Free When the Chips Are Down by Anne Rasico

government.  I need to know how their systems work,” Zane said. 
     
    “What kind of project is this?” Rachelle questioned. 
    “I just got hired on as a S ecurity Analyst, and my company wants to mimic the governmental protocols on their mainframe security system,” Zane replied. 
    “ If your project involves snooping for ideas, then it’s not going to work.  Helena State’s system is similar to that of the government; all of the traffic is filtered, queried, and examined constantly,” Rachelle said bluntly, “We have six analysts checking it daily for vulnerabilities.”
     
    “Unless a computer is buried under twenty feet of concrete and disconnected, it’s not impenetrable.  Your average run of the mill hackers couldn’t do it, but I can,” Zane asserted.
    “The problem with that is by the time yo u had decrypted the codes, your location would have been traced. You have to be extremely quick,” Rachelle retorted.
     
    “If you knew exactly what you were doing, the codes could be decrypted in time without being caught,” Zane said. 
    “You’d probably hav e four minutes tops,” Rachelle declared.  Rachelle’s phone rang from the kitchen.  She excused herself and got up to answer it.  Zane reached into his pocket and nodded towards Brooklyn, who was seated in the chair facing the kitchen. 
     
    As Brooklyn kept an eye on Rachelle, Zane placed Eldridge’s tiny flash drive into Rachelle’s desktop.  He had used it to save the backdoor program.  They’ll never be able to trace it back to me, he thought, and Rachelle’s thinks I know nothing about not getting caught! HA!  “It self installs,” Zane whispered to Brooklyn triumphantly as he removed the flash drive and put it back into his pocket.   “We should probably be going,” Zane told Rachelle when she returned from the kitchen.

 
    “Are you sure?” Rachelle said confused. 
    “Yeah , it’s getting late and we have a long drive ahead of us,” Zane said, rising from his seat on the sofa.
    “I don’t think I was much help to you,” Rachelle admitted.
    “Believe me, you’ve been more help than you could possibly know,” he assured her.
     
    The sun was beginning to set as the three friends drove away from Rachelle’s house.  It was then that Brooklyn asked the most obvious and pressing question:  “Where are we going to go now?” 
    “I don’t know . It’s not smart to travel at night with our plate lights out.  We could get pulled over easily,” Trent replied. 
    “We need to go someplace where I can charge my laptop,” Zane said. 
    “Food would be nice, too. We’ve used up our reserve,” Brooklyn added.
     
    “I don’t suppose you have any more jewelry to bribe someone to rent us a room with,” Zane hinted.  Brooklyn shook her head sadly. 
    “I know I can find us a place to stay, but it won’t be as glamorous as last night,” Trent said.  Trent left the subdivision and drove until they reached an industrial road surrounded by warehouses and shipyards. 
    “What the hell are we doing here?” Zane wanted to know.
     
    “ The downturn of the economy left a lot of these places out of business all over the country.  There’s got to be an abandoned warehouse somewhere in this area,” Trent explained. 
    “We’re going to sleep in an abandoned building!” Brooklyn cried. 
    “We don’t have a choice,” Trent said. 
    “Let’s hope my laptop has enough battery power to work with,” Zane groaned.
     
    “They all look desolate,” Brooklyn said , as they passed run down building after building.  “There! The front door is boarded up.  This place is perfect,” Trent cried as he stopped abruptly in front of a dilapidated red brick building. Trent drove the truck to the back of the building and parked in the shipping and receiving area. 
    “I don’t like the looks of this place,” Brooklyn said nervously. 
    “Come on, Brook.  It’ll be fine,” Trent assured, climbing out of the