Chapter 8 8

The next day, the school was buzzing. Not about Karly. Nobody cared about Karly.

They were buzzing about the upcoming Spring Gala.

Karly opened her locker. A note fluttered out.

Study group. Tonight. 8 PM. CyberZone Café. Be there or fail AP Bio.

It was written on pink stationery. Holli Talley.

Karly knew this setup. In the original timeline, she had gone. She had been desperate for friends. She remembered Holli's friends whispering in the hall earlier, something about "teaching that trash a lesson tonight." It was all the confirmation she needed.

The police had raided the place at 8:15. Holli had slipped a bag of ecstasy into Karly's backpack. Karly had been expelled.

Karly looked at the note. She smiled.

She needed a high-speed connection. And she needed a secure IP address. CyberZone had both.

She went to the library first. She used a privacy screen on one of the computers, her fingers flying across the keyboard. In minutes, she slipped through a forgotten maintenance portal into the city's network, pulling up the contact information she needed from a digital ghost file she'd left for herself years ago in another life. It was a long shot, but Bertrand Norton's private Signal line hadn't changed. She printed out fifty pages of AP Biology notes. She highlighted them until they were neon yellow.

At 7:55 PM, she walked into CyberZone.

It was a dungeon of neon lights and clicking keyboards.

Holli was in a booth in the back with three other girls. They giggled when Karly walked in.

"Over here!" Holli waved. "We saved you a seat!"

She pointed to a computer station in the corner, isolated from the group.

"Thanks," Karly said loudly. "I really need to study."

She sat down. She blocked their view with her body.

She pulled a USB drive from her bra. She plugged it in.

The screen flickered. The café's OS vanished, replaced by the Tails operating system. Untraceable. Encrypted.

Karly opened a secure browser. She navigated to Signal.

She typed in the number.

Bertrand Norton's private line.

She created a new ID. She paused, a flicker of dark amusement in her eyes. It was reckless. It was provocative. It was the only way to guarantee he'd feel it like a physical blow. A name he couldn't ignore. Mrs. Norton.

She typed: The acquisition of Velos Pharm has a poison pill clause in subsection 44.c. You missed it. It will bankrupt you in three years.

Send.

Her heart hammered. This was the hook.

While she waited, she opened her biology notes. She spread them all over the desk. She made a show of studying.

The owner of the café walked by. A grumpy man named Stan.

"Hey," Karly said. "Your POS system is lagging, right?"

Stan stopped. "Yeah. Piece of junk."

"It's a memory leak in the driver," Karly said. She tapped a few keys on his terminal as he watched. "Fixed."

Stan blinked. The screen refreshed instantly.

"Whoa. Thanks, kid."

"Can I get a coffee? On the house?"

"Sure."

Now she had a witness. A witness who owed her a favor.

Behind her, Holli was texting under the table. Karly glanced at a mirrored surface. Holli was texting Principal Higgins.

She's here. She's dealing.

Karly checked the screen.

Read.

Bertrand had seen it.