A large black SUV pulled up to the curb, its tires crunching on the frozen slush.

A thin man with a thick wool coat and a heavy metal briefcase got out of the passenger seat.

“This is Marcus,” Charles said as we hurried through the automatic doors.

The freezing air hit my face like a slap, taking my breath away.

We climbed into the back of the warm vehicle, Marcus sitting opposite us with his briefcase on his knees.

“Do you have the manager’s login credentials, Emily?” Marcus asked, his voice clipped and professional.

“I have my own login,” I said, rubbing my cold hands together. “But Trevor promoted me to assistant manager last week, and I have the master override code he gave me for emergencies.”

“That should give us administrative access to the network directory,” Marcus said.

He opened his briefcase, revealing a rugged laptop with several glowing blue ports.

“We need to be within range of the restaurant’s local wireless bridge to sync the hidden partition,” Marcus said. “Or we need to plug directly into the receiver in the basement electrical room.”