Falcon sat with his eyes closed, the schematic of the house seeming to glow on the dark screen of his eyelids. One more time he ran the operation, visualizing the drive up to the gate. Once through, his imaginary vehicle climbs the curved drive, splitting off to the small kitchen lot. The car doors open, two human figures emerge. At that moment Edwin crashes the house security system.
Two figures penetrate the kitchen door. One breaks off to the right and through the machine room entrance as the other neutralizes the kitchen staff. But that critical stairway . . . ?
“And from there,” Major Marks interrupted, “you’ve got no idea, Falcon.”
“Why are you bothering me when I need to concentrate?”
“Because, boy, this is a battlefield, not an intelligence analysis. You don’t have enough intel. Your opponent is going to have troops dispersed in ways you can’t anticipate. As soon as their computers crash, they’ve got a protocol. They’ve planned for this, Falcon. Thought it through and practiced their response. As smart as Skientia is, they’ll be two jumps ahead of you on the game board.”
“Stop it! Just stop it! I need to think.” The pressure continued to build.
Falcon could feel the loop flickering just behind his consciousness.
Aunt Celia’s angry voice struggled to pierce the mist in which he’d hidden it.
She was going to win; it was just a matter of time.
Fear continued to eat at him.
He wanted to cry.
Edwin studied Falcon through half-lidded eyes. Tell me the dude ain’t about to pop like an overcharged soda bottle.
Edwin caressed the keyboard with his long fingers; worry about Falcon’s condition built. Damn, Cat had made those pills according to formula, hadn’t she? And psych drugs took time to have any affect.
And if Falcon weirds out on us, what then? He’s the damn brains.
Where he lay on the bed, Falcon’s face flickered with emotion, and he snapped, “Of course I know what a protocol is!”
Edwin shot him a worried look, then glanced down at his screen, seeing the image the security officer in the Skientia mansion would be seeing: A series of status boxes, all reporting normal conditions.
Within the hour Cat and Raven would be leaving the hotel, headed for the narrow road that led up the mountain.
“You can be such a pain in the ass sometimes,” Falcon said testily. He remained propped on the bed, his back braced by pillows. “. . . Yes, yes!” A pause. “Don’t interrupt me like that!”
The little hairs on the back of Edwin’s neck began to prickle. Falcon just sat there, eyes closed, arguing with a hallucination. Understanding it was one thing, watching it, hearing it, that was something absolutely friggin’ eerie.
“Falcon?” Edwin asked softly, his tension rising.
“Shhh!” Falcon answered.
We’re trusting Cat and Raven’s ass to this dude?
He thought back to the night he and Cat had just spent. There had been something charming about her fragile innocence as they broke into one store after another in search of the supplies she needed. He had reveled in demonstrating his mastery with alarms and locks; being placed in the role of protector had awakened something inside him. Some masculine sense that . . .
Falcon’s eyes flashed open. “Edwin?”
“Whachu need?”
“You need to move on their system.”
Edwin gave him an incredulous look. “Right now? You nuts?”
“Among psychiatric professionals that seems to be the general consensus. Take it down, give it ten minutes, and bring it up again without them being able to figure out how you did it.”
“I do that once, they gonna be wise that I can do it again. Cat and Chief Raven, they got a couple of hours yet. I do this, that whole place gonna be buzzin’ like a kicked anthill.”
“Do it, Edwin. Now. Then turn it on again. Trigger the perimeter alarms randomly. Can you play them? Outsmart them for the next two hours? Drive them crazy with small stuff?”
“Sure.” Edwin’s pride flared.
“But you’ve already opened a back door, correct? One that will automatically restore communications to your computer here?”
“It’s gonna take somebody a good half day tracing code to find it. But, Falcon, someone gonna eventually get smart enough to sever the phone line.”
“And there’s the gamble,” Falcon said softly as he glanced at the corner of the bed and arched an eyebrow as if for someone’s reassurance. Had to be that damn major.
“Falcon, look at me. Pay attention here. If you’re wrong, it’s Cat and Raven who’ll pay the price.” Edwin pointed a long finger. “You been paranoid crazy for a whole day. I been listening to you for an hour now, sounding stressed and weird. Now you want to change the plan? Let Skientia know they under attack? Without asking Chief Raven?”
“The challenge for you, Edwin, is to lead them a merry chase for as long as you can. Start simple with cyberattacks, probe their defenses. You said the entire house is computer controlled? When Cat and Raven make their move, raise the stakes. Turn off lights, furnace, fire alarms—”
“Falcon! I said they gonna know we coming!”
“Edwin, they’ve got a predetermined response for a breach at the main gate. Call it plan A. We want them to put Plan A in effect right now. Then we continue to jerk their chain for the rest of the day. While we do, we want them to move to Plan B, then C, and D. So many, in fact, that they’re making up new plans by the time the chief and Cat try the main gate.” He cocked an eyebrow. “Assuming, ET, that you’re a good enough cyber-warrior to outsmart their countermeasures.”
Edwin pulled at his chin, dubious. “Okay, Captain, but they’re gonna know it’s a diversion, right? So how ’bout I make them think this cyberattack’s a diversion from yet another diversion?”
“How many layers can you create?”
Through gritted teeth, Edwin said, “Falcon, if Cat gets hurt ’cause of this, you gonna wish you never born.”