Page 77 of The B-Team

“Ryan!” Katrina smacked him on the arm.

“What?” He shrugged. “We’re all thinking it.”

“How about I call the hospital and see if she’s been admitted?” Sarah said, sounding reasonable. “In the meantime, if you hear from her, let me know. Okay?”

“Okay,” he said before lowering his voice to whisper, “I love you.”

“Love you too, you numpty,” she said before hanging up.

“Aw, cute,” Rodrigo said with a grin.

Ryan responded with a hand gesture.

Katrina’s phone rang, and she put it on speaker. “Ms. Patel. Have you managed to speak to the partners?”

“Yes, and both Callum and Lake have given the order to wipe the server.”

Ryan felt as though they were all holding their breath.

“You’re sure about that?” Katrina said.

“They agree it’s the best decision under the circumstances. I’ve got to run,” Ms. Patel said. “Good luck.”

She ended the call, and the three of them looked at each other.

“Is it weird that I’m nervous?” Katrina rubbed her hands on her denim-covered thighs. “My palms are sweaty.”

“I get it,” Rodrigo said. “In trying to save Benson Security, it’s possible we’ll kill it.”

“I feel nauseous.” She placed a hand over her stomach.

Rodrigo glanced at the computer screen. “We can’t put this off much longer. Our friendly hacker’s back in our system.”

“I don’t know if I can do this,” Katrina said. “I owe Benson Security my life. Literally. How can I wipe it out for everyone else?”

“We’re not killing the company,” Ryan said firmly. “Lake started it from scratch once, and he can do it again. Plus, we all remember stuff, all have contacts, and we have the resources we need to rebuild.”

“If the partners decide they want to rebuild,” Rodrigo said.

The room fell silent, heavy with thought.

“Gimme the code,” Ryan said to Katrina. “I’ll do it.”

She passed it to him with a shaky hand. “You’re sure?”

“We’ve got orders, and we know this has to be done. At the end of the day, Benson Security isn’t the files; it’s the people. And we need to get our people out of holding before someone presses charges and things get a whole lot worse.”

Rodrigo stepped aside to let Ryan sit in front of the computer. He pulled the keyboard toward him and typed in his login information. “Damn it,” he said. “It wants to send a code to my phone as an extra security precaution, but I don’t have my phone.” He gave Katrina a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry, Kat. It will have to be you. Or we can do it together. You log in and answer the questions, then I’ll do the rest.”

Looking queasy, she joined him. “I hate everything about this,” she said as she typed in her login details.

“We all do,” Ryan told her.

Nobody spoke while Katrina jumped through the login hoops until, at last, they were signed into the server.

“I’ll take it from here,” Ryan said.

Katrina didn’t argue. Instead, she walked to the far side of the room and sat on one of the lower bunks. She wrapped her arms around herself as though needing the comfort of a hug.