Dark State--A Novel of the Merchant Princes Multiverse (Empire Games, Book II) by Charles Stross

Author:Charles Stross
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

PHILADELPHIA, TIME LINE TWO/NEW LONDON, TIME LINE 3, AUGUST 2020

It was three o’clock in the afternoon when Dr. Scranton finally arrived with the promised attaché case. Rita, nesting in a corner of the Colonel’s office, had managed to memorize most of his semi-indigestible dossier of lies. Despite not feeling at all hungry she’d forced down a tasteless ham sandwich for lunch. It was probably for the best: Scranton was impatient to get things moving. “Come on,” she said briskly, “let’s get you on your way.”

“Okay.” Rita stood. Her legs felt leaden. The idea of seeing Mrs. Burgeson again filled her stomach with dreadful embarrassment. Mortifying. She picked up her handbag. “Uh, Colonel, can I leave this here?”

“Stick it under my desk.” Smith was carrying a leather satchel. He now opened it for her to see. “This contains the same camera and mapper you carried on your last trip. If you can use them, fine, but don’t shed any tears if the opposition confiscate them.” There was a side pocket sized for an old laptop computer. Scranton handed him the attaché case and he slid it inside. “All yours,” he said.

“Witnessed,” said Scranton, as Rita accepted the bag gingerly. “Let’s go, people. I have a plane to catch.”

Miss Thorold’s list of secure transfer locations and times ran to several pages, listing times and GPS coordinates where a world-walker—Rita, by implication—would be met by a reception committee. The locations had given the Colonel (and everybody else with an interest in operational security) a bad case of heartburn because of what it implied about the Commonwealth’s ability to spy on US territory. (GPS coordinates were not, after all, a natural measuring system.) But it made it considerably easier for them to find the rendezvous, Rita had to admit. Gomez was waiting in the parking lot in an official sedan. Rita, Dr. Scranton, and Smith climbed in, and Gomez took off, heading for the interstate on autopilot.

The transfer location was in a big green space in Union, off the Garden State Parkway. Gomez parked the car in the lot next door to a McDonald’s, and they crossed the road into Kawameeh Park together. The trees alongside the avenue cut them off from traffic and the incurious gaze of restaurant customers alike. “This looks to be the place,” Gomez murmured, checking their location on her phone.

“Close enough for government work,” Dr. Scranton murmured with a small, ironic smile. “Colonel, please proceed.”

“Rita.” Smith squinted at her, half-worried: “It’s three forty-six. You’ve got a two-hour window, starting at three, ending at five. We’ll be waiting over the road in McD’s until five, if you need to come straight back. Otherwise, Gomez or Jack will be waiting at each three ’til five transfer window until you show, for the next week.”

“And, uh, if I come back prematurely and not via a scheduled window or rendezvous—”

“Don’t worry, we’ll know,” Smith said with total self-assurance. “It may take up to an hour for us to have somebody pick you up, though.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.