For Caleb for justice for the truth they'd worked all day to protect. The morning air was thick with dew as Jada crouched beneath the football stadium bleachers. Metal creaked overhead as coach Mallory's footsteps approached. His shadow cutting through the pre-dawn gloom. Had to wait until the security sweep finished.
He whispered, glancing over his shoulder. His usual confident demeanor was gone, replaced by nervous energy. He pulled two small drives from his jacket pocket. Someone's already removing files. Started late last night.
Whole chunks of footage just vanishing. Jada's hands were steady as she took the drives, but her heart raced. How much is left? Enough. Multiple angles of the parking lot incident, plus six months of hallway feeds.
He checked his watch. But we need to hurry. Admin starts arriving at 7:00. Mrs. Price is waiting in her car, Jada said, tucking the drives securely into her bag. We've got a plan.
Coach Mallory nodded, then hesitated. Jada, I He swallowed hard. Just be careful, okay? Some people in this town they don't play fair. Neither do I, Jada replied, thinking of Caleb alone in detention.
Not anymore. She slipped out from under the bleachers, jogging across the dewy grass to where Mrs. Price's ancient Buick idled at the service entrance. The sky was just beginning to lighten, painting the clouds in shades of purple and gray. Got them? Mrs. Price asked, as Jada slid into the passenger seat.
Her normally perfect hair was hidden under a casual baseball cap, part of their plan to blend in with early morning campus staff. Two more drives. Jada pulled them out. But coach says files are disappearing. Then we'd better not waste time.
Mrs. Price shifted into drive, following the maintenance road toward the media building. My old student ID still works on the back door. They never did update those systems properly. The campus was eerily quiet, empty except for a few groundskeepers starting their morning rounds. Mrs. Price parked behind the media lab, positioning the car to block security cameras.
They moved quickly using her ancient ID to slip in through the service entrance. Inside, the lab hummed with sleeping computers. Jada's fingers flew across the keyboard of the main workstation, bringing it to life while Mrs. Price kept watch at the door. "Starting the first clone now," Jada murmured, connecting one of the drives. Progress bars crawled across the screen as files copied.
"These machines are so slow." "Can't be helped," Mrs. Price replied, peering through the door's narrow window. "Just be thorough. We need perfect copies." Minutes ticked by like hours.