We look at each other silently for a moment. She nods. “Thank you. Now go on, let me make the call.”
I reach inside the glove box and take the handgun I stashed there. It’s a GlobaTech weapon, and kind of looks like the old SIG Sauer P226 from the mid-nineties. The grip is a little longer than most semi-automatics, to accommodate the twenty-four round mag. It’s dark gray with a matte finish. There’s a small laser pointer built into the underside of the barrel, in front of the trigger guard. As always with GlobaTech’s creations, it’s a really nice piece.
I tuck it behind me and pull my T-shirt down over it. I climb out of the car, stand up straight, and push my shoulders back gently. I take in a deep breath of humid air and look around. I assess the customers outside the restaurant and café ahead of me, and the groups of people milling around the plaza. I don’t see anything that sets my spider sense off. If anyone from The Order has tracked us here, they’re very good at hiding in plain sight.
I walk up the steps to the left of me and stroll over to the fountain. I keep my pace intentionally slow and idle. I sit down on the edge and look back at the car. I can see Kaitlyn talking on the phone.
Man, I hope this works. If it doesn’t, the only other option is Josh, and I really don’t want to involve him in this shit. He’s probably the only person alive actually mourning me. I can’t put his life on the line. I don’t have the right.
Kaitlyn gets out of the car and walks over to me. I stand to meet her. “Everything okay?”
She nods. “Yes, he’s on his way.”
“Amazing. What did you tell him?”
“I said I think one of my clients has bugged my laptop, and I was wondering if he’d be able to check for me. He was skeptical at first, but I told him this client was a bad person, and that I’m scared and feel safer in a public place. He said he’d be here as soon as he could.”
“That’s good work, Kaitlyn.”
She glances around. “Nice, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, I’ve never been here.”
“I come down here sometimes at the weekend, just for a bite to eat, or to meet up with a girlfriend for lunch.” She sighs. “So, what now?”
I shrug. “How long do you think this kid will be?”
“I dunno… twenty minutes, maybe?”
“Okay.” I gesture to the café over my shoulder. “Drink?”
We’re sitting on separate tables adjacent to one another outside the café. We have our backs to each other and our chairs pushed out a little, so we’re almost sitting next to each other, but facing opposite directions. We’re close enough that we can talk, but far enough away that, to the casual passer-by, we don’t look together. I told Kaitlyn to try her best not to move her lips when she talks to me, too.
She lets out a taut breath. “Here he comes.”
He’s approaching from her side, so I can’t see him. I nonchalantly lean forward on my forearms and take a sip of my coffee, and then glance absently around. I catch a glimpse over my right shoulder as the kid reaches her table.
He’s almost as tall as me, but very thin, with long limbs. He has the beginnings of a dark beard forming on his pockmarked face. His hair is thick and short, and he’s dressed casually in shorts and a thin jumper. He has a bag over his shoulder.
I look back at my table. He didn’t see me staring.
“Yaz, thanks for coming,” says Kaitlyn. “Can I get you anything?”
“N-no… thank you. Are… you alright?”
His English is pretty good, but his voice is cracking with nerves.
“I’m fine, I think. Please, sit down.”
I hear the chair scrape along the ground as he joins her at the table.
“Yaz, I really do need your help with something, okay?”
He clears his throat. “Ah… yeah… I mean, sure, I’m happy to… That’s if I can. You think your computer’s bugged? That’s crazy…”
Kaitlyn sighs. “Yes, it is a little strange. It’s… also a lie. I’m sorry, but that’s not why I asked you here. I just thought if I told you the real reason, you wouldn’t come.”
“I… I don’t understand. Is everything okay? I can get my mom to come or something and maybe she can help, or…?”
“No, it’s fine. It’s you I need. I know you’re, like, a computer genius. I figured if anyone could help, it’d be you.”
Feeding his ego… nice. But she needs to hurry this along.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a genius… but…”
“Yaz, this is the situation. A friend of mine—”
I get up and walk around to their table. I stand between them, facing the café. The kid looks up at me, frowning with uncertainty, and maybe a little fear. I bet I look pretty weird with my head all wrapped up and my hand in a cast…
I smile. “It’s Yaz, right?”
He nods tentatively.
I extend my left hand, turned outward. “I’m Adrian. Kaitlyn’s friend.”
He shakes it weakly. His palm’s a little sweaty. I casually wipe my hand on my shorts. “Look, what I’m about to say is gonna be a little difficult to take in, alright? But I need your help. See, I have a tracking device implanted in my neck, and I need you to disable its signal. Can you do that?”
He’s not blinked in a while. He’s just… staring at me.
“Y-you look… r-really scary… sir.”
I glance at Kaitlyn, who smiles to herself. I nod at Yaz. “I can be pretty scary when I need to be, I won’t lie. But I promise I’m a nice guy. I’m just in a bad situation. Can you help?”
He looks over at Kaitlyn, presumably for reassurance. When he gets some, he takes a deep breath and seems to relax a little. He reaches into his bag and takes out a laptop, which he sets up on the table. “Can’t you just… y’know… take the device out?”
I shake my head. “If only it were that easy. See, it’s a pretty sophisticated piece of tech. If it’s removed, it… kinda explodes.”
His eyes grow wide. Kaitlyn leans forward and puts her hand on his. “Yaz, it’s okay. You’re not in any danger or anything. We just know that some bad people can use this tracking signal to find Adrian and I, and we’d rather they didn’t.”
He shakes his head. “What are you mixed up in, Miss Moss?”
The kid clearly has a crush on her. I can see it in his eyes. His gaze softens when he looks at her, and like any other kid in the latter stages of puberty, he keeps staring at her breasts thinking no one is noticing.
I put my hand on his shoulder, to offer some additional reassurance. “Nothing too bad, I promise. And Yaz… I’ll keep her safe, okay?”
He looks at me, and after a moment, he nods, as if he’s resigning himself to the fact that this is happening and he needs to accept it. He takes a breath and starts tapping away on the laptop. “Okay, uh, Adrian… take a seat.”
I pull the chair out in front of me and sit down.
Yaz reaches back inside his bag and pulls out what looks like a small walkie-talkie. It’s a small black box with two antennae sticking out the end. He plugs it into a USB slot and resumes his key tapping. “Right, this is going to scan for the frequency your implant is transmitting on. Once we find its signal, I can identify the coding of it and, hopefully, disable it remotely.”
I raise an eyebrow. “I’m impressed. You remind me of an old friend.”
He ignores me. He’s focused on the screen. I exchange a glance with Kaitlyn, who smiles.
“Oh… oh my…”
That doesn’t sound good.
I look at the laptop, then at Yaz. “What is it?”
“Well, I’ve located the signal, but it’s got some sick encryption on it. Like, military-grade stuff. This is… insane!”