The Man Below by Kevin Tumlinson

Author:Kevin Tumlinson [Tumlinson, Kevin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-10-22T14:02:43+00:00

* * *

They rode in quiet for several more miles, along a bumpy gravel road. The condition of the road was poor, with loose gravel and a fine, gritty sand heaped in mounds along previous tire tracks. It was clear that it hadn’t seen much use in quite some time.

It was dangerous to drive more than ten or twenty miles per hour here, even in a four-wheel-drive. So the entire ride was a slow, tedious, jarring journey that left everyone feeling jangled and frazzled by the end of it.

As the 4x4 pulled to a stop, the agent in the driver seat—Agent Barr, Kayne had finally learned—turned to them and said, “At least we get to do that all over again on the way back.”

There were courtesy laughs from Kotler and Denzel, but Kayne found herself wondering if anyone would notice if she hired a helicopter for a pickup.

“Ok, everyone out,” Denzel said. “GPS says the entrance we targeted is here, somewhere. Keep your eyes peeled. And no one goes in alone, got it?” He directed this last comment mostly toward Dr. Kotler, who smirked, shrugged, and nodded.

Kayne climbed out of the 4x4 and stood, stretching her aching back as she surveyed the hill before her.

This was, as officially as it could be, the middle of absolutely nowhere.

The facility she’d uncovered in her research had to be remote by its very nature. Isolation was key when you were doing strange and mysterious things that may or may not be strictly sanctioned by federal laws or international treaties. There hadn’t been a lot of specific details about what went on here, but what few details Kayne had uncovered sounded like a season of Black Mirror.

She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting once they arrived. She knew there wouldn’t exactly be signs and spotlights directing them in. Secret bases tended to be hidden. But here, standing in the hills outside Los Lunas, miles from anyone and anywhere, they appeared to just be nowhere at all.

She checked her phone and was relieved to see she had a signal. Weak and anemic, a single bar, but it was LTE. That was good. She could work with that.

She didn’t necessarily need an internet connection to run QuIEK. Despite the power of the AI software, it was actually quite compact. She could run it entirely from her smartphone, and often did.

Connectivity was more of a security blanket. She had other resources—a virtual network of microcomputers she called Smoke Screen, hidden close to internet hotspots in cafes and hotels and bars across the country. If she had connectivity, she could reach out to these in a pinch. Extra processing power, not to mention the odd Google search, could always come in handy.

So it was a relief to see she was still online. At least out here, in the open.

She smiled, then laughed quietly.

Poor fugitive would miss her internet.

To be fair, over the past two years, as she’d been on the run, internet connectivity had become her lifeline to anything resembling a normal life.

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