Page 59 of A Barista's Guide to Love & Larceny
Wyatt shifted the car into drive, and they started forward. In the rearview mirror, the van’s headlights came on, and slowly the vehicle followed them.
“Don’t worry, they’re not going to tail us the whole time. Too obvious,” Wyatt explained. “They’re going to post up in an alley around the corner from OneiroLabs.”
He was right; after a few blocks, the van peeled off in another direction. Dani had a sudden pang of nervousness as she watched it go, realizing how easy it would be for Silva and the rest of the crew to bail on them. But she remembered that look on the professor’s face—the woman was committed to this, whatever the outcome. Besides, McKenna would never let that happen.
Then they were turning, and the OneiroLabs service entrance was in front of them, its gate luminous, a man in uniform stepping out of the guardhouse.This is it, Dani thought.No turning back.
You’ve got this, Oliver answered in her head.
Oops, sorry. I forgot we’re linked. It was comforting, though, to know that the others were just a thought away.
Wyatt rolled down the window to greet the guard, who was brandishing a quartzpad. “Evening, sir,” he said jovially. “We’re here for the sleep study.”
“Last names?” the guard said, obviously already bored with this exchange.
“Shredup and, ah, Albuquerque.”
The guard bent his head to his quartzpad for such a long moment that Dani was convinced the jig was already up, that he was silently summoning the police to cart them off to jail—but then he nodded, saying, “Yep, got you right here. One sec.”
He disappeared into the guardhouse, then returned a minute later holding two badges on lanyards, which he handed to Wyatt. “Here you go. Park on level three and check in at the front desk in the lobby. Sleep well.”
Wyatt obliged him with a chuckle. “Thanks,” he said. “Night.”
“Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit,” Dani said as Wyatt rolled up his window, and the guard stepped back into the guardhouse. “I can’t believe this is actually working.”
“Don’t be such a doubter,” Wyatt said, tossing her badge into her lap. Dani frowned down at the strange pattern of shapes and lines etched into the thin slice of quartz, then caught sight of the name above it.
“Darlene Albuquerque?” she said. “Who named me Darlene?”
“Don’t look at me,” Wyatt said. “I’m Garrett Shredup. If that’s not a dude who passes out in his office chair eating junk food, I don’t know who it is.”
As the gates creaked open in front of them, he coaxed the car forward, through the web of light. Dani felt a tingle of power playing on her skin as it passed over the vehicle and their bodies. She had a moment of panic, remembering Katya’s fingernail skeleton key in her pocket, but the girl must have been telling the truth about it being undetectable, because the Pontiac emerged unscathed on the other side, free to proceed farther onto the OneiroLabs campus.
The car wound its way down the curving drive and toward the back of the building, onto which was affixed a parking garage. Dani’s gut tightened at the sight of the second guardhouse at the entrance—but this one was supervised only by a machine, which asked for a badge. Wyatt scanned his dutifully and she breathed a small sigh of relief when the gate arm lifted, permitting the Pontiac into the garage. They found a space on the third level, as instructed, and sat in silence for a minute, getting their bearings.
We’re parked, Wyatt said over the shell.Can you still hear us?
Loud and clear, Oliver replied.The network’s holding up so far.
Excellent, came Silva’s voice.All’s quiet out here. Proceed.
“Awesome,” Wyatt said, turning off the car. “Let’s do this.”
Dani was beginning to get the sense that Wyatt thought he was the star of his own spy movie. He led the charge to the elevator with far too much pep in his step. She was glad to see the elevator empty; still, her heartbeat rose as the car descended, taking them down to ground level.
Ding.The doors opened onto the lobby of OneiroLabs, and she half expected an army of security guards lying in wait to drag them to the police station. But the only people on the other side of the doors were a few employees heading out for the night, and they didn’t give the pair a second look as they traded places, too involved in their own conversation or whatever was playing in their headphones.
The lobby was eerie at night, the heights of glass lashed with black rain, the mirror clouds dispersed and shimmering in a mist farabove their heads. They passed a few people as they crossed the floor to the front desk, some employees sitting and talking, others coming and going, but it wasn’t the same kind of bustle Dani and Oliver had seen on their afternoon tour two weeks ago.
Two people glanced up when they approached the front desk: a sleekly dressed concierge and a security guard lounging in the chair beside them. The desk was tall, chest-level for Dani, and she had to peer over it to see the array of screens and devices on the other side.
The concierge’s gaze swept across them with disinterest. “Here for the sleep study?” they said, already tapping away at a keyboard.
“Yep,” Wyatt said. “Two humble dreamers, reporting for duty.”
Where are you?Katya came over the shell.We can’t see you yet, so we’ll need you to keep updating us, like, every five seconds, okay?
Yeah, sorry, Dani thought back.We’re at the front desk. Wyatt’s talking to the people.
