowledge than the average man. She could only hope the ones on duty today weren't the latter.

She'd spent most of the night coming up with the code, which left little room for sleep. And, as an unfortunate side effect, she found her concentration far from reliable. In fact, it had given her a bit of a headache. It wasn't migraine status by any means, but it still sucked. Maybe it was a tension headache, along with sleep deprivation. She knew a lot rode on this code she was typing out.

Thankfully, there was a data chip available for her use. She just wasn't sure how Loki was going to get it out of there without them finding out it was missing. She wasn't allowed to take them back to her room with her. Maybe it was their way of 'making sure' she didn't do anything stupid. It was probably best to let him figure out the details.

Her eyes drooped and she shook herself awake. This wouldn't do at all, she decided as she pushed away from the computer. She needed to get moving around or she really would fall asleep, something she felt sure wouldn't go over well with anyone.

To stave off her exhaustion, Kally began pacing the room, circling her computer station once before deciding to just walk back and forth. Going around the station threatened to make her dizzy in her current sleep-deprived state. Part of her wondered if this was how Hiro had felt when he'd worked himself into a frenzy. Except he'd stayed off sleep for other reasons, reasons she could only guess at. And it had been for a lot longer.

Kally's thoughts went towards her friend. There had to be more to what he'd experienced in life than just the loss of loved ones, even if his brother's death was relatively recent and tragic. She didn't think he was so mentally fragile as to let Tadashi's death affect him that much. No, there had to be something else going on. And the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to know just what it was and why.

The door to her lab opened and Ms. Kendrick strode into the room unannounced. "Hard at work, are we?" Her tone seemed almost mocking, her eyes glittering coldly as she folded her arms across her chest.

Kally stopped mid-stride to turn and face the woman. She couldn't help but feel a sense of malice towards her. She felt sure this woman had something to do with Hiro's difficulties. There was decidedly something not natural about her, she decided. "I just needed to stretch my legs," she replied. Ms. Kendrick's sudden appearance sent adrenaline rushing through her and she had to fight the urge to lash out in a physical manner. The usual guards were likely still just outside the doors and she wasn't sure she could take them in her current state. Not to mention the deterrent of the shock collar.

"I can see that," Ms. Kendrick stated without emotion. "And how is our little program doing? Have you finished it yet? Because if you haven't, you have no reason to be stretching your legs." She moved further into the room until she was right next to Kally where she could observe her more closely. "You're not finished, are you." Definitely not a question.

Kally resisted the urge to either take a step back or slam her elbow into the woman's midsection. Instead, she sucked in her breath. "No," she admitted. "I'm not."

Before she could say anything else, Ms. Kendrick backhanded her across the face. It felt like the strike from a fast moving snake, and was likely just as deadly. The blow sent her slamming into the wall, where she slid down to her rump in a bit of a heap. For some odd reason, it hurt more than she thought it should, almost as if she'd been smacked with steel instead of flesh and bone. In fact, now that she thought about it, she could taste blood in her mouth. She was just too shocked to feel anything at the moment.