Page 8 of Loving Amari

Tofi addresses Carla with images that show she’s happy to see her mother.

Carla’s voice softens. “That’s okay, Tofi. Have you spent any time with Noki?”

Tofi doesn’t respond. Carla goes quiet. I look to Tofi with a frown. “You and I need to have a chat in private after this. How you treat your mother and Noki is unacceptable.”

Tofi sort of slumps over, her legs folding slightly. I stand from my chair and hold out my hand for Carla.

She stays in the doorway. “No, I’m not trying to interrupt, just saying hello and apologizing for my indecency.”

Bobby looks to her and bows his head. Carla gives him a look, then Bobby grins and gives her a panther salute. She does it back, or at least tries.

“Power to the people.”

Bobby raises his fist. His grin widens. “Right on, sister.”

Carla blushes at that. All seems well between them.

Bobby turns back to me. “How long are you back from Limbo this time?”

I suppress a hiss at that. Carla meets my eyes. I know she needs to talk to me.

She feigns a smile. “As long as I can.”

Bobby nods. “Well, Amari’s a real grouch when you’re gone too long.”

Carla looks down at her hands. “Sorry. I’m going to go check on Noki and the other children. I’ll meet up with you later.”

I frown at that. I’ve had enough distance between us, but I bite back my words and turn my focus on Bobby. “What brings you back to Wintermoon?”

Bobby places a file on my desk. I pick it up, looking over at Tofi who’s now pouting. I open the file with one hand and go back to petting her with the other.

Citations. Building code violations. A flood of them.

I set them down, smirking. Brookstone and Blackburn are up to something. They’re getting aggressive.

Bobby crosses his arms. “They’ve tightened up security on their labs too.”

I smirk again. I do love a challenge.

I look at Tofi and bend down, planting a kiss on her head. The images flood in. Love you, Daddy. I walk around her over to the wall and touch my projection box. A screen lights up with a keyboard, the blue glow illuminating my face. I immediately start getting to work. I make a mental note that I need to upgrade my equipment. I’ve been so focused on the technology center for the academy that I haven’t put work into my own projects.

My fingers fly across the holographic keyboard, lines of code appearing on the screen. I navigate through the preliminary firewalls of Brookstone and Blackburn’s network with ease. Child’s play. But then I hit the first real security block. A smile spreads across my face.

Now we’re talking.

I type rapidly, watching the code scroll past. Each command I input is met with a counter measure. They’ve upgraded their systems since the last time I checked. Someone competent is behind this, someone who knows what they’re doing. The code is elegant, almost beautiful in its complexity. Layers upon layers of encryption, progressively more intricate.

I try a backdoor entry. Blocked.

I attempt a brute force attack on their authentication servers. Another wall goes up.

I crack my knuckles and lean closer to the screen. The blue light reflects in my eyes as I study the architecture of their security system. There’s always a weakness, always a crack in the foundation. I just need to find it.

I start writing a custom script, my mind working through the problem like a chess match. If I can’t go through the front door, I’ll create my own entrance. The code flows from my fingers, each line building on the previous one. I run it against their firewall.

Another block.

I grin wider. This is better than I expected. Whoever designed this system knew I might try to hack in. They’ve accounted for supernatural speed, for pattern recognition that exceeds human capability.