Read Hour by Hour (Games & Diversions #2) for Free Online

up a seat beside Foxx, and even Ana, who is missing her own party, is watching the computer over Foxx’s back.
    But everything takes a back seat soon as Lukas comes in.
    Foxx removes himself immediately, and Lukas takes the hot seat. He sits quietly, self-assured—as always.
    Anticipation squeezes the air out of the room, and I find it hard to breathe as Lukas’s fingers begin to fly.
    We all sit silently as Lukas goes to work.
    What happens next is pure magic .
    Lukas takes complete command, diving directly into the cloud drive with a steely determination. His green eyes are lit from within, making the hair on his face and head appear even darker.
    His large hands glide across the keyboard with a soft insistency, his slightly calloused palms performing choreographed patterns across the tiny black buttons.
    Letters, numbers, symbols appear and disappear before my eyes. I have no idea what is happening but I am mesmerized .
    He was right. I underestimated him.
    I don’t know how long we all stay staring like this.
    Suddenly, he breaks the trance.
    “The files are not gone,” he says to the room. “They’re hidden.
    “Somebody made duplicates of them. But they’re not really duplicates; they’re phonies , masquerading as the real files while the authentic ones are stashed behind the scenes.
    “See? The actual size of the drive hasn’t changed.”
    Ana surprises us all by speaking up.
    “I’ve heard about this sort of thing in my coding classes. We call it a ‘mirror.’ It reflects back to you what it wishes you to see. It’s an illusion.”
    Lukas looks back at Ana, nodding with approval.
    “That’s right.” He turns. “Chris, what was in those Voyager files when you pulled them up?”
    “Well, the articles were all gone. No text. No documents. They had all been… replaced.”
    “Replaced how ?”
    “The decoy files were sloppy. They didn’t replace them well. In place of the articles, there was some sort of picture… a clock, maybe? Or was it a watch…?”
    Lukas opens a file… and pales.
    “A chess timer,” he says.
    “Yeah,” Chris pipes up. “Yeah, that’s it.”
    Lukas stands stolidly, pushing the chair back suddenly. His eyes narrow at the floor.
    Chris reaches out.
    “Hey, Griff. S’wrong, man?”
    “Nothing… Nothing else, at least. The real articles are here, somewhere—stashed away. It’s only a matter of time before we find them.
    “They didn’t steal anything. They didn’t delete anything. They didn’t remove anything. This wasn’t a sloppy hack job.”
    He raises his gaze at last.
    “Whoever did this wanted us to find it.”
     

Beating the Clock

    The worst enemy of the strategist is the clock. -   Garry Kasparov
     
     
    ELENA
     
    “Lukas!” I call out. My voice stops him in his tracks.
    He tears his way out of Foxx’s office when all conversation stops, but as soon as he hits the hallway, I’m on his heels.
    His muscular back is tense beneath his black sweater. I settle behind him and he waits…
    The rest of the people in the room begin to file out behind us.
    Chris breezes by us without looking. Foxx glares over. Ana winks.
    Lukas and I wait until everyone passes us before saying anything else to each other.
    Their scrutiny makes me self-conscious. I keep my voice low even though everyone is gone.
    “Lukas,” I whisper. “What the hell is going on?”
    “You know… you can call me Griff the way everyone else does.” He doesn’t turn. “What do you mean?”
    I shift impatiently on my feet. “Come on… don’t play dumb with me. By the performance that I just saw in there, it’s very clear that you’re not.”
    “And it wasn’t clear before ?”
    I don’t answer.
    It wasn’t clear before. In fact, it suited me to think that maybe he was . It made him easier to walk away from…
    “I saw the look in your eyes in that office. You know more than you’re letting on. I don’t know why it wasn’t obvious to everyone else, but it certainly was