Inner Workings

Inner Workings - Part 17

Through fuzzy autofocus and out-of-sync audio, the video showed three men in front of a smoldering car; an Indian man, a blond, and a man with longer brown hair. Doctor Devi, Louis, and Will. The column next to the screen showed a list of similar videos: Car blown away in California! Car bombed. Terrorists hate Hondas! Time for s'mores!

"I hate Youtube," said Cetz. "Could you pull these offline?"

"Sure, but Grant could do it faster and more permanently," said Olivia. "The people that uploaded the videos will just upload the files again if they've been removed. We could block their accounts to deter them."

"Grant's busy." Cetz waved to the other Surveillance Techs looming over his shoulder to look at the screen. "You got a whole Tech crew at your disposal. Get to it."

One of the Techs smiled crookedly. "We can troll?"

Olivia perked up, her frizzy hair standing on end as if charged by a Tesla coil, and the screen reflecting off her glasses with an eerie light.

"Just don't crash all of Youtube," said Cetz, picking up his headset again. Beni and Reese had already been assigned their tasks to help Will, Louis, and Massaru. He just needed to verify a few things with Grant. "And make sure you send copies of the vids to Reese and Beni with all the info you can on them. Call me when you're done."

Behind him, the dim alcove of screens and wide eyed Surveillance Techs echoed with malicious laughter.

"What the hell did I just unleash upon the internet?"

***

Rush hour in a taxi had taken Will well into San Francisco Bay area, but it had been slow going along the main roads. The driver had attempted to engage Will in a conversation but Will's silence prompted him to tune the radio to a basketball game. The fare numbers rolled ever higher and Will wondered just how much the Watch would reimburse him when he brought back the receipt. At least he was away from the airport.

But something nagged at him, worse than the stillness inside; like someone had aimed a magnifying glass to direct a pinpoint of sun at his neck.

Massaru's bag vibrated again.

Parvati must be going out of her mind, thought Will. He glanced around at the other cars stuck on the road with them. Through windows and gaps in traffic he could see shops and people walking on the sidewalk. And people on bikes going faster than the traffic. San Francisco should invest in more bike trails, than traffic wouldn't be so bad. And the pollution would be down considerably.

Will rolled his eyes as the phone went off again, a tinny beeping sound. Then he realized it was his own phone, not Massaru's. He grabbed it from his jacket pocket. No caller ID. The Watch.

"What's up?" said Will.

"You three are Youtube stars," said Cetz on the other line.

"What?" Will gaped. Did someone catch me swallowing Massaru and Louis on camera?!

"The explosion got caught on camera and uploaded."

"Oh." A relief. Mostly. Explosions still sucked.

"I got Surveillance taking the vids down, but it's likely that someone saw you on them. Especially Sandra and whoever she hired. Are you being followed?"

Will looked out the back window again, suspicious of every van. "I've been stuck in standing traffic for the last fifteen minutes, I can't tell."

"Where are you now?"

"In the downtown bay area. I was hoping to get a hotel room and wait it out until tomorrow."