Was Carson behind the threats against her family and Hanstech? Was he Nebulous 2.0? And if he wasn’t, who else was in the building?

At the glass-door entrance to the secured level, Tilden glanced at them before swiping his keycard. They rushed forward through the racks of servers, lights blinking with the silent alarm. Security cameras should have covered every area.

Tilden came to a halt. Nora rushed forward, but he held out his arm, stopping her. He took another step around the server rack. Nora and Mackenzie joined him to see Carson lying on the cold tile floor.

Tilden crouched and checked the man’s pulse and nodded. “He’s alive. I’ll stay here with him. You ladies should go back up and wait for the authorities and the ambulance.”

“I’m staying,” Nora said.

“Who did this?” Mackenzie asked the obvious.

“He’s diabetic and could have collapsed due to his blood sugar,” Nora said. “I’m staying with Carson. I’ll wait here for the medics. Or maybe we can all carry him up to meet them.”

Mackenzie hadn’t known that Carson was diabetic. Still, given the circumstances, she believed someone had caused him harm. And they could still be down here. She rose and rubbed her arms, looking around the room filled with servers and beyond to the next set of glass walls—the test drones.

Tilden stood and held his gun at the ready, angling his head left and right as if he sensed they weren’t alone.

“Hello?” she said.

Tilden and Nora glanced at her. She moved around the rack of servers. “Come out and face me. I’m tired of this game.”

“Miss Calhoun, what are you doing?” Tilden drew close, backing her up.

She glanced at Tilden and gestured to the other room.

He subtly nodded and crept forward, but she held him back. “I’ll go. He’s after me.”

He shook his head. “You’re not going anywhere. You and Nora need to go back up and wait for the police. While I hate leaving him here, maybe I should escort you up.”

“You heard Nora. She’s not leaving Carson behind.” She pushed past Tilden, willing him to understand, though she wasn’t sure if she was making the right decision. She knew for certain that Tilden was in danger too, and she couldn’t stand to be the reason he got hurt. “I’ll protect you.”

What was she saying? But she couldn’t help herself.

Whoever had been in this room had hurt Carson but hadn’t been caught on camera. Maybe Mackenzie was wrong on all counts, and she was too arrogant to see. Too bent on making up for the past. All she knew was that she had to see the face of the man behind everything that happened years ago, everything that had started up again even before Julian tried to warn her.