Page 64 of The Honeymoon Hack

I slipped the satellite phone from my pocket and inserted my earbud. Giving Rav a subtle wave, I murmured, “You read me?”

“Copy,” came his response. “Satellite working?”

I activated the uplink, watching the screen as it failed to connect. Again. And again. The satellite icon blinked red three times before displaying “Connection Error.”

“No signal.” This was what I’d been afraid of the moment we’d stepped outside. “Let me try moving.”

I walked a few feet away, holding the phone higher, pretending to take an artistic photo while searching for any lighter section in the cloud cover. The loading icon spun endlessly before failing again.

“Come on.” I powered the phone off and on. My stomach tightened as the reboot completed, only to display the same error. The hurricane wasn’t just affecting the weather; it was severing our lifeline. “No go. Cloud cover’s too thick for satellite transmission. We’re cut off.”

First project when you get home: a satellite phone that connects through cloud cover.

I glowered at the useless device in my hand. We couldn’t be completely dark. Not today. Not with Scarlett’s visit happening.

“Hold on.” I pulled out my regular phone—the one that looked like any other staff member’s device but had my custom Reynolds partition hidden inside. “Let me try something.”

Brie stepped closer, her voice low. “What are you thinking?”

“The earbuds.” I disconnected from the facility’s network and booted into the Reynolds partition. The interface shifted, displaying the custom software Brie and I had built. “They’re perfect for secure comms when the phone’s working, but I did also design them to hide on the Wi-Fi. Granted?—”

“The AI might catch it,” Brie finished for me.

“We need to be sure Scarlett’s still coming.” I reconnected my earbuds to the Reynolds software. “Rav, you still reading me?”

“I am,” he said.

I held up my phone, watching it search for available networks. The Mnemis Wi-Fi signal appeared, strong and clear.My finger hovered over the connect button. It would connect the earbuds directly to Wi-Fi, eliminating the need for a phone attachment.Ifit worked.

“If the AI flags this—” Brie started.

“Then we claim we were trying to video call family before the hurricane hits.” I tapped the connection. “We’re newlyweds who wanted to check in with their mothers. Completely innocent.”

The earbuds established an encrypted connection, routing the data through Wi-Fi while masking the signature as background RF interference. Hopefully. The connection icon turned green, but immediately flickered off and on again.

Static crackled through my earbud. Another thing I’d have to fix later.

“Hi, Mum,” I kept my voice casual, as though I were speaking with my mother. “I wanted to confirm our dinner plans for later. Are we still on?”

More static. Scarlett’s voice cut through suddenly, distorted but recognizable. “Confirmed. Reservations are… four o’clock. Party of… includes our mutual friend.”

Malcolm. She was bringing Malcolm.

“Perfect. My partner will be ready.” I glanced at Brie, who nodded. “Any dietary restrictions we should be aware of?”

“No, but Gideon… Claire was… from a…”

The connection crackled again, worse this time. Was it the weather? The data center’s electromagnetic interference? Or was the AI already shutting down our conversation?

“Come again?”

“Be… she’s…”

The line went dead. Not gradually—just gone, like someone had flipped a switch.

I checked the phone’s display. No signal.

“Will?” Brie’s voice was tight.