Page 101 of Twist of Fate

Asterius grew quiet beside him. His usual humor disappeared as he watched Koios work. Koios had stood between their king and death. None of the brothers would forget it.

Koios finished whatever held his focus, then turned. He acknowledged Tyson and Asterius before looking at Connal.

“Connal.”

Connal inclined his head. “Koios.”

Koios’s gaze moved to Luke and the brown backpack over his shoulder. “You brought the drive?”

“Yes.”

“Then we should begin.”

Luke stepped forward but made no move to open the backpack. “Is any part of the system you’ll use connected to an outside network?”

Koios pointed toward a workstation set apart from the others. “That machine is isolated from every external network and from the rest of my equipment. If necessary, it can be destroyed without compromising anything else.”

The answer matched the precautions Luke had required, but he continued. “What happens when you connect the drive?”

“The first examination will be exploratory. Nothing stored on it will be allowed to run while I determine what is there.”

Connal remained silent. These defenses belonged to Luke’s terrain. His mate would know whether they were sufficient.

Luke opened the inner compartment of the backpack. His hand remained inside for a moment before he withdrew the drive.

“Tell me what you find before you open any of the files.”

“Agreed.”

Only then did Luke place the drive in Koios’s hand.

Koios inserted it into a reader attached to the isolated workstation. A list appeared on the nearest screen, followed by several lines of information Connal could not interpret.

No one spoke while Koios studied them.

Finally, Koios looked at Luke. “Nothing attempted to activate when the drive was connected. I can examine its structure safely, but the stored files are encrypted.”

“What kind of encryption?”

“Several kinds layered together. Whoever prepared this expected the recipient to possess a key.”

“Can you open it without one?”

Koios studied the information on the screen. “Yes, but I’ll work from a copy. If the encryption is designed to damage the files when someone attempts to break it, the original will remain untouched.”

Luke gave one decisive nod. “Do it.”

Koios created the copy, then began dismantling the protections around it.

Numbers and symbols changed across the screens while Koios tested one approach after another. Asterius paced behind them. Tyson remained beside the workstation, watching the information with a concentration nearly equal to Koios’s.

Luke did not move from Connal’s side.

One layer of protection disappeared. Another took its place.

“They did not want this opened by accident,” Tyson said.

“Or by anyone other than the intended recipient,” Luke replied.