The Unseen (26 page)

After David had leaked the news about Valhalla to the press, hackers had been vilified. Anyone who could so much as run a password-cracking program had been brought in for questioning and placed on a watch list. Most of the big-name hackers had been captured outside Valhalla. Kari had watched the footage of them hauling SeptemberMist away into the back of a SWAT van dozens of times. She was glad that SeptemberMist was alive; many of the Unseen hadn’t been so lucky.

The unaccounted-for hackers had been featured prominently on the news. Oedipus was one of the hackers the media had confirmed as deceased in the days following the battle. Kari knew she would need a long time to properly digest the fact that Joseth was dead. There was a giant reward available for anyone with information that led to the capture of any of the at-large hackers. David had only joked about turning them in once, but Motorcad hadn’t found it very humorous.

Motorcad didn’t have the sense of humor that he used to, now that he was a wanted man. By the time they had crawled out of the river, frozen and soaked to their bones, his jokes were gone. It had taken hours for the small group to crawl into the outskirts of Jackson Hole and to find an available auto-auto.

David had insisted that they go the hospital right away, but Kari demanded they wait until the next town, as the government would be watching the hospital closely. Eventually they had made it far enough away from Valhalla that Kari felt comfortable getting treatment for her broken wrist and her numerous cuts. All of them had needed at least a few stitches, which they explained had occurred in a rock-climbing accident.

They had been lucky to go the hospital when they did, because it didn’t take long for their pictures to surface. In fact, the worst part about the whole thing was that Henderson was being glorified in the media as a national hero for leading a joint-force assault on the Unseen. He paraded around like a military hero who had single-handedly destroyed every rogue cheetah and drone and had conquered the Unseen entirely by himself. He was particularly insistent that Kari be found because she was a danger to society.

I guess I don’t care who takes the credit for stopping the Unseen because I don’t want it.
Joseth needed to be stopped, but the bomb they had dropped on her temporary home had taken too many lives.

After the success of the joint operation and the discovery that the assassinations had been performed by a group of hackers, the governments had declared a truce. Both sides were more than happy to blame the hackers for everything and end the fighting for the time being. Peace talks were planned to take place in few weeks at a neutral location, and most people were optimistic that the fighting was over for good.

Rosewood was under investigation for her involvement with the Unseen, but she had strongly denounced the weak connection the data provided. With all the focus on the Unseen, Rosewood had been able to handle the situation well.
I guess we’ll have to take care of you later.

For now, Kari was just happy that the country was headed for peace, even if Rosewood kept her office. She wasn’t sure if the states could just bury the hatchet so quickly, but she was hopeful. It helped that the public was overwhelmingly in favor of peace.
Now let’s hope Joseth was wrong about them, and they can figure out how to keep the peace.

“Do you think it’s safe to walk me to my dorm?” David asked.

“I think it’s late enough that most people won’t recognize me,” Kari said. “And if they do, they won’t be able to catch us—will they, Motorcad?”

“Nope, we have a number of auto-autos all lined up to hide our trail. We’re all ready to disappear,” Motorcad said. Kari ordered the auto-auto to open its doors, and she climbed out into the moonlight.

“Thanks, man,” David said. “Appreciate everything.”

“You’re the one who saved us, Romeo,” Motorcad said. “Don’t forget that.” David joined her outside, and the auto-auto closed its doors behind them. Kari extended her right hand, and David accepted it as they walked slowly across the grass to his dorm.

“I hope I didn’t make you miss too much school,” Kari said. “I can help you with your homework, if you need to get caught up.”

“I’ll be fine,” David said. “Just going to have to block out everything about reality for a few days and just read my textbooks. Shouldn’t be too big of a deal. The school was pretty much in lockdown mode over the war anyway.”

“Well, if you do need anything, let me know. I owe you one.”

“Are you kidding? If anything this makes us even.”

“I don’t know about that,” Kari said. “I see one rescue for one rescue. But I crashed your dad’s truck.”

“That’s true,” David said. “Maybe you do owe me one.”

“Tell your dad to buy another truck, whatever he wants, and I’ll pay for it. Maybe that will help heal the wounds.”

“Just might do the trick,” David said. “It will with my mom anyway. She hated that truck. It was one of the first things my dad bought once we made it to the Middle States, and my mom complained about it every day.”

“Good, I like your mom better anyway.” They both laughed, and David squeezed Kari’s hand. She slowed their walking to the point where they were hardly moving. She didn’t want to leave. “Beautiful campus.”

“Yeah, I like it here,” David said. “Almost all of my other options closed for the war, but it’ll work. I wish you could stay for a few days so I could show you around, introduce you to my roommate and everything.”

“I can’t . . .”

“I know, I just wish you could. It’s such a joke that you’re on the wanted list when you basically saved everyone. From what you said, it sounded like Oedipus was ready to take over the whole country. They should give you a medal.”

“Medals aren’t really my thing.”

“The Nobel Peace Prize then, at least. I mean, look what happened after all of this. Not only did you stop Oedipus, the states are going to have peace talks. It’s incredible.”

“Pass.”

“What?”

“You have to give speeches and stuff when you win Nobel Prizes. Besides, it wasn’t as peaceful as it should have been.”

“Well, you deserve something.”

“How about a kiss from my boyfriend?” Kari said. She looked up into David’s beautiful eyes and smiled.

“Are you talking about me?” David said.

“Better hurry before I change my mind . . .”

David put both of his hands behind Kari’s head and pulled her in gently for a kiss. It lasted for a few minutes before someone walked by. Kari pulled away, embarrassed at the affection suddenly being public, but David just laughed.

“Don’t worry, Kari, this is college. I see more PDA in a day here than I did in my entire lifetime.”

“Right . . . well, then, I guess no one will mind if I kiss you again.”

“They certainly won’t. Besides, it’s harder to identify you as the evil Freelancer when you’re kissing me.” Kari kissed him again, but quicker this time.

“I guess I should go; Motorcad is waiting and all . . .”

“Do you really need to go with him?” David said. Kari wasn’t sure if he was just being jealous or if he didn’t trust him. Either way, she appreciated his concern.

“He’s a good guy, David. He has nowhere to go, just like me. It’ll be nice to have someone to watch my back. Besides, he’s good in a fight.”

“I just feel like if you’re going to be traveling with a guy, it should be me, you know?”

“I would love that, David. But your dad would probably try to hunt me down if he found out that I convinced you to leave college to travel with an outlaw. Who knows—your mom might even help him. You need to stay here, and I need to go.”

“But we’ll talk?”

“Every day. And if this peace thing happens maybe it won’t be too long before the whole hating on hackers thing blows over, and we’ll be able to hang out in person.”

“I’d like that.”

“Me, too,” Kari said. She kissed him again and tried to walk away, but he held on to her hands, unwilling to let her go just yet.

“What’s your plan?” David said. “I know you don’t like to tell everyone your plans, but since I’m your boyfriend and all, I think I should know.”

“I’m not sure, exactly,” Kari said. “I haven’t thought about it too much, but I think I might try to do some good in the world.”

“What do you mean?”

“I loved the idea of Valhalla, a sanctuary where talented people could go to find friendship and feel like they belong. The problem was that Joseth used everyone for his personal gain and went mad with power. But, I think I’d like to maybe do something like it, maybe a private school for gifted programmers. We’ll see—I’m going to have to lay low for a while, but I think it sounds like a good idea.”

“Sounds like the perfect idea,” David said. “Am I too old to get in?”

“Get your degree, and maybe you can teach,” Kari said.

“That’s only a few years away. You better get started soon if you think you’re going to be able to afford me.” David leaned in and kissed her while she laughed.

“Motorcad is going to be wondering what we’re doing . . .”

“Oh, I’m sure he knows,” David said as he kissed her again. “But you let me know if he causes you any trouble.”

“I will.”

“And take care of Lars. That dog has seen too much excitement.”

“I will.”

“Call me tomorrow?”

“I will.”

“Is there any other question I can ask you to get you to stay just a little longer?”

“Nope.” Kari kissed him one last time and squeezed his hands. “Thanks again for everything, David.” Kari walked away and made it about twenty feet before she looked back to see if David was still watching her. He was. Kari smiled and waved at him over her shoulder. It took her a tenth of the time to walk back to the auto-auto.

“Did you kiss Romeo good-bye?” Motorcad asked.

“I did,” Kari said.

“Good. I like him.”

“Glad I have your approval,” Kari said sarcastically. “Where to now?”

“Couple of quick auto-auto changes, and then I think we’ll head for Albuquerque.”

“Why Albuquerque?”

“Exactly,” Motorcad said. “Besides, I’ve never been there. Sounds nice this time of year.”

“Sounds good to me,” Kari said. Kari relaxed in her chair and petted Lars. It felt weird to be on the road with nowhere to be and nothing to do.

“Hey, Motorcad,” Kari said.

“Yeah?”

“How would you feel about starting a school? You know, a place to teach gifted kids who don’t fit in elsewhere. Make it a sanctuary like Valhalla should have been.”

“You should do it.”

“You don’t want to help?”

“Maybe I will,” Motorcad said. “But you’ll have to prove you’re worthy of being my business partner.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?”

“Beat me in capture the flag.”

“You still want to play that game?”

“Even more so now that Oedipus has gone bye-bye.”

“I get the competitive spirit, but why does he matter?”

“Because you took Oedipus down. You took his spot, you’re the best hacker in the world now.”

“I’d rather just be left alone than be the best hacker in the world.”

“And that’s exactly why I’m going to consider you as my business partner.”

The End.

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The Unseen.
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The Unseen.
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