Crow's Gambit Page 4

  “The stupid bitch knows the rules. You use the drone, you’re responsible for the drone.”

  Dale took a half-step forward, causing Thomas to cringe back from him. Instead of hitting him again, Dale reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a cash card. He threw it on the ground next to Thomas.

  “It’s your lucky day, Thomas. My employer requires the services of Miss McIntyre. I need her unencumbered of any earlier responsibilities. The amount encoded on the card should compensate you for the drone. If I were you, I would take the card and consider the matter closed.”

  Thomas turned the card over, checking the amount stored on it. He met Dale’s eyes, then nodded his assent, pocketing the card. As he stood, he glanced at Cassie while keeping Dale in his line of sight.

  “I’ll be seeing you around Cassie.” He licked his lips with a sneer. “I guarantee it.”

  “Thomas, don’t make me regret letting you walk away.” Dale stood with his arms crossed and a deep frown on his face.

  Thomas stood fidgeting for a second. His eyes flitted between Cassie and Dale. Holding up both hands he shrugged, before he retreated down the alley.

  “There’s something wrong with him,” Dale observed rhetorically.

  There’s little doubt about that.

  While she appreciated the rescue, Thomas’s pride had been hurt as well. Sooner or later, he would try to take that out on her. If nothing else, she wouldn’t be getting many barnstorming contracts now.

  “So, this job offer? It really is a once in a lifetime opportunity.” Dale smiled. “I think you should at least take the opportunity to talk to my employer about it.”

  Cassie stared at him amazed. “You’re still pitching me on the job? Your boss must pay you well.”

  “Yes. Yes, he does. And that drone I just paid for is going on my expense account.”

  “Well, I guess I owe you, or them, for that.” Cassie chewed her lip. “I’ll pay you somehow.”

  Dale walked with her back to the street where his car was parked. He opened the passenger door for her and waited. “Let’s review. So far tonight, I’ve stopped you from being arrested by the FBI and kept you from being raped or assaulted in an alley. It seems to me like you could use a change of scenery. Listen to the job offer. Just hear it out.”

  Cassie mulled over his words. Nothing he said was wrong. Would it really hurt to listen to the offer?

  She eyed the car suspiciously. Even if he had saved her, she wasn’t keen on jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. Did he expect her to go meet his boss now?

  “You want to take me to meet your employer now? Who is your boss?”

  “Unfortunately, I’m not supposed to tell you who he is.”

  “Wait, you won’t tell me his name? Plus, you’re not telling me where you’re going to take me?” She took a step back away from the car.

  He let out an exaggerated sigh and rolled his eyes, mumbling under his breath. “Okay, you won’t be meeting my employer right away. You will be meeting with one of his managers first, a man named Neil. He will answer all your questions. Well, most of your questions. You seem like someone who will have lots of questions.”

  Cassie raised her eyebrows crossed her arms.

  “I’m supposed to take you to the MSP Station. That is, if you ever get in the car.” He motioned toward the passenger seat again. “Neil will talk to you there.”

  Looking up and down the street, she thought about the situation. Here, she felt exposed. As was just proven, any of Thomas’s lackeys, or even Thomas himself, could be waiting for her around the corner. Even if Dale had paid for the drone, there was now Thomas’s pride to avenge. Then, there were the FBI agents who would spot her if she stayed outside in the general neighborhood too long. She didn’t have a car and waiting for a bus would be tricky.

  She didn’t love the idea of getting into a car with a total stranger, but he was the least of the threats against her currently. Plus, she had her knife.

  Making her decision, she sat in the car and pulled her bag into her lap. Wrapping her arms around it, she held it tightly. Her hand rested on its side against the outline of the folding knife inside.

  Taking the driver’s seat, Dale glanced over at her before pulling out into traffic. “That’s a good policy by the way.”

  “What’s a good policy?”

  “Always carry a knife.”

  She glanced down at the bag in her lap, then at Dale. His eyes were still on the road. She watched him drive for several seconds.

  “Just who are you anyway?”

  Dale shrugged. “Private contractor.”

  Chapter 6

  BEFORE THE SYLPH ARRIVED, Minneapolis-Saint Paul had been a major international airport. After Net-Day, the airport had become a shanty town populated by the burgeoning homeless population.

  With most of the planes destroyed and all flights grounded indefinitely, the air industry crashed. There was no need for airports, hangers, runways. Investors and owners lost their money. Hotels around the major airports sat empty, unused shells without travelers. In the U.S. alone a million workers lost their jobs overnight.

  When the government made the decision to rebuild the transportation infrastructure based around high-speed rail, they needed land. Land for new terminals, new locomotive storage and repair facilities, new track right of ways. Most existing train stations were in the hearts of the major cities.

  They were small and poorly equipped for the planned increase in travelers. Plus, it was hard to add more track going to them, let alone track capable of the new high-speed trains planned. In many cities, the abandoned airports offered the perfect solution. The terminals, baggage handling, and security systems were already in place.

  Most were already part of a regional transportation network making access by car or light rail easy. And they had lots of open space available. Best of all, ones like MSP, or O’Hare, were on the outskirts of the city, making it easier to run new high-speed rail lines directly to them.

  Using the depression era Work Projects Administration, or WPA, as a model, many of the former airline employees were hired to help remodel and construct these new hubs. She remembered former coworkers of her Grandpa stopping by their house as they moved through the area working with a WPA crew.

  When the hubs came online many of these same workers transitioned into jobs like the ones they had before; ticket agents, security, baggage handlers, mechanics. The ones who were left without much of a place in this new world were the pilots.

  Most of the old airport hotels had managed to evolve as the airports transitioned into railway stations. Now they served the rail passengers for the new economy. She assumed they were headed to one of these hotels tailored for quick or temporary meetings and business operations.

  The mystery employer, or this Neil person, was staying at one of them. Yet instead of exiting for the hotels, they continued onto the entryway to MSP itself. They took the lane for drop-offs and Dale pulled over in front of the main terminal entrance. He stopped the car and turned to look at her.

  “This is where I leave you.” He reached into his jacket to remove an envelope. “Inside you will find a ticket card for the Amtrak to Chicago and a transfer ticket to the Puma. Both in your name.”

  “Wait, the meeting isn’t here?” Confusion showed on her face before the rest of his statement sunk in. “The Puma? I’m riding on the Puma?”

  Dale nodded. “You’re a fan I take it?”

  “Are you kidding?” The pitch of her voice rose. “Four hundred miles per hour? Pebble bed nuclear power, maglev propulsion, autonomous AI controls? The only thing that would make it cooler would be wings.”

  “Well, I know some people outside Cleveland who would disagree.”

  Cassie’s excitement dampened. She knew people had lost their land and homes in the construction. While the eminent domain court cases had dragged on, the houses had been demolished. The route from Chicago to New York had been completed in record time.

  “The meeting with Neil is here at MSP. If you agree to the job, you’ll take the Puma to New York to meet our employer.” Dale held the envelope out to her again.

  She glanced down at the envelope. “You seem awfully confident I’m going to say yes.”

  “Let’s just say I like to be efficient. There is a return trip voucher in the envelope, as well. It’s open dated. Return next week after the interview or return next year. The voucher will still be good. There’s also a cash card you can use for incidentals while you travel. Now get going or you’ll miss your meeting. You have your bag?”

  Her mind spun with all the information. The tickets were freedom, whether she took the job or not. Then a thought occurred to her. “Hold on, how will I know who Neil is?”

  “There is a meeting room reserved for you. Scan your ticket at any of the help kiosks. You’ll be directed to the right place.” Dale looked at his watch. “You don’t have much time. You’ll have to hurry before your train leaves.”

  Getting out of the car she turned and leaned down to the window. Dale lowered it with a questioning look. “When you distracted that agent so I could get away, did you know he was an FBI agent?”

  Dale smirked. “I recognized the type.”

  She nodded, filing the information away for later.

  “Good luck.”

  “Yeah, um, thanks. You know, for the FBI and Thomas.” She turned and headed into the terminal.

  Inside she found a kiosk to scan her ticket. The screen directed her to a special security gate which allowed visitors access to meeting rooms. The personnel on duty checked her ticket with a cursory glance before directing her to Room 103. At the door she wasn’t surprised when a swipe of her ticket produced a soft click as it opened.

  She paused before entering. The room appeared empty except for a single leather chair sitting in the middle. Shrugging, she dropped her bag on the floor and sat down. Her breath caught in her throat as the room dissolved around her.

  When her shock passed, she realized the room was still there. Its features were indistinct behind a bright bluish tinted haze, like she was looking through fog. Slowly the haze darkened, leaving only a bright area around her fully visible.

  A shape gradually appeared. It resolved and sharpened into a man sitting across from her. Cassie slapped her forehead. She was sitting in the middle of a virtual meeting room. The walls contained concealed scanners and holographic projectors. Her meeting was going to happen in a virtual landscape. Not unusual, although not cheap.

  The man had dark hair and Asian features, though it was possible to change one’s appearance in a VR meeting. His beard neatly cut and just starting to show gray at the edges. A pair of dark-rimmed eyeglasses made her pause. Most people opted for eye surgery or enhanced contacts. He wore brown hiking boots, blue jeans, and an unbuttoned flannel shirt over a t-shirt. The shirt said, “Computer Whisperer.” All things considered, not what she had been expecting.

  “You must be Cassie.” He reached to the side and picked up a bottle of beer.

  “You’re Neil?” The man’s casualness appeared out of place. “I was told this was going to be a job interview?” She looked pointedly at the beer.

  “It’s past office hours.” Neil took a long swallow before continuing. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  “That’s funny, I’ve heard nothing about you.”

  “Well hopefully we’ll have a chance to change that.” He sat the bottle down to pick up a tablet. He glanced at it for a moment before continuing. “Above average aptitude for STEM, but you were kicked out of the University of Minnesota before your senior year. Apparently you have some trouble dealing with authority figures. Most still speak highly of you though.”

  “That’s the rumor going around.” Neil glanced at her and she just shrugged. What more was there to say? He obviously knew the details already.

  “You are also a very skilled drone pilot,” Neil continued. “You do most of your work on the barnstorming circuit, although you draw the line at transporting illegal substances. You also make a decent cup of coffee, but your grilled cheese needs some work.” He picked up his beer and finished it in one long swallow.

  “The grilled cheese is served with a homemade pickle and a sprig of toasted rosemary. It’s elegant,” she protested, ignoring the comment about barnstorming. Virtual meeting recordings were admissible as evidence in court. There was still a small chance this was all a police sting.

  “That’s not what Dale says. He thinks you need to use a different cheese. He does speak highly of Mrs. Gardner’s pickles though.”

  “It seems Dale is extremely thorough. What else do you know about me?”

  “You were orphaned at age four and raised by your grandfather, Bill McIntyre, in Minnesota.

  He’d said Bill. Only a few people ever called Grandpa, Bill. To his former co-workers and neighbors, he had always been William, or Dr. McIntyre.

  “Your favorite band is a retro group called Ragnar’s Daughters. And...” Neil’s eyebrows raised for a moment. “And it seems you have a tattoo.”

  Cassie felt her blood run cold. There were only two people who had ever seen that tattoo. The person who inked it and her ex-boyfriend. If either of them was somehow involved with Neil, then she didn’t want to be.

  “Lots of people have tattoos.”

  “True. However, hmm.” Neil let the comment die and laid the tablet on his lap. “Suffice it to say you have been extensively vetted by my company.”

  He hadn’t mentioned the tattoo’s design. Maybe he didn’t know what it was. Or didn’t understand the significance?

  She glared at the man’s projection. There had been some breaches of her privacy somewhere. How much did these people know about her? And what did they really want with her?

  Picking one question out of the many she settled for a simple one. “And what company do you work for?”

  “I work for the Crow Works.”

  “Pardon? The Crow Works? You work with birds?”

  “Eh, no.” Neil rolled his eyes slightly. “I’m one of the project managers at Crow Research Applications. It’s an engineering contracting firm and a think tank. We help people solve problems which require unique solutions. The Crow Works is a unit within the company who works on special projects. Ones that require some out of the box solutions with a certain amount of, uh, security. Think of it like the old Skunk Works at Lockheed or the Phantom Works at McDonnel-Douglas and Boeing. Have you heard of those before?”

  She nodded. Grandpa told her about some of the historical accomplishments of those groups, although she didn’t know if either still existed. Both of their parent companies had taken a beating after the arrival of the Sylph.

  “That’s not a great name. Which doesn’t matter I suppose. What does matter is why you want me for this job and what it is. Someone needs to start giving me some answers.”

  “Intuition, problem solving, and flexibility are what is important to us. You have all of those. Besides, we need someone with flight experience, who can understand aeronautical design. There aren’t many people around with those qualifications anymore.” He took a long swallow of a new beer. “And I didn’t pick the name of the company. I just work for the person that did.”

  He still hadn’t told her what the job consisted of. “Fine, who did pick the name? Who would I actually be working for?”

  “Crow Research is a division of another holding company, Darrow Industries. You’re being offered a position by Peter Darrow.”

  She tried not to let her shock show. Peter Darrow was a multi-billionaire. One of the new age industrialists who had helped fund and guide the recovery efforts. His companies used or developed some of the most advanced technologies on the planet.

  “Peter Darrow the futurist? One of the richest men in the world, wants to hire me, Cassie McIntyre?”

  Neil nodded.

  Well, that doesn’t happen every day.

  What was she missing with this whole scenario?

  “Neil? Peter Darrow and this think-tank, I’m sure we’re talking projects involving security clearances or at least some kind of criminal background check, right?”

  He just nodded. He did that a lot.

  “See, I’m not sure that’s going to work out.” She knew there were things in her past which could stop her from even getting back into the university, let alone get a security clearance. Lizzy had helped scrub her records but even Lizzy’s skills might not be enough for the scrutiny Darrow Industries would bring.

  “We know about your previous ... shall we say, legal infringements.”

  Maybe you do and maybe you don’t.

  They did know about some of them at least. Dale was very efficient at his job.

  “Believe it or not, for this job, they actually play in your favor.”

  “And what exactly is this job?”

  Neil hesitated before answering. “This connection isn’t completely secure. I’d rather give you the full details in person.”

  Crossing her arms, she just stared back at him silently. She wasn’t going anywhere without some details.

  Neil sighed. “But I can see that isn’t going to be an option.” He stared at something outside the projection for a moment. “When it comes down to it, we need a pilot. We want you to fly a drone for us. An exceptionally large, unique, drone.”

  How large? How unique? She tamped down her sudden excitement. She was already in enough hot water with the authorities.

  “That sounds very illegal,” Cassie replied straight-faced.

  Neil appeared to chuckle. “I can assure you your chances of being arrested are much greater barnstorming in Minnesota than working for us.”

  Considering they were already looking for her in Minnesota that sounded accurate. Still, while flying a large drone was just as illegal as flying a small one, there was one major difference. “It also sounds like something the Sylph are just going to vaporize.”

  “Maybe.” Neil shrugged with a smile. “And maybe not.”