Freelancer

by Jake Lingwall

  Three days and three nights. Kari had already spent several nights working on the new drones. Her jailors were kind enough to bring her strongly caffeinated beverages when she demanded them. That helped, but she knew she was already approaching her limits.

  After a few paces across the floor, Kari activated a little program she had managed to write in her development environment without Henderson being able to recognize that it wasn’t related to the drones. If this doesn’t work, I’m about to get another chance to increase my record of head injuries sustained in a six-month span.

  She paced the floor a few more times. Just a minute or two should be enough. After she completed several other round trips across the room, she executed the partner program to the one she had fired off a minute ago. Keep pacing; don’t give them any hint that things have changed.

  Another reason that development on the drones had been slower than Henderson would have liked was because Kari had spent a decent amount of time writing this pair of programs. The first captured her brain activity and recorded what she was doing. The second overrode the feeds Henderson was monitoring and looped the previously recorded data from the other program.

  If her plan worked, it would prevent the people who were monitoring her from knowing what she was really up to. It was risky. She had taken great care to ensure that the code would execute without triggering any sort of alarm, but she had no way to test her code before using it in real life. Testing code for the first time was a situation that scared her every time, no matter the circumstance. A lot could go wrong here.

  Kari executed some harmless code, expecting a voice in her head to ask her what she was doing. She didn’t hear Udarh’s voice, so she continued cautiously. It feels like a trap. I guess it’s not much of a trap if I’m already captured and locked up. She entered code to hack the security system and to reach the Internet again. She desperately needed contact with the outside world. Nothing matters if I can’t get through the security.

  Her attack failed.

  She tried another variation of her attack, which also failed quickly. Best news ever.

  She knew her last attack should have worked, so its failure meant only one thing: Henderson had finally implemented her security code. Poor, foolish Udarh. I’d feel worse for him if his job wasn’t to help keep me locked up and my parents imprisoned.

  Udarh would have no chance of keeping his job after this. He might even get locked up, for it’s going to look an awful lot like conspiracy when it comes out he implemented security code written by his own prisoner. Kari hadn’t walked him through the several back doors she’d written into her software. She built these into everything she created as a secret way for her to override the system. They were useful in testing and development, but she figured they would be especially useful in the event any of her own technology was eventually used against her.

  Kari’s next attack was nothing but a list of her favorite superheroes. A second later, she was in command of the entire facility from inside of her cell, where she paced slowly back and forth so she didn’t alert her captors that she wasn’t complying.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Kari lay awake in her bed. She was working as hard as she possibly could at four in the morning. She had executed her recording program right before she had fallen asleep. The first time she woke up to roll over, she had barely managed to remember she needed to stay awake. After executing her looping program, she’d torn into the Internet as fast as she could before conceding the fact that she couldn’t consume it all at once.

  The civil war was growing worse. Reports of more and more soldiers being directly involved in the conflict were surfacing, and causalities were rising. The Middle States had been winning most of the eastern battles fairly decisively until the coastal states had recently deployed “advanced miniature-drone swarms,” which had turned the tide of the battle.

  Kari struggled to decide whether to be proud that her drones were being used successfully or ashamed that she had created such effective instruments of war. If they get a hold of what I’m working on now, they might win every battle from here on out.

  The West Coast was a messier situation. Denver was trying to join the coastal states, but the Middle States weren’t allowing it. Reports said the entire city was a war zone, but information coming out of the Middle States was hardly reliable. The Middle States had locked down all communication and had restricted access to all sites and networks not within their control. Unfortunately for their citizens, California still ran most of the Internet.

  Kari left the news behind and quickly scanned the networks. She saw the usual ignorant comments from kids her age and the complicated, technical commentary of hackers she admired. She knew her time was precious, but she couldn’t help but load Sarah’s personal pages. When all she was able to load was an error, she smiled. Sarah must have deactivated her accounts when she lost control of them. Kari checked a couple of the conversations from school and quickly gathered that Sarah had recently lost most of her friends and was now single. Had some good secrets yourself, eh, Sarah? Sweet, poetic justice.

  Kari checked her message box again and found it full of messages from clients, Aubrey, and some of her hacker friends, who were all deeply concerned for her well-being. It broke her heart not to be able to respond, but she couldn’t risk sending them messages and having Henderson discover that she had access to the Internet.

  Kari had lots of hacking to do tonight, and morning was already much too soon, so she left the networks and her sweet victory behind and loaded her development environment once again.

  I’m not sure anything has ever looked so beautiful. Kari lifted the hot cup of coffee from her breakfast tray and slowly sipped some the beverage that her mother had affectionately called “wake-up juice.” Last night had felt like the shortest night of Kari’s life, but it felt longer and longer every minute she tried to stay awake now. The rest of her breakfast left little to be desired. Besides having to use the bathroom in the corner—assuming they still monitor me—and the restricted use of Internet during work hours, the food is the worst part about this place. And besides Henderson, of course. Speaking of which . . .

  “I want to talk to Marshal Henderson,” Kari said out loud so the people who were monitoring her could hear. A moment later, one of the female monitoring agents responded. “Why?”

  “I need to speak to him about the drones I’m delivering,” Kari said. “It’s very important.”

  “I’ll let him know of your request,” the agent said.

  Tell him I want to talk about my parents, and he’ll never come. Tell him it’s about his precious war toys, and I bet he’ll be here within ten minutes. Precisely six minutes later, Henderson entered the room. Before he could say anything or even sit in the visitors’ chair, Kari set the topic of conversation.

  “I want to talk to my parents,” she said.

  Henderson frowned. “I was just about to leave on some very important business, but I was told this was important for the project. If that’s not the case, I’m afraid I won’t be able to continue this conversation.” He turned to leave.

  “If I don’t talk to my parents, I don’t finish my latest designs,” Kari said. Her cold voice froze Henderson exactly in place. That’s right, we’re going to have this conversation whether you like it or not. Henderson turned back around slowly. A smile wavered on his lips for a minute but didn’t catch hold.

  “I thought we already reached an agreement,” he said.

  “Well, this is the new agreement,” Kari said. “I’ve been killing myself trying to get your drones done on time, and I think it’s fair I get to talk to my parents for a few minutes.”

  “You’re in no position to bargain,” Henderson said. “You have two days to finish your work.” He once again turned to face the open door.

  “I don’t think you can afford for me not to finish these drones,” Kari said. She felt her breath catch a little despite her efforts to look resolved.


  “I’m afraid you don’t know what I’m able to afford,” Henderson replied without looking back.

  “Wait. Let me tell you what I am building,” Kari said. “Once you know what you might have from me, I think you’ll take my exchange.”

  Henderson faced her. His eyebrows were raised and skeptical, and he had a slight frown; however, Kari could see a glimmer of greed creep into his eyes again. Don’t act like you don’t need me, Henderson. I can see that you do. I don’t care how big of deal you are; you have invested heavily in this. You need me, and you need these drones.

  “The drones that I’m close to finishing will have the capability to hijack any opposing electrical device and allow you to control both,” Kari said. The cat’s out of the bag now. Henderson hardly reacted; everything but his eyes was focused on telling her that he was unimpressed. Too bad your eyes are shining bright just thinking about what these drones could do.

  “I can offer you the ability to turn your enemies’ weapons against them. Soon, they will be faced with two armies and be left with none,” Kari said. “Game over.”

  “You’re close to finishing this?” Henderson asked, his face betraying him now as well.

  “Yes. This isn’t a game changer like you wanted; it’s a game ender. Checkmate,” Kari said.

  Henderson smiled now, unable to contain his greed-soaked grin. “Miss Tahe, I must confess, if these drones can do what you say, you have indeed surpassed my lofty expectations.”

  “They’ll work,” Kari said. Hopefully, and maybe on time.

  “But I’m afraid I still won’t be able to allow you to see your parents. There is no way that I can arrange accused conspirators to see each other; it’s simply not possible.” Henderson sounded dejected, but something told Kari he was just waiting for her rebuttal.

  “No drones, then,” Kari said.

  “Then your parents will spend the rests of their lives in prison, and you’ll be here in this room for the rest of your life,” Henderson said. “Besides, if the drones are close to being finished, I’m sure some of our developers will be able to finish them.” He flashed a wide, victorious smile.

  “Why don’t you go ask Udarh about how confident he is that he could even begin to understand the code I have written?” It was Kari’s turn to be smug.

  Henderson considered the statement thoughtfully. “Why would you risk your parents’ long-term freedom with trying to force this so-called bargain on me?”

  “Because I feel like I’ve earned a certain amount of trust. I’ve been working myself crazy; so far, you haven’t shown any hint of wanting to reciprocate my goodwill.” Wow, how old am I?

  “I might remind you that you aren’t dead right now because of me,” Henderson countered. “I consider that to be a fair amount of goodwill.”

  “I’m thankful for that, I really am. But I’d like proof that my parents aren’t being mistreated before I give you my greatest work ever. I don’t think I’m asking for much, just a small favor from a friend.”

  Henderson paused. He’s trying to figure out my angle here. He’s suspicious. He should be.

  “Just a few minutes? Please?” Kari said “please” in a way that she hoped would remind him that she was still just a girl who should have been in school right now, not in a prison cell. She even tried to use the puppy eyes that had been so effective on her father when she was growing up.

  Henderson didn’t budge.

  “Just this once,” Kari begged. “I won’t ask for anything else again. I want to apologize to them for getting them arrested and to let them know that I’m OK and actually helping now.”

  “Fine. I’ll have it arranged,” Henderson said. “But we’re even now for me losing my temper from the other week, OK?”

  “Deal!”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Kari was easily twice as nervous now as she had been before she’d attacked enforcement with her flock of drones. Guess it’s a little different facing your parents than some faceless bullies. Kari followed the enforcement officer in front of her down a long, solid-white hall that looked exactly as eerie as one would expect. It was the last leg of a short journey that had consisted mostly of a twenty-minute shuttle ride to the other end of the extensive facility.

  The enforcement officer stopped in front of one of the indistinctive doors and motioned Kari forward.

  “Three minutes,” the officer said. Kari nodded, and the officer opened the door. Inside, sitting behind a table, were Kari’s parents. They were chained to the chairs they sat in and had enforcement officers on both sides of them. Both her mom and dad were wearing white jumpsuits that matched her own. The sight of her jailed parents caused a surge of emotion that Kari wasn’t prepared for. She knew they had been arrested, but seeing them like this in person was different.

  By the time Kari and her three enforcement officers made it to her seat, Kari had tears streaming down her cheeks. Her parents looked to be doing no better at containing their emotions. Her dad was choked up, which did not help her at all; he never cried.

  “Kari . . .” her mom managed to say before sobbing. Kari’s dad tried to move to comfort her, but he wasn’t able to reach her because of his restraints.

  “Kari, we’re so glad that you’re all right,” he said. His face gave her strength.

  “Mom, Dad, I’m so, so sorry you’re here,” Kari said.

  Her mom pulled herself together so she could talk. “It’s not your fault we’re under arrest, Kari. Don’t let them make you think that.”

  “But if I hadn’t . . . done what I did, you wouldn’t be here,” Kari said.

  “We’re here because they unlawfully arrested us, not you,” Kari’s dad added. The guards looked at each other uncomfortably as if trying to decide if they should let the conversation continue. Mom and Dad are right. They shouldn’t be here.

  “Two minutes,” the enforcement officer said.

  “Thank you,” Kari said to her parents, ignoring the guard. The emotion of seeing her parents was replaced with a focus she had never felt before. “I just needed to know that you forgive me.”

  “We don’t blame you for us being here,” her father said. “We’ll talk about your actions that got you here when this is all sorted out.” I’d love to have the chance to be punished by you, but I don’t think Henderson plans on ever sorting things out.

  Kari nodded to her parents. Without them understanding why she had attacked those enforcement officers, her actions probably looked insane. I guess if I ever get to go home with you again, I’ll just be under home arrest. The thought didn’t bother her. She’d love to be grounded if it meant her parents were free.

  “Well, I need to know that you at least trust me,” Kari said, taking turns to look each parent in the eyes.

  “Of course we do, sweetie,” her mom said while her dad nodded his agreement.

  “One minute,” the enforcement officer said.

  “That wasn’t a minute!” Kari protested by reflex.

  “One. Minute.” The officer showed absolutely no hint of caring about her situation. Kari might as well have been asking her prison bed to do better job at being soft. She refocused on her parents.

  “Mom, remember when had hamburgers for breakfast together?”

  “Of course,” Kari’s mom said. Her face was so easy to read that Kari interpreted as asking, Why would you bring that up right now?

  “I want you to know I make all my decisions the same way you told me to,” Kari said, the words pouring straight from her heart. Her dad looked to her mom for some sort of clue about what Kari meant. Kari’s mom looked puzzled for a second but then smiled as she connected Kari’s words with her own. Sorry, Dad. Mom will have to fill you in later.

  “I hope you trust me when I say that,” Kari said, trying hard to emphasize that they should trust her.

  “OK, that’s enough,” the lead enforcement officer said. He wasn’t able to follow what was going on, so he ended the conversation early.

  “W
e’ll always trust you, Kari,” her dad said as the enforcement officers lifted Kari from her chair and pulled her from the room.

  “I love you!” Kari said over her shoulder as she was pulled out the open door into the colorless hallway. She heard her parents try to yell the same thing back before the door was closed behind her, cutting off all sound.

  “What did you and your mother talk about at breakfast?” the lead enforcement officer asked.

  “I’m sorry, that’s personal,” Kari said. She saw his hand coming a split second too late as he slapped her hard across her face.

  “What did you and your mother talk about at breakfast?” he asked again.

  “About how to make decisions,” Kari said. “She said to always think about family before you make a decision.” She braced for another slap.

  “Why did you want your mother to trust you in that regard?” the guard asked, his hand slowly pulling back for another possible slap.

  “Because they’re going to be very upset if they ever learn I’m designing weapons,” Kari said desperately, shying away from him. That was probably true; her parents wouldn’t like that at all. “I just want them to know I’m doing it to protect them.” The officer studied her for a moment, gazing into her soul to see if she were telling the truth. Believe me, believe me, believe me . . .

  “Let’s go,” the officer said. The two other officers who had escorted her to the meeting pushed her forward down the long, silent hall as the abusive officer once again led the way.

  I just hope my parents meant it when they said they trust me. They don’t understand everything that’s happened, and they might never understand it, but I hope they know I’ve been trying to do only what would make them proud.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “Kari?” The voice was distant but familiar.

  “Kari?” The voice asked again, this time a little more insistent. Udarh!

  “Yeah, Udarh?” Kari asked, speaking out loud so her voice could transmit through her mind chip to wherever he was watching her.