Freelancer (13 page)

Kari finished her smoothie and looked down at the empty glass with disdain.
Plenty of exercise, eating healthy—I’ve earned myself a nice, long bath before tonight’s mob party. It’ll probably be the last bath I ever have.
After a minute in the warm water, Kari pulled up the Internet and started checking for updates again. Nothing had changed.

Why do I let myself get stuck checking all these sites? Wouldn’t it be smarter to spend this time working instead? There’s still plenty of work to be done on some projects, including the egg-drop parachute. But really, what’s the use now? If I defend David tonight, I’ll never get to finish anything.
That thought hurt. Kari didn’t like leaving ideas unfinished; it was like leaving a scary movie halfway through without seeing the resolution. It was uncomfortable.
It
probably won’t be the most uncomfortable part of prison, though.

I’m going to prison tonight.
Kari had known it for a while, but she hadn’t thought about that fact.
I’m going to go to prison defending someone I’m not even sure how I feel about.
She shuddered. The warm water was suddenly much cooler. She pushed the thoughts from her mind.
There will be plenty of time to think about that fact later. In prison.

Kari checked her favorite sites again, even though only a handful of minutes had passed since the last time she’d checked them. She checked not because she was interested, but because she didn’t dare think about her near future any longer. Across the top of one of her favorite websites was a large breaking news banner. Kari felt her heart catch.

us congress will move IMMEDIATLY to bring unlawful rebellion under control

Oh no.

Kari clicked on the banner, but there was no story yet. There didn’t need to be. The United States had essentially declared war on the Middle States. She rushed to the networks to see what people were saying. People from the Middle States were crying for war, whereas those from the coastal states were cheering Congress’s hard-line decision. Kari quickly flipped through her other favorite news sites again.

congress declares middle states to be in a state of unlawful rebellion against the union

peaceful resolution no longer an option, declaration of war expected soon

trade embargo and blockade of all goods solidified

There’s going to be a war.
The water in the bathtub was cold now.
There are no more ifs or maybes. The second Civil War is going to happen, and it’s going to start today. The official declarations of war will be sent any minute.
Kari refreshed the site to make sure they hadn’t been sent already.

us congress orders sympathizers and those known to be in willful rebellion to be taken into custody for holding in age-specific camps

Kari scrambled out of the bathtub in a panic, searching for clothes as quickly as she could. Things were much worse than she had believed them to be.
It’s not a mob that’s going to come for David; it’s the government.

Answer my calls, David!

Kari punched her bed in frustration. She’d pulled on the first clothes she’d found and had frantically started trying to contact David. He wasn’t answering. She checked the feed from the drones around his house. Nothing had changed.
They have to get out of there! What are they doing?

Kari ordered one of the drones to fly down the street to look for any trouble. When the drone made it to the street, Kari could clearly see a squadron of enforcement vehicles approaching and heading directly for David’s house.

Of course, enforcement must have known hours ago before the government released the information to the public. They’ve just been waiting for their chance to swoop in and tear a family apart.

Kari connected to the computers in her factory. With one command, she activated her hundred or so drones. They rose into the air together, as if they were all only a small piece of a single much larger drone. It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Kari quickly broke them into groups of about twenty drones and chose one drone from each group to be a lead drone. She checked the news sites one more time to be certain about what was happening.

middle staters to be held by united states in age-specific internment camps

Kari ordered one group of drones to break through the factory’s door with their stingers, and she ordered another group to destroy all the printers and recyclers in her factory. It was quick and painless; she didn’t have time to mourn the destruction of her hard work. David and his family were going to be unjustly arrested in a matter of minutes and separated from each other.

Within seconds, the room in the factory was blurred from Kari’s vision as the drones attacked all the hardware. A moment later, the smoking door burst open, and a swarm of drones rushed out and into the sky. Kari ordered the entire drone army to David’s house, which the drones immediately estimated would take six minutes.
I need to make them faster.
The last group of drones left her smoke-filled factory behind and chased after the others, leaving nothing but a burning mass of commercial-grade printers behind.

Kari looked around her room desperately for anything that could help her get a hold of herself.
It’s all happening too fast.
I’m not ready for this.
She felt like throwing up. The enforcement vehicles were only seconds away from David’s house. Kari’s notification light blinked; David was calling. She answered it as fast as she possibly could.

“Kari, why did you call me anonymously before if you were just going to call me like this now?” David’s voice was surprisingly soft and calm for the situation.

“David. Listen. You and your family have to run. Now!” Kari tried to focus on the conversation, but her mind was racing, looking for a way out of the situation.

“What? Kari, I thought we—”

“Stop. They’re almost to your house. You have to go now.” She didn’t have time to let him finish or argue.

“Who is? Those idiots from last week?” David asked in the most serious tone she had ever heard him use.
He hasn’t seen the news.

“The government! Haven’t you seen the news? They’re arresting known Middle State supporters and putting them in camps.”

“What?”

Kari checked the drone feed. Six vehicles had stopped in front of David’s house. Armed enforcement officers and a heavily armed SWAT team were filing out onto David’s front lawn.

“They’ve arrived, David! They’re outside your house! Get your family out the back.” Kari was yelling.

“Mom, Dad!” David yelled as he turned around. Someone else was yelling from somewhere else in his house. They had seen the enforcement officers. The call ended. David must have closed it without thinking as he raced to find his family.

The enforcement officers on the front lawn were activating a small swarm of drones. They also dropped metal disks on the ground that sprang to life and became metallic crawlers—spidery, mechanical creatures that were extremely effective at restraining humans. Out of the back of the large SWAT auto-van leaped a pair of cheetahs. They were impossible to outrun and hard to outgun. Kari surveyed the display of force as her body shook.
What a bunch of bullies. They brought enough firepower to arrest an entire neighborhood.
David and his family can’t run now; there’s no way they can outrun those cheetahs and crawlers.

Her drone army was still minutes away, but it was the only hope that David’s family had. She called David again; this time, he answered quickly. The screams and panicked noises from his side of the call made it hard to focus.

“David!” Kari yelled, hoping he would hear her over the chaos.

“Kari, where are they going to take us?” David asked as he tried to calm his scared siblings. Kari couldn’t see them, but they sounded like kids.
He has younger siblings.
She pictured them being subdued by crawlers and driven off in police cars as if they were criminals.

“Nowhere. They aren’t going to take you. Be ready to run when I tell you,” Kari said.

“Where are we supposed to go?” David asked. He was trying to sound brave for his brothers and sisters, but it was clear he was holding on to his composure by a thread. One of his younger sisters cried out below him and pulled at his arms, allowing Kari to catch a glimpse of her terrified face.
This can’t be happening.
Kari quickly pulled up the view from the drones she had left in the trees from last week. Their batteries were nearly dead, but Kari was able to see David’s parents exit the front door slowly with their hands in the air to greet the enforcement officers.

“Call your mom into our conversation. Now,” Kari said. She needed to hear what was going on; however, more importantly, she needed permission. David complied, and his mom joined the conversation a moment later. Fear was written across her face. From her audio feed, Kari could hear the enforcement officers telling them to remain where they stood.

“Mrs. Pratt,” Kari said, “they’re going to arrest you and your family and take you to age-specific internment camps. Indefinitely. I can stop them and allow you and your family to get away. This will make you fugitives, but you’ll be free and together.”

“What?” she asked quietly, keeping her voice low so the enforcement officers wouldn’t be able to hear.

“Don’t respond. Just try to stay calm. If you want me to help you, shake your hands in the air. But realize that this will turn your family into fugitives.”

“Er-r-r-r-r . . .” David’s mom sounded torn. Kari could only imagine having to make that decision on the spot while staring down heavy weaponry.

“Mom, you can trust her,” David said. The sound of his scared siblings was still clear in the background. Kari couldn’t fathom being forced to listen helplessly to her own children be so scared. From the drone’s camera feed, she could see David’s mother shake her hands in the air. Kari’s heart jumped. It was going to happen; she was going to fight for them.

“You need to stall them for a couple of minutes. Help is on the way.” Kari forced her voice to be calm. “When my drones come, take David and your kids out the back, and get as far from here as you can.” Her voice was steel, but her body was already covered in sweat. Her drone swarm was still two minutes away.
Come on!
Fly faster!

Kari heard the amplified voice of an enforcement officer in the background. “Jim and Stacy Pratt, by the order of the US Congress, you are being placed under immediate arrest with full suspension of all rights. You and your family are to come with us and will remain in custody until Congress no longer deems your interests a threat.”

“Why are you doing this?” Kari heard David’s dad shout.

“By the order of the US Congress. Will you comply?” The Pratts would be arrested for sure, but they would save themselves a considerable amount of pain by willingly giving themselves up.
Speaking through the amplifier, bringing cheetahs and a swat team—do they really think David’s family is that dangerous?

“But we haven’t done anything! We just want to be left alone!” David’s mom yelled. Kari cringed. Yelling into a call was painful for the person on the other side.

“This is your final chance. Will you comply?” Kari couldn’t be sure, but the enforcement officer sounded as if he didn’t want them to comply. She watched from the camera feed as the cheetahs and crawlers slowly encircled David’s parents. Kari could see the fear in David’s mom’s eyes and the sweat on her horrified face. She turned her head to look at her husband before closing her eyes. Kari could almost feel her squeezing her husband’s hands.

Kari maximized the view from the command drone in the tree, blocked out the view of David and his mom from the call, and centered the drone strategically above the middle of the house.

David’s father took a step forward and held his head high. “No. No, we will not comply.”

David’s parents cowered as electrical restraining bands shot out from the mechanical crawlers that circled them. Just before impact, Kari’s drones swooped down from where they had been hiding in the trees and intercepted the attacks. The restraining bands wrapped around the drones and crushed them in their electrical embrace.

David’s mom screamed.

The enforcement officers looked alarmed for a brief second before immediately raising their weapons.

Kari’s body stopped shaking.

The flock of one hundred freshly printed drones swarmed over the enforcement vehicles and into the air, separating David’s parents from the enforcement officers. Kari shot off orders to the drones as fast as her mind could go, ordering separate groups of drones to attack the cheetahs, crawlers, and police weaponry. Kari ordered the largest cluster of drones to protect David’s parents by any means possible.

“Now! Run!” Kari screamed and closed the call.

She watched her drones separate into packs and move toward their targets, already dodging energy blasts and bullets from the SWAT team and officers. The crawlers shot more restraining bands, and Kari watched as her drones dutifully intercepted the attacks, preventing them from hitting David’s parents as they scrambled backward toward their home.

Flashes and explosions were happening all around as Kari began to lose drones to enforcement fire. Several drones sacrificed themselves by absorbing shots that would have killed either of David’s parents instantly. One drone managed to subdue the closest crawler with its stinger. The crawler fizzled and fell to its side. The cheetahs took off running around the house.
They must have sensed people leaving.
Kari cursed and doubled the number of drones attempting to take down the cheetahs, pulling them away from other parts of the fight. While they had strength in numbers, the drones were having a hard time keeping up with the athletic robots. The cheetahs’ long, slender limbs carried them effortlessly across the ground as her drones struggled to keep pace.

David’s parents made it inside the house safely, which was impressive, given the battle outside. Their shoes were littered with tiny pieces of exploded drones, and the hot, metal shards burned into the soft heels. Kari muted the sound of the battle; she couldn’t focus amid the gunfire and explosions. Her vantage point from the original command drone was becoming less than optimal as smoke from the fight blocked her view. She was still able to see what appeared to be several SWAT team members dropping to the ground, their muscles unable to handle the electrical shock from the drones’ stingers.