CHAPTER THIRTEEN
"You know what I think?" Lizzie asked, sitting up against Karr's hood, "I think that you're faking it. Not the language barrier thing, but the fear thing. I mean, Kitt told you where we were going, and he told you that my mom and Devon and a bunch of other people would be there. And then you go and-Kitt, what's he saying?"
The other black car in the garage took a minute to watch Karr's headlight pattern.
"He's asking me not to tell him what you're saying." Kitt finally said, "I think he knows you're complaining, Lizzie."
"What?" Lizzie asked, standing up, "Oh, come on! I am not complaining!"
Karr flashed his headlights at her again.
"What was that, Kitt?" Lizzie asked.
"Nothing." Kitt responded.
"Nothing? What do you mean nothing? What'd he say?" Lizzie asked, stepping towards Kitt.
Karr moved forward with her, just a step behind.
"He's not saying anything." Kitt said, even as Karr flashed his headlights again.
"Kitt! Stop hiding it from me. Just tell me what he's saying." Lizzie pouted. She started walking in a wide circle, fully aware that the headlight-flashing car was following her every step of the way.
"Lizzie," Kitt said, "He's not saying anything. Now, I'm busy trying to contain this virus, so please-"
"KITT!" Lizzie shouted, "Come on, please just tell me what he's saying!"
"Nothing." Kitt said, "He's just flashing his headlights."
"What?" Lizzie was confused, "Why?"
"To mess with you." Kitt said, "Now, if you will excuse me, I have a crisis to get back to."
With that, Kitt became silent. Lizzie sighed, and of course that was the moment that she noticed Karr had stopped flashing his headlights.
"Just you wait until mom and dad get back in the morning," she threatened him. "And to think, I'm stuck in here with you guys."
Lizzie sat back down on the floor, and Karr drove up behind her so that she was once again sitting against his hood. She took a glance at the clock on the garage wall.
"Two hours?" She asked, "It feels like five! Come on, Karr. Can't I go sleep in my bed like a normal person?"
No answer. Karr didn't know what she was saying, and Kitt was too busy to listen.
"I don't believe this," Lizzie groaned, rapping her head against Karr's hood, "I'm tired, I'm hungry, Kitt needs to use this particular garage, you won't let him out of your sight, you won't let me out of your sight and you freak out whenever someone else comes in the room. Come on, Karr. I really want to go to bed."
Silence.
"At least let me go out and get a blanket or something," Lizzie said, "It's a little cold in here."
More silence.
"Kitt," Lizzie said, "Can you ask someone to bring me a blanket?"
"Sorry Elizabeth," Kitt said, in his no-nonsense voice, "But I'm currently trying to contain this virus. Any exterior communications could-"
"Yeah yeah, it could damage your work, I get it," Lizzie snapped, "But Kitt, I'm getting cold. Hey! Can I have one of your blankets?"
"No." The answer was immediate.
"What? Why not?" Lizzie asked.
"Because I'm in lockdown mode." Kitt said, "No one can get in my cabin, not even Michael. I already explained this to you earlier."
Lizzie groaned again, and leaned against Karr's hood once more.
"Kitt," she said, "You're good at multi-tasking, right?"
"Of course. Why do you ask?"
"Well," Lizzie said, "Can you ask Karr to open up so I can get one of his blankets?"
Kitt was silent for a moment. He didn't flash his headlights once; he was just sitting there, thinking.
"He doesn't know how to open his doors, Lizzie." He finally explained.
"What?" Lizzie sat up.
"I could teach him," Kitt said, "It might take a while, but I could ask if he would like to learn."
"All this time," Lizzie muttered, "I thought he just didn't want to open them."
"Maybe he doesn't." Kitt said, "That is, maybe he locked them before he forgot everything."
And while Lizzie sat there on the cold floor, tired and bored out of her mind, Kitt started to flash his headlights at Karr.
"Lizzie, wake up." Kitt said gently.
"Yeah?" Lizzie asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. She must have fallen asleep against Karr.
Wow, she was still cold.
"I have spoken with Karr," Kitt said, "And he's agreed to let you inside his cabin."
"That's great," Lizzie mumbled, still half-asleep, "So I can get a blanket now?"
"Yes," Kitt said, "I've also taught him how to control the temperature and airflow. He would like you to spend the night there."
"Really?" Lizzie yawned, "That would be nice."
Kitt chuckled. "Get going," he said, "Before you fall asleep on the floor again."
"Kay," Lizzie said, already standing up.
Karr's passenger door was already open, so she climbed in. The temperature was a little warm, but that was a huge improvement over the cold floor outside.
"Good night, Kitt." Lizzie said, closing the door behind her. She adjusted the seat to lean back and snuggled in her favorite blanket-which was, as always, thrown across the back seat.
"Good night, Karr." She whispered, and just like that, she was asleep again.
"I don't like this," Michael said to Bonnie, leaning against a computer table.
"I know," Bonnie said, "The virus is harder to eradicate than we thought, the hackers are still out there, and they were targeting our daughter at her school-"
"Oh, I'm not worried about those things," Michael said, waving them away with his hand, "We can handle those things. It's Lizzie that I'm worried about."
"Michael," Bonnie began, but her husband interrupted.
"She's in that room without a blanket," he said, "I can't believe we forgot to give her a blanket!"
Bonnie sighed. "Michael, she's fine. Kitt has her. And Karr's in there."
"I know," Michael said,
"What I want to know is why the hackers went so far as to call Lizzie," Bonnie mused, "They gave her a weird message, right? What was it, something about a warning to lay low, that FLAG can't afford attention, and the only reason they were warning her was because she's a driver? Why would they call her to say that?"
"I don't know," Michael said, "But the whole thing started because of Karr. They didn't want her searching for him, remember?"
"Yes," said Devon, walking into the room and glaring at Michael to take his elbows off the table, "It's all about Karr. I have been wondering why they would take the trouble to go after him and Lizzie, instead of focusing on their attacks here at FLAG. And now, I think I have the answer."
"What is it, Devon?" Bonnie asked.
"I think," Devon said carefully, "That Karr was successful."
"Wait, what?" Michael asked, "You mean he got the anti-virus?"
"Michael, this is computers we're talking about, not medicine." Bonnie groaned.
"Nonetheless, I believe that Michael is right." Devon said, "Remember, Karr lost all his memories in whatever encounter he had with that group. But considering that they are so adamant to have him back despite his memory loss-"
"Or they could be trying to break him down piece by piece so they can learn how to infect him and Kitt." Bonnie said.
"Highly unlikely," Devon said, "You said yourself when he entered FLAG that his systems now are totally different from his systems before."
"What I said was that he didn't know how to do much beyond driving and honking," Bonnie explained.
"That means that the virus won't work on him, right?" Michael asked.
"Possibly," Bonnie said, "But I wouldn't count on it."
"Alright then, here's the plan." Devon said, "Just in case Karr has something, I would like you to perform a thorough check his systems tomorrow, Bonnie. If he has any data on those hackers he might have found a way to hide it before he lost his memory."
"But my work on the virus!" Bonnie said, "What if I can't find anything, and we lose valuable FLAG information?"
"We'll take that risk." Devon said, "If there's even the smallest chance that Karr has the solution to our problem, I want you to investigate. Besides, I'm sure that Kitt will be able to help with the virus."
"Fine, I'll get right on it." Bonnie said, "But I'll need to get this done as soon as possible, so someone's going to have to get through to Kitt and have him prepare Karr. I don't want a repeat of what happened earlier."
"Agreed," Devon frowned. "Alright, Michael. It looks like the job is up to you."
"Sure thing," Michael said, "There's just one problem: they're pretty much locked in that garage until tomorrow."
"Michael," Devon said, "I'm afraid I'm going to ask you to do the impossible. We need to get this done as soon as the doors unlock, and we need to make sure that Karr is properly prepared."
"Yeah. Because he's not going to like Bonnie coming in and opening his hood without warning," Michael commented. "Alright, I'll do it."
"Good," Devon said, "Bonnie, start preparing whatever we need. Tomorrow, we're going to see what the damage is to Karr's systems."
