The perfect killing machine, Decker thought, remembering what had happened to them that very morning. Cyber assassins.
He was about to reach for a ham and cheese sandwich wrapped in cellophane when he noticed Lulu standing by the door to the cafeteria. She was holding it open for a tall man with white hair wearing a lab coat. After a moment, she came over and slid into line.
When they had picked out some food, Lulu reached into her jeans and pulled out a twenty. “It’s on me,” she said. “I still owe you, remember? Find a seat. I’ll be right back.”
“Now, what…” he began, but she had already sidled away. Decker sat down, keeping one eye on Lulu.
She first went and talked to a young girl with heavy black makeup not far from the entrance. Decker couldn’t hear what she was saying but, whatever it was, the girl shook her head and Lulu moved on. Next, she leaned over and said something to another girl wearing what appeared to be a blue plastic miniskirt. The girl reached into her purse and pulled out an object that Decker couldn’t identify. A book of matches, perhaps. Or a packet of gum. Moments later, Lulu walked back to their table.
“What was that all about?” he inquired.
“You’ll see,” she said without looking at him. She kept staring at the man with the white hair in the lab coat.
“What’s going on? Do you know that guy?”
“Nope,” she replied. Then, with the smallest of shrugs, she began to tear into her sandwich.
Decker followed suit. He’d already wolfed down half his ham and cheese before he realized just how hungry he really was. They hadn’t eaten since breakfast in Bondville. “I heard these kids talking about some drone designed to identify targets based solely on smell,” he said between bites.
Lulu shrugged but didn’t reply. She was still watching the man in the lab coat.
“I thought this was a media center,” Decker continued. “You didn’t tell me they worked on weapons systems here.”
Lulu stuffed the last of her sandwich into her mouth and washed it down with a large swig of Coke. “They don’t. But some of the kids end up at Cambridge Dynamics. They’re the guys who developed Big Hound and Little Hound, The Flea and the Jaguar. You know. Robots. DARPA’s a big funder.” Without warning, Lulu climbed to her feet. “Time to go,” she said, sweeping up her tray and strolling away.
Decker followed her to the kitchen area where they dumped their trash and put their trays on a moving conveyor belt. That’s when he noticed the tall man with white hair and lab coat. He too was putting his tray on the belt.
Lulu followed the man toward another door leading from the cafeteria. He removed a card hanging from a lanyard round his neck and swiped it through a wall reader.
There was a small buzzing sound and the door swiveled open. Lulu hung back a second or so, long enough for the man to see her standing behind him. She appeared to have something in her own hand and began to reach toward the reader when the man said, “Here,” and held the door open.
“Thanks,” she said with a bright sunny smile. She held the door open for Decker and they slipped out of the dining room, side by side.
As soon as the white-haired man had vanished, Lulu stopped Decker with a tug on the sleeve. “This way,” she said, spinning about.
“This is a secure area,” he said.
Lulu nodded.
“Oh, now I get why you—”
Lulu stepped on his toe.
Decker jumped back with a yelp. He was about to say something when he saw the saccharine grin on her face. With her eyes only, Lulu motioned toward the ceiling.
Decker glanced up and noticed a surveillance nub in the tiles. By the time he looked back, Lulu was already halfway down the corridor.
They moved in this way for another five minutes, from one corridor to the next. The halls were fairly crowded, at least at first. But when they reached a door at the end of yet another white corridor, there was no one about. Above the door, a sign read: TEA Lab 3—VR.
There was no knob on the door, just another card reader on the wall.
“What now?” Decker whispered. “Wait for someone to exit?”
Lulu didn’t reply. She reached into the front pocket of her jeans and pulled out a gold-colored object. It was a condom, Decker realized. A Trojan Magnum.
Fascinated, Decker watched as she tore it open with her teeth. Then, she unrolled the prophylactic and tugged on the latex material. “Perfect,” she said. She slid to the floor and slipped the majority of the condom under the door. With her mouth on the open end of the condom, she began to inflate it just like a party balloon. She huffed and she puffed in this manner until Decker heard the door suddenly click.
Lulu leapt to her feet as the door swung to the side. A few seconds later, they were inside yet another secure area. It was only then that Lulu relaxed.
“How did you… Never mind. I know. ‘Don’t ask,’” Decker said.
Lulu smiled. “Hacking isn’t just about being a code jockey, Special Agent Decker. Sometimes, human engineering can be even more effective than a thousand tight lines of C.”
“That’s why you opened the door for that guy with the white hair?”
Lulu nodded. “It’s human nature to reciprocate. And men of a certain age are more susceptible to women, especially when they smile.” She beamed up at Decker.
He laughed. “And that trick with the condom?”
“All the secure areas have motion detectors on the inside. That way, even if your hands are full of equipment, you can exit them easily. Especially if there’s a fire or some other emergency.”
He nodded. “But how did you know that girl had a condom on her?”
Lulu shrugged. “Most single women I know carry condoms these days. You never know who you’re going to meet or when you might need one. It pays to be prepared. But when I lost my purse and—”
“I get it,” he said.
“Why, Special Agent Decker. You’re blushing.”
He turned and looked away.
“That’s so sweet,” she continued.
“What now?” Decker said. He looked about the room. It was a lab of sorts, with equipment strewn all over the place. Flat screens. Electronics. Wiring. And over in one corner, another 3-D printing device.
“Beats me,” Lulu answered. “Your Mr. X simply told us to go here. He didn’t say why.”
She sat on the windowsill. It ran the full length of the lab. Decker sat down beside her.
“Oh, shit,” she said suddenly.
“What?” Decker followed her gaze. She was staring out the window at the Saxon Tennis Courts below. “What is it?”
“Look,” she said, pointing.
Decker followed her finger. The Charles River glistened in the clear winter light. Just shy of the water, by the tennis courts where they had parked the Subaru they had stolen in Gardener, Decker noticed a Cambridge Police car. Two cops were standing alongside the Subaru, peering into the windows.
“Crap,” Lulu said. “There goes our ride.”
“And our guns,” Decker said. “We’re running out of time. It won’t take long for them to figure out where we are.”
At that moment, the door to the lab opened, and a man carrying a parcel stepped into the room. He looked directly at Lulu. “Hey,” he said. “You.”
Lulu slipped off the windowsill. “’Sup?” she replied.
He was a young black man, barely in his twenties, wearing a lab coat that seemed far too big for his build. He stared down at the package. “You Chin Loo?”
Lulu laughed. “Xin Liu. Yep. That’s me.”
The young man walked over and slipped the package onto the counter beside her.
“Sign here,” he said, pulling out a clunky brown PDA.