Chapter 6
Sam groaned in frustration Daniel had been missing for near a week now and they were no closer to finding him in the huge facility that was Global Dynamics. Security was tight, but not fool-proof, and it seemed that once you were inside there was a great ability to slip through additional measures, like coming in with someone who has a badge or stepping off the elevator at the same floor as someone with iris clearance. A mug appeared in Sam's line of sight and she grabbed it like a lifeline.
"Bless, you," she mumbled into the cup. Carter sat down next to her and looked at the screen.
"Any luck?"
"None of it good," said Sam.
"So, Oregon?" asked Carter.
"What?" Sam asked frowning at the screen.
"You said you knew that guy Cross in Oregon."
Sam sat back with her cup and sighed, "That's a long complicated and highly classified story."
"That's going to be theme for us isn't it?" He smiled.
"Look, Sheriff,"
"Jack."
"What?"
"You can call me Jack."
Sam made a strange face and then seemed to reconsider. "Sam," she said.
"Cool," said Carter, "You know Jackson made a crack at my name too, I'm starting to get paranoid."
"Really? What did he say?"
"He said the universe has a sick sense of humor."
Sam snorted, and almost choked on the dregs of her coffee. "He would know," she said smiling. Carter didn't get it, but he smiled anyway.
On his third trip out as a security guard Daniel hit pay dirt, a storeroom filled with PDA's and laptop computers. He brought out one of each and took them to Charlie, who had been conscious and lucid for longer periods over the last few hours.
"Daniel this is great!" Charlie enthused opening the laptop box and dragging the computer on to his lap, "I'll be able to access the base schematics and work out those camera angles for you in real-time and plot us a way out."
"Sounds like a plan," said Daniel unloading some food he'd managed to pilfer along the way, "Hey can you access the internet on that thing?"
"Sure," said Charlie, "this whole place is a giant Wi-Fi hot spot."
"Yeah, but can you do it without them pinging us and finding out where we are?"
"On the base intranet no problem I masquerade as some other employee's computer, on the internet it'll be a bit tougher I should be able to slow down a trace for a little while though leapfrog us through all the nodes on base and in town and the state."
"How long?"
"Few minutes if they're good, one maybe if they're really good."
"Let's assume they're really good."
"Why do you want to get online?"
"Send a message to my friends maybe get us out of here more quickly, get you some help."
"I told you I'm feeling a lot better, at least I'm properly awake now," said Charlie.
"Can you walk?" asked Daniel.
"I can move my legs now," said Charlie, "that's a big improvement of only a few hours."
"You have to be able to walk," Daniel sighed, "we can't walk out of here as security if I'm supporting you the whole way."
"I just need some time."
"Time is one thing we can't rely on. We risk being found every time I do a food run or scout one of the exit routes," Daniel took off his jacket and cap and sat down next to Charlie on the bed.
"What do you think your friends can do storm the place?" asked Charlie.
"Probably not, but maybe if I get a message out they can send a helicopter or something, the med-evac landing pad is only one floor up, I could take you as a patient in wheelchair."
"That won't work; they won't have clearance they won't get through."
"These people are bureaucrats they won't shoot down an unarmed helicopter."
"They won't have to they just leave the EM barrier up."
"Electromagnetic Barrier," Daniel sighed.
"Disrupts all electronic signals coming through from above," said Charlie.
"I know," said Daniel, "Would it block an outgoing signal?"
"Depends on what kind of signal, why?" Charlie frowned.
"Just an idea, I had. Can you disable it?"
"Maybe for a minute or so, but that's not enough time to land a helicopter."
"No, but it might work for something else. If I give you the message and the e-mail would you be able to send it without red flagging our position?"
"Sure give me a minute to work out the specifics."
Daniel left Charlie alone to work on sending the message, and pulling down the EM Barrier. He ducked into the bathroom next-door and pulled off his T-shirt. His chest was a rainbow of bruises, and his shoulder wound was a seething mass of red infection, that seeped blood and a little puss. Daniel pressed cotton wadding onto the wound, and cringed sucking air through his teeth. His vision wavered and he knew he was running a fever, he didn't have much time.
Well, you didn't think Daniel was getting off so easy did ya? Later, Cynic