Chapter 3

Thomas

The girl was not doing anything he expected her to. Civilians were easy to hunt—they went to patterns, help, police, anyone to help, once they witness a murder. She should have made a beeline to her car. He had reached it well after she would have gotten to it, taking care to prepare the vehicle for her so that if she did return to it, she would no longer be an issue. Instead, the girl had taken to the desert, disappearing like a professional. He needed to know who he was dealing with to see if she was trained, who and what she knew, and what she could do.

Heading to the nearest town, he had limited Wi-Fi signal and vehicles he could exchange for his older off-roader, and there was a small chance she would find her way there. It was the only close town within possible hiking distance. He would have to change some aspects of his appearance, given she had a modern photo of him. If she did manage to get it to authorities, they would discover who he was, and others would arrive to take him out. Years of being careful, avoiding people and cameras, only to be found by someone that should not have been there. A witness. A witness with a camera and speed. He had a touch of respect and surprise for her and the cunningness she showed to keep away from him. Killing on Federal lands had the one benefit of few observers, especially when no one knew it was a favored hunting ground.

The town had barely made the map. It only had a few places and houses, ordinary people barely around to notice him. The bar offered a few rooms, like a motel, since there was no other place. He paid the bartender for a room and a Wi-Fi password. He had tossed his supplies on the bed, bending the mattress and metal frame inward. It was a piece of crap, but it would work for his needs. He logged into his computer to start his search on the logo on her gear to figure out who she might be. He used the sad-looking shower, which almost got to lukewarm, to shave off his beard and trimmed the hair he had been sporting. He had to appear different before the authorities got wind of him.

Once clean and changed into a completely different outfit and hairstyle, he got back to the computer. The logo brought him to a technology company he somewhat knew, and he investigated his recent GPS tracker to see it was made by the company. He smashed the device, not wanting to even test if they could track it. He destroyed his current burner phone, pulling out the newest one. He continued to let his machine search for the girl. He got little information since she was on private government land and worked for a company with some of the best security on their network.

Thomas sent a short email through the dark web to request a full search for the Titan Ki Technology geologist. It was replied to by a few bidders. Accepting the best of the lot, he let them go on their way to search out the data he couldn’t find himself. The money transferred, and the wait began.

Going down to the bar, he ordered food and a beer to blend in with the locals. A few had come in as the sun set, bringing in the small nightlife. He began to eat the overdone burger and cold fries and drank the decent beer, watching the locals for any hint of a lost girl. He didn’t appreciate not knowing anything about the target. She was loose, wild, and running. She might not be military, but she kept out of sight like a ghost.

He finished the weak meal as his new phone pinged, giving him information through secure sites. The rest of the funds transferred to the hacker. He began to look down the screen as the information about Layla Black, a geology doctoral student, came across. After several minutes of reading, the little that had come through gave him a basic outline of her. The information about her climbing, with attached photographs, made sense, given how quickly she had escaped him. She had an unusual gaze, unease in her straight stare in the photo sent to him. He had hunted unusual before, but he had to wonder if she was something more than she seemed. Everything followed the life of a semi-normal human—she taught in Las Vegas, while at the same time, she finished her thesis work on rocks. She worked with Titan Ki Technology for several years as their resident geological expert. They sent her out to gather samples and to test sites, which made little sense to him, but not knowing the ins and outs of how large businesses worked caused him little concern. It just appeared to be a waste of money.

Layla Black’s social media appeared small, going dark when she was out on digs. It showed climbing, rockhounding, too many images of odd-colored lumps of rocks for him to care about. Still, it appeared to be on all her sites. Not the typical person, but given what she had seen, collateral damage was part of the package, and he had no problem taking care of this loose end.

Finishing his reading, he left a modest tip, allowing the patrons to assume he was passing through, nothing to tell the local police once they got involved. The local cop didn’t seem to be rushing anywhere. He had been in the bar during Thomas’s searching. She hadn’t made it to town, so no locals were involved. Unless she got to the government or military, adding a complication he would prefer to skip. He would have to search through his maps for all the places she could possibly hide. The skill of desert survival came with her line of work. His excitement continued to purr through his body. Finally, a challenge. Not a simple hunt—a chase. The previous two died quickly and easily. This brought his urges forefront.

If she continued to be smart, she would find a way to reach the military, giving another cull from the military brats. The small skip to his step brought a smile to his face. He packed up the rest of his gear and left the bar motel with some supplies in the room as his base. He went to find the newest truck to steal and traded the plates and VIN to leave town. Nevada, lots of space, not a lot of people, and enough places to hide. She had enough skills to hide in this desert, even if she was not doing what he expected by calling the police. She might have contacted her work; they used contacts instead. All the different possibilities gave him a puzzle to try to figure out.

Leaving the small speck of a town, the highway rolled into the darkness of the wild starry night above. There were little to no city lights to distract him. The road was surrounded by federal territory, meaning the government would have to be involved by now. He would need to retrace her possible steps, return to the beginning to find the trail she would have been bound to leave. He hadn’t been stationed in this neck of the woods. The money would need to be sent to another hacker to get updated maps and information in the bases close enough to help. No one would be able to get into the satellites promptly with the tight control and updated servers installed. He would need to go the old-fashioned way. He would adjust, calling for information on dig sites, trails that Ms. Black might have taken. It was an immense desert, and anyone could disappear into it, never to be found, which was his goal.

Just one person had ruined his day and brought him a challenge.