Before Anna could utter the security-breach warning already forming on her lips, Maya walked past the imposing mahogany desk. She stopped at the floor-to-ceiling glass wall, the one that served as Anna’s personal whiteboard, where she sometimes sketched out strategic plans.

Maya uncapped a blue dry-erase marker from the tray.

“Young lady, you put that down immediately!” Anna commanded, striding forward.

But Maya didn’t seem to hear. Her hand began to move. She wasn’t doodling. She wasn’t drawing a house or a flower. She was writing.

She was mapping out an equation. A long, complex string of algorithmic logic.

Anna Vance, CEO of Vance-Aegis Technologies, was about to tear their lives apart for a misdemeanor cleaning infraction. But then, her eyes focused on what the girl was actually drawing.

And the ice in her veins turned to fire.