Override (Glitch)

completely. Part of me longed to message Adrien, but I couldn’t be sure where he stood in all this. If he’d seen something about the General in the future, he wouldn’t tell us. And maybe it was petty, but I still couldn’t forget what had happened the other night. I needed to be able to focus right now, and I couldn’t do that with him around. Besides, the fewer in on this, the better chance we had of pulling it off.
    “What’s up?” Xona asked when she walked in. “Why not just talk in our room?”
    “Because someone might overhear or come in. I didn’t want to take any risks.”
    “What risks?” Xona asked. She put a hand to her waist, touching her weapon holster. Her eyes darted around anxiously. “Is it those ex-Reg bastards? Are they spying on us?”
    “No, nothing like that.” I took a deep breath. “I want to break into Taylor’s office, and I need your help.”
    “What?” Ginni’s eyes flew open wide. “We can’t do that!”
    But Xona looked as if I’d finally said something worth her time. “What are we looking for?”
    “I overheard Jilia and Henk talking about an operation called Kill Switch. He’s building her some kind of device.” I looked at Ginni. “Have you heard anything about it?”
    She shook her head.
    I paced in the small space. “Look, Taylor’s the leader of the Rez. But what if she’s making the wrong decisions? I just learned today she and Jilia have been doing experiments on glitchers to take away their powers.”
    “What?” Ginni sounded shocked. “They wouldn’t!”
    Xona didn’t seem as outraged. “It could be pretty handy against the Chancellor and her minions,” she pointed out.
    I nodded. “Exactly. That’s how they justified it. And I don’t know,” I threw my hands in the air, “maybe it’s the right thing to do. But they’ve done it all in secret. We’re supposed to be on the same side, but she had the weaponized gas installed here at the Foundation to use against us.
    “Taylor talked to me about sacrifice once, about being willing to give up the people you loved most for the greater good. Which might be a nice ideal, except I’m not sure she’s going to give us a choice in the matter.” I stopped pacing and looked at them. “We need to know what she’s up to.”
    “What does Adrien say?” Ginni bit her lip nervously. “He’d know if she were planning something bad. He’d have a vision of it, right?”
    “I think maybe he already has.” I looked down. “But he won’t tell me, and I’m not sure he’d help us with this. We need to get into that office. I’d do it by myself, but if I just rip off the door to get past the locks, it would set off alarms.”
    “Which is why you need me,” Xona smiled and cracked her knuckles. “I may not be a computer whiz like Adrien or that other security kid, but I’ve been sneaking into places my whole life. I just have to steal the daily encryption key for the compound’s locks.”
    “You won’t be doing anything of the kind,” said a deep voice from the doorway.
    We all froze.
    Tyryn walked into the light, striding quickly to where we were gathered in the corner. He held up a sonic listening device. He’d obviously heard our entire conversation.
    Ginni stared at him open-mouthed.
    “You gonna rat us out, Ty?” Xona narrowed her eyes.
    Tyryn held up a hand. “Xona, I know better than to try to keep you out of trouble. I didn’t come here to stop you. Something big is going on, but they won’t tell us anything. And the way Taylor takes risks lately…” He shook his head. “I’m here to help.”
    “Can you get us the encryption key?” Xona asked.
    Tyryn smiled and held up a small drive. “What, you mean this?”
    *   *   *
    Ginni pinpointed the General’s location, confirming she was away at another Rez site. Tyryn agreed to go down to the military level and keep a lookout. If we triggered any alarms, the soldiers there would be the first to know. Ginni stayed behind too, but promised to watch with her power and com us if anyone was approaching.
    We waited until everyone was asleep, then Xona and I crept over to Taylor’s office. Xona waved the newly encrypted key card in front of the reader at the door. The metallic sound of the sliding door opening echoed down the empty hallway. I cringed, but Xona was calm. She made a sharp forward motion with her hand. I followed her inside.
    I was nervous. We couldn’t afford to make a mistake here. At least Xona was