***
Three-dimensional DNA models rotated on computer screens as Sydney continued his reconstruction of Todd’s work. He’d completely submerged himself in the research, losing himself in the intricate data that Todd’s mind created with nothing more than a few pieces of equipment in a hole in the ground. But instead of a scientist, working on the latest research from one of the brightest minds of the century, he felt more akin to a burglar, rummaging through the drawers of a home he had no business being in.
“How much longer is this going to take?” Jake asked.
Sydney’s previous hijinks had cost him any goodwill with Gordon, and as a result, Jake was now with him twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
“I told you I can’t put a timeline on this,” Sydney answered.
“I can’t fucking wait to get out of this fucking lab,” Jake said, talking more to himself than Sydney.
The stress of the past two days seemed to be affecting Jake more than it was Sydney. The wolf behind him didn’t enjoy the cage as much as the lab rat. The truth was, Sydney wasn’t in any hurry to finish what Todd had started. He knew the moment he turned in the final reconstructed solution to Gordon, he was a dead man. With each new DNA sequence he completed, the tip of his shovel dug the pit of his own grave a little deeper.
A part of Sydney held out hope that his father would still be able to pull some strings, send in a unit to break him out, or have won the war with the Coalition before he was able to finish the reconstruction of Todd’s data. But Sydney knew that Gordon would keep him as a hostage in whatever last stand Gordon had in mind, which would most likely end with him dead.
The computer beeped, signaling another completed DNA sequence, and the needle on the gauge of Sydney’s emotions edged another inch closer toward angst. Sydney rolled his chair over to the second of three computers at his disposal, and when he maximized the window, he saw a notification in his email. The subject line was blank, along with the sender, and resembled the same embedded emails he used to communicate with his father and Alex during his time in Wyoming.
Sydney’s spine grew slightly stiffer as he carefully closed out of the email and continued on with his work. There was no way he’d be able to use the computer to check something like that with Jake constantly hovering over him. But he did remember the backup cell phone he kept in the bottom drawer of his desk.
Sydney grabbed his clipboard, jotting down a few notes from the computer screen, when he started vigorously tapping the clipboard with his pen. “Dammit.”
“What?” Jake asked.
Sydney waved him off, walking over to his desk. “Nothing. Just out of ink.”
“What an emergency,” Jake drawled.
The desk was behind the equipment, and Sydney glanced back over his shoulder, where he could see the top of Jake’s head leisurely making its way around the computers. Sydney quickly opened the bottom drawer, shuffling through the random office supplies and lab notes until he found the cell phone. He hid it under the clipboard in his hand and started searching for the charger. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d used it and wasn’t even sure if it would turn on.
“Hey,” Jake said.
Sydney froze in his hunched over position, still moving items around and scraping against the sides of the drawer in a quiet panic.
“Hey!” Jake repeated.
Sydney finally looked up, and Jake was pinching a pen between his fingers. “I don’t have all day.”
“Right,” Sydney said, taking the pen and closing his desk drawer. “Thanks.” He could feel the beads of sweat rolling from his armpits and over the lumps that were his ribcage. Keeping the phone hidden underneath the clipboard, he rushed back over to the computer and continued jotting down notes.
Sydney waited another hour before he told Jake he needed to use the restroom, and by that time the phone was practically slick with sweat. Jake escorted him to the bathroom and, per their arrangement, waited just outside the stall.
“You have three minutes,” Jake said.
Sydney slid the stall’s lock into place, sat down, and pulled the phone from his pocket. He closed his eyes as his fingers hovered over the power button, reciting the softest prayer he’d ever let his mouth utter, which included both hopes of the phone turning on, and it making no noise once it did. He gently pressed the power button, held it, then released and let out the lightest of sighs as the phone’s screen lit up soundlessly.
Once the homepage loaded, he quickly selected his email and waited for it to update. Sydney’s eyes shifted from the phone’s screen to the door. He could feel the sweat collecting under his arms and on his forehead. He wasn’t sure how much time he had left, but Jake’s pounding on the stall door and a harsh “hurry it up” didn’t make him believe he had much time.
The inbox finally finished updating, and Sydney quickly tapped the screen to select the mystery email he saw on his computer in the lab. And just as he thought, when he selected the email, he was greeted with the black and white of an encrypted message from Alex:
Sydney,
I need you to locate the man and woman who were taken from the Wyoming community where I was stationed. If you can get me this, I’ll get you out from underneath Gordon’s thumb. If you don’t reply within the next hour, the deal is off the table.
Alex
The battery percentage on the phone flashed at less than ten percent. Even if he could manage to hack into the database from the phone, which he couldn’t, he wouldn’t have enough time or battery power to do it. Sydney bit his lower lip in a nervous fervor. Right now, he only had one card to play. He quickly hit reply and started typing.
Alex,
I don’t have that kind of access anymore. Gordon has me under lock and key, with a guard on me at all times. He has me working on replicating Todd’s work. The best I can do is stall, but whatever you have planned, make sure you do it quickly, because I don’t know how much longer I’m going to last.
Sydney
The moment he tapped send another series of blows landed on the door that rattled the entire grouping of stalls in the bathroom. Sydney pocketed the phone and flushed. When he opened the door, he was greeted by Jake’s sour face.
With Jake refusing to move, Sydney maneuvered around him, keeping his head down, and made his way to the door. The moment he touched the handle Jake called out to him.
“What are you doing?” Jake asked.
A frozen chill brought him to a motionless state, with the tip of his fingers glued to the door handle. All he could think about was the phone in his pocket. Had Jake heard me? Had he seen the phone? Sydney slowly turned around, his face a ghostly white. Jake kept his arms crossed over his chest and took a few quick steps in Sydney’s direction until he was directly in front of him.
“What are you, a fucking animal?” Jake asked.
“What?”
“Wash your hands.”
The icy hand of fear loosened its grip, and Sydney quickly moved to the sink, sighing a breath of relief as the water hit his hands.