Arizona
Kate sat on the edge of the bed, pondering her next move. They were hiding out in a hotel off an exit ramp outside Phoenix. A little remote exit well out of the way. She had booked it early that morning and been careful to keep her face off any of the cameras.
It was close to a few major highways, which meant as soon as they figured out where to go they could be on the road. That was important because she wasn’t sure how long it would take to get drones in the air once the software was compromised.
She’d burnt most of her bridges saving Lyle from the hit team and didn’t have a lot of contacts willing to help.
She’d hoped to grab the pilots too, to keep them out of Victor’s hands, but it was too far away and she hadn’t found out about them until the last minute. After talking to Lyle, they were the last piece of the puzzle Victor needed to put together before he had control over the grid network of almost thirty thousand drones.
Unfortunately, no one in JanCorp that she still trusted knew where the pilots were being held. Somewhere in Arizona was their best guess. That left too many stones to turn until she could narrow things down. She didn’t know exactly where she should look next.
She was starting to wonder if saving Lyle had been worth the effort.
Lyle was lying on the other bed, staring up at the ceiling.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Hmm?” he replied.
“I asked what you were thinking about.”
He sat up. “Nothing, really.”
“Nothing at all?”
“My life was just ruined. I’m a fugitive from the law. A huge part of me thinks that I should turn myself in right now.”
“I can’t let you do that.”
“I know. And you scare the hell out of me, so I’m not going to do anything stupid.”
“Plus, I’m trying to help you clear your name.”
“Are you?” he said. “That’s the thing I’ve been wracking my brain to figure out. Are you really trying to help me or is there something else to this? I don’t even know you.”
“I’m Kate.”
“Sure,” he said. “But I don’t know if that’s even your real name.”
“It is.”
“Why would I trust you?”
“I saved your life.”
“Doesn’t make you an honest person,” Lyle argued. “It means you need my help.”
“Not necessarily,” she said.
“Then why? Why seek me out?”
“Because you have value.”
“I’m wanted by the FBI.”
“For something you didn’t do.”
“They don’t know that.”
“Are we just going to argue all day?”
“Maybe,” he said, lying back on the bed. “Is there anything else to do?”
Kate sighed. “No. Not yet. We need more information.”
“How are we going to get more information?” Lyle said. “I can’t exactly ask a lot of questions without tipping off the FBI.”
“No, you can’t.”
“I can’t believe…” Lyle muttered, trailing off.
“Can’t believe what?”
“I can’t believe they would sell me out like this. After everything I’ve done for them.”
“You built their security network?”
“In a sense,” he said. “I took all of the tools they are using and wired them together. A few pieces were customized, and I helped write a few really important algorithms. But, I mean, why me?”
“Why not?”
“What?”
“You helped build this software of which reputation is everything. And that reputation is built on its security. What happens when it gets hacked?”
“Huh? It isn’t supposed to get hacked.”
“Humor me. Let’s say someone at Markwell knew the software was going to get hacked because it already knew about the backdoor. If people do hack it, what do they do with it?”
He shrugged. “Bad things, I suppose.”
“Big bad things,” she said. “Like front page news bad things.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “Depending on what they do with the software.”
“And, when front page news bad things happen, somebody is going to take the fall. You worked on this software, which means you serve two purposes for them. First, they get someone to blame for this catastrophe. Everyone points their finger at you, and no one realizes just what really happened.”
“And what’s the second thing?”
“They get you out of the picture and you aren’t a risk anymore.”
“They’ll kill me to keep me from talking?”
“You know things they don’t want anyone to know. Killing you isn’t a far stretch.”
“I’m starting to think...”
He trailed off. There was a buzzing sound suddenly, coming from the bed. Kate tensed, turning to Lyle.
“What is that?”
“What is what?”
It buzzed again. It sounded like…
“Is that a phone?”
He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a cell phone. It buzzed in his hand.
“Oh…” Lyle said. Kate turned to stare at him with a mixture of incredulity and shock. “Oh yeah. About that…”
“You have two phones?” she asked, snatching it from him.
“It’s a work phone. I never use it.”
All thoughts of her plan were out the window, and she felt a little sick to her stomach as fear filled her. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I forgot about it.”
“You forgot that you had two phones?”
“There were some other things on my mind at the time,” he said. “Sorry.”
“Sorry? You think sorry is going to cut it?”
“What are you mad at me for? I thought you were the super spy.”
Kate rushed to the window and glanced outside. Several police cars sat in the parking lot, along with a swat vehicle. None of them had their lights on, but she knew what they were here for.
“Could this get any worse...?”
There was a banging sound on the door. “Police. Open up.”
2
Lyle was terrified. Kate walked over to him and leaned close to whisper. “They don’t know you’re here, only the phone.”
“They can turn on the microphone and listen.”
“It will take a few hours to get a court order for that. For now, they just have GPS and are sweeping the building. Get in the closet.”
“Why?”
Another knock on the door. “Open up.”
Kate pushed Lyle back toward the closet and locked him inside, then slid the phone into her purse.
She mussed up her hair and pulled the sheets loose on the bed, and said “I’m coming, I’m coming,” with a Brooklyn accent. She opened the door, yawning.
Two police officers stood there. “Ma’am,” one said.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“We need to search your room.”
“Why?”
“We have reason to believe a fugitive wanted by the FBI is hiding out in this hotel, and we are searching every room.”
“Okay. How long is this going to take? I was trying to get some sleep. Long flight, you know?”
“It won’t take long.”
She stepped out of the way to let them in. “Okay, but be quick about it.”
They came into the room and began looking around. She waited until their backs were turned before drawing her gun. They looked under the bed and checked the curtains.
“Are you here alone?” one officer asked. Neither was looking at her.
She closed the door and fired off two quick darts. Both hit the necks of the officers and they slumped to the floor. Kate opened the closet.
Lyle saw the two cops on the ground. “What happened to them?”
“Horse tranquilizers,” she said, taking out Lyle’s cell phone and sliding it between the two officers. “When they don’t report in, the swat team will be sent to check it out.”
“What happens then?”
“By then we will be long gone,” she said. “But first, we need their uniforms. Strip them.”
Lyle stared at her. “What?”
“Take their clothes off. It’s going to be a little big for me but should fit you nicely.”
Lyle didn’t reply, but with a sigh he started taking the unconscious officers’ clothes off. Kate put on the first officer’s clothing overtop her own and took both of the Tazers. She waited until Lyle was dressed and then handed him one.
“We aren’t killing anyone,” she explained. “That would put us from the category ‘nuisance’ to ‘cop-killers.’ But knocking them out, that just pisses them off.”
“Will these disguises work?”
“Not for long, but enough to get us out of the building. The swat team is going to be coming up the north stairwell, so we’re going to go there and wait until they get sent in. Then, we just slip out behind them, find a car, and disappear.”
“What if they recognize me?”
“Good point,” she agreed.
She opened her microfiber travel bag and pulled out a small container of makeup. She turned to face Lyle.
“You’re kidding, right?” Lyle asked.
“I’m only going to use a little bit,” she said. “Kneel down and close your eyes.”
Lyle looked around, let out a long sigh, and knelt in front of her.
She opened the small case and lifted out the brush. “Close your eyes and turn your chin up,” she said. “No, more like this. Now tilt your head so it’s level.”
“This is so emasculating,” Lyle said, closing his eyes. Kate held the brush up as though she was about to apply the makeup. She waved a hand in front of his eyes to make sure he wasn’t peeking and silently pulled the makeup back. “I just want you to know that I think this is a bad plan and if—”
Kate stood up and kicked Lyle in the face as hard as she could, hitting him with the flat top of her foot on the left cheekbone below his eye. His head jerked to the side, and he collapsed to the floor.
Lyle was looking around delirious, almost blacked out, and she couldn’t suppress a giggle.
“What the…?” Lyle asked breathlessly, trying to get his bearings. His left eye was closing and the right was twitching wildly.
“That’s for carrying two phones,” she said.
“Did you have to punch me so hard?” he asked, trying to sit up.
“With your cheekbone bruised your face will swell up and turn blue. It will distort your facial proportions and make it hard for anyone to recognize you, even with facial recognition software,” she explained. “And now you don’t have to use makeup. Aren’t you happy?”
“No,” he said. “I’m sure as hell not happy.”
“Fantastic,” she said.
Kate looked him over and saw that his face was already swelling up and changing color. Maybe she hadn’t needed to kick him that hard.
Oh well, nothing she could do about it now.
At least, she felt better.
“Let’s go.”
