A screen profiled when lights and appliances were used and Isabelle's channel surfing and Internet patterns. A section of the display identified Isabelle as a threat to the power structure, listing her as an “energy terrorist”. Her behavior patterns from the time of day she went shopping to her reading habits were applied to a terrorist's template. Several of Isabelle's activities fit that profile despite her complete lack of such involvement. For Tasha, this was all she needed to be convinced that Isabelle posed an aggressive threat to the future of Apophis and to her own existence. She was determined to stop Isabelle from going any further.
A bit of time had passed and an image of Isabelle and Tonati enjoying their dinner filled the view-screen of the book-mobile. The heat vision of the drone showed a bright-orange outline on Isabelle's plate where her dinner had been. Isabelle took the last bite. She placed her fork and knife on her plate with the handles pointing right - she was finished. Isabelle picked up her research folder. She rifled through the documents until she reached one that consisted of about 20 double-sided sheets filled with drawings and formulas. The paper described a curious concept it named as Quantum Energy. Isabelle was fascinated by this idea. It seemed to pull large amounts of energy out of thin air.
Tasha's eyes were virtually glued to Isabelle's image. Isabelle felt her pursuer’s prying electronic eyes on her skin. She knew whoever had been following her didn't just sit around waiting. She was aware of the possibilities that digital electronics offered an outsider who wanted to spy on the consumer of such technology. Although Isabelle lived her life as close to nature as practical, the need to stay 'connected' to the world via digital communications and her use of modern-day conveniences, such as her robotic vacuum, offered plenty of opportunities to have her privacy invaded. It was difficult for Isabelle to concentrate. She looked at her television's cable box. She had a hunch that its sensors did more than read the remote's signal. For a moment, Tasha felt like she was looking directly into Isabelle's eyes. The hunted had gotten conscious of the hunter's methods.
Isabelle rose from the sofa. "C'mon Tonati, it's time to get to sleep."
The puma's ears perked up and he jumped to his feet. Isabelle grabbed a snowboarding hat off her trophy shelf and together they headed for the large glass doors in the kitchen. In passing, Isabelle reached for the faucet and pulled the lever towards its hot setting. A steady stream of water flowed into the drain. The faucet was still running at room temperature until the hotter water arrived from the water heater at the far end of the house.
This left little heat signature for Tasha to take note of Isabelle's actions. Tasha's main display offered a piercing overhead view of Isabelle in the kitchen. A plume of heat could be seen escaping to the outside. Tasha knew it meant Isabelle had pushed one of the large sliding doors open.
"Give me a medium-wide view of the exterior," Tasha barked in her drill-sergeant tone.
With a sharp "Aye!", the Trooper behind the digital flight controls repositioned the drone. He sent a command that prompted the lens on the heavenly spy ship to zoom out and present a wider view of Isabelle's house and garden. The false colors of the infrared vision showed Isabelle and Tonati in orange and yellow against blue and black architecture and plant life. Intensely yellow blobs identified light sources around the house.
Isabelle and Tonati walked towards the part of the property that was Tonati's area. California law dictated that a big cat like him was to be kept caged or chained. A law for which neither cat nor woman had much regard. Tonati had been around Isabelle from the time he was a cub and proven that he was intelligent enough to live around people without physical restrictions like chains or imprisonment. He understood that most humans were deathly afraid of the fact that he could tear them to shreds. He had seen in the jungle that most people will shoot and kill a puma simply out of fear. Tonati felt safe on Isabelle's property; it was his home. He didn't seek to expand his territory beyond the fence where dangerous people with guns could attack him in the street. Isabelle knew how utterly sad a chain made Tonati. She was enough in rhythm with her animal that she had every bit of confidence in his intelligence, so she allowed him to roam free at home. Along the way to Tonati's enclosed arena were the house's heat pump and natural-gas water heater. The running faucet in the kitchen had just caused the thermostat to turn on the boiler's flame.
Inside the command post, Tasha was unsure of Isabelle's intentions. The heat pump, which was supplying the house's interior with heat for the cool February night, looked like a rainbow-colored box on Tasha's display. From the cold elements of the condenser to the heat from the motor's friction, this single landmark presented such a large range of temperature that the false-color pallet of Tasha's display was presented in its entirety. Adjacent, the water heater stood like a bright yellow and orange pillar with the brightest and hottest parts being the flame on the bottom and its exhaust at the top. Tasha's watchful eye could not find anything suspicious in Isabelle's walk around the house and expected little but routine.
Isabelle took a step to her left, which took her against the water heater. She let Tonati continue on without her. In the blink of an eye, Isabelle stood with her back against the large vertical tank. Tasha's attention briefly strayed from her viewer to answer her ringing cell phone. One of the girls from the night before had forgotten her diary and wanted to pay her another visit. Tasha could have let the call go to voicemail but she enjoyed this kind of brief exchange with her civilian circle of acquaintances while she was on the hunt. Suddenly Isabelle's image was gone from the screen. Tasha snapped her phone shut in mid-sentence. The voice of an angry warrior filled the bookmobile.
"Trooper, give me a twenty on the package!"
The Trooper to her right responded. "She's walking right next to the..." He paused. "She was just there!"
Neither of them could see any trace of Isabelle. Just Tonati, the heat pump and the outline of the water heater were registering on the infrared monitor.
"Give me a broader view," shouted Tasha.
The pilot of the spy drone zoomed out further. He maneuvered the unmanned craft around in different directions as it hovered above.
"She must still be by the water heater. I think our girl is trying to hide in its heat plume. Bring the bird in close. I don't care what the neighbors think they see."
Isabelle quickly put the snowboarding hat on her head. Her hands pulled down its brim. It revealed a full-face mask that just left her eyes and nose peek through the layer of insulated fabric. The pilot lowered the drone to get a look under the overhang which housed the water heater. Isabelle could hear the buzzing of the little craft's rotor get louder and then come into view. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw the drone's helicopter-shaped outline against a moon that was almost full. With feline speed, Isabelle’s hands disappeared into her pockets. Inside Tasha's command post, the image from the drone's heat sensitive camera had become the center of attention. On the enormous plasma display towered in bright yellow and orange colors, the outline of the water heater. A column of heat was rising from the exhaust. As it dissipated, the color gradually faded to red and green. A stream of cold air from the heat pump created a blue fog that rose like a geyser. Isabelle's well-clothed body had become indistinguishable from the insulated tank of the hot water heater. The flame's exhaust did a nice job of masking her breath which would have otherwise given away her location in a single exhale. Isabelle could see the glimmer of her kitchen-lights reflect in the drone's lens. Once again, Isabelle and Tasha were looking at each other's eyes, but neither of them saw the adversary's face.
With her teeth grinding, Tasha gave the order to reposition the drone at an altitude that kept it out of the naked eye's view. There was no need to draw the wrong kind of attention with a fruitless search. This was the sort of moment that would give Tasha an excuse for action. The fact that she didn't like to lose sight of a suspect was only surpassed by her love for the hunt. The time had come to take the next step.
&n
bsp; "Purple Scout, enter the compound and get me a visual on the package."
Tasha did not care to address her Troopers by their names or even learn them. Troopers were as much a resource to her as any of the gear she used to get the job done. She strictly functioned on chain-of-command and used every opportunity to make sure her Troopers knew she was their superior officer. A tall fence covered in vegetation stretched the perimeter of Isabelle's property. Stealthy as a Ninja, the Trooper scaled the boundary. Without as much as snapping a single twig, the camouflaged Trooper appeared on Isabelle's front lawn. On his earpiece, he could hear Tasha's voice.
"Floor-bots show no activity. Motion sensors and all cams in the house report negative contact." It was her way of saying she couldn't find Isabelle.
One of Tasha's Troopers was accessing Isabelle's home security system to make a few changes. The system status changed to Silent Access. The intruding Trooper was at the front door.
"Clear to proceed inside, Purple Scout." Tasha's orders came in.
To get her homeowner's insurance as required for any Apophis- Bank mortgage, Isabelle needed to have a security system installed when she moved in. The security firm Nortech had long since become a subsidiary of Apophis. This gave Tasha access to the alarm panel and a skeleton key stored digitally with the security patrol for emergencies. It was standard practice for Tasha's Troopers to recreate all of a suspect's keys from file.
As soon as Tasha had given the order to proceed, the Trooper produced the key to Isabelle's front door from his pocket. A beat later, the shiny piece of brass slid into Isabelle's lock and two turns of the Trooper's wrist unlocked the door. He turned the handle and swiftly stole inside. The alarm panel on the wall read Silent Access as a sign of Tasha's override. What Isabelle believed was the security system's motion sensors doubled as covert surveillance cameras. Various high- and low- grade images from digital appliances added to the mosaic of views that framed the drone's heat-sensitive image on the video wall.
It would have been difficult for Isabelle to hide from Tasha's numerous electronic prying eyes inside the house. Tasha was convinced Isabelle was outside. She was getting impatient. A few brisk commands later, Purple Scout was on his way to investigate the garden. Within a few moments' time, he was in the kitchen - still not fast enough for Tasha. She continued to bark commands and updates into the talk-back system which occupied the Trooper's ears. His concern not to miss any of his leader's instructions prevented him from noticing the running water as he hurried to the open sliding glass door in the kitchen. Purple Scout slipped outside while Tasha's voice continued in his ear canals.
"Last contact was 20 meters north." The Trooper turned left and walked towards Isabelle's hiding spot. Suddenly, the mostly blue and black background that depicted Isabelle's garden on the infrared display showed an orange shape shooting across the night.
"Heads up, Scout! The puma's charging you from 12 o'clock!"
Tasha's warning on the intercom was followed by a transmission from the Trooper who would have much rather faced a human opponent. His eyes scanned the darkness. "There's no one here, Tiger Eye. Ready to discharge my weapon if the cat gets much closer."
"Negative!" responded Tasha quickly. "Retreat and report to command post for debriefing."
As quickly as he could, the Trooper ran towards the kitchen. He slipped in through the glass door just before Tonati could reach him. Without a sound, the Trooper made his departure. Isabelle's house completely separated the front from the backyard. This was the only way she could get away with letting Tonati roam free. A delivery boy faced with a puma would have easily called Animal Control. In their fear, their Troopers would have wasted little time before putting an end to Tonati's brilliant life. Isabelle's instinct had lead her to safety. She knew this night was not going to be comfortable. Tasha's infrared eye was boring through her head. Isabelle had become one with her environment to the point where all of Tasha's cunning and technology could not get past the protection that Isabelle's world offered to her.
A frustrated Tasha kept her platoon on their toes and combing the neighborhood for any trace of her prey. It was going to be a long night, and down the street a dually pick-up truck was delivering a fifth-wheel camper into its parking spot. The trailer would provide Tasha's Troopers with basic overnight facilities while keeping her options more flexible than allowing off-site showers or rest. Troopers would sleep in three-hour shifts while others would keep watch and continue their search for the package: Isabelle. Unhappy about the fact that her prey had managed to escape the dragnet, Tasha preferred to pick up the trail after a good night's rest. She was confident Isabelle had not gotten very far. No matter to where Isabelle may have escaped, Tasha was certain her automated surveillance would find her. That would happen the moment Isabelle's voiceprint showed up on a phone call or her biometrics features were caught on one of tens of millions of cameras around the city. A Trooper pulled up next to the bookmobile in his off-road vehicle. After a short ride with the Trooper, Tasha had arrived at the overnight trailer. She exited the truck, muttering distractedly to the man in the driver's seat.
"Scour the canyon behind the house until you find her."
She had her doubts Isabelle would be naïve enough to hide in the bushes, but it was a good way to keep the platoon on-edge and to save the catch for herself.
A warrior less-than-victorious climbed the steps that lead to the trailer. The setback brought anticipation for the day ahead. Tasha enjoyed the challenge a worthy opponent posed for her. She wasn't used to a suspect slipping off her radar with the apparent ease that Isabelle had demonstrated.
A private bedroom in the back of the trailer was marked with a star on the door - the quarters for the platoon's commander herself. With the search continuing on Isabelle's street and the surrounding hills, Tasha was getting settled in for the night. She stripped off her arsenal of weaponry and electronics until she was left in her purple tank top and skimpy undercover underwear with the miniature flip-phone clipped to the side. Tasha kept the locket around her neck and laid down under the special-forces blanket that would keep her warm for the night. As she closed her eyes, the image of Isabelle's face looking into the hidden camera was on the warrior's mind. "I'm gonna get you, pussycat!" Tasha whispered under her breath and went to sleep. Isabelle's eyes staring at her from the screen was going to be part of Tasha's dreams that night.
Leaning against the water heater, Isabelle remained motionless. She could feel the heat from the tank seeping through its thick insulation and her jacket. It was a pleasant warmth that almost felt like the body-heat of another person. The air outside had cooled quite a bit and the heat that spread through her spine radiated into her entire body, keeping her comfortable. Fuji had taught her to be successful, she had to be one with the universe. It seemed Isabelle had become one with the water heater. All the world around her only saw the appliance when they looked her way. Even a skunk that came by fell for Isabelle's unusual disguise when it took cover behind her foot to see if it was safe to proceed further. It eventually moved on, walking across Isabelle's toes on its way.
A few hours passed. Isabelle had been able to maintain her pose with relative ease. Once she had become one with the water heater, her mind had departed from its desire to move around or sit down. Tonati came walking up the hill towards her. If he interacted with Isabelle at all, he could easily give away her position to the still hovering drone overhead. Even Isabelle was surprised when her puma continued past her as if she wasn't there. Throughout the night, Isabelle could hear the monotony of the drone's buzzing being interrupted by the sounds of Tasha's platoon driving through her neighborhood in their relentless search.
Time had gone by relatively quickly for Isabelle and soon the black of the night sky yielded to the light blue and orange hues of the morning. The sun appeared on the horizon for its daily path across the sky. Soon, it would bathe the city of angels in its life-giving energy. Isabelle knew that along with the cloak of darkness
disappeared her sanctuary from Tasha's persistent intrusion. As it happened often with the day's first light, Tonati was heading for the kitchen where he would find his way to Isabelle. It had almost become a morning ritual for Tonati to make sure Isabelle would be awake for the beginning of the new day. Isabelle loved it when the puma's giant nose would nuzzle her awake, a routine that left most of her gentlemen-callers too mortified to be much fun in the morning. Isabelle had little use for a grown man who was afraid of her cat. Next to her career, Tonati was in many cases a contributing factor why she had been single for most of her life. Isabelle had some flings, even fell in love a few times, but the men in her past had other things on their minds than her happiness. As a rule, her relationships seemed perfect in theory - a good-looking guy, career, no children - but each time something just wasn't right. Isabelle never felt the spark that should have propelled a relationship into a long, certain future. Each time it was her who broke it off if Tonati didn't already send the guy screaming and running off into the night. Her would-be boyfriends failed to understand why she handed them their walking-papers. Isabelle least of all could explain it to them. She had gotten accustomed to Tonati being the one she kissed “good-morning.”
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