Chapter 14 #2
With a quick hop, Archie raised his right foot and landed on his left.
“Good,” Stevie said. “By the time I’m finished, I want Archie to be able to jump from basketball hoop to basketball hoop across the entire length of a gymnasium floor as if he were dancing.”
Kendra looked at her as if she might be joking. “Is that even possible?”
“It will be.”
“I like your confidence.”
“Take a look at the robots on YouTube. The things they can do are almost at that level. I’m just pushing the boundaries a little further.” She met Kendra’s gaze with a quiet serenity. “If I don’t challenge myself, what’s the point?”
Kendra smiled. There was nothing obnoxious or braggadocious in Stevie’s manner; like many brilliant people she’d known, the young woman was simply confident in her abilities and channeled that mindset to do things nobody had done before.
“Good point, Stevie.” She gave the girl a fist bump. “Now let’s go find your father.”
When Kendra, Stevie, and Archie left the cabin, Lynch and Jessie were already standing in the darkness, prepping the automatic weapons Lynch had taken from the gunmen outside the gas station.
Stevie unzipped her knapsack and produced four small earpieces. She placed one in her ear and gave the others to Kendra, Lynch, and Jessie. “Here. Put these in.”
Jessie looked at her earpiece. “Is this so we can communicate with one another?”
“No. It’s so Archie can speak to us using his internal transmitter and not make any unnecessary sounds.”
After the others had inserted the devices, Archie’s calm voice sounded in their ears. “Hello. Is this a comfortable volume for you? If anyone would like me to make an adjustment to your individual audio feed, please let me know.”
Jessie turned to the others. “Why should he have anything to say to us?”
Stevie punched a button on her tablet computer, and Archie’s glowing eyes faded out. “I showed Archie the map that Kendra drew up. He has night-vision capabilities and is extremely sensitive to audio stimuli. He can guide us.” She spoke to the robot. “Archie, proceed.”
Jessie looked at the others. “Wait, we’re letting him lead? You can’t be serious.”
One by one, Kendra, Lynch, and Stevie stepped past Jessie and followed Archie down the dark path that led from the cabin. Jessie stood alone in the doorway. “Come on, really?”
She finally sighed and followed behind them.
It was a moonless night, and as they made their way to the dry lake bed, Kendra was thankful that Archie was navigating the uneven terrain. Every few steps, they received a helpful warning to avoid loose stones or a protruding tree root.
She moved close to Lynch and whispered, “If we find Nolan, what then? Is there anyone in the DOJ you can trust?”
“Not here. And we can’t rely on Fitz, either. He has no authority with any official organization. I need to get Nolan, Stevie, and Archie back to Washington. There I might be able to arrange for their safety.”
“How will you pull that off?”
“I have contacts here in the U.K. that no one in the DOJ knows about. I’ve already reached out to them. They’re our best hope. But it doesn’t work if we don’t find Nolan. Stevie’s not going anywhere without him.”
“That’s pretty clear.”
They reached the lake bed, and Archie paused to survey the scene. His voice sounded in their earpieces. “I recommend taking a slight detour north of the lake bed. It’s a more vigorous walk, but it has the advantage of making us less visible if anyone is nearby. Follow me.”
From behind them, Kendra was sure she heard Jessie softly swearing.
They walked a few yards away from the lake bed’s northern rim, pushing through the brush, much of it cleared for them by Archie. They finally emerged in a clearing that Kendra instantly identified as the mint field she had smelled before. She turned to Stevie. “Can Archie detect odors?”
She shook her head. “No, just smoke. Something to think about for version two point oh.”
Archie stopped. “Quiet! Duck down!”
The group crouched among the shrubs. Archie continued, “I detect two men approximately a hundred and ten yards north-northeast in the two o’clock position.”
Lynch raised a pair of night binoculars to see. “Looks like they’re outfitted the same as the guys we ran into at the gas station. Guns look the same, too.”
“They are both carrying Steyr AUG A3 assault rifles with large-capacity magazines,” Archie said.
Jessie was looking at the men with her own night binoculars. “Huh. I’m surprised you can’t tell us what rifle scopes they’re using.”
“Sig Sauer Romeo 4s paired with 3X magnifiers.”
Jessie snorted. “Now are you gonna tell us how many nose hairs they have?”
Archie replied, “To answer that question, I would need—”
“I’m joking. Okay?”
Stevie pulled two thin pairs of electronic goggles from her knapsack. She handed a pair to Kendra.
“What’s this?”
“It’ll let us see what Archie sees. Put it on.”
Kendra slid on the goggles, and she audibly gasped. The goggles gave her a stunning 3-D image with such detail that she was convinced Archie actually could count the nose hairs on each man. “One of those men is talking on a phone,” she said.
Stevie leaned close to Archie. “Can you intercept the phone call and play it for us?”
“Sorry, the phone is utilizing an encryption I’m unfamiliar with.”
“It’s okay, I got this,” Kendra said. “Archie, can you zoom in even closer on the man talking?”
In an instant, the man’s face filled her field of view.
It appeared to be just as sharp and bright as before.
She concentrated on the man’s facial movements.
When she had first regained her sight, she’d been fascinated by the interplay of lips, tongue, and teeth to form the words she’d been hearing her entire life.
Soon, without even trying, she’d become an expert lip-reader.
“A lot of ‘yes sirs,’ ” she said, staring at the man. “He’s talking to a person of authority.”
“Vlad Korkil,” Lynch whispered.
“He just said there’s still no sign of Arnold, Brode, or Tomlinson. He says he can’t find them.”
“And he won’t,” Lynch whispered. “I made sure to get rid of those bodies.”
Jessie tapped Stevie on the shoulder. “Can I see?” Stevie took off her goggles and handed them to Jessie, who slid them on. Jessie nodded with approval. “Now, that’s cool.”
“I can’t take credit for Archie’s optical system,” Stevie whispered. “I got that pretty much off the shelf.” She took back the goggles.
Kendra was still focused on the gunman’s conversation. “He says he’s going to take one more look around, but he doesn’t have much hope. He wants to know when the replacements will arrive.”
“That lip-reading is a good trick,” Stevie said. “Maybe something else for Archie two point oh.”
Kendra half smiled. “Why do I feel like you want to replace me?” She squinted into the goggles. “He says he’ll be coming back for guard duty as soon as he’s done here.”
“Guarding who?” Stevie asked.
“We’re all thinking the same thing,” Lynch said. “Your father, hopefully.” He lowered his binoculars. “Okay, they’re on the move.”
Archie stood, and the others followed his lead. But he was still for such a long moment that it made Kendra nervous.
“Why aren’t we moving?” she asked.
“To avoid detection, it’s best to maintain a greater distance behind them,” Archie said. “Which means we should wait another eight seconds.”
Exactly eight seconds later, Archie ducked low and ran across the clearing to the gully on the far side, and the others followed.
“Sticker burrs,” Jessie said as she brushed the offending vegetation from her pant legs.
“I believe I mentioned that possibility,” Kendra murmured.
“See anything?” Stevie whispered to Archie.