Blind Instinct: A Tess Barrett Thriller

by Michael W. Sherer

  Derek slammed the lid of the notebook, putting it to sleep instantly, and reached over to kill the surge protector which would shut down his wi-fi connection and modem. His hand hovered over the switch as he thought it through. He glanced over his shoulder then caught himself. He was at home, not the office, on a secure wireless network that piggybacked on a fiber optic line a local cable company had installed but didn’t use. And the GPS program from Bradley’s computer was designed to track other people, not Derek.

  He opened the computer and backed out of the directory to see who the program was tracking. The interface showed only one mobile device on the tracking screen. Derek pulled up the map where the device was located. Washington, D.C. Austin Dunn! Derek watched the dot that indicated the kid’s location jump slightly as the satellite refreshed the coordinates of the kid’s phone. He knew that if he could watch where Austin went virtually in real time, then whoever else had this tracking program could, too.

  He minimized the window and pulled up the files of the copy of Never Bitten that had been downloaded to Austin’s phone. He’d already been through them once, but he wanted to check them once more to assure himself he wasn’t being overly dramatic. Twenty minutes later he’d convinced himself that he hadn’t over-reacted. The tweaks they’d made to Austin’s program had definitely been designed to incite violence. Someone wanted that kid to go berserk.

  Derek pushed himself away from his worktable and pulled his phone from his pocket. He quickly tapped in a text and pushed send. Figuring it would be a while before he got a reply, he rose and went to the kitchen to refill his coffee mug. He’d barely finished pouring when his phone feeped. He fumbled it out of his pocket again and pulled up the message.

  Can’t help you.

  Derek tapped out another message.

  Can’t, or won’t?

  A reply came almost immediately.

  Can’t.

  Whoever this guy was, he was beginning to really piss Derek off. Derek’s thumbs flew over the virtual keyboard on his phone, typing a withering rejoinder. Just before he hit the send button, he hesitated. Getting mad wasn’t going to help, and by now Derek knew the guy well enough to know that he wouldn’t respond. He’d probably already signed off. Whoever he was, he acted even more paranoid than Derek felt. He was hiding from something. So, it was up to Derek.

  He sipped his coffee and sat down in front of his computer to think it through.

  Chapter 33

  Tess shrieked as a bullet smashed through the rear window and whistled past her ear. Strong arms encircled her and pulled her down on the seat. The SUV bounced crazily then settled as it roared away. She held her breath, but there was no more gunfire, only the drone of the engine and crunch of gravel under the tires as they gently swayed and bumped down the road.

  “Everybody all right?” Travis said, his voice right above her.

  She sat up and threw her arms around him, pressing her face into his chest. “Thank god you’re okay!”

  “I’m good up here,” Oliver said.

  “Keep your speed, Oliver,” Travis said. “No one behind us yet, but that could change.”

  Tess realized she was still holding onto her uncle like a scared little kid, and quickly put her hands in her lap.

  “I’m glad the two of you are all right,” Travis said, “but you’re in so much trouble you may wish otherwise.”

  Tess couldn’t believe her ears. “We come all this way to find you and save you from god knows what, and we’re in trouble?”

  “You can see how dangerous this situation is,” Travis said sternly. “If you figured out where I was, you should have sent in a team. That’s what they’re there for.”

  Tess fumed. “A team? You have no idea what’s been going on while you’ve been gone. The board is trying to take over the company. Matt was arrested for shooting up the school. The game app Derek developed is infected with some kind of bug that makes people crazy.” She heard her voice get higher in pitch as the words rushed out, but she couldn’t stop. “You think we should have sent a team? You don’t get it! There’s no one we can trust!”

  She got no response save the growl of the engine and the wind rush as the SUV plowed on.

  “Well, except maybe Alice and Yoshi,” she said.

  “The only reason we found you is because at least one of your team members set you up,” Oliver said softly. “Tess figured it out.”

  “Explain, please,” Travis said tersely.

  Tess took a deep breath while she gathered her thoughts and slowly and confidently related everything that had happened in the past few days. She ended by telling him how she and Oliver had narrowed the possibilities down based on the odors she’d detected on Marcus, how they’d found the mine empty, and followed the ranch hand back just in time. Travis didn’t speak for several moments after she finished.

  “Did it ever occur to either of you,” he said finally, “that I might have let them kidnap me?”

  Shock froze Tess’s brain for a moment. She couldn’t conceive why he’d do that.

  “To find out who’s behind all that’s happened in the past few weeks?” Oliver said.

  “I don’t know who these people are,” Travis went on, “but they’re getting desperate. It would have been helpful to have found out more about them.”

  “Well, did you?” Tess said. “Find out?”

  “I didn’t get a chance. The chef was nice enough to make me something to eat because he thought I was a guest. I managed to sneak into the office to get a look at their files, but the chef found me, and was escorting me out when you two showed up.”

  “Lucky we did,” Oliver said. “Buck and those men didn’t look happy. Who knows what they would have done to you?”

  “Buck?”

  “Buck Evans, the manager,” Oliver said.

  “To tell the truth,” Travis said, “I wasn’t careful enough. They set up an ambush, and I didn’t even see it coming. Which is why I don’t want you involved. It’s too dangerous.”

  “We’re already involved!” Tess said. “In case you didn’t notice, they tried to kill me not too long ago. And now they’re messing with my friends with this infected game app! What did you want us to do, Uncle Travis? Sit around until they sent you back in pieces?”

  He didn’t answer. Instead, he asked her a question. “Where are we, anyway?”

  “Montana. Not far from Libby. That’s where we’re going now.”

  “That’s what I figured,” he murmured. “How’d you get the Range Rover?”

  “Alice,” Tess said.

  “A guy named Bob Haskell met us at the airport,” Oliver said. “Had it waiting and stocked with provisions.”

  “Alice is good,” Travis said. “I’ll give her that. She always did run a tight ship.”

  The conversation petered out, and Tess rested her head on the seat back, suddenly exhausted. The drone of the engine almost lulled her to sleep when the phone in her jeans pocket vibrated. She nearly jumped off the seat. She dug the phone out in time to hear it tell her, “You have one unheard text message.” She ran her fingers over the surface to find the right button and played the message back.

  “Tess, it’s you-know-who.” She sat upright. Even though the phone’s avatar was reading the message, she knew exactly who it was from—Dad. Only just like the other times, that was impossible. She tuned back in to the message. “…text from your friend Derek. You guys have a real problem on your hands. If you help each other I think you can solve it. Guys are a little slow, I know. But see what you can do. If you don’t, bad things are going to happen. Zho.”

  “Zho?” Travis said. “What the hell is that about?”

  “Ex, oh,” Tess said, blinking back tears. “You know, like hugs and kisses?”

  “Boyfriend?”

  “No, it was from Dad. Well, Dad’s ghost I guess.”

  “The same person you got texts from a few weeks ago?”

  She nodded. “I told you, Uncle Travis. It’s l
ike he’s an angel or something, and the only way he can communicate is through text or email.”

  “And he knows Derek? Of course he does. What am I saying? Derek told me he got texts, too. Better call him and find out what’s up. Put it on speakerphone. I think we all need to hear this.”

  Tess told the phone to call Derek, and the voice recognition program auto-dialed his number. He picked up on the second ring.

  “I was just about to call you,” Derek said.

  “I got a text that you might need some help,” Tess said.

  “Where are you?” Derek said. “Your phone’s really noisy. Sounds like you’re in a tunnel.”

  “You’re on speakerphone,” she said. “I’m in Montana, with Oliver and Travis.”

  “You found Travis?”

  “Save it for later, guys,” Travis said. “What’s going on, Derek?”

  “Tess, remember I told you guys that I pulled a bunch of files off of the computer in Bradley’s office? I’ve been spending a lot of time going through them to figure out what they did to Never Bitten. Travis, you gave a copy of the game to a kid named Austin Dunn, right?”

  Tess heard her uncle’s sharp intake of breath.

  “How did you know?” Travis said sharply. “Wait, before you answer; this came off the computer in Dave Bradley’s office?”

  “Yeah. I’ll tell you about it later. Or ask T and O. They know. So, anyway, you-know-who told me. Here’s the problem. The bad guys, whoever they are, wanted him to have it. They’ve been tracking the kid’s every movement, and they’ve been tweaking the game to push the kid into more and more violent play.”

  “Who is he?” Tess said.

  “The vice president’s son,” Travis said. “I gave him a copy of the game when I was in Washington several weeks ago. Derek, you’re sure about this?”

  “I know you’ve been out of the loop, Travis, but trust me, this is bad news. Someone has taken James’s work in AI to the next level. It’s brilliant stuff, but incredibly dangerous. They can track every movement, every mood and use it to their advantage. If this kid is susceptible to suggestion, they can essentially brainwash him into doing whatever they want.”

  “They’re going to make him do something awful,” Tess said. “We have to go to Washington.”

  “No,” Travis said. “It’s too dangerous. Besides, we don’t know that they can make Austin do anything.”

  “Yes, we do!” Tess said. “You weren’t there, Uncle Travis. You didn’t see my friend Matt go crazy in the school cafeteria!”

  “She’s right,” Oliver said. “We’ve seen first-hand how the game app changes people.”

  “And I don’t even think they were specifically targeting Matt,” Derek said. “Not like what they’re doing to this kid Austin. This kid’s ready to blow.”

  “We can help, Uncle Travis,” Tess said. “Austin will never listen to adults, but he might listen to us. We might be able to stop him from doing whatever they’ve got planned for him.”

  “I don’t know,” Travis said.

  “Uh-oh,” Oliver interrupted. “We’ve got trouble! There’s a couple of SUVs about a half mile back coming up fast.”

  “Gotta go, Derek,” Travis said. “We’ll be in touch. Okay, Oliver, get this thing moving as fast as you dare.”

  Oliver stepped on the gas, pressing Tess back in her seat.

  Chapter 34

  “Tess,” Travis said, “I’m going to hand you stuff from the cargo area. Just stuff it anywhere there’s room. Which bag is yours, by the way? I might need to borrow a few things.”

  “It’s a North Face backpack. The one I always used to take snowboarding. Black and purple.”

  Travis surprised himself with the calmness he projected. Exhaustion rolled over him. The food back at the ranch had helped, but the long hours of pounding against the rock walls in the mine had taken their toll. He couldn’t let up now, though. Tess and Oliver had been brave enough to find him and pull him out of a bad situation. The least he could do was make sure they got out safely.

  He checked on the vehicles behind them, surprised to see that Oliver had made it to the highway at some point during their conversation. Now that Oliver had bumped up his speed to nearly ninety, the SUVs behind them weren’t gaining ground as fast. But they had grown closer since the last time he’d looked.

  Clambering over the rear seats into the cargo hold, he passed supplies to Tess as fast as she was able to stow them at her feet or in the seat. Tent, camp chairs, camp stove, water, food…it all went forward so Travis could get to the floor panel. He yanked it open, revealing the spare tire. All he wanted was the jack. He removed it from its mount and closed the floor panel. Then he dumped the contents of Tess’s backpack on the floor and sifted through them, setting aside what he might be able to use. He looked at the small pile ruefully. Not much there—nail polish remover, a few bottles of nail polish, cleansing pads, deodorant and a small propane tank.

  He frowned. “Tess, why do you have nail polish in your bag?”

  Since the accident he’d seen her wear it only a few times. She couldn’t put it on by herself, and she was embarrassed to ask Alice for help.

  “OMG!” Tess said. “I haven’t used that backpack in so long. I just asked Alice to pull it out for me. I never checked it.”

  “Uh, Travis?” Oliver said.

  Travis jerked his head up and looked out the back window. Two Jeeps were quickly overtaking them.

  “I see them. When they get closer, try to stay in the center of the road so they can’t get past. I’ll let you know when I want them to pull alongside. Got it?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Travis quickly screwed a regulator and connector hose into the propane tank, unscrewed the tops of the nail polish and nail polish remover. He stuffed acne cleansing pads into the neck of the nail polish remover bottle and set everything in a corner of the cargo area. A backpack jammed up against them would keep them from tipping in the swaying vehicle. He reached over the seat and touched Tess’s cheek.

  “Tess, this could get pretty ugly. You up for it? Okay, then, I want you to switch places with me. I’ve got some surprises for our friends back there. On my signal, hold these up one at a time, and I’ll grab them from you. Work left to right.”

  “All right. I can do that.”

  She scrambled over the seat, and Travis guided her hands to the small arsenal he’d amassed, watching to make sure she familiarized herself with their shapes. Reaching up, he pressed the button that opened the sunroof and waited for it to slide back. The wind rush filled the interior with noise. He’d have to shout, but he’d make it work.

  “Oliver, how far to the air field?” he said.

  “I’m not sure. Six or seven miles, I think.”

  “If you can manage it, get the pilot on the phone and tell him to fire up the engines. Okay, you guys, here we go!”

  He grabbed the heavy jack and the jack handle and stood on the rear seat, poking his head up through the sunroof. The SUVs on their tail had pulled up to within a hundred yards.

  “Ease up!” Travis shouted.

  Oliver slowed some and the Jeeps zoomed up to within a car length. Travis spotted two men in each. The passenger in the lead pursuit vehicle stuck his arm and head out the window and pointed a pistol up at Travis.

  “Evasive action!” Travis yelled.

  Oliver swerved just as the man fired two shots, loud reports that the wind quickly carried away. Travis grabbed onto the edge of the sunroof to keep from losing his balance, and hefted the tire jack. The Jeep had swerved the opposite direction and now leaped forward to come up alongside the Range Rover.

  “Tap the brakes!” Travis called.

  As Oliver tapped the brakes, the Jeep shot even. Travis leaned over and threw the heavy jack down on the Jeep’s windshield as hard as he could. The glass starred and crazed in a spider web of cracks. Startled, the driver nearly lost control, but straightened it out before running off the road. He lost ground, thou
gh, and the second SUV spurted ahead and closed the gap.

  “Okay, Tess!” Travis said. “Hand me the nail polish!”

  He reached down and took the bottles from her hand. He hurled the first one as hard as he could at the Jeep on their tail. It smacked the windshield and bounced off harmlessly, leaving a few drops of color on the glass. The driver jerked in alarm, but when he realized that Travis was about to throw another one, he grinned and said something to the passenger. The passenger leaned out his window and fired a couple of shots. Travis ducked, then quickly stood up again and threw another of the little glass bottles. This one, too, bounced off the Jeep, but gouged a little chip out of the windshield. The men in the car laughed. Travis just grinned at them and threw a third bottle at them as hard as he could. It shattered, leaving a broad smear of iridescent green polish on the windshield. The Jeep swerved and fell behind, then straightened and pulled up again with a roar.

  “Nail polish remover, Tess!” he shouted. “Oliver, let him get up close!”

  “You got it!” Oliver yelled.

  Tess handed him the bottle. Travis held it below the sunroof opening, out of the wind, and lit the cleansing pad “fuse” with a lighter he’d found with the camping gear. The Jeep pulled up next to them, anger twisting the faces of the two men inside. The passenger pulled himself halfway out the window this time and sat on the frame, twisting so he could aim his pistol over the roof at Travis. Just before he pulled the trigger, Travis threw the flaming bottle of acetone at them, igniting the nail polish on the windshield with a whoosh. Blinded, the passenger fired wildly and fell out of the window. The driver jerked the wheel in surprise, and the Jeep swerved and skidded off the road, hit loose gravel on the shoulder and flipped over.

  “Whoo-hoo!” Oliver shouted. “Got ‘em!”

  “It’s not over yet!” Travis yelled. He ducked down inside. “Tess, hold that little tank of propane. I’ll guide you. Once I get you in position, you have to stay absolutely still. Got that?”

  “It’s not that tough, Uncle Travis.”