Daemon

this?’
    ‘Gaming pit. We’ve got top young minds here from the public and private intelligence sector playing
The Gate
,
Over the Rhine
, and half a dozen other online games.’
    Merritt surveyed the room. ‘It’s a bunch of college kids. They’re looking for the Daemon?’
    Ross nodded. ‘Come here.’ He brought Merritt up to a broad table covered in piles of large color maps. A nearby large-format color printer was spitting out a new one. ‘These are level maps we found on the Net. This one’s a custom level for
Over the Rhine
. That one over there is a castle blueprint from
The Gate
. Daemon Factions create these as bases of operations and training. The most interesting ones are encrypted – although Natalie’s crypto people can get us in pretty quickly. We’ve found some maps that match the floor plans of real-world structures and huge ones that model real-world city streets. Our teams discover a map and reconnoiter it – by force, if necessary. We try to determine the map’s purpose, and lastly we try to infiltrate Faction ranks.’
    Merritt examined the floor plan with an expert tactical eye. ‘Any luck?’
    ‘Not yet. It’s got us seriously frustrated. We’re always on the lookout for the Daemon’s AI recruiting avatars – Heinrich Boerner in
OTR
is the main one.’ Ross pulled a color screen-capture off a nearby bulletin board. ‘Here’s a mug shot.’
    Merritt looked at the picture. It showed Heinrich Boerner in mid-lecture, a long cigarette filter clenched in one corner of his mouth. Some joker on the Task Force had added the word ‘Wanted’ in large red letters over it. ‘You’re hunting for a cartoon Nazi.’
    ‘Don’t laugh. The real ones can die.’
    Merritt tossed the picture onto the pile. ‘So who’s starting all these Factions?’
    ‘The disaffected, the dispossessed, the displaced, the disgruntled. Worldwide.’
    ‘That’s a few people.’ Merritt soaked up the scene. Watching it, he realized for the first time that the world had really changed – that a line was being drawn in society and which side of the line you stood on would determine your future. He realized more than ever that technological prowess had become a survival skill. ‘It’s getting bad, isn’t it?’
    ‘That might be about to change, Roy. Thanks to what you’ve brought us. C’mon, they’re waiting for us in the lab.’ Ross brought Merritt across the floor, through all the shouting.
    ‘Goddamned sharking smacktard, die!’
    ‘Fireball his ass!’
    ‘Cover me!’
    ‘Friggin’ munchkin!’
    Presently they reached a steel blast door flanked by two more armed guards in Korr Security uniforms. A red line painted on the concrete floor formed a semicircle at a fifteen-foot radius around the door. The words
Danger – Level 2 Security Zone
were stenciled on the floor just beyond the line and on signs along the wall. As they approached, the guards there leveled their HK UMPs.
    Merritt snapped alert. ‘What’s this?’
    ‘It’s the R&D lab.’
    The lead guard motioned for the two of them to come forward. ‘Voice identification, please.’
    Ross spoke into a microphone hanging by a long cable from the ceiling. ‘Ross, Jon Frederick.’
    A female computer voice responded,
‘Voice pattern confirmed.’
    There was a loud click, then a flashing red light spun into action, and the massive blast door started to open slowly outward. Merritt was amazed at its thickness – it was easily a foot of solid steel with a beveled edge.
    ‘Hell of a door. Was NORAD having a sale?’
    ‘This place wasn’t designed for us. Back in the sixties this was an indoor cannon testing range for the U.S. Navy.’
    ‘How’d you guys wind up here?’
    ‘Korr Military Solutions owns the building. They have several forty-nine-million-dollar contracts with the Defense Department to operate Daemon Task Force facilities worldwide.’
    ‘Forty-nine million. An odd number.’
    ‘Fifty million triggers congressional oversight.’
    The massive door was open now, leading into a brightly lit anteroom guarded by yet another massive blast door. To the right was an interior guardroom manned by several more heavily armed Korr guards.
    Ross and Merritt stepped inside. The first blast door boomed shut behind them.
    One of the guards gestured to a hole set into the wall nearby. Ross stuck his arm into the hole. A brilliant light glared from within.
    Merritt pointed at the device. ‘What now?’
    ‘Biometric scanner. It