Page 43 of A Barista's Guide to Love & Larceny
“I do not wink like a—”
“Miss Novak. Mr. Shalhope,” Silva cut in. “I will not tolerate any bickering in this group. We are a team, and if we are to succeed in our mission, we must behave like one. Starting now.”
Neither Katya nor Wyatt looked like they were taking this team spirit thing to heart, but they stopped sniping at each other, at least.
“Grazie,” Silva said. “Now that that’s out of the way, we can get started.” She circled around to the front of the desk and perched on its edge, crossing one foot over the other. “I’ve invited each of you to join this particular, ah,projectbecause you have a unique set of skills that behooves our efforts.”
She let her gaze scan from one end of the group to the other, like she was taking a mental snapshot of the scene in front of her. “MissNovak is an expert in arcane technology, with a focus on security. She interned in OneiroLabs’s security department last summer, and as such has a basic familiarity with their system. Miss Lionet has a knack for very subtly uncovering information.” Dani stiffened at the mention of her ability, but no one else batted an eye. “Mx. Izumi has a personal stake in the matter and the ability to connect us all telepathically, as well as knowledge of arcanobotany. And finally, Mr. Shalhope here is a mage who specializes in portals, which we’ll need for transportation purposes.
“On paper, the objective of this project is simple,” she continued, her tone even. “Acquire the formula for OneiroLabs’s new product. To do that undetected, however, presents a more, how do you say,gnarlychallenge.”
So this really was the plan… steal a valuable, top secret recipe for a brand-new product from a high-security, internationally renowned company.
“You want us to run a heist,” Dani said, unable to stop herself. “Us. A bunch of students.”
Silva looked hurt. “Don’t underestimate yourselves,” she said. “You are all extremely capable. And your youth? With any luck, it will render you less suspicious.”
Dani had a hard time believing that, but she bit her tongue and let Silva continue.
“I’ve thought carefully about the best possible timing for this undertaking,” the professor went on. “I believe the ideal opportunity will come during the Renard Gala and Exposition for Magical Innovation and Development on Friday, December fifth, right here on campus.”
“Where OneiroLabs is launching the new product,” Oliver said.
Silva nodded. “Correct. It stands to reason that their key players will be attending that event: the CEO, the Head of Research whom you and Miss Lionet met, and so forth. Their attention will be occupiedon that particular evening, which will provide us the perfect opportunity to enter the facility and secure the formula. Getting to that point, of course, will take a tremendous amount of preparation and coordination.”
Dani’s mouth had gone dry. She wanted to help, but that didn’t mean she didn’t find this absolutely fucking terrifying.
“We have approximately a month to position ourselves for success,” Silva said. “Thanks to the information acquired by Miss Lionet and Mx. Izumi on their tour of OneiroLabs, we understand that the formula requires a particularly high security clearance. So our first order of business will be to find a way to access such a clearance.”
“Why can’t Katya take care of that?” Wyatt asked. “Do some tippity-tap”—he mimed typing on a keyboard—“and snatch it out of digital thin air?”
Katya snorted. “Yeah, because OneiroLabs doesn’t do any penetration testing or have any firewalls up. Try again, genius.”
“Miss Novak is correct,” Silva said before Wyatt could clap back. “Unfortunately, we’re going to have to do this the old-fashioned way: from the inside. To that end, I have assignments for each of you this week. We need to find a way to get back into the OneiroLabs building. Mx. Izumi thinks they may have a connection within the company who might agree to help us do just that.”
Dani glanced at Oliver, who confirmed her assumption with a nod.Max.He’d given them his personal quartz address as he’d escorted them out of OneiroLabs—“just in case.”
“So their task is to reach out to their contact and see if they can be of assistance. In the meantime, Miss Novak and Miss Lionet”—Dani stiffened at the sound of her name—“I’ll need you to do some reconnaissance to learn anything else about the clearance levels and who possesses them. I’ve received intel that there’s a popular social spot for OneiroLabs workers near their headquarters. The two ofyou need to put your heads together and work out an evening this week you can pay a visit to that bar—perhaps when their second shift gets off, around ten.”
Dani’s heart sank. Her only night off this week was Thursday—and she had her date with Kass that night.
“Mx. Izumi recalled that on your tour, your guide mentioned something about a hydroponics lab on the twentieth floor. I think that’s a good place to start. So,” Silva said, facing Dani and Katya in turn, “you need to find out who has access to that floor and any clues on how we might be able to become one of those people. Once you do that, and once Mx. Izumi has confirmed that their contact can help us get in the door—we’ll plan our next step.”
“What about me?” Wyatt said. “What’s my assignment for the week?”
“Becoming less of an asshole,” Katya said out the corner of her mouth.
Silva ignored the quip. “Nothing as of this moment, Mr. Shalhope,” she said. “But rest assured, your services will be required shortly. Once we have all these pieces, we will need to enter OneiroLabs to secure the clearance—and we’ll need an escape route as well.”
“I thought we weren’t breaking into OneiroLabs until the gala,” Dani said, fiddling with the amethyst pendulum around her neck.
“We aren’t acquiring theformulauntil the gala,” Silva corrected her. “I’m afraid we will have to make one initial excursion before then, to make sure our security access is in place—unless, by some miracle, Miss Novak finds a way to do so from without.”
“Don’t hold your breath,” Katya said.
“Right,” Dani said. “Great. Got it.”
“Now—some housekeeping,” Silva said, barreling ahead. “Any records we have of our time together must be ephemeral. From now on, you should only contact me using a secure messaging app thatMiss Novak has developed for us. She’ll be sending out downloads to all your quartzpads as soon as possible.”
