Page 19 of Smart Ass

“Hey, it’s Ben. I just wanted to give you a heads up that I’ll be taking some personal time this week.”

“Yeah? Why’s that?”

Ben was pretty sure that was illegal to ask, and he certainly wasn’t going to tell Wally more than he needed to. “Family medical leave.” Evan was family, just not by blood.

“We need you here, Curran. Someone hacked the system. Sent in this Maxamillion virus.”

Ben’s blood ran cold. “What do you mean?”

“Started a couple hours ago. First, everything was just taking forever or freezing. Programs kept crashing. Then the manufacturing floor went wonky. A machine smashed a hole through a bot because it wasn’t placed right. Then a piece of metal almost fell on some guy, and now the whole floor is shut down. The system’s not monitoring anything, and the virus is still taking up most of the processor. We can’t kill the processes.”

“Shit. That sounds bad.” More than bad. Horrific. Max was a spark (probably), not a virus. But had he just ignored all of his other responsibilities once Ben turned off the security protocols?

“I think they’re going to have to wipe the whole system. Everyone’s working on back-ups right now, but we can’t be sure if the data is clean.”

“Fuck. Alright, I’m coming in.” Ben looked at the sliding doors to the hospital with the clusters of people going in and out. Evan was awake, somewhere back there. Evan was waiting for him. “I mean I’ll be in when I can. Still have this family emergency.”

Well, now he had two emergencies. Two lives pulling him in opposite directions. He just wanted to see Evan’s face, to know that he was alright. And he still didn’t know what was going on with Quincy. That was three lives.

But if he dawdled, Max could die.

“Get here fast,” Wally told him.

Ben hung up without saying goodbye. “Max. Did you hear that?”

Silence.

Ben started fiddling with his collar. It was too tight around his neck.

“Maxy, I know you can hear me. It wasn’t your fault.”

A longer silence.

Dammit. Was Max alright?

Ben watched the double doors leading back to the ER. He wanted to see Evan.

Hell, he wanted to tell Evan all about Max and ask for his advice. He needed his best friend.

He also needed to get into the system and write some code that would burn anyone to the ground who attacked his Maxy.

Shit. What to do?

Ben wasn’t cut out to be the responsible one. He wasn’t anyone’s hero. He was the comic relief. The quirky sidekick, at best, if not the buffoonish villain.

But he couldn’t help Evan by staying here, and Max needed him now. At least he was a fucking good coder.

All that was assuming that Max hadn’t already been shut off. What would happen if someone just walked into the server room and pulled the plug?

“Max?” Ben felt like crying. Evan, Quincy, and now Max. “Please just say anything so that I know you’re still there.”

He waited.

And waited.

His chest hurt, probably because he’d forgotten how to breathe. But who cared about breathing when Max was in danger?

Max’s voice finally came through, more robotic and distracted than usual. “I’m here, Ben. Give me a minute.”