“We told Tito about this as part of the deal. You will have at least a five minute warning before we detonate it. The car itself will signal you, but we would call you well in advance if there were a reason to do this. For example, if a scanner gave you a red-flag and they dispatched a police force to inspect the car. If that happened, we would probably know and have ten minutes or so. There is a phone that is synched to the car. If we know anything, we’ll call the phone and tell you. This is a non-negotiable part of the deal. Do you still want the vehicle?”
Julia didn’t hesitate even a second. “Yes, I still want it. I’ll plan accordingly.”
“OK. I assume you have the address for the place you’re going. I don’t need to know and I don’t want to know. You can program it into the navigation system just like any other car. The difference is that the car’s software never stores any history of addresses and the address will only stay in the system while the car is turned on. You can command the navigation system to clear the history at any time. We can also wipe the history remotely as well, if you message us. Clear on that?”
“Yes. Very clear.”
“OK. Now, about the smuggling area, it isn’t very comfortable. For a long trip, the guy is going to hate being in there and will want to come out. If you let him out, then you have to be extremely careful about scanners. What we do is pretty simple. First, you’ll be on older roads. Pull over to the side or find an isolated area. Do not let him out while you are driving. It’s too risky. Pull over away from any street lights. The poles on the street lights are often where the small towns mount their scanners, so stay away from them. Let him out for five or ten minutes while you are parked. Let him stretch or whatever he needs. Best to do it at night. When he comes out, make sure he’s wearing a wig in case someone spots you. The wig won’t fool a scanner but it will fool most people driving by. But try to do this in areas where there won’t be anybody driving by.”
“I understand.”
“Great. I was also told that you don’t want any weapons, which is completely nuts, if you ask me.”
“It wasn’t my choice. I would love some weapons, but I’m not the one paying you.”
“I’ll leave that between you and Tito. I can tell you that we have some excellent weaponry. I would recommend a minimum of two weapons. One to take out drones and a second to take out police cars. These are specially made for the task. The drone gun has a scope that helps you pinpoint exactly where to shoot. It knows the design profile of hundreds of drone types and the vulnerabilities for each. The gun for the police car is the same concept, except it uses stronger bullets and its scope is more like a periscope, so you can be laying on the floor of the car and shooting out the back window without exposing your body. The car has multiple openings where you can mount the gun barrel and shoot outside.”
“Like I said, I’m interested but I can’t pay you.”
“Well, maybe we can work something out.”
43
SUSAN WAS LOOKING at her wall screen with a map of Tennessee and the surrounding states. There were red stars representing known UR locations within 150 miles of Nashville. There were yellow stars representing suspected UR locations.
It was Monday morning. Four days since her discovery about Thomas’ escape, and she was no closer to finding him. There had been no unusual Interstate scans within 150 miles of Nashville in the last week and a half since the escape. Nothing was found in the police system in Nashville or the surrounding municipality systems. All of the covert searches she could do with computers had been done. It was time for Plan B, but she needed Margaret’s approval.
“Wall, call Margaret,” she said, and waited for the video conference to begin. Margaret had been taking all of her calls recently, and they had been speaking multiple times per day. It was clear to Susan that Margaret wanted to get this resolved without bringing in other people. But that may no longer be an option.
“Hello Susan,” Margaret said as her face appeared on the wall screen. “I’m in my office. The line is secure. What news do you have?”
“Hello Madame Secretary. I’m afraid that I have no news. Whoever helped this guy escape must have technology that can go undetected from our scanners or they took a bunch of back roads.”
“What about surveillance cameras around the camp?”
“There aren’t many. We turned off the ones in the back for maintenance. The ones in the front don’t have any vehicles passing at the time. There are no cameras on the roads that lead into the back and there are many routes to get there which could be undetected. There were over ten thousand vehicles on the roads within a 20 mile radius from midnight to 3 AM. I tried to do a search tying any of those vehicles to the known underground railroad locations in the area.”
“And? Any matches?”
“There were about 500 weak matches. No matches were strong. I followed up on the top ten and none seem likely. I’d like your permission to engage the police chief in Nashville.”
Margaret considered the request. “You already have my permission on that, but you have to keep the details vague. What would you tell her?”
“What should I tell her?”
Margaret smiled. “Ask her for permission for the NSA to use her drones for a local search. Tell her that the details are Top Secret, but that we will fly her to the Pentagon to get debriefed. Before you use the police chief in Nashville, look first at her profile and the profile of multiple chiefs around the state. Let’s find the candidate that will most likely play ball with us. The one in Nashville may be best because she will have the biggest arsenal of drones. But check out all of them and get back to me today before you reach out to anyone.”
THEY DISCONNECTED and Susan spent the next two hours finding the ideal candidate. The woman in Nashville seemed like the most ambitious. Police women in the surrounding towns didn’t have the same level of competence or drive. Susan reviewed her notes with Margaret, and they both agreed.
She’ll be the easiest to seduce.
Susan was now in a video conference with Stephanie, the young, blonde police chief of Nashville. Stephanie was in her late thirties, motivated, and loyal to the party. She controlled the largest fleet of drones in the state of Tennessee.
Based on Susan’s research, she wasn’t afraid to use whatever tactic was needed to rise in power. The ends justified the means. So, with the power of the NSA behind her, Susan had quickly scheduled a confidential video conference.
“It is a matter of the upmost security,” Susan told her. “I assume that you would be willing to fly to the Pentagon for a Top Secret briefing with the Secretary of Defense?”
Susan could tell by Stephanie’s body language that this was just about the most exciting phone call of her life.
“Directly with the Secretary of Defense?”
“Exactly. Just you and the Secretary. It’s that important. We could fly you up today on Air Force X. The Secretary can clear her schedule to meet with you. Will you help us?”
“Of course I will,” Stephanie replied.
From there, it was sealed. The rest would be easy. Access to the surveillance drones. Access to the heavier combat drones. Personal assistance from Stephanie in confidential clean up work. Everything that Susan and Margaret would need in the future would be just a diplomatic request away.
The best part was the cover-up potential. If anything went wrong in any part of the mission, the NSA wouldn’t be on the front lines, the Nashville Police Department would be. Which meant that Stephanie would be forever linked to their mission. Her fate would be tied to theirs.
The flight to DC was scheduled immediately, and Stephanie left her offices to the airport that afternoon. But Susan knew that Stephanie was already all in. Even though she had only agreed to a meeting in Washington, the future requests would all be granted, no matter how difficult or even illegal they might be. Stephanie would be owned by Susan just as Susan was owned by Margaret.
44
THOMAS WAS SITTING i
n his little house reading a book of poetry when he heard the drones. He had a sudden panic and looked at Alex.
Alexander saw the worry on Thomas’ face. “Don’t worry, son. They can’t see us very well in here. The windows are tinted. Just put on your wig and try not to be anxious. They fly over from time to time and we have survived so far without any problems.”
Thomas grabbed his wig and put it on. He walked to the window. “Can they see me more if I’m close to the window? I’d like to see what they are doing, but I don’t want to create a problem.”
“My understanding is that the drones use standard cameras and that they see the same things that our own eyes see. If you were to look through the window from the other side, you would see your reflection. So I think you are safe.”
“But what if the drone is carrying a scanner?”
“I’m not the technical wizard here, but I think that the scanners are too heavy for most drones to carry. They would use up too much power. A big gas-powered helicopter could carry a scanner, or one of the combat drones, but those make a lot more noise. What do you see? Is it a surveillance drone or something else?”
“I don’t see anything yet. Wait. Here comes one. No, two. There are two small drones.”
“Probably surveillance. Let me check.” Alexander got up and walked to the window next to Thomas. “Yeah. These drones have cameras on them and transmit their images to a nearby van for processing. They aren’t worth worrying about. Just stay indoors.”
“Well what about the others? Ones with scanners?”
“We’ve never had one fly over here. But don’t worry. If they do, just get in your bed and under the comforter. There is a lining in the comforter that scrambles your thermal profile. It makes a man’s profile scan like a woman’s.”
“Does it work?”
“I’m told it does. Apparently, some guy at another UR site used to be a designer of scanning equipment, so he knew how to fool it. He posted the info on the dark webs and a female engineer here made the scramblers using his design. Some of the men sewed the stuff into the comforters.”
“It’s crazy all the stuff you have to do to survive here.”
“Second thoughts about leaving the grid camp?”
“Not at all. I’m just amazed at how crafty everyone is.”
“Well, I think there’s a silent majority that supports us. I don’t think most women in the country want things to be this way, but they also don’t want to break any laws. History has shown that a lot of evil can be perpetrated by the pen. The pen is mightier than the sword, they say.”
“Yep.”
“These folks in Washington write laws and train people to follow them. There aren’t many people that will stand up for what is right and true.”
“No sir, there aren’t.”
“Luckily, you have found some of the few people who will stand up against an oppressive power. And I think that without the few that stand up and the silent majority, we wouldn’t survive. The evil leaders are afraid to attack us because they don’t want to turn the silent majority against them. So, they leave us in peace for the most part.”
Thomas realized that he didn’t hear the drones any more. He looked for them but didn’t see any.
“Gone,” Alex said.
There was a knock on the door. Both men were startled and then smiled at their jumpiness. Thomas went to the door and looked through the hole. It was Debbie, holding a pastry. He opened the door with a grin.
“I heard you wanted to try my cobbler, so I thought I’d bring some by. Didn’t know that we’d have helicopter company though, so I meandered around out there,” Debbie said.
“That smells delicious,” Thomas said.
“Did you forget the ice cream,” Alex taunted.
“I didn’t want to overwhelm him with too much of a good thing. Let his palette adjust to some real country cooking.” She looked at them both, in their wigs. “That brunette hair looks good on you, Thomas.”
She laughed. He smiled at her.
“I’m thrilled with the cobbler, Debbie. No ice cream needed. The cobbler is more than enough.”
“Well, we have to take care of you, now don’t we? I have some more good news for you, Thomas. Julia landed in DC yesterday and is driving out here. Assuming no problems in transit, she’ll be in Jasper tomorrow morning. So, I’m going to get you two setup at my place. Alex, you’ll have the house to yourself for a little while.”
“I was just starting to like this kid,” Alex joked.
“I can’t believe this is all happening,” Thomas said. “I’m finally going to meet her in person.”
“I hope you don’t mind, but your bed will be in the basement,” Debbie said. “It is the most secure area of the house. There are a few other guys down there that you’ll meet. Julia will be upstairs with me, so you’ll be able to meet together every day and make your plans without leaving the house.”
“I’m so thankful to you. What you are doing for people like me is truly wonderful.”
“Well, somebody has to do it. Isn’t that right, Alex?”
“You said it.”
“This world has gone plum crazy and somebody has to take care of those in need. One blackberry cobbler at a time.” She winked at Thomas. “You’ll enjoy that.”
“No doubt about it.”
“You boys keep chatting. I’ll be back here tomorrow morning around 8 AM to pick you up, Thomas. Make sure you have on that beautiful brunette wig and the long dress I gave you.”
45
SOFIA WAS at her friend Samitha’s house, in her bedroom with the door closed. Sofia’s mother had flown to Washington for important business, so she had arranged for the sleepover.
Sofia’s mother liked Samitha because she was polite and made good grades. However, she had no idea the kinds of things Samitha showed Sofia when they were alone and locked in her room.
“Look at this,” Samitha said. They were both wearing goggles and in the same world online. It was a private world, meaning that it was all generated from Samitha’s computer and other people on the grid couldn’t see them.
Their avatars were walking through a virtual neighborhood, approaching an older house. They walked over a splotchy lawn and up to a patio where the wood was falling apart.
“Where is this place?” Sofia asked.
Both girls were using their real avatars, which looked very similar to themselves. Samitha was Indian with long black hair, slightly taller than Sofia. She walked up to the door. “Just follow me, scared-y cat,” she teased her.
Sofia didn’t know where they were but she never liked scary VR places. She also didn’t like being teased by Samitha, so she followed her inside. The wood floors creaked beneath their feet as they walked in. The lighting was bad, so the area was dark.
“Can we turn on the lights?” Sofia asked.
“There is no electricity here, silly,” Samitha replied. “Just follow me. You’ll be all right.”
“Where did you get this world from?”
“Off the dark webs. Just wait. You’ll love this. But you can’t tell anybody, ok?”
“Yeah. I won’t tell anybody.”
They approached a closet door that was barely hanging on its hinges. Samitha opened the door and it creaked loudly. Sofia walked around her to get a better view. She also stood behind Samitha in case something jumped out at her.
What she saw was the last thing she would have expected.
“Is that? Is that?”
A boy. Maybe twelve or thirteen years old.
“Oh my God, Samitha. We can’t be around boys.”
“It’s my creation. It’s not a real boy. I programmed him. It’s an old program that’s illegal now but I bought it on the dark webs. You can program your ideal mate.”
“What are you talking about? Are you crazy? We’ll get in so much trouble if they find out.”
“Stop being a worry-wort. I swear you are always worrying about something, Sofia. The doors are loc
ked. If my mom knocks, we’ll turn it off. Nobody knows. We aren’t online, and my mother isn’t going to log into this world and search around to find this house and this closet. Unless you tell her, she won’t know. So don’t be a tattle tale.”
“I’m not going to tell anybody. But I can’t do this.”
Sofia took off her goggles. Samitha did too. They were both in her room with the lights on, sitting on her bed.
“Stop being a scared-y cat. Put the goggles on. I’ll show you something cool. I thought you were a cool kid. I didn’t know you were such a doof.”
“I’m not a doof!”
Sofia was unsure what to do. She definitely didn’t want Samitha telling the girls at school that she was a doof or scared.
How bad is it, really? It’s not even a real boy.
“Whatever,” she finally said and put her goggles back on.
They were both back in the old house, looking at the boy in the closet.
“Let me turn him on,” Samitha said.
She moved her hand to grab his and then moved forward and kissed him on the mouth.
“Yuck,” Sofia said.
“Don’t yuck my yum. And don’t knock it tell you try it.”
“I’m not trying it ever.”
“Yeah, right.”
The boy’s eyes opened. He was the same height as Samitha and was dark skinned with short black hair. He was wearing a red polo shirt and blue shorts and a pair of flip flops.
“Hello beautiful,” he said to her. “Who is your friend?”
“That’s Sofia, but she’s a doof.”
“I’m not! Stop calling me that!”
“Hello, Sofia. You certainly are beautiful.”
Sofia blushed. “Is that all you know how to say? Telling girls they are beautiful?”
“Definitely not. I can talk about a wide variety of subjects.”
Samitha grabbed his hand, almost jealous of the attention he was giving Sofia.
“Come with me, Toni,” she said and led him out of the house. Sofia followed behind them.
Escape The Grid: Volume 1 Page 20
