Any Other Way
an excerpt

“I’m a little busy right now,” Justin Taylor told his younger sister, Nicki as he typed away on the main terminal of a computer that he, technically, didn’t exactly have access to be on. “Can we finish this conversation later?”

“Sure,” Nicki said, her voice laced with sarcasm. “I’m only trying to tell you about your little brother. It can wait. I’m sure it won’t make a difference if he’s missing a few more days.”

“Nicki!” Justin hissed. He finally got into the computer and all accesses opened up. “I really have to go! I’ll call you in a little bit, okay?”

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll just sit around and wait for your call.”

Justin snapped his cell phone shut and jammed it into his pocket. She didn’t realize what she was interrupting, and he wouldn’t blame her for that.

There was a rustle in a far corner of the room, and he snapped his flashlight on, pointing it to the crevices around the fake plants and chairs.

Nothing.

“Damn,” he muttered as he reached another block. He had tried to hack into the system from his own computer, but it was under such heavy lockdown that he had been forced to break into the main office and get the information that way. The system was so heavily guarded, that it was almost difficult for him.

Finally! Justin had broken into the main folder, and every file he wanted was exactly where it was meant to be; at his fingertips. He put his flash drive into the USB port and saved every single file onto it. After he had shut the computer down and it looked exactly how he had when he had found it, he stepped away and stared at the office’s exit.

Now he just had to get out. And it wouldn’t have been that difficult, if his cell phone wasn’t vibrating in his pocket.

He flipped open the phone angrily. “What is it now?” he demanded in a hushed tone. “Didn’t I tell you I was busy?”

“Mom says it can’t wait, Justin. She wants you to find Kyle!”

“Nicki, I swear—” He stopped himself. “I told you I was busy, and I would call you back in a few minutes. What part of that didn’t you understand?”

Nicki didn’t seem to care what he was doing. “It can’t wait, Justin! Get over here now!”

“I would,” he told her. “I honestly would if I could. Why would I lie about it? I have something that needs to be done, and I really can’t get out of it. I’ll be there as soon as I can, but I have to take care of this first.”

“What could be more important than your little brother?” she wanted to know.

“Nothing!” he agreed. “But like I said, I’m completely stuck here, and it’s going to be a few minutes before I can get out. There’s nothing I can do about it!”

A siren sounded outside and Justin instinctively ducked down. “Listen, Nicki,” he said. “I have to go. If you call again, I’m not picking up my phone until I can talk. Got it?”

“Justin—”

He snapped his phone shut again and put it back in his pocket. God, she was stubborn. But he had more pressing matters at the moment. As far as he knew, no alarms had gone off in the building, but with the high tech silent ones, they very well could have.

Quickly, he exited the door and began his way down the stairwell until he reached the ground floor and the back alley exit, slowly slipping out, stuffing the black hat that covered his blonde hair and black mittens into his pockets.

The rain was falling hard, and Justin was completely soaked by the time he reached his apartment. He changed into a dry set of clothes before calling his sister back.

“Justin!” her voice came over the line.

”Yeah, yeah, it’s me. Now, how can I help?”