Chapter 55 – Bandwidth Surfing
Wednesday, July 29, 2308
The next day Ross, Ash and Geoff climbed out of the transport outside an upscale park in a high class business / residential district.
"Oh, this is great," Geoff said, looking at all the trees and smiling.
"What, being out in nature?" Ross asked.
"No, the bandwidth, it's thick out here."
"This is not nature," Ashley mumbled, referring to the floating structure they stood on.
"Wow," Geoff was amazed, grinning as he took a seat on a nearby park bench. "Ash, you brought it?"
Ashley patted her back pocket.
"We can stay out here all day!" Geoff laughed.
"No, we can't. Stay on task, Geoffrey." Ross didn’t even smile.
"Copy that, stay on target, Gold Leader." Geoffrey grinned.
Ashley watched an older Chinese man practice Tai Chi across the park. He seemed absorbed in what he was doing, as if nothing in the world could disturb him. Ashley was envious of his moment of peace. She hoped someday she would reach his esteemed age and find a park of her own.
Two men walked along the sidewalk, distracting her from the old man. Ashley watched them closely. They weren't mercenaries or government agents, just executives taking lunch. Ashley watched them, and the young woman walking opposite.
Ashley watched all the people moving through the park. Ross watched too. Geoffrey sat between them, leaning back, his eyes closed.
An hour or so later, Geoff took several deep breaths, then spoke in a whisper, “You have to keep it. Keep it safe. There is another. It wants to destroy it. The other, it’s pure evil. It wants to kill us and destroy the Micronix.”
“What are you talking about?” Ashley asked, quietly.
“Dad had it. He had both of them. But he doesn’t have it now. It’s out here and it’s looking for us. It is The Metachron.”
Ashley shook her brother by the shoulder. “Geoff, Geoff. Wake up.”
Geoff blinked awake. “What? What happened?”
“Yeah, what happened? What were you just saying?” she asked.
“I wasn’t saying anything.”
Ross glanced at Ash.
“I’m hungry,” Geoff said.
After a long and fruitless morning, the three of them headed across the street for lunch at a local restaurant called Four ‘n Twenty. The logo featured a blackbird breaking free from a pie; Ash found it morbidly disturbing.
They talked about where Geoff was looking, and how to look more effectively, but by the time lunch arrived, Geoff had begun complaining of a headache.
Geoff remained distant during the meal, distracted. Ashley suspected he was still in the network somewhere. Suddenly his eyes rolled back in his head, and he crashed into the table.
His nose bled, but it was unclear whether that was due to his collision with his lunch, or if something more ominous was responsible.
Ross paid in cash and got them out of the restaurant as quickly as possible. After an extra hour of cruising the freeways behind tinted glass, they returned to Saint Vincent’s.
Von Kalt’s phone rang, he answered it and was taken aback. It was Director Stanwood, but it was his location that caused his shock.
“What’s the situation, Deputy?” Stanwood asked, rather formally.
After visiting Bergstrom, Stanwood had pulled forty agents from the bureau and twenty each from DHS, ATF and ICE. He left Von Kalt to manage the search operation by traditional methods, until Bergstrom’s Wolf Pack was ready.
At the restaurant where Ross and the Fox children had eaten, Von Kalt and the ‘bullet catchers’ as Bergstrom had referred to them, had locked the surrounding area down. The agents were thick around Von Kalt; they interrogated witnesses in teams, examined everything and bagged the plates and silverware from their target trio’s table.
“The boy’s game stream account came online. He was here, but it looks like someone else was looking for him too, he tussled with a reflected security daemon and got himself reset,” Von Kalt explained.
“I trust that’s a mistake you won’t be making yourself,” Stanwood said, though it was unclear as to whether he actually understood his deputy.
“Director Stanwood, Sir?” Von Kalt asked, ignoring Stanwood’s barb.
“Yes?” Stanwood replied.
“Why are you in the capitol?” Von Kalt asked, recognizing the office.
“This isn’t the only challenge facing the Republic, Deputy.”
“Of course not, sir,” Von Kalt replied.
“It looks like you’re on top of things there. Did they leave anything?”
“No. Someone noticed that they took a napkin, but that’s not the same as leaving a hotel pen or a book of matches, is it?”
Stanwood gave a short, uninterested laugh.
“We were within a couple of minutes. They were here. I can feel them.”
“About that…” Stanwood paused for a moment.
Von Kalt snapped out of his self-indulgent sixth–sense and returned his attention to his superior.
“Bergstrom certainly sensed the presence of your amplifier. He’s creating a device that can track it. He says it has something to do with hearing smells and smelling sounds, if that makes any sense.”
“Perfect sense, sir.”
“How’s that?”
“The amplifier saturates an area with particles. Those particles are inhaled and absorbed through the skin. Then messages are reflected across the particles, like a chain of mirrors. At the same time, the crystals, it’s not a metal, it’s a crystal, the crystals all in contact with each other and they also reflect high-frequency oscillation, controlling the direction of the reflected light. It uses opposing forces to stay balanced, the way a helicopter does.”
“That’s fantastic, Deputy. As I said, I’ve spoken to Bergstrom. He’s going to contact you when the wolves are ready.”
“Will you be returning then?”
“Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it.”
“They were here, Sir. I’ll catch them. You have my word.”
“Oh, now that you mention it, Bergstrom has a condition for his assistance. You need to be aware of this. When you finally make good on your promise, Bergstrom gets the girl. He wants, as he said, significant amounts of DNA from both, but I agreed that he can have the daughter.”
Von Kalt was surprised to find this didn’t bother him as much as it might have in the past.
”Also, the parameters on this case have been expanded to include the Black Willow operative group; namely Major Kelton Ross. However, anyone suspected to be giving them material aid, must be considered an accomplice. All suspects are considered extremely dangerous and cleared for Dead or Alive protocol.”
“Understood, sir.” Von Kalt nodded.
“That is all, Deputy.” Stanwood disconnected the call.
Von Kalt smiled and squeezed the Metachron in his hand.
Geoff was glued to the TV, watching footage of the park. After a while, Ashley realized there was no newscaster. She asked him what channel he was watching. Geoff explained he’d hacked into the police band. Ash sat with her brother and watched the footage of the local citizens being interrogated.
Von Kalt had flooded the restaurant and park with agents. Everyone for three blocks had been identified and questioned.
The hair on Ashley’s arms stood up as she remembered the man doing Tai Chi. She’d seen him in the library too, staring at her, just before the agents jumped them. He was nowhere to be seen in the police footage, but Ashley was sure it had been the same man. Something about the coincidence disturbed her immensely.
Despite all her extra stretching and practice, Ashley felt agitated. A storm had come in a couple of hours earlier, but it was more than that.
Geoff's reaction to the Micronix had been troubling. Her initial reactions felt justified. The prototype was not a toy; it was not something to be casual with.
She had no d
esire to use the mysterious hunk of metal, either as a weapon or a mental computer connection. Yet somehow, having it with her relaxed her. It had been her father's, and for better or worse, it was all that existed of his legacy.
After dinner, Ross seemed weird, nervous. "Well, I think Geoff may have tripped some alarms somewhere."
Ashley's brow furrowed over her bright blue eyes. He had no idea Geoff continued to peruse the intelligence files over the Micronix device.
Geoff took a deep breath.
"From what I understand, we dodged them by about two stop lights. The whole park was crawling with cops, mercs and feds. They had two fistfights and three arrests, just among each other. Dragged everyone out of the restaurant and took them downtown. Then went and found everyone else who had lunch there and brought them in too. Always pay in cash."
"This is bad, huh?" Ashley asked.
"I don't know," Ross answered. He looked at Geoff. "How bad is it?"
"Well. It's taken me a little to put it together, but I think it's maybe, pretty bad. They've got bounties out on us, eight actually. They're calling you a kidnapper, and they're offering five hundred thousand for you, dead or alive, with an additional bonus of four hundred for each of us, if they bring us in alive."
"That's over a million dollars," Ashley said.
"We need to know who is offering that kind of scratch," Ross said.
"The Angel City Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff, State of California Police, FBI, ICE, NSA, DOD and the ATF, all reporting to the office of the National Intelligence Director," Geoff replied.
"We can't go after everyone,” Ross said.
“What about just the last guy?” Ashley asked. “The National Intelligence Director?”
“Who gave you the nose bleed?" Ross asked Geoff.
"All he said was, This is Eel, and then, bam and I was down."
"The Electric Eel, damn. I’ve heard of that guy. I know the FBI has full-time operators hardwired into their defense grid, so he just thought he was shutting down your system. How could he know he was shorting-out our head?
"Anyhow, the documents are coming in today. So I want you guys to be ready to go as soon as I get back with them."
"What about the storm?" Ashley asked.
"Visibility is for shit, radio comms are all fouled up, you couldn't ask for better weather; the Gods are smiling on us," Ross answered.