The Secret War

by Matt Myklusch

  “Hiding what, exactly?” Chi wanted to know.

  Jack held his breath, hoping desperately that Smart was not about to reveal the secrets Jack had been guarding so closely all year. Smart glared up at Chi and paused a moment before answering. “I don’t know … yet,” he said at last.

  The members of the Inner Circle shook their heads. Only Smart would have the audacity to accuse Jack of treason with absolutely no idea what form the alleged treachery took. Jack was relieved when he heard Smart admit he was still in the dark. Smart was playing the Rüstov card, but he didn’t have any details to come after Jack with. For the new-look Inner Circle, that wasn’t going to fly.

  “Do we really have to devote so much time to this?” Noteworthy asked, checking his watch. “I have a luncheon to attend this afternoon with some very important people in Hightown society. I don’t want to be late.” The comment struck Jack as odd. Noteworthy’s peers on the Inner Circle were arguably the most important people in all six boroughs of Empire City, and he clearly didn’t mind showing up late to their meeting. Jack noticed a few Circlemen shooting disparaging looks in Noteworthy’s direction. The newest member of the Inner Circle seemed unfazed by their disapproval, if he noticed it at all. “It’s obvious what’s going on here,” he went on. “Circlewoman Virtua has already hit upon it. Former Circleman Smart is bitter. We all know his business has suffered now that he no longer has the Peacemakers to act as his enforcers, or his SmartCams to spy on his competitors. This city has changed, and his inability to change with it has cost him. Rather than admit that to himself, he’s content to go on blaming this ruined boy. It’s sad, really.”

  Noteworthy’s words surprised Jack. “Ruined?” he asked. “What do you mean, ruined?”

  “Yes, Clarkston … what are you talking about?” Virtua asked, echoing Jack.

  Noteworthy appeared to be surprised that his comment required any explanation at all. “Let’s be frank,” he explained. “Whatever good this boy might do in life, he’ll always remain infected…. He’ll always be tainted by an association with the Rüstov. Add to that a low-class upbringing in the Real World of all places, and you have a series of stains that no reputation can overcome.” Noteworthy turned to Jack and added, “No offense to you personally, Jack. It’s simply a fact.”

  Jack frowned. Sure. No offense, he thought.

  “That ‘fact’ means very little here,” Chi told Noteworthy. “We don’t all measure a life’s worth with the same ruler used in Hightown society.”

  “There you go again,” Smart chimed in, shaking a finger at Chi. “Ignoring the truth about Jack. Ignoring the danger he represents.”

  “So you keep telling us, Jonas,” Hovarth said. “But I daresay that your position seems more personal than anything else. A year ago you voted Jack into the School of Thought, and yet ever since you were voted out of office, you’ve done nothing but try and tear him down.”

  “Meanwhile,” Virtua added, “your NewsNets spend all day telling everyone who is willing to listen—and even those of us who aren’t—how the new Inner Circle has done nothing but make the Imagine Nation less safe.”

  “What did you expect?” Smart shot back. “You discontinued my policies. Policies that kept everyone safe for twelve years.”

  “At what cost?” Stendeval asked. “Do the ends justify the means, Jonas?”

  Smart scowled at Stendeval. “My policies may not be very popular anymore, but I don’t remember anyone complaining at the time.”

  Virtua’s image flickered and then grew intensely bright. “No one was complaining because they either didn’t know about your policies or they were afraid to speak out! Like with the case of your secret prison in the Outlands of the Imagine Nation, and the brutal interrogations of innocent Mechas!”

  “We’re getting off topic and delving into the realm of unsubstantiated rumor,” Smart said. “I don’t wish to validate these wild accusations, but I can assure you that if I did have a secret prison, no ‘brutal interrogations’ would have been conducted there. There perhaps would have been ‘prisoner interviews’ that utilized ‘extreme motivation techniques.’ Things like power deprivation, circuit-boarding, and other perfectly legal procedures. But that is all beside the point. The point is, we weren’t attacked by the Rüstov during my years on this Circle, and for that I will never apologize. I’m still working to make sure things stay that way, and I refuse to believe it’s a coincidence that Jack destroyed my means of doing so.”

  Noteworthy studied Smart for a moment. “First of all, we were attacked during your tenure as a Circleman, Jonas. I seem to recall several incidents last year, including a battle with Revile that took place on the roof of your own building. Second, what is this Rüstov defense system you’re talking about?” he asked. “You have a bad history with this sort of thing. Forgive me if I’m not exactly comforted by the thought of you hard at work on something new. What exactly did you have coming in here from the outside world?”

  One by one each member of the Inner Circle agreed that they, too, wanted to know more about what Smart was up to. Jack was impressed by how deftly Noteworthy had just turned the focus of the entire meeting onto his main political rival’s closely guarded plans.

  “What’s going on here?” Smart asked. “I’m not the one on trial. Why are you questioning me instead of Jack?”

  “This isn’t a trial,” Stendeval said. “It’s a complaint you are bringing against a fellow citizen that we have agreed to hear and pass judgment on. But you raise a fair point. We’re getting ahead of ourselves. We still need to hear Jack’s side of the story. Tell us, Jack, did you purposely destroy Jonas’s property?” Stendeval asked. “If so … why?”

  As always, Stendeval’s voice was kind and comforting. It put Jack at ease.

  “I did purposely destroy Smart’s machine,” Jack confessed. “But I didn’t break it because I thought it was some kind of anti-Rüstov system. I didn’t even know it was his until after I destroyed it. I was just trying to keep whatever it was out of the wrong hands.” Jack looked up at Smart, trying to find some middle ground. “It was probably a bad idea to blow it up, I’ll give you that. But at least the bad guys don’t have it right now. That’s gotta count for something.”

  Jack went into the details of the mission, describing for the Inner Circle how it all went down. When he was finished, the Inner Circle agreed it was the same story that Midknight, Ricochet, and Blue had each told them earlier in their reports. After a brief discussion they found Jonas Smart’s complaint against Jack to be without merit. Jack was free to go.

  “You’re making a grave mistake,” Smart admonished his former colleagues. “The Rüstov threat hangs above all our heads like an ax ready to fall, and you do nothing.”

  “To be honest, Jonas, I’m more concerned about this anti-Rüstov system you’re working on than anything else,” Virtua said. “You misspoke before when you said we merely discontinued your policies. The fact is, we condemned them. I think we need to know more about this new invention of yours.”

  “Gladly,” Smart replied. “It’s called the SmarterNet, and it launches as soon as I can rebuild what Jack destroyed last night. His sabotage has set my schedule back somewhat, but I will not be deterred.”

  “I told you, I didn’t sabotage anything,” Jack said.

  “Quiet, Jack. Adults are talking,” Noteworthy said. “Just what does this SmarterNet of yours do, Jonas?”

  Smart just shook his head. “The SmarterNet has been compromised enough already. I’m not going to jeopardize it further by going into unnecessary detail here, but I will share with you something the project has already uncovered.” Smart removed a handheld holo-computer from his pocket and held up the device for all to see. “I have in my hand a communication between an enemy agent here on Earth and Rüstov high command. It was intercepted just this morning.”

  A jolt of nervous energy shook up Jack’s spine, and a hush fell over the room. Suddenly Jonas Smart had everyone’s und
ivided attention. He was easily dismissed when trying to stir up fears using vague allusions to faceless threats, but if he had real, tangible evidence to share … that was something else entirely. The members of the Inner Circle leaned forward, but Smart made them wait as he basked in the glow of their anxious concern.

  “I’m afraid I’ll have to play you the raw data,” Smart told the group. “I don’t have an alien-language translator with me.”

  “Of course you don’t,” Noteworthy said. “I suppose you expect us to just take your word for what this so-called message says?”

  “No,” Smart replied. “Since you all trust Jack so much, you can take his word. Jack speaks Rüstov. Don’t you, boy?”

  All eyes turned to Jack. He didn’t like the position Smart was putting him in. “I see what you’re doing,” Jack said. “Trying to get me to vouch for whatever it is you’re going to use against me next? Forget it. That’s not going to happen.”

  Smart sighed. “The message isn’t about you, Jack. If it were, you would have heard it long before now.”

  Jack realized that what Smart said was probably true. Still, he wanted no part in whatever this was. “That doesn’t matter,” he told Smart. “I’m not helping you. And I don’t speak their language, by the way. I just understand it when they talk.”

  Smart gave Jack a smirk. “Splitting hairs, aren’t we?” he asked. “So be it. Even your limited abilities would serve our purposes here today, but if you’d prefer to help cover up Rüstov activity rather than shed light on it, that’s fine. We’ll simply do this later, without you.”

  Jack frowned. That was no good either. He didn’t want to be the mouthpiece for Smart’s latest attempt to reignite fears about the Rüstov, but if he wanted to stay in the loop, he was going to have to play along. He didn’t have much choice. Jack had been covering up Rüstov activity ever since he’d first learned about the spyware virus, and this was his chance to find out if Smart knew anything about it. He agreed to translate the Rüstov transmission for the Inner Circle, and Smart pushed a button to launch the holo-computer’s audio player.

  Jack listened intently as Smart played the intercepted message. Everyone else heard only the techno-organic clang of Rüstov speak, but Jack understood every word, as clear as a bell:

  Glave to command. Glave to command. Report: Operation proceeding as planned. Phase one complete. Now in position. Risk level: zero. Moving forward with phase two. Inform the Magus that his loyal subject stands ready to strike a crippling blow against the Imagine Nation. In five days Empire City will belong to him. Long live the Magus. Long live the empire. Glave out.

  The message tied Jack’s stomach into a Macedonian knot. Five days until the Rüstov controlled Empire City … On its face such a claim seemed impossibly ambitious, but Jack knew better. The Rüstov had maintained a low, almost nonexistent profile since the Revile incident last year, but Jack knew the dangers that were lurking beneath that peaceful facade all too well. Was now the time to tell everyone about it?

  “Well?” Noteworthy asked Jack. “We’ve heard Jonas cry wolf about the Rüstov before. Tell us. Was this more of the same, or was it real?”

  Jack looked up at the Circlemen. The fear in his eyes was unmistakable. The members of the Inner Circle all leaned forward, trading nervous glances with one another.

  “It’s real,” Jack admitted. “That was definitely a Rüstov agent talking.”

  A concerned murmur ran though the Inner Circle. From the look on Smart’s face, Jack knew he was taking a creepy sense of pride in the tension he’d helped create. Jack didn’t like letting Smart use him this way, but he had to tell the truth. For one thing, it was written all over his face, and for another, if he lied, Smart would eventually play the translated message and Jack would be found out anyway.

  Jack translated the message, and the sphere fell silent as each Circleman paused to consider the hidden Rüstov threat.

  “People need to hear about this,” Hovarth declared.

  “Hovarth!” Noteworthy blurted out, casting a reproachful eye toward his fellow Circleman. “Do you want to cause a panic? No one should hear about this. Not yet. There isn’t any proof the threat is real.”

  “Not real?” Smart shot back. “Empire City’s favorite son just confirmed it was. You all heard him.”

  “I heard no such thing,” Noteworthy countered. “Jack confirmed it was a genuine Rüstov transmission. He didn’t say anything to validate its content. How could he, unless he knows something about the Rüstov’s plans that we don’t?” Jack gulped. He felt like he was sinking in quicksand. Up in the Cognito seat at the Inner Circle’s table, Stendeval made a subtle, almost imperceptible motion for Jack to keep quiet. Smart opened his mouth to speak, but shut it once again without saying anything. Noteworthy seized the opportunity to keep going. “Of course the Rüstov think their plan is unstoppable,” he continued. “If they didn’t, they’d form a different plan.” The socialite Circleman shook his head. “No, until we’re presented with concrete evidence to back up these claims, it’s nothing more than hearsay. And it’s dangerous.”

  “I find myself agreeing with Circleman Noteworthy,” Stendeval announced.

  “You can’t be serious!” Smart said. “The only danger lies in ignoring these warnings.”

  “We will ignore nothing,” Stendeval said. “We have a responsibility to maintain order and peace in the Imagine Nation, and we will do so.” Stendeval turned to his fellow Circlemen. “We must investigate this Agent Glave and his plans, each of us through our own channels. We must bring all possible resources to bear, but treat the matter with the utmost discretion. If word of this were to get out …”

  “It would be hysteria,” Noteworthy said. “I second Stendeval’s motion. Anything less would be irresponsible.”

  “Agreed,” Virtua said. “I’ve seen what fear of the Rüstov does to people in this city. I’ve no desire to see it again.”

  Chi pressed his fingers to his lips in silent deliberation. “We must be swift,” he said, raising his head after a moment. “Five days is hardly any time at all.”

  “And who is swifter than the ZenClan ninjas?” Stendeval asked. Chi nodded in agreement. He was on board with Stendeval’s plan. “Hovarth?” Stendeval asked, turning to the Inner Circle’s last member. “What say you?”

  The giant king of Varagog rubbed his beard. “I am unsure about this,” he said. “But until I am sure, I will stand with the Circle.” Hovarth rapped his knuckles on the table and nodded toward Stendeval. “Aye.”

  Smart shook his head and stuffed his pocket holo-computer back inside his jacket. “Fools,” he spat. “Blind fools, all of you! Lucky for the people of this city, I’m not without my own resources. I have my own work … my own ‘channels,’ as you say. Know this: I intend to conduct my own investigation. The truth will come out,” he said, turning to look down at Jack with a hard stare. “I won’t rest until it does.”

  Jack swallowed hard. You and me both, he thought. These days the truth was what kept Jack up at night.

  CHAPTER

  5

  In Cognito

  When Jack’s business with the Inner Circle was concluded, he left the sphere and started walking home across Hero Square. Huge crowds of people recognized his famous face along the way. After the meeting he’d just had, Jack wasn’t in the mood to shake hands and take pictures, but then, he never was. Jack dealt with the horde of people as best he could and pressed on toward the border of Cognito, where he was able to break away from the crowd.

  Jack’s fame was part of the reason his home was in a new place these days. After the incident with Revile last year, the owners of the Ivory Tower had offered to let him stay there rent free for as long as he wanted. The Ivory Tower loft was a fantastic place to live, located in the wealthiest district of an already rich borough, but it wasn’t for Jack. Not anymore. Everything in the apartment made Jack think of Jazen and how maybe if he’d done things differently a year ago, his friend would
still be alive today.

  Shortly after entering the School of Thought, Jack had asked Stendeval if he could help him find a new place to live. The wise Circleman had been glad to help, and had set Jack up among the hideouts and secret lairs of Cognito, where he could have a fresh start and all the privacy he wanted.

  Jack got back to Cognito a few hours before the daily shuffling of the streets. Home was in a different place for Jack in more ways than one. He was on his way back to an apartment that had literally moved on from where he’d left it the day before. Somehow, Jack still knew which way to go. He didn’t have a special map of Cognito, and no one had ever told him the secret of how to navigate its shifting streets, but he always knew how to find his way home. He even knew the precise hour at which the borough’s streets were scheduled to move. It happened at different times each day, and that day it was scheduled to take place a few hours before sunset. Jack had meant to ask Stendeval how he could have known stuff like that, but he was always so busy with the School of Thought and his work on the virus that he never got around to it. Jack remembered that Jazen had once told him that only the locals knew their way around Cognito. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that, thanks to Stendeval, he was now a local too.

  Cognito was the perfect place for Jack. He needed a hideout every bit as much as he did an apartment. He needed a place to escape the unwanted attention and admirers he’d picked up as the hero who had defeated Revile. No one in Cognito ever made a big deal about Jack and his exploits. No one in Cognito was ever around to begin with. The entire borough was made up of heroes and villains who were trying to maintain secret identities, as well as other, more cryptic, groups of people like the Secreteers and the Mysterrii. The Secreteers were never seen on the streets of Cognito, so Jack didn’t think they really counted as neighbors, even if they did own most of the property in the borough. The Mysterrii, on the other hand, were always out and about, but kept completely to themselves, so Jack decided they didn’t count either.