Freelancer (19 page)

“I hope you trust me when I say that,” Kari said, trying hard to emphasize that they should trust her.

“OK, that’s enough,” the lead enforcement officer said. He wasn’t able to follow what was going on, so he ended the conversation early.

“We’ll always trust you, Kari,” her dad said as the enforcement officers lifted Kari from her chair and pulled her from the room.

“I love you!” Kari said over her shoulder as she was pulled out the open door into the colorless hallway. She heard her parents try to yell the same thing back before the door was closed behind her, cutting off all sound.

“What did you and your mother talk about at breakfast?” the lead enforcement officer asked.

“I’m sorry, that’s personal,” Kari said. She saw his hand coming a split second too late as he slapped her hard across her face.

“What did you and your mother talk about at breakfast?” he asked again.

“About how to make decisions,” Kari said. “She said to always think about family before you make a decision.” She braced for another slap.

“Why did you want your mother to trust you in that regard?” the guard asked, his hand slowly pulling back for another possible slap.

“Because they’re going to be very upset if they ever learn I’m designing weapons,” Kari said desperately, shying away from him. That was probably true; her parents wouldn’t like that at all. “I just want them to know I’m doing it to protect them.” The officer studied her for a moment, gazing into her soul to see if she were telling the truth.
Believe me, believe me, believe me . . .

“Let’s go,” the officer said. The two other officers who had escorted her to the meeting pushed her forward down the long, silent hall as the abusive officer once again led the way.

I just hope my parents meant it when they said they trust me. They don’t understand everything that’s happened, and they might never understand it, but I hope they know I’ve been trying to do only what would make them proud.

“Kari?” The voice was distant but familiar.

“Kari?” The voice asked again, this time a little more insistent.
Udarh!

“Yeah, Udarh?” Kari asked, speaking out loud so her voice could transmit through her mind chip to wherever he was watching her.

“Are you OK?” he said. He sounded concerned, which puzzled her.

“Yeah, of course. Why?”

“Well, you haven’t done anything in a few minutes. Everything just . . . froze.”

“Oh. I must have dozed off,” Kari said. She checked the time: only 3:30 p.m.
This is what happens when you don’t let me listen to music while I code.

“I see,” Udarh said. “You’ve never fallen asleep while working before.”

“I haven’t been sleeping well,” Kari said, using the first excuse that came to her mind.

“Hmm. Our records show that you’ve been sleeping plenty and on a consistent schedule.”

Kari cursed to herself.
I’ve got to be more careful. If they realize I stayed up all night without them noticing, it’s over.

“I don’t know what it is, then,” Kari said, trying her best to sound perplexed and tired. The tired part came naturally.

“I do,” Udarh said. “It’s all that stress this deadline has given you. You need a few days to rest.”

“Agreed,” Kari said. “But for now, I’m awake. Pinch me if I slip off again.” She focused on her development environment; she would review her code another time. After being satisfied with what she was looking at, she opened a new simulation and dropped the drone into it, as well as a stationary cheetah. She didn’t bother loading herself into the simulation because it wasn’t necessary at this stage. She ordered her drone to attack the cheetah and attempt to take control of it.

She watched as the drone scanned the cheetah, searching for a weak point. As soon as it found one, a vicious-looking spear extruded from the front of the drone, which then launched itself at the cheetah’s weak point, ramming it with a frightful amount of force. Right before it struck, Kari saw the drone heat the tip of the spear’s point to a bright red. The drone impaled the cheetah, driving its spear into its target’s joint. Kari watched eagerly as the drone pulsed, expending a large amount of energy to hack into the software of the cheetah and try to take control of it.

Come on . . .
A second later, Kari was notified of a new device available for her to command. The cheetah was now fully under her control.

“It worked!” Udarh said. Before Kari could celebrate, the cheetah dropped off-line. A small trail of smoke rose from where the drone had stabbed it in the shoulder joint. The cheetah slumped and powered off. A moment later, her drone went off-line and emitted its own puff of smoke.

“Oh no,” Udarh said. “I cursed it.”

“The hacking algorithm was too aggressive. It needs work.” Kari sighed. “Lots of work.”

“Well, by my count, we have a little over thirty-two hours,” Udarh said. It was obvious he was trying to be encouraging, but listing the few hours she had left was not helping.

“Let’s get back to the code,” Kari said as she closed the simulation.

Eight hours later, Kari dejectedly called it a night. Udarh had spent the entire evening with her as they worked to finish the drones in time for tomorrow night’s deadline. Kari enjoyed his company; he was infinitely better than the empty-headed, generic monitors she was usually left with. Eventually, she’d allowed Udarh to talk her into getting some rest. He was a firm believer that she was pushing herself too hard and that it wasn’t healthy. She had made a point of making an obvious resistance before eventually conceding.

Kari was intolerably tired already, but there would be no sleep tonight.
No sleep for me, and almost none for everyone else.
She executed her looping code, playing back the same sleep recording she had been using the past couple of nights while preparing for tonight. She quickly stepped into her development environment and pulled up the project she had been working on all day with Udarh. She also pulled up the version she had been working on secretly for the past two nights.

Now I’ve just got to put the two together.
The version she had been working on at night had solved the problem of the large control spear by creating five much-smaller ones. They were long enough to pierce armor up to an inch thick, which meant they wouldn’t be able to give her control of the heaviest tech unless the drone were able to find an exposed weak spot. She merged the project with the one she had been working on during the day, which had the more refined hacking software.

Kari checked the clock: it read a little past midnight. She hesitated, nearly stepping into a simulation to test her latest designs.
There isn’t time. These will take hours to print as is. If I don’t make my move tonight while security is lighter, it’ll be too late.

It felt wrong not to test her code. It was too risky, but she had no choice. She took control of the security system and quickly hacked into the enforcement printers in a distant part of the building. To her relief, the rooms were empty. She cancelled all the current projects and sent the printers the designs for her hacking drones. Two dozen printers were available, and all started printing her hacking drones at once.

Now, while those are printing . . .
Kari pulled up the security cameras for all the enforcement locations nearby and methodically started searching. She had a hunch that David and his family were being held somewhere near, although she wasn’t sure she was going to find them.
They’re the reason I’m here. I’m not going to break out and leave them in prison. And I’m breaking out tonight.

Kari found David’s family after a short while. A large detainment camp of Middle Staters was located about fifteen miles inland. Kari needed only a few minutes to hack into their security system and add it to the growing list of systems she controlled. She quickly checked the family’s files and scanned them for details. They had been arrested several miles from their home for resisting arrest and working with a known enemy of the state. She figured that was referring to her.
Just what I thought. Henderson was ready and waiting for them to run straight into his hands after he had reason to arrest my parents and me.

She found David first. He was locked in a solo cell where the teenage boys were being kept. His younger brother wasn’t too far away. Their prison seemed to be much more lax about the level of security and entertainment. David even had a television he was allowed to watch. Kari thought he was still awake, but the poor-quality prison cameras made her unsure.
Let’s hope he’s got a little insomnia in him.

Kari turned his television on and off several times in a row. David sat up in his bed and stared at it, bewildered.
Yes!
Kari overrode the video feed to display the text that she wanted him to see.

“David, it’s Kari. I don’t think we’ll make it to homecoming, but I’m still going to break you out.”

Kari left the text on the screen long enough for him to read it. She couldn’t see well enough to be sure, but she thought he was smiling.

“Your brother is down the hall and to the right. Get him first. Your sisters should be in cellblock F. When things happen, find your sisters and go to the front of the building.”

Kari closed the camera feed from David’s cell and moved on. She had lots of work to do tonight and only a few hours to get it all done.

Kari had been checking the status of the drones in the printing room every minute or so. If someone were to walk in and discover unauthorized devices being printed, her plans would be ruined.
If anything goes wrong—and I mean anything—then this plan isn’t going to work.
The lack of margin of error made her feel insecure.
The drones were only seconds away from being finished. Kari’s heart was already beating rapidly, but she was sure it would increase considerably once the drones were ready.

Kari checked the cameras in her parents’ rooms one last time. They were both asleep in their beds. She looked at her parents sadly, knowing that if everything went wrong tonight—or even according to plan—she might never see them again.
I’m too young to be saying good-bye to my parents. I’m too young for any of this. All I wanted was for families to be left alone.

The security system alerted Kari that people were approaching her position. She casually flipped to the camera view from the hall outside her room, expecting to see a janitor or patrol guard going about his duties. Down the hall, at least six enforcement officers were approaching her room in a hurry. A closer look revealed that one of them was Henderson himself.
Not good.
As they got closer, Kari noticed Udarh walking behind them. He was considerably smaller than the others, so she wasn’t surprised that she hadn’t noticed him at first.
Not good. Not good!

Kari flipped to the printing room just as the drones were finishing. She activated them, causing them to fly from where they had finished printing and assemble in a swarm. She ordered them to a nearby room where much of the heavier enforcement equipment was kept, including a half-dozen cheetahs. She also ordered the printers to complete another round of drones.

Kari used the security system to open all the doors that separated the drones from where the cheetahs were stored. The hacking drones shot out of the printing room and headed for the equipment room, flying through open doors across the facility.
I’m in big trouble now. The drones might not even work! Control yourself; you’re supposed to be asleep!

The door to Kari’s cell opened, and she heard the group of enforcement personnel file into the room. Each of their footprints sounded like a judge’s heavy gavel slamming during a sentencing.

“You can stop pretending to be asleep now, Miss Tahe,” Henderson said. It wasn’t the fake-friendly voice Kari had been hoping for. For whatever reason he was here, he meant business. Kari acted like she was startled awake by his voice; she reached to rub her eyes and tried to stress her confusion.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“The question is, what
you
are doing here?” Henderson asked.

“Our monitoring shows no change in brain activity, sir. Our readings say she is still soundly asleep,” Udarh said, staring absently forward. He was overriding his vision with the monitoring system that was watching Kari’s brain activity.
Traitor!
Kari hadn’t thought about turning off her looping program when they came storming into the room. There would be no bluffing now.

“You sound very awake for someone whose brain is sound asleep, Miss Tahe,” Henderson said. His words were quick and pointed. “So please enlighten us as to what you do while you pretend to be asleep.”

Kari was trapped. Somehow, despite being kept in a solitary cell, she had never really felt trapped until now. Her mind raced, searching for excuses, something that would stall them for at least a few minutes. Nothing came to mind immediately, and she stared back at them in near horror.

“Perhaps your readings were wrong, Mr. Pental,” Henderson said. “Kari still seems to be very much asleep.”

“I . . . I just got tired of you always monitoring my brain,” Kari said.
That’s the best you could come up with?

“I see,” Henderson said. “Then those unauthorized requests to access your parents’ cameras just happened to coincide with your brain exhibiting a clear looping pattern?”

Kari gave Udarh a dangerous look; he must not have been overriding all his vision, for he correctly interpreted her sense of betrayal. He half shrugged, half shrank away in response to her glare. Kari wouldn’t be able to talk her way out of this predicament, so she checked the hacking drones. They had made it to the room that contained the cheetahs and other equipment. She ordered the drones to hack into the cheetahs and control them.
Even they might not be fast enough to save me.

“I worry about my parents, is that a crime?” Kari said.

“No,” replied Henderson, “but hacking the facilities’ cameras and whatever else you’ve been doing is. After all I’ve done, you’ve betrayed me again. I’m afraid I’m selective with my friends, and you have proved to me for the final time I should not be treating you as a friend.” He waved the guards forward.