Chapter 2

Sharon froze.

I shoved the bottled water toward her and refreshed my e-wallet code.

"Go ahead. Scan it again."

She snapped out of it and reluctantly scanned the bottle first.

The whole place went silent.

I held my phone under the scanner.

Beep.

I stared at the screen. So did Sharon, Elliot, and everyone else.

One... two... three.

The loading icon spun.

One... two... three... four... five.

Still spinning.

Then the screen flickered and turned gray.

"There! Everyone saw it. She's the problem!"

Sharon's eyes gleamed with satisfaction.

"Elliot, check her phone. Customers are waiting."

I gripped my phone and stared Elliot down.

"You're the technician. You know this has nothing to do with me. Tell them. I have an emergency operation, and I'm running out of time."

Elliot adjusted his glasses and turned to Sharon.

"Sharon, the system freezing shouldn't have anything to do with her—"

Sharon slapped a hand over his mouth and stepped in front of him.

"You tramp! How dare you harass this poor young man!"

She yelled so loud that, with Elliot looking terrified, even more people pulled out their phones.

"Is this how young people act now?"

"No wonder she can't keep a job. She has zero manners."

"Serves her right."

Their voices buzzed around me, pounding against my skull.

I stared at their twisted faces and stopped trying to stay calm.

I pointed at Elliot.

"Restart the system."

Then I pointed at the middle-aged woman recording me.

"Stop filming. Let her scan your e-wallet next."

I shoved the ten-dollar bill into her hand.

"If it goes through, keep the water and the money. I'll leave."

I turned to Sharon and Luke.

"If it still doesn't work, then this has nothing to do with me. And neither of you is keeping me here."

My voice cut through the store.

Silence.

I checked my phone.

Fifteen minutes. Gone.

Elliot hit restart while Sharon hovered over the register.

The woman checked the bill, tucked it into her pocket, and pulled up her e-wallet code.

Everything was set.

I counted in my head as the startup screen loaded.

The store was dead silent.

By the time I hit one hundred, the system still hadn't booted.

The screen flashed blue.

My head felt like it was about to explode.

Elliot shot me a helpless look. Apparently, restarting it was the only trick he knew.

Sharon, though, looked relieved.

With the checkout system completely down, the line erupted.

"I need to get home and cook for my grandson! Is this thing ever gonna work?"

"I don't want this stuff anymore!"

"Me neither!"

One by one, people ditched their carts and headed for the exit.

Smiling, Sharon raised her hands to calm them.

"You can still pay. I have a price list. Just send the money to my e-wallet first."

She pulled up her personal payment code.

Watching her handle it so smoothly made my anger spike.

She'd had a backup plan the whole time.

So why hadn't she used it earlier?

I was first in line. Desperate to reach the hospital, I swallowed my anger and opened my e-wallet scanner.

The second I aimed it at her payment code, a hand covered my screen.

"You can't pay."

Sharon.

She shot Luke a look. "Take her to the office. She broke the system, and we can't eat the losses. We'll wait for Martin. He'll decide what happens."

Luke nodded, grabbed my wrist, and dragged me away.

"Let go!

"You already have my ID. Call me later or come to the hospital. I don't care.

"I'm not going anywhere. Now let go!"

I fought with everything I had, but his grip only tightened.

He looked tough, but every time he glanced at Sharon, his eyes went soft.

My heart turned cold.

I opened my mouth to bite him when someone at the back of the line called out.

"Is Dr. Avril Andersen here? You dropped your ID."

A man raised his hand and waved.

I looked over.

It was Dr. Howard Webster, the former head of Internal Medicine. He'd retired just last week.