Escape The Grid: Volume 1

by Patrick F. Kelly

  At that instant, Victoria interrupted. “Did you say you are going to Cuba?”

  Mark turned to her. “Thanks for coming. I’m sorry that we couldn’t meet in person, but I took the earliest flight out and ran out of time.”

  Victoria was surprised but composed: “Why are you rushing to Cuba?”

  “You haven’t spoken to Lidia?”

  “No.”

  Jacob cut in, “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Mark’s dad, Jacob.”

  “Hi, I’m Victoria. Mark’s dad?”

  “He’s an AI.”

  Victoria replied, “That’s a little, uh…”

  “A very good AI, I might add,” Jacob interjected.

  “I know it’s a little weird,” Mark said.

  “Whatever. I don’t care about that,” Victoria said. “What about Lidia? What has happened?”

  Jacob interrupted again, “It’s nice to finally meet you, albeit under the circumstances. Mark speaks so highly of you.”

  “Dad, can you just listen for a little while?”

  “Sure,” Jacob replied

  Mark turned back to Victoria, “You haven’t seen the news?”

  “What news?”

  “The worst possible thing has happened. The group I was supporting sent a woman to the US. She’s on the news now for having killed a hundred people.”

  “But she didn’t do it,” Jacob clarified.

  “What?” Victoria asked.

  “I’m almost positive that she was framed,” Mark said. “That the US government killed the people. Underground people. A lot of men and the women who were protecting them. But the Vatican can’t go against the US. They asked me to resign.”

  “They didn’t,” she said and looked at him pleadingly. “You didn’t?”

  “I did. This morning.”

  Victoria said, “This is terrible. Something has to be… I mean… Is there something I can do to help you?”

  “Don’t tell anybody where I’m going. I’m supposed to stay at the Vatican and share all of my knowledge of the Cuban group with the US government.”

  “You can’t do that,” Victoria said.

  “Certainly not,” Jacob added.

  Mark replied, “You’re both right. I can’t. Luckily, most of the information is in my head.”

  Victoria asked, “When are you coming back?”

  “I don’t know. I bought a one-way ticket. I’m planning to go to Haiti after Cuba. Look for the mystery woman.”

  “I’ll meet you in Haiti. I can help you. You left in such a rush, you must have forgotten some things. I can bring them. I want to help.”

  “Thanks, Vicki. That means a lot. Let me get settled in Cuba and we’ll synch up. For right now, if you can just be my eyes and ears at the Vatican, that would be very helpful. If the Cuban team is in trouble, I need to warn them. Lidia learned some key details from her investigation. I’m afraid what she might disclose.”

  “I’ll talk to Lidia. She won’t do anything that will get people hurt.”

  Jacob walked over and said, “Well, now that that’s all settled, can I finally meet this woman you’ve told me so much about?”

  80

  THOMAS WATCHED as Sam’s car pulled onto the gravel road that ran behind an old dilapidated church.

  “The others ain’t here yet, but they should be soon,” Sam said. “Tell me what that truth serum looks like. Tell me everything you know about it.”

  Thomas replied, “It was a vial in her briefcase. She used a syringe to inject me with it.”

  “Where?”

  “In my thigh, but I got the impression that it would work anywhere. I think it took about five minutes to kick in, but once it did, I couldn’t help but say the truth.”

  “Are you still feeling it? Can you lie to me? What is your name? Try to lie.”

  “My name is Abraham Lincoln. Yeah, I can lie. I guess it doesn’t work for very long.”

  Sam was dialing Dawn. “D, look in the briefcase for a vial and a syringe. Yeah, the briefcase the woman had.”

  They all waited for a minute. Sam listened to Dawn and then looked at Thomas.

  “D says there’s a buncha vials. What color was it?”

  Thomas replied, “White.”

  “White,” Sam told Dawn. “Yeah? Is there more than one that’s white? No? OK, good. Listen, can you work the syringe? Put about… Hold on.”

  Sam, to Thomas, “How much of the stuff did she put in the syringe? Did she fill it up, or halfway or what?”

  Thomas said, “Maybe a third of the way.”

  Sam, to Dawn, “Fill it up a third of the way and inject her in the thigh. The stuff will take about five minutes and then she’ll tell us everything we need to know. You got it? OK, good. See you soon enough.”

  As Sam disconnected, Julia looked at her, “What’s the next step?”

  Sam replied, “Next step is for you two to get outa Dodge. Leslie’s gonna meet us here. She’s takin’ you to Florida.”

  “Is that safe,” Thomas asked. “I mean, aren’t they hunting for us?”

  “Safer than staying here. They know you’re in Georgia. We don’t want them coming to our town and doin’ what they did to that poor place in Tennessee,” Sam replied.

  “What kind of vehicle is Leslie bringing?” Julia asked.

  “I don’t know. She has quite a few. We’ll see soon enough,” Sam replied.

  After a few moments, Dawn and Shirley pulled in.

  “All right,” Sam said. “Let’s see what this truth serum can do. You two, folla me.”

  The three of them got out of the car and went to Dawn’s car. Dawn opened the door, and they looked at the woman handcuffed on the floorboard.

  “Has it been five minutes?” Sam asked Dawn.

  “I don’t know. Close enough,” Dawn replied.

  Shirley walked over holding the gun and Julia’s backpack from the hill. “Is this what you were asking for?” she asked.

  Julia grabbed the pack. “Thank you so much.” She looked in the backpack and found her phone and other items.

  “While we’re at it,” Sam said, grabbing a pack from Dawn’s car. “I think this is yours, Thomas.”

  She handed the backpack to him. Then she turned back toward the mystery woman.

  “Hey, lady,” Sam said, and the woman looked at her. “What’s your name and who do you work for?”

  The woman laughed.

  “Like I’m going to tell you.” Then she said, involuntarily, “Susan Lowery.”

  After saying it, she looked angry at herself.

  “I guess the stuff just kicked in,” Sam said. “Who do you work for?”

  “The NSA.”

  “Ask her if they are tracking us,” Dawn said.

  “I figured it was the feds,” Sam said. “Listen, are you all tracking us? With a drone or satlite or somethin’?”

  “Unfortunately, no,” Susan said.

  Sam was surprised. “Why not?”

  “The mission is top secret. Even the sat surveillance team isn’t in on it.”

  “But it’s all over the news. How can it be such a secret? Who’s in charge?” Sam asked.

  Susan looked like she was trying to control herself but losing the battle. She struggled with the words, trying not to say them. After some effort, she blurted it out.

  “Margaret Lane.”

  Sam looked at Dawn. She was worried. She turned to Julia and Thomas.

  “What’re the two ‘a ya into? That’s the Secretary of Defense.”

  Julia said to Susan, “Why are you after us? We didn’t do anything.”

  Susan replied, “The mission was to find the man who escaped from the grid camp. We expanded the mission to take out the UR site.”

  Thomas yelled, “Take it out? You killed almost a hundred people.”

  Susan replied, “Not my idea. I didn’t want all the killing.”

  “Yeah, but you did it,” Julia said.

  Sam asked her, “Hey, if there ain�
�t no surveillance on these two, how did ya find ‘em at the farm?”

  “I got a message with the location for Thomas. I didn’t know the other woman was there.”

  “Who sent you the message?” Julia asked.

  Dawn looked around and pulled out Susan’s phone. She turned it on but couldn’t get past security.

  Dawn, to Susan: “Unlock the phone.”

  Susan looked at the phone and Dawn put her thumb on the button. The screen unlocked and Dawn went through her recent messages.

  Dawn, to the others: “Here it is. An image with an exact location on the farm to find the man.”

  Julia grabbed for it, “Let me see that.”

  Dawn handed her the phone. Julia was shocked.

  Julia, to Thomas: “This is exactly like the image Vanessa messaged me. This is exactly where you were.”

  Sam said to the group, “She prob’ly got it from tapping into ya phone.”

  Julia, to Susan: “How did you get this image?”

  “Margaret sent it to me,” Susan replied.

  “How did Margaret get it?”

  “I don’t know,” Susan shrugged.

  At that moment, a white van pulled into the lot.

  Sam looked at Julia and Thomas, “That’s her. You two gotta get outa here. I’ll finish this up and let ya know what we find.”

  “I want to hear more,” Julia said.

  “Ain’t no time. Save ya’selves. I’ll get to the bottom of this here situation.”

  Leslie pulled the window down. “The back is unlocked,” she said. “Get in. We need to leave.”

  Thomas picked up his backpack. “Julia,” he said. “They’re right. Let’s get out of here.”

  Julia, to Susan: “One more question, does anyone know where Thomas and I are right now? Anyone in your mission?”

  Susan replied quickly, “I don’t think so.”

  Julia, to Sam: “Please find out about the map, how she got it.”

  “I’ll try. Keep ya’selves alive.”

  Thomas took Sam’s hand, “Thanks for saving my life. I owe you.”

  Julia concurred: “Yes. Thank you so much.”

  “This truth serum is sump’in special,” Sam smiled. “I think we call it even.”

  “We have chemists in my group,” Julia said. “If we took the serum with us, we might be able to identify the recipe.”

  Sam laughed: “Good try. North Georgia got plenty ‘a chemists too. I’ll letcha know what we find.”

  Sam smiled as Julia and Thomas opened the van door and got in. They waved goodbye and Leslie began driving them out of the Baptist church lot. Sam returned to question Susan. Thomas turned to Leslie, who was sitting in the back with them.

  “What made you decide to go to Florida?” he asked her.

  “Tito told me about the tunnel. I had to see this thing. If it works, it will change everything.”

  81

  SUSAN WAS FLYING back home to San Diego in a small private plane, registered to a fake company controlled by the Department of Defense. It was a fully autonomous plane, so she didn’t have to worry about the pilot or anyone else overhearing her conversations and searches. She had a lot of searching to do.

  Amazingly, the group of rebels had released her unharmed, although they did steal the incredibly valuable briefcase. Worse, they had learned key details of the Jasper operation. The interrogation lasted nearly an hour, with Susan incapable of lying to them.

  The women abandoned her behind the church and had remotely unlocked the handcuffs after only an hour. Her phone, weapons, and even the rental car were left behind in the parking lot. Once Susan was uncuffed, she rode back to the airport, called off the agent in Atlanta, and boarded the private plane. One question plagued her mind: Thomas’ answer about a second person who escaped to DC.

  Who is Maxime?

  In her seat on the plane, Susan put the goggles on and made some phone calls. The first to Sofia, saying she would be home in time for Thanksgiving dinner. The second was to Margaret.

  Margaret picked up on the first ring, “What happened?”

  “I ran into problems, but I handled it,” Susan replied.

  “What kind of problems? What about the man?”

  “The man is taken care of. So is the woman.”

  “When you say taken care of, you mean…?” Margaret asked.

  “I mean that we won’t ever have to worry about either of them again,” Susan replied.

  “Thank you. That’s a big relief. Did you learn anything about them? Who was the woman?”

  “No chance to ask. Heat of the moment. I’m sure you understand.”

  “OK. I guess we’ll find out more soon enough,” Margaret responded.

  “How is your Thanksgiving going?” Susan inquired.

  “Quite well, actually. It has been a very busy day. Are you on your way back to see your little girl?”

  “Yes. I should get home in time for dinner.”

  “That’s wonderful. I know what you sacrifice for the team, Susan. It will be rewarded.”

  “Line of duty.”

  “Happy Thanksgiving, Susan. Take a few days off and relax with your daughter.”

  “Thanks, ma’am. I’ll do that.”

  The call ended and Susan thought to herself about the lie and the chances of it coming back to bite her. Given what she had learned about Thomas, she figured that he would run to South America and never return. The question was: what would his camouflaged friends do? How long before the information Susan spilled came back to haunt her?

  SUSAN LOOKED around her jungle platform and listened to the waterfall. It was time to find out more about this Maxime person. How much did Margaret know? How many others escaped the same grid camp that night? It had been several months, so she should be able to find discrepancies more easily.

  She gazed at her virtual campsite by the river. She spoke to one of the tents as if talking to a wall screen.

  “Login to the Nashville grid camp monitoring system,” she said.

  A black screen appeared on the side of tent confirming access. Susan considered how best to search.

  “Find any discrepancies in the behavior of the campers. Has anyone left the camp or passed away or not been responsive in the last four months?”

  Within twenty seconds, the screen started to fill up. Susan swiped the tent at the top border of the black screen. It transformed into a tablet computer, and she pulled it into the air. She moved her hands in such a way that the tablet replicated three times, and she placed all four screens in front of her. They hung in the jungle air between her avatar and the waterfall.

  On the first screen, she saw a list of exercise anomalies. Those campers who had exercised less in the last three months and some who hadn’t exercised at all. In this list, nothing grabbed her attention.

  On the second screen, she saw a list of medical exams. It showed the campers’ semi-annual checkups and the detailed results. On November 1, 2075, a camper named Maxime had canceled his scheduled medical exam.

  Jackpot!

  Susan browsed his profile and past doctor visits. In ten years, he had never canceled a medical checkup. He was in perfect health, and all his test records were sparkling.

  “Send a butler to Maxime’s room,” Susan told the black screen. “I’d like to ask him some questions.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the AI answered back.

  In fifteen minutes, Susan’s suspicions were confirmed. Thomas had been telling the truth. A young man named Maxime, twenty-five years old in perfect health, had disappeared.

  He’s quite good-looking.

  Why go to DC, Maxime?

  Susan contemplated. Why would a man escape a grid camp and relocate to the center of US power? Why not run for South America, like Thomas?

  The final twist was Margaret’s involvement. Susan had always puzzled why Margaret put the camp’s surveillance system on maintenance. She assumed that the answer was somehow related to Thomas, but Margaret seemed hell
-bent to eliminate him.

  Perhaps it was Maxime she was helping?

  As she noodled on the problem, pieces started fitting together. If Margaret was trying to help Maxime escape, maybe she didn’t know about Thomas? Maybe that is why she wanted to kill Thomas?

  But why Maxime? And why DC?

  Susan began searching Maxime’s personal history. Who were his parents and family?

  Adopted from Russia, Maxime had gone to Tennessee. His adoptive parents died in an accident when he was only fifteen. None of the relatives had any ties to Margaret. Why was she doing this?

  I’m gonna find out! Then I’ll have something on her.

  WHEN SUSAN got home, Sofia was waiting at the dinner table.

  “Mommy,” she said, running to greet her at the door.

  “I missed you so much, baby,” Susan replied, hugging her.

  “I missed you too, Mommy. Look, I just warmed up dinner for you,” Sofia said.

  “Happy Thanksgiving, Sofia.”

  “Happy Thanksgiving, Mommy. I was worried about you.”

  “Nothing to worry about, baby. I’ll just wash my hands and we can have a nice dinner together. Tell me what you’ve been up to while Mommy was traveling.”

  Susan walked to the kitchen sink and began washing her hands. Sofia sat down and began to tell her about the last few days, leaving out many key details.

  “Well, I’ve been playing on the grid a lot,” Sofia said.

  “What are you doing online?” Susan asked.

  “School work mainly. We have the project for our history class where I’m designing our neighborhood as it would have been in 2030.”

  “I remember that project. How’s it going? Have you learned anything interesting about 2030?”

  “Uhh… People in 2030 were still driving their own cars.”

  “Pretty crazy isn’t it. Can you imagine how dangerous the roads were back then?”

  “It would be scary. Kids could drive when they were only sixteen. And old people with eye problems drove too.”

  “Is that all you were doing online,” Susan asked.

  “I also played some games with my friends.”

  “What games?”

  “Solar system games. Visiting Mars, looking to see what the settlements look like. Some of the plant life looks weird.”