“I mean, what happens if we go in there and see Obscuro already talking to Smart?” Zhi replied. “What do we do then?” He looked at Skerren and Allegra. “I know you guys have been after the rogue, trying to find out whatever you can about Glave and Khalix. Do we just wait until Smart’s gone and then deal with Obscuro ourselves?”
“No,” Jack said. “That’s not good enough. We have to keep Obscuro from telling Smart about the virus. He finds out about that and it’s game over.”
“Jack, Obscuro’s going to sell him that information sooner or later,” Skerren said. “We can’t outbid Smart for your secrets. No one can.”
“Then we separate them by force if we have to,” Jack said.
“By force?” Allegra repeated. “You’re talking about assaulting a Circleman.”
“A former Circleman,” Jack corrected. “And we’re not assaulting him; we’re assaulting Obscuro.”
“Because he’s going to spill the beans on your secrets,” Allegra said. “That’s not going to look good, Jack. Smart will make sure of that, and he’ll use that NewsNet of his to do it twenty-four/seven.”
“As if that’s any different from what’s going on right now,” Jack said. “It’ll only get worse if Obscuro tells Smart about the virus. We have to stop that from happening. Unless you guys have any better ideas, I don’t see what choice we have here.”
Silence fell outside the door of hangar 17. Jack’s friends couldn’t think of any other options either.
“We just need to make sure something good comes out of this,” Skerren said. “Then it won’t look so suspicious. We capture Obscuro and get the info on Glave and Khalix out of him. We put a stop to them—”
“And they provide the Rüstov tech that you and Trea need to stop the virus,” Allegra said, finishing Skerren’s thought. “That could work,” she said, nodding. “That’d be perfect.”
Jack’s heart started beating faster. “It’s gonna have to work out perfectly,” he muttered. “If it’s going to work at all.” Before anyone could ask him to repeat himself, he straightened his back and looked at the door to hangar 17 with purpose. The nullification zone had passed, and his powers had returned. After Jack had a brief conversation with the door’s locking mechanism, the light on the keypad turned from red to green. They were in. The door slid open and the children crept inside.
Hangar 17 was an expansive, empty platform with only three walls. The fourth wall was made up of only the hangar doors, which were currently wide open. Powerful winds ripped through the room, loud enough to muffle the sound of Jack and his friends coming in, and strong enough to push them back on their heels as they entered. Docking equipment, tools, and cargo crates were strewn about the edges of the room. Jack and the others took cover behind them and escaped Smart’s notice.
Smart was standing at the far end of the platform, staring out the open hangar doors as a cloaked ship came in for landing. Jack felt it approaching outside the hangar, but he didn’t need his powers to spot the “invisible” vessel. Not when he was this close. The sound of its engines was unmistakable, as was the blurry, ship-size patch of air that was slowly descending toward the platform. Cloaking devices fooled only radar systems, not human eyes. After touching down, the ship dropped its cloak, and Obscuro emerged from its cockpit. Smoke trailed behind the Rogue Secreteer as he walked down the ramp toward Smart, his robes blowing in the breeze coming in from outside. Jack and the others did their best to listen in as they inched along behind the crates, working their way closer to Smart and Obscuro. It was unbelievable, but Jack’s plan was working out perfectly. A combination of preparation, risk, and luck had put him precisely where he needed to be—right between Smart and Obscuro.
Obscuro reached the bottom of the ramp and stopped a few feet away from Smart. “The Rogue Secreteer, I presume?” Smart said to him.
“You may call me Obscuro,” the Secreteer replied, offering a slight bow. “Pleased to meet you.”
“I expect you are,” Smart said. “I know I’d be pleased to meet someone willing to pay me a hundred million credits for a five-minute conversation. You are aware of what I expect in return for this money?”
“I am.”
“And you are prepared to tell me what I want to know?”
“I am indeed.”
“Good.” Smart smiled, nodding. “It’s good to know your greed has its limits,” he added as he typed on his pocket holo-computer, moving the bags of money between him and Obscuro. “I was beginning to worry that you intended to hold out for more.”
Obscuro put his hands up, appearing to wave Smart off. “I wasn’t waiting for you to offer more money,” he told Smart. “I was waiting for the SmarterNet to launch.”
Smart looked up from his handheld device with a start. “The SmarterNet?” he asked. “What for?”
“Two reasons,” Obscuro replied. “For one, I know you can’t afford to spend a hundred million credits on me and my secrets, Mr. Smart. Not anymore. We both know there’s no money in those bags. Don’t bring them any closer.”
Smart scowled. Obscuro’s glowing eyes narrowed behind his mask and hood. Smart stopped the bags where they were. “And your other reason?” Smart asked with a hard edge in his voice.
“It’s quite simple,” Obscuro replied. “I know how the SmarterNet works. How it really works. Jack Blank isn’t the only one with secrets, is he?”
Smart froze. He wasn’t the type to show an opponent fear, or any other emotion for that matter, but Jack could tell that Obscuro had him scared stiff, and that scared Jack. Something was wrong … something he didn’t understand. Jack suddenly had a sinking feeling that he didn’t really know what was going on. He wasn’t seeing the big picture, and he worried that by the time he did, it would be too late.
“I don’t need any more money,” Obscuro continued. “I have my ship now. I’m ready to leave this place. What I want before I go are the access codes to your system.”
“Why?” Smart squeaked out after a few moments. “What do you want with that?”
“Despite betraying my order, I remain a Secreteer at heart. My kind craves secrets like candy. Even far, far away from Earth, where the secrets uncovered by your device will be of no real value to me, I will still feel the urge to eavesdrop on this pale blue dot in the universe’s starscape. Whatever remains of it. Call it whatever you want—an unhealthy compulsion, being homesick; perhaps it’s both. The fact is, it doesn’t matter what I want the information for. What matters is that it’s a small price to pay for Jack Blank’s secrets, and if that’s not agreeable to you, I could always inform the people of Empire City what the SmarterNet really does.”
Smart gritted his teeth. “I don’t like being blackmailed,” he said.
“No one ever does,” Obscuro replied. “That’s why it’s so effective. Are you going to give me what I want, or shall I place a few calls to the city’s independent NewsNets?”
“No,” Smart said quickly. “No, don’t do that. There’s no need for that. You have a deal. You’re right, it’s a small price to pay.”
“I thought you’d see it my way,” Obscuro replied. “A simple note with the codes and the broadcast frequency on a piece of SmartPaper will do. Anytime you’re ready.”
Smart nodded to Obscuro and typed away on his hand-held computer. Jack looked over at Skerren, Allegra, and Zhi. “It’s now or never,” he told his friends.
Skerren nodded and drew his swords. “Follow me,” he said. As Smart took a step toward Obscuro, Skerren charged out from behind a cargo crate. Jack, Allegra, and Zhi jumped out after him, quickly taking up positions between Obscuro and Smart. Allegra stretched out and wrapped Obscuro up so tight that he couldn’t move.
“Get him out of here!” Jack shouted. Allegra struggled to move Obscuro toward the door as Jack, Skerren, and Zhi stayed behind to hold off Smart and cover her escape. “Sorry, Smart. We’re taking Obscuro with us,” Jack said. “My secrets aren’t for sale.”
“Is that so
?” Smart said with a laugh. “I don’t think that’s your decision to make, Jack, but I’m glad to see you showing your true colors once again. It’s been too long. It really has.”
“Don’t try to stop us,” Skerren said. “You’re unarmed and outnumbered.”
“Yeah, and your power nullifiers don’t work on us,” Zhi added.
Smart snickered with a cold, condescending laugh. “Silly boy. As if power nullifiers were the only weapons at my disposal. I’m afraid you’ll find that I’m anything but unarmed, and as for being outnumbered … that is a matter of opinion. As Obscuro already surmised, there are no credits in these two bags.”
Smart keyed in a sequence on his pocket holo-computer, and a swarm of gun-toting droids flew out of the floating bags. “Fire at will,” Smart said evenly, and the droids began blasting at the children.
“Take cover!” Allegra shouted as she reached over to block a series of shots that were aimed at Jack. A burst of smoke erupted in Allegra’s grasp, and suddenly the Secreteer wasn’t her captive anymore. He was back in place next to Smart.
“You let him go?” Jack shouted in disbelief. “Allegra! What are you doing?”
“I was saving you!” Allegra fired back. “You were about to get hit!”
“And you will get hit unless you keep your distance,” Smart said. “Allow me to introduce my SmartFire Sentinels, the latest in personal protection from SmartCorp. Get too close and they’ll shoot to kill. Stay back, children, and don’t interfere. With any luck, you’ll only get wounded.”
Jack didn’t bother to thank Allegra for saving his life. He just kept moving toward Smart as she continued to block more shots that likely would have killed him if she hadn’t been there. Skerren was also advancing on Smart and Obscuro, blocking shots with his blades. He sent a few ricochets back at Smart, and got close enough to slice a few Sentinels in two. Zhi was dodging blasts from the Sentinels, trying to get closer as well. Trained in the martial arts since he could crawl, Zhi nearly equaled Skerren’s fighting prowess despite his young age. Jack watched him deliver a flying karate kick that slammed one Sentinel into another. Meanwhile, Jack couldn’t do anything but move back out of the Sentinels’ range, which he reluctantly did after being urged repeatedly by Allegra. It was the only move. This close to Smart, Jack was powerless. The nullifiers were working as intended once again.
“Smart! The access codes, now!” Obscuro shouted.
Smart generated a sheet of glowing SmartPaper with the codes and held it up in front of him. “The information first,” he told Obscuro.
“No!” Zhi shouted, getting in close enough to almost reach the piece of SmartPaper with the codes. He weaved under a Sentinel and shot his hand up, chopping the droid in half like he was breaking boards in the dojo. Unfortunately, another Sentinel blasted him from behind, and Obscuro grabbed him up by the collar. “Insolent whelp! Be gone!” The rogue threw Zhi sliding across the floor.
Zhi skidded right up to the edge of the platform leading out into the open air. His body slid out over the side, and he grabbed on to the ledge with his fingers.
“Zhi!” Skerren and Allegra yelled out, and ran to help him. Jack stayed rooted to the spot, his stomach sinking as Obscuro grabbed the codes from Smart’s hands and leaned in to tell him what he wanted to know.
“No …,” Jack said, shaking his head. He had to put a stop to this. It was time to go to his contingency plan. His last resort. Jack didn’t want to do it this way, but he was out of options, and he wasn’t going to get another chance. Jack hit a button on his wrist communicator and shouted into it. “LOREM, NOW!!!”
“What?” Smart said, turning his head in surprise.
“What?” Allegra said as Jack’s voice came ringing through her bracelet. Over at the edge of the hangar, she and Skerren were pulling Zhi up. Just as they reached solid ground, a purple Chinese dragon flew in and landed its massive body on the platform, blocking them off from Smart, Obscuro, and Jack. Lorem Ipsum was riding it. Her dragon swallowed up Smart’s Sentinels in one gulp, but swung its tail out, sideswiping Jack’s friends. Skerren, Allegra, and Zhi went flying into the wall.
“Lorem!” Jack shouted. “What are you doing? They’re on our side!”
Lorem hopped off the dragon’s back with a laugh, landing softly between Smart and Obscuro. She didn’t seem to care that taking out Jack’s friends was not part of the plan.
“Lorem?” Smart said, boggled. “Is that you?”
“Hi, Daddy,” she replied, pulling her hair back out of her face. She was wearing one of Jack’s communicator bracelets.
“Let’s save the family reunion for later,” Jack said to Lorem. “Shut Obscuro down before he talks!”
At least, that’s what Jack meant to say. It took a few seconds for him to realize that he wasn’t saying anything of the kind. He wasn’t even speaking English. No matter what he tried to say, it kept coming out, “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet! Consectetur adipisicing elit sed!”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Lorem told Jack, laughing hysterically.
He looked down and saw her hand touching his wrist. Jack couldn’t believe it. Lorem had double-crossed him!
“Lorem,” Smart said. “You surprise me. Good girl.”
“Thanks, Daddy,” she said, smiling.
“Don’t call me that,” Smart replied in a curt tone. “Obscuro, you have something you wish to tell me?”
Obscuro nodded, and Jack looked on, horrified, as the Rogue Secreteer leaned over to whisper his secrets into Smart’s ear. Jack watched as Smart’s eyes grew wide, and then wider. Jack could say or do nothing to stop it. It was his worst nightmare, coming to life before his very eyes.
“This is beyond belief!” Smart said, pulling back from Obscuro in alarm. “I need … I need to get to my lab immediately!” Smart pushed past Jack, making a beeline for the door. Lorem hurried along behind him, turning back to offer Jack a callous explanation as she left. “Sorry, Jack,” she said. “I know this wasn’t our deal, but what can I say? I have my own plans.”
As Lorem Ipsum closed the door behind her on the way out, Jack felt his world shatter. Things had gone about as wrong as they could possibly go.
“I have my own plans too, Jack,” Obscuro said, placing a hand on Jack’s shoulder after Smart and Lorem had exited the hangar together. “You should know my offer still stands. You’re welcome to come with me when I leave.” Obscuro motioned over at Jack’s outraged friends, who were climbing over the back of Zhi’s purple dragon and coming toward him. “It won’t be safe for you here now,” Obscuro told Jack. “Surely you know that.”
Jack had to admit the Secreteer was right. Not only had one of his worst enemies just gained an impossible advantage over him, but he was almost certainly out of best friends to fight back with. He’d lied to them one time too many, and it had finally caught up with him.
“Your father gave me a message for you,” Obscuro told Jack. “He said, ‘Don’t despair. We will be together again soon.’” Jack looked up at Obscuro, unable to say anything. “It’s better you go with me and rejoin your family,” Obscuro said, handing Jack a paper card. “I’ll be leaving here soon. This will lead you to me when the time comes.”
A burst of smoke shot up, and when it cleared, Obscuro was back in his ship, getting ready to lift off. Jack’s friends surrounded him, wearing looks of shock and outrage on their faces. Unable to meet their gazes, Jack examined the card that Obscuro had just given him. It was blank. That figures, Jack thought. Everything had officially fallen apart. He was left with nothing, save for the knowledge that things could only get worse from here.
CHAPTER
20
The Prototype
Jack remembered Lorem Ipsum telling him that her gibberish touch lasted however long she wanted it to last. It was an aspect of her powers that made her especially dangerous, and one that Jack had been counting on to help his plan succeed—right up until the moment when Lorem had grabbed his wrist. Past that poin
t, Jack’s plan and any hope of success had gone out the window along with his ability to form meaningful sentences. He could hardly believe things had gone so horribly wrong.
Jack hoped that Lorem wouldn’t add insult to injury by dragging out the effects of her powers too long. As it turned out, he didn’t know her very well at all. She dragged things out just long enough to rub salt in the wounds left by her betrayal. It took more than an hour for the Lorem Ipsum effect to wear off, which meant that Jack couldn’t explain himself to his friends or offer any excuses for his actions.
When it came time to let Jack have it, Zhi was up first. He was kicking himself more than the others because he’d unwittingly made Jack’s side deal with Lorem Ipsum possible by loaning him the purple dragon. “I don’t believe this,” he said. “I trusted you. I looked up to you…. You used me!” The purple dragon gave its master a confused look, like it didn’t know what it had done wrong. Zhi stroked the dragon behind its ear, making it purr. “It’s not your fault,” he told the creature. “I never would have let you do this if I’d known what he had planned.” Zhi turned back to Jack. “I only did it because you said you needed my help. This is how you pay me back? Where were you when I was hanging off the edge of the platform over there? Where were you when I needed your help?”
“We got all messed up listening to you,” Skerren said to Jack. “You never stopped lying for a second, did you? I asked you straight up if the spyware virus was the only thing you were keeping from us. You acted like you’d told us everything, but that was just an act. There’s obviously something else going on here.” Skerren shook his head in disgust. “You don’t just keep secrets, Jack. You tell lies, and you tell them to your friends. I used to worry that you’d end up on the Rüstov’s side in this war. Now that I know you better, I almost feel sorry for them if that’s what the future holds. The only side you care about is your own.”
Jack literally could not argue with anything Skerren said, even if he did disagree with the last part. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about other people. That was the whole reason he’d kept the spyware virus a secret to begin with, to protect the Mechas. Jack’s mistake had come in trying to juggle the Mechas’ secrets alongside his own, and letting his personal interests get in the way of solving the more immediate problem. It was that selfishness that had caused him to screw things up so badly and hurt his friends in the process. Jack didn’t know just how badly he’d hurt them until he saw the look on Allegra’s face.
The Secret War Page 21
