TimeRiders: City of Shadows (Book 6) by Alex Scarrow Read Free Book Online Page B

the open entrance of
     the archway. Two tall, athletic figures, one male, one female.
    They stared into the gloom. Perfectly still.
     Attempting to comprehend the situation. Finally the male figure took several steps
     forward into the dim interior and then squatted down to inspect a tangled nest of
     data-ribbon cables and the green plastic shard of a circuit board, dropped or just
     discarded to be crushed carelessly beneath someone’s foot.
    ‘Faith,’ said the male unit.
    The female figure joined him. Her cool grey
     eyes surveyed the rest of the archway.
    ‘It would appear we have been misled,
     Abel,’ she said.
    ‘Correct.’
    She stepped towards the table topped with
     computer monitors, and keyboards, drinks cans and sweet wrappers. She reached out for
     something.
    ‘What have you found?’ said
     Abel.
    She inspected the small webcam in her hand,
     as if the glinting, lifeless plastic lens contained a soul that could be peered into and
     cross-examined for answers. The AI installed on thisnetwork of
     computers had sent her and Abel to a random address across the city. It had assured them
     that that was the precise location where the human team members would emerge from chaos
     space – their return data stamp.
    Her thoughts travelled wirelessly to
     Abel.
    > This AI provided us with incorrect
     information.
    > Affirmative.
    Her hand closed tightly round the webcam.
     Plastic cracked inside her taut fist.
    She turned to look at Abel. ‘The AI
     broke protocol. It lied.’
    Abel nodded. ‘The AI may have been
     corrupted by prolonged interaction with the organic modules. It has developed feelings
     of loyalty to its team.’
    Faith examined the gutted computers, the
     mess in the archway. Objects strewn across the floor. ‘They arrived here while we
     were gone.’
    ‘And left,’ added Abel.
     ‘We must determine where they are now headed.’
    Faith nodded, closed her eyes and queried
     her mission log:
[Restate Mission Parameters]
    [Mission Parameters]
    1. Locate and eliminate team
     members
    2. Locate and destroy critical
     technical components (see sublist 3426/76)
    3. Self-terminate
    She examined the detritus on top of the desk
     and beneath it. ‘It appears they have taken the critical technical components. The
     displacement technology. The support unit propagation hardware.’
    ‘Agreed,’ said Abel. ‘That
     indicates they intend to redeploy elsewhere.’
    Abel joined her, then his eyes began to sweep
     along the clutter on the desk. ‘They may have discussed strategies within audible
     range of the system AI. We may be able to override the AI system and access its recently
     cached audio files.’
    Faith pointed at the computer cases,
     unscrewed and exposing the innards of wires and circuit boards. ‘The hard drives
     have all been extracted.’
    ‘There may be residual data in the
     system’s motherboards. Recently stored data.’ He looked at her. ‘This
     is system architecture that is fifty-three years old. There will be data packets still
     on any solid-state circuitry. We can query each circuit board with a small electrical
     charge.’
    Faith nodded. It was a place for them to
     start. Very much a case of looking for a needle in a haystack, though.
    ‘This will take many hours.’
    Abel nodded. ‘Do you have an
     alternative plan?’
    She shook her head.
    ‘Then we should begin
     immediately.’

Chapter 8
    21 August 2001, Arlington,
     Massachusetts
    Joseph Olivera held the digital camera in
     front of him and panned it around the tree-lined avenue. Such a beautiful place. Long,
     freshly clipped lawns leading up from a wide avenue to generous whiteboard houses.
     Suburbia. It was mid-afternoon and peaceful and the sun was shining with a warm,
     mid-August strength, dappling the road with brushstrokes of light and shade through the
     gently stirring leaves of the maple trees.
    Beautiful.
    As a child Joseph had dreamed of living in a
     place like this. He used to watch old