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“Now you’re talking,” said Nicole.

“The Fisherman Hotel,” said Travis.

“No,” I said again, taking charge. “We’re down here, we may not be able to get back again, and this is the way to get into the system. Let’s go to Alyssa’s office. They think we’ve been eliminated as a threat for the moment. It should be okay.”

“Until they find your stasis bed empty and those robots offline,” Nicole said.

“Then we’ll have to work fast.”

“We need a plan,” said Mason, falling into step behind me. “You can keep hacking away at the code, but that will alert the computer to your presence.”

“And it’ll keep blocking me just like she’s done all along,” I agreed. “We have to be smarter.”

“Than a computer?” Nicole snorted. “Good luck.”

“How’d you find each other,” I asked, changing the subject with a glance at Travis.

“Nothing like uniting over common enemies,” Nicole said.

“Nicole and I ran into each other on your floor,” Travis said. “We saw them carry you out of your room, unconscious, so we followed.”

“I was stuck on top of the elevator until they rode down with you in it,” Mason added. “These two caught up outside the building because they had to take the stairs.”

“I still don’t understand how you could let them take her in the first place.” Travis puffed out his chest and stalked toward Mason, but Nicole stepped in between them.

“Enough testosterone. Someone has to think above the waist here, and it obviously isn’t either of you. Sam’s brother, on the other hand, seems far more reasonable.”

“My brother?” I asked, “Jackson? Is he here too?” Hope sparked again in my chest.

“He’s picking up some supplies at the Fisherman,” Travis said.

“He’s the reason I was on your floor,” said Nicole. “He’s been helping get past the door issues but freaked out when your dad disappeared.”

“He wanted to come with us, but we needed someone to stay behind just in case,” Mason said, squeezing my hand as we stopped in front of Alyssa’s door.

I heard the unspoken words. In case we didn’t succeed. Thank God Jackson was okay.

“He’s also the one that found the stairway hidden at the base of the Poseidon statue in the courtyard. He’s the reason we were able to get to you at all,” Travis said.

“So what’s the plan?” Nicole interjected, crossing her arms.

“We have to survive until the shuttle comes,” I said, rubbing my temples. “We have to stay off the radar but help as many people as we can.”

“We can’t protect everyone. We have to protect ourselves.” Nicole tossed her hair over one shoulder.

“That’s my sister,” Mason said. “Always focused on self-preservation.”

“You mean being intelligent enough to do what’s necessary as opposed to getting myself caught because of a bleeding heart.”

“We need to find the person behind this,” Travis said, cutting the siblings off by stepping between them. “We need to figure out who it is and take him out.”

“It’ll be obvious once the staff puts everyone else in a coma. Process of elimination.” Nicole tossed her hair over her shoulder.

“Wait. What do we know about the killer?” I asked, grabbing Mason and Nicole to get their attention.

“That they’re psycho,” said Nicole, yanking her arm away.

“That they are extremely tech savvy,” I said, excitement building as I glanced at each of the faces in front of me. “If we can find this person, we can make them fix the AI.” My stroke of brilliance left them all speechless.