He turned and whispered to Amber, “Keep an eye out while I try to crank this hunk of junk!”
She nodded an affirmative. As quietly as possible, he opened the driver door of the vehicle and slid his head up under the steering wheel and instrument console. Using his pocketknife, he pried the plastic cover off the main computer compartment. He then pulled a USB cable out of his coat pocket and plugged one end into the car’s computer port. The other end, he inserted into his PDC. Pulling up a program that one most certainly would not find in their service carrier’s free app store, he began scanning the car’s brain searching for the master reset code.
It was going to take a lot longer than he wanted, but he really had no choice. He was not a professional car thief, and thus was not set up for a quick heist. This was a basic program that worked on some of the older hovercars not equipped with the newer bells and whistles like the sleek SkyLiner sitting next to it. Now that was one sweet ride! However, it would take a professional to steal it. And he wasn’t taking any chances. Besides, some of these newer models had booby traps on them that made trying to jack them extremely dangerous. Some of the German models could even be quite lethal. These manufacturers had added an anti-theft device to some of their late model hovers that produced a twelve-thousand-volt charge that ran through the body of the vehicle if someone attempted to carjack it, or break into it forcibly. It came as no surprise these particular models were no longer ranked in the Top 10 Most Stolen Cars.
It took about forty-five seconds for the program to sync with the car. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Tiger initiated the master reset. Once that was complete, all he would have to do would be to press his thumb to the ignition keypad and let the computer scan it. Once it did and accepted his print, the car was his. So wrapped up in his task, he never noticed that Amber had begun sniffing the air curiously. With a soft growl, she pulled her pistol and slipped unnoticed out of the garage into the night.
He never realized she’d deserted her post until the hangar lights came on in a blinding flash of shock and surprise. He tried to wriggle out from under the dash, while at the same time reach for his pistol, but the sound of an old-fashioned metallic trigger being thumbed back told him immediately that someone had gotten the drop on him.
“Hold it right there, you thievin’ piece of shit!” It was the voice of an older man. “You so much as twitch and I’ll paint this here concrete floor with your innards!”
***
Amber moved through the darkness with the deadly stealth and instinctive quickness of her vulpine ancestors. Standing in the hangar door, she’d seen the gunship fly over just a few moments earlier, making its landing approach. She moved now not to flee from the men she knew were coming for her. She was making a beeline toward them.
She crouched beside a backyard fence, sniffing the air again. Close! They were close! Her pupils fully dilated, her night vision was just as effective now as the merc’s night vision equipment. She growled softly under her breath, as she readied herself for contact. Ever since the rednecks had attempted to rape her, a gradual change had taken place inside her. Something dark and mysterious had been awakened, something she never even knew existed. Like a dormant virus, it had come alive, growing stronger by the hour, spurred on by adrenaline and crisis. The assault at the hotel, Tiger’s daring rescue of her, and finally, even the much-desired union with him in the backseat of the truck … each instance had spurred these feelings on. She had become aware of things she hadn’t even known existed. Things a simple companion would never have programmed into them. An overwhelming need for self-preservation. A growing desire to take the fight to the enemy. Even the selfish indulgence of wanting revenge. All these things now drove her toward her tormentors.
She found it a little scary, but more than anything, she found it exciting and empowering. She felt she was in control of her own life for the first time … however long that might have been. After all, one day she’d just became self-aware. She was just Amber, lying there on an examination table in the lab, with her Master standing over her, smiling, ready to take her home. She hadn’t been born, she never grew from a child or kit. She just one day … was. But how long had she been alive before that? Had she been something else, a recycled being re-used for another purpose, having fulfilled its original task. Is that where these suddenly emergent instincts and urges came from? Who would know? Who could tell her that wouldn’t want to kill her first? Would she want to know?
One thing she was certain of. It felt good to feel something other than dependency and submission to a human. It was all she’d ever known, because it had been programmed into her makeup. Yet something else was in there too. Something that was working its way to the surface with every sudden surge of danger and excitement now. Something that was strong and independent. It didn’t need a human to make decisions and choices for it. It could think and reason on its own.
Maybe the human would need her.
It felt good. Amber felt good. She’d never felt more alive at any other time in her life than she did now. Springing from her crouch, she hurdled the six-foot high wooden fence with the ease of someone stepping over a fallen log.
Inside the fence, an in-ground
