Son of Lazarus

Chapter 30: Black Among White

June 30th, 2041

4:30 a.m.

1 month, 18 days, 2 hours, 25 minutes and 10 seconds to War.

   Thunder rolled across the sky, lightning following soon after to light up the sky with a loud crack. The rain came down hard, harder than it had in years. Each drop hit the window panes in a harsh manner, making it sound like someone was banging on them. No one was patrolling. It was too wet and too wild outside for them to even think about venturing beyond the safety that the walls of the Facility gave. And the scientists couldn't get their work done in this storm either. If the power were to go out, their work would be lost. So they sat huddled in their own rooms, waiting out the storm in thick blankets provided by their boss. The lights were all turned off to save power in case of a power outage. The only lights that remained on were the lights in the hallways. They would remain on to help the scientists navigate their way through the complex if the need arose.

   Above the noise of the storm came the soft access granted beeping. Standing in front of one of the laboratory doors was the figure of a young man. He shook his wrist, scarlet droplets flinging onto the floor just as the door slid open. The lights were off on the inside of the laboratory until his finger laid across the light panel and slid upwards. In an instant, the lights came on, flooding the room with florescent white lighting. Tables filled with beakers created aisles up and down the large, rectangular room. Against the wall opposite of him sat a large, empty table. On it sat two computers sharing one monitor. They were both turned off due to the storm, so their keyboards were hidden against the table's surface. He took a deep breath, swallowed down his fear and entered the room with the door sliding shut behind him.

   He passed by each of the tables, each of their beakers filled with a different liquid until he was standing in front of the table with the computers. He studied them for a moment before he grabbed the back of the chair and slid it out. "Come on, Jordan," he mumbled to himself as he sat down and pulled himself up to the computers. "It's for the Hive. They need this information destroyed. You've stolen information from them before. You can do it again." Jordan placed his index finger against the screen and slid it to the left before he brought it down. The computers both gave a whirl and came to life, the screens turning a transparent silver color with pure white wording. Of course it was dulled out until he placed his fingers onto the screen itself. It brightened up immediately and allowed him to type out his information that allowed him access to practically all of the computers and laboratories in the entire complex.

   Once he had access, Jordan placed his hands on the keyboard and began to search for the information that he had been asked to destroy. He'd searched the entire computer base for something. The only thing he found was a file labeled Top Secret. Jordan's brow furrowed. What was that? He lifted a hand and tapped on the file with a finger. Tapping it brought it up to where he could easily view it. But when he tapped it again to open it, there was a bar with the words Security Code directly above it. "Password protected?" Jordan's frown deepened. Why would a file be named Top Secret? And above all, why was it password protected? His curiosity got the better of him. He had to open it. Had to know what was inside; what the facility was hiding from him and all of their workers.

5:00a.m.

   The quiet was broken by the sound of fists hitting a metal surface. "Ugh," Jordan grunted, his fingers going straight into his hair. "Come on, Jordan. Think! What did Mr. Jones use to lock this file?" Jordan leaned back in the computer chair, releasing a heavy sigh out of his lungs. Cracking a top secret, password protected file was a lot harder than he'd previously thought. He took another deep breath and leaned against the table, staring at the file like a lion would stare down a gazelle. He just had to think. Mr. Jones had a set of passwords for every laboratory's secret file collections. None of which Jordan had access to. All of his passwords were only learned by his most trusted scientists; the ones who personally delivered him their project's progress. Jordan only had access to the laboratories, not their secrets and that would make things more difficult.