Urban Outlaws (20 page)

Connor, Del Sarto, Cloud and Monday leapt into the SUV and sped off across a field.

The night filled with flashes of gunfire.

Noble said, ‘
Duck
.’

Another two agents walked past, scanning torch beams around the bushes.

When they’d moved on, Jack, Charlie, and Noble sat up again.

Del Sarto and the others had managed to escape.

Jack watched as the real agents swept through the house.

There were a couple more gunshots and a small explosion.

Jack looked at Charlie and mouthed, ‘Breaking through the shutters.’

Charlie nodded,  keeping her eyes on the back door.

Eventually, agents shoved the handcuffed technicians outside and led them to the waiting cars, while other agents started coming out carrying boxes and loading the vans.

‘They’re moving Proteus,’ Jack said. He stood. ‘We can’t let them –’

Noble pulled him back to the ground. ‘We’re slightly outnumbered.’

As much as Jack wanted to go rushing back in to destroy Proteus, he knew Noble was right. He cursed. Now, the government had Proteus back again, and he wasn’t sure which was worse.

‘We have to go,’ Noble said. He gestured to the two agents with torches. They were slowly circling the garden and heading back in their direction.

Keeping low, Jack, Charlie and Noble hurried to the trees and – staying hidden – followed the edge of the driveway.

‘Wait,’ Charlie said, looking back at the vans.

‘What’s wrong?’ Jack said.

‘We have no way to track Proteus once it leaves here.’

‘What do you suggest?’

Charlie reached into her pocket and pulled out the mobile phone. ‘We plant this on one of those vans and we’ll be able to see where they take it.’

Jack nodded. ‘Good idea. Del Sarto used it to track us, and now we’ll use it to track them.’

Obi would have the number stored and be able to trace its location once they were back at the bunker. Only problem was, so would Del Sarto, but what choice did they have?

Jack looked up the driveway. It was swarming with government agents. ‘I got this one.’

‘No,’ Charlie said. ‘I’ll go.’

Jack opened his mouth to argue but it was too late. She darted into the trees.

Jack and Noble crept up the driveway until they were as close as they dared. They waited for Charlie to re-emerge.

Finally, they spotted Charlie as she reappeared from the trees and slid over to the vans. An agent just rounded the corner but somehow she’d managed to slip past unnoticed.

‘Charlie.’ Jack winced. ‘Careful.’

Charlie crept to the open door of an unattended van, reached in and placed her mobile phone under the driver’s seat.

She checked the coast was clear, then hurried back into the cover of the trees.

Jack let out a breath.

A couple of minutes later, Charlie returned, and as they walked away she said, ‘We need to get back to the bunker and get Obi to run the tracking program.’

They reached the main road.

Noble looked left, then right. ‘The more immediate problem is how do we get back to London from here?’

CHAPTER TWELVE

The next six hours were the longest in Jack’s life. He, Charlie and Noble walked in silence, which gave Jack ample time to reflect. The whole thing had been a disaster, right from the moment Obi spotted that stupid crate with the Proteus logo.

They should’ve stayed away.

They shouldn’t have gone anywhere near it.

By the time they reached the train tracks, the sun was peering over the horizon and bathing Slink’s Urban Outlaws graffiti in bright orange.

Jack looked at it for a moment, wondering what was to come next and whether it was even possible to stop the government using Proteus.

But they had to try. The thought of a computer that was able to pass through any firewall, crack any code, and a world with no secrets made Jack uneasy.

How many innocent people would get caught in the crossfire as countries and governments went to war? Politicians only cared about money and power, and Proteus could help them get both.

That could not happen.

Jack wouldn’t rest until Proteus was dead.

•   •   •

They reached the bunker’s airlock. Charlie typed in the code and the door slid open.

Wren and Slink, who were sitting at the dining table, leapt to their feet and ran over to them.

Wren gave Charlie a hug, and even Obi climbed out of his chair.

Noble dropped on to one of the sofas, sighed and closed his eyes.

‘Look what we got.’ Slink hurried to the games area.

There was a large object covered in a sheet.

‘What is it?’ Charlie said.

‘Is it another pinball machine?’ Jack said, trying not to let the tone of his voice show his melancholy mood. Though, he had to admit, whatever was under there did look the wrong shape to be a pinball machine.

Slink grinned and yanked off the sheet.

For a few seconds, Jack and Charlie stood in dumbed silence.

Jack could hardly believe his eyes. It was Charlie’s motorbike and it didn’t have a scratch on it. In fact, Slink and Wren must have cleaned it because it gleamed under the halogen lights.

Tears filled Charlie’s eyes. She tried to talk but choked on her words.

‘We knew you’d left it somewhere,’ Obi said, ‘so I worked out the rough location using the CCTV footage.’

‘Took us a couple of hours,’ Slink said, looking proud of their achievement, ‘but we found it under a load of boxes. We must have walked past it a thousand times.’

‘How did you get it back here?’ Jack said.

Slink looked at Charlie. ‘We didn’t ride it,’ he said. ‘I pushed it.’

Wren puffed out her chest. ‘With my help.’

Charlie pulled the three of them into a hug. ‘Thank you.’

Once they’d finished explaining everything that had happened to them, Jack walked over to the computers. ‘Obi, we need to track Charlie’s phone.’

Obi climbed into his seat, ran a trace, but came up empty. ‘Did it have plenty of battery power?’ he asked Charlie.

‘Yes.’

They looked at Jack.

‘It must be out of range or something,’ he said, but as he started to walk away, the computer beeped.

‘Got it,’ Obi said.

‘Where is it?’

Obi frowned. ‘London.’

Slink rolled his eyes. ‘Brilliant. Any idea exactly where in London?’

Obi concentrated for a moment. ‘It’s a weak signal. Got to wait until we get good triangulation on it.’

Jack started to pace and wondered if Del Sarto was having the same problem tracing the signal. For now, they had to assume Del Sarto was hot on the trail. Wherever the government agents were hiding Proteus, the Outlaws had to get in and destroy it once and for all. No messing around this time.

Jack glanced over at Noble – he still had his eyes closed.

Obi called out, ‘Got a signal, and you’re not going to believe where it is.’

They gathered around him.

Obi had a map of London up on the main monitor and a red dot pulsated over one of the buildings.

For a long moment everyone stared at it.

‘That can’t be right,’ Charlie muttered.

‘It is,’ Obi said. ‘I’ve checked it three times. The phone signal is definitely coming from there.’

Charlie looked at Jack. ‘What do we do?’

‘Recon mission.’ Like always, Jack needed to see what they had to deal with.

He marched to the door.

‘I’m coming,’ Charlie said, grabbing her backpack and hurrying after him.

‘Me too,’ Slink said.

‘And me.’ Wren jogged over to them.

Jack turned around and held up a hand. ‘You stay here.’

Wren’s face dropped. ‘But –’

‘
No arguments
.’ Determined, Jack spun back to the door and the three of them marched through the airlock.

•   •   •

An hour later they were standing in a narrow side road off Oxford Street, in the West End of London.

Heavy rain hammered the pavement at their feet and poured from broken guttering.

Hoods up, Jack, Charlie and Slink pulled back into the doorway of an old bookshop. The interior was darkened and the closed sign was on the door.

Jack pressed a finger to his ear and said, ‘Obi, is the signal still coming from this spot?’

‘Directly ahead of you.’

Jack glanced at the others. ‘No chance it’s a mistake?’

‘Nope, no chance,’ came Obi’s confident reply.

Across the road was a Victorian theatre, the Winchester. The front of the building was covered in scaffolding and plastic sheeting billowed in the wind.

There was a sign that read:

This historic building is under renovation. This extensive project will be completed in the next two years
.

‘Proteus can’t be here,’ Slink said.

To the left of the theatre was a café with its windows boarded up and to the right was an alleyway.

‘You think it’s a trap?’ Charlie asked.

That had crossed Jack’s mind, but even if the agents had found the phone, why would they bring it here? It made no sense.

Jack stared at the theatre, thinking.

‘They wouldn’t have driven Proteus into a building site,’ Slink said.

Jack nodded.

Charlie frowned. ‘So, did they find the phone or not?’

A van turned into the alley next to the theatre and two men – wearing fluorescent jackets and hardhats – jumped out.

Jack smiled. ‘Bingo. This is
definitely
the right place.’

Charlie followed his gaze. ‘Jack, they’re just workmen.’

‘No.’

‘What do you mean, no? No, what?’

Jack pointed. ‘Look at their shoes.’

They wore polished black loafers, not boots. No doubt about it, they weren’t workmen.

The men glanced around, then, collars up, strode around the corner and behind the theatre.

‘OK. So, what do we do now?’ Charlie said.

Slink huffed. ‘Stop talking, start doing.’

Jack took a breath, and glanced up at the old tiled roof. There were several skylights – obviously added in the last decade or so – but there was no easy way to get up there. The scaffolding would be slippery. ‘Well, Slink?’ Jack glanced down the road. The rain had forced people indoors and the area was quiet. ‘You think you can get up there and have a peek?’

Slink cricked his neck. ‘No worries.’ He slipped off his backpack, put on a pair of fingerless gloves and clipped a small bag to his belt. He dipped his fingers inside and when he pulled them out again they were covered in white chalk. He slapped his hands together, sending a puff of powder into the air, and stared up at the scaffolding, muttering under his breath.

‘Be careful,’ Jack said. ‘No heroics. And watch out for Del Sarto and his men.’

‘I got this.’ Slink bounced on the balls of his feet like a boxer preparing for a fight.

‘If you can’t make it,’ Charlie said, ‘we’ll find another way.’

‘All gravy, baby.’ Slink winked at her, and – laughing to himself – sprinted across the road.

He leapt into the air, grabbed the lowest horizontal scaffold bar and swung up and over it.

Jack watched in utter amazement as Slink clambered up the side of the building as if it were no effort at all.

He was about two thirds of the way up when his right foot slipped on a wet bar. Charlie gasped as he fell, but by some miracle Slink regained his grip and swung by one arm.

He finally managed to brace his feet again, looked down, and winced.

Charlie shook her head.

After another minute or so and Slink reached the top and pulled himself up and on to the roof.

He scrambled up the tiles to the nearest skylight. Slink wiped away the rain and peered inside. Shaking his head, he moved to the next skylight and repeated the process. After another few minutes he’d checked them all. He slid back to the edge of the roof and then started looking through the upper windows.

Finally, he turned around. ‘Can’t see anything,’ he whispered into the headset. ‘The place looks empty.’

‘Empty?’ Jack said. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes. I could see the whole inside of the theatre from that window.’ He gestured over his shoulder.

‘No workmen?’ Jack asked.

‘Not one.’

‘What about Del Sarto?’

Slink squinted in the rain. ‘No sign of him.’

That was good news – with any luck, that meant they were one step ahead of him. ‘Check the back of the building,’ Jack said.