Chapter 46 Firewall Games and Quiet Revolution
Back at the office, they tore through hours of code, emails, and abandoned data like surgeons fixing a failing patient no one else bothered to treat.
Lotus organized the chaos color-coded, cross-referenced, timestamped until the third floor’s entire history could be read like a corporate autopsy report.
Joy, meanwhile, reprogrammed computers with the casual arrogance of someone breaking into her own house.
And once everything ran smoothly?
She got curious.
Very curious.
With a thoughtful hum, she slipped quietly into Charuzu’s cybersecurity architecture testing fortifications, tracing vulnerabilities, poking firewalls like they were soft spots on a shark.
All under the radar.
All invisible.
All delightfully easy.
Lotus glanced over. “What are you doing?”
Joy didn’t look up. “Oh, you know… stress-testing their digital fortress.”
“Stress-testing?”
“Mm-hmm.” She clicked one more key. “And, uh… installing a tiny, extremely polite backdoor. Nothing dramatic. Just a button that lets me do whatever I want later.”
“You built a kill switch?”
Joy shrugged. “A love tap.”
They kept working long after everyone else on the third floor had vanished. Screens flickered with data. Notes multiplied like rabbits. Their desk looked less like a workspace and more like a war table battle plans drawn in highlighter and caffeine.
After a while, Joy leaned back in her chair and glanced over. “What about you? Did you find anything?”
Lotus didn’t answer right away. She tapped her pen against her notebook, gaze narrowing at the screen like it owed her money. “Yeah… hmm. Something isn’t adding up. I need a little more information before I jump to conclusions, but it definitely feels like someone’s been scheming. And not quietly.”
Joy snorted. “Great. Because this building wasn’t dramatic enough already.”
“Right?” Lotus muttered, flipping another file open.
They worked in sync unconsciously, automatically like two generals planning a coup neither of them had asked for but were absolutely prepared to win.
It was now 9:30pm , Joy stretched and let out a yawn so dramatic, it bounced off the cubicle walls. “We rebuilt half of the company system with nothing but coffee and pizza.”
Lotus nodded, rubbing her eyes. “And pure spite.”
That was when they both realized, without saying it out loud, that they’d done enough for the night. Time to go. The third floor was silent, the building sleeping ,except for the two women already plotting its renovation.
Lotus packed her tote. “Revolutions run on leftovers.”
They trudged out to Joy’s beat-up car
their unofficial war chariot
and drove through the glowing city.
Neon slid across the windshield like secrets being
When their street came into view, the tone shifted.
Blue and red lights pulsed off every building.
Police tape in the wind.
Neighbors outside in robes.
Joy gripped the steering wheel. “Lord… what now?”
Filthy their neighborhood handyman with the vocabulary of a mechanic and the energy of a conspiracy theorist pushed his cart toward them.
He waved. “Ay! Fifth one this month.”
Lotus and Joy stepped out.
Filthy shook his head. “They tied the lady up. Ski masks. Ran through her house like it was a yard sale. Same crew been hittin’ this block.”
Lotus felt her stomach twist. “Is she alive?”
“Yeah, shaken though. They took her TV, her safe, and her peace of mind.” He lowered his voice. “And y’all house been empty all day. Easy target if they came one door over.”
Joy immediately crossed her arms. “Nope. Not me. I refuse to be a documentary episode.”
Filthy glanced around, then leaned closer. “Look… let me crash in your backyard garage. I’m here workin’ anyway. I sleep light. And I don’t scare easy.”
Lotus stared at him reading sincerity like code, checking the logic of his offer.
Finally:
“You steal from me,” Lotus warned, “I’ll prosecute you and resurrect you to do chores.”
Filthy grinned. “Deal. And I’ll fix your floodlight. Free.”
Joy looked at Lotus.
“We really hiring security now?”
Lotus: “Community investment.”