CHAPTER 9
The grey Audi blurred by on the highway, only slowing to the speed limit when KITT detected the radar emissions coming from patrolling police cruisers. Earlier, KITT had enabled the Federal Transponder code, but either the police cruisers didn't recognize it, or they had orders to stop all suspicious vehicles. Mike and Sarah guessed that the latter was correct. In addition, KITT detected that an APB had been put out for a black Ford Shelby. None of them believed that changing the colour of their car would alleviate police suspicions of Ford Mustang Shelby's in general. Unfortunately, the only other option was a running car chase that could cost them precious time. As it was, slowing down until they were out of range of the police cruiser's radar/laser was a minor inconvenience. Still, there were making good time, and they only had an hour to go before reaching the Graiman's home.
The cockpit was quiet, with Sarah and Mike lost in their thoughts. But for the last several minutes, Mike had become increasingly fidgety in his seat. Curious, Sarah looked over to see Mike shift in his seat again.
"Mike? Is everything okay?" she asked. She saw him grimace, then sigh in defeat.
He mumbled inaudibly under his breath.
"What?" she said.
"I gotta pee!" he hissed out, his face showing embarrassment.
"Oh…" she responded, thinking, 'I kinda gotta go too.' "KITT, where is the nearest gas station?"
"We will reach a gas station in 5.2 minutes."
Mike grunted in satisfaction. Still, he was a little annoyed that the only reason they had to stop was because of him. He muttered, "Say KITT, don't you gotta fuel up or something?"
"Negative. My primary fuel cell is at 91.4 capacity. I need not refuel."
In spite of himself, Mike felt his curiosity snagged. "Fuel cell? You run on hydrogen, plutonium, or some cool I've never heard of?"
"My main engine is a hydrogen-powered turbine which is capable of 89 efficiency. It is supplemented by photoelectric power stored in various gel capacitance cells. In addition, the skin of my body contains photoelectric nanowires that gather solar energy and stores it in my gel packs. Furthermore, my fuel system can recycle part of the hydrogen byproducts by photosynthetic hydrogen production, effectively increasing my cruising range before refueling is needed."
Mike shook his head slightly, not quite understanding all the scientific terms nor the principles behind them.. "Wait. Photo hydrogen – what?"
"The byproduct of hydrogen combustion is mostly water. By using the oxidative and electron transfer processes of photosynthesis, I can replenish part of my hydrogen fuel cell through recycling the exhaust products."
Mike pursed his lips and nodded. "Huh. Pretty neat. Gives new meaning to the phrase 'Gas and Go'."
As KITT talked, Sarah's eyebrows rose higher and higher, until they nearly disappeared into her hairline. "KITT, that is very complex. All of those technologies are theoretical…until now, I guess."
Mike grinned. "Yeah, but it's kinda cool!"
Sarah rolled her eyes. "Yeah? And what if you are in Nebraska and your hydrogen fuel system breaks down, what do you do then?" She shook her head. "Complicated isn't always better."
He regarded her in jest, "Why do you have to hate on Nebraska?"
KITT interrupted, "As long as my mechanical problems are minor, I can effectively decrease my mean failure break-down time."
Sarah looked quizzically at him. "What do you mean? How?"
"My entire structure is infused with nanobites, which can affect insitu repairs on systems that break down."
She sat bolt upright. "WHAT?"
Mike looked on in surprise. He had rarely seen Sarah angry in the past. But right now, she was angry. very angry. "Sarah? Hey, what's wrong?"
He could feel her anger coming from her in waves. "My…dad. He took my research and used it without my permission!"
"Sarah, perhaps I should mention that without the nanobites in my system, neither you nor I would have survived our encounters with the Blackriver strike force."
Angry as she was, Sarah let KITT's words bounce around in her mind. Finally, some of the anger left her and she deflated. "Fine. You're right. I guess the technology was put to some good use. But after all this is over, my dad and I are having some very stern words!"
Mike shuddered. He had been on the receiving end of those words before. He felt sudden sympathy for her dad…wherever he was. As he finished that thought, KITT pulled into an exit and entered a well-lit highway gas station. As soon as the car parked, Mike got out and made a mad dash for the bathrooms. Sarah exited at a more sedated pace and also went looking for the facilities.
As she entered the building, two men walked over to the silver Audi. One glanced around while the other took out an expensive black market key tool. The man by the driver's door looked down to insert it into the keyhole.
There was none to be found.
He pocketed it, then pulled out an electronic bypass card. Keying it for an Audi, he inserted it into the crack of the door. It beeped, sending a small charge into the electronics that should have jammed the lock mechanism and unlocked the door.
KITT promptly sent a larger charge back into the device.
An electronic explosion, followed by sparks and blue smoke erupted from the charred device. The man leaped back, slammed into the car behind him, and promptly set off the alarm.
His accomplice looked on in horror, first at the massively expensive charred electronic device, then at the alarming car. "What you do???" he accused. Both fled at the noise.
Mike came back to the car munching on a bag of chips. Naturally, he walked over to the driver's side and yanked on the handle. He stopped short as the door stayed closed. "Hey, KITT. Open the door?"
"I would ask you to use the passenger seat, as this is Sarah's preferred seat."
"Awww, come on. I hate the passenger seat. Lemme drive."
Again he yanked on the door, but it refused to open. He stood there and grumbled.
"Mike, there are--"
Mike put up a hand in annoyance. "KITT, I don't wanna here it."
"I should warn--"
"Ack!" Mike said, making a firm stopping gesture.
"Hey buddy, you owe me some money!"
In surprise, Mike turned around. Two men faced him in the dark parking lot. Both were dressed in dark windbreakers. The one talking to him was just as tall, but larger, like the man spent a lot of time at the gym. Another man shorter in stature stood behind him. Both looked like they had a bone to pick with him.
Mike spread his hands out. "Hey guys, what's the problem?"
"Your car fried an expensive circuit board of mine!" accused the larger man. He stood aggressively in front of Mike and pointed a finger into his chest.
"Um, not to sound stupid, but what circuit board?" Mike asked, keeping his hands spread.
The big man pointed to the ground. Mike looked down to see a blackened board in the weak parking lot lights. "What's that?"
"That's mine man. Your car did that."
"Okay, wait," Mike said, eyeing the larger man. "How'd my car do that?"
"I stuck it into your car and it fried it!" the large man bellowed.
Mike stared at the man, totally dumbfounded. The second shorter, but stockier man snickered. "Yo Bruno, I think we got a dumbass here." He addressed Mike, "We was trying to break into your car, but it fried the key. You owe us big for a new one man."
Mike simply stared at the duo. He wasn't sure if he should laugh or get angry. "Okay, wait. You try to break into my car and jack it, but instead, you break your electronic lockpick, and somehow it's MY fault? Are you serious?"
The shorter man nodded. "Hey, we dun nothing. Your car broke something of ours, so we want compen- cumpsa- compensana…"
To Mike they both seemed jittery and very restless. "Compensation," he corrected, nothing that both of them were almost hopping foot to foot. 'Great, they're on something too. Probably crack,' he thought.
"Yeah, that!" the shorter one said. The larger one nodded his head.
Mike shook his head in disbelief. "Oh my God. You guys are serious. Alright guys, let me get this all straight. You guys tried to break into MY car, break your lockpick, and I'm in the wrong?"
The guy nodded. "Now you get it."
Mike blinked, then blinked again. "You tried to break into my car…" he tried again.
The shorter one jabbed a finger at the silver Audi. "You got an expensive car man. You be rich! You got Bling. You need to share man."
It was hopeless. "Tell me something guys, are you two as scared for the future as I am?"
The shorter one looked up at his buddy. "Hey Bruno, dis guy think we'd be joking around. Show him how serious we are man!"
The tall one reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a handgun. Mike's eyes locked onto the gun as the black barrel aligned with his head. The man smiled. "You talk too much. Now, give us your wallet and the car keys!"
Mike eye'd the gun. He paid particular attention to the left side. "The s-"
CLICK
"-saftey is on," he finished lamely. He shrugged, "Huh. Always works in the movies."
The taller man thumbed off the safety. "You think you're smart boy? I won't ask twice. Give us your stuff or we'll take it off your dead body."
"KITT…" Mike said, making it sound off-hand.
With a roar, KITT's engine fired to life. Both the men's eyes snapped to the car in surprise. Mike promptly grabbed the handgun with his right hand. Quickly, he placed a finger between the hammer and the gun, then twisted it away from the man. The tall man bellowed in pain, and Mike felt the hammer drop and slam onto his finger painfully as the gun tried to fire…
Ripping it away from the two, Mike re-rocked the hammer and kept the gun's sights steady on the two men. They stood still, surprised at how fast the tables had been turned on them.
"Now, I suggest you two fellows take a walk," Mike sternly ordered.
They didn't move. Mike jabbed pointedly behind them before centering the sights again. "Take a walk!" he commanded.
Mike watched their posture and especially their eyes. The taller one's features became set. His eyes widened slightly, and without any further warning, he lunged at Mike, despite having a gun pointed at him at point-blank-range.
Mike dodged to his right while slipping the safety on. He bashed the gun hard into the man's head, sending him tumbling to the ground. A weight slammed into him, nearly making him lose his balance. An iron grip tried to pry the gun from his hands. Looking over, he came face to face with the shorter man. The man's face was set in a crazed grimace. Mike used his shoulder to shove the man hard into the Shelby. He slammed his elbow into the man's neck and pressed, making him gag. He kneed him in the abs, once, twice, three times, before letting him go. The short man began slumping to the pavement. Mike helped him along by twisting and slamming his left elbow into his head. Barely conscious, the short man slumped to the asphalt.
An arm snaked around his neck and another arm pressed behind his head as the taller man locked him into a choke hold. He felt himself twisted backwards, denying him any leverage from his body. His windpipe was cut-off, separating him from any oxygen. With blood starting to pound in his head, Mike glanced around desperately. He planted his feet on KITT's side and shoved powerfully with his legs. His opponent sprawled backwards into the car beside them. The sideview mirror dug painfully into his back, causing him to let go. Mike spun around and grabbed his opponent's right hand and twisted it into a wrist-lock. With a yell of pain, the man was forced around and down to his knees.
KITT's door opened and the unyielding nanomolecular surface slammed hard into the man's head. He dropped to the ground out cold. Mike gaped at KITT's actions. "I thought you weren't supposed to harm humans?" he said in a surprised voice.
"He was able to regain a hold on the handgun."
Mike looked down. As KITT had stated, the handgun was just next to the unconscious man's left hand. He reached over and picked up the gun. "I could have handled it," he said, affecting a cocky attitude.
Mike dragged both men far enough away from KITT to free up the space around the car. The Shelby was replaced by the shell of an Audi. Then the car backed out and the passenger door opened. Mike hopped in as KITT drove around and parked closer to the doors of the rest-stop. Mike opened the bag of chips he had bought and munched on a chip. Sarah grabbed the bag of food and hopped in the driver's seat. Mike followed and the car sped away, leaving two would-be car-jackers for the police to find.
Mike pulled out the gun and inspected it. The handgun was a Glock 21. It handled .45 calibre bullets and had a magazine that held 13 shots, plus one in the chamber. He easily took it apart into its component pieces. Aside from shoddy maintenance, it was still in working condition. 'That was the thing about Glocks,' he thought. You could throw them through sand, mud, water, and they'd still fire. The lightweight weapon was dependable and didn't jam much in any condition. Because of the .45 calibre, it kicked back a lot. The Glock 21 was a lot of gun, and being hit with one, even with body armour, would hammer a person hard enough to send them to the floor. He put the gun under one leg and opened his bag of chips. Munching on one, he turned curiously to KITT. "So, not that I'm ungrateful or anything, but aren't AI's programmed to follow some sort of 'robot rule book'?"
"You are perhaps referring to the Three Laws of Robotics as written in the Robot series by Issac Asimov."
"Okay, I can do without the English lesson, thanks," Mike muttered sarcastically.
"Yes. I have been programmed to protect all human life."
Mike brought up the flaw in the logic. "But you just knocked a guy out. You injured a human intentionally. Does that conflict with your programming?"
"I do not believe so. I have been programmed with a greater precedence to protect Sarah Graiman's life. You are an extension of her protection. In effect, I must protect you in order for you to functionally protect her."
"Gee, nice to know I'm in there somewhere," Mike said, his voice full of sarcasm.
"It was him or you Mike."
The coldness in the voice brought Mike up short. He was sure he hadn't just imagined that. Mike hadn't intended on antagonizing KITT. To him, they were logical questions that had to be asked. He wasn't the world's expert on AI's, but being trained in the military, then specializing as a Ranger, it had taught him the fundamental respect everyone learned for human life. They had all been taught when to engage an enemy, the Rules Of Engagement (ROE's), and the reasons for the violent horrors they sometimes unleashed. Yet, how did one go about explaining all that to an AI? Military combat was something that had evolved over hundreds of thousands of years. Everything that made up the rules, the essence of combat and the reasons why wars were waged against other humans was learnt and passed on by lifetimes of experiences. Yet, how did one teach all the rules and hypocrisies of life to an AI without years to understand the conflicting ideals and realities that made up life?
He caught site of Sarah walking around inside the gas station's small grocery store and browsing the drink section. For a few minutes, it was silent. Then KITT spoke up.
"Why did you leave Sara Graiman?"
Mike gave KITT a strange look. There it was again. He swore that there was emotion in the AI's voice, a sadness that dressed the tone of the question. Was it even possible that a computer could understand emotion? It was way too weird to even consider. No way. "Oh, we are not talking about this."
"Sarah said you are immature and selfish, and that's why you left her."
He looked at KITT in shock, then pointed in the general direction of the store. "She said that?"
"Do you have another girlfriend?"
The strange look came back to Mike's face. He was feeling a little strange talking about this subject with a computer. Really strange. For the life of him, he could not fathom how a computer could possibly understand the intricacies of human relationships. "Why are we even talking about this?" He eyed KITT carefully, and asked, to him, a strange question, "Why do you care?"
"Hey!" Sarah said, rounding the bend behind a minivan. "What's up?"
"Nothing," Mike quickly answered, cutting off any answer that was coming from KITT. "You ready to go?"
Sarah nodded, gripping the driver's door and opening it.
"Good grief," Mike muttered, seeing Sarah open the door with ease.
Tired and frustrated, James rested his head in his hands. He wasn't sure about their next course of action. The entire mission stymied him and gave him headache Excedrin Number One. He could not remember the last time any quarry gave this much trouble. Three times! Three times they had reached their target objectives, only for them to somehow elude them and escape. All three times there had been some outside factor that his team had not been aware of. He looked around the hanger that their company had rented out. Mac was lounging behind some crates while he cleaned their weapons, in case some bystanders happen to wander into their hanger. They did not want someone to see the military hardware sitting in the open. Tom sat behind Charlie and watched their resident computer expert work on the hard drives with the team's laptop.
They had flown non-stop back to their original hanger and had gone to recon Graiman's house. It had been possible that their secondary target may have gone back to search for her dad. But when they got there, the place had been crawling with FBI. The Bureau had enough manpower to search the nearby country-side, forcing his team further back from the edges. However, the situation had gone to hell when an FBI helicopter showed up and had started to fly a search pattern. The risk to his team had become tremendously high – too high to stay, and so they had retreated back to their hanger. True, they had fake Federal ID's with them, but Intel had warned them about the Agent in charge of this investigation. A Carrie Rivai. She was know to be very damn thorough in her investigations. Their covers were good, but James was in no mind to test them against the very people they were trying to impersonate. With no further option in mind, they had to wait for a possible intelligence source for the next move.
Just then, Charlie's cell phone rang. He answered it, "Yeah? Yo dude, wassup? Say what? SAY WHAT?? You serious? Yeah, yeah! Aw, you da man. No, YOU da man. No, YOU da-"
"Charlie?" James inquired, walking over. "You have something?"
Charlie looked up, his face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. "Yo man," he said into his phone. "I'm gonna put you on speaker phone with my boss. Here." He sat the phone down next to his laptop and hit speaker mode.
"Sir, like I told Charlie, we just broke a small part of the encryption on the hard drives. This stuff uses an encryption that almost resembles the type you find in Quantum Encryption these days. That's heavy stuff man! Truthfully, I'm not sure how we did it, it was totally fluke! We never got anything that looks like Project Prometheus, mind you. But I digress. There's other stuff on this hard drive. One thing really caught my eye. I know, I KNOW I'd seen some of this stuff before. This computer code is like, fringe man, scary stuff and radically advanced. Whoever thought this stuff up doesn't even SPEAK programming like the rest of us mortals. It's AI programming. Lemme guess, you guys are going after a car, aren't you?"
"Look, get to the point," James snarled. With the combination of his quarry escaping and no leads, his patience was wearing thin.
"Aiight man. Just chill! Like I was saying, I've seen this stuff before. Not the whole thing, cause you'd need the AI, and that would be big time hard to get, but, like, I'd caught glimpses of this stuff before. And I wasn't even the one who hacked into it! I got a friend – dunno what happened to the dude – but I remember him telling me about this super advanced program he was hacking once. This thing was out of this world. The firewall alone was unreal man! It took my friend close to 4 straight months just to hack the firewall. And once he did, he found some seriously weird stuff. He told me he had discovered the first fully human AI in existence. Like I was gonna believe him at the time. Like, really, this was back in the freaking 1980's! So he lays some of the code on me, and I dropped in my pants. Like I said, it was major scary. What I saw was totally freaky. Anyways, the stuff Charlie sent me looked similar, until I realized what I was looking at! We only got bits and pieces of it, but I'd recognize this programming anywhere. The stuff is way more advanced now, but the basic structure follows a similar path."
James rubbed his forehead in frustration as Charlie's friend babbled on.
"Aiight, here's the kicker though. I know how to hack into the system. I kinda…got…the keys from my friend before he was disappeared off the face of the planet, know what I mean? From the bits and pieces of codes that we're decrypting, the stuff looks unfinished, like the dude programming it didn't have enough time to complete his shit. It's ripe open for hacking…but that's seriously relative. That's an AI in there, and it ain't gonna take well to anyone hacking it. But my friend discovered a way in, and I'm damn sure this new program is open."
"If Charlie can hook me up, I'm pretty sure I can hack into this system…provided I doesn't screw it up. I doubt we'd get a second chance, and I doubt anyone else could come even CLOSE to doing it. I only know because, from the pieces I can see, the structure is similar to the one my friend showed me. Like I said, I have never seen any AI program this complex. It must use an advanced neural net structure based upon…"
"Charlie?" James asked, cutting off the tech and looking over at him.
His face was flushed with excitement as code scrolled onto the screen. He looked at James with a smile. "We can do this. I remember that inside the house, there were a bunch of monitors that showed programs running. Well, one of them was blinking with something about an 'External Access' being incomplete."
"Yeah man. If I were to guess, and I don't miss my guesses, it's probably a way to access the AI for maintenance. The dude programming it forgot to close the maintenance door!"
Tom said, "Homeboy didn't have enough time. We dropped in on him for a little visit." He grinned.
The voice on the other end of the phone chuckled. "I'm surprised you didn't give 'homeboy' a cardiac event."
"No one was home, but I know he was. He probably split fast-like," Tom said in a disgusted voice.
Mac spoke up. "I don't get it. You guys said it's an AI. Why can't it just close the door itself?"
Charlie took an excited breath, but his friend beat him to it. "Could be any number of reasons. Could be a hard connect, in which case you need to close a circuit manually. Could be the AI is programmed not to mess with External Access Points. Y'see, AI's need to learn, and maybe this one learns with training wheels on – you know, to help it until it grows enough to sustain itself. Otherwise, it could go into Cascade Failure."
Charlie cringed. "Ooohhhhh, that's bad."
"Bad"
"Bad. Bad," Charlie agreed.
James cut the two off before it could go any further. He looked pointedly at Charlie. "Can it be done?"
Charlie nodded. "I think that's it. This code is really way beyond me. Hell, I think its way beyond most people on the planet! I'd never get in if I didn't know about this Access Point. But if Graiman designed this AI, then I think we can use it to get the Prometheus codes."
"Wait…wait…did you just say Graiman? As in Charles Graiman"
Despite himself, James scowled at the phone. "You know about Charles Graiman?"
"Yeah I know about him." Awe and trepidation replaced the excitement in his voice. "Man, you guys really know what you're dealing with here? Charles Graiman is like a ghost! Rumour has it, he was one of the main guys who helped some dead dude named Wilton Knight design the first AI my buddy hacked into. He told me that the AI was indistinguishable from a human. It thought like one, acted like one, and could do everything we could, only far faster! Then Graiman just up and disappeared. No one knows what even happened to the dude. This guy is scary smart man, like Einstein with computers. If this is his stuff, he's way ahead of anyone on the planet. Boy, the Japanese would LOVE this dude…"
Toms sat back on his crate and rolled his eyes, "You could cut the geekage in here with a knife."
Charlie pinned him with a look that made him take notice. Gone was the geeky, Garth-type nerdy attitude. In place was a cold, almost ravenous hunger. "Man, you just don't know how close we are, do you? We've almost designed robotic limbs that possess the exact same mobility of humans. We've almost designed synthetic blood that can be used to support synthetic tissues like muscles and skin. We're at the point where we can almost build a cyborg body that would be indistinguishable from a human body. All we're missing is an AI capable of running that cyborg body. Right now scientists are stuck using lasers and radar because no AI program can handle the complexities of interpreting the massive amounts of data you get from human vision. But this AI…oh man! Sentient robots are a total reality!"
He jabbed at the phone, as if to make his point. "If we get a hold of this AI or Charles's notes and replicate the AI, a few years down the road, you may be talking to another person and not even realize they're not human."
Tom sat back and thought about that. "So…you two would finally be able to program yourselves girls that wouldn't be repulsed by you at first sight…"
"I'm gonna program a Terminator just so he can go after you."
"Not if mine gets to him first." Charlie turned the phone. "Yo, thanx dude. I'll hook you up when we catch up to that AI!"
"G'luck my man." The phone disconnected.
"Let's not screw this up," James said to his team. "We're damn lucky we're getting so many chances."
"Yeah," Tom agreed. "So, what do we do now?"
James looked at Mac. "Prep the weapons and stow them. I want us ready to move out as soon as we get some Intel. Our contact should come up with something soon. Tom, help Mac. Get ready to move people."
KITT hurtled along the highway. Sarah sat anxiously in her seat while Mike munched on another bag of chips. They were less than an hour out from her father's house, and the closer they got, the more anxious she became. None of them had any idea of Graiman's status. She hoped feverently that he was still among the living. Mike accidentally dropped a chip. It tumbled to the floor of the passenger seat.
"Excuse me?"
Mike looked questioningly at the AI. "Huh?"
The screen graphics showed a stick-figure picture of someone littering.
"You dropped a chip," Sarah pointed out.
Mike glanced down to where she was pointing. The chip was clearly visible on the dark mat. "Oh come on, really?" he said in a dismissive tone.
"You would not be pleased if I dropped food on you."
Mike had a 'are you kidding me' look on his face. He glanced at Sarah, who shrugged. "Do unto others."
The stickman graphic was replaced by the bible. "From the book of Matthew, Chapter 7 Verse 12."
Mike grimaced, "Oh, this is intolerable." Suddenly, he was slammed into the side of the car and pinned against the glass as it made an abrupt 180 degree turn sped back the way it had come.
"Sorry about the chip!" Mike got out while pinned.
The Shelby roared back the way it had come. "I have received new coordinates as well as a phone call that I will patch through."
Sarah looked puzzled. "From who?"
"Charles Graiman."
Her face lit up with joy. Mike looked at her and couldn't help but be uplifted by the exuberant smile on her lips.
A beep came from the console, and then an elderly man's voice followed, "Sarah?"
"Dad!" she responded, smiling. "Are you okay?"
"I escaped through the passage. I went to Jennifer's."
"Is she with you?" Mike interjected.
"Yes, she's here. Hello Mike."
"Hello Charles," Mike nodded. "Thanks for thinking of me."
"Where are you now?" questioned Sarah.
"We're at the Park Wood Motel. KITT is bringing you here. Are those men still after you?"
Sarah nodded somberly. "I think so."
They heard him sigh. "Thank goodness you're all right. Listen, has the FBI tried to contact you?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. My phone has been off all night. They used it to track me."
"Use KITT to try and contact an FBI agent named Carrie Rivai."
Sarah pursed her lips, thinking back. Slowly, she remembered. "Yeah, I think I remember meeting her at the house once."
"Good. Tell her and only her where you are. I'll wait here for you."
"I love you," Sarah said, her voice slightly choked.
"I love you too. See you soon," Charles replied, the warmth in his voice palpable. Sarah sat up straighter, more alert, more…alive. Her dad! She found her dad! He was alive and well! Joy buoyed her spirits as KITT took a right turn-off.
KITT raced along small backroads and county highways. The morning sun gleamed off his mirror-like finish. Mike and Sarah sat listening as KITT played back the messages on Sarah's answering service.
"Hello Sarah. My name is Special Agent Johnson. I'm with the FBI and I need you to contact me as soon as possible. Thank you."
"Hey baby, it's me. I just got a call from an FBI agent who says you're missing? I want you to call me. I hope you're okay. Listen, I took Lucky out…"
Sarah reached down and hit the 'next message button'. She didn't feel like sharing her new life with Mike. It didn't seem like the right thing to do. Unfortunately, Mike took things into his own hands.
"Who's that?"
She glanced at him. "It's Brock. He's my boyfriend." Her eyes narrowed in anger when Mike guffawed with laughter.
"You have a boyfriend named…Brock? So, does he own a lawnmower? Use 'dude' as a verb?"
"Cut it out Mike!" she shot back. She regarded him like one would regard a delinquent kid. "What's wrong with you? Can't you be considerate, even once? People have these things called 'feelings', or didn't you know?"
He put up his hands in surrender. "Hey, hey. Calm down. Okay! I was just making fun…"
"Don't."
"Ooooooo," he breathed out, turning away from her.
KITT allowed the next message to play. "Sarah, this is Special Agent Carrie Rivai. It's extremely important you call me."
Sarah looked at KITT. "Dial that number. Put the motel's address on the screen."
Carrie wiped the sweat from her forehead. She followed her tracking team as they meandered through the forest. She could hear the 'whump, whump, whump' of the helicopter's blades above her, but when she looked up, all she saw was the thick canopy of tree leaves. The trail they were following went through some of the densest part of the forest. It was a well-though out trail. The earth was hard-packed, making it difficult to follow the footprints, and the canopy was thick, making it impossible to track anyone visually. The only thing they had going for them was that Charles lacked serious woodsman training. He had left enough broken branches and disturbed shrubbery for her tracking team to follow.
Her cell phone rang. She put up a hand to pause her team. "Rivai," she answered. Her eyebrows shot up. "Sarah! Thank God! Are you alright? Wait, he's where?"
She held the cell up and hit speaker mode. Her team, as well as her partner and the Sheriff clustered around her. "He says it's not far. He's at the Parkwood Motel, on Route 33. I'm heading there now."
"Okay Sarah. We'll be there within the hour."
Her team broke out into a run for the Graiman's house. "Call the rest of the team. Have them meet us at the motel," she told her partner. He lagged behind and broke out his cell phone. The Sheriff did the same.
James's cell phone rang. He opened it and listened. Hanging it up, he spoke to his team. "Parkwood Motel, on Route 33."
The team loaded up their equipment and jumped into the X5. James started it and peeled out of the small airport. Charlie looked up the location on his laptop and guided James.
"It's only twelve miles from here. Practically on this road."
