Urban Outlaws (15 page)

They watched him go and Charlie said, ‘Jack, if he turns out to be an axe murderer and chops us into little pieces, I’ll kill you.’

Obi said, ‘That makes no sense.’

•   •   •

Charlie needn’t have worried. Slowly, over the weeks and months, it became clear that Noble was the kind of adult they wanted in their lives. The
only
adult they could trust. His knowledge of gangs, hacking, the underworld was huge. He spent hours telling them how criminals worked, what tricks they used, and what clever ways he had come up with to trap them.

Jack, Charlie and Obi first helped Noble with his mission to get Robert Mitson. This had landed Mike’s brother in jail, and Mike himself in juvenile prison.

Then, having learnt so much, and not wanting that to end, they continued to work with Noble.

A year later, Jack, Charlie, Obi and Noble were on a mission that would change their lives forever. They tracked a gang of smugglers who were using the tunnels under London to move stolen goods.

And it was down one of these tunnels that they stumbled across the abandoned World War Two bunker.

It was fate.

After a month of hard work, they had it all set up.

Back then the bunker had no entertainment – no widescreen TV, no pinball machine – but it was still very impressive with all its computers.

Obi was looking at the newly fitted LCD displays next to the chair when something dropped from the ceiling.

He let out a girly scream and scrambled back, almost tripping over his own feet.

‘Don’t worry, nothing to be afraid of,’ Noble said, raising his hands. ‘This is Tom.’

The boy – who was now grinning at Obi – was around ten years old and very skinny. He held out a hand to shake. ‘Call me Slink.’ He nodded at the others and said to Obi, ‘Want a lemonade?’

Obi glanced at the ceiling – as if checking no other kids were hiding up there – then gave a cautious nod.

Slink chuckled and led the way to the kitchen.

Noble said in a low voice to Jack and Charlie, ‘I thought Tom could stay here.’

Noble explained that Slink used to take care of his mother – she had multiple sclerosis – but social services had split them up and Slink had wound up homeless and on the streets.

Jack patiently listened to the story before he asked, ‘Why’ve you shown him the bunker? It’s supposed to be a secret.’

Noble considered him for a moment. ‘Tom has some extraordinary skills. I think the four of you will work well together here.’

Charlie frowned. ‘What are you saying?’

‘I see how much you hate the children’s home.’ Noble cleared his throat. ‘There’s no reason why the four of you can’t live down here. If you want to, of course.’

Six months later, the Outlaws did indeed call the bunker their home.

Now? Well, now they owed Noble everything.

Occasionally he’d need helping out with some reconnaissance or a piece of code, but mainly he’d check up on them from time to time, and stay in the background.

•   •   •

Jack snapped out of his memories as a cold wind whistled around the tower and bit at his flesh.

Charlie zipped her jacket up to the neck, folded her arms across her chest and rested her head on his shoulder. ‘Night, Jack.’

‘Night.’

Charlie said, ‘It’s not your fault, you know.’

Jack didn’t answer. He watched the lights of the traffic below and wondered what he’d be doing right at that moment if his mum and dad were alive.

•   •   •

Jack had a restless night and was relieved when the time came for them to move on. At midday, he and Charlie stood on the bank of the Thames. The massive wheel of the London Eye loomed above them, casting a shadow over the river below.

Crowds of tourists stood in line while others bustled past. Jack hated the oppressive feel, like everyone was watching him. He felt vulnerable, but among so many faces, they were well hidden.

There was a honking of a horn.

Jack looked towards the road in the distance in time to see a blue, split-screen, Volkswagen Camper. Bemused and annoyed tourists parted as the camper van mounted the kerb and parked.

Jack grinned. ‘Not very subtle, is he?’

Charlie smiled too. ‘He doesn’t need to hide any more.’

That was true – Noble used to be one of the world’s best hackers. Sometimes he’d done good – like finding security vulnerabilities in companies’ websites and politely letting them know, or he’d done bad – like when he hacked Microsoft and changed their homepage to a giant picture of an otter.

Noble was born in America. Back in the eighties he’d been caught hacking the Pentagon and had spent the next seven years in prison before escaping to England.

Now, Noble sometimes took honest paying jobs testing company security systems, networks and firewalls. He used scheduled attacks to probe for weaknesses and suggested ways to help increase their protection.

Jack and Charlie pushed their way through the throng of tourists until they finally reached the camper van.

The side door slid open and Noble climbed out. He wore a long grey coat and his silver hair was tied into a ponytail. He looked like a child of the sixties – the original Urban Outlaw, and, in a way, he was.

Noble’s eyes lit up when he spotted Jack and Charlie.

Charlie bounded up to him. ‘Hey.’

‘Charlie,’ he opened his arms wide and they embraced. After a moment, he let go, cupped his hands around her face, and fixed her with a stern expression. ‘Are you taller?’

Charlie smiled. ‘A bit.’

‘Growing into quite the young woman.’ He released her and looked at Jack.

Jack held out a hand to shake.

Noble snorted, pushed it aside and pulled him into a tight hug. ‘I’ve missed you, kids.’ He let go and looked at them both with paternal fondness. ‘It’s been too long.’ His eyes scanned the crowd and his expression turned serious again. ‘Anyone follow you?’

Jack shook his head. ‘Don’t think so.’

‘Even so,’ Noble said, gesturing them inside the campervan.

Jack and Charlie climbed in.

The interior was crammed full of electronics, all buzzing and humming. LCD monitors hung from the ceiling. A leather chair faced the screens, with a keyboard and trackerball fixed to the armrests. In fact, it was a compact version of Obi’s set-up at the bunker.

Noble called this his ‘Mobile Command Centre’.

Jack and Charlie sat on the bench seat at the back.

Noble said, ‘Where are the others?’

Jack winced. ‘We’ve got a lot to tell you.’

Noble considered him for a moment, then said, ‘I’ll get us away from here.’ He climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine. He pulled the camper off the kerb and drove noisily down the road.

Jack pulled back the thick curtains that obscured natural daylight. As far as he could tell, they still weren’t being followed.

Ten minutes later, Noble pulled into a car park, climbed out of the driver’s seat, and stood in front of a small sink with a fridge underneath and a kettle to the side. ‘Tea?’ he asked.

Jack and Charlie nodded.

He flicked on the kettle and removed three mugs from a cupboard while Jack and Charlie told him about how their latest recruit – Wren – was getting on.

Finally, Noble handed them a mug each and sat in his leather chair. ‘I think it’s time you two explained why you’re here.’

Between them, Jack and Charlie brought Noble up to speed with everything that had happened: discovering Proteus, finding out it wasn’t working, inadvertently downloading the virus, then losing it again. They left out no detail.

They also told Noble about Proteus stealing secret documents and the way they’d tried to go back and destroy it, but were too late. They were now afraid that Proteus had the potential to help capture every hacker in the world, and they didn’t know what to do next.

By the time they’d finished explaining, Noble looked thoughtful.

Jack knew that look. ‘What is it?’ he said.

Noble snapped out of his daydream. ‘Clever.’

‘Clever?’

‘Someone was using the virus to stop Proteus from working.’

‘That’s what I thought,’ Jack said.

Charlie glanced at him, then back to Noble. ‘But who planted the virus in the first place?’

Noble sipped his tea. ‘Perhaps it was that scientist you spoke of – the one in the video diary.’

‘Professor Markov,’ Jack said.

‘Maybe he realised what the government were going to use Proteus for and decided to try and stop them.’

The sinking feeling returned to Jack’s stomach. ‘And we removed it for them.’

Noble nodded. ‘You need to put it back.’

‘The virus?’ Jack said. ‘But we don’t have it any more, and we don’t know where Proteus is.’

‘Jack,’ Noble said with a wry smile. ‘One thing at a time. Where do you think the virus has gone?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘But you do know how it travels.’ Noble leant back.

Jack frowned and then his eyes went wide. ‘The internet,’ he said.

Noble nodded. ‘And by downloading the virus, you taught it how to move through computer systems. It adapted. It learned. I don’t think it was designed to ever leave Proteus.’

Jack shook his head. ‘It’s my fault.’

‘But you’re saying we need to find the virus and put it back into Proteus?’ Charlie said to Noble.

He nodded. ‘It’s worth a shot, don’t you think?’

Charlie looked doubtful. ‘Won’t the agents be after the virus too? Won’t they want to stop it? It’s the only thing that can get in the way of them using Proteus.’

Noble nodded again. ‘I would’ve thought so, yes.’

‘And they’ll be on the lookout for anyone else going after the virus, and want to stop them too.’

‘Indeed.’

‘So, how can we find where it’s gone and not get ourselves caught?’ Charlie asked.

‘I’ve got an idea how,’ Jack said.

•   •   •

The campervan travelled painfully slowly along the busy London street, surrounded by traffic queues – a sea of mainly black taxis. Crowds of people bustled down the pavements, moving more quickly than the traffic.

Noble slouched forward in the driver’s seat, his arms rested on top of the steering wheel. ‘Best I can do, I’m afraid.’

‘It’s OK,’ Jack said. ‘The busier, the better.’ He sat in the leather chair and took deep breaths, preparing himself.

Charlie pulled back the curtains and scanned the faces of the crowds. ‘No one’s following.’

Not yet
, Jack thought. But they would be. Guaranteed.

He removed his phone and connected it via the USB port to the computer. It would act as a modem.

Next, Jack brought up a map of the world. The red line that represented the path of his phone signal criss-crossed over the image so many times that it almost completely obscured the green outlines of the continents. ‘Trace that,’ he said under his breath.

Charlie continued to watch the crowds. ‘This is mad,’ she said. ‘They come after us again, we’re in serious trouble.’

‘Relax,’ Noble said. ‘They’ll have the same problems with traffic. Besides, it’s better than being out in the open.’

‘We are out in the open,’ Charlie reminded him.

‘Why
are
you so worried all of a sudden?’ Jack said. ‘We’ve done more dangerous things than this.’

‘It’s the government, Jack. They catch us again, they’ll kill us.’

Jack sighed. ‘They won’t kill us.’

‘No, you’re right,’ she said. ‘They’ll torture us first, then kill us. The government can do that, you know? They can do what they want.’ She huffed and returned her attention to the window.

Jack couldn’t help but smile. Charlie was happy when she was doing something physically dangerous, but now they were in his world she was uncomfortable.

Jack flexed his fingers in preparation and rested them on the keyboard. He took a quick breath, then typed fast. The code flowed through his mind, down his arms, through the tips of fingers and into the keys. In less than three minutes, he was done. He stopped, and a satisfied smile played on his lips. By remembering parts of its code, he’d just written a program to find the virus’s signature and give up its location.

‘Ready?’ Noble said.

‘Ready.’

Noble held a stopwatch – they’d guessed they had under five minutes to find the virus before they were traced. ‘Three, two, one,
now
.’

Jack raised his index finger and blew on the tip. ‘Kablam.’ He watched, as if in slow motion, his finger drop to the Enter key.

He closed his eyes and imagined the sequence of events that followed. A tiny electrical impulse raced along wires and circuit boards, turning into a wave of energy that shot from the mobile phone, past Jack, above the car, the street, hitting an antenna perched on top of a tall building. New waves pulsed from a dish, travelling skyward, above the city, through the clouds, into space, and slammed into an orbiting satellite. In less than a blink of an eye, they hurtled back towards the Earth.