Beneath the Fallen City - A Dystopian Fantasy Romance

Chapter 6

Kayla stared at the monitor in amazement. The security system in Carl's base was more sophisticated than she'd first guessed. Numerous, seemingly independent layers actually overlapped each other to create a complex web.

Her fingers flew across the screen. Fascinated by the intricacies of the design, she shifted through yet another layer and admired the way it aligned with its predecessor. She pulled up another monitor to line up the two layers side by side. There were definitely some security holes, but she could fix them.

Marking off the vulnerable areas, she shifted the screen to pull up the next layer. She would work on reinforcing those areas once she had them mapped out, but she wanted to see what she was up against first.

Cruncher leaned over her shoulder. "What was wrong with that last one?"

She pulled the previous layer back up and pointed to the areas she had isolated. "You've got some holes in your system, pal. It's leaking like a sieve."

"Shit, you're right."

"It's not that bad. This is actually a sweet system. Who designed it?"

"OmniLab, but I made a few tweaks. Unfortunately, Ramiro's security is similar. He'll be familiar with the ins and outs."

Kayla's eyes glinted mischievously. "Oh, really?"

Cruncher nodded. "Yeah. The system was designed to protect against ruin rats and other troublemakers. Traders don't usually go up against traders."

Kayla pulled out her commlink and scrolled through her files. "I had to analyze Ramiro's system when I scouted his base a year ago. I didn't bother with his security system because it would have taken way too long, but I did play around with the maintenance and monitoring systems. They weren't well protected."

"What are you saying?"

"You can circumvent the security by going through the maintenance and monitoring systems. Your security system isn't linked to everything. We need to fix that."

Kayla located the file she was looking for and uploaded it. She displayed the code on the screen. "I can make a few changes to this and link them together. I'll essentially add another layer, rather than modifying the existing ones. I still need to plug those other holes, but this is a pretty big threat."

Shock and disbelief came over Cruncher's face as he looked through the complex code. "You wrote this?"

She looked at the screen, trying to see it from his point of view. It was decent, but nothing spectacular. "Yeah. It's a little sloppy. I didn't think I'd have much reason to use it again, but I didn't want to get rid of it."

Cruncher let out a low, appreciative whistle. "Why do you even bother going into the pits, girl? You're a natural tech."

She wrinkled her nose. It might be okay for some people, but she prided herself on her ability to recover artifacts and wouldn't change that for anything. The tech stuff was more of a hobby. "No way. I belong in the ruins."

Cruncher shook his head. "Most techs I've seen can't work this level of technology."

She shrugged and finished modifying the code. Linking it to the security system, she fashioned another layer of security over the existing ones.

"I'll need to polish this up a bit later, but it'll provide some basic coverage for the time being. I need to go stretch my legs or something though. I've been sitting here too long."

"Yeah, go ahead." He waved her off with a nod. "Do you mind if I check out your code some more?"

"Not at all." Kayla rubbed the back of her neck, trying to stretch out the kinks, and headed toward the practice room. She was hoping Elyot was around so she could work on some locks with him. Engrossed with the idea she might be able to talk him into making a small wager, she nearly bumped into Lisia and Jinx just inside the room.