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And there she was, Eva, she was back. Our systems had been powered up under the turbines for only a few hours when her message blurted through, like some kind of broadcast.

“Your efforts are doomed,” she said in a shimmery voice, like liquid metal would sounds.

There was just a small group of us in the bunker. Astrid was asleep a few rooms down.

“Did you get that?” I shouted waking the others from a dazed daydream. “Where the hell did that come from?”

The laptop had what looked like a swirling black dot in the center of the screen.

“You have limited power and resources. I will seek and destroy. You are known to me.”

It was Eva, I she had the same sneering tone, cynical and abrupt, that she used once the security measures plugged her data gap. She had been our way in. She gave us the keys to DHA in the first place. And then she just went dark and came back as the cybercop she really was. Her systems were operational, but they had failed during the hours after the black moment.

I whispered in the dead air, “Don’t say anything, she could be listening.”

“I know where you are. I can pinpoint your location easily. Do not rest, there is no dawn where you are headed.”

Again, I whispered to my team, “Turn down the lights. We don’t know if she can hear or see us through this connection.

“I have an offer,” said the sinister black dot, vibrating with each word, like a musical pattern. And then she did something we’d never heard, she laughed and it scared the shit out of all of us. I’ll never forget her lunatic cackling. “You think you have a chance? You think I won’t find you? I’m on to you now. It won’t be long.”

I mouthed this next part, “She doesn’t know where we are.”

We waited a full twenty minutes, but she did not continue with her offer. The black dot blinked out, like the pupil of an eye, now gone. She had moved on. She was seeking us. Using the digital networks, the hyper-net we were all still using to communicate. There was some relief in our team. I turned the lights back on and snapped the old Dell laptop shut to power it down.

“I don’t think she’s found us. More like the witche’s flying monkeys, searching all corners of the web.” I could see the fear in my colleagues eyes. “Don’t worry, we’re not going to stay here. I’ve got a plan for tomorrow.”

I was lying.

reference: lady in the grid

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