“I’m just hoping you can find out where he is,” Weber continued, “without actually going there. If we can discover the location of his central coding—if there even is such a place—then I have a plan for how to destroy him. Literally destroy him. We have a program that could set off a chain reaction in his programming and erase him from existence. But it won’t work unless we find his central port.”
She stopped then, seemingly done. Michael almost laughed. And he thought she’d given him hardly any instruction the last time. Mission Number Two looked to be a complete wild-goose chase. But he had his own reasons to pursue it, to find out more about Kaine: Sarah’s parents; his parents; discovering what, if anything, had happened to Jackson Porter’s essence. He could do that for Gabby, if nothing else.
“That’s it?” Sarah asked. “You don’t have leads or anything?”
Weber gave an apologetic smile. “Leads are exactly what we’re looking for.”
Michael looked at Sarah, then Bryson. It was hard to read their faces, but he could imagine what they were thinking—the same things he was. A little fear, a lot of doubt. And, of course, he knew they, too, had that old feeling that swelled up inside: The urge to game. To jump in feetfirst and conquer the Sleep from top to bottom.
But he didn’t say anything. He couldn’t be the one to decide this time; he’d already dragged Bryson and Sarah into too much. The decision had to come from them.
“We have a big problem, though,” Sarah said. The tone of her voice told Michael what Weber might not have sensed yet: they were in, one hundred percent.
“Just one?” Weber replied. “We should be so lucky.”
Sarah ignored the comment. “Every time we’ve gone into the Sleep, Kaine has been able to track us down. No matter how many layers of protection we’ve coded around ourselves. He wants us for something. He wants Michael, anyway. We’ve been trying to avoid Sinking back in.”
“Trust me, I understand,” Weber said. “All too well. Kaine is more powerful than we ever would’ve thought. But I think you’ll feel better once you’re in. Since we figured out that Kaine is a Tangent, I’ve spent hours building a new Hider program. It’s several layers deep—virtually invisible. No one will be able to tell you’re in there, I promise. Especially combined with the fake identifications I’m sure you guys have built yourselves.”
Instead of responding, Sarah turned her attention to Michael. “What do you think?”
“Consider me curious,” he said. Which was completely true.
“The only drawback,” Weber added, “is that you won’t be able to see code like you normally would once you’re inside. That’s the only way it can work. To hide you from the code, the code ends up being hidden from you.”
“Drawback?” Bryson repeated. “You saved that little nugget until the end? That’s more like a deal breaker! What good are we if we can’t manipulate the code?”
Michael’s hopes had crashed as well.
The agent’s face didn’t reveal a thing—she was solemn, her expression focused, her demeanor calm. “Don’t be a child. All I meant is that you won’t be able to access the code in the way you’re used to. You can still use your NetScreens—old-fashioned, I know. But three people as skilled as you are—I think you can handle it.”
“Unless we get into a pinch,” Michael countered. “Whatever we can do on a NetScreen will be slow—probably too slow.”
Agent Weber gave the slightest of nods, conceding the point. “It’s that or risk Kaine being able to find you. The choice is yours. Both have their pros and cons, I’ll admit.” Bryson said exactly what Michael was thinking. “I’ll take the pro of keeping Kaine off our butts, I guess.”
“Then it’s settled,” Agent Weber said, even though Michael wasn’t sure they’d quite reached that point. But no one argued. “I’ll pull you out in twenty-four hours, see if you’ve learned anything. Now let’s get you in those Coffins.”
Michael was a gamer at heart. True-blue, dyed-in-the-wool. He’d heard his dad say that once about how much he loved the Falcons, and he’d had no idea what it meant. But it seemed to apply to how he felt about Sinking. Before his life had been ripped to shreds by the VNS and Kaine, Michael had eaten, slept, and breathed gaming. It was the blood that pumped through his veins, program or not. It was a part of who he was, human body or none.