Conference of the Birds
ShortStory 3,935 words Recommended by 2 award/anthology sources
"No program-layer could predict what a human might do, but Surveillance Hub could see everything that mattered. Their bird-drones spread across the city, scattered on cables and rooftops and broadcast towers. Every camera hunted for Krina Viy, independent security contractor (AWOL from JoyCorp contact five hours)."
Quasar links out; the story lives on Analog, where the author gets the click.