Devious Origins

CHAPTER 25

The rest of the planning session was subdued and tense, but we hammered out a plan. We agreed to meet back at the lair at 8:30 the next morning, and then called it a night. I would have to blow off my morning Computer Architecture class to do it, but I assured them I would be there. There was no way I was going to let them down.

I slept fitfully, but I eventually did sleep. My dreams were turbulent and disjointed. I remembered running. Sometimes it seemed like I was chasing someone. Other times I was being chased. Dee with a cold look in her eyes. Tilly asking me a question I couldn't quite hear. Homeless Joe warning me about demons. I woke feeling like there was something urgent I needed to do, something I needed to tell everyone, but I couldn't think what. I rubbed the weariness from my eyes and looked at the clock. Only a half hour before my alarm would go off. Might as well get up.

My stomach was too unsettled for breakfast. I showered, grabbed some hot tea from the cafeteria, and caught an early bus to the factory. Dee was already there and dressed for the mission. Her outfit was similar to the lawyer disguise she had used at the courthouse, with subtle differences. She looked less glamorous, more... clerical. The bare concrete and brick of the lair begged to be filled with modular carpeting and cubicle walls to match her new look.

"I see DualCore isn't here yet," I observed.

"No, and they won't be," she answered, "They're working their end from their own lair. Better equipment, they said. I've never been there, but I imagine it's like something from the Matrix... all wires and tech and walls of displays. We'll meet Liz on the way to pick up my ID badge, but then she'll head back to help her brother."

"Got it. Anything we need to do before we head out?"

"Yes, help me fit the cameras. I want to make sure they're aimed correctly and that the processor box doesn't show."

We concealed the cameras in a costume jewelry hair pin, ran the wires down through her hair, and hid the battery and processor box inside her jacket collar. We paired the camera processor with her iPhone via Bluetooth and verified the video from both cameras. I then logged both our phones into a video streaming service that would allow her to share the video with my phone.

"How's your data plan?" I asked, "this could burn through a couple of gigabytes before we're done."

"I'll survive a few overcharges. Let's get going."

I set the video app to reduce the resolution to the shared video stream but made sure it would store a higher resolution copy locally. "OK, that should do it. I'm ready to go if you are."

We rocketed away from the factory on Martin with me hanging on for dear life as always. The scooter had been reassembled, but it still showed some scars on its paint job. Mechanically, though, it seemed sound enough. If anything, it was faster.

We screeched to a halt in front of the Intergalactic. Dee sent a text message from her phone, and Liz emerged from the coffee house minutes later carrying two large coffees in travel mugs and a small manila envelope.

"I thought you might need some mission fuel," she said as she handed them over.

"You are a saint," Dee declared as she grabbed one of the mugs and took a big sip. "Oh yeah... that's the stuff."

"You want to be alone with that?" Liz joked. "How's the ID look? It's best I could do given the limited time."

Dee tore open the envelop and pulled out the badge. "This is great," she declared, "it looks just like the real thing."