Distraction - Bruce Sterling [145]
A second platoon of girls united and turned the tiny police truck onto its roof, and web-shot its video monitors and instrument panels.
At his own insistence, Kevin personally led the assault on the police station. Kevin’s contribution consisted of fast-talking with the female desk sergeant as thirty young women walked into the building, chatting and giggling. Smiling cops who trustingly emerged to find out what was going on were webbed at point-blank range. Gagged, blinded, and unable to breathe, they were easy prey for trained squads who seized their wrists, kicked their ankles, and knocked them to the floor with stunning force. They were then swiftly cuffed.
The Moderators had seized a federal facility in forty minutes flat. A force of fifty girls was overkill. By six-thirty the coup was a fait accompli.
Still, there had been one tactical misstep. The lab’s security director was not at his work, and not at his home, where a platoon had been sent to arrest him. There was no one at home but his greatly surprised wife and two children.
It turned out that the security chief was in a beer bar with his mistress, drunk. Teenage girls couldn’t enter a bar without attracting attention. They tried luring him out; but, confused by bad lighting, they attacked and tackled the wrong man. The chief escaped apprehension.
Two hours later the chief was rediscovered, sealed into an impromptu riot vehicle in the basement of the Occupational Safety building. He was frantically brandishing a cellphone and a combat shotgun.
Oscar went in to negotiate with him.
Oscar stood before the rubber bumper of the squat decontamination vehicle. He waved cheerfully through the armored window, showing his empty hands, and called the police chief on one of the Collaboratory’s standard phones.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” the chief demanded. His name, Oscar recalled flawlessly, was Mitchell S. Karnes.
“Sorry, Chief Karnes, it was an emergency. The situation’s under control now. No one is going to be hurt.”
“I’m the one who handles emergencies,” said the chief.
“You and your men were the emergency. Since Director Penninger was abducted yesterday, I’m afraid you and your team have forfeited her trust. However, the lab is now back in the hands of its properly constituted authorities. So you and your staff will be relieved of duty and placed under detention until we can restore the situation to normalcy.”
“What on earth are you talking about? You can’t fire me. You don’t have the authority.”
“Well, Chief, I’m very aware of that. But that doesn’t change the facts of our situation. Just look at us. I’m standing out here, trying to be reasonable, while you’re holed up in an armored vehicle with a shotgun, all by yourself. We’re both adults, let’s be sensible men here. The crisis is over. Put the gun down and come on out.”
Karnes blinked. He’d been drinking heavily earlier in the day, and the full gravity of his situation hadn’t entirely registered on him. “Look, what you’re saying is completely crazy. A labor strike is one thing. Computer viruses are one thing. Netwar is one thing, even. But this is an armed coup. You can’t get away with attacking police officers. You’ll be arrested. Everybody you know will get arrested.”
“Mitch, I’m with you on this issue. In fact, I’m way ahead of you. I stand ready to surrender myself to the properly constituted authorities, just as soon as we can figure out who they are. They’ll show up sooner or later; this will all shake out in the long run. But in the meantime, Mitch, act normal, okay? All your colleagues are down in detention. We’ve got the crisis handled now. This is doable. We’re having the place catered tonight, there’s doughnuts, coffee, and free beer. We’re playing pinochle together and swapping war