As the young man led Nina away, his interest apparently piqued by her speech, Sam seized the opportunity and grabbed a few bottles. He snatched up prepacked sandwiches at random, not even bothering to check their fillings, then searched the floor for a dropped receipt that would allow him to walk out, goods in hand, unchallenged.
He had almost made it to the exit when he saw something that made him spin around and rush to find Nina.
It was Cody.
"You're sure?" Nina demanded, hastening her limping steps to match Sam's.
"Certain," Sam replied. "And he looked like he was searching for us."
"Well, I can't imagine what else he'd be doing here. Let's hope Purdue's found us a car."
Not only had Purdue found them a car, he had managed to find a spacious minivan whose owner had left a few belongings in the glove compartment. Among these was her wallet, which Purdue had taken and helped himself to the money in order to fill the fuel tank. There was also, much to Sam and Nina's delight, an almost full packet of cigarettes. They were light cigarettes, but cigarettes, nonetheless.
"Looks like we're ruining someone's family holiday," Sam observed, climbing into the back and noticing the array of suitcases. He found and opened a capacious cooler. It contained enough cartons of juice, packets of dried fruit, and crackers to feed an army.
"I have their bank details," said Purdue, easing them out onto the Interstate. "I will ensure that they are suitably recompensed for the inconvenience as soon as we get home. Will that do? Now get some sleep, Sam. I will need you to take over driving in a few hours."
Sam finished his sandwich and stretched out on the back seat. His system was still flooded with adrenaline from sighting Cody, but he knew that their best chance of escape was to keep moving, and that would depend on one of them being awake and capable of driving at all times. Gradually, he felt his body growing heavy as he willed himself to sleep.
Nearly ten hours later, not long after sunset, Purdue declared that they were almost at their destination.
"Are you sure?" Sam looked around dubiously. They were in Silicon Valley, he knew. He had seen enough signs to make him sure of that. However, the area they were currently driving through seemed desolate and abandoned. Street after street, he saw small McMansions that looked as though they had never been lived in. There were no cars in the driveways, no basketball hoops, no pools, and no trash cans out for collection. All the lawns were a little overgrown and the flowerbeds untended. As darkness fell, not a single window was lit.
"Yes, this is definitely the right place," said Purdue. "I remember visiting when these houses were being built, shortly before the crash."
"Let me guess," said Nina, watching a stray dog dashing through the empty yards. "The global economic crisis happened, then no one could afford these places anymore, and they've all sat empty?"
"It is true that they have always been empty, but not that no one could afford them. FireStorm was already considering establishing a base of operations in the San Jose area. It would be a technological base, rather than a place where they could recruit via their Vision Quests. When the world's economy collapsed, they simply bought up the lot."
"But I don't see a base," Nina was puzzled. "Is it underground?"
"In a sense." Purdue tapped Sam on the shoulder and pointed to a sign up ahead that read Pinewood Mall. "We need to follow that sign." He returned to his conversation with Nina. "What you see here is a sort of defensive border, Nina. The technology being developed by FireStorm is extremely sensitive — both in the sense of having to be protected in case it is tampered with, and in the sense of needing to be kept secret to avoid spreading alarm. As long as that base was operational, these seemingly innocuous streets acted as a corridor between it and the outside world. The approach of an unknown vehicle would trigger a massive security shutdown. Anyone who took a wrong turn onto these streets would find they had a chance meeting with a police car, and the police would politely check the driver's destination and set them on their way with a warning that it is not safe to drive around abandoned areas, even in predominantly middle-class Silicon Valley."
Sam gave a long, low whistle. "They've got the police under their thumb?"
"Sam, they have everyone under their thumb." Purdue's voice took on a tone Sam could not remember hearing before. He actually sounded somewhat defeated. Still, it was only there for a moment before he continued in his usual more upbeat way. "Fortunately, now that this base has been replaced by a more remote — and frankly infinitely more suitable — option in Canada, only minimal security remains. Of course, FireStorm's idea of minimal security is still considerable compared to most places, but I am glad that we are not trying to infiltrate an operational base!"
"Wait," said Nina, "Why exactly are we trying to infiltrate anything? We've taken it on trust that we needed to come this far with you, Dave, but you really need to tell us what you're getting us into this time."
While listening to Purdue and Nina, in the shadow of his own thoughts, Sam observed something which tickled his cynicism about their relationship. He did not wish to entertain such notions, but the selfish part of him condoned it entirely. For two lovers, their interaction and discussion was significantly cool and impersonal. Even if it was just sex, there was no sign of any intimacy between them, not in speech or in body language. Nina's words, "that we needed to come this far with you, Dave," distinctly inferred that they were somewhat detached. Would she not come this far with him at all costs if they were a couple? Perhaps, Sam thought, he was just more romantic than he had thought he was to doubt their closeness.
"And I will," he said. "I was simply waiting for the apposite moment — early enough to give you all the necessary details, yet late enough that you will not have time to overthink things and become unduly nervous. Despite the fact that this base is abandoned, it is still used to store some of the servers that FireStorm will require in order to bring the full version of its network online. We must destroy those servers, otherwise the network will be launched at the end of the Mind Meld with the backing of all the powerful people they have recruited, and it will catch on swiftly.
"Within days, millions will have signed up. Within weeks those millions will find it indispensable. Within months, billions will be using it — almost the entire developed world, and it will have begun its spread into developing countries. Within a year, we will scarcely be able to remember our lives before we all used FireStorm, and within two years the death of privacy will have been achieved. By the time anyone begins to realize how foolish they were to hand over so much valuable information freely, it will be much, much too late."
The long line of identical houses ended at a T junction, beyond which lay an expansive strip mall. If I didn't already believe Purdue's story about this place having special protection, Sam thought, that signage would convince me. It still reads Pinewood Mall! Surely it ought to be missing at least half its letters by now.
"Turn left here," Purdue instructed him. "We need to go to section D."
Section D of the vast parking lot, it turned out, looked remarkably similar to sections A, B, and C. The white lines had begun to wear away through time and lack of maintenance, and the whole place was completely empty apart from the minivan. Sam turned the vehicle around so that it was parked across four spaces. Despite the expanse of other spaces and the fact that the mall would never have any actual customers clamoring to park there, he still felt the faint thrill of wrongdoing.