Episode Fifteen: The Spy

"Elizabeth," said William "I know that you can hear me."
    Elizabeth looked over her shoulder at Dean, who was just waking up, then back at William on the screen.
    "You heard Dean. You can hear me."  William eyes wandered looking around the room not sure in which direction to speak.
    "If there is any mercy in you, please help us. I know that I am just a computer nerd who the world will hardly miss, but Jim is a family man.  His kids wont have a father unless you help him. Elizabeth, please--"
    Dean pulled his hand back from the keyboard.  "I don't think we have to worry," said Dean.  "He'll think about dieing for a week and change his mind.  He'll help us."
    "You don't really plan to kill them do you?" asked Elizabeth.
    "If he refuses our only other choice is prison: life sentences most likely.  I'm not willing to do that.  Don't worry, Miss Stratford, he'll come to his senses.  He's not the kind of man to be a martyr.  He won't like it, but he'll help us."
    "He smiled when his back was turned to you.  I watched him hide it before turning back to you. I don't think he's as desperate as he acted.  What if he has a plan to get out?"
    Dean turned and looked at Mr. Kilgore's body, sound asleep on the bed where he had spent the last two months.  He stepped over to it and put one hand on the bed post. 
    “The only way for the brain connection to terminate is if the computer stops sending it information, and there is no way to stop the program from the inside.  If there was a way out, he would have done it by now.  Turn the display back on, I'm curious what Mr. Kilgore will tell the other two.”
    Elizabeth obediently activated the camera.

    “—every word you are saying!” William voice was both loud and pleading.  He stood up quickly and walked over to where Troy Lombardi stood in the doorway. 
    Troy spoke in a soft whisper, “Is he here, in the lodge?”
    Jim, who was behind Troy, stepped in and cautiously looked around. 
    “Not anymore, but there is some kind of hidden microphone or something. I'll explain what I know, but not here.  Not anywhere close by, there could be dozens of hidden microphones all over this valley.  We'll go out on the lake.  There won't be any microphones out there.”
    Elizabeth changed from camera to camera as the three men made their silent way through the lodge and out the back.  From the camera in the shed, Dean and she watched as they silently searched for microphones in the canoes before pulling them out.  When they were out of hearing range and could only be seen by a camera mounted on the top of the lodge Dean broke the silence.
    “Bring up the recording of what Troy said before you turned the screen on.”
    They watched William finish his plea to Elizabeth.  Afterword he sat down and appeared to be in deep thought.  From another camera they watched as Jim and Troy came over the hill toward the lodge.
    “You should have put a few cameras over by the origin,” muttered Dean.  Elizabeth wanted to mention that he had chosen the locations for the cameras—she had just put the code in for them—but didn't want to worsen Dean's already sour mood.
    They were able to hear a few snippets of their conversation, but it wasn't important.  Jim was telling Troy the story of when Dean had first asked for help then turned on him.
    Dean sat up a little straighter and leaned forward when Troy opened the front door.
    “Hey, William, whats going on here did you find . . .”  the rest of Troy words were covered by William's exclamation.
    “STOP! Don't say another word.  Dean can hear every word you are saying!”
    A strange chill trickled up Elizabeth's spine.  She switched the display to live time and looked for a moment at the three men, three small dots out in the middle of the lake.  “They haven't given up yet.  They still hope to escape.”
    “I don't think there is any real cause for alarm.  We reset the program to get them back to the Lodge and install the cameras.   Whatever they were doing was completely undone.  If they couldn't do it in two months, they won't be able to do it in single week.”
    “William seems to think otherwise, and he is the only one who really understands the program.  And they are going to be in there for a lot longer than a week.  Our agreement was to let them die naturally.”
    Dean gave her a long hard look.  “Well if there is any hope of escape, we can't let them continue to try.  I don't want to kill them any more than you, but were running out of options.   We have no idea what they are planning.  We can only observe them when they are near the lodge, which is of no use now because they know about it.  If you think William is so confident, wouldn't be better to just kill them now?”
    “NO!”  Elizabeth jerked involuntarily.
    Dean eyed her coolly.  “I'll make a deal with you.  I'll put you in the Endless Frontier with them.  You can tell them I turned on you when you didn't want to kill them.  It almost won't even be a lie.  Once they think you are on their side they will tell you their plans.  Then you call me and I'll pull you out.  We'll change the program to prevent them from ever getting out and William will be forced to help us.  Jim and Troy can live happily ever after in the Endless Frontier.”
    Elizabeth couldn't respond.  Her throat had constricted with fear.  Dean stood and towered over her waiting for a reply.  Without a word and under his gaze, she walked over to an empty bed and lay down.  A few moments later she fell down weeping on the red marble of the Origin.