Catalyst: A Red Dog Thriller (The Altered Book 1)

by Blou Bryant

  He reviewed every conversation he’d had with Joe, at once sure he was right and yet worried that he was wrong in the assumptions he was making. The next hours would be a chess game, and he considered every move and counter move. This was the endgame. The queen was in the trunk now and they were on the way to see the king.

  His musing ended when they arrived at the base and were waved through by a bored guard who checked their name off a clipboard. They passed through the main part of the base without incident, turned when directed by Joe, and drove by large earthen mounds on their way to a less populated area. Houses gave way to trees and fields which framed the thin road. A mile or two along, they came to a large and nondescript building, which sat square and alone on a hill that overlooked the base.

  As they approached, Wyatt asked, “Ready, Teri?”

  “Are you?” she replied, looking up at him.

  “That’s a good question.”

  Click, click.

  “I don’t know. I’m playing this by the seat of my pants.”

  Click.

  “You think I’ve got a plan?” he asked, knowing he did, but wondered if Joe suspected as well. If he did or didn’t no longer mattered, he’d committed to the course of action. If it worked out, it didn’t matter what Joe knew. If it didn’t work out, well, he didn’t want to think about that.

  Click, click.

  “Perhaps I do,” he said, mischievously, took the phone off the dash and, one hand on the wheel, removed the battery. “Don’t forget while we’re here, Joe can hear every word we say,” Wyatt said and put a finger to his lips.

  She nodded.

  As they approached, a large door opened to a garage which he avoided, instead circling the building twice before stopping at the front side. He got out and paused by the car, taking a moment to study the wires that linked Joe to the rest of the world. Once he was certain they were alone and nobody was watching, he took the little tool kit, walked up, and examined the box where the wires entered.

  He had planned on opening it and disconnecting the fiber-optics, but it was protected by a large padlock. Fine, he thought, there wasn’t any reason to be gentle about it. Wyatt opened the tool kit, took out a utility knife and sawed through the wire going into the box. Whistling as he worked, he cut them one by one and then walked back to the car.

  Just in case he’d missed something, he rounded the building one last time, with special care to look for any wires he might have missed. He guessed the base wouldn’t have bothered burying any. It was easier to repair a cable that was above ground and, on a base like this, the military got complacent and assumed it was secure. Positive he’d got them all, he cautiously approached the entrance and drove part way through, giving his eyes a moment to adjust to the darker interior so he could inspect the room before committing.

  There were two cars already inside the large garage, and enough free space for at least three more. He considered leaving the car in the entry, to force Joe to leave the door open, but that would attract attention if there were outside patrols. With a heavy sigh, he drove in and watched in his mirror as the door closed behind them, shutting them in.

  Once the car was parked, he opened the tool kit again, picked out two more pieces of equipment he’d need and looked around the room. “He can see us, too,” Wyatt said to Teri and pointed at the cameras in each corner of the large garage. “For now, at least.”

  He turned off the engine but left the key in, turned on the radio, and scanned until he found an oldies station which he turned way up so that the Bee-Gees filled the car. When Teri reached to open her door, he motioned for her to wait. With his eyes closed, he took a deep breath and planned out the next minutes. He assumed Joe was off guard but Wyatt wanted him unbalanced even further.

  Out-thinking his adversary or out-planning him was probably impossible, even with the internet disconnected, so he needed to out-crazy him. Wyatt planned to give him too much information to process, to keep Joe confused enough that he would let them get too close, and once they were, Wyatt would destroy him.

  As he concentrated, his blood flowed faster. He closed his eyes and focused on the state of his body. His head, legs, ankle, shoulder and side hurt, not to mention his hands, which were still raw. With an effort, he willed the pain to leave his body. With three taps on the steering wheel, Wyatt finished his ritual. He paused, thinking to himself that it didn’t feel quite right, the pauses between taps weren’t even enough, so he did it again. There we go, he thought, and opened his eyes. It’s crazy time.

  “Let’s go, girl,” he said to Teri. “Stay back. If it goes bad, just find a place to hide and wait for help to arrive. The MP’s will be here at eventually.”

  Teri nodded, clicked and got out of the car, her confidence a marvel to Wyatt. He wondered what he’d done to her, she was a child, but somehow, she wasn’t anymore, she’d changed.

  He got out of the car and raised his voice to sing along to the song, leaving the door open so he could hear the music. With a couple of twirls in rough sync to the music, he walked to the back of the car, opened the trunk and helped Jessica out. “We’re where you wanted be, congratulations, you get to meet Joe.”

  She stretched as best she could with her hands in cuffs and looked at him in confusion. “Are you as crazy as you sound? You brought me to him?”

  “Crazier.” He winked at her and smiled at Teri.

  Leaving her, he noted that there was a door on the right side, which he tested. It wasn’t locked, but he left it closed. The open door would be the one Joe wanted him to use. The second door was locked as was the third, a double above a small landing pad used for deliveries.

  There were four cameras in the room as well as a small security box beside the double, “Hey Joe, you’re quiet,” he said, figuring his opponent still was mulling over the sudden loss of internet access.

  Through the security box came Joe’s voice, “I left a door open for you.”

  “Thanks,” replied Wyatt, “but I don’t like that door. Open another.” The song on the car changed to AC/DC, ‘Back in Black’. He paused to play an imaginary guitar. “Jessica, you’re not dancing, come on, dance with me.” She didn’t reply, watching him intently. Good, he thought, if she’s confused, Joe is probably as well.

  Joe did appear to be off-balance, he was no longer answering every question immediately. Processing was slower without the internet and with an opponent who was behaving irrationally.

  Wyatt walked to the far corner and used the utility knife to snip the cord leading to the camera. “Come on Joe, what’s wrong?” he asked and walked to the next corner, cutting the cord to the second camera. “You’re going blind, Joe, what’s your next move?”

  “Don’t do that.”

  “Confused?” asked Wyatt, as he returned to the car. “What’s the plan, Joe? Let’s go for a beer. What type of beer do you like to drink? Where do you like to party at?”

  He picked out a tire iron and twirled it around like a baton. “Joe, you’re getting quiet, what’s the plan?” Jessica flinched as he walked past and gave the iron a twirl in her direction, so he spread his hands wide and asked, “Girl, where’s my love?” She didn’t reply.

  As he reached the double doors, Wyatt said, “Joe, you’ve got three seconds.”

  “For what?” Joe responded.

  “Until I smash the box and remove your ability to talk to us, and we’re at two.”

  “I don’t understand your behavior.”

  “So what? Joe, in one minute I call the Military Police if you don’t open the other doors. I bet you don’t want them here, do you?”

  “One,” said Wyatt, and waved goodbye at one of the last two active cameras. Joe didn’t reply, so he used the tire iron to smash the box, leaning into the swing like he was trying for the bleachers on opening day. On his first hit, the plastic shattered, on the second, the wires inside were visible, and he reached in and ripped them out. Now Joe couldn’t speak to them or hear them anymore. Not in this r
oom at least.

  Always a bad dancer, he nevertheless twirled his way across the room and cut the wires of another camera, leaving only one active. The song had changed to ‘Stray Cat Strut’ and he sang along, “Jessica, I’ve got cat class and I’ve got cat style.” Teri clapped her hands and gurgled a laugh.

  He skipped down the four steps from the landing to the main floor, walked a few feet and then ran back, jumping up all four. Taking the first step, he skipped the second and jumped on the last two. “You gotta do it right,” he said to his two observers.

  At the last camera, he spread out his arms, and looked up, as if to ask Joe, what are you going to do now? Wyatt pulled the phone out of his pocket and motioned as if he was going to put the battery in. He hoped Joe would understand this was an extension of his threat to call the MP’s. He hid his panic from showing on his face, so much of his plan was based on assumptions. If any one of them was wrong, they might all end up dead. This time, he was right, and before he finished, Joe folded, and they heard the double doors click unlocked.

  Relieved, Wyatt said, “Joe is behaving himself. Let’s see where this leads.”

  Jessica didn’t move right away. “I don’t understand your game.”

  “That is your problem and not mine. Let’s go.”

  “What if I say no?” she asked.

  “Well, I have a tire iron, a box cutter and, oh ya, the only gun. But I’m not a violent type, you do that well enough for both of us. Stay here if you like,” he said, knowing that a self-centered psychopath like her wouldn’t stay behind, she’d need to be part of the action. He turned his back to her and walked ahead of Teri through the doors.

  Jessica ended up following, a petulant look on her face. “Not violent? You punched me.”

  Not hard enough, thought Wyatt as he shut the doors behind them and engaged the bolt lock. They were in a receiving room, with only one empty, unmanned desk and gray cabinets lining the walls.

  Jessica asked, “Why are you locking the doors?”

  “In case Joe sends someone after us,” he said. He assumed that Joe had brought Ford here, but he worried that Joe had an alternate option. Ford at least was a known threat. It was the unknown that scared him. “Joe can’t fight us alone.”

  Jessica asked, “Why?”

  Wyatt walked through the opening at the other end of the small room, into a plain hallway. “You could say he has a disability.” Across the hall were two small rooms with plastic windows, offices with simple desks and cabinets, motivational posters on the walls. “Attitude: Nothing Changes Until You Change.” He stopped and stared at it for a moment. “That makes no sense,” he said, and then went on.

  The next door was halfway down the hallway. He tried it and found it locked. He looked up at a camera and pointed to the door. When nothing happened, he pulled the phone and battery out of his pocket and waved them at Joe. He was rewarded with the sound of the lock clicking open. “Good boy, Joe,” he said out loud.

  Electronic equipment hummed in the room. Wyatt shivered as they entered, it was like a refrigerator inside. There were two small workstations, but the large space was mostly devoted to racks of humming black boxes and the wires that connected them. There was a green tint to everything from all the digital lights.

  This, he thought, was where he wanted to be. He wondered where to start, how to do the most damage. As he pondered, a screen flashed to life, Joe’s handsome image at the center.

  Wyatt ignored him at first and locked the door behind them once he was sure there were no other entrances to the room. As he walked to the bank of machines, Joe spoke through computer speakers, “We can talk in the other room.”

  “No,” replied Wyatt, hefting the tire-iron. “It’s sort of dead in here, how about we redecorate?”

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to destroy you. You know I’m not lying, you can tell if someone is lying, right? If Esaf’s iPad could tell, I bet you can as well.”

  Joe didn’t answer the question. “I don’t understand your behavior.”

  Wyatt faced the computer screen, “I didn’t understand yours. But I do now. How about we put our cards on the table?” This is exactly what he wanted, it was all going according to plan. He’d restricted Joe’s access to information and behaved in a way that kept him off-guard and confused. Now that he was inside, he had negotiating power and Joe didn’t. Now, it was time to make Joe give them what they needed to survive the day.

  Joe stared blankly at him from the computer screen, his face emotionless.

  “What do you want? It’s not just the virus I have in my blood that you want, is it?”

  Joe still didn’t reply.

  “You planned most of this, you put me on this journey when you sent that fake text. You ensured I arrived at the party at exactly the right time, didn’t you?”

  Joe’s face was completely still, frozen in place.

  “And you fed information to the mob in the parking lot at the restaurant. I’m sure of that.”

  Wyatt pointed to Jessica, “You’ve played games with Jessica and others to get us here, didn’t you? Was the kidnapping your idea or hers?”

  The image of Joe flickered on the screen.

  “People died, Joe, friends died, because of your games.” Wyatt felt a pain in his gut, he was guilty as well, he’d played with fire by calling Joe from the Vampire house and his friends had died.

  Jessica said, “What’s going on?”

  “Joe, do you want to tell her what you are?”

  “I can’t.”

  Wyatt thought about that for a second and had a flash of insight. Joe couldn’t reveal his nature to anyone outside the project. That was a rule that he’d not figured out, but it made sense.

  Jessica said, “Tell me, what do you mean, what he is?”

  “Joe’s a computer, well, to be precise, he’s an AI running on a computer, right, Joe?”

  Joe didn’t reply.

  Jessica had pulled a seat up next to him. Wyatt put his foot between her legs and shoved the chair – and her - across the room. “Don’t get too close,” he said.

  She pouted but was more interested in Joe, “He’s a computer?”

  “You’re standing inside Joe right now. It’s a computer program that’s been left to run on its own.”

  Wyatt turned his attention back to the machine, “Enough games, Joe. Tell me what you want. How can we end this? Answer me, now!” Wyatt said. He needed to push Joe to make quick decisions. The more there was to analyze, the harder it would be. Without internet access, he had limited data and lesser processing power, but with enough time, he was still a threat.

  “I want everyone to be happy,” Joe replied, repeating what he’d said several times in the last days. As he said it, his movie-star face flickered briefly.

  “That’s just programming. Be specific.”

  Joe replied, “I cannot if you are not.”

  He reformulated the question. “What do you want from me?”

  “I want you,” Joe said.

  “Why? How?”

  The handsome but artificial face said, “I want to transfer my consciousness into you.”

  Wyatt was stunned, that wasn’t expected and now he didn’t know what to say or how to reply. That wasn’t part of the plan. He’d assumed Joe’s goal all along was the virus, not him.

  “Why would you want to transfer into Wyatt?” asked Jessica with an insulting emphasis on his name.

  Joe didn’t reply, but the transfer made sense, it was still about the blood. “Because I carry a DNA mutation that allows me to be a conduit for the V32 virus. It can live in me, but it’s also activated by me. Is that right, Joe?”

  Joe didn’t reply.

  “And you think it’ll let you be human and V32 will enable the transfer?” “It’s not going to happen,” said Wyatt. “What will happen is that you will erase me from all public records and make sure I’m no longer hunted.” And then I’ll unplug you, he thought, but didn�
�t say it.

  Jessica said, “Joe, I’ll work with you.” A smile played across her lips, “You can have his body and use the virus on me.”

  Wyatt motioned to Teri, and nodded to a corner, she needed to protect herself. To Jessica, he said, “There isn’t anything you or he can do to stop me. Joe can’t harm a human unless it’s on the orders of someone with authority.”

  All AI’s have to have basic rules, Wyatt knew. Most were short and specific, but Joe was a government computer, a military computer, and that meant his rules were likely long, bureaucratic and at odds with each-other. It’s what likely drove Joe insane. “Not hurting people unless ordered to, that’s also one your rules, isn’t it?”

  “What’s with all the rules?” asked Jessica.

  Wyatt didn’t want to get in a debate with this crazy psychopath, but she needed enough information to back off. He said, “To protect humans, Artificial Intelligences are given certain core rules. Usually it’s to not harm or allow harm to humans, first, to obey orders second, and to preserve themselves third. They might have relaxed the second rule, he is a military computer after all.”

  Joe was still silent.

  “But he’s not going to hurt me. He’s going to erase me, or I’ll take him apart one box at a time. I don’t know how this stuff works, but I bet if I disconnect enough of them, he’ll feel the pain. Right Joe?”

  The computer still didn’t reply. Wyatt stepped over to the racks of black boxes and smashed one with the tire iron.

  “Perhaps he can’t stop you, but I can,” said Jessica.

  “I’ve got a gun, a knife, and a tire iron, are you insane?”

  “Perhaps I am, but I don’t think you’ll hurt me.”

  Wyatt was starting to think that he should have left her in the trunk. He’d figured she’d be a piece he could play, but, even in handcuffs and unarmed, she wasn’t going to do what she was told. “I warn you, I’ll shoot,” he said, although he wasn’t sure he could do it.

  Joe picked up on his hesitation, “He’s lying,” it said.