Beckett interrupted him. “We’ve just received something odd from a Blue Zone contact number, Lucas. I think you should see it.”
“Put it on the main screen,” said Lucas.
I looked at the screen, expecting an image, but this was a text-only message.
“I’m the Game Commander of Blue Upway. You’ve been blatantly stealing my players, and I’m not tolerating it any longer. Close down Halloween at once.”
“Which Halloween contact number did that come from?” demanded Lucas.
“The one assigned to the strip of Blue Zone between 6500 and 6599,” said Beckett.
“There are over five million teens on Teen Level,” said Emili. “Fifty thousand of them in that strip of Blue Zone. Amber can’t check that many minds.”
“And we don’t even know that the Game Commander is in that strip of Blue Zone,” said Lucas. “They could have asked a random Blue Upway player for a Halloween contact number. We’ll call the dataview which sent that message, and see what we can find out.”
He began gabbling orders. “Kareem and Hallie, clear the far end of the office. Telyn, find my hunter of souls costume. Gideon, I need our holo background of trees.”
Telyn ran out of the room, and Kareem and Hallie started dragging the furniture away from the end wall.
Lucas stood up and turned to Emili. “Contact Nicole. I need her to set up a five-second power cut to the lights circuit on Teen Level Blue Zone 6500 to 6599, for you to execute on my command.”
“Understood,” said Emili.
There was a minute of frantic activity, then Telyn returned to dump Lucas’s hunter of souls costume onto a chair. I watched, bemused, as Lucas started yanking off his clothes.
Gideon laughed. “I worked on Claire’s Tactical team for forty-nine years. I thought I’d experienced everything, but I’ve never seen a Tactical Commander strip to their underwear before.”
“A pity it’s such sensible underwear,” said Hallie.
“Lucas was bound to wear sensible underwear,” said Kareem. “You just have to look at his socks to know that.”
“You’re supposed to be working, not discussing my underwear,” said Lucas.
“The holo background is ready.” Gideon stabbed a forefinger at the controls inlaid into his desk, and holo red and black trees appeared at the far end of the office. “Are you going to be staying in character when making this call, Lucas?”
“Yes.”
Lucas tugged on the black outfit with its red trimmings, whirled the matching dramatic cloak around his shoulders, and then put on the red-eyed helm that hid most of his face. He strode down to the end of the office, and stood in front of the red and black trees.
“How do I look?”
Gideon went to adjust the folds of Lucas’s cloak, and then stared intently into his eyes. “Power stance, Lucas. You are the hunter of souls, an immortal creature of legend. You are amused by a mere mortal daring to challenge you, but may grow bored at any moment and crush him into dust beneath your feet.”
“Got it.” Lucas took on a menacing air.
“Perfect.” Gideon hurried back to his desk. “The image is looking flawless, Lucas. I’ll be making your call in three, two, one. Action!”
There was a pause before the call was answered, then the main screen flickered and changed from black to grey, but no image appeared. The person at the other end wasn’t going to let us see their face.
“You dared to challenge the hunter of souls,” said Lucas, in a threatening tone.
“The hunter of souls is a myth,” spat an impatient male voice. “You’re just a Game Commander like me, and I’m ordering you to close down your game.”
“Oh, I am myth,” said Lucas, “and I am legend, but I am also your reality. The dark angel triumphed in combat at Halloween, and has granted me the right to enter the Hive and summon those who wish to join my demon pack.”
“Childish stories,” said the male voice. “Close down your game now.”
“Yes, the Hive warns its children against me,” said Lucas. “The Hive knows best in this matter, but there are always those like you. The ones that refuse to listen and discover the truth too late.”
“Do you really believe you’re the hunter of souls?” asked our target incredulously.
“I don’t believe I’m the hunter of souls,” said Lucas. “I am the hunter of souls. I issued my summons, and you answered it. You are bound to me now, and I have the right to use or destroy you at my pleasure.”
“Well, you may believe you’re the hunter of souls,” said our target, “but I don’t. Stop stealing my players. Close down your game.”
“You don’t believe I’m the hunter of souls,” said Lucas. “Do you want me to prove it by plunging you into darkness?”
“Yes, go ahead and do that,” said our target sarcastically.
Lucas lifted his hand, and Emili tapped a control on her desk.
“I hate to tell you this, but the lights here are still …” The taunting voice broke off, and then there was a gasp of alarm.
There’d been two power cuts when I was living on Teen Level. The first had only lasted two minutes, and the second had been the great power cut that lasted days. Now the lights had gone out again on Teen Level. I knew the teens in Blue Zone 6500 to 6599 would be panicking about this being another great power cut.
There was a wait of several seconds, followed by a second gasp, and then our target spoke in a shaky voice. “What are you? How did you do that?”
Lucas laughed. “I told you I was the hunter of souls. Do you want me to plunge you into darkness again? Should I freeze the belt system and the lifts as well this time, or would you like me to shut down your water and your air?”
“No!” said our target sharply. “You aren’t the hunter of souls. You can’t be, because he’s just a myth. You have to be someone who works in Power Services.”
Our target’s voice rose in triumph. “I’m right, aren’t I? The Blue Upway Champion wasn’t working alone after all. Forge had collected a group of you to help him.”
I gasped in shock at the mention of Forge, and hastily put my hand over my mouth to make sure I didn’t make any more noise.
“You all played Blue Upway until you went through Lottery last Carnival,” continued our target. “You’re loyal to its old Game Commander, and you want to help her escape me. You thought that if you stole all Blue Upway’s players, I wouldn’t be able to use the game to punish her any longer, and she’d be free.”
The target laughed. “Well, your plan isn’t going to work. I spotted Forge had returned to Teen Level, and took him prisoner. If you don’t shut down Halloween, then I’ll kill him.”
The screen flickered again and went black.
Chapter Thirty-three
Lucas pulled off his red-eyed helm and cloak, and tossed them on a nearby couch. “Emili, send messages to Forge and our other three men on Teen Level. Ask them to confirm they’re safe.”
There was a tense pause. “Our target’s holding Forge hostage,” I muttered. “He must have known Forge when he was on Teen Level, and recognized him despite his disguise. How could he do that when Forge looks so incredibly different with blond hair?”
“We’ve got confirmation messages from everyone except Forge,” reported Emili.
Lucas tapped at his dataview and spoke into it. “Buzz, have you talked to Forge recently?”
“Not since this morning,” said Buzz, in an irritated voice. “He said he’d be in his room at eight o’clock, and would call me so we can chat while we eat dinner, but he’s late.”
“Waste that,” said Lucas.
“Is something wrong?” asked Buzz.
Lucas groaned. “The Blue Upway Game Commander has taken Forge hostage.”
“I’m on my way,” she snapped.
Lucas tapped his dataview, and the alarm sound warbled from the speakers in the ceiling of the Tactical office. When he spoke into his dataview this time, his voice echoed from ab
ove.
“We have an incident in progress. We need everyone on the crystal comms right away. Operational teams to stations.”
The Tactical team members were putting crystal units into their ears. I was pointlessly checking my pockets, when Gideon passed me an ear crystal. Emili slapped a red button on the wall, and the main screen flashed up a message. “Crystal Comms Protocols Active.”
Adika’s voice spoke in my ear crystal. “Why aren’t you calling for a Strike team, Lucas?”
“Because we already have three men positioned in Blue Zone,” said Lucas.
“We have four men in Blue Zone,” corrected Adika.
“No, we don’t,” said Lucas. “Forge has been taken hostage.”
“Waste that! What happened?” demanded Adika. “Is this Keith playing tricks again?”
“I don’t think Keith can be responsible for this,” said Lucas. “I’ll be briefing everyone in a minute. Nicole, are you on the crystal comms yet?”
“Yes,” said Nicole’s voice.
“Call the dataviews of Penn, Amir, and Yosh, and patch them into our crystal comms,” said Lucas. “Tell them to go to Level 20, find the nearest armoury, and get fully equipped including dressing in hasty uniforms.”
Lucas moved to the control bank labelled “Tactical Command”, pulled up two chairs, and I went to sit down next to him. There was something wet running down my cheeks. I realized that I was crying and angrily wiped the back of my hand across my eyes. I couldn’t waste time crying. I had to focus on helping Forge.
A moment later, Buzz hurried into the room. She already had a crystal unit in her right ear, and didn’t hesitate before sitting at a spare desk and tapping at the controls. I guessed that she regularly sat there when I was out on a run with the Strike team.
“Crystal comms checklist now,” said Lucas.
“All Strike team members in unit are ready on comms,” said Adika.
“Tactical team are ready on comms,” said Lucas.
“Liaison team are ready on comms,” said Nicole’s voice. “We also have Penn, Amir, and Yosh patched to comms.”
I was confused by this variation on the start of run checklist, but assumed I should join in at my usual point. “Amber on comms.”
“Briefing now,” said Lucas. “The Game Commander of Blue Upway sent a message to Halloween a few minutes ago, and I called him back. We confirmed he was in the strip of Blue Zone between 6500 and 6599 during that call. The Game Commander had recognized Forge as the old Blue Upway Champion, and guessed he’d returned to Teen Level to work against him. He’s taken Forge hostage and is threatening to kill him.”
“How could this Game Commander manage to capture Forge?” asked Adika. “I know Forge didn’t have a gun or body armour, but …”
“Forge is trained to be deadly in unarmed combat,” interrupted Lucas. “It would be extremely difficult for even an armed man to take him prisoner. I believe Forge was subdued by something like a sedative and couldn’t defend himself.”
He tapped at the control bank in front of him. “Penn, Amir, and Yosh, what is your current status?”
The main screen changed to the setting that normally showed the mosaic of images from crystal unit cameras. Red words appeared at the top of the screen. “Focus Blue Zone.” Since we only had three men in Blue Zone, there were only three images in the mosaic, and they were totally black, with glowing names above them.
I saw Amir’s name flash brighter as his breathless voice spoke on the crystal comms. “Amir here. Four minutes from nearest armoury.”
Penn’s name flashed next. “Penn here. Three minutes from armoury.”
There was a long pause. “Yosh, can we have your status, please?” asked Lucas.
Yosh’s name finally flashed brightly. “Yosh here,” he said, in a frustrated voice. “Lucas, I’m at the armoury but I’ve just been arrested by a hasty patrol. I’m giving the leader my dataview. Please tell him I’m not a stray teen breaking into their armoury.”
There was an odd crackling noise before a stranger spoke. “Who am I talking to?”
“I’m Tactical Commander Lucas of the Light Angel unit.”
“That’s a grandiose claim,” said the stranger.
“Our unit confirmation code is nine yellow east,” said Lucas wearily. “Authentication phrase is no darkness without light.”
“Waste it! How was I supposed to …?”
There was another odd crackling sound, and the stranger’s voice was replaced by Yosh. “Completing arming now.”
“Ordering unit confirmation code change,” said Nicole’s voice.
“As soon as they’re fully equipped, Penn, Amir, and Yosh are to meet up at a bank of lifts in area 220/6900 of Level 20,” said Lucas. “They will then set crystal units to visual, get a lift straight down to Teen Level, and go to Forge’s undercover room. They should be prepared for the situation where our target is in that room and holding Forge prisoner, but I expect they’ll find the room empty.”
I spoke on the crystal comms myself. “Forge will probably have used the same door code as when he lived on Teen Level before. That’s 12121.”
“Penn, you’re in charge of the Blue Zone group,” said Adika.
There was a tense wait before three images appeared on the main screen. They all showed the interior of a lift.
“Tracking and visual links green for Blue Zone group,” said Nicole.
“We’re heading down to Teen Level now,” said Penn.
Lucas adjusted a control, and the image from Penn’s camera took over most of the main screen. It just showed closed lift doors for what seemed like a ridiculously long time, then the doors opened, and the image showed Penn was leading the way down a corridor. I saw a couple of startled teens turn to stare toward the camera, and then the main screen showed a view of a teen room door. What was presumably Penn’s hand reached out to enter the door code, and it opened. There was a rush of activity, followed by depressed sighs.
“Forge isn’t here,” said Penn. “We’ve checked the shower cubicle and every space big enough to hold a rabbit.”
“Penn, please turn slowly around on the spot,” said Lucas. “I want to get a good look at everything in the room.”
I watched Penn’s camera slowly pan around.
“No sign of a fight,” said Lucas, “and Forge’s Halloween mask is on the shelf above the sleep field.”
“Should we check nearby rooms to make sure Forge isn’t being held a prisoner in one of them?” asked Penn.
I was still staring at the image on the main screen. I had a nagging feeling there was something wrong with it, but I couldn’t work out what it was.
“Even if we knew Forge was being held prisoner in this area, which we don’t, it would be a bad idea for you to go randomly searching for him,” said Lucas. “We have to assume he’s drugged, tied up, and completely unable to defend himself. Strike team imprints include the details on hostage scenarios, so think through the statistics. If you found where Forge was being held, and went blundering in to rescue him, then you could trigger our target into killing him.”
Penn gave a depressed grunt.
I’d finally worked out what was wrong with the image on the main screen. “Something is missing from that room, Lucas. I can’t see Forge’s surfboard.”
“Surfboard!” repeated Lucas sharply. “You’re right, Amber. You’re absolutely right.”
He was silent for ten seconds before speaking in a sharply decisive voice. “Blue Zone group should position themselves in the strip of Blue Zone between 6500 and 6599, and await further orders. Amber and I are now leaving the crystal comms to go to a meeting room to call someone. Emili will take control of the situation, and should message my dataview if there are any developments.”
“Forge is being held hostage, and you’re wandering off to chat to someone?” Adika sounded outraged.
I saw Buzz turn to stare at Lucas. “We mustn’t interfere, Adika. Lucas has just worked out what’s happ
ening.”
“Yes, I’ve just worked out what’s happening, and I need to find out some extra information.” Lucas stood up and waved at Emili to take his place at the Tactical Command control bank. “Amber and I could be away for some time, but nobody is to take any action at all until we come back.”
Chapter Thirty-four
Lucas and I headed out of the door. He halted in the corridor to steal my ear crystal, took out his own, and then made sure they were both turned off before putting them in his pocket. “It would be a bad mistake to let this call be accidentally broadcast on the crystal comms.”
We started walking down the corridor. “If Forge’s surfboard wasn’t in his room, that means he went to the Teen Level beach this afternoon,” I said.
“Yes,” said Lucas. “Early this afternoon, I told our undercover men to stop attempting Blue Upway challenges. When our target said he’d taken Forge prisoner, I thought it was my fault for not stopping our men doing challenges earlier, but it was actually the other way around.”
Lucas paused. “Forge was taken prisoner because I stopped him doing Blue Upway challenges and said he should rest for the remainder of the day. Forge couldn’t resist the chance to spend a nostalgic few hours surfing at the Teen Level beach. Our target probably didn’t recognize Forge himself, but his surfboard.”
“Yes,” I said gloomily. “That pattern of red and blue diamonds is very distinctive.”
“Forge and the members of his game group had all done some of the advanced cliff climbs at the Teen Level beach,” said Lucas. “This whole sequence of events began there. We thought our malicious Game Commander was just enjoying putting his players in danger, but it’s more complicated than that.”
He grimaced. “The emergency run where we met a Blue Upway game group was caused by Alvin’s personal issues. Tobias went wild bee because of his personal issues. Our target’s actions are driven by personal issues too. He’s not just enjoying himself harming Blue Upway players in general. He’s using the game to punish the original Game Commander, Michaela, for something she did to offend him.”
Borderline (Hive Mind Book 4) Page 33
