Page 104 of The Honeymoon Hack

Think, Brie, think!

The KVM terminal would be in rack one. The Orchid server was in rack fifteen—fourteen racks deeper into the cluster, almost thirty feet from the terminal. And the Meridian server right below it.

So close. Dad’s evidence would be right there.

Don’t be stupid, Brie.

But if I distracted Lark somehow, could I access both servers? Get what he neededandget whatweneeded.

If you can pull it off without getting killed.

We reached cluster fifty-seven, and I moved toward rack one. I tapped my card against the lock and opened the door, sliding out the KVM drawer to reveal the compact workstation inside.

“Is that Haddad’s server?” Lark asked.

“No, this is a KVM—keyboard, video, mouse. It’s a remote access terminal that provides console access to any server in this cluster without having to connect to an individual machine physically.”

Lark’s expression remained suspicious. “Show me the server.”

I walked him to rack fifteen and used my badge to open that door as well. Counting units from the bottom, I stopped at the tenth server. “That’s Orchid 815.”

He placed a hand on the sleek black unit with its blue status lights. “Where do you plug in?”

Don’t point out that he isn’t listening.“There’s no direct user interface on the hardware itself. Everything’s managed remotelythrough the KVM terminal. It’s more efficient this way, instead of carting a keyboard and monitor around?—”

He waved me back to the terminal as he stood. “Leave this door open.”

“Okay.” I backed up, lifting my hands. Trying to show I wasn’t a threat, just like those technicians.

He followed me back to the first rack. I tapped my card on the scanner, and the login screen flashed, authenticated my white-level access, and the prompt I’d been so excited about popped up for me:

Please select target server: Rack: [ ] Server: [ ]

I typed “15” for the rack and “10” for the server. The connection established, displaying a Windows Server splash screen this time. Lark leaned over my shoulder. He smelled like salt, gunpowder, and blood.

He smelled like death.

“You’re looking for anything related to Greek Fire,” he said. “Chemical formulas, test results, manufacturing processes. Upload everything to secure-drop-h4x9k2m.onion, port 8080.”

A Tor address—a hidden service on the dark web. Of course.Remember that, Brie:secure-drop-h4x9k2m.onion, port 8080.If I survived this, I was going to track down every bastard connected to this operation, and that dark web address might be the key.

I began navigating the directory structure, running a search algorithm in one window, and doing the work manually in another. I also initiated a third search using a shell command designed to locate hidden folders.

But my mind was already somewhere else. On the server right below Orchid. Meridian. Dad’s evidence. And the fucking assholes from Fenix.

Lark was paying too close attention to me.But this is your only chance.

“They’ll be watching us,” I said. “If they detect unauthorized access from this terminal, they’ll cut the connection remotely. You need to monitor the actual server. If the status light changes from blue to red, I have a three-second window to execute an override protocol. But I need you to call it out immediately, or we lose everything.”

It was complete bullshit, but it sounded technical enough to be believable.

Lark’s eyes narrowed. “And you need me to…?”

“Keep your eyes on that specific server light. Don’t look away. The override window is incredibly narrow.”

Please believe it. Please watch the server.

He stared at me for a long moment, then lifted his rifle. “Five minutes. Find what I need.”