Paradise Hacked (First Circle Club Book 2) (16 page)

When everybody was settled, Lisa drove off. Chinatown was very quiet, and only stop lights slowed her down.

* * *

"Pursue them," Captain Kyle said, "but keep a safe distance. We need to know where they're going."

He grabbed his phone and called Colonel Knox. The time had finally come.

Knox answered after a few rings. "Yes?" he said in a sleepy voice.

"Captain Kyle, sir. The two female subjects are driving off. They have a Chinese woman named Mei Li with them. She could be the hacker."

"Are you following them?"

"Yes, sir," Kyle said, "but the subjects are driving the same car they used before. We took the precaution of planting a long-range homing beacon under the fender. We won't lose them."

"Excellent thinking," Knox said.

"Thank you, sir. I should mention all of them left their phones behind. We can't track them that way anymore."

"That's annoying. Where are the male subjects?"

Kyle looked at the video feeds displayed on his laptop. "Standing by the highway onramp with weapons drawn." His eyes widened. "Oh, damn it! They're planning to shoot my men! It's an ambush. What should I do, sir?"

Knox paused. "Send your men another way. You'll have to rely on the beacon."

Kyle quickly relayed the order through his tactical radio.

"They know you're watching them?" Knox said.

"I think they saw a drone earlier."

Knox sighed loudly. "And they're armed."

"Yes."

"I was hoping to approach them quietly and cautiously, but it seems a confrontation is inevitable. What was in the basement?"

"It looked like they had made it into an office," Kyle said. "There were paper, pencils, furniture, and that sort of thing. Materials for collecting evidence, too, such as baggies and tweezers."

"Odd. Any advanced technology?"

"No. Not even a computer. But there were some footlockers we couldn't see inside of."

Knox paused. "I think we're done with this spy game. Follow the female subjects and find out where they're going. In the meantime, capture the male subjects."

"Very good, sir," Kyle said.

"I guess I won't get any more sleep tonight. I'll be at the house awaiting further word. Bye."

The call ended. Kyle dropped his phone into the breast pocket of his fatigues.

He watched the screen on his laptop. The two males were still standing by the onramp, prepared to spring an ambush that would never happen.

* * *

Virgil watched his blue Nissan shoot past on its way to the highway. Lisa and Sara were sitting in front, and Mei was in the back. All the women appeared safe.

"Get ready," Virgil said.

"You really want me to shoot any car that's behind them?" Alfred said.

"If that's what it takes."

Alfred made an unhappy noise.

Both men watched the road. At this odd hour of the morning, there was no traffic which made the job a lot easier.

Finally, a red sedan approached. Virgil wasn't sure if it was hostile, but he couldn't take any chances. He ran out into the road and fired his M16 into the air. The sedan screeched to a stop.

With his rifle aimed at the windshield, Virgil approached cautiously. The driver turned out to be a Chinese man wearing a green janitor's uniform.

Virgil relaxed and lowered his rifle. "Go on!" he yelled.

The sedan immediately drove off.

He jogged back to Alfred.

"I don't see any bad guys," Alfred said. "I don't think any of this was necessary."

Virgil looked up at the night sky. "No, the plan worked perfectly, but they saw us standing here with guns. That's why they didn't pursue."

"You may be right. Either way, our friends escaped and nobody got hurt, which is a very good thing. What's next?"

Virgil faced the dark, quiet buildings of Chinatown. "I want to capture one of them, but first we have to evade their surveillance. That could be a little tricky."

He still had the binoculars hanging around his neck. He used them to scan his surroundings. He spotted a dark shape peeking around a garbage can a block away. The spy was very still.

"We can use the river like we talked about earlier," Alfred said.

Virgil realized he was right. A channel of the Chicago River ran along the northwest side of Chinatown. Once he and Alfred were underwater, the military would have no way of tracking them. They could pop out anywhere undetected.

"Good idea," Virgil said. "Follow me."

They took off at a full sprint towards the channel. They headed up to Cermak Road and turned left.

As he ran, Virgil observed the Chinese decorations on the buildings again. In a single day, they had appeared all over Chinatown. The quality of the decorations was uniformly excellent.

He became suspicious. "Stick with me," he told Alfred.

Virgil used a drain pipe to climb up to the roof of a building. Alfred followed with the agility of a monkey. Virgil ran over to a spherical decoration made of yellow paper.

"What are you doing?" Alfred said.

Virgil started tearing up the paper, and he quickly found what he was looking for. A surveillance camera the size of a nickel was attached to a thin wire which ran across the roof. He showed the camera to Alfred.

"They've been watching us since we got home," Alfred said grimly.

Virgil nodded. "We have to get out of Chinatown before we do anything else. The whole neighborhood is wired."

The sound of a car made him look over the edge of the roof. A black minivan was a block away and approaching slowly.

Virgil took off again, but he travelled on the rooftops now. He leapt across alleys fearlessly, glancing back occasionally to make sure Alfred was keeping up. The psychologist looked like an old man, but there was no weakness in his movements.

Virgil ran off the last rooftop and jumped to the ground. The water channel was directly ahead with trees growing on the shore. He sprinted in that direction.

He looked back. A green Humvee had joined the black minivan, and both vehicles were coming at him at high speed. The military clearly knew something was up and had stopped trying to hide.

"They want to capture us!" Virgil yelled.

"What are we going to do?" Alfred replied.

"Stick with the plan. We can use this to our advantage."

Virgil skidded to a stop at the edge of the channel. The slow moving water was murky and brown. He didn't know if it was polluted, but it was certainly cold.

Alfred stopped beside him.

"Hold my hand so I don't lose you in the water," Virgil said. "We won't be able to communicate or see each other. Just let me lead."

Alfred nodded and grabbed Virgil's hand firmly.

Virgil looked back one last time. The minivan and the Humvee had parked on the dirt about twenty yards away. Soldiers were spilling out of both vehicles. They had black body armor and were carrying assault rifles. Pistols, grenades, and spare magazines were attached to their vests.

"Don't move!" one soldier yelled. "Stay where you are! Lay down on the ground!"

Virgil considered fighting all the soldiers at once. It was an intriguing thought. He might win, but it would certainly be a bloodbath.

"Are we getting in the water?" Alfred said.

Virgil nodded. "Yes. Now."

They jumped into the water together. Chilly darkness swallowed Virgil as his heavy equipment pulled him to the bottom. He exhaled all the air from his lungs and allowed water to fill them. The strange, cold sensation made him think of death.

* * *

Captain Kyle's command vehicle skidded to a stop on a dirt lot. He opened the door, jumped out, and drew his sidearm.

His was the fourth vehicle to arrive on the scene. Fifteen operatives were standing at the edge of the river and staring at the water. They had their rifles ready, but nobody was shooting.

"What's the situation?" Kyle yelled as he ran forward.

A sergeant turned and responded, "We haven't seen them come up, sir. No sign of them."

Kyle reached the river. The water was the color of chocolate, and it was moving so slowly, it was hard to see any movement at all. A concrete wall stood on the far side of the channel. It was about a hundred feet across.

"How cold is the water?" he said.

"Very," the sergeant replied.

Kyle frowned. "We can't just give up. Fan out along the river. Look for footprints."

"What should we do if we see the targets? Shoot them?"

"Warning shots. Convince them we mean business."

"Yes, sir," the sergeant said.

The men began to spread out in both directions along the river bank.

Kyle walked slowly back to his command vehicle. It was a modified Humvee with extra radio antennas. All the windows were bulletproof.

He grabbed his laptop and opened it on the back seat without getting in. He replayed the last surveillance video shot by a drone.

The clip showed the two male subjects jumping into the river. They went under and stayed under even though they had no apparent scuba gear. Kyle didn't even see bubbles. The recording continued for three minutes and included a wide shot of the water, but there was no sign of the subjects.
Quite a trick,
Kyle thought.

He messed with the video to see if he could extract more information. He tried different contrast modes and false colors. When he switched to the infrared channel, the subjects disappeared entirely. Their bodies were exactly the same temperature as the environment.

He grimaced. He had heard whispered rumors that they were aliens. He was starting to believe it might be true.

* * *

Virgil lifted the top half of his head above the surface of the river. He bobbed up and down silently. Over a dozen soldiers were searching along the shore, but they had no lights, and Virgil was too far away to be seen in the darkness. From a distance, he looked like just another piece of garbage floating down the river. He knew infrared cameras would be useless also.

He saw a cluster of four vehicles. The most interesting one had several fancy antennas sticking out, and clearly, it was meant for operational command and control. The occupant of that vehicle would be the leader. That was Virgil's target of choice.

The soldiers were spreading out, leaving the vehicles unguarded. Virgil merely needed to be patient until his opportunity arrived.

He slipped back under the water.

* * *

Lisa drove down a narrow road in a suburban neighborhood. She kept glancing in the rearview mirror, but she didn't see any headlights following her.

She turned a corner and parked.

"What are you doing?" Sara said.

"Making sure nobody is behind us," Lisa said.

She got out of the car but left the engine running. She walked back to the intersection and used a convenient tree as cover. She watched the road she had just driven down.

Minutes passed, but patience was the key. The neighborhood was nice and quiet. No lights were on inside the two-story houses.

Eventually, she decided it was safe. She went back to the car and sat in the driver's seat. A soft snoring noise made her turn her head. Mei had fallen asleep on the back seat. Lisa hadn't slept in so many years, she could hardly remember what it was like.

"Poor girl," she whispered.

"Rough night for her," Sara whispered, "and none of it was her fault."

Lisa nodded. "Sucks."

"What's next?"

"We change cars. The military knows what this one looks like."

"Where do we buy a new car at this time of night?" Sara said.

"We don't. We steal one."

"I don't like stealing."

"Extenuating circumstances," Lisa said.

She had some specific ideas for where and how she would steal a car. She started driving back to the highway.

"We need to discuss this plan before we proceed," Sara said.

"Why? Virgil put me in charge."

"I don't remember it that way. He made us a team. And while we're on the topic, he's not really in charge either. He was never appointed president of the club. We follow his guidance voluntarily."

Lisa clenched her jaw in annoyance. The situation was bad enough without a fight over leadership.

Sara went on, "So how do you plan to steal a car?"

"From a truck stop. You can find cars with the keys already in the ignition there."

"Huh? You're just going to walk up and steal a car while the owner is right there?"

"I'll wait 'til the owner is in the store," Lisa said.

"That's horrible. How would you like it if you stopped for gas, and a thief drove off with your car, leaving you stuck at a truck stop?"

"I'm sure I would be very pissed off, but insurance will pay for it. What's your point?"

"We can't do this," Sara said. "I refuse to allow it."

"You have a better idea? Every mile we drive in this car puts us at risk. We need to be in a different one by dawn. The damned Army is after us!"

Mei snorted and turned.

"You're assuming they're hostile," Sara said in a low voice.

"They were flying drones over us," Lisa murmured. "That's not very friendly."

"We don't even know if they're still looking for us. We had no problem leaving Chinatown."

"Thanks to Virgil."

"Maybe his help was unnecessary," Sara said. "You're assuming a dark, evil conspiracy with hardly any evidence of one."

"What about the stolen corpse? What about the souls who snuck into Heaven?"

"Those are bad things, but it's a huge leap to conclude the Army is trying to kill us."

Lisa snarled. "I don't care about logical conclusions. Our job is to protect Mei, and the best way to do that is to get a different car. That's non-negotiable. Unless you can think of a better idea in a hurry, we're going with my plan."

Sara crossed her arms and stared out the window.

"That's the first smart thing you've said," Lisa muttered.

* * *

Colonel Knox walked up to the house the Crusader Special Unit was using for its covert field headquarters. It was located in an upper-class neighborhood west of Chicago. White wood paneling covered the big house, and a porch went all the way across the front. The style was simple and traditional yet elegant.