Code Flicker

by Marlin Seigman

  Sandy stopped. “They did what with deep fakes?”

  “It started in the early days of deep fakes, so some were crude, but people put Cage into other films, making him the lead and often the supporting characters as well.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Sandy said.

  Professor Weston continued, but Sandy didn't quite catch what he said. The Professor, or maybe Nicolas Cage, had just solved a problem for them.

  Back in the van, Sandy explained it to Jacob.

  “I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before,” she said. “So, you can’t go anywhere near the Your Better Life building, but we need you to get inside to pull this off, right?”

  “Yes. But the security system will recognize me as soon as it catches my image.”

  “Do you remember what I’ve been doing at the club with the Democratic candidates?”

  “In your video mix?”

  “Yes. I’ve been deep faking them dancing with customers in place of the person they are actually dancing with. What if I did that to you when you go into the building? What if I hack into the security system and replace you with a deep fake of, I don’t know, Nicolas Cage. It could be anybody, but what the professor just said about Cage and the deep fakes gave me the idea, so that image is stuck in my mind.”

  “That's brilliant,” Jacob said.

  “There’s still the issue of hacking into their security system, but that should be no problem. Right?”

  Chapter 16

  Things were coming together. Sandy’s idea for the deep fake was perfect, Xia was in on the job, Two-Step was working on modifying the flippers, and the SRS was willing to work with them. They still didn’t have a clear plan, but Jacob had the feeling a plan would come. The pieces were there, waiting to be picked up and put in place.

  He and Sandy sat on top of Miller Hill, looking down at the outdoor theater. As promised, they went to the museum after delivering the media to Professor Weston, and despite Sandy’s explanations, Jacob claimed he still didn’t understand abstract art. That wasn't entirely true, but he knew he could get a rise out of her if he acted as if it made no sense. It was fun, and sitting on the lawn next to Sandy made the day just about perfect.

  “Did I ever tell you what my friends and I used to do here?” Sandy asked, gesturing toward the stage.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “We would come down here at night sometimes and get up on stage. We would pretend we were performers, acting out our own stupid made up plays. It was so dumb, but it was fun though. A lot of things are like that during high school, dumb but fun.”

  Jacob laughed. “I know. Gomez and I used to do some pretty dumb things for fun when we were in high school too. God, his mother would get so pissed at us sometimes.”

  “I’m sure she would be pretty pissed if she knew what you were up to now,” Sandy said.

  “I don’t even want to think about it.”

  “You think it's going to work?”

  Jacob watched a family come up the hill, the mother carrying a blanket, the father dragging an ice chest, and a small boy running ahead, then waiting and looking back before he ran ahead again.

  “I guess I wouldn't be doing it if I didn’t think it would work.”

  Sandy studied him. She had a look in her eyes he hadn’t seen in a while. “Yeah, that sounds about right,” she said.

  They watched the family spread out their picnic.

  “Did you and your friends ever play What’s Their Story?” Jacob asked.

  “Who didn’t,” Sandy said. “I’ll go first. They just came from the zoo. It was the little boy’s first time there, and he loved it.”

  “No, they went to the zoo earlier. Then, the dad wanted to go to the Natural History Museum. The boy was bored at first, but fell in love with the dinosaur bones.”

  “Until his parents explained that the bones used to be inside real dinosaurs.”

  “That freaked him because…”

  The mother pushed herself off the blanket, a strange look on her face. She started turning in circles. The father got up, trying to place his hand on her shoulder as she spun.

  “What’s that about?” Sandy asked.

  Jacob stood.

  The mother went rigid.

  Jacob was taking his code deck out of his pocket and running before the woman hit the ground and started convulsing. When he got to her, the father knelt beside her, a shocked look on his face. The little boy stood off to the side, crying.

  “Help me with her arm,” Jacob said.

  The man looked at him.

  “Hold her arm still,” Jacob said.

  Sandy stepped next to the woman and held her arm still, exposing her QR code tattoo. Jacob scanned it, linking his chip to hers.

  He was greeted with a white noise very much like the overload in The Galleria a few days before. It wasn’t exactly the same, but there was a familiar quality to the sound, chaotic and random. But the pitch was higher. He tried to clear his mind and find a pattern to the noise, find a rhythm. It didn’t work. The noise got louder, echoing in a deafening buzz. There had to be a pattern. There had to be a rhythm. The buzz surrounded him, taking on a physicality, pressing in on him. Jacob was out of practice with direct links, three years out of practice, and he tried to get his bearings. Saving that last overload had been as much luck as skill, but it at least it helped him get a feel for linking again. This was slightly different. He could tell they were related somehow, like being able to tell that the same musician performed two different songs, but he couldn’t place the similarities, and he didn’t have time to think about that. He needed to focus on helping the woman. How did you do it the last time? Where is the rhythm? It’s got to be here. He tried to let the noise envelop his senses, wash over and through him.

  And there it was, a counterpoint to the noise, so faint he almost lost it again. He reached for it, grabbed it with his mind, coaxed it to grow stronger, coaxed it to spread through the noise, coaxed it to bring calm. Slowly, the noise became more harmony than noise, more soothing than dissonant. He concentrated on the building calm, helping it grow and spread. He could sense the woman becoming less rigid, more relaxed.

  When he severed the link, Sandy held the woman’s hand, and the boy was in his father’s arms.

  “What just happened?” the man said over his son’s sobs.

  “Overload,” Jacob said, still adjusting.

  “What?”

  “She had an overload,” Sandy said.

  “Where did she get that code?” Jacob asked. He needed to know.

  The man stared blankly.

  “Where did she get the code?”

  “I don’t...I don’t know what you’re talking about. What code? What did you do to her?”

  “I saved her life. She got bad code from some code flicker and had an overload. Do you know where she got it?”

  “I didn’t know. I don’t know,” the man said, shaking his head, looking at the woman as she slowly came to her senses.

  Jacob could see the man had no idea his wife was using. “We better go,” he said to Sandy.

  Back in the van, Jacob sat in the driver's seat, staring out the front window. He could feel Sandy next to him, trying to not look at him.

  “Return to Retro Media,” Jacob instructed the van. He didn’t feel like driving.

  The van started and backed out of the parking space.

  “That code is from the same writer as the overload by the food court,” Jacob said finally.

  “Are you sure.”

  “Yes. I need to find out who.”

  “Don’t you think…?”

  “That’s two people in less than a week. Both of them could have died. How many are dying because of this bastard who can’t write decent code? I need to find out who it is.”

  “You’ve already got something pretty big on your plate,” Sandy said.

  He looked at her as the van made its way through traffic.

  “I guess I need a b
igger plate.”

  Chapter 17

  Working with the SRS was always a mixed bag. Because they wanted to increase their influence, they were willing to work with just about anyone. As an extension of both the Russian mob and Chinese Triad, they also had access to a vast amount of resources they were willing to share for a price. However, because they wanted to dominate crime in the city, they were willing to turn on anyone they worked with. It was a fine line to tread, and it was easy to get swept up in the SRS’s current and get washed away. It was a risk, and like most risks, when it paid off, it was worth it. When it didn’t, well that was a different story.

  Jacob, Gomez, and Sandy rode in the back of an SRS armored SUV. The driver blasted music, a drum-driven track layered with chopped and screwed samples of Gregorian chants. Jacob couldn’t help but move his head to the rhythm.

  “You like it?” The driver asked, looking in the rearview mirror.

  “I do.”

  “This is what they are playing in the London underground club scene. I just got back from London,” the driver said.

  “Nice.”

  The SRS guy in the front passenger seat said, “Can you just focus on where we are going? Keep your place in line, and turn that music down so we can talk.” He turned to the backseat. “My name is Chen, and this is Yuri. We should know names before we get to the place.”

  Everyone took turns introducing themselves.

  “Have you ever been to London?” Yuri asked no one in particular.

  No one had.

  “It is my new favorite city…”

  “Jesus,” Chen said, “just pay attention.” He turned to Jacob. “They won’t let us use autopilot, so he has to drive. Too easy to hack the system, they say. You think it’s really that easy to hack the navigation system on these things?”

  “That’s why we’re here,” Jacob said.

  “I can do it real quick if you want me to show you,” Sandy said.

  “I told you,” Yuri said.

  “Well, if we can’t use the system, they could at least give me a driver who pays attention to the damn road.”

  “Driver? I thought we were partners. You hurt me, Chen.”

  “You’ll get over it,” Chen said.

  They drove on, the London house music taking the place of conversation. Jacob watched the city pass by. They were one of ten SUVs heading to the large complex of county-owned and corporate-run warehouses between Houston and Galveston. Anything coming into Harris County had to be processed through the complex. It was the county government’s way to get another round of taxes from corporations, except the one running the warehouses for the county, of course.

  A voice came over the SUV’s communication panel, “Yuri, two miles until your wait spot. Activate your drone feed to track the target.”

  “Drone feed on,” Yuri said. A screen in the instrument panel showed an aerial shot of a convoy of two eighteen-wheelers and four armored SUVs, a bold NW painted on the roof of each. “Zoom out with map overlay. Mark target. Mark home,” Yuri said. The image adjusted.

  “Our turn is right here,” Chen said.

  Yuri steered the SUV into the empty parking lot of what used to be a gas station, and the other SUVs continued down the road.

  “There’s not much cover here. Park on that side of the building,” Chen said, pointing.

  “Got it.”

  Yuri parked and Chen got out and went to the back and opened the hatch. He returned with a black carrying case and opened the door next to Jacob. He took three items out of the case, each not much larger than a code deck. He quickly opened the first, unfolding it as he said, “This is made from a high impact, heat resistant polymer. The 9mm caseless cartridges are made from the same material. Ladies first.” He handed the gun to Sandy and started on the second. “Folded, they will fit in your pocket and are not detected by metal detectors.” He handed the second gun to Jacob. “The magazines we have now hold 25 rounds, but we’ll give you smaller ones also. On full auto it will burn through those, so use the three-round burst.” He handed the third gun to Gomez. “Of course, full auto is more fun. These are yours to keep when the job is done. And we have more for you.” He reached into the case and pulled out a smaller pack of magazines, handing it to Jacob.

  “It’s amazing how light it is,” Sandy said. “Almost feels like a toy.”

  “They don’t kill like one,” Chen said and returned the front seat. “Now, everyone knows their part, right?”

  Everyone nodded.

  “Target ETA five minutes,” Yuri said.

  “Good,” Chen said, “we have time to run through the plan.”

  “Attention to detail. That is why I like you so much,” Yuri said.

  As they reviewed, Yuri had questions about how they would hack the navigation systems of the eighteen-wheelers.

  “Why do you have to use the decks? Why not just link up or cloud surf or whatever you call it,” he asked.

  “We could,” Jacob said, “but if we sever the link with the satellite while we are still on the satellite side of the connection, we’re stuck there.”

  “What do you mean, stuck there? Your mind will be stuck in the cloud? Like those transhumans?”

  “Pretty much, but not by choice,” Jacob said.

  Gomez added, “And a lot can go wrong if you are uploaded that way. I had a friend who got partially cut off while we were doing a job in Berlin. He wasn’t the same after that. Ask Evgeny about it, he knew him.”

  Yuri whistled a low whistle.

  With Yuri’s questions out of the way, they continued reviewing the plan until Chen was satisfied. Then they sat in silence, watching the screen, waiting.

  Chapter 18

  A voice came over communications, “All teams go.”

  On the screen, a driverless SVU appeared from a side road, slamming into the vehicle immediately behind the second eighteen-wheeler, causing it to careen off the road, the vehicle behind it slamming on its brakes. A second SUV came into view and stopped on the bottom corner of the screen. Four men wearing body armor got out and began strafing the stopped vehicle

  “Zoom in on target,” Yuri said. The view on the screen adjusted. “Everyone ready?”

  Decks in hand, Jacob, Sandy, and Gomez nodded.

  Yuri turned to Chen. “Can I turn the music back up?”

  “Fine. But if it distracts them…”

  “I will lower it.”

  Yuri put the SUV in gear and gunned it, the tires screeching as they pulled out of the parking lot and fell in behind the eighteen-wheelers.

  “Let’s hope their counter hackers aren’t as good as we are. It’ll make this so much easier,” Sandy said, preparing her deck.

  Yuri’s music is perfect for this, Jacob thought, his fingers finding energy in the tempo. He instructed his deck to search for incoming satellite feeds. The plan was simple. They would use the satellite GPS feed to the eighteen-wheelers as a way to get into each truck’s system. Once in the system, they would take control of the self-driving program and bring them to a stop. Simple.

  “Great,” Gomez said, his fingers quickly working his deck. “They have the trucks linked with a self-replicating AI protocol. It’s going to be hard to knock them out one at a time.”

  A warning came over the communications panel. “Yuri, unit four is down. They did not subdue one of the SUVs, and it is in pursuit.”

  “Zoom out,” Yuri commanded the drone feed. “Shit. They will overtake us soon.”

  Jacob focused on his deck. Around him, the cabin of the SUV was a frenetic and chaotic scene.

  “Do we try to sever the link and go at each truck, or try to get ahead of the protocol and take control all at once?” Sandy asked.

  “Jacob,” Chen said, “in the back is a canvas bag. I need it.”

  “We’re working here.”

  “I need the bag to make sure you can keep working,” Chen replied with some force in his voice.

  “You two see if you can get in and s
et up a man in the middle attack to sever the link with the first truck,” Jacob said, reaching for the canvas bag. “I’ll come in behind you and take control of the truck.” He handed Chen the bag. “If I stop the first truck, the second will have to stop to avoid hitting it.”

  Chen opened the bag and took out what looked like a small grenade launcher.

  “They are closing,” Yuri said.

  Chen rolled down his window and leaned out, looking back. The headlights of the SUV appeared in the rearview mirror.

  “We’ve got another problem,” Yuri said, indicating the drone video feed. One of the two SUVs leading the eighteen-wheelers had peeled off and started slowing. Yuri tapped the radio. “We need reinforcements.”

  “Damn it,” Sandy said. She hunched closer to her deck as if she were trying to will the lines of code she entered to work.

  Gomez said, “I’m getting small cracks. Try a cascading denial of service attack.”

  In the front seat, Chen loaded the grenade launcher, his face betraying no emotion. He leaned out the window again. With only his waist and legs inside, he aimed at the SUV behind them. There was a low thump. Light from the explosion illuminated the backseat. Chen pulled his torso back inside the cabin and reloaded the launcher.

  “It’s working,” Sandy said. “Piggyback on our code.”

  Jacob entered lines of code as fast as his fingers would move.

  The taillights of the other SUV appeared on the side of the eighteen-wheeler.

  “I’m in,” Jacob said.

  “I need you to ease into the other lane and block him,” Chen said to Yuri.

  “You need to hurry,” Gomez said. “The protocol is adapting.”

  Yuri eased into the next lane. Chen leaned back out the window.

  Jacob looked at two separate streams of code. “I don’t know which is the lead truck. Any clue?”

  “No idea,” Gomez said.