Page 70 of Fragments

My lashes flutter at his face.

At nothing more than a slight nod of his head, both Joy and Velle remove their Glocks from their holsters, holding them at their sides. I gulp.

“Accident or not,” he goes on, “if you fail to fix this issue… if you try anything, and I meananything…” His subtle smirk goes wide, into a cryptic gleam. “It’s a slow, painful death for you, young man. Torn to shreds by razor-sharp teeth.”

He stares at me with his brows raised until I nod. But he’s not satisfied.

“Speak, 35,” he growls.

“Yes, sir,” I mumble. “I understand. I… I’ll fix it. No issues.”

The Warden shoots me a pleased expression that’s probably fake, dropping a cold, bony hand on my shoulder. “Perfect. Get to work, my boy genius.”

He gives me a gentle shove in the direction of the server wall, and I stow my unhinged breathing and twitchy movements enough to wander over. I’m checking out the setup as I hear him tell the tall man, “Get him whatever he needs.”

Then he stalks out of the room, casting a look at Velle on his way out that’s hard to miss.

I’m confident enough in what I do to fix this. Which is good, because as it would appear, my lifeliterallydepends on it.

It’s this notion that has me working extra slow, and careful, to make sure I get it right. I can’t overlook anything or make a careless mistake. Every move is important.

Hours go by while I work diligently. The Warden returns to check up on me, but he’s pulled away once more when his phone rings. Velle leaves to go handle something too, and I’m just reprogramming, reinforcing, rebooting and short testing. Everyone is silent for the most part, except Joy’s occasional chatter with the guys, who, it turns out, are control room guards. I can’t help but eavesdrop when they mention some fancy world-renowned doctor they’re sending in specifically for Felix Darcey.

I’m not surprised. Manuel Blanco hit the jackpot when he scored The Carver.

Nerves fade off fast, especially once I get in my zone. This is what I do, and I find it interesting that I’m the only person on this island who knows how to do it.

No wonder the servers are in such poor condition. No one maintains them. No diagnostics are run, updates to the software or hardware… It’s a free-for-all.

You’d think because of how important the system is, they’d be more inclined to take care of it. But apparently, a twenty-three-year-oldprisoneris the only one who understands how they operate.

It gives me an immense sense of power. I mean, I could fuck shit up right now if I wanted to. If I had adeath wish, that is. Because I don’t doubt that the Warden fully intends to murder me if anything goes wrong down here, whether it’s my fault or not.

With great power comes great responsibility.

By the time I’m finished, my stomach is growling, and my back is aching from standing, bending and crouching for so long. Joy brings me back up to gen-pop, straight to the caf for dinner. They even set aside a tray for me.

How sweet… I guess handling their shit for them doesn’t warrant any kind of special dinner.

Ungrateful pricks.

Carrying my tray, my eyes swoop to my usual table, relief washing over me when I see my friends. Dash, Kang… Ren. They’re all here, alive and well. Not rotting in solitary or having their brains cooked into scrambled eggs. I’ve never been happier to see them. Even Ren.

Okay, I might bereallyhappy to see him right now, but I’ll deny it if anyone asks.

When I sit down, Ren is visibly distraught, looking like he’s about to lunge over the table to get to me. It sets off serious tingles in my gut that I’m trying like hell to push away.

I explain to them what I was doing down there, and they’re all super interested. I don’t want to feel like such a cornball, but I’m warm over it. Their obvious concern for me. Especially Ren’s…

The group of us eat together, joking and laughing like usual. It’s all I could ask for when I have nothing more thanthem.

My friends are all I’ve got.

After dinner, we’re being walked back to the row with no cuffs, and my wrists are grateful.Ren is striding beside me, close, like he usually does. And for the first time in a while, I’m not trying to inch away.

I know it’s ridiculous, but I can’t help feeling like things are better when he’s around… annoying me the way he does so well.

We’re friends. I missed him as afriend, that’s it.