Free The Burn Zone by James K. Decker Page B

doesn ’ t know where I am. I know it ’ s not perfect, but I need info, Vamp. I need to know something, anything.
     
    Okay, I get it.
     
    Dragon isn ’ t a traitor.
     
    I know.
     
    Peering through the pistol ’ s scope, I adjusted the zoom until I could see past the mangled railing and through the hole the airbike had left. Something moved inside again, and I spotted a shadow cast on one wall as whoever was there stepped in front of the light. It was someone big, someone tall, but there was something weird about him, like he had a sheet draped over him.
     
    “ What in hell? ” I said under my breath. The shape moved, and seemed to come apart as a series of ropy silhouettes undulated slowly across the drywall.
     
    I blinked and rubbed my eye, but when I looked again the shadow was just the shadow of a man wearing a helmet and poncho. I sighed, lowering the pistol before tossing it on the bed. All the adrenaline had burned through whatever meds were left in my system, and all I had in hand was the shine. It was going to be a long night.
     
    Can you come tomorrow? Once things have cooled off? I asked him.
     
    You got it.
     
    Thunder rolled as I took another swallow from the bottle. It burned going down, but it helped keep my hands steady. I took another one and leaned against the window. Below, clusters of rain-slick, helmeted heads moved down the street through an alternating blue and red strobe while the whoop of a siren occasionally drifted up. I brought up the eyebot again and watched the orange markers move in time with the officers on the street.
     
    The eyebot works really well, I sent. Are the security guys tracked by people who are running the app, watching from windows?
     
    Mostly. Some are on the street. If you ’ re watching now then your feed is part of the model.
     
    You realize they ’ re going to crack down on this, right? Hwong isn ’ t going to like people being able to track any officer or soldier who...
     
    I perked up a little suddenly, wiping breath fog from the window. As the helmeted heads moved, so did the markers.
     
    What?
     
    Does this thing keep a log?
     
    You mean like a history of troop movements? The users can ’ t access it, but yeah, I store it so we can see how operations like this play out.
     
    How many people are running it?
     
    Actively running it, I ’ m not sure. Downloads are in the tens of thousands, though.
     
    Then could I use it to track Dragan maybe?
     
    Someone has to see the guys who took him. He ’ s wherever he ’ s going by now.
     
    Not track where he is now. I want to know where he was between the time he came back to Hangfei and the time he got to the apartment.
     
    The app only tags security, though. A person only gets painted if he ’ s fitted with a security transponder.
     
    Dragan was still kitted when he came home.
     
    Vamp thought about that for a minute. Okay, yeah. He ’ d get picked up for sure then.
     
    Can you find him?
     
    Problem is, with the sweep and now the mess at your place, he ’ d be like a needle in a haystack.
     
    Can you do it?
     
    He wasn ’ t part of the sweep, so he might have been out of the main jumble. I don ’ t know if I can pick him out of the general noise of regular patrols, but I ’ ll see what I can do.
     
    Thanks. See you tomorrow?
     
    Tomorrow. Be careful, Sam.
     
    I logged off and took another swig from the bottle. Good guys like Vamp didn ’ t come along every day.
     
    He was kind of famous online, but that wasn ’ t why I liked him. I mean, I used to think he was cool, and when I kicked in a yuan to his pet project I was psyched when my name actually got picked. I wasn ’ t his first contest date, but he was my first real date ever, which was kind of funny because it was a complete disaster on almost every level.
     
    I smiled, remembering it. Afterward I really didn ’ t expect to ever hear from him again, but he wouldn ’ t leave me alone until I let him apologize and try again.