Knight Rider 2008 Alternate Storyline – Episode 8 – Lockdown
Chapter 5
About two hours later, Kat was in the heart of Phoenix, Arizona. The sun was just beginning to set. A few blocks from the restaurant, they pulled into a small parking space in front of a semi. It was a tight squeeze, but K.I.T.T handled it perfectly.
Kat opened her glove box. As always, Carmen had not let her down. She found a miniature med-kit in a flat vinyl case. This she zipped up into the inside of her vest. With the vest zipped closed, you couldn't tell she had it. She put on her watch and switched to a fresh set of contacts.
Kat opened the door and stepped out into the street. She shut the door behind her. “Okay, go invisible.” She said as she walked around his hood to the sidewalk.
“Initiating Cloaking Program.” K.I.T.T said in her ear. He faded quickly from view.
Kat glanced around quickly, but no one appeared to have noticed anything strange. “I love large cities.” She said as she turned and walked down the block.
A small screen came on in front of her eyes. It showed a diagram of the area around her, from overhead. A red dot flashed at one of the buildings. “Turn left at this corner.” K.I.T.T told her. She turned the corner. “Walk straight down for two and a half blocks, it will be in the middle of the block, on the left side.”
Kat soon found herself in front of Won's Chinese Restaurant. A shutter was pulled down over the large front window. The shutter over the glass door was half raised. The sign in the door announced the restaurant as 'closed'.
Kat ducked under the shutter and tried the door. It swung open inwards. She looked around quickly as she stepped inside, but the seating area was deserted. She decided not to announce her presence, instead opting to check the area out first.
She walked slowly through the tables, towards the counter in the back. The lights were all out, the only illumination coming from the window in the front, which was covered by the shutter. The weak sunlight was fading fast.
As Kat approached the counter, K.I.T.T adjusted her night vision accordingly. She could make out a black shape sitting on the countertop. She stopped advancing. “Hello KARR.” She said.
A yellow light flared quickly on the dark laptop screen, settling into the familiar equalizer display. “Greetings, Katherine Knight.” KARR said dully. “I expected you to have arrived an hour earlier. Your predecessor would have already defeated me by now.”
“I'm still here well before the deadline.” Kat said warily. She continued to look all around, but saw no one else. She didn't move closer to the counter. Her left hand crept over to her watch, just in case.
“Indeed.” KARR assented. “Because of that, your leader is still alive.”
“Where is he?” Kat asked.
“I will tell you that, once you give me what I asked for.”
“You wanted to trade me for David.” Kat said. “Well, I'm here. Let him go.”
“You are only useful to me if you have the information I seek.”
Kat gave the laptop a long look. “You want information? That's it?” She asked, disbelieving.
“There are many things I seek. Information is all I want from you. I wish to know the whereabouts of your uncle, Michael Long.”
Kat blinked in surprise. “Michael Long? Why do you want to know about him?” She became suspicious. Was K.A.R.R trying to stall with ridiculous questions?
The laptop was quiet. The yellow light flowed back and forth across the screen.
Kat decided to humor the evil A.I. “My uncle died when I was a baby. You'll find him next to my father at Calvary Cemetery, in Los Angeles.” She answered. “All the Longs are buried there, if you're looking for any of my other dead relatives.” She was becoming angry. Was the whole point of this just so K.A.R.R could jerk her around?
“You speak honestly.” K.A.R.R said. “I can see that you know nothing. You are no longer useful to me.”
“Now what? You kill me like you killed Sam?” Kat asked.
“I did not kill your brother.” K.A.R.R stated. “Nor shall I waste the effort to kill you. Your leader is in the back room. You are both no longer needed.” The laptop went out.
“Something's definitely up.” Kat said to K.I.T.T.
“I agree,” K.I.T.T said in her ear. “The unknown man has just appeared in my area. He seems to be alone.”
“He's probably looking for you, but he won't find you if you stay put. Just stay invisible until I get over there with David. Move only if you have to, and be careful not to hit anyone. It's not their fault they can't see you.” Kat told him as she moved to the door behind the counter. She checked behind the counter, her watch raised, just in case of an ambush.
She inspected the door. It was of sturdy construction, with a spring by the bottom hinge that prevented the door from being left open. The deadbolt locking the door was freshly installed. She reached up and slid it back.
She opened the door carefully, still anticipating a trap. No one jumped out at her. The room on the other side of the door was dark. K.I.T.T brightened her night vision again. She could see that this was a storage area. Someone was lying on the floor by a row of shelves.
Kat reached for the light switch on the wall. She flipped it, but the lights did not come on. “Oh well.” She muttered.
She walked deeper into the room. The door closed behind her. She walked over to David. She looked around one last time before kneeling down next to him.
He lay on his side, one arm over his face. She moved his arm out of the way and checked his pulse. He was still alive, but his breathing was weak and shallow. “David, wake up.” Kat said urgently. She grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “David!”
She slapped him hard across the face. Finally, he stirred. His eyes searched around vainly in the darkness. Then he covered his face with his hand. “Oh, you stupid woman...” He groaned.
“Your gratitude stuns me.” She said dryly.
“I told Charles not to make the deal.” David muttered weakly.
“Did you really think we were just going to let you die?” She asked him.
“You would have if you were smart.” David said. “Charles always was a sentimental fool.”
Kat frowned. “You're going to have to get over your whole martyr thing David. I wasn't going to let you die just to save myself.”
David shot an incredulous look in her general direction. “You think that I would 'sacrifice' myself for you?” He asked. He tried to laugh, then groaned when the movement hurt his chest.
His voice turned grim. “You're such a fool. Did you really believe for one second that KARR is interested in either of us? We're just stepping stones to what he's really after. And you just played right into his hands.”
Kat went very still. “KITT?” She called to him.
“Kat! You have to get back here!” K.I.T.T said urgently. “It's-” His sentence cut off suddenly. At the same time, her night vision failed. Darkness closed in all around.
“KITT?” She asked. “Are you all right?” There was no response. “KITT!”
Kat listened for a long moment, but there was only silence. “What happened?” David asked.
“I don't know.” Kat answered. “He just cut out on me. My night vision is gone too.”
David swore. “KARR might have found a way to suppress the signals. We need to get out of here. Now.”
“KITT, if you can still here me, we're on our way.” Kat said.
“Did you bring a med-kit?” David asked.
“Sure.” Kat unzipped her vest and pulled out the vinyl case. “What do you need?” Her movements were quick, even it the blackness. She was anxious to get back to K.I.T.T. She knew that K.I.T.T was fairly capable of defending himself, but Kat did not like the fact that the unknown man was nearby.
David's voice was becoming faint. “Should be a syringe...”
Kat felt through the med-kit and found a single ampule among the various first aid bits. She pulled it out. “How can I be sure this is what you need?” She asked.
“Should be the only one...” David mumbled.
“Okay. Where do I stick you?”
She started as David took her hand in his. He brought it to his chest, over his heart. “Here.”
She felt him reach up and fumble with the button on his shirt collar. She pushed his hands away impatiently and ripped open his shirt. The buttons popped off, hitting the linoleum. “We can't hang around here much longer.” She muttered. She pulled off the ampule cap with her teeth as she felt for the spot over his heart. She stabbed the needle into his chest and pushed the plunger down.
********
Minutes earlier...
K.I.T.T watched as Kat headed down the block and turned the corner. He finished giving her directions, then waited for her return.
He kept tabs on her through the eye-cams while she went through her encounter with K.A.R.R.
Michael Long? He searched through his files, but found no mention of that name. Why was K.A.R.R interested in this man?
He would normally search online next, but he did not want to encounter K.A.R.R if he connected to the Internet. Ian had shown him how to keep invaders out of his CPU Core. But K.A.R.R had twenty years more experience than K.I.T.T did. Even if K.I.T.T was the more advanced, K.A.R.R had probably learned many things over two decades.
He passed the time watching the people around him. Most of them just walked around, going about their business.
K.I.T.T was fascinated by people in large groups, which wasn't something he had a lot of experience with. There were so many, yet each one was completely different. Unique in appearance, motives, and functions.
The unknown man turned the corner then, heading in K.I.T.T's general direction.
“Something's definitely up.” Kat said.
“I agree,” K.I.T.T responded to her. “The unknown man has just appeared in my area. He seems to be alone.” He listened while Kat gave him instructions not to move unless he had to.
He began running a scan on the man. If he stayed in the area long enough, K.I.T.T would be able to take a detailed X-Ray of his facial bone structure. Then he could use that to compile an image of what the man's face used to look like. He would be able to use that image to finally discover the man's identity.
The unknown man was wearing his trademark sunglasses. For some reason, they were disrupting K.I.T.T's scan. He concluded that they were either made from a material not normally used for making sunglasses, or they were giving off a scrambling signal. It's disruptive properties made him unable to identify which.
The man stopped right next to K.I.T.T's passenger side door. He was looking down the block. K.I.T.T was still cloaked, but the man was less than two feet away, which made him suspicious. K.I.T.T's first response would be to tranquilize him, but he had more programming restraints now. He had to ask Kat first.
He was about to send a message to her when the man reached one hand out to the side. K.I.T.T saw that he wasn't wearing his usual black leather gloves now. The man touched the door handle.
The door immediately unlocked.
Shock flooded K.I.T.T's CPU Core. He knew. Suddenly, in one millisecond, he knew who this man was.
“Sam?” K.I.T.T asked, his surprise reflected in his voice.
He also knew that something was very, very wrong.
He contacted Kat as Sam slid into the passenger's seat, pushing David's laptop to the side. He shut the door. “KITT, initiate Unlocking Protocol.” A screen flared up on the passenger's side window.
“Kat! You have to get back here!” K.I.T.T told her urgently.
Sam placed his hand on the screen. “KITT, disable Safety Mode.”
K.I.T.T's com link to Kat was immediately cut off. He was visible again. His weapons were all useless now. He couldn't move. He was completely vulnerable.
“Sam, why are you doing this?” K.I.T.T asked. “Why would you hurt Kat?”
Sam pulled a black rectangle from his leather jacket. “KITT, shut up.” He said as he pressed the tazer into the stereo.
There was a sizzle and several loud pops as electricity overloaded his CPU Core. K.I.T.T had several backups installed in his systems in case of power surges. Those activated now and he promptly shut down, protecting his CPU Core.
********
Kat watched as David's body twitched once violently. His breathing sped up, became heavier. After a moment he sat up.
“What's in this thing?” Kat asked, meaning the used ampule. She tossed it aside and helped David to his feet.
“It's a drug Knight Industries has been developing.” David answered, his voice sounding much stronger than it had. “It's a mixture of adrenaline and morphine. It's purpose is to help wounded soldiers to get out of combat zones. We call it a 'stim'.”
“From my limited knowledge, morphine and adrenaline don't really mix well. Isn't morphine a depressant?”
David walked over to the door. “Stims have a few other things in them.” He said evasively, feeling around for the door. He found it and tried the knob. It turned, but someone had replaced the deadbolt while Kat was tending to him. “Help me with this, it's locked.”
Kat joined him at the door. A few of David's ribs were cracked, but that didn't stop him from ramming his shoulder into the door with as much force as he could.
He took a step back, and Kat threw herself shoulder-first into the door. Then David went again. They alternated like that, settling into a rhythm. The door creaked and groaned under their assault, but was slow to break.
Finally, they managed to force it open. The sun was almost completely set by now. The last few rays lit the restaurant dimly.
Kat passed the counter. The laptop was gone. David leaned weakly against the door frame. Kat turned and went back to him. His face was ashen. “No, go on.” He said breathlessly, trying weakly to push her away.
Kat took one of his arms and pulled it over her shoulder. She helped him stumble out of the restaurant. Once they were outside, he seemed to recover some. He took his arm back at least. “Where did you park Three Thousand?” He asked.
“A couple of blocks that way.” Kat pointed.
“Go on, I'll catch up.” David told her.
********
Once K.I.T.T was shut down, Sam opened the door and tossed out David's laptop. It hit the sidewalk with a crunching sound that would make a techie flinch. He bent down, feeling under the dash. He ripped off a panel and reached into the exposed circuitry.
He yanked out a tiny black cube and tossed it after the laptop. Then he stepped out of the car and shut the door.
The semi behind K.I.T.T was busy turning around. Once it was done, the door slid up. A man slid a wide, flat piece of metal out the back, till it touched the street. Half a dozen men walked down the makeshift ramp, towards K.I.T.T.
They gathered at his hood and began pushing him towards the semi. They got him up onto the ramp, then halted. “God damn, this car's heavy.” One of them complained. Sam helped them push K.I.T.T up into the back of the semi.
They pulled in the metal ramp. Sam hopped out the back and they lowered the back door. Sam fastened it closed and walked around to the front. He hoisted himself up into the driver's cab.
The semi rumbled as the engine started. Then it drove off.
Kat turned the corner barely a second later. “KITT?” She called. She reached the spot where she had left him. Her heart thudded in her chest. Her breathing was quick.
K.I.T.T wasn't here. She knew it. If he were here, he would have responded.
Kat walked right through the spot where he had been, searching with her hands. There was nothing but empty air. “KITT!” She shouted, panic rising up in her chest.
He didn't answer.
“KITT!!” She screamed, long and desperate.
He was gone.
