Flipping a lab tech required three things: leverage, timing, and a reason to believe me.
I had two.
I’d make the third.
Dr.
Lin Mei’s schedule was public on the campus directory.
Morning shift in Lab 4B.
Lunch alone in the courtyard.
Afternoon in the clean room.
I waited until lunch.
She sat under a plastic awning, picking at a salad, scrolling through her phone.
She looked tired.
Not just work-tired.
The kind of tired that comes from knowing something you can’t say out loud.
I sat across from her without asking.
She looked up, startled.
“Can I help you?”
“You already are,” I said.
“You’re going to get me into Vault C.”
Her fork froze halfway to her mouth.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Your badge gets you to the outer door.
Your biometrics open the inner.
You’ve done it before.
You’ll do it again.”
She set the fork down.
Her hands were shaking.
“Who are you?”
“Someone who knows what’s in that vault.” I leaned forward.
“And I know what’s coming.”
Her eyes flicked to the courtyard entrance.
No one was watching.
“You’re insane,” she whispered.
“I’m early,” I said.
“Two weeks early.
And I’ve already seen what happens when that vault opens on schedule.”
She went pale.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I know the vector isn’t a leak,” I said.
“I know it’s a test.
And I know you helped design it.”
Her breath hitched.
For a second, I thought she’d run.
Instead, she said: “If I help you, what do I get?”
“Survival,” I said.
“And a name off the list.”
“What list?”
“The one Ije Voss keeps in her head.” I slid a photo across the table.
It was a printout from a security cam…her, leaving the lab late, Ije waiting by the door.
“You’re an asset.
Right now.
That changes the day you stop being useful.”
She stared at the photo.
Then at me.
“Midnight,” she said finally.
“Two nights.
I’ll be at the loading dock.
Don’t be late.”
She stood, grabbed her tray, and walked away without looking back.
I watched her go.
Leverage: check.
Timing: set.
Reason to believe me?
She’d just given it to herself.
Back at the warehouse, I opened the Ledger and wrote: “Lin Mei.
Flipped.
Vault C access confirmed.”
I added a new line below it: “Ferryman.
Midas touch or Judas kiss?”
I didn’t have an answer yet.
But I would.
In forty-eight hours, I’d have the drive.
And Ije would know I was coming.