McKinney and Odin turned to see a swarm of black dots—like a flock of birds approaching the tall windows.
Evans pointed. “What the fuck is that?”
“It’s the future, Morty. And I don’t think it cares what side you’re on.” He glanced at McKinney. “Do you recognize your algorithm, Professor?”
She studied their behavior as the cloud kept growing outside. “I don’t know yet.”
Evans watched the swarm gathering. “You’re shitting me! That’s what you do? Design swarms of robot birds?”
Suddenly one of the fluttering bots outside bumped against the window glass and exploded with the force of a shotgun shell—blasting the safety glass apart into a million beads that collapsed and spread across the floor, creating a six-foot-wide, twelve-foot-tall opening. A fresh breeze and the buzzing sound of ten thousand beating mechanical plastic wings filled the living room. The creatures spilled through the opening and into the room, blocking the path to the front door.
Evans shouted, “This way!” and motioned for them to follow. He headed down an adjacent hallway, deeper into the cavernous condo, as the swarm continued to pour through the opening. Evans raced down a wood-floored hallway, past expensive-looking but sterile artwork and closed doors. “What the hell are those things?”
Odin pushed McKinney ahead of him as he took rear guard. “They’re a swarming weapon.”
“No kidding—”
“Don’t let them near you. They’re flying handguns. They’ll try to get right on top of you. If they corner you, you’re dead.”
“What the hell have you done to me! I finally had a good situation!”
McKinney pounded Evans in the shoulder as they reached the end of the hallway. “You did this to yourself, Mr. Evans. You were trying to have us killed.”
Evans was struggling with a key ring to get a locked door open. Oddly it had a keyed dead bolt even though it looked to be an internal door.
“Heads up!” Odin aimed his HK pistol and fired at a swarm of bot birds surging into the far end of the hallway. With the suppressor off, the shots should have been deafeningly loud, but McKinney’s adrenaline was pumping her heart so fast, she didn’t even hear it. Several bots shattered without exploding and dropped in pieces to the floor—and only then exploded like a shotgun blast. But the swarm itself continued unaffected.
Evans was still struggling with the door keys.
“Dammit, Morty, get that door open!”
“I’m trying!”
“Try harder! Linda! Shoot!”
She raised the .45 and used the two-hand grip her ex had taught her. Squeezed the trigger. “Dammit!” She flicked off the safety, and squeezed off several booming shots. It had been a long time since she’d fired a pistol, and she had no idea if she was hitting anything.
The swarm was already halfway down the hall—the droning buzz getting louder.
“Got it!” Evans unlocked the door and pushed inside. McKinney and Odin followed—Odin last, firing off several last shots. Evans slammed the door as he crossed inside what appeared to be a computer lab. It was a server room lined with rack-mounted servers and a dozen large flat-panel monitors above two separate desks. The place was littered with DVDs, technical white papers, and colorful hentai posters involving seminude Japanese schoolgirls and tentacled monsters.
McKinney took the briefest of moments to be disgusted. “God, you’re sick!”
Evans flicked the dead bolt. “We’ve got more pressing problems than my prurient tastes.”
Odin examined the dead-end room. “Dammit, Morty. You trapped us!”
Evans was scurrying about, clattering at keyboards. “Not true. I just need to clear some machines and grab some gear before we bug out.”
“Bug out where?” Odin looked around at the racks lining the walls of the small room. An explosion like a shotgun blast tore through the door, ripping an inch-wide hole in the wood laminate. Odin raised his gun but didn’t fire. “They’re breaking in! Evans, you stupid—”
“Would you give me a moment?” He was still clattering on keyboards.
McKinney could see he appeared to be launching a wipe sequence, and several screens started scrolling progress on a shell script.
Another last punch on an ENTER key and Evans grabbed a laptop bag hung over a chair-back. “Ready to roll!”
“Roll where, asshole?”
There were several popping explosions at the door, and now two foot-wide holes splintered the wood. Odin fired several shots at bot-birds that tried to flutter through.
Evans grabbed McKinney’s shoulder and pulled her to a computer rack. He pulled back on it, and it swung away from the wall on a hinge, revealing a narrow corridor.