Jake's heart was hammering in his chest. His throat felt like it was on fire. His body was so weak he could hardly stand up and Mary's concerned face was no help at all. He knew that she knew he hated WICKED more than her. But things were getting too close to home. An encrypted file? Maze A and Maze B had some security but not as much encryption as the third file for Maze C. His eyes hardened as he hacked in. Thomas clearly didn't have access. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and his eyes were immediately drawn to it.

Brenda:
Use my laptop. I'm leaving. You'll have to hack in the main security but I have major access into File C. It's outside your door.

Something about Brenda having access didn't ring quite right in Jake's head. But if she'd left it outside the door- then.... He saw Mary race up the short staircase and outside the room. The door opened a little and Mary sneaked back in. "Here." She'd clearly been reading the text.

Jake:
Thanks

He opened Brenda's computer. No password, surprisingly. His phone vibrated again.

Brenda:
I removed the password. I'm not stupid.

Okay that was freaky. He opened her mail, filtered the messages. He went to her files, filtered through them. His finger's typed fast on the keyboard as he used main access. "Mary come closer." This was what they'd been looking for. His nerves jumped as he beckoned her over. His whole body was shivering. He heard footsteps outside, louder than he would have anticipated. Mary's hands worked faster than he expected. She slammed the computer shut, looked at the desk and shoved it right at the back of the drawer. She grabbed his phone and deleted Brenda from his contact list.

Jake was frozen as the door banged open. His heart was racing but he kept his posture confident. He wasn't lying. (According to them anyway.) A guard marched in, along with Teresa. Her expression was hidden but there was a hint of concern crossing her face. "Have you seen Brenda?" She said, loud and clear. The guard to Teresa's side crossed their arms.

"If any of you have the traitor here with you, or any knowledge about them, let it be known WICKED will find out." They walked around the room, checking the cabinet big enough to hide a person. After a thorough inspection they said, "Nothing," into their comms. Jake's heart was racing with worry the whole time. The computer. It couldn't be found. It couldn't be. He was suddenly glad that Mary had deleted Brenda from his contact list, as they went through his contacts. (They had such good privacy at WICKED).

Mary clutched my hand, offering me comfort. It was almost like she could sense my nerves and we'd been friends long enough to not question it. Her voice was subtly coated with venom as she spoke. "Could we get back to work, or do you want to interrupt us for longer?" She crossed her arms resolutely.

Teresa gave her a glance, smiled a little, and told the guard they had checked everything. They both left. He urgently removed the laptop. "Okay," he muttered under his breath. He had it handled. He pressed onto the file, and several documents could be seen. He had a feeling that one of the files held everything.

"Try the ones that aren't encrypted. We'll get something from that." Mary said, already knowing that while he was smart, getting into an encrypted file would be hard. He shared all the files with himself, downloaded them onto his computer and deleted the email.

"I'm looking through this. None of the personal stuff, but she's got a file all about WICKED," they weren't going to stop looking, even if they hardly had an idea what they were looking for.