Chapter Five - The List Behind the Backup Door

"Who are you?" he asked. The man removed the face shield. He was lean, sun-blackened, and dry as old paper. "Roman Graves. Security lead for the contract crew." Sophie visibly lost color. "You shouldn't be here," she said. "I was outside," Roman said, eyeing the tanks. "Then I realized the real disaster wasn't the heat. It was the accounting." "Meaning?" Mara asked. Roman gave her a humorless look. "The inventory will only hold today. Tomorrow, it won't be enough for anybody. Sophie knows it. Nad knows it. I know it. Nobody wanted to say it out loud." Nad jerked his head up. "You're lying." "Am I?" Roman slapped a stack of printed sheets onto the table. "Ration logs. You reported forty-two people. Night count is already over fifty.