by Adams, M. L.
She closed her eyes.
I focused and tried to remain calm. First aid wasn’t exactly my specialty. I pulled Sarah’s coat off, reached in, and slid her t-shirt down over her shoulder.
“Don’t be getting all frisky while you’re in there, Benjamin,” she said, smiling.
“Well, at least you can’t punch me with that hole in your shoulder.”
“I’m right handed, remember?”
I laughed.
The medical kit contained a small penlight with a red lens. I turned it on and stuck it between my teeth. Next, I pulled out the first pouch. Inside was a syringe filled with a brown liquid—iodine. Per the instructions, I sprayed it on Sarah’s shoulder, front and back.
“Stay with me, Sarah,” I said as I threw the syringe on the ground and pulled out the second pouch.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she replied with a grimace.
I read the instructions for the blood coagulant and winced. After reading them again just to be sure, I said, “Um, Sarah.”
“Just do it, Ben.”
I hesitated. Already not a fan of needles after three months of chemo, I began to realize how much this was going to hurt. However, the alternative, bleeding out, wasn’t acceptable. With one hand on her chest to hold her down, I popped the cap off the syringe, and shoved the needle into the wound. Sarah forcefully pressed up against my hand as her body went rigid. She was about to scream, so I let go of her chest and placed my hand over her mouth.
With the syringe half-empty, I pulled the needle out.
After several moments, Sarah’s breathing slowed. Through gritted teeth, she said, “Okay. That really sucked.”
“Sorry,” was all I could say. “Have to do it again.”
I gently rolled her to the side, reached behind, and repeated the process for the exit wound. She arched her back again and bit into my hand. When I finished, I discarded the syringe and pulled out the fourth pouch, hoping it didn’t contain any needles.
It didn’t.
I applied the liquid bandage, which smelled oddly like super glue, to each of the two wounds.
The final pouch did have another needle. A broad-spectrum antibiotic. I pulled Sarah’s blood-soaked shirt down farther and, as the instructions stated, injected it into her biceps. Finally, I used gauze and tape to cover the wound front and back. The whole process took less than five minutes.
“I’m impressed,” Sarah said.
“Thanks. First time.”
“I still think you should have left me,” she said as I helped her pull up her shirt and jacket.
I shook my head and kissed her gently on the forehead. “Never.”
Movement on my HUD drew my attention away from Sarah. The commandos, apparently having decided to risk entering the apartment complex, were close and moving fast.
I pulled her off the bench and peered out the gazebo’s entrance. Thirty feet away, four black-clad figures stalked around the outdoor pool. They were crouched low, moving from cover to cover with precise movement. Each held a black assault rifle at the ready.
With one hand, I pushed Sarah toward the gazebo’s rear exit. With the other, I fired two shots in the direction of the approaching men. In the silence of the apartment complex, the shots sounded like thunderclaps. I couldn’t tell if I’d hit what I aimed at, but the rounds were close enough to send the men rushing for cover.
“Go, Sarah!” I yelled.
I fired two more shots and then looked down at her. She stared back, eyes wide and mouth open as if ready to say something. I kneeled next to her, and said. “Go, I’ll be right behind you.”
She hesitated, then said, “You better.”
I gave her another subtle nudge out the gazebo’s back door. When I was sure she was actually leaving, I raised my pistol and aimed back at the approaching men. One took cover behind a brown metal trash can. I put the crosshair on it, and fired. The round clinked off the metal and the man pulled back.
On my tracking sphere, another red dot broke off to the left. Fearing he was going after Sarah, I backed out of the gazebo and ran quickly around its side. I spotted the commando darting for a low wall that surrounded the pool. I aimed, moving my arm until the crosshair lined up with his legs, and pulled the trigger. An instant later, he grunted and fell to the ground.
I smiled and pulled back behind cover. Another commando ran around the opposite wall. Again, I aimed and pulled the trigger.
This time, nothing happened. I inspected the gun. The slide was extended.
Empty.
I fumbled to pull a new clip from my pocket and reload the gun—an easy and nearly instantaneous process in a video game. In real life? Under fire? Another story.
Not confident I could make the gun shoot again, I did the next best thing.
I dropped the gun and ran.
I fled down the small hill on the opposite side of the gazebo. Thirty feet ahead was a gap between two apartment buildings. A person crouched low behind some shrubs. I slowed until I realized it was Sarah. She motioned frantically for me to follow.
“Sarah, what in the hell are you doing,” I said breathlessly as I fell to the grass next to her. “I told you to run.” I swiveled my head around and spotted three commandos moving through the gazebo and down the hill toward us. Their guns were still out and ready. So far, they had not returned fire.
“Come on, hurry,” Sarah whispered. “I have an idea.”
I didn’t argue.
We weaved around several apartment buildings until we reached a parking lot. Off to the right were the sounds of police sirens and screeching tires.
Sarah stopped and we crouched between two cars. She put her hand on the door of one, a black BMW 335i.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Hack it,” Sarah said.
“What?”
“Hack it,” she repeated. “They have a Wi-Fi network and you can start them with your phone.”
I finally got it. An instant later, the driver door opened.
Sarah shook her head, and said, “You’re getting better at this.”
I shrugged and climbed behind the wheel. The fact I was stealing a $50k car barely registered. I pulled it out of the parking spot and headed to the back entrance. As we approached, the gate slowly slid open.
“Come on,” I growled. “Hurry up!”
When the gate opened just enough, I slipped the BMW through. To our right I could see a half-dozen police cars converging on the apartment complex. I turned in the opposite direction and sped away.
44
I drove the stolen car west, back into town. Several police cars passed by, sirens on, but they didn’t pay us any attention. Somewhere above, the Reaper still lurked. Not that it mattered much. There was nothing I could do about it. Just like the sentries at CyberLife, my system had failed to hack in.
In the passenger seat, Sarah sat still and stared out the window. She cradled her left arm with her right.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Hurts,” she said, without turning away from the window. “But better now that you stopped the bleeding. Thanks, Ben.” She closed her eyes and pushed herself deeper into the seat.
“You’re welcome,” I whispered.
She dozed off and I concentrated on driving. Every few seconds I glanced at her, just to make sure her chest was rising and falling. I hated myself for getting her involved. It seemed like such a simple request at the time. Hack the network, find the proof, tell the cops.
Didn’t exactly work out the way, I thought.
A few minutes later, I pulled into the hospital’s E.R. parking lot. Sarah opened her eyes and looked around.
“What are we doing here, Ben?”
“You have a bullet in your shoulder, remember?”
“Not technically,” she said. “It went through.”
“Funny.” I narrowed my eyes. “Fine, you have a hole in your shoulder.”
“You’re not dropping me off.”
“
What do you want me to do, Sarah?” I said, my anger rising.
“Well, for starters,” she replied. “Not leave me at the hospital. The last time you dropped me off, it didn’t work out so well. Remember?”
I remained silent as I pulled the BMW into a parking spot.
When I didn’t reply, Sarah’s face hardened. “What’s your plan, Ben? You going to leave me here then drive to CyberLife and turn yourself in to Merrick?”
“Pretty much.”
“You jerk,” she said. “After all we’ve been through this weekend, you’re just going to turn yourself in? Are you kidding?”
I shook my head. “It’s the only way to get them away from you.”
“That’s BS, Ben,” Sarah said. “And you know it.”
Her face was red now.
“Look,” I said. “I’m not just going to turn myself in. First, I’m telling the world what they did.”
“How?”
I pulled my bag off the back seat and handed it to Sarah.
“By putting all of this online.”
Sarah reached into the bag with her good hand and pulled out the journals.
“I found a ton of information,” I said. “Journals from Carter, a hard drive hidden in Megan’s things. Should be enough to show that CyberLife was killing kids. I’m going to scan what I can and upload it to one of those WikiLeak sites.”
“And then turn yourself in?”
I frowned. “Enough people have died because of me. Megan, Sofia, those FBI agents. All because of this secret.” I jabbed my finger at the journals. “CyberLife isn’t going to stop because we got away this once. They know where I live. Where my parents live. And don’t forget, I need Cytoxinol. I can’t get that at the local drug store.”
Her face softened.
“If they have me,” I continued. “They don’t need you. That’s all that matters now.”
She started to cry, then leaned over and kissed me. “You’re an idiot.”
“I know.”
We sat in silence for a moment. “So you’ll go inside?” I said.
“No.”
“Sarah, I can’t . . .” I protested.
“Stop, Ben. We’re in this together. I’m going with you and that’s final.” She held the hard drive up. “Do you even know how to access this thing?”
I stared out the windshield at the glass doors of the E.R. Beyond, I could see a nurse sitting at the front desk. I was thirty feet from getting Sarah to safety. Or was I? Would dropping her off at the E.R. really be safe? Or would CyberLife come after her anyway?
I didn’t know. And there was no way I could know.
I looked at her and studied her face. Some of the color had returned and I could see a fierce intensity in her eyes. At that moment I knew nothing could change her mind.
“Okay,” I finally said.
She sat back in the passenger seat and grinned. “Good answer. For a second there, I thought I was going to have to hit you again.”
I laughed and pulled the BMW back onto the street. “You know, you really should see someone about that.”
“About what?” she asked.
“About always hitting people.”
She shook her head, then said, “I only hit you. Now where to?”
“Your office,” I replied as I turned the BMW north. “Those document scanners in the library are finally going to get some use.”
45
I parked the BMW across the street from Endo Valley High. It was almost three in the morning. We climbed out and retraced our steps from Friday night.
Five minutes later, we ran across the grass to the back door. This time, there was no sign of Oscar.
“Uh oh,” Sarah said. “I don’t have my security badge.”
“I got it,” I said as my system hacked the door. I reached around her and pressed the handle down.
She shook her head and smiled. “You’re becoming a pretty handy guy to have around.”
We stepped through the door and into the dark hallway. Five minutes later, we were standing next to the long table full of computers on the main floor of the library. I dumped the journals onto the table and handed her the drive.
“Wow, this thing is cool,” Sarah said, inspecting the book with the false interior.
“Any idea how to boot it up?” I asked.
She ran her fingers along each edge. “Of course. Standard interface. I have an adapter cable up at the desk.”
“I’m on it,” I said as I turned and bolted up the stairs.
I returned a few minutes later to find Sarah, with one good arm, busy tearing pages out of the journals. “Here,” I said, handing her the cable. “Let me do that. You check the drive out.”
I picked up Carter’s journals and started to search for something to scan. That was when I remembered the email. I pulled the paper out of my pocket and dropped it in the scanner. While it whirred, I tore a handful of pages from a journal.
“I’ve got the drive open,” Sarah said. A moment later, she added, “Wow, it’s full of files.”
“What sort of files,” I asked.
“Come check this out, Ben.”
I put another page on the glass and pressed the SCAN button. I walked to Sarah and looked at her laptop screen. Open was a PDF document. The title read:
REQUEST FOR BID PROPOSAL
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, EXPERIMENTAL CYBER WARFARE PROTOTYPE
CYBERLIFE INDUSTRIES, INC.
TOP SECRET—DO NOT DISTRIBUTE
I read the overview paragraph, then glanced at Sarah. “This is CyberLife’s government bid for a contract to build . . . me.”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
I looked back at the document. It was dated six years ago.
“Explains why your system has a military feel to it,” she said. “Augmented vision, threat detection, that sort of thing. According to the document, it was designed to operate in small Special Operations teams. SEALS, Delta, that sort of thing.”
“Can you copy this to your computer? Let’s load it with the other stuff we found.”
“Sure,” Sarah replied. “Give me a sec.”
I turned back to the scanner, pulled the journal sheet out, and added another.
Suddenly, I started to feel weak. I dropped to one knee and used my free hand to steady myself against the table.
“Ben?” Sarah asked.
“Run . . .” I managed to say before my mouth froze shut.
My knees buckled and I fell to the floor. A new message displayed on my HUD.
Warning—System Infiltration Detected.
“Ben!”
Sarah rushed to my side and knelt on the floor. I wanted to tell her to run again. To get out of the school. But my lips wouldn’t move.
A loud crash came from the front of the library.
Sarah screamed.
I collapsed fully to the floor, facing the door. I couldn’t lift my head or move my eyes. But I could see a pair of armored commandos file into the room, guns drawn.
“Don’t move,” snapped a commanding male voice.
I felt a commotion nearby and then Sarah yelped. Again, I tried to speak. I wanted to yell at whomever it was to leave Sarah alone. Tell them to take me and do whatever they wanted.
It was no use.
The feeling of doom set in. After all we’d been through. Caught, just before the finish.
“You sure are a feisty one,” a man said.
“Go to hell,” Sarah snapped.
The man laughed, then said in a serious voice, “Stevens, if she moves again, put a bullet in her head.”
A hand reached out and grabbed me. It slowly turned my head until I was looking up. I stared into the man’s eyes.
Dr. Merrick, shaking his head, said, “Benjamin, I expected so much more out of you.”
46
So this is what it feels like to die.
My body was numb.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fill my lungs with air.
> Stars sparkled all around me.
My HUD flickered on and off, but I was able to make out a series of warning messages, all displayed in bright red text.
Lung failure.
Heart failure.
CPU error 42.
The list went on.
So far, my system, with all its capabilities, had been unable to stop the intrusion. All I could do was stare at Dr. Merrick’s shiny black boots.
“Eight, don’t kill him yet,” Merrick said. “But be ready to shut him down again if he doesn’t cooperate.”
As if a switch was flipped, my heart started pumping again and I could draw air into my lungs. My vision sharpened and my head stopped spinning. After several moments, I had enough strength to pull up one elbow and face my old friend and CEO of CyberLife Industries.
“Dr. Merrick,” I said.
“That’s right, Benjamin.”
Next to Merrick stood a young girl dressed in a black combat uniform. I thought she was maybe fifteen or sixteen years old. She was pretty with deep blue eyes and shoulder-length, blonde hair streaked with pink and purple highlights. A silver ring pierced her eyebrow right next to an unusual cybernetic implant that curved from her temple to her forehead.
I glanced around the room and found Sarah on the floor several feet behind me. Her eyes were red. Tears streaked each cheek. Looming over her was a man I met several times before—Rick Stevens, the head of CyberLife security. One of his large hands was clamped on Sarah’s shoulder. The other held a large, silver handgun. I winced, recalling Merrick’s earlier words to shoot Sarah if she resisted.
“You’ve been busy this week, Benjamin,” Merrick said. “Very, very busy.”
Merrick flipped through one of Carter’s journals and then picked up and inspected Sarah’s laptop and the hard drive. “I’d ask you where you got these, but I already know. I have to admit, you gave my security team a good test last night. One they failed miserably.”
Merrick looked at Stevens and narrowed his eyes.
“It wasn’t that hard,” I said with a shrug.
Merrick raised an eyebrow. “Really?” he said, sneering at the girl standing next to him. “If Eight hadn’t hacked that sentry robot when we arrived in the helicopter, you wouldn’t have gotten away.”
