The Covert Academy Read Online Free Page B

is the bio-ID and why are you telling me this?’ Sarah hung upside down on the street corner while she’d questioned the doctor. At least she had looked crazy enough to conduct an interrogation.
    Dr. Prewett looked like a broken man already when he’d nervously checked over his shoulder. As if he had expected someone else to jump out at him, other than the nutcase hanging above his head.
    ‘You've got to get me someplace safe. I can pay,' he said, looking up at Sarah like a lost little kitten.
    'Tell me first and I'll do what I can,' Sarah said guardedly. His money was useless outside of Confederate controlled territory. Not that Sarah needed it anyway.
    The doctor drew himself up, f inding courage in her promise. ‘The bio-ID is a special set of code that allows the iPC it is installed in, to scan people’s faces and tell you everything about them,’ he said.
    Sarah sighed, ‘They have had that for years, how is this any different?’
    ‘It tells you everything ,’ the doctor said, ‘Where you are. What you’re doing. What you’re saying. What you’re thinking. What you’re about to do... with enough practice and study, potentially what you plan to do weeks in advance.’ He ploughed ahead, his voice rising in pitch, ‘Do you see now? Once you’re scanned, it’s all over. The data is stored forever on any device the bio-ID is installed on. It’s big-brother with unlimited access to everything that you are or will ever be.’ He was shaking, and had looked ready to run for the hills to live off the grid as a hermit.
    Sarah paused a beat for the doctor to get himself under control.
    ‘You can prove this? How do you even know?’ Sarah had tried to look menacing with the blood rushing to her head.
    ‘Look I just know all right? I work i n the lab where the bio-ID was made,’ Dr. Prewett said. ‘The General showed up less than an hour ago for the prototype and I overheard him say to his aide to set up a meeting with the Confederacy leaders. Put two and two together and it’s obvious he is making a power-grab over the others.’
    Master Casey Jayne, remaining silent until now, spoke up on Sarah’s iPC. ‘Jensen, we have had thermal imaging sweep your area of operations during this mission. Six minutes ago there was a small explosion near the top of the Tower. Heat signatures match a small object, likely a body, falling out of a window.’
    Sarah glanced at Dr. Prewett, the question of his safety on her lips. Plus he was far too valuable to just leave there.
    ‘Leave the doctor there,’ Casey answered, as if reading her thoughts. ‘Your backup will pick him up and deliver him to the base. Ryan can handle it. Your new objective is to find the impact site near the Tower, clear the area of hostiles and recover anything of value.’
     
    Sarah now focused on her task as she reached the top of the building she’d crawled up. To find the impact site, she had to get a good view. She wasn’t about to walk up to the Tower guards and ask for a tour. This ugly, squat building would have to do. On the plus side, it was right next to an alley connecting with a quiet, lonely corner near the base of the Tower. If there was anything left to see, she’d see it from here.
    Sarah paused and gripped the lip of the building’s roof. She tucked her legs under her body and hung off the side of the building in a squatting position. She switched her iPC imaging to thermal. Three guards patrolled the roof. She risked peeking her head up to check for drones. There was yet to be any reliable technology for detecting the radar-jamming drones. Thermal was useless too. They still needed normal visual contact.
    No drones in sight up here. A lucky break.
    Sarah watched the pattern of the guards’ patrol for a few seconds, getting a feel for their movements. Silent as a mouse, she leaped up onto the roof and took cover behind an air conditioner vent. The nearest guard walked by oblivious, the smell of plastic and cigarettes