INTRUSIVE

CHAPTER 7

"What are you doing?" he asked. When Ember didn't answer, Rylan continued, "I thought the janitor was trying to get in earlier. But it was you." Still, Ember didn't say anything. He raised an eyebrow but didn't keep talking. Instead, he waved her towards the exit.

Ember followed him quietly as they climbed into the elevator. Her first trip down the elevator, trying to evade her arrest, was much less tense than it was now. She wanted to tell him, wanted to explain what was going on, but couldn't seem to find the words.

"You just love this place that much, huh?" he asked. His signature grin had returned to his face. At least now, he looked a little more lighthearted. "Love it so much you're willing to come in on your day off."

"I just wanted to get a little bit of research done for next week," she lied. His look told her he didn't believe her one bit, but he didn't press the matter. She half expected him to ask why she needed in his office, then, but he didn't. "So, what are we going to do today?"

"Something you'll be great at," he answered cryptically.

"Which is?" Ember asked. She was never in the mood for games, especially not now. She wanted the time to prepare for what they would be doing.

"We'll be entering a local bank. We're not stealing any money – don't get your hopes up," he began. Ember felt her breath hitch in her chest – there was no way he could know, could he? That's impossible. I've covered all of my tracks. "It's different enough from your first job that you won't be able to breeze through it."

"I like a challenge," she said, hoping her relief that flooded her body didn't show on her face. He only said that so I wouldn't get comfortable.

"Good. We've been hired to bring down their security. They don't need us to take the money out – the thought is, if the security has failed, the money is gone anyway."

"Makes sense," Ember agreed. "Anything else I should know?"

"Nope, I have all of the gear in the car," he told her. The doors to the elevator opened and he stepped quickly out. Ember followed. "Do you want to stop at your place and pick anything up? Any laptops, tools?"

Ember said, "I'll use whatever you have." That was something Ember prided herself in: despite her respect for electronics, she knew they were disposable. She never needed to rely on a certain laptop, phone, or any other piece of technology. She was adept at using anything given to her.

Rylan led her to a brand new car sitting in the garage. It was a black sedan, immaculate looking but still normal enough to fly under the radar. He unlocked it with the key-ring and opened the driver's side door. Ember climbed in the passenger side.

Inside was anything but ordinary. The entire front dash was a maze of touch screen monitors. Ember could hardly take it all in: there were GPS units, clocks telling the times from major cities around the world, and all sorts of other readouts. It was almost like being inside of a cockpit or some sort of spy car.

"This is ridiculous," she muttered, tapping a screen.

"I might have went a little overboard," Rylan said. He pushed a button and the car hummed to life, almost completely silent.

"You definitely went a little overboard," Ember said. But she was also enthralled. She was a firm believer in technology, and she'd never seen anything this... cool. There was no other word that she could think of to describe what she was seeing.

Rylan pulled the car into the street, but Ember hardly noticed. She was tapping away at the screen, watching the car's vitals display in front of her. Fuel consumption, tire pressure, the heat of the engine, everything was laid out in a neat grid. She wasn't a car person, but seeing everything laid out so neatly was exciting.