2041 Sanctuary (Dark Descent) (67 page)

Professor Steiner slumped down on a metal bench, his subconscious mind directing his right hand to the small band of gold encircling his wedding ring finger. Twisting the small circle of metal around and around in an endless loop, his considerable mind fixated on two things and two things only: escape and retribution.
I’ll make you pay for your sins
, Steiner thought to himself over and over like a mantra. ‘I’ll make you pay for your sins, Malcolm Joiner,’ he whispered, before looking at his glinting gold wedding ring in despair. ‘Amelia,’ he said, closing his eyes, ‘I need you.’

Chapter Forty Four

Jessica Klein awoke late morning, her small frame wrapped in a thick woollen blanket and curled up into a ball on the sofa where she’d fallen asleep the previous night. Yawning, she extended her arms above her head and sat up. Deciding to make use of the facilities available to her, she left the sofa and headed straight for the delightful bathroom she knew to be crammed full of luxury toiletries.

A couple of hours later, after a sumptuous hot bath and the application of an inordinate amount of cream and moisturiser, Jessica raided the owner’s ample supplies of beauty products to regain a sense of self she’d almost forgotten existed. She’d also managed to swap the stolen clothing of a teenage boy for the apparel of a woman of adequate taste and similar size, who apparently owned this small bungalow on the outskirts of Stuttgart. If Bic had somehow selected this place with this in mind, he had at least earned himself one brownie point back from the hundreds he’d lost by admitting to his duplicity the day before.

Having checked on Eric a couple of times in the night, Jessica decided to look in on him again. She opened the door to his bedroom and saw that he was awake.

‘How are you feeling?’

He grimaced. ‘I was shot in the leg, how do you think I feel?’

‘Still painful, then?’

‘
Ja
.’ He dropped his head back to the pillow.

‘Would you like a drink or anything?’

‘Okay and then you can tell me where they took you; you were just about to tell me yesterday before we were – interrupted.’

‘That’s one way of putting it,’ Jessica said before going back out to attend to his drink. Returning in short order, she found him propped up on two pillows and, after passing him the drink, she sat down at the foot of his bed to begin her tale.

A while later and after many questions from an inquisitive and increasingly excited Eric, Jessica completed the detailed account of her meeting with Franz Veber and the astounding facility in which he worked.

‘EUSB Deutschland,’ Eric said in awe, ‘it’s like a forbidden city, a Shangri-La, it’s amazing, it’s, it’s—’

‘Extremely disturbing is what it is,’ she told him, trying to readjust his mindset to the gravity of the situation that not only faced them, but apparently the whole world, too.  

His face dropped a little. ‘Yes – I suppose. Although it answers the question of where all the world’s resources are disappearing to. I wonder how many of these underground bases there are?’

‘Who knows?’ she said. ‘Ten, fifteen, twenty, even? The problem is what to do with this information now we’ve got it. Bic doesn’t want to let the cat out of the bag just yet as he thinks there’s more to uncover. To be honest, I just want to make sure my family is safe. I have to get them into one of these secret facilities or they’ll end up living and most likely dying in a dystopian nightmare.’

Eric sipped his drink. ‘That might be harder to accomplish if you tell the world about them. Once the word is out everyone will want in.’

Jessica hadn’t thought about it like that, but now that she had, Pandora’s Box had been well and truly opened and the clash of opposing motivations she now faced couldn’t be avoided. Did she tell the world the truth, a truth she knew they must be told, or instead try to save those she loved and held dear? Even if she could miraculously magic Evan and the girls into one of these EUSBs, if she released the information of their existence afterwards she could jeopardise the integrity and safety of the base she’d just installed her family within. Feeling a headache coming on; she gripped the bridge of her nose and squeezed.

Eric looked concerned. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Yes, fine.’ She released her grip.

‘So, what do we do now? You say
Da Muss Ich
doesn’t want to tell anyone about what we’ve – he’s – discovered yet?’

‘That’s what he said. I’m actually going to contact him now,’ she told him, making the decision. ‘He said he’s got something to show us this morning. Do you want me to bring the screen in here so you can see?’

‘
Ja
, what could it be, do you think?’

Jessica shrugged before ducking back out. Collecting the touchscreen and a packet of crisps she returned to sit down on the bed next to the injured nineteen year old. Handing him the food, she fired up the device.

‘Thank you,’ Eric said, ‘for taking care of me.’

Jessica looked at him; he seemed a little tearful, which made her feel uncomfortable. She usually only did emotions with her family. She gave him a smile and patted his leg. ‘Don’t mention it. Now, shall we see what your friend has to say for himself?’

‘Or herself,’ he said.

‘You think Bic could be a woman?’

‘
Nein
, but I’ve been wrong before.’

‘He’s definitely a man, only a man could annoy me as much as he does.’

‘Oi, that’s sexist.’

‘But true.’ She grinned and turned on the speech function. ‘Bic are you there?’

The cursor flashed in the communication window.

I am _

‘So, what is it you’ve got to show me – us?’

There is something I haven’t told you Jessica Klein _

‘That figures.’

‘Don’t anger him,’ Eric said, ‘he’s helped us this far.’

‘Hmm.’ Jessica knew full well what Bic had and hadn’t done, and that not all of it was as selfless as Eric believed.

A recent series of events has come to my attention. Observe _

The screen dissolved into news footage with accompanying audio from the United States. Jessica watched as a red pick-up truck careered down a multi-lane motorway. Her eyes widened when the occupant proceeded to shoot down what looked like an FBI helicopter and then exploded a number of police cars. The horrific carnage continued for some time, at points, turning into a pitched battle between a man wearing a type of translucent armour and the police and FBI that pursued him.

Eric’s eyes grew wider as the destruction went on and on. ‘
Ach mein Gott
.
Dieser Mann ist verrückt
.’

‘Insane isn’t the word,’ Jessica said, the film finally petering out after the one man army activated a strange energy weapon, knocking out the camera that filmed him. Bic’s message window reappeared.

What do you think? _

Jessica shifted on the bed. ‘I’m not sure. It’s big news, of course, a terrible act of terrorism by some maniac wielding an arsenal of high-tech weapons—’

What about you Eric? Did you notice anything? _

Eric beamed, still clearly enthralled by speaking to his idol. ‘Hallo,
Da Muss Ich
. The reporter suggested the armoured man was getting help; someone overrode cameras and screens in the shopping mall to send him a message. A hacker, yes?’

Very good, Eric, I will come to that; but there is something else which attracted my attention. When the news channel switched to shooting the event from a drone they were able to get a closer look at the terrorist. There was a symbol on his upper arm which you may have missed _

A static snapshot materialised on the touchscreen device, an image from the TV broadcast they’d just seen. One of the panels making up the man’s green and brown armour bore a black emblem on a white background. The image distorted as Bic manipulated and enhanced it with software to produce a flat, front-on composition.

What do you think now? _

Jessica leaned forward. ‘Oh, wow, that’s just like an emblem I saw back in the German facility.’

‘Only this one is a USSB not an EUSB,’ Eric said, in excitement.

‘USSB Steadfast,’ she said. ‘Well, that confirms the Americans have the same sort of subterranean bases, doesn’t it?’

‘United States Subterranean Base,
das ist cool
!’

Jessica frowned at her young friend’s continued exuberance. She knew this was far from cool; it just confirmed what they’d already guessed; the threat from the asteroid AG5’s fallout was far worse than the general populace had been led to believe. If the Americans had bases, too, the issue was confirmed as a global threat, something she’d been hoping beyond hope might not be the case. Another message from Bic appeared with an accompanying bleep.

I attained this footage and more during its live release, fearing the GMRC would quickly suppress it. Amazingly, such was the scale of the incident that some of the footage is still circulating in the national press of the United States; although this particular shot has since disappeared without trace. It is another chink in the previously invincible media blackout created and maintained by the Global Meteor Response Council.

This information in itself is revealing but it remains in dispute if the man inside the armour is from this USSB Steadfast. He may have come into possession of it by means entirely less clandestine than is first apparent. What makes this event far more valuable to our cause is what Eric alluded to before, the person pulling strings behind the scenes; the hacker who tapped into the shopping mall’s security grid.

During the time of the terrorist attack I was already aware of a different type of assault simultaneously being perpetrated against the FBI mainframe; a hack of daring and skill I myself would have been proud to initiate. This individual, from the information I was able to glean from surrounding data streams, while extremely talented, did utilise a GMRC computer system during their digital incursion. To make use of a GMRC server in such a way indicates the hacker was very familiar with GMRC coding and password practices _

‘Couldn’t he have just hacked the GMRC at the same time?’ Jessica asked, the comment making Eric nearly choke on his drink.

No. To break into the FBI system was a tremendous feat but to hack the GMRC at the same time would be an impossibility, such are the security measures they have installed.

Since this hacker was of great interest to me I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the following broadcast _

Jessica and Eric continued looking at the screen as another picture appeared. A photo of the armoured terrorist was situated on the left and to the right of this, an image of a man in his sixties. This unassuming person, looking more like a doctor or teacher than a terrorist, had a brown beard shot through with grey, a pair of glasses and a set of red coveralls. Beneath these photographs a caption read:

FBI MOST WANTED

TERRORISTS

$50,000,000

FIFTY MILLION DOLLAR

REWARD

Eric looked dubious. ‘That’s the hacker?’

Yes. Do you recognise him Jessica Klein? _

Jessica looked at the picture again, seeing if she could place the face. ‘No, should I?’

It was unlikely you would remember seeing him. But you will have done, as will most of the world’s older population albeit from a distance and hidden amongst a crowd. Here is another photo, taken twenty years ago at one of the earliest declared GMRC summit meetings _

Bic spooled up a new image showing a large group of assorted men and women in suits, all standing in rows and facing front as their collective photo was taken; on the wall behind these people was the GMRC logo. The image zoomed in to the right of the back row and a man with dark brown hair and a pair of glasses. He was, without doubt, the person displayed in the FBI’s most wanted poster, just younger and less careworn.

‘Who is he?’ Jessica said.

Bic didn’t reply, instead switching to yet another official GMRC photo of a similar configuration, rows of men and women, and at the back, this time on the left, the same man.

This scene repeats itself over and over in many other images throughout the years. Some of these photographs I acquired when I managed to break into one of the GMRC’s systems a few years back. They prove, beyond doubt, this man is a member of the elite and highly influential GMRC Directorate _

‘What—? You can’t be serious!’ Jessica reeled at the implication. ‘Why would someone in such rarefied air become involved in a terrorist attack in L.A.? It makes no sense.’

Why indeed _