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the air now, flying her away from the school she had worked so hard to create.
    I never asked how they found me. So far I’ve managed to keep the government guessing about my whereabouts, but they managed to track me down.
    She lingered on that thought for a while, but eventually her mind drifted to the more exciting question. What are they going to have me work on? Vision had the talent and the budget that allowed for endless possibilities.
    Whatever it is, this should be interesting.

 
     
    Chapter Four
     
    This isn’t the Bay Area. Kari stepped out of the auto-copter and into the thin air. Mountains loomed all around them and for a second Kari thought she was back at Valhalla. She checked her location on her mind chip and found she was in Colorado, not far from Boulder.
    A slick, black auto-auto waited a few feet away from where the stairs ended. John and Christina didn’t hesitate as they entered the vehicle. Kari followed after them wordlessly.
    Kari tracked their location as the auto-auto drove toward the mountains, up winding roads deeper into the Rockies. We have to be there soon, there’s nowhere else to go. The maps she was using showed the road ending not far from where they were now, miles from the city.
    The auto-auto slowed to a stop and the founders of Vision led the way out of the vehicle as soon as the doors slid open. Not a very talkative bunch. Kari stepped out into the sunlight again and found a thick cement wall directly in front of them. A handful of armed guards were manning an outpost a few feet off the road. Kari followed Christina and John through the small, twisting security checkpoint. On the far side of the wall, the road continued higher into the heavily wooded mountain.
    Another black auto-auto was waiting for them and Kari joined two of the wealthiest people in the history of mankind inside of the car. Despite the conditions of the road, the ride was surprisingly smooth. The tinted widows prevented her from seeing much outside, but what little light had been seeping though was suddenly cut off. We just went underground, or into a tunnel. Where are they taking me?
    “We’re here,” John said as soon as the auto-auto stopped again.
    “Finally,” Christina said. “Let’s make this as efficient as possible.”
    “Of course,” John responded.
    They talked as if Kari wasn’t accompanying them, which Kari wasn’t sure if she appreciated or not. Better than them trying to make small talk with me. When the doors opened again, Kari stepped out into the well-lit cave. It looked like an entrance to a fancy hotel, with glass walls and light furniture, but behind them the road circled back into darkness. Inside the glass lobby Kari could see dozens of security guards carrying traditional energy weapons. They aren’t messing around.
    The white tile and light granite walls reminded her of Henderson’s prison, but her curiosity far outweighed any concerns. The guards didn’t slow them down as they passed through a series of scanners. They reached a solid metallic wall and stopped. A wall slide closed behind them, locking them in the room.
    A familiar deep buzzing noise sounded just before a wave of blue light washed over them. Kari jumped, despite wanting to play it cool as the EMP filled the room, destroying any electronics within its reach, including the processing unit behind their ears. A little warning would have been nice. The wall in front of them slid open a second later and another group of security officers were waiting on the far side, next to a table with new processing units.
    Kari followed Christina’s lead as she picked up a fresh processing unit and replaced the now fried one that was resting behind her ear. Once she had a functioning processing unit connected to her mind chip, Kari was able to focus on where she was. A wide hallway led deeper into the mountain. Several drones buzzed around the air in different directions and the same security doors she had hacked at