Free Scavenger by David Morrell Page B

coordinates as accurate as ten feet, the box was difficult to locate.”
    Amanda was so accustomed to hearing the voice come from the ceiling that she felt disoriented now that it sounded inside her head.
    “From Oregon, this version of a scavenger hunt spread rapidly around the world. It bore similarities to a similar scavenger hunt called letterboxing, but the GPS version is called ‘geocaching.’ Players use an Internet site to learn the coordinates of something hidden—a cache—in an area they want to explore. They program these coordinates into their GPS receiver, then let the receiver guide them to the spot they need to search. Often, within a ten-foot-square area of trees or rocks, the object is so small or so disguised that it’s almost impossible to find. A cache might look like an insect, such as a grasshopper, for example. It takes a careful eye to notice that the grasshopper is made of rubber. Or the object might look like a rock, but when examined, it turns out to be plastic, containing a cheap ring or some other type of nominal treasure. The player who finds the object leaves something comparable in return, or sometimes just a note, and then reports the victory to a website like geocaching-dot-com. Players gain stature for the number of caches they discover. Only a few years after President Clinton signed that GPS legislation, there were a quarter of a million caches in two hundred and nineteen countries.”
    Ray interrupted angrily. “Grasshoppers? Cheap rings? What the hell do you want with us?”
    “No need to shout, Ray. The microphone next to your cheek will supply the proper sound level. What do I want? Step to the front door.”
    Amanda tensed as she heard an electronic beep from the door. The lock made a clunking sound, the bolt sliding free.
    “You can open it now,” the voice instructed.
    “Not until I know I won’t get electrocuted.” Viv tapped a rubber glove against the door’s handle. Getting no reaction, she pushed down and pulled.
    Sunlight streamed in, accompanied by a pleasant breeze.
    “Damn, that feels good,” Derrick said. He went outside, as did Viv and Ray.
    Hesitant, Amanda and Bethany followed.
    2
    The sun was warm. The grassy, sagebrush-dotted field was more open space than Amanda had ever seen. All her life she’d lived in cities, where the buildings permitted a view of only a portion of the sky. The trees in parks created a similar limitation. But here, the view was immense. Snow-capped mountains rose in the distance, but they made no impression on the sky. The canopy of blue was vast.
    “As you see, you’re in a valley surrounded by mountains,” the voice explained in Amanda’s ears. She noticed everyone else concentrating to listen. “On your right, far off, there’s a break in the mountains. That’s the only exit. I don’t advise you to go in that direction.”
    Amanda stared at it longingly.
    The group walked farther from the building, which reminded Amanda of a log-walled hunting lodge she’d once seen in a magazine. She noticed Viv put the rubber gloves in a pocket of her coveralls. Good, Amanda thought. Save whatever resources we can get our hands on. But the farther she went from the building, the more insignificant she felt in the vastness around her.
    “Please, take out your GPS receivers and turn them on,” the voice said.
    Everyone complied.
    Except Amanda, who was baffled by the unfamiliar object she removed from her pocket. “Where ...”
    “On the right side,” Derrick said. “Two buttons. The bottom one. It’s got a symbol of a light bulb.”
    Amanda pressed the button and heard a beeping sound. The unit’s screen glowed, revealing a cartoon of a globe with satellite icons over it.
    “Mostly because of the United States and its military requirements, there are a large number of global positioning satellites, twenty-six that the government admits to having,” the voice continued. “But your receiver needs only to establish a link with