One by one around the circle, the other eight finished a similar review and agreed with a nod.
Only Smythe remained. And after a few seconds that seemed an eternity to the Team, he agreed. "You're right. I'm in. Can't let you fokkers run away and have all the damned fun."
Fraser smiled, took a deep breath, stood motionless for a second and then started spinning and shooting. Four dead drones thunked into the soft ground of the field.
"That's taken care of. Shoot them on sight," he said.
The men stood stunned.
"Commitment. I like commitment," said Price. He had a crooked smile and winked at Fraser.
The Captain didn't smile. "There are three decent routes to run. The flat, higher lands towards the southwest that's suited for fast runners. The lakes and swamps straight south if we were swimmers. And the rolling rock section southeast towards the safe zone with a hundred different pathways but fewer lakes and swamps," said the Captain.
"We take the southeast and rocks. We can ambush, backtrack and hide from ground sensors more efficiently out there. Skirt the lakes and low ground more easily, plus it's a slightly more direct route to the safe zone. The odds aren't great on any route but that's the best option I see. Carpenter isn't interested in letting us win any vote; we either get to the safe zone or we're fokked. Agreed?"
With nods from the others, Fraser turned, engaged full-suit assists, and started his long-striding, mile-eating pace. The others followed. And for the very first time, a heavy-armor Team was being hunted.
22/05/2167 14:12:00
A few minutes after the Captain and his Team started running, tech Team leader Lieutenant Palmer reported in person to the Secretary. He marched in, came to full parade attention, fingers extended on the outer seams of his pants, eyes straight ahead, in front of the desk. "Secretary Carpenter, Sir, the Captain and his Team are running. They shot their drone flight out of the sky but satellites have picked up their general direction. They've headed southeast towards the safe zone."
Five long seconds passed.
Carpenter stared at the officer without saying a word. He nodded once, the corner of his mouth curled into a tentative smile. "Mr. Palmer, do you know why the Captain is running?"
"Sir?"
"Do you know why the Captain is running?" repeated Carpenter.
Carpenter smiled with his mouth but his half-closed eyes never left the Lieutenant's.
Palmer didn't blink. "No, Sir."
"Ah, well, then perhaps I should tell you. It seems the Captain was working with a computer technician to penetrate Security files. Now, that's interesting don't you think? Somebody in your department was working with the Captain. You and I have had a profitable working relationship and I value the assistance you've given me. Frankly, I wouldn't be as successful in this chair if it weren't for you. So I'm very grateful. As a measure of my high regard for your skills and our friendship, I'm giving you the responsibility to find the computer tech who was working with the Captain. It's not a high priority at the moment as we have the Captain to deal with, but as soon as the Captain is caught or killed, we'll discuss this further. Clear?" said Carpenter.
"Yes, Sir. Crystal Clear, Sir."
"Dismissed!"
Lieutenant Palmer saluted, spun, his relief palpable before he heard, "Hold!"
Palmer stopped and turned.
Carpenter stood and turned to the window, his back to the officer to hide his smile, and ordered. "Get every available tracker up. Free up Security server space. Alert your corporate counterparts we're about to run some serious programming and request extra broadcast server allocation. Make sure there's no staff away - all present and accounted for. This is to be held as top-secret until I release it myself. Impress that on anybody you talk to. I don't want this getting out prematurely and if it does, that person will be the next runner. This is a five-star-alert operation. Dismissed."
The Lieutenant turned in correct military form, took a deep breath and held it while he marched out of the office.
The Secretary heard his footsteps thumping towards the tech room and smiled.
"Message Chairman. Priority one. Fraser's Team all running. Will require increased server resources. Please approve unlimited bandwidth for a ten-person chase." A dismissive wave and the message moved to the Chairman's inbox.
Another wave brought up an empty message file.
"Director, Communications. Big special FOK coming. Leak it to the Nets. You know the spin but say it will be different from anything ever seen. I'll fill you in with the group briefings. Just get the buzz started, then let others do the speculating. You know the drill. Start now!"
Yet another wave. "Lieutenant, record this run with every camera and drone feed we have. I want it all from as far back as the techs can retrieve it. And send a new flight of drones out after them."
Lieutenant Palmer replied with a simple, "Yes Sir," as the line disengaged.
Carpenter heard the fear in the young man's voice and smiled. There'd be more than one fearful person before this chase had run its course. He turned to face the window that looked out towards the taller Corporate offices. This would be a great show. Yes, indeed. How can I use it? No way to use it I can see. Great show but so what? The thoughts ran through his mind like electrons on his servers.
But he stopped short and his face appeared puzzled as he sat upright.
"Communications, did the Captain receive my message?"
"Yes, Sir."
Why did they run? Why didn't they report as ordered? Carpenter wondered.
He opened the channel again, "Communications, did the Captain receive any other messages while on his training exercises?"
"No Sir."
"Did he place any?"
"No Sir."
Curious. Very curious, Carpenter thought.
This would take further examination but he was too busy right now to worry about it. He was organizing the Chase to end all Chases and this had to take priority. He had an entire Team running! And despite his regular statements to the press about not enjoying sending people on the Chase, this part of his job made him the happiest.
"I lied. Yes, I lied," he whispered to nobody in particular. "And this will be a fun one."
22/05/2167 18:12:00
<6t94whp>: "It might be time."
<6t94whp> : "We let him lead, let him take the point. We support him as best we can but we don't let him know of our existence."
A chorus of "Agreed" followed.
<6t94whp> :"Who's tracking corporate?"
<6t94whp> :"Drone control?"
<6t94whp>: "That leaves the Security teams themselves. Anybody ever hacked them?"
Silence:
Unseen, <6t94whp> smiled to himself. The
<6t94whp> :"You've all taken separate areas to monitor. Keep them. I'll follow the newbie. But we have to stay out of his way, let him take the lead, let him take the risks. As you all did in your turn. We watch and prepare to help when and if it looks like something might come from having the Captain and his men succeed. And we consider negotiating our services with the Captain. If he can stay alive long enough."
Another round of agreement. Then silence. Anonymous lived again.
22/05/2167 18:15:00
Several hours into the run, the Captain halted the Team for a brief rest. The power assists from the heavy armor suits made the job of running much easier and the hour had seen them travel fifteen miles. They were out of the lowlands around the city and at the start of the rock cover. The ground was much higher here than the city's coastal area although the countryside was dotted with a massive number of small lakes. They'd either be running on the lowland between lakes or crossing the surrounding higher land all the way to the safe zone and the Captain wondered how he might turn that to his advantage. It was a question of low ground for speed or high ground for protection. For now, speed was most important.
"Good start," said Fraser. "We caught them by surprise but they're satellite-tracking us by now. We stay on these low trails through the bush until they catch us and then we head for higher ground and rock protection. We'll need something to hide behind in any firefight and that's one good thing the higher ground will provide."
"Captain," said the Sergeant, "We still have our suits and weapons."
The rest of the squad suddenly realized the satellite-based, energy downloads could be stripped with a few simple computer commands.
"Relax Sergeant. We deal with each issue as it comes. I have no doubt there'll be a few surprises tossed at us. I can just imagine the planning going into this one. Corporate will be drooling at the numbers. We make the best time we can while we have full power. If, and when they cut us off, we deal with it then. And speaking of miles, let's go."
At the end of the second hour, the Team took another break and the Captain said, "Security knows our position and status but we still have our full systems and data so we know they're still in planning mode. Their program success will depend on us fighting back and that's what they will want to prolong.
Think about this though, what's going to make a better program? Running in full armor and suits or stripping us of those and just shooting us? This program is going to be two teams hammering it out with full weapons and suits. It's will be a small war. Yes, we're the bad guys for sure, at least that's how I'd program it. But we will get to fight back. And if they make any mistakes, we'll take out their people and we may indeed make the safe zone.
Understand they won't want to kill us all right away. They'll want the show to last as long as possible so how they attack and how many they want to take out will depend on the ratings. And I'm betting the city will be on our side in this one. So we're looking at some serious firefights ahead.
But unless they bring out the big drones or cut our power, and both will reduce ratings, we can handle any of the other teams in a firefight.
Or do any of you think those other teams are as good as we are?"
The team's rolling eyes and chuckles were all the answers he needed.
"So it's heads-up from here on in. Full battle status, full alarm mode. Any questions?"
"Sir, overheads," said Price.
"Team, take them all on the mark," said Fraser. "Mark!"
Nine flashes and another four drones smashed into useless parts.
"You have permission to take them down any time you see them," said Fraser. "Don't wait for the command. If they come within range, and you can do so without endangering yourself, knock them down. Anybody see anymore. Now. Any questions or comments?"
"None? OK, let's go. Battle formation."
23/05/2167 07:10:00
At Corporate headquarters, the marketing teams kicked into high gear with calls to advertisers that something very big was about to break on Flee or Kill. To add to the advertiser mystery, the costs were not of the normal kind but would escalate, triple, and keep tripling the initial rate as ratings rose.
This alone told the advertisers Corporate was serious and the buying frenzy was well underway as the Captain and his crew ran for their second day.
Friends of the advertisers started to get notes about the buying fever and then friends of friends lit up with the same news. Within two hours, the word was out. Nobody knew what was coming though.
Social networks filled with speculation and the talking heads did their normal fill-air-time babble as if they knew something. Some things never change and this was one of them.
23/05/2167 08:02:00
After a night's fitful sleep, Jake sat at his main workstation staring at the screen as the social feeds buzzed with news of a new Chase. The main wall screen was filled with his social networks, and the posts and images scrolled relentlessly downward. Speculation was all over the place about what was coming but he knew.
His face turned white and his mind clocked overtime. His imagination ran out of control. If it was on the Nets, the shit had hit the fan at Security for sure. That meant the Secretary knew and ordered his techs to hunt him down. I'm good, but those boys were the best. They had the latest and best hunter-software.
This might be what the computer meant when it said if a group of coders worked together he might not be able to prevent them from finding him.
The computer, alerted by the wide emotional swing, began tracking Jake's hormone levels.
Jake stood, glanced at the black screen. Where was that damned mask when he needed it? Walked over and knocked his head against the door. Left it leaning on the wood.
Holy shit, what have I done? What the hell possessed me to warn the Captain? What was I thinking? Shit, I wasn't thinking. Oh Fok!
Jake felt the potential weight of what he had started. His stomach tightened and churned. Threatened to unhinge and spew. He couldn't stop his head from spinning.
Fok, I'm taking on the security apparatus of the most computer-controlled society in history. Tweaked their noses. They're hunting me. Every tech with a terminal is hunting me. I'll chased for sure. Or not. Maybe not.
He tried to rein in his imagination. Blanked his mind and started deep breathing. His face softened. He turned, leaned against the door, looked back at the blank screen.
The computer monitored his progress toward self-control, and slightly increased the level of endorphins being created by the meditation. It continued to monitor Jake's thoughts and watched him slowly regain his confidence. It was rewarded when Jake's thought process turned positive.
I'm as good as any of them and they haven't tracked me yet. If not then, what's changed so they'd find me now? I've been careful and my wiping program worked. My tracks are covered as I backed out of the servers. There's no reason I'll be found. Nothing has changed, nothing at all. I'll be fine. I am indeed far better than they are. Yes. And with the help of the Creative Module, I'll stay hidden. Jake, my boy you just have to have patience, he told himself.
Jake took a deep breath, relaxed and let it out picturing the tension leaving his body.
The mask appeared.
23/05/2167 10:15:00
<6t94whp> :"Do we have command of the suit controls?"
<6t94wh
p> "What about eyes?"
<6t94whp> :"Acceptable. We want the Captain to succeed, not to make it too easy. We don't want any suspicion about how they did it or somebody might get come looking for us. It has to look as if the Captain and his Team have done it all themselves.
Any other issues to discuss? No. Then we wait."
<6t94whp> continued walking around the entertainment district. He knew this was the best way to mask his communication channels. He also knew Security would patch this hole, and he'd have to find another so he'd best start looking now.
23/05/2167 10:15:30
In his tower office overlooking every building but Corporate headquarters, Carpenter allowed a full information flow to roll across multiple wall views. He stood in the middle of his office as he took in the data stream. Advertising dollars rising, social nets ramping up, viewing minutes trending upward, all the indicators were good but there was something that didn't make sense.
Why did they run? A request to meet with me shouldn't have triggered a run. And why did his Team go with him? He decided there were too many unanswered questions.
A flick of his wrist and a single finger point to his middle screen opened a view of the main computer room. A turn of his hand and Lieutenant Palmer's face filled the screen. Without any preamble he spoke.
"Lieutenant Palmer, pinpoint the second the Team turned and started running. Then do a full systems scan, and I mean a full scan, of all communications sent and received for the full practice time. I want any incoming or outgoing data bursts outside of regular parameters identified and isolated. That includes all Security channels. And I do mean every channel, every energy-consumption point matched against every other data for all troopers. Do you understand?"
Flee or Kill: The Future Of Reality TV (Future Forward Book 2) Page 8