The Unseen (11 page)

“Absolutely! You got a lead on something?”

“Not really,” Kari said. “And that’s the problem. I should be able to have a good idea of what’s going to happen next, but I don’t have a clue. Aside from the fact that it’s the Middle States’ turn to lose someone, I don’t have any leads.”

“And that’s strange?” David said. “Maybe they protect the obvious target well enough that they have to pick someone else to get.”

“You could be right, but we can’t be sure because we don’t even know how they are happening. We don’t have any indication that either side can stop the other from killing whomever they want.”

“If that’s the case, why wouldn’t the Middle States just wipe out all the leadership of the United States?”

“Exactly. But if they could stop the assassinations outright, they would have. So either they can’t, or it’s too expensive or difficult to protect everyone. But if they could stop the assassinations at all, both sides would have protected their executives.”

“Hmmm . . .” It gave David pause, which was good, because it had bothered Kari as well. “So what are you saying?” David asked.

“I don’t know what I’m saying.” Kari laughed at that sentence.
That’s true more often than it should be.
“But all the crime shows and movies I’ve ever watched make it clear that you need to have a body, a weapon, a motive, and a killer to solve the case. And all we have are bodies and two killers.”

“The motive is to win the war right? Or to get revenge?”

“That’s what everyone believes. But think about it—how did killing the president of the United States help the Middle States’ cause? How does killing a defense secretary in West Virginia help their cause?”

“Easy—destabilizes their military leadership.”

“Then why would they also assassinate a senator from Connecticut? Why would the Coastal States assassinate a prominent grassroots leader?”

“Better questions.” David said. He considered it for a minute and then smiled.

“What?” Kari said.

“You’re going to figure this out.”

“Are you serious? I just finished telling you why it didn’t make sense to me.”

“I know,” David said with one of those knowing smiles that infuriated her. “I just have a feeling.” Kari wanted to fight with him about that, but held it in. He loved when she did that, and she didn’t want him to have the satisfaction.

“So we don’t have a motive,” Kari said. “At least, we don’t have the entire motive. There’s more going on here. But even more perplexing is that we don’t know how these things keep happening. There’s never any information released, no public witnesses, and the investigations are all silent.”

“I guess we can’t stop them from happening if we don’t know how they are happening,” David said.

“Exactly!” Kari said, hoping the agreement would lead her to a brilliant point, but she stopped blank. She didn’t know where to go with things from here, like the trail had gone suddenly cold.

“If only we knew someone who could hack into the databases to find that information out . . .”

“Easier said than done. Besides, there is always the chance that they could track me down.”

“You’re trying to tell me that you don’t know how to properly cover your trail?”

“Well . . . I’d like to avoid it if I could. Besides, there’s no guarantee that I would find anything useful. Maybe they don’t release any details about how the victims are murdered because they don’t know how it’s happening!”

“They’d have to know how some of them are happening. I mean, there are only so many ways to get the job done.”

“Do you think they are all unique, or are they all carried out the same way?” It was a question that Kari had passed over in her mind before, but she hadn’t dwelled on it. Now that she asked it, though, it connected everything. Kari gasped.

“What is it?” David said, but Kari couldn’t respond. “Kari? Kari?”

“Oh, sorry,” Kari said. “But I think I just figured something important out.”

“No way—just now?”

“Yes. What you said led me to it. Thank you, David! You’re brilliant.”

“I mean, that’s what I’ve always been trying to tell you. I thought you would have believed me after that drone smack-down I gave you back in high school, but at least we’re both on the same—”

“There is a third party.” Kari cut his gloating off, which didn’t seem to bother him at all.

“What do you mean?”

“Someone is doing the assassinations, and it’s not either of the governments.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really! That’s the only way it makes sense. Someone is picking off specific people on both sides of the war. They are doing it the same way, which is why there are never any witnesses, and the assassinations can’t be prevented because the governments still don’t know how it’s happening.”

“Wow,” David said. “That’s incredible. Sounds like a crazy conspiracy theory, though.”

“Not you, too . . .” Kari said. David frowned.

“You’ve been talking to other people about this?”
Oops.

“A little,” Kari said trying to figure out how to explain herself. “Just mentioned it to a guy that I was working on trying to stop the civil war, and he thought I was crazy.”

“A guy?” David didn’t look pleased, and Kari felt that pit of guilt in her stomach reappear.

“I’ve been staying at a place for a few days, that’s all, and there are a couple of people I know here. It’s not a big deal.”

“I thought you were too worried about the government tracking you down to risk being around friends?” David’s voice sounded like his dad’s now.

“That’s true, but these people aren’t really friends. They are just acquaintances from online. They have the same problems, so we’ve teamed up for a little bit.” Kari tried to trace her logic to make sure there were no flaws.

“So you’ve teamed up with a guy, and you didn’t think that would be worth telling me?”

“David,” Kari said pleading for him to understand, “I would tell you if there was anything going on, but it’s nothing. Really.”

“OK.” David said. His sudden agreement caught her off guard. She had already been formulating her next defense and explanation. “I trust you, Kari.”

“Thanks,” Kari said, unsure of what to say next. There was a healthy pause that allowed Kari a moment to appreciate David’s trust.

“So what’s our mysterious third party’s motive?” David broke the pause, jarring Kari’s thought process back to where it was more comfortable.

“I’m not sure. Maybe they are contract killers. Freelance assassins that both parties are utilizing.”

“That makes sense.” They both thought it over, looking for issues. “But that doesn’t explain the senator.”

“Then what?” Kari asked.

“You’re the one who’s supposed to be figuring this out.”

“You’re the one who won that drone fight back in high school, right?”

“Granted,” David said with a smile. “China? Or some other country?”

“Possibly, but at this point I think the entire world wants this civil war to be over. It’s causing all sorts of problems with the global economy. But that still doesn’t explain the senator, unless she was anti-China.” Kari pulled up the late senator’s profile and scanned it for details about trade agreements or any other policies that would make her an enemy to a third party. Nothing stood out; in general, she was known for civil liberties, entitlements, and wanting to peacefully end the war.
“Not much in her profile, unless there are some people who really hate social security.”

“What about Patrick, that grassroots guy?”

“He was famous for wanting to reunite with the United States.”

“Hmm . . . doesn’t scream important military target, does it?”

“No, it doesn’t,” Kari said. “Scare tactic. Maybe they are trying to prove a point that no one is safe by hitting random targets. Or maybe how they do the killing is less controlled or precise, and those were the best options at the time.”

“Doesn’t seem to fit.”

“Right . . . but then, what does?”

“What about General Emil?” David asked. “He was the one who started all of this for us, right? As soon as he was gone, they came hunting for you. Anything interesting there?”

Kari pulled up Emil’s file and scanned it. He was old, the oldest general on either side. He was the top-ranking general for the eastern front, and it made perfect sense for the coasts to target him. She scanned his details again, especially articles and comments directly before he was murdered. The details and the quotes affected her in a way that the others hadn’t. She had known this man, if only briefly, but he had been kind to her. He had let her go free when many others would have tried to use her.

“Nothing pops up,” Kari said, her mood dampened by thinking of General Emil’s kindness to her. The last handful of articles started to call him “too old” for war. He was known as a moderate man, but it looked like people questioned his energy as the war picked up again. His heart wasn’t in the fighting. Kari scanned through the final information she had on him and found subtle hints to support her assertion. “Peace.”

“Peace?” David asked. Hearing him repeat it made everything click in her mind.

“Peace,” Kari said, stunned. “Everyone they targeted either wanted peace, or their death would prevent it. David, that’s it! The senator wanted to end the war, the grassroots guy wanted to end the war. General Emil was tired of fighting and wanted it to end! Whoever is doing the killing is doing it to keep the war from ending.”

“No way!”

“Think about it! The assassinations started happening when the war was winding down. Now, after each one, the fighting gets worse. David, someone is trying to keep this war going!”

“Now that’s a conspiracy I can get behind!” David was excited. “It adds up, Kari—you’re as smart as you are pretty!” Kari had too much adrenaline from piecing everything together to glare at him like he deserved. “But who is behind it? Who wouldn’t want the war to end?”

“That’s a long list,” Kari said. “Politicians benefiting from the fighting. War profiteers. Anyone shorting the stock markets, extremist groups—I mean, the list is extremely long.”

“But at least we can start to make a list—that’s a big step!”

“I think we are going to need more data after all.”

“Don’t leave a trail.”

“
Are you busy?”

Am I busy—what is that supposed to mean?

“
Nah
,” Kari responded to Joseth’s message after waiting an appropriate amount of time. She didn’t want him to think that she was just sitting around waiting for him to get in touch with her
.

The sitting around part was mostly true, but that’s what most people did at Valhalla as they hacked. At least that’s what they usually did; she wasn’t sure what was going on now. Ever since Motorcad had told her not to trust anyone, she had hardly left her room. However, she had spent the days wisely, working with David on figuring out how to stop the assassinations from happening. It had been fun to work with David so closely, although they still weren’t able to figure out the missing pieces of the puzzle.

She had started hacking government databases reluctantly at first, but now she cut into each one with vigor. Every time she cracked into the classified information, there was hope that it would help solve their mystery. Unfortunately, what few leads the information gave them quickly ran cold. The data she really wanted to get at was beyond her reach for now, but she was hopeful she would find a way to hack into it soon.

“Good.”
Joseth’s message appeared a second later.

Guess that means he’s coming to meet me
. Kari walked to the bathroom to make sure she was presentable. She barely had the chance to look at herself in the mirror before she heard a knock at her door.
Either he walks really fast, or he was on his way here already. Doesn’t matter—I have no reason to try to impress him anyway.

“Hey,” Kari said while opening the door. Joseth stood there on the other side, looking sheepish, but carrying a small bouquet of what looked like hand-picked flowers from the grounds. He held it out to her with an awkward smile.
He’s five years older than me and the best hacker in the world, and he’s still shy around girls. Guys are so weird.

“These are for you,” Joseth said. “I just wanted to apologize for what happened the other night.” Kari accepted the flowers and gave them a quick smell. They were fresh and pretty, but didn’t smell like much. Kari had never found flowers to smell good, but she sniffed them anyway.

“Oh, you didn’t need to do that,” Kari said, gesturing for him to come inside. He didn’t move.

“Actually, I was hoping you’d come with me,” Joseth said.

“Oh, all right.” Kari glanced over to Lars and found him happily sleeping in his mini-Valhalla in the corner, so she stepped outside. Joseth led her through Valhalla’s ornate halls and down into the printer-filled basement.

“I wanted to show you something. Consider it to be part of my apology.” Joseth stopped in front of a printer, and they both watched as it started some fine printing. Kari leaned in close, but it was impossible to tell what was going on.

“What is it?”

“Right now it’s printing a nanobot printer,” Joseth said. “It’s hard to tell with human eyes, but if you could see like me you could see the steps it’s going through.”

“You can see better than normal?” Kari said. She was infinitely more interested in the nanobots than Joseth’s apparent super vision, but it was the question that came out.

“Yeah, it’s sort of like having a pair of camera lenses instead. I can zoom in to micro levels. It’s not as useful as you might think—really only good for bird watching and printing tiny robots.”
The printer stopped printing, and a tiny little cube rested on its tray.

“So that’s it? That’s a nanobot printer?”

“Yup,” Joseth said. “But it’s not ready yet. You see, printers can only print down to such a fine-detail grain, as I’m sure you’re familiar with, so there is a post-printing process that takes place. My tiny little printer here takes some time to refine its printing capabilities down to a more suitable level through some microscopic friction welding procedure. It’s the hardest part of the entire process.”