Free Merrick's Maiden by S. E. Smith

something to Bradley. He was supposed to call me over an hour ago. He said if he didn’t that I needed to hide until you could help… help me. I think they are after me now. There was a car following me earlier, but I lost whoever it was when I left my car in the parking lot at the grocery store. Please… Help us. I don’t know what is happening. Please… Please."
    "Do you know where Merrick is?" Trudy asked, looking at the screen in front of her as it scrolled through dozens of locations before narrowing on the city of Portland, Oregon. She covered the microphone with her hand and turned to Rose. "Anything?"
    "Just a few more seconds," Rose replied. "RITA, lock into the satellite at the following coordinates.
    "Yes, I’m watching the building now, hoping I will see Bradley," the woman on the other end replied. "He works at Keiser..."
    "Institute of Technology and Research, Portland, Oregon division," Rose finished. "Scanning personnel and security video now. Whatever they have there, they don't want anyone taking a peek. It has some major security coding in it. RITA, can you find us a back door without them knowing we are there?"
    "Of course," RITA, Cosmos' Raines AI software replied in a dry tone. "They may be good, Rose, but I'm somewhat spectacular if you ask me."
    Rose's soft snort echoed in the upper rooms of Cosmos' Enterprises. Spectacular was too mild an adjective to describe RITA. Rose had been shocked when she discovered that RITA wasn't really one of Cosmos Raines' brilliant inventions, but that of his roommate, Jasmine, aka Tinker, Bell and her mother, Tilly. After meeting both women, Rose could appreciate RITA's sense of humor and almost motherly attitude.
    While the computer software and the highly secretive server that contained it might have the technical name 'Really Intelligent Technical Assistant', there was no way RITA could be described as anything else, but futuristic. Her ability to learn, adapt, and process information was mind boggling.
    “I have the location,” Rose whispered, patching an alert through to the advanced team for deployment before alerting Avery. “Avery, we have a location. There is a woman on the phone that says Merrick gave her boyfriend this number. Yes, Team One and Four have been ordered to deploy. We’ll be in the air in ten minutes.”
    “RITA, keep us connected as long as you can,” Rose ordered. “Are there any satellites feeds available?”
    “I have two satellites within range in three minutes,” RITA replied. “I’ve accessed video surveillance cameras around Keiser and am uploading to each Teams command center. I’ll track any incoming and outgoing vehicles within ten blocks and expand the search outward.”
    Trudy turned in her chair and rose, pulling off the headset. “She hung up. All she knew was that her boyfriend, Bradley Crawford, worked as a security guard for Keiser for the past six months. She said he had been extremely tense about something for a couple of weeks. Last night he told her to call this number and tell whoever answered, that Merrick said we would protect them. She couldn’t tell me anything else and sounded scared out of her mind,” she explained as she took the Kevlar vest Rose held out.
    “The helicopter is ready,” Rose said with a nod. “Let’s get moving. Team One was on standby in California. They should be there with the next hour. RITA has all cameras in the area under her control.”
    “Shit,” Trudy muttered. “Homeland is going to be calling Cosmos again.”
    “Not this time,” Rose chuckled. “We have the President’s permission.”
    “Thank goodness,” Trudy said as she stepped into the private elevator. “I hope that means Lady Luck is on our side this time.”
    The doors to the elevator closed on the two women. Neither of them noticed the silent figure standing near the door leading to the bedroom attached to the office. Runt stepped into the room and quickly walked over to the computer panel. Within