by Shawn Keys
Dazz grumbled, “That’s already one set down. Know how long it takes to generate a whole different set of IDs and push them out into the system? Not to mention expensive! Only a couple of my friends know how to slide the IDs into the FDPC system, and they don’t work cheap.”
Kyle shook his head. “We’re not going to be able to put any new ones in for a while. Once the FDPC finds out we were using fake ones, they’ll probably freeze any new uploads and go over them with a fine-toothed comb. Let’s just get up north.”
“Not a lot of ways down into Seattle from up there,” Dazz said.
Chloe didn’t wait, happy enough to not have to creep by the scene of the accident and the gunfight that followed.
As she got up to speed, Kyle agreed with Dazz, “Yeah, I know. We’ll have to decide what we’re going to do next. This throws a huge wrench into our plans.” He shook his head, cursing under his breath. “We don’t have time for this at all.”
Chloe managed a smile, though it came across as fierce and hard rather than cheerful. “Guess there’s one silver lining.”
“Oh?” Kyle asked.
“We might not know who is good and who is bad, but I think our resident DOJ partner isn’t going to be doubting that these bastards exist any longer. Ain’t that right, Agent Moraker?”
Jackie let her head fall back against the seat, rolling her shoulders and trying to work out the soreness in her body after taking the shots to her armor. “What have I told you a hundred times?” She gave a dark laugh. “Especially if I’m stuck in this with the rest of you… and I think I am now… call me Jackie.”
* * *
Andrew Lark activated the sound shield on his office in addition to the electronic locks. He was in charge of the local ODA office, which was supposed to be responsible for making sure FDPC agents didn’t get out of line. Even though he was generally on the opposite side of that coin, he did run enough covert investigations on non-Dawn FDPC agents to make it look like he was doing his job. It also helped him figure out which, if any, were worthy of approaching for recruitment into the Dawn. For those reasons, he had all the gadgets necessary to lock down his office so he could talk to informants and undercover operatives.
Far more often, he used them to seal himself off so that he could have frank discussions with Dawn agents.
As per normal, his two aides were in the room with him, running the technology in the background so he didn’t have to concern himself with it. Damn, I hate VTCs. But we don’t have time right now to get everyone together. Makes me wish I had my own war room like a normal agency would have. One day, that’ll be us, when we’re running everything. Andrew gave his aides an impatient nod, telling them to get on with starting the meeting.
The large screen taking up a whole wall of his office flickered on. It was partitioned into six different sections. Each of them showed a time clock icon, waiting to connect. They did, one by one.
Fred Reigns was first. Not surprising, as he was in his office at ‘The Farm’, sitting at his desk doing routine administration.
Dirk Crowder was second. The sallow-faced, empty-eyed killer was extremely efficient, but not incredibly busy given the special nature of his work.
Trisha Stanford wasn’t far behind. The financial guru for the Dawn’s local element only had to pry herself out of her numbers before answering.
Angela Mainland was online almost continuously. She appeared within a minute after tying off whatever task she was caught up in.
Vera Klyde was also always online, though usually in meetings or embroiled in a conversation with another professional in the social media field. It took her almost three minutes to log in.
Gregor Jones was last. His portfolio was the most energetic. At the moment most, it was also the most engaged with the active hunt for Hutchings, since his authority included the field agents doing the ground work.
Andrew didn’t stand on ceremony. “Explain what happened, Gregor.”
Aware of his superior’s lack of patience, Gregor summarized what he knew as briefly as he could. “Four of the fugitives, including Kyle Hutchings himself, were sighted in the middle of Washington state by two field agents. The sequence of events is no more than ten minutes long. They were identified outside of a roadside diner just as they were pulling away. The agents called in that they were in pursuit, requesting whatever support was available. That was the last transmission we received before the incident. We dispatched several teams, though none were close at hand. Helicopters or other air support weren’t available in that area, of course.”
Andrew grimaced. One day, they would have all the resources they needed to watch everywhere, all the time, every day. It was a dream he yearned to make a reality. “What about local law enforcement?”
“Cooperative. They are the reason we are getting any information at all. The agents were both killed on a back road. They had been in an accident involving Hutchings’ escape vehicle. The police confirm that they stole a truck from a nearby acreage. The locals have put out a bulletin to find it but they don’t have the immediate manpower to spread over the whole area. They might get lucky, but all it would take would be for them to switch vehicles again and they could probably slip into the back country unnoticed.”
Andrew scowled. “Don’t let them give up just because it’s hard. Impress upon them the importance of all this.” He shifted topics slightly. “The report suggested they were approaching the Seattle/Tacoma area, correct?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“We’ve been given a gift, people. We didn’t expect them to come right into the lion’s mouth, but it makes a certain amount of sense. We have a lot of our operations centered here. If they are looking for some sort of revelation or to get access to one of our access keys, this might be a logical choice for them. The black market for implant technology is strong here, not to mention any protestor groups against the FDPC have their headquarters in the city. They aren’t well organized, but they might be potential allies.”
Gregor asked, “If he made it into the city, I could agree with any of that. Now that he’s been spotted, will he still try?”
Andrew said, “Whatever he wants, it is here in the city. Most of the things I mentioned don’t exist anywhere else. Tip off the police that they are trying to enter the city. Convince them roadblocks are in order.” He looked at Fred Reigns. “The camp needs to be placed on alert. It is another possible destination, especially if they find that they can’t get into the cities.”
Fred didn’t argue. “I’ve also decided to move my initiation procedure to the Ransburg. The potential students know nothing of value, but I noticed the Nine Elms was mentioned in some of the correspondence between our dead Agent Lawson and a member of my staff. I have chastised the offender. My staff are usually issued a Task Mail dongle for the duration of their interviews, but there is no reason for it other than to allow for classified communications hourly. I will refrain from sending one. One less loose end they can exploit.”
“You’ve managed to redirect all the students?”
“For the most part, yes. If any show up at the Nine Elms to check-in, they will be subtly diverted.”
Andrew nodded, considering all of it a reasonable precaution. The more of the access keys that stayed behind the gates of ‘The Farm’, which was easily their most secure site beyond Lark’s own office, the better. He glanced at Angela, “What about the fake implants they used?”
The aides were astute at their job. They had gotten used to presenting Lark what he wanted almost before he had asked for it. The question wasn’t even fully formed before the secondary screen in the room split into four quarters, showing the four fake implant IDs Hutchings and his team had used.
“They are poached accounts,” Angela said. “Mostly deceased people that are re-activated and changed to different names and faces. That way, the coder who did the work doesn’t have to fake the entire thing. We incorporate a hundred different telltales into these accounts, like counterfeiting
techniques for currency. Creating one from scratch makes them even more genuine. We build new ones for every new citizen and undercover agents who need more perfect cover. Most throw-away fakes like this on the black-market are poached ones so they can re-use the background.”
Andrew scanned the false IDs quickly. “They have altered their appearances, but they can’t change them completely. They need to look like their photos enough to match if they get stopped. Can you search for every photo that comes close to matching the ones here?”
Angela’s eyebrows rose. “Not conclusively. It would generate hundreds if not thousands of false positives. The attributes they are altering are some of the keystones for any AI program. They’re targeting nose shape, mouth structure, skin coloring and jawline. That sort of thing.”
Showing his displeasure with a grumpy humph, Andrew said, “Do it anyway. Better to have a pool of thousands instead of millions. How about a program that will alert us if there is a gathering of one from each of the pools for each of them?”
Again, Angela looked daunted but didn’t claim it was impossible. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Andrew said, “I guess I don’t have to tell you to make a concerted effort to plug that hole in our security so they can’t build any more of these?”
“I’ll connect with the national authority on this, Sir. The ingress might not be inside our sphere of influence. New IDs replicate from all over.”
Andrew nodded, not pushing any harder. Asking her to do the impossible wouldn’t help anything.
Dirk said, “A pity we are not a few years further along. Making an example of the Sheriff would encourage the search to be completed more efficiently.”
Andrew sniffed in mild humor. “Indeed. But the example wouldn’t make sense if we can’t broadcast it. They are helping in the aftermath well enough.” He glanced at Vera. “Anything to add?”
“No, Sir. Status quo on all social media feeds. I have troll factories ready to shout down anything they dump on the net, calling it fake and attacking anyone who supports them. All on standby. No activity.”
Andrew was content with that, at least. “How about you, Trisha.”
The master accountant had even less to add. “No impact. If you want these roadblocks and extra surveillance measures to last more than a couple days, it might cost us a few bribes, but our budget isn’t at risk.”
Andrew pursed his lips, thinking. “Anything I might have missed?”
Silence.
He nodded. “Alright. Keep at it. 90% chance they will continue trying to enter the city or the surrounding region. 10% we misread this, which means they will go somewhere else. Don’t strip our resources from the rest of the state. If they are going somewhere else, I don’t want to miss it. But give this region that extra bit of focus for the next week, just to be sure. Cover everything you can think to cover. Tighten the net for as long as we can.”
Chapter 3
In the end, Kyle and the others didn’t decide to switch cars. They had considered it from the moment they stole the truck, not feeling particularly good about taking it. They consoled themselves that they didn’t intend to trash it, and would leave it where it could be found and taken back to its original owner.
Their nerves had nearly broken them, expecting a police cruiser to approach from the opposite direction. Kyle imagined a county deputy recognizing who the truck belonged to; after all, in a community this small, how many old, beige trucks of this exact make and model were there? But then, a sign declaring that they were leaving the county limits came and went. No police. Twenty miles later, and they hadn’t seen another soul on the road they were following, heading deeper into the less-travelled part of northern Washington state.
What finally set them at ease was seeing another truck almost identical to their own. It wasn’t precisely the same, but close enough. If you were a constable in a small county police department who got a report of a beige truck driving around, this other truck would fit the bill as well as they would. How many more were there?
It wasn’t a sure bet, but it let them breathe easier and think about other things. Kyle decided they just needed to act naturally. They were clear of the immediate trap that hadn’t quite managed to close around them quickly enough. Now, they needed to figure out what to do next before that ring expanded.
Kyle was sandwiched between Chloe and Dazz, leaving Jackie right against the passenger-side door. It was a tight fit, but he admitted having his hips and thighs pressed up against them was pleasant for as long as it lasted. All good things must come to an end, he smiled inwardly. A strange apparition appeared at the roadside. It was a fruit and vegetable shop. He pointed suddenly, “We need to stop there.”
Chloe slowed down, gawking. “What is that doing open? It’s nearly winter!”
Kyle chuckled. “But it isn’t winter yet. The stuff might not be fresh from a local farm, but whatever. It’s open and there isn’t another soul in sight.” The place wasn’t a food truck parked at the side of the road, either. It was a building, established enough that maybe it was the local equivalent to a grocer. Kyle didn’t know how this place survived clinging to the side of the road, but he didn’t care. “I’m bloody starving.”
Dazz echoed that comment with a rumble from her stomach. She nodded vigorously. “In and out quick.”
“We can eat on the tailgate,” Jackie suggested. “No sense driving any further until we know where we’re driving to.”
Chloe pulled up, parking the truck casually enough. Their own hunger half-defeated any attempt to look normal. They piled out of the cab and into the store like a small pack of piranhas. The only difference was that they pulled out a wad of cash at the end to pay for their ravenous passage. The storekeeper was a cheery old man who didn’t show the least bit of suspicion, all too glad to have a hundred-dollar bill dropped on him.
Their impromptu meal only consisted of carrots, celery, broccoli, strawberries, a few oranges, bananas and a small box of blueberries. They had bought a small box of salted crackers to contrast with it all and a jar of peanut butter to add a little substance. After the tragic turmoil of earlier, it felt like a king’s feast as they celebrated coming through it all alive and still free.
Munching his way through a carrot stick, Kyle leaned against the inside wall of the truck bed. He gestured at the road. “Before we decide anything else, we have to rethink the whole damned thing. Do we keep heading for Tacoma? Up until now, we’ve had these bastards chasing across Washington, Oregon, and down through Idaho. If they’ve got half a brain, they’ll realize we were heading down toward the coast, which means toward the cities. They’ll throw up roadblocks. Any implant with a picture that looks anything like us will get stopped. The police will get involved, hunting down murderers.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to miss this chance, but are we sunk?”
Chloe said, “They can’t keep up that sort of pressure for long, can they? I mean, even the police don’t have the resources to do that sort of thing forever.”
Dazz growled. “If we aren’t down there early enough to catch these students coming in, we will be sunk. Doesn’t matter if they actually worked out what we are after. If they cost us more than three or four days, we’ll miss our chance.”
Kyle bounced a fist off the side of the truck, angry at the random chance that had caused all this. “Six months. At least. That’s if they don’t change the whole process by then or catch us in the meantime.” He looked to Jackie. “Can you wait?”
Jackie chewed on a celery stick slathered with peanut butter. Crunching thoughtfully, she measured each of them, one after the other. “If I said I couldn’t wait, then you’re going to push a lot harder. I might get one of you killed.”
Kyle shrugged. “If you say you can wait, then we might give it time. We might miss our chance. Then a lot more people are going to die. Including us if they hunt us down before we ever have a chance to prove anything.”
Jackie frowned. “You’ve hidden a lot lon
ger already.”
Kyle insisted, “We didn’t want to be hiding even this long! Our whole lives are on hold. Megan was right. Once the babies come, will I ever want to leave the chalet again?” He shook his head, angry at himself again. “I’m sorry, Jackie. I shouldn’t have put that on you. This isn’t about whether you will wait or not. It’s about whether we’re willing to wait or not. We’re the ones who have to decide to risk our lives for this or not. Your only choice is whether you hang on for the ride.” He prompted the other two, “Dazz? Chloe?”
Dazz answered fast, “Hit ‘em hard.”
Chloe quoted an old saying, “Fortune favors the bold, am I right?”
Kyle smirked. “We might be singing another tune in a few hours.” He shifted back to Jackie. “Are we parting ways, or do you figure this is worth our life? I’d say it is. I’ve tried to convince you of that for the last week. The stakes are only going to get higher. Just remember, I’m not just trying to save my own skin here.”
Jackie’s thoughtful chewing resolved into a grim frown. “There were a lot of questions that needed answering. But after those agents tried to gun me down, you can be sure I’m not stopping until I have them.”
Kyle returned a dark smile. “Welcome to the club.”
Jackie smirked back at him. “Thought it was a family?”
Kyle felt a little of his tension melt away. “So it is.” He let out a long exhale. “Which leaves us with the problem of how to get into the cities. Driving in along the roads is as likely to get as caught as not. We might slip through, but it isn’t a good bet.”
“Flying into the airport isn’t going to work,” Chloe said. “They could cover the whole airport with two agents working with their security. I’d call that certain death.”
