Nick''s hand froze on his headset when he heard the voice, and in an instant, he went on high alert. "Who are you?"


    The voice was so mechanical that it was impossible to tell if it belonged to a man or a woman. Clearly, it was altered by a voice changer.


    As wouldn''t use something like that, so whoever was on the other end definitely wasn''t one of his own.


    Nick''s expression darkened even more.


    "The interference with the surveince will be lifted in four minutes and fifty seconds," the voice stated again, cold and robotic, without answering his question.


    Nick''s brow remained furrowed, his voice low and edged with menace, "Who exactly are you? Friend or foe?"


    Mirabe, meanwhile, seemed unfazed by the tension in Nick''s voice. Her sharp eyes remained glued to theputer screen, which disyed feeds from the entire research institute, all appearing normal under the cameras'' watchful gaze.


    Leaning back in her chair with aid-back air, Mirabe finally broke the silence, "Just someone who likes to meddle."


    Nick squinted, his mind racing.


    Whoever this was had easily hacked into hismunicator, indicating some serious tech skills. If they were an enemy, he''d have been caught ages ago.


    Pulling himself together, Nick didn''t waste any more time. He slipped out through the security door. As he emerged, the infrared cameras lining the corridor didn''t react at all.


    Normally, they''d kick in and start a face recognition scan as soon as someone entered.


    Nick hurried down the corridor toward theb at the end, moving smoothly as if the high-tech security systems were momentarily offline.


    Thestb was off-limits to most. Nick fished a card out of his pocket, which beeped when he swiped it. He then took off his gloves, pressed a prepped fingerprint cover to his thumb, and ced it on the recognition panel. A green light blinked on the lock.


    The door swung open.


    The whole process took less than three seconds.


    Watching the surveince screens, Mirabe raised an eyebrow in mild surprise.


    Nick quickly slipped into theb and shut the door behind him.


    There weren''t any cameras inside theb, so Mirabe couldn''t see what he was up to.


    Time was ticking away, every second more crucial than thest.


    Mirabe nced at the countdown timer for the interference-three minutes left —and lightly tapped her fingers on the desk.


    Then Nick''s voice crackled through the earpiece, "Can you help me crack aputer password?"


    Mirabe straightened up, "Sure, but you need to power up theputer so I can locate the signal and hack in."


    "Okay."


    As soon as Nick replied, a small program on Mirabe''sputer sprang to life, and she quickly pinpointed theputer''s signal.


    "Thisputer''s security is top-notch. It''ll take at least thirty seconds to crack it," Mirabe said, her fingers dancing across the keyboard.


    Nick nced at his watch, "Alright."


    With that, he turned his attention away from theputer and moved over to arge metal safe on the left.


    Nick narrowed his eyes, focusing as he gently turned the dial with a gloved hand.


    He tried a sequence of numbers, which promptly triggered a red exmation mark on the disy.


    Only two tries left.


    Seeing this, Nick pressed his ear close to the lock, concentrating intensely as he turned the dial again.


    Meanwhile, Mirabe had already cracked theputer''s defenses.