I pressed myself flat against the side of Rack Three.

The shadow of the server rack covered me.

A man stepped into the room.

It was Toby, the junior IT technician.

He was carrying a half-eaten donut in a paper napkin.

“Hello?” Toby called out.

He squinted into the dark, cold room.

“Is someone in here?”

I held my breath, my lungs burning.

My laptop screen was bright green in the dark corner.

I had tilted the screen down, but the glow still cast a faint light on the concrete floor.

Toby took two steps inside.

His sneakers squeaked on the floor tiles.

“The thermal sensor flagged a spike in Rack Four,” Toby muttered to himself.

He walked toward the main console, away from where I was hiding.

I watched him through the gaps in the server racks.

His back was to me.

He reached for the wall phone to call the desk.

I had to do something.

I reached down and grabbed a loose plastic cable tie from the floor.

I tossed it toward the far corner of the room.