by Shawn Keys
Jim clapped him on the back. “You’d make a decent deck-hand, kid. If you ever get sick of running around stirring shit up, come see me. Might have a job for ya.” With a cackle and a final leer at Chloe, he went into the wheelhouse to get them underway.
“Let’s go see Dazz,” Kyle said. “She’s going to want to talk, I’ll bet.” Together, Jackie, Chloe and Kyle paced toward the bow, leaning against the rail and waiting for Dazz to get off the phone.
She hung up a few seconds later, looking like she wished she had an old style flip-phone so she could snap it shut with frustration. “That was Musk_Ox. Kind of a crappy honor that he called me. He never gets on the phone unless everything goes to shit.”
“Hacker friend?” Jackie asked.
Dazz leveled a suspicious glare the DOJ agent. Sure, they were trying to trust her, but G-types of any sort were the natural enemy of her online kin. “Yeah. Down in Brazil.” Kyle knew her pretty well, but even he couldn’t decide if she was telling the truth, or just picking a country with no extradition to the US to cut off any of Jackie’s Fed instincts. Dazz got back to the point, “While we’ve been hauling our butts all over the state, I’ve had him dig into the reservation system at the Nine Elms. Wasn’t a huge risk; it isn’t a very secure system, ever since putting money down ahead of time became less of a thing. As long as you don’t try to get into the credit card or financial information, security is pretty light.”
Chloe asked, “Why did you want to get in?”
“I wanted a list of names to work with, and then to be able to track when each of them checked in.”
Jackie nodded, apparently willing to ignore enough of her ‘legal’ side for this sort of action. “Sounds reasonable.”
Kyle decided he was going to have to sit down with Jackie at some point to talk about what laws she was willing to bruise and which ones would be out-of-bounds. Didn’t mean they wouldn’t break those laws, but they might have to take the precaution of hiding such things from her. Or at least leaving her out of those plans. Leaving those questions alone for now, he asked, “What went wrong?”
Dazz jammed her hands into the pockets of her windbreaker hoodie, at a loss for any other way to show how her irritation. “He says a whole blocked booking of reservations for the next two weeks was just cancelled. They were paid for by a corporation that he says is nothing more than a bank account. Shell company to funnel money. Has to be the bad guys we were looking for.”
“Oh, crap,” Kyle cursed. “Did they cancel their new crop of students? That’s crazy! I mean, I know we’re stirring up the mud a little, but it isn’t like we’ve managed to hurt them or anything! Stopping operations and losing twenty new agents seems like a steep price!”
Dazz shrugged miserably. “Musk_Ox says there was a note attached to the cancellation to be given to anyone with a reservation who shows up trying to check-in. Says special instructions were left at the desk. That’s it. Nothing online.”
Rolling his neck, Kyle growled under his breath. “Nothing can ever be easy, can it?” He threw up a hand. “So, now what?”
“Start looking at the camp directly?” Jackie wondered. “Forget about the students? We can start gathering data and building a penetration plan.”
Kyle frowned. “That will take weeks.”
The DOJ agent shrugged. “So? The clock we were on had everything to do with the students. If we hold up a bit, take the time to think, then all this pressure and added scrutiny goes away.”
Kyle didn’t like the taste of that. “We’re exposed. If we’re going to wait, then we should back off. We should tell Jim to turn around and drop us off in Bremerton. If we get into Tacoma, we’ll be inside their net, and they’re going to keep getting better at looking for us. Is that the right move? Turn around? Give ourselves time in a safe spot?” He didn’t like the idea of being up on the Kitsap Peninsula while they waited. It was a huge area with a lot of natural terrain, but it was still a closed-off piece of land. Even with limited manpower, the rogue FDPC might have enough to flood the area and run them to ground if they got located.
Chloe spoke up, “Not yet. We said we wouldn’t back down from this. Whatever it takes, right? We’re here to take risks.” She gestured at Dazz. “You cooked us up these fake IDs to match our implants. Can you change one?”
“Sure.” Dazz shrugged, “Easy enough with the gear I have.”
“Change one to match one of the names of these students. One of us goes and checks in, get that message at the counter, and maybe we’ll have a lead.” Chloe shrugged. “Might as well, right?”
Jackie chewed her lip in thought. “If they have someone watching, that could be trouble.”
Kyle shook his head. “I don’t think so. I mean, these instructions have to be for any student who somehow missed some message. They could just email them some cryptic instructions to screw off until some later date, or whatever. No reason for the student to show up in person. So, whatever this message is, it’s for whoever misses that communication. Unlikely. Would you waste the people to keep that counter under constant surveillance? If we have the right name, all these creeps are going to hear about is a student who showed up lost.” He nodded, smiling at Chloe. “Yeah, we can do this.”
Dazz shrugged. “Alright, then. Whose ID am I changing?”
Kyle didn’t hesitate. “Mine.”
Chloe objected, “They don’t know me half as well.”
Kyle nodded. “I know, but I can’t use that as an excuse. Later on, you three are going to end up taking risks because we can’t let anyone see my face. With this one, any of us can do it. Which means I’ll do it.” He fished around in his pocket, retrieved his wallet with all his fake IDs in it, then tossed it to Dazz. “All yours.”
Dazz nodded. “Fine by me. I’ll get my fun later.” She pointed at him. “Though you owe me one. If I had known you were going to shoot a couple of these fuckers, I wouldn’t have let you send me off with Chloe back on the road.”
Kyle smirked. “You owed me one from the safe house, remember? I was kicking Niles’ ass until you blew her away.”
“Bitch had it coming.” Dazz strode toward the ladder leading under the deck. “I need to find a stable place for this.”
Kyle turned and looked out off the bow. In the distance, he could see the city lights of Seattle, and beyond that the glow of Tacoma on the horizon. Time to rock and roll.
* * *
Well if nothing else, Kyle thought, at least we get to try out some of our new toys. As he walked into the Nine Elms hotel, he stopped himself from fiddling with the earpiece and transmitter linked into his cell phone. “Hearing me, Dazz?”
“Loud and clear. You know we’ve done this before back in Lionsgate, right?”
“Yeah, yeah. Give me a break, alright? I feel like I’m walking into a pool of sharks with chum all over my clothes.” Kyle’s gaze darted around, trying to make it look like he was just absorbing the old-style, oak panels and warm color palette decorating the hotel foyer.
“You are the one who insisted on going in.”
“No sign of that break you were supposed to give me.”
Dazz’s smirk colored her tone. It came through perfectly. “If I started going easy on you, you’d get all soft.”
Determined to get a little revenge, Kyle said as innocently as he could, “Dazz, if you ever let me see your softer side, there won’t be a single soft thing about me.” He swore he heard a giggle from Chloe and a gasp from Jackie.
The elevator opened a dozen paces away, which killed any further chit-chat. Kyle got one look at the black suit coming out and instantly ducked behind a tall fern growing in the foyer. He leaned against a support column, doing his best to look casual… and realizing, what he really looked like was an idiot trying to play at being a spy or a P.I. or something. Totally… laughable.
The only thing that would look more ridiculous would be to pop out now in full view of the guy in the suit and try to look like nothing was going on. So, he
held his stupid position, tugging out his phone and tried to regain some bit of his credibility by looking like a grumpy young adult who was sulking against the post for whatever reason.
The guy in the suit didn’t so much as blink because none of it mattered to him. He walked on past, in synch with another guy in a suit who walked down the stairs. Two more businessmen among probably a dozen others just like them who were in town for whatever reason.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. A lot of people in suits aren’t psycho, eugenics killers. Kyle snarled at himself one last time, then tried to regain a small bit of composure. He couldn’t be acting like this when he got up to the counter. Come on, think. What would a perspective, elite-blooded, hyped-up pseudo-Nazi be thinking right about now? They’re about to get chosen and brought into the fold. Excited? Confident, for sure. Like you’re about to have the biggest job interview ever.
Trying to embrace that idea, Kyle walked up to the counter which was mercifully empty. Also, thankfully, Kyle didn’t think either of the two attendants had seen him hide behind the plant. That might have been difficult to explain away without sounding like a total idiot. Going for the simple and straightforward, Kyle said, “Checking in. Reservation for Brent Creighton.”
The attendant smiled pleasantly. “Driver’s license, Sir?”
Kyle had decided that not having it ready looked more natural. I am trying way too hard, here. Relax, damnit! He pried the card out of his wallet and slid it across the counter. “There you are.”
The attendant plucked it up, measured it against Kyle, then scanned through his computer. The system made a soft, warbling sound. A look of mild regret passed over the man’s face. “Ahh, I’m sorry, Sir. Seems here that your reservation was cancelled.”
Kyle pushed a little quiet outrage onto his face. “Excuse me? I can’t really see how that’s possible. I’m here for a conference of sorts. It isn’t the sort of thing that gets shut down at the last second.”
The attendant did his best to remain friendly. He was decent at customer service, walking the line between ‘never saying no to the customer’ and needing to be helpful at helping Kyle realize he was wrong anyway. “There is a note left behind by the event organizers, Sir. It says that new information was sent to your contact information. Perhaps you left your phone in airplane mode after arrival? Your email might not have updated.”
It sounded like a perfectly reasonable suggestion to Kyle, and he couldn’t fault the guy for being polite. Unfortunately, it was also incredibly unhelpful. He tried to dig one more time. “When was it all cancelled? Did they give any reason to the hotel staff?”
The attendant returned a bland smile. “I’m sorry, Sir. There is really nothing else I can offer. We are sorry to lose your business, but it seems clear that any required information is being sent to you via different means.” He handed back the ID.
Kyle took it, doing his best to keep a kind smile on his face. Best not to make a scene. “Actually, I think you’ve been a lot of help. Thanks.” He turned and strolled back toward the door.
Jackie spoke into his ear, “We’re back to where we started.”
Kyle pushed open the glass doors, emerging back onto the streets. It was the middle of the evening. The streetlights were doing their normal job of blocking out the stars overhead, a little strange after so many months in the back country. Traffic was light, both on the street and on the sidewalk. It was a Wednesday, so the party scene wasn’t strong. Soon enough, once the restaurants started letting out the late crowd, things would fade off even more.
Without anyone in close earshot, Kyle felt comfortable enough answering, “Not quite. He didn’t give us much, but there was something.”
Jackie answered, “Not sure I heard the same thing you did.”
“It’s what he didn’t say. Or rather, what the message didn’t say. Why make anyone jump through hoops just to say things are cancelled and send me home? Remember, they weren’t booking the students’ flights. They were arriving over a period, scattered all over the place. If this was cancelled, why not a message saying ‘book your own flight home’?”
“Not sure that holds up, Kyle,” Jackie cautioned him.
“Doesn’t have to. Not for long, anyway. I really feel like the interviews were moved. Probably because of us stirring up trouble. Stay there at the coffee shop. I’m coming to you. I don’t want to check into a hotel until we know where we can get close to the new spot they chose.”
Dazz said, “You’re that certain?”
Kyle answered, “I’m going with my gut. Always served me well in the past. Let’s assume they are being diverted, and that’s why that message was so vague. Not much point to moving a secret location if you leave a message about where it is going next that anyone can get access to with a simple trick like the one we just pulled. If some idiot student didn’t look at his email, they left a message to nudge them in the right direction without giving away any specifics. Makes sense.”
Sounding concerned, Dazz replied, “I hope you aren’t about to suggest we hack into their email, because that isn’t going to work. Not only do we have no idea what service they use, but encryption like that is a certifiable nightmare. Better than a lot of big government. NSA level, understand?”
Kyle smiled, even if she couldn’t see it. “No worries, Dazz. We’ve been hanging out for a while, you know. I’ve heard you gripe about enough movies to get the idea.” He didn’t give her the chance to get on a rant, hurrying on, “What I’m thinking is what your friend did on a slightly larger scale. They cancelled twenty rooms here and moved them somewhere else. These interviews are supposed to stretch over two weeks. They need conference rooms. I’d say avoid anything on the highest end. Not necessarily, and they wouldn’t want to coddle their newest boot camp members. But, also, not the lowest end which might disappoint their ‘special children’, if you get my meaning. The Nine Elms is a semi-independent subsidiary. Not a big name. Start with equivalents. Call out the army, Dazz. Look for new reservations just arranged within the last twenty-four to forty-eight hours. We need it fast, otherwise we won’t be able to settle in and figure them out in time. We’re already behind.”
“I’ll see what I can do. No promises. I’m going to have to hunt around for people who already claim to have penetrated those systems. Nothing else would be reliable to be done in time. Could be expensive.”
“Well, do what you can. Don’t break the bank. Maybe promise a few favors?”
“You might not like the favors a hacker can ask. Usually revolves around weird personal desires, not money or something simple like killing someone.”
Kyle chuckled. “Alright, let’s stop talking before we say any more keywords to make the NSA start listening and recording.”
“They’re always recording, Kyle.” She was smirking again, he could tell.
Kyle laughed. Dazz’s touch of paranoia was nothing new, but at least she was self-aware about it all. She could keep it under control. Then again, being hunted by a government agency like they were now wasn’t going to help convince her to be any less suspicious in the future. “I’ll be there in two minutes. We can talk about what else we can do to find them once I get there.”
* * *
Reggie Fisher’s pace would best be called officious as he rounded the Lincoln Memorial and started to walk along the Reflecting Pool in the National Mall, headed East for the Monument and eventually for 17th Avenue and the White House further to the North. Neither moving sedately nor in a mad rush, he wasn’t really play-acting. He was what he was. A businessman and political activist who had been summoned to an appointment with one of the very few people more powerful than him.
Ahead, waiting for him on the northeastern corner of the Reflecting Pool was Matthew Rostlen. Administrative Director of the CDC, he was also another of the Dawn Council members, and as such another of Reggie’s peers. Dressed in a similarly expensive, well-tailored suit, Matthew fidgeted while he waited. He looked like a man with bad news.
Matthew huffed. “Rita’s right. You’re too damned clever. Why did he summon you, do you know?”
“To hear you,” Reggie admitted. It wasn’t even a lie. With his finger on the pulse of all the agencies in town, his advice was sought rather frequently, especially when new information was being presented. If anyone could forecast how news would affect the Dawn’s status, it was him. “Which begs the question, why are you here? Care to give me a preview? Might help me bend his opinion one way or another.”
Matthew scowled. “Anomalies have risen a full 3% in the last three months since we released the vector update. Not all the news is bad. It was a smooth release, with only incredibly rare, statistically insignificant negative side-effects. We’re also seeing selected fertility bias higher on the scale. It’s picking more and more closer to the Superior standard rather than baseline.”
Reggie frowned. “But the cost is that it is kicking out more exceptions.”
“Yes. We’re having our gains in quality subverted by losses in quantity.”
Reggie asked, “Remind me, how long does it take a new vector to penetrate the population?”
“Not long. About a week. People still do normal sanitary care against other diseases, but everyone thinks Persterim is a done deal. Until we declare a cure or a vaccine, it is an accepted fact that it is in our bloodstreams. Typically, no-one is even aware we’ve released another outbreak.”
“Reversal rate for the sterility we never wanted to cause?”
“Hovers around 39%. A lot of people who were rendered sterile simply can’t be brought back. Too much damage was done. But one-third isn’t bad. The new vectors have brought back quite a few Superior and Baseline candidates we might otherwise have lost.”
Reggie said, “But also 3% more of the outcasts we’re trying to prevent. Not sure we’re going in the right direction.”