Code Breakers: Beta (14 page)

Chapter 17

Sasha woke up, still strapped to the table. Her body ached with the discomfort, but thankfully her feet had stopped hurting. They itched where the skin had started to dry and heal over. She checked the time on the holoscreen in front of her: 13:00. She’d been out all night and most of the morning. As her bleary vision cleared, she saw they had worked on Malik’s leg. A metal cap was fitted to the end of the stump. A tight sleeve surrounded the rest of his thigh. He was awake, looking around his room, scanning every corner, every detail, no doubt trying to figure a way out.

A minute later and the door behind her opened. A waft of air blew hair into her face. A shadow crawled over her body. Looking down at her was one of the women from Malik’s room. She wore a bandage around her right wrist with spots of blood showing through.

The woman she’d shot in the hangar.

“You’re awake finally,” Katsuo said as he stepped into the room and stood to Sasha’s right. He regarded the other woman. “Marlena, prep Sasha for the procedure. And don’t be too careful. I see you have a little history together.” He nodded to the bandage wrapped around the woman’s wrist.

Marlena smiled as she removed a scalpel from a table of medical tools next to the bed.

Sasha’s right arm lay flat, exposing her wrist. With her free hand, Marlena applied a yellow stain of disinfecting ’Stem solution over Sasha’s wrist: the preferred location for the ronin-chip. Once installed, it’d hijack her regular dermal implant.

“This will hurt,” Marlena said as she took a chip off the table. A pair of five-millimetre-long teeth was attached to the underside. Once locked in, the teeth of the chip would integrate with her nervous system. That would bring her online to Elliot’s network and disable her own implant and internal system. The damn thing was a parasite.

She closed her eyes as the woman moved closer, bringing the scalpel to touch her skin.

“Although it’ll take just a few minutes,” Katsuo said, “it will hurt for quite some time.”

Sasha opened her eyes and spat at him, and received a hard slap to her face, knocking her head violently to the side, crashing against the steel surface of the table.

“Do it now,” Katsuo said.

The scalpel fell away and clattered to the floor. The woman began to cough, and she clutched her bandaged wrist. Her hands shook.

“What’s the matter with you?” Katsuo said, moving towards her. Marlena’s eyes snapped wide open, the veins bulging bright red. She knelt down and began to choke. He put his hand on her back and tried to help her up. She just gurgled before grabbing the scalpel. He helped her to her feet and looked into her weeping eyes.

“Are you hurt?”

Her mouth twisted as she forced out the words. “My... wrist...” She held it up. The bandage had turned black, and Sasha could smell burning.

“What the?” Katsuo stepped back, but he was too slow.

Marlena struck out with the scalpel, driving it into his carotid artery. Blood gushed from the wound, spraying across the room. She continued to drive it in until he fell to the ground with a slump and choked on his own blood.

The woman turned to Sasha and used the scalpel to cut her bonds.

“Why?” Sasha said as she sat up and eased the pain on her wrists and ankles.

“I’m... off the network,” Marlena said with a strange smile on her face. “Chip... damaged.”

She grinned like a maniac, and Sasha stepped back.

Smoke continued to rise from the darkened bandage before a flame erupted and burned away the fabric. Marlena felt to her knees and held up her burning arm like it was a torch. That was when her chest convulsed and she fell forward, striking the floor with her face. Sasha waited for a moment before checking her pulse. She was dead.

Katsuo’s body was still moving, however, and a whispered voice came from his throat.

Sasha knelt beside him. “What are you saying?”

He clenched his eyes shut with the effort, but squeezed out two words, “He knows,” before his breathing stopped and his head fell against his chest.

“Why are you bad guys always so cryptic?” Sasha shook her head and picked up the scalpel. She got a good look at the room. The previous cream walls were now a riot of red. A cupboard stood half open beside the door. Inside, she found more of the green medical outfits. She put one on and took Marlena’s mask after cleaning the blood off with a rag. Looking through the bits of blood on the holoscreen, she saw Malik. She took a closer look at his wrist. It didn’t appear they had chipped him yet. There was nothing to distinguish where he might be in the facility, but given the room didn’t look too dissimilar to this one, she suspected it must be close.

“I’m coming, Mal,” she said. “Hold on.” She turned her back on the two corpses and exited the room.

Chapter 18

The powerful winds blustered against Gabe, unbalancing his strides as he and Petal ran for the boulder formation. The storm continued to rage. Blue and white flashes burst against dark skies. The great twisting funnel of dust and air grew bigger every second.

Gabe tripped over a rock. His face struck the ground with a hollow thud.

Petal raced to his side and tried to pull him up, but he remained prone, shrugging her off. He pounded his fist on the ground. More hollow bangs echoed.

“There’s something down there,” he said, bellowing over the roar of the winds.

A blanket of dust and gravel and detritus blew into his face. He held up a protective hand and squinted at the ground.

“What are you looking for?” Petal said, standing with her back to the wind. Her hair blew wildly around her head. It looked as if she were being electrocuted, which given the amount of lightning, Gabe didn’t think particularly unlikely.

“Here.” Gabe got to his feet. He stamped along the ground and headed off to the right of the boulders, which stood no more than five metres away.

With each stamp that same echo rang out. He scanned the ground. As the wind continued to sweep the dust and dirt around, he noticed dark patches.

He crouched and wiped his hand across one of the dark areas.

“It’s metal! There’s a shelter here.”

Before Petal could say anything, he sprinted to the boulders. They were arranged in a rough circular formation. He then considered how odd it seemed for this formation of rocks to be on these plains when he could see no others for kilometres around. Even within the ruins of the old towns and settlements there was little else beyond rubble and dirt.

“What’ve you found?” Petal asked, joining him in the circle of tall boulders. They came up to her waist. They both crouched down, using them for temporary shelter from the vicious winds. Thunder continued to crack the skies with each flash of lightning.

Gabe unsheathed the katana on his back that he took from the ronin. Using the grip of the weapon, he bent down and tapped on the earth. When the strike rang out with a sound of metal, he dropped the weapon, got to his knees, and cleared the ground with his hands. The area was slightly depressed from the surrounding earth.

“It’s a hatch,” Petal said. “Must’ve been one of the old nuke bunkers.”

Gabe cleared the area further to reveal a circular, metal lid with two deep grooves—handholds.

“Help me with this,” Gabe said, gripping one of the holds with both of his hands.

Petal joined him and gripped the other hold.

Together they lifted the hatch against the power of the wind. It was hinged on one edge. Petal held it open while Gabe poked his head down into the hole.

Stale air wafted up. Familiar. He’d known this smell from his younger years: the coolant for computers used in shelters. The arid air was one of the reasons he was so eager to leave his shelter in Hong Kong and seek resources elsewhere. It made his lungs so dry he thought they would turn to papyrus.

Of course, the fact he could smell it now meant that there was something still running down there. And if there was something running, that meant there was... someone. He couldn’t see much through the gloom. There was a ladder attached to the wall, but he couldn’t tell how far it went down.

Gabe pulled his head out of the hatch.

“We might have company here,” he said. “Are ya picking up any traffic?” His internal transceiver wasn’t picking up anything, but now that Petal had Gerry working on her systems, she’d likely have better luck.

“Wait,” Petal said as she became still. She turned her head slowly taking in the area. She sniffed the air like a tracker dog. “Yeah, there’s something here. I’m getting... dark traffic. Encrypted.”

“Ronin?”

Petal nodded just as a bolt of lightning struck one of the boulders, splitting off a great chunk. It made Gabe jump back, losing his grip on the hatch. The wind caught it and slammed it back down. Lightning began to flash all around them.

“It must be the shelter,” Gabe screamed. “The metal is attracting the lightning.”

They had a clear choice: go into the shelter, with the potential of confronting more ronin, or stay outside in the worst storm in living memory.

Gabe looked out to the horizon. The twister had grown larger still. It was so big he had to almost turn his head a full ninety degrees to see beyond the funnel in either direction. And it was heading straight for them, less than a kilometre away. Gabe was already having trouble standing. Once it hit, it would be all over.

Chapter 19

Sasha hurried through the halls and passages, intent on finding Malik. Now that her bracers were removed, she could pick up the network with her internal systems. She tried to reach a node outside, to get a message to James or the others about Rosario Fuentes’ betrayal, but it was locked down, firewalled. She didn’t have time yet to try to hack her way in.

She reached the end of a grey corridor and followed it as it branched to the right. A handful of ronin members passed by, making her tense with paranoia that she had forgotten something or looked out of place. She, now dressed in one of the women’s medical outfits, including a facemask, was at least convincing enough to not get noticed.

But still, as she passed each person, avoiding direct eye contact, her heart threatened to break out of her chest, until she remembered her training. She pictured the now-departed General Vickers standing in front of her, screaming his orders, while the other soldiers tried to attack her from all angles. That was when her combat systems took over, making her movements smooth and quick like a snake. Her mind would go into a hyper-focal state, slowing time, turning it to liquid.

Relax. Focus. I can do this.

She gave a cursory nod of greeting as a group of two men, engineers by the look of their grimy faces, walked by. They were deep in conversation about some ‘phased roll-out’.

She stopped at each door along the hall, looking through the small square windows. The first two rooms were empty. The third, however, held Malik.

A pair of women, dressed like her, approached. They giggled and chatted with each other as if they were just regular citizens on their way to work. Sasha gave them a confident nod and strode into the room. She closed the door behind her and fell back against it, taking a deep breath. She could no longer hear the women’s footsteps.

Malik looked up. His eyes drooped; his shoulders sagged.

“What now?” he said. “Aren’t you finished inflicting pain on me? Come to threaten me again? Want to take my other leg off?”

Sasha approached, crouched down in front of him, and pulled her mask down. “It’s me.” She whispered it, although there was no real need to. Katsuo and the nurse would never hear anything again, and those outside didn’t seem to be on any kind of alert—yet.

“Are you in much pain?” Sasha asked. They had done a decent job of fixing his leg. No doubt with the motivation of using him as a pawn, a bargaining chip. He was more valuable to them alive than dead.

“Sasha, that you?” He squinted. His words were slurred and thick.

“It’s me. I’ve come to get you out of here.”

“What happened to your hand?”

She shrugged. “They tried to chip me. Something happened with a nurse. I shot her arm back in the warehouse, and I think that malfunctioned the chip. She killed the one called Katsuo before releasing me.”

“That’s good, Sash. I’m pleased you got away.” Malik pointed to his leg. “But I’m not going anywhere fast. I’m still out of it with the drugs. I can barely move.”

Sasha could carry him, but there’s no way that wouldn’t look incredibly suspicious. She cut him free, releasing his wrists from the arms of the chair.

“There’s a console,” Malik said. “Back that way.” He pointed further down the hall. “I saw it when they dragged me in here. They have a factory, too. I think you could get into the network from that console—perhaps figure out how to stop the connection between Elliot and his ronin.”

“Factory?”

“Yeah, the room where they’re making the chips. We’re on the second level of the compound, not far from the chimney—and those fucking traps.”

Sasha winced at the memory of his leg, the jaws of the trap.

“What about the console? Where’s that?” She thought if she could get into the network directly, she might be able to find a way out, get a message to Jimmy. Though she wasn’t as good a hacker as Petal, she had still learned a great deal about getting through network security, but her internal systems weren’t up to it. Not enough bandwidth. That was Petal’s speciality. It was then she realised how much she missed her. It’d only been a few days since they parted for their respective missions, but not hearing from her sister for all that time left a hole inside.

“An office room,” Malik said. “Down the hall and to the left. You won’t miss it; it’s just outside the factory floor.”

“How many are in there?”

Malik shrugged. “I only saw one operator working on a slate in front of a holoscreen setup. I don’t know how many others there are, or how many were in the factory. I only caught a quick glimpse through the window as they brought me here.”

Sasha stood, considering her options. If they were on the second floor and near the chimney, they’d have to go back through the main centre of the compound where she was held captive. It’d be too busy with people to get away with that. Someone would ask her what she’s doing with Malik, and there’d be too many to fight while carrying him.

“You can’t take me,” he said, seemingly reading her thoughts.

“I can’t leave you either, not after I thought I lost you. You’re too valuable to Libertas to leave behind.”

“Just Libertas?” Malik said, reaching out for her good hand. “I... I want us to both make it out.”

“I do, too,” Sasha said, squeezing his hand back, enjoying the feeling of his hand against hers. “I got an idea.”

“Is it crazy?”

“Depends on how you define crazy.”

Malik smiled. “Okay, what are you thinking?”

“I’ll get to the console, hack my way out of their network and get a message to Jimmy and the others. Perhaps they can send a bunch of people here. And in the meantime, who knows, I might be able to do a little damage from within.”

“How do we know James isn’t in on this, too? Fuentes has betrayed us, and I’m sure she’d have portions of Cemprom and the security service in thrall to her. That’s why my message to them earlier got intercepted and we ended up here. We can’t trust anyone right now.”

“You’re right, but it’s Jimmy! He wouldn’t betray me.”

“He lied to you and Petal about who and what you really were. Is it such a leap to think he could be involved with this? You saw how cosy he and Fuentes are. How long has he been alone? All those years living underground at Criborg... What’s to say he hasn’t grown accustomed to Fuentes’ company? Who knows how easily his loyalties could be manipulated?”

She didn’t want to think of it. It’d take more than just a fumble in bed for him to turn against her. She was sure of it. But that wasn’t to say that any and all communications weren’t monitored. Already she was surprised at the breadth of the ronin and their number. They were growing all the time, each person a node for Elliot to manipulate.

That extended his reach to almost anywhere in the city.

“I think it’s better I leave you here for now. No one knows what’s happened to Katsuo and his nurse yet. I want to use that time to get to the console. As soon as I’ve figured something out, I’ll come back for you.”

Malik looked down at his leg. “Okay. I’d only slow you down.”

“I will get us out. I promise.”

She loosened the straps so that it still looked like he was restrained, but if he needed to, he could move. She handed him the scalpel. “Hide that on you, just in case a situation arises.”

Malik hid it in the folds of the blue medical gown the ronin nurses had given him. “Thanks.”

Before she could turn away, Malik reached out and pulled her closer by her arm. “I’m sorry to have been such a burden to you.”

“You’re anything but.” She moved closer still, hesitating, her lips so close to his.

Malik leaned forward and kissed her.

Sasha melted into him; anxiety and tension drifted away to be replaced by a flush of heat. She moved her hands to his head and ran them through his hair. Eventually, she pulled away, fearing that if she didn’t, she’d never be able to leave him and do what she needed to do. They both smiled at each other. She felt giddy for a moment, the dam of pent-up emotion broken, the waves filling her with hope and purpose. “I should go,” Sasha said after a while. “Get us help; then get us out of here.”

“Please,” Malik said, running a hand down her cheek, “be careful.”

“I’ll try.”

Although it hurt her to leave him, she was now filled with even more desire to get out alive. Now she had just more than survival at stake. She had a future with someone.

Sasha looked out of the window. The corridor was empty.

“I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

She opened the door and took one last look behind her, imprinting the image of Malik’s face smiling at her in her mind. Now was the time to act, to put into practice all the skills she was taught, all the strategies and abilities that were drilled into her. Clenching her jaw and pulling up her mask, she slipped out into the corridor and headed for the console room.

***

The corridor was much like those on the lower level. Pipes and ducting ran overhead. Metal grating lined the floor, beneath which were yet more piping and tubes and wires all leading to the heart of the engineering plant: the factory floor.

Despite her disguise and the lack of other ronin workers, she remained on high alert, observing everything around her with each step. Any time now she expected the bodies of the nurse and Katsuo to be found and an alarm to scream out.

She followed Malik’s directions. When she arrived at the branch in the corridor, she stopped in the shadows and listened. A low rumble came from beneath her, the engines and machinery slumbering noisily. Above the white noise and coming from the left side of the branch, the sound of voices, pistons, and electrical motors.

The dull lights spilled shadows down the edges of the hall. The gloom in the far distance only penetrated by the blue glow of a holoscreen. The console room, she thought.

She took one last look behind her, and to the right, before heading towards the factory noises.

As she got closer to the console room, the sounds of industry grew louder. A man with grey coveralls carrying a steel case approached her. She nodded, and he returned the nod before slowing just slightly.

His forehead wrinkled as he took her in with a slow scrutiny.

Could he tell she wasn’t one of the nurses? Was it odd for a nurse, as she was dressed, to be here in the factory zone?

He stopped and focussed on her bandaged hand.

She shrugged. “A new patient got a little bitey.” She smiled behind the mask, hoping it would translate through her eyes.

This man didn’t wear a mask. Neither did the two engineerlike people she saw earlier. She had to wonder what the significance of the mask was. The ones who had imprisoned her also wore them. Perhaps those who left the facility wore them to hide their identity. She had certainly seen them around the city, originally thinking they were just some new fashion fad: kids experimenting with identity now that the city was free from the Family’s control.

“They all struggle initially,” the man said. “They soon change their mind when they’re on the network, eh?”

“That they do. Well, I best be getting on,” Sasha said, waiting for him to move on. The door to the console room was ten metres behind him. A wide window on the right wall of the corridor showed a single operator working the holoscreen with various gestures.

At first the man didn’t move. Sasha tensed, readying herself to strike if she needed to. The fact he was carrying the case, presumably full of ronin-chips, meant it would both be trivial to incapacitate him, but also awkward. When he didn’t move on, she asked, “Is there something I can do for you?” in a pleasant, enquiring tone.

The man shook his head. “No. It’s okay. I’ll let you get on.” He walked away, looking back just once. She could tell he was thinking something odd was going on, but knew this was her opportunity.

When she was sure the man with the case had moved off further into the compound, she made her move.

Under the noise of the machinery within the chip factory, she approached the door to the console room. A short, bald man sat on a stool in front of the holoscreen, which stretched three metres wide and two metres high. It covered most of the far wall. To the left of the screen, a window looked out onto the factory floor.

She counted a couple dozen workers standing at a variety of conveyor belts and machine stations. Workers wearing overalls packed the chips into cases, while others wearing laboratory coats hunched over magnified screens attached to circuit printers.

Luckily for her, their attentions were on the work. She waited half a minute, observing their habits; none looked back at the window, focussing instead on their various tasks.

She tentatively tried the handle of the door; it opened quietly. Like a whisper, she slipped inside undetected and approached the man with his back to her. He was too wrapped up in his work to notice her reflection growing behind him in the window. The noise of the machines hid what little noise she made. She was now within arm’s reach.

With her left hand she gripped his thick mane of dark hair and pulled his head to the side. With her right hand she struck a swift blow to the exposed part of his neck, knocking him unconscious. He dropped a slate to the floor as his body went limp.

Sasha supported him and dragged him carefully off the stool and to the back of the room. She ripped the sleeves off his white lab coat and used them to tie his hands behind his back and gag his mouth. She used his shoelaces to tie his feet together.

Once secured, she bundled him beneath a desk. It wasn’t perfect, but anyone casually looking into the room wouldn’t see him.

The slate connected to the main server. The holoscreen showed a flowing set of metrics reporting on the efficiency and status of the machinery within the factory. They were producing a thousand chips a day. She shook her head; that many chips getting into the public would be devastating. If Elliot had access to that many people, he’d be omniscient.

The network was self-contained, but as she scanned through it, she found various external nodes: one belonged to Cemprom, another appeared to be situated in the Presidential Suite.