Chen slowed down. Up ahead was a massive glass-fronted office building. The Nuvi's blue triangle icon was hovering directly over the glass reflection. For a split second, the streetlights outside dimmed, and the reflection in the building's windows didn't show the street—it showed a winding, dirt path climbing into a mist-covered peak. He slammed on the brakes. The Nuvi screen turned blood red.
As he pulled out of his driveway in suburban Taipei, the GPS screen flickered to life. The startup splash screen wasn't the standard Garmin logo; it was a grainy, high-contrast photo of a mountain pass he didn't recognize. Nuvi 2xx7-2xx8 Taiwan (1722) fw4.20.rar
"In two hundred meters," the voice whispered, "turn into the mirror." Chen slowed down
Chen laughed, a dry sound. Just another forum prankster. He sideloaded the firmware into the old Nuvi 2567, watched the progress bar crawl to 100%, and tossed the device onto the passenger seat of his car. He needed a pack of cigarettes anyway. For a split second, the streetlights outside dimmed,
Software Update Required, the screen read. To continue to your destination, please provide: Heartbeat.