Jace’s heart rate is still a little high, so I start talking to help ease the tension. “If you were wondering, this part of the plan is officially calledOperation: Don’t Let Aragundi’s Evil Influence Carry On Even After He’s Gone.”
“If this doesn’t work—” Jace says.
The bar ticks past 70%.
“It’s going to work. Remember when we were kids and I rigged the backyard with trip wires, and you still made it to the tree fort with the intel? It’s going to work just like that did.”
“Even the bee sting extraction part?”
I laugh. “Even the bee sting extraction.” The progress bar reaches 95%, but as it is counting up, our twelve-minute window is counting down. “Get the virus drive ready. When I say go, pull out the download drive and put the virus drive in the back slot.Notthe blue one. Stick it in there, and the whole bay shuts down before the virus releases.” I keep my eyes on the download timer until it gets to 100%. “And…go!”
Everyone in the room watches as the progress bar on the virus ticks up, so I narrate. “Erasing mirrors, corrupting backups, frying the OS… It’s basically lighting this place on fire with code.” Oh! Because I’m on fire. See? “He’s going to feel this.”
“It’s nice to know that when Interpol dragsAragundi off this yacht,” Jace says, “his empire goes with him.”
“Interpol is on their way,” my mom, the CSA director, says.
Aragundi’s computer geeks are going to discover there’s nothing left and know what we did any minute now, which means they’ll notify their boss moments after. We don’t want them to get that chance.
“And, it’s done! Now, unless you want a front-row seat to your own arrest or capture, you need to get out of therenow.”
I watch Jace’s glasses cam and the heat map as I direct him through the maze of corridors and up out of the belly of the ship, trying to keep him away from obstacles as Kella remotely guides the eVTOL to the yacht’s helipad. It’s what will ferry Jace away to safety.
As Jace ascends the stairs to the main deck, I frantically scan the dozens of people I see on the heat map. “Oh, monkey bolts! A hornet’s nest has been overturned.” I am checking ship schematics against heat maps, looking for any way to get him to the extraction point, but all paths up are blocked. There isn’t one. I can’t even get him to the upper deck, let alone the top deck.
“Jace, there isn’t a way to get you to either of the other two decks. You’re going to have to leave from thedeck you’re on.”
Jace is looking casual as he strolls through the crowds of people, heading in the general direction of the stairs leading up, when he sees an officer blocking them and takes a quick left. “You’re just going to send a passenger drone right here, to where all the people are?”
I look over at Kella. She nods. “Have him jump. I’ll catch him.”
I relay the message to Jace.
“She’ll…catchme?”
“Tell him not to worry,” Kella says. “I’m the reigning Microsoft Flight Simulator champion.”
I mute my comms and ask, “Like, worldwide?”
Kella shakes her head. “Against my brother.”
I unmute and say to Jace, “She seems confident.”
I glance at the director, and she nods.
“Okay, then,” Jace says, “let’s do this.”
I guide both Jace and Kella to the side of the ship furthest from where Interpol is pouring aboard. When Jace looks over the edge of the ship toward the water, everyone in this room can see the drone soaring toward him. He climbs up onto the bulwark, waits a beat as the drone nears, and then he jumps overboard.
All of us, me included, hold our breath as he falls. My eyes keep flicking between Kella, whose sole focus is on manning the drone, and the video I’m getting from Jace’s glasses. Kella does, indeed, manage to catch Jace on top of the cabin and swoops him away.
A few quick minutes later, seconds after we get word that Interpol successfully captured Callid Aragundi, Jace and the drone land at Héliport de Monaco, where he’s going to get into a CSA helicopter and start heading toward home. The operations room here at the CSA erupts in applause. And, honestly, relief. Aragundi has been onMost Wantedlists worldwide for ages. After so much tireless work, we just took him down.
I am so relieved that it’s Jace they’re cheering for, and that they’re all looking at the big screens as they’re cheering. He’s the one who will get credit for the mission, which is just how I like it. With me, not in the spotlight, just executing everything in the background like a boss. I take a moment to revel in the win.
And, since Monaco is six hours ahead of us, we’ll all be home in time for dinner. Well, except for Jace.
I meticulously plan for every possibility in every mission. But not all of them go this smoothly. Sometimes one doesn’t, and I have to mask a helicopter extraction with a symphony flash mob or remotely reprogram a smart refrigerator to send out a false distress signal to distract some guards. But when it does go this smoothly?
