by David Archer
“I did,” Marco said. “In fact, I couldn’t tell that she actually said anything. She didn’t make a sound, and I couldn’t even read her lips at all. This is something that doesn’t actually need sound?”
“Bingo,” Wally said. “I call it digital telepathy, but that’s not really accurate. Properly, it would be called a subcutaneous communication system, so we call it subcom. Everybody in this room has this little implant, a microchip gizmo that they developed right here. It draws its power directly from the electrochemical reactions in the body, so there’s no battery to recharge or anything, and it allows those who have it to transmit and receive messages. You don’t have to speak aloud, because it can actually read the slightest whisper, so low that someone standing right next to you can’t hear a thing, and it converts that into sound that is delivered directly to the bone of the skull right next to the eardrum. Nobody else can hear a thing, but you can hear the message crystal clear. Right, Leo?”
“Yes, sir,” Leo said. “The chip has five channels, and you can switch between them verbally. It’s got a microprocessor built right into it that can understand a dozen different commands, so you can tell it to switch from one channel to another, mute its microphonic processor, mute its sound reproduction processor, raise or lower the volume, all that kind of stuff, and if you crank the microphonic processor’s sensitivity all the way up, you can even let other people on your channel hear almost everything you can hear. It’ll pick up voices from people you’re talking to, so someone monitoring can hear both sides of the conversation. Right now, all of us are on one channel, so we can talk directly to each other this way.”
He glanced away for a second, and his lips moved silently. Another young woman across the room picked up a glass that was sitting on a table and carried it over to hand to him.
“This is Linda, and I just asked her to bring me my glass of tea. We’ve gotten so used to having these that we don’t even bother speaking aloud, most of the time. At least, while we’re here at work.”
“That’s pretty impressive,” Marco said. “How hard is it to implant one of those?”
“Well, it has to be in contact with the cranial bones right beside the ear, so there’s a tiny little incision that has to be made. It’s less than an eighth of an inch, though, and a dot of surgical superglue is all it takes to seal it and make it invisible. It doesn’t really hurt, but that spot might be a little sore for a day or two. The nice thing is that it starts working instantly, as soon as it’s in place.”
“What kind of range does it have? How close do you have to be to talk to each other?”
“It’s actually pretty surprising,” Leo said. “Out in the open, we can talk to each other over about a half mile range. Now, here inside the buildings, we tend to find that range cut down to about 1200 feet. If there were a lot of metal between us, that might reduce it by another 15 to 20%.”
“Okay, here’s another question. Can you turn it off, so nobody’s listening in on your private moments?”
“Oh, yes,” Leo said with a grin. “Again, you just tell it to turn off, then tell it to turn on again when you’re ready to use it, or there is an emergency override; you can tell it, ‘activate all,’ and it will instantly turn on every other subcom unit within range. That’s so that you won’t miss an emergency message from one of your teammates, or you can broadcast one to all of them at once.”
Marco turned to Wally. “Well, I’m impressed. It’s up to Noah, of course, but I think this is something we’ve needed for a long time.”
“We’ve been working on it for a couple of years,” Wally said. “It’ll give teams like yours a way to keep in constant communication when you’re out on a mission, so I’ve sort of been pushing it. You think Noah will like the idea?”
“Wally, come on,” Marco said. “To Noah, everything is about logic. I can’t imagine that he wouldn’t think this was an extremely logical tool for us to have at our disposal.”
Wally giggled again, and rubbed his hands together. “Then, come on,” he said. “I’ve got something else to show you.”
They left the communications room and went further down the hall, where Wally opened another door and walked in. This room was notable for all of the video displays that were mounted on the walls, each of them showing a different view. Wally motioned for one of the technicians inside to come over, and then he pointed at a particular monitor.
Marco looked at the monitor, and was surprised to see himself and Wally on the screen, but he was even more surprised to see that they were growing. As the technician walked toward them, the view of them on the screen grew larger.
“That guy is wearing a camera, right?” Marco asked.
Wally’s giggle was starting to get on Marco’s nerves, but he was too polite to say so. “He is, but I bet you can’t spot it. Go ahead, try.”
The scientist had stopped right in front of them, and was wearing a slight grin. Marco looked him over, but Wally was right. He couldn’t see anything that could possibly be a video camera.
“Okay, I give,” he said. “Where is it hidden?”
“It’s in my eyes,” the technician said. “What you’re seeing on the screen is a video image transmitted by the contact lens I’m wearing in my right eye. To me, it’s completely transparent, but there is a micro camera built into the part of it that is over the iris of my eye. If you look closely, it looks like a slight imperfection in the iris, a black dot, but it’s actually the camera. With it in place, it can transmit a video image up to 100 meters to a receiver that can be hooked up to a television, or even to a smartphone with a special app installed.”
Marco’s eyes were wide. “So, if Jenny was wearing one of these, we could actually see what she’s seeing?”
“Yes, yes,” Wally said excitedly. “And we’ve also got a special pair of sunglasses that can receive the video, so that Noah, or you or whoever, could wear them and keep track of what she’s looking at.”
“That’s true,” the technician said, “but Wally forgets to mention that it can be hard to differentiate between what you’re really seeing through the glasses and what is being put on the display. In practical use, we’ve learned that it’s best to be sitting or standing perfectly still when you wear the glasses. Just thought I’d throw that out there.”
“I think I better call Noah,” Marco said. “He needs to come look at this right now.”
FOUR
Jenny got back to Noah’s house just as Marco called to tell him about all of the exciting new gadgets he was seeing. Noah agreed that both the implanted communication system and the video transmitting contact lenses sounded like good ideas, so they all climbed into Neil’s Hummer and headed for R&D.
Wally and Marco were waiting in the foyer when they arrived, and took them straight back to the Clandestine Communications lab.
“I think you’re going to love this,” Marco said. “It blew my mind, and it strikes me as exactly what we need. This is a way we can all stay in touch with each other, all the time when we’re out on a mission.”
As they had done before, Leo, Judy and Linda demonstrated their ability to communicate with each other silently, and Noah admitted immediately that he was impressed. He decided to test them a bit, having Sarah take Linda into another room off the main lab, and then giving Leo questions for Linda to ask Sarah. Each response came back perfect, and Noah turned to Wally.
“How long would it take to get us set up with this?” he asked.
“No time at all,” Wally said. “We could actually do it right now.”
Noah looked at him for a second or two, then nodded. “Let’s do it. All of us.”
Wally barked orders, and Leo and Judy got busy. Noah decided to go first, and was taken into another room where he lay face down on a table. His face went into a padded recess, so that they had access to the area just behind his right ear.
Leo swabbed on Betadine solution, and then injected a local anesthetic. He gave it a minute to take effect, then ma
de a tiny incision just behind Noah’s ear, and used a tiny set of forceps to push the microchip up against the briefly exposed bone. He wiped away the tiny bit of blood that had leaked out, applied the surgical glue and pronounced the job complete. The whole thing had taken less than three minutes, and Noah got up from the table.
“The anesthetic will wear off in an hour or so,” he heard, though Leo had not spoken aloud. “I put myself on the same channel as you for the moment, so that I could demonstrate it directly. Can you hear me okay?”
Noah replied by sub vocalizing, barely even whispering. “There’s a very slight echo sound. I’m guessing that’s just because it’s inside my head, rather than coming from outside?”
Leo smiled. “That’s right,” he said. “That makes it easy to tell whether you’re hearing through the device, or actual outside sounds. The difference in the way it sounds helps to avoid any confusion on that point.”
Twenty minutes later, all of them were outfitted with the devices. They had been coached on how to change channels and adjust the volume, and were quietly experimenting amongst themselves.
“Ready to see the contact lens?” Wally asked.
“Yes,” Noah said. “Wally, I think this is one of the best things you’ve come up with yet.”
Wally giggled. “It’s really awesome, isn’t it? I have one myself, and I’m thinking about making everybody out here get one. I think it would be awesome if I could talk to everybody in the department this way.”
Noah stared at him for a moment, then nodded. “But you might need more channels.”
They followed Wally to the video lab and Noah was equally impressed with what the contact lens could do.
“How is it powered?” he asked.
“It has an ultra miniature battery that is recharged by the case that it’s kept in when you take it out at night. The case doesn’t look any different from any other contact lens case, but it has a much bigger battery that can keep recharging the lens for up to a month.”
“And how long can it transmit on a single charge?”
“Well, there is a bit of a limit on that,” Wally said. “The lens battery is only good for about five hours before it has to be recharged. It takes about an hour to recharge it, so as long as you have the case with you, it’s possible to charge it up and put it back in.”
“Is there a way to turn it off? To conserve the battery?”
“Not with this one,” Wally said. “The next generation will probably have that ability, but this one comes on as soon as you take it away from the charger.”
They set Jenny down in a chair, and one of the technicians showed her how to take the lens out of the case, rinse it off with a saline solution and put it into her eye. She put it in and removed it a couple of times, picking up the ability easily, and then another technician sent each of them the app that would allow them to watch the video on their phones.
“Marco said something about glasses?” Noah asked Wally.
“Yes,” Wally replied. “They look like conventional glasses when you’re inside, but they’re polarized so that they turn into sunglasses when you get out into bright light.”
A pair was instantly produced, and Noah put them on. Wally showed him the little stud on the side of the earpiece that turned them on, and Noah activated them.
The display appeared in the left lens of the glasses, holographically placed to make it clearly visible. To Noah’s eye, the image appeared to be some distance away, rather than only an inch away from his eyeball. The glasses were paired to the lens Jenny was wearing, so he saw himself in the image as she looked toward him.
He turned off the glasses and put them into his pocket. “Wally, you’ve outdone yourself. I think these are exactly what we need.”
“Glad to help, glad to help,” Wally said. “Can you think of anything else you might need?”
Noah shook his head. “Not at the moment,” he said. “We’ve got a couple days, so I’ll be in touch if we do.”
They all headed back to Noah’s house, and Sarah looked at him as they rode in the back seat of the Hummer. “Hey,” she said. “Think we can take the boat out for a while this afternoon? We haven’t been out on it in a while.”
“That actually sounds like a pretty good idea,” Noah said.
“Hey, I’m in,” Jenny said. “Sarah, we can sunbathe on the deck.”
Sarah grinned. “Exactly what I had in mind,” she said.
Despite the fact that it was only mid spring, the sun was shining brightly and the air was warm. All of them got dressed in shorts and T-shirts, and they packed a cooler full of sandwiches and soft drinks that Marco carried down to the boathouse. Noah started up the big Mercury engine and backed the boat carefully out of its slip, then gave it power as they moved out to open water.
“I’m supposed to memorize the killings Victoria has done in the past,” Jenny said, “and then I’m supposed to go back out to Mission ID tomorrow morning so that guy can grill me on it, see if I remembered it properly.”
Sarah grimaced. “I always hated having to memorize things in school,” she said. “I’ve got a good memory, but I didn’t like being forced to work. Seems like I would always get it wrong, not matter how I tried.”
“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Noah said. “From what you said, Victoria doesn’t sound a whole lot different from you.”
“Hey,” Neil said suddenly, “that’s my girlfriend you’re talking about. Don’t be comparing her to a psychopathic serial killer.” He looked at Jenny. “Oh, wait,” he said, “she is a psychopathic serial killer. Okay, go ahead and compare.”
Marco smacked him playfully on the back of his head. “You’re such a dweeb,” he said. “I don’t think Jenny would consider that anything other than a compliment.”
Neil grinned at him, and Jenny leaned against Neil. “It’s a compliment,” she said. “This Victoria, she’s actually pulled off some pretty incredible hits. And stop hitting my boyfriend or you might find out just how much like her I really am.”
The banter continued throughout the evening, and all five of them seemed to enjoy the outing. Noah called it a night when the air began cooling enough that the girls were occasionally shivering and took them back to the boathouse. Thirty minutes later, after Marco had gone home and Jenny and Neil had made their way to the trailer, he and Sarah were alone once again.
“I’m a little nervous about this mission,” Sarah said. “I know Jenny has actually run her own team before, but this will be the first time she’s had any kind of leadership role with us. What happens if she decides not to follow your orders?”
“I think she’s professional enough to handle things,” Noah said. “She didn’t have any problem following my orders when we were trying to get you back from the Chinese, so I’m not anticipating a problem. She did fine on the last mission, too, even with the nightmare fiasco it turned out to be. It isn’t often that any soldier is forced to assassinate his own commander-in-chief, let alone a fair sized slice of the government.”
Sarah nodded. “Yeah, she did okay,” she said. “I just wish the news would let up on that story. The political pundits are using it to try to claim we’ve become a police state, and that Delta Force is the new secret police. Too bad they got the blame for all the bodies you had to drop.”
“They’re big boys,” Noah said. “I think they can handle the heat.”
Sarah grinned at him. “And, speaking of heat,” she said, “I’m going to start the shower. You coming?”
Morning came on schedule and Noah let Sarah sleep in. He took another shower quickly and slipped out, then went to the kitchen and started breakfast. He had just gotten the coffee on when he heard a knock on the front door, and opened it to find Neil standing there.
“Jenny had to go back out to Mission ID,” he said, “so I thought I’d come on over and hang with you for a while.”
“Come on in,” Noah said. “I got the coffee on, and I’m about to scramble some eggs.”
&nb
sp; Neil grinned. “Good. I didn’t feel like going out for breakfast, but this will work.”
At Mission ID, Gary Mitchell had been waiting patiently for Jenny. He smiled when she walked in and pointed at a chair.
“Ready to go? I made notes on a lot of her jobs, so I can ask some intelligent questions.”
Jenny nodded. “Go for it,” she said. “I bet I don’t miss anything.”
“Okay, try this,” Mitchell said. “Who did you kill in June of last year?”
“Oh, that’s easy,” Jenny said. “That was Tariq Saheed, a general in the Iraqi military. I was hired by the man who ended up getting the job to replace him.”
“Geez, that was dead on.” Mitchell shook his head. “Let’s try another one. How did you kill Helmut Hauser?”
“With a twenty-two. Single shot to the back of the head. One of my favorite methods, but I think everybody knows that.”
“And who hired you to do it?” Mitchell asked.
Jenny grinned at him. “Now, wouldn’t it be bad for me to tell you who hired me? Haven’t you ever heard of killer-client privilege? I keep that to myself.”
Mitchell smiled. “That’s a good answer,” he said.
For three hours, Mitchell fed her questions, and she answered every one perfectly. By the time they were finished, he was acting as if he was truly amazed.
“I don’t think there’s anything else I can do for you,” he said at last. “You’ve got this down perfect, as far as I can tell.”
Jenny grinned and shook the hand that Mitchell extended to her. “I think I can handle it all,” she said. “On the other hand, if she’s supposed to be not much older than me, she’s been one busy girl.”
“That’s the truth,” he said. “I counted twenty-seven kills in less than three years. I doubt you’ve had that many successful missions.”
“That depends on how you count the bodies,” he said. “I took out quite a few last year when we went to rescue Sarah. That wasn’t me doing it up close and personal, though, it was more like some kind of battlefield.”