Joan Undone

Chapter 14

The next morning, Marie shakes me awake from the bunk I crashed on the night before.

"Al's got the algorithm on Strand's fastest computers, and he's come up with nineteen targets that Crew is likely to attack within the next twenty-four hours."

"I'm up," I say, rubbing my eyes and following her to the main room of the Bunker, which is dark except for the blue glow of her screen.

A holographic map of Seattle hovers above Marie's tablet. Blinking dots in different shades of red are scattered around the city.

"I've color-coded the locations of likely attacks. The brightest are the highest-risk areas," Marie explains.

Two locations stand out, and I tap on one to zoom in.

"Is this a house?" I ask, squinting at the image.

"It's a townhome on the outskirts of the city. The algorithm has found intense surveillance activity tracking the building. The IP address is consistent with one used at the Chrysalis."

Nic enters the room, his hair messy from sleep. "Crew must be watching someone who lives there very closely."

"We'll warn them."

"There is no way to send secure communication via the web," Marie says. "The surveillance isn't only of the physical building. All web traffic is being viewed as well."

"Can we shut down the feeds?"

"Al and Strand's team are working on it, but whoever Crew's got monitoring that place is good. Their security is bug-free and difficult to infiltrate."

"Then we need to pay a visit in person," Nic says.

I pull on my black leather jacket, which is hanging over one of the chairs. "Let's go."

"Take this," Marie says, handing each of us a slim circle of metal no bigger than my fingertip. "It's only in prototype at Strand, but it should cloak your presence from electronic signals for at least fifteen minutes. You can go and warn whoever's living there and get out without Crew's team discovering what you're up to."

"About time working with the enemy got us somewhere," I say, slipping the disc into my pocket. "Let's wake Harriet. She'll know how to get us as close to the townhouse as possible without going aboveground."

My phone pings loudly, indicating an urgent message, and I pull it out of my pocket. Lexi's face in all its 3D glory appears.

"Can't talk now," I bark.

"Silence," she says. "Al has shown me the results of the algorithm, and we need to act quickly. Dr. Rodriguez's lab is being scrutinized by the terrorists. We need to extract him and his team now."

"Who the hell is Dr. Rodriguez?"

Lexi's face stiffens, but she answers my question. "The head of Strand's Research and Development team. They work at a location several miles from headquarters. The location has been kept a secret from the public, but it's been compromised."

"We have a different target that we need to investigate," I counter. "Send your own team in. Or the police."

"We both know that what remains of the Seattle Police Department does not have the resources to check out a vague lead like this. And if anyone from Strand goes, the location will go viral. People have been speculating about our R&D center for years. The media will swarm it."

"Not our problem."

"It is if you wish to remain in this partnership, unmolested by the police and National Guard," Lexi says. "You will attend to this personally, Joan."