Chapter 33
When we got within ten miles of Aberdeen’s AVway exit, we could see the lights of the drones monitoring us from above.
At three miles, Aberdeen’s tall buildings loomed larger.
At one mile, the bright lights of the enforcers became obvious.
Byte was slowing the cars, but we were still going fast enough that if the plan didn’t work, we’d be bugs on that barricade’s windshield.
The roadblock wasn’t in place yet—they allowed two food transport AVs through and then a mesh gate began to close.
We’d never make it through before the gate closed, and we weren’t trying to.
We’d loaded the pilot car with every explosive Ron and Frankie had.
We didn’t even have to stop to place the explosives—Byte had slowed down enough so the two cars could drive, side by side, while Ron and Frankie placed their bags gently onto the seats of the pilot car.
They activated a motion grenade and dropped it into a cupholder.
Byte crunched the numbers and seemed to think it would be enough.
The rest of us were keeping our fingers crossed.
If we got through the barricade, the next step was to get to a parking ramp that Andra had hacked previously and freeze the camera feeds. That would give us time to change clothes, change vehicles, and continue with our mission.
“Hold on to your seats, we’re either about to go go or go boom ,” Andra said.
We’d backed off an extra hundred feet from the pilot car, but we were all still traveling fast enough to be killed if we struck the barricade.
Beyond the gate, patrol vehicles parked along both sides of the road, their enforcers standing outside, all holding high-power blaster rifles and watching, expecting us to stop and they’d shoot us.
Viktor Garris’s car hit the barricade at ninety miles per hour, exploding in blinding light and sound that rumbled the ground.
The explosion was bigger than I ever imagined it would’ve been, and I was suddenly worried that we were going to burn to death in the flames.
As the second vehicle, we entered the fire at full speed with the scraping sound of metal on metal along the right side of the car.
We burst through the flames without feeling the heat and flew past the enforcers on either side.
If it wasn’t for the fire and the guns, it would’ve almost looked like a high-speed parade.
Only none of the enforcers were standing.
Several of their vehicles had been blown up in the explosion, and all the officers were either flat on the ground from the shock wave or on their knees, protecting their eyes and faces.
Our four AVs zipped by them and were three blocks away before any of them had recovered enough to give chase.
The drones recovered much faster. Those that were far enough away from the blast and weren’t destroyed gave chase.
Aberdeen’s curvy streets kept us from going fast enough to lose the drones.
One drone fired, and a smoking hole appeared through the windshield and through the floorboards.
“They’re using military drones,” Talon said, sounding nervous for the first time since I met him.
The car swerved to narrowly miss another shot.
“If they hit the batteries, mission’s done,” Talon pointed out.
“Byte, Andra, can either of you hack them?” I asked.
“Driving four AVs using evasive maneuvers has maxed my processing capabilities,” Byte said.
“Maybe? I might be able to snag them if they stay in range long enough,” Andra said, her fingers tapping wildly in the air as she stared forward through her glasses.
“If they stay in range long enough, you don’t have to try to snag them because we’ll be dead,” Mitch said.
“Work fast,” I said as if that would help Andra. The car swerved again, and a laser hit the front right corner of the AV, shaving off an inch.
“I’m picking up three drones up there, but boy do those buggers move fast,” Andra said.
“This vehicle is the target of roughly half the drones’ gunfire,” Byte said.
“Standard procedure. They take out the lead, and the others will crash into us,” Talon said.
“Almost there…” Andra said, staring at whatever screen was displayed on her dark lenses. She grabbed at the air. “Got one!”
Above us, one drone veered suddenly, smashing into a second. Both went tumbling to the ground. The remaining drone fired, and the back AV exploded. I gasped, turning around only in time to see the vehicle hit the ground in flames.
“Who was in that one?” Mitch asked.
“I don’t know. I didn’t see who got in which cars,” I said.
“Dale, Haig, and Jess are passengers in that AV. It’s completely offline,” Byte reported.
Mitch slumped back in his seat. “I’ve known Haig and Jess for years.”
“Sorry, buddy,” Talon said.
The AV swerved so aggressively, I almost got whiplash.
“We are within seven blocks of our destination. We need to lose video surveillance,” Byte said.
“Working on it,” Andra grumbled. She made a grabbing motion in the air and evidently missed because she cursed.
The drone fired again. The AV behind us screeched to a stop, its hood smoking. The doors opened, but the vehicle then exploded.
“No,” I watched in horror and clamped my mouth shut.
The drone then got closer to us. I considered closing my eyes so I wouldn’t have to watch my own death.
“Got you, sucker,” Andra announced. The drone’s trajectory changed, and it flew into the side of a building. Smiling, she looked at us, then frowned. “What’d I miss?”
“The drone got in a lucky shot,” Talon said.
Her features fell. “Damn it, I was too slow.”
“Not your fault,” I said. She’d been working at a feverish pace. It was a miracle she’d been able to catch those drones at all.
“We are entering the ramp. Andra, please apply your program to the building’s security systems,” Byte announced.
Andra gulped and then stared ahead through her glasses, her fingers making a flurry of symbols in the air. “I had it ready to launch before we left. I’m connecting now… got it. I’m freezing the ramp’s feed.”
Byte drove the two remaining AVs into the underground ramp of a five-story white building with a huge sign called Sigil Avenue Mall. We parked in the darkest, most remote corner of the parking garage, though it’d be inevitable that patrols would find the vehicles within an hour or two at most.
We jumped out just as the rest of our team—Tommy, Vera, and Nina—emerged from their vehicle.
Mitch rushed forward. “Vera.” They embraced. “Haig and Jess…”
“I know,” she said. “And we lost Susita from the Crawl faction and Ron and Frankie from the terraformers in that last hit.”
My stomach turned sour. That left seven of us—half the number who’d begun the mission, and the mission hadn’t really even started yet. Who were we to think we could take on TerraSoft’s enforcement agency, let alone the corporation that owned this planet?
“We need to keep moving,” Vera said. “These AVs will be found soon enough. We’ll cut over to the main entrance, and Byte can hack a taxi van big enough to hold us all.”
“We’re close enough to walk; it’s probably faster,” Talon said, then he gestured to his blood-soaked Dreswick clothes. “We just can’t go in looking like this.”
Andra pointed up. “We are under a mall, after all, and I’ve got control of their camera feeds. But my program’s not robust enough to take on the entire security system. Byte can do that, right?” She turned to me.
Byte appeared with a look like a rat had eaten her dinner. Unfortunately, deploying the explosives changed the parameters of the mission. Success isn’t possible unless I make a few changes to my source code, which I need to go into standby mode for, so I can’t help Andra.
“Wait, you’re not updating on me now,” I warned.
Andra gasped.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Talon griped.
It’s not an update; it’s a reconfiguration.
It will require only twenty-two minutes, and it is essential for our survival based on the new parameters of the mission.
Currently, my source code is separate from your mind, and we pass information back and forth as needed.
In the reconfiguration, I will fully merge my source code into you.
“That sounds… no, Byte, I don’t give you my permission to do that,” I said.
I’m sorry, Cal, but it’s necessary for our survival, and survival is priority. The words were Byte’s, but it was still Lyra’s voice, and I could almost see her telling Byte to do whatever it took to keep me safe.
“There has to be another way,” I said. I wanted to survive, too, but what Byte was talking about terrified me. I already had her in my head. What the hell difference would a “reconfiguration” do that she couldn’t do already?
I’m sorry, Cal.
We didn’t have time for this. If it really was the only way we’d survive the next few hours, then I’d figure out the details with Byte later… assuming she was right and we could survive.
I understand this is inconvenient, but I estimate that patrols will not come across the AVs for eighty-five minutes. It is the best time we’ll have for the reconfiguration.
I glanced at the others. “Byte can’t help; she has to make some changes in her code before we get to the tower.”
“And when is it going to do that?” Talon asked.
My body went weak, and I fell to my knees. I caught myself with one hand to keep from face-planting the concrete. Even though Byte warned me, I hadn’t really expected her to start when she did since there’d been no familiar warning ping.
“Ah, so right now then,” Talon cursed through a moan.
Andra eyed me. “How long will you be down?”
“Twenty-two minutes,” I said as Talon put an arm around my waist and helped me up.
Andra frowned as she worked out something through her screen. “The mall closes in thirty-six minutes. Since we can’t hack the security systems, we need to get upstairs before they close and buy some clothes. Talon, do you?—”