The Unseen (21 page)

“None of this is my fault. Don’t you dare try to put this on me!”

Joseth looked around to see if anyone had heard Kari shouting at him, but she didn’t care if all of the Unseen had witnessed it.

“This will all be over soon,” Joseth said. “The only question is how many people have to suffer during the process. With your drones, I can essentially disarm those who oppose us and make it a mostly peaceful transition. Without them, tens of thousands will die when I utilize my botnet of thirty thousand military-grade printers to print weapons that are designed to do nothing but destroy.”

“You have total control over all of the printers of both militaries?”
Every time I talk to him, things get worse.

“Like I said, you inspired me. I can’t hack each individual piece of military equipment, but I realized I could take control of their printers much more easily. Just like I hacked your printer on that night I saved you to send you a message, I have hacked their printers to send them a message. A message that their rule is over.”

“Don’t do this, Joseth . . .”

“Do you even listen to yourself?” Joseth was finally losing his temper. “I have the ability to improve the lives of every person on this continent, and you are asking me not to do it? No, I refuse to leave them suffering like this. I will bring them the freedom and peace they deserve. The freedom my parents deserved.”

“As their dictator? That’s hardly freedom.”

“No, not their dictator. Their liberator. I will enforce freedom as it was meant to be. No more states, no more local governments, no more anything but the people doing what they please. Anyone who tries to take their freedom from them again will have to answer to me.”

“I don’t know what happened to your parents, but I’m afraid I still can’t pay my rent, even if all of your motivations and reasons are what you say they are,” Kari said. “If you want to evict me, I completely understand. I’ll pack up and head out.”

“Everyone pays their rent.”

“And what if I don’t?”

“Please don’t force me to make that decision. I’ve had to make enough sacrifices already.” Joseth meant what he said. His face was pained, and Kari could see emotion in his eyes.

“Joseth, please . . .”

“You’re in a grace period,” Joseth said. The emotion that had been there momentarily was gone, replaced with a sense of duty that frightened her. Joseth stood to leave and straightened his long button-down shirt. “Don’t take advantage of my generosity.”

“Time to go, Lars.” Kari attached the magnetic leash to his collar and led him back inside. She hadn’t been able to play with him for very long, something she felt bad about, as he’d been neglected lately, but she needed to go. Her program that monitored the printers had just alerted her to the fact that they had all just gone into production
.
Kari was confident this meant that Joseth was shipping out another load of EMP guns to one of the governments.

This is our chance.
Kari half walked, half jogged inside. She needed to find Motorcad. She had been monitoring the printers for days now, and this was their first opportunity.
She had been making great progress on her Faraday cheetahs, and it was hard to walk away when she was in the zone, but this was more important.
We might not have another shot at this before Joseth takes over.

Lars wanted to stay and play in Motorcad’s room, but Kari needed to keep looking.
Come on, Lars, you’re an important part of this plan.
The instructions she had given Motorcad had told him that when she asked him to take Lars on a walk, it was time for him to perform the first step in the plan. She could easily execute this part of the plan herself, but Joseth was watching her too closely for her to get away with it.
Joseth hadn’t ordered her execution, which meant that her grace period hadn’t expired and that Motorcad hadn’t turned on her.

SeptemberMist’s room was empty as well.
Why can I never find these guys when I need them?
They weren’t in the great room or the cafeteria either. Kari was panting by the time she checked the rest of their usual hangout spots. It was only when she wiped the sweat from her forehead that she realized where they were.
They’re at the bloody gym! I forget people subject themselves to that willingly.

Kari had a bit of trouble finding the gym, but she eventually tracked it down by utilizing the context clues of sweaty people and stench. As she had expected, Motorcad and SeptemberMist were there. They were both stretching on the side of a gym that would make any bodybuilder jealous.
They were covered in sweat, which Kari took to mean that they were just finishing up.

“Hey,” Kari said when SeptemberMist looked up at her.

“Is that Freelancer?” Motorcad said, without looking up. “In the gym? Is Valhalla burning down or something?” The remark earned him a well-deserved elbow from SeptemberMist.

“I was wondering if you could take Lars on a run?”

“Of course,” SeptemberMist said.
No, not you, I was talking to Motorcad.

“I . . . was actually hoping we could talk while Motorcad took Lars out for a little bit,” Kari said. SeptemberMist looked at her knowingly and nodded on her head.
I guess the sweat and nervousness really sells the distressed girl in need of a girl talk bit. Couldn’t have planned that better.

“Oh . . . well . . . you two have fun. I’ll catch you guys for lunch?”

“Yeah, of course,” Kari said.
This is perfect—it’s going to give me the chance to execute another important part of the plan.
Kari pulled up her to-do list and checked two items off. It was a little premature, but she was confident. Motorcad took Lars out of the room at a run, and SeptemberMist led Kari outside at an appropriate talking pace.

“What’s wrong, honey?”

“I don’t know how to say it,” Kari said. That much was true. “This might be hard to believe, but promise me you’ll listen to everything before judging me.”

“Of course.”

“When I fell off the drone the other day and got hurt, it wasn’t because I was experimenting with it; it was because I was trying to run away. And it’s because of Oedipus. He’s not who everyone believes he is. He’s not some guy who set this place up as a safe haven for hackers like he says.”

“Then who is he?”

“He’s trying to prop himself up as some sort of warlord or dictator or something. He’s planning on launching a massive attack and taking over the government.”

“Which one?”

“Both. He thinks he’s doing everyone a favor. He’s crazy, Mist. He’s trying to force me to help him do it, so I tried to run away, but now I’m trapped. He won’t let me go, but I have to get out of here.”

“Oh, honey . . .”
Either you know it’s true and will tell Joseth that I am going to leave, or I’m giving you a fair warning. Either way works for me.

“I know it sounds crazy . . .”

“Honey, it sounds concerning.”

“I didn’t believe it at first either, but then he kept telling me more and more. Just the other night we had dinner, and he was telling me that he was going to attack soon. You have to believe me, SeptemberMist, you’re the only one here I can trust.”

“I’m worried about you, Freelancer,” SeptemberMist said. They both walked in silence as they strolled past the pool. The Olympic-size pool had fountains and waterfalls around its edges. Several hot tubs lined the outside, and the active-duty lifeguard completed the area.

Behind the swimming pool was a much larger pool of water. In fact, it bordered on being a small lake. It was used for testing water-based projects. Kari couldn’t see it well from her current position, but last time she had walked by it, several hackers were testing what looked like exoskeletons designed to allow humans to move through water at record speeds. She had watched them for an hour as they rocketed around the lake in circles, shooting out of the water like jet-propelled dolphins. It looked like a blast, but Kari hadn’t been brave enough to ask them to try.

There were a few people swimming in the pool, and neither Kari nor SeptemberMist wanted to be overheard, so they waited until they were well out of earshot of the swimmers and lifeguard before continuing the conversation.

“Tara, please believe me,” Kari said.

“I want to,” SeptemberMist said. “But it’s a lot.”

“Look, Hermes found out about everything. And he tried to escape, but he didn’t make it. When was the last time you saw Hermes?”

“Honey, Hermes was turned over to the Canadian government because he was terrorist. We didn’t want to tell you because we didn’t want to scare you. Motorcad was the one to figure it out and turn him in. Oedipus had nothing to do with it.” SeptemberMist was so sincere that Kari wasn’t sure whether to believe her.
If that’s true, then maybe I can’t trust Motorcad.

“Oh,” Kari said.

“I don’t know what’s made you believe all of these things. But, obviously, it’s affecting you. Maybe it would be best if we just keep talking about this before you do anything.”

“No, even if I’m wrong, I need to get out of here for a few days. If you’re my friend, you’ll help me do that. If you’re right and there’s nothing sinister about Joseth, I’ll be back. I promise.”

SeptemberMist shook her head and sighed. “What do you want me to do?”

“I need you to order three auto-autos when I ask you to. Program one to Dallas, one to Reno, and one to New Orleans. If you could try to find a way to mask the orders and have them report as being unused instead, that would be incredible. That’s it. Then I get in one of them, and I’m gone for a few days.”

“Why three different places?”

“So no one knows where I’m going.”

“So that’s it? You’re going to hop into one of those auto-autos and drive away?”

“Yes,” Kari said. “There might be more to it than that, but that’s all you need to know.”

“Like what?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Kari said.
Can’t tell you too much. All you need to know is that I’m planning on getting out of here.
“Just promise me you’ll do what I ask when I give you the word.”

“Of course I will,” SeptemberMist said. “But I wish you would trust me enough to tell me everything. I don’t want you hurting yourself again, and maybe I could help.”
Or maybe you could tell everything to Joseth and get rewarded for it.

“No, I don’t want you to be any more involved than you have to be.” Lars and Motorcad came running around the main building from the other direction at a good clip. When they reached Kari and SeptemberMist, they pulled up panting.

“Should I keep running?” Motorcad asked. “Or did you two get your girl time taken care of?”

“No, we’re good,” Kari said. She looked to SeptemberMist and smiled. “Thank you.”
Nailed it.
It was one of her finest acting performances.

“Of course,” SeptemberMist said. “Happy to talk any time.”

“So what’s the plan for lunch?” Motorcad said as he handed Lars back to Kari. He braved a wink out of the side of his eye, which Kari hoped meant that he had been successful in changing the delivery address of one of the containers of EMP guns as well as adding the chip full of instructions to its cargo. If he hadn’t done exactly as the instructions had said, Kari knew she was doomed.

A human waiter entered her room, but Kari didn’t take her focus away from her work, despite the fact that most food was delivered by small robots. She had so much left to do, and every minute she could feel her grace period ticking away. She would eat dinner later when she needed a break. The food she had ordered didn’t need to be eaten warm just in case it would be a while. She’d had enough hot meals ruined by not being able to tear herself away from coding. As much as she loved food, when she was in the zone, programming away, nothing was important enough to interrupt her flow.

“Should I just leave the food here?” Joseth said. Kari was beyond annoyed at hearing his voice. Not only had he ruined her concentration, but he was the one person on the planet she hated the most at the moment.

“What do you want?”

“I hope you were hard at work figuring out how to pay your rent,” Joseth said. “Your two-week grace period is already halfway over.”
Guess that means I have a week to get everything ready. Good to know.

“Do you threaten all the ladies here, or is that a privilege you’ve reserved for me?”

“I’ve never found another woman who I thought was worth all this effort.”
What does that even mean?
“If it were anyone else causing me so many problems, she would have been removed from Valhalla and the Unseen long ago.”

“Am I worth all the effort, or are my drones?”

“Aren’t they the same thing, really? The master’s creation is an expression of herself, wouldn’t you say?” The wording was strange, but in a way Kari agreed. So much thought, care, and passion were poured into her projects that she felt personally connected to them all.
Maybe that’s why I hate the hacking drones so much. They weren’t just my creation; in a way, Henderson tainted them. They are part him, born from his greed.

“So if my greatest creation was a cupcake, I’d be dead right now?”

“You wouldn’t be here in the first place.” That bothered her. She had always been secretly proud of her talents, but now that she looked back, they had always caused her more trouble than they had brought her good. She’d lied to her parents, got them arrested, likely killed people breaking David’s family out of prison, and landed Aubrey in prison, and now her creations had brought her here.
Life might have been easier if I was average, but I have the potential to do good. And I will do good, but my talents don’t define me.

“Did you decide to take a pay cut and become a waiter, or is there a reason you stopped by?” Kari said.

“I had many reasons to come see you. It has been a few days, and I wanted to see you is one. Reminding you that your rent is due is another. Letting you know that the generals, unfortunately, have been sacrificed is the third. And the final reason was to warn you.”

“About what?”

“Not to cross me again. I was merciful the last time you rejected us and tried to leave without permission. I won’t be so kind the next time.”
I guess that means SeptemberMist ratted me out. Motorcad was right not to trust her.
Even though Kari had suspected that SeptemberMist would betray her, it still hurt.