Mirabe sat quietly, fingers resting on her knees. After some small talk, she nced at Wade and asked, "Have you been burning the midnight oil again?"


    "You can tell?" Wade rubbed his face.


    "Late nights aren''t kind to the liver. Didn''t I tell you to get a check-upst time? You didn''t go, did you?" Mirabe raised an eyebrow.


    Wade vaguely recalled that conversation and chuckled, "I''m feeling fine."


    "Seriously, it won''t take much time to get checked out," Mirabe insisted, her tone sincere.


    Wade appreciated her concern and nodded, "Alright, I''ll go once things calm down a bit."


    He''d been up to his ears with work after some crucial research data went missing from the medical school. There was a mountain of information to sift through.


    Seeing that Wade seemed to have taken her advice to heart, Mirabe decided not to push further. She thought she might whip up some herbal remedies for himter.


    That afternoon, Mirabe headed to the research building after her sses. Walking into theb, she found Linden, Kason, and Jessie looking pretty downcast.


    Dropping her backpack by her desk, she asked, "What''s up with you guys?"


    Linden adjusted his sses and sighed, "We heard they''re adding more people to our team."


    "The neers are students Mr. Calvin''s bringing in," Jessie said with a frown.


    "The higher-ups have no shame. They see our sess and shove people in, just to snag some credit," Kasonmented, too bummed to keep working on his code.


    Mirabe was surprised they found out so quickly. As she powered up herputer, she reassured them, "Don''t worry, no one else is joining our team."


    Jessie looked at her skeptically, "Mira, how do you know for sure?"


    Mirabe tilted her head, her white turtleneck snug around her neck, cheeks slightly flushed. She blinkedzily and said, "Because I''ll walk out if they do."


    Jessie''s lips twitched, not entirely convinced.


    Mirabe raised an eyebrow and added, "I''m not kidding. This team stays just us."


    Even if Wage couldn''t sort it out, she had her ways. If she could build the system she could dismantle it too. Anyone trying to y games with her needed to know if they were up to the task.  swnovel


    Mirabe''s confident tone seemed to ease the trio''s initial frustration. No one liked the idea of new members being foisted on them halfway through a project.


    Although Linden, Kason, and Jessie were older, they''d unconsciously started seeing Mirabe as the team''s anchor. Whatever she said, they trustedpletely.


    With that settled, they got back to work.


    Before long, Ben showed up at theb.


    Seeing Ben jogged Mirabe''s


    memory about the missing research data at the medical school, something James had mentioned.


    Nick had broken in that night and had a run-in with him. His skills


    weren''t top-notch, but he was


    definitely trained.  swnovel


    Considering Nick''s familiarity with the medical school and his skills, it would have


    been a piece of cake for him to take the data.


    Mirabe pondered over this.


    Sensing her gaze, Ben turned to her, a flicker of something in his eyes. He walked over and said, "I remember you and my sister are in the same department, right?"  fo swnovel