Lockdown

by Peter Jay Black

  Detached.

  Tranquil.

  ‘Look.’ Wren pointed at the information desk where Jack had hidden the first of his envelopes.

  A girl in her early twenties had her phone held in front of her and was studying the screen. She glanced around, then ran her hand under the edge of the information desk.

  ‘Warm . . .’ Jack muttered.

  She stepped to her left.

  ‘Warmer . . .’

  Another step.

  ‘Hot.’

  The girl pulled out the envelope.

  ‘Bingo.’

  She opened it and took out the Metrocard. Her eyes almost popped from their sockets. She stood there a moment, then, beaming from ear to ear, hurried off towards the subway.

  Wren looked at Lux. ‘How did she know?’

  Lux held up her own phone. ‘I wrote this application last year. It’s called GeoGiftCards or GGC for short. GGC sends the envelope’s GPS coordinates as a text to a random person in the area.’

  ‘One each,’ Drake added.

  ‘Yeah,’ Lux said. ‘One set of coordinates each.’ She gestured to the other side of the station as a man with long blonde hair walked over to a bin, checking his phone.

  ‘That’s my one,’ Wren said, her eyes lighting up.

  The man leant over the bin and removed the envelope. He slid out the card, smiled to himself, then glanced around before disappearing into the crowd of commuters.

  For the next half an hour, more people came and went, each finding their prize and hurrying off with a satisfied look on their face.

  When the last envelope was found, Lux slipped her phone back into her pocket. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘We’ll have to steal that idea,’ Charlie said.

  ‘You’re welcome to.’

  Jack agreed – he thought it was a fantastic thing to do and was thinking of other things, besides Metro cards, they could hide. They would try it out in London as soon as they had the chance. The number of places to stash envelopes was mind-boggling – literally millions – and he couldn’t wait to give it a go.

  ‘It’s awesome,’ Wren said as they walked back to the entrance. ‘What other ideas do you have?’

  ‘I have one,’ Drake said. ‘If no one minds?’

  ‘Go for it,’ Jack said. If it was anything like Lux’s gifting app, this should be a lot of fun.

  • • •

  Drake ‘acquired’ a new car – this one was a dark blue sedan – and drove them to a place called Jersey City, across the Hudson River.

  It was similar to New York, with tall buildings at its centre, only they were fewer and spaced further apart.

  Drake stopped at a graveyard at the edge of the city and looked at the clock on the dashboard. ‘Perfect timing.’

  ‘For what?’ Wren said, peering out of the window.

  Drake pointed at a man crossing the road in front of them. ‘Him.’

  The man wore an old brown suit with frayed cuffs. He also wore a Fedora and scuffed black shoes.

  ‘Who’s he?’ Obi said.

  They all continued to watch as the man limped through the entrance of the graveyard and up the path.

  ‘His name is Mr Percival,’ Drake said. ‘He comes here at this time every day. Every day for at least the last seventeen years.’

  ‘Seventeen years?’ Charlie said.

  ‘I grew up just there.’ Drake pointed down the road to a line of houses. ‘I’ve know Mr Percival all my life. He lives off a small war pension. He can’t afford much.’

  ‘What can we do for him?’ Jack said.

  ‘I’ve tried giving him money; he won’t accept it.’ Drake reached down by the seat and pulled out a bunch of flowers. ‘I bought these earlier. They’re for his wife’s grave.’ Drake handed them to Charlie. ‘Will you do it?’

  She stared at him a moment. ‘You want me to –’

  ‘Yeah.’ Drake nodded at Mr Percival as he continued up the path.

  Charlie took a breath, then opened the door and climbed out.

  Mr Percival stopped at a grave marked with a headstone in the shape of a cross, removed his hat and bowed his head.

  Charlie walked over to him, said something and handed Mr Percival the flowers.

  He hesitated, then took them from her, and Charlie spent a few minutes talking to him before finally returning to the car.

  As they drove away, Wren said, ‘What did you say to him?’

  Charlie glanced at her. ‘I asked him to take the flowers. Then I told him that there were people who’d always care about him and his wife.’

  • • •

  Back at Serene’s loft, Obi had a message for Jack.

  It was from the Shepherd.

  Jack scanned the email and his chest tightened as he read what mission the Shepherd wanted them to do.

  Finally he straightened up, hardly believing what he’d just read.

  ‘How are we going to do that?’ Obi said. ‘It’s impossible.’

  Jack closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘I have no idea.’

  Just when he’d thought things couldn’t get any worse.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Jack walked over to Charlie, Slink, Wren and Lux in the lounge area. ‘There’s another mission we’ve got to do. It’s for the Shepherd.’ He hesitated. ‘And I need everyone’s help with it.’

  Truth was, he needed a miracle.

  ‘What is it?’ Charlie said, noticing his glum expression.

  ‘The “what” isn’t a problem so much,’ Jack said. ‘It’s the “where” that’s an issue.’

  They all looked puzzled by this.

  ‘OK,’ Slink said. ‘So where is it?’

  ‘Los Angeles.’

  Slink laughed. ‘Right.’

  Obi joined the group and sat on one of the sofas.

  ‘No,’ Jack said. ‘I’m serious.’

  ‘This is the east coast, Jack,’ Lux said, incredulous. ‘LA is on the west coast.’

  ‘In case you haven’t noticed,’ Slink added, ‘this country is quite big.’

  ‘I know, but we don’t have a choice. If we can’t do this mission somehow, we won’t be able to go home.’

  This was greeted with stunned silence.

  Slink stood up. ‘Say that again.’

  Jack then proceeded to tell them all about the deal he’d made with the Shepherd. ‘We do this mission and he’ll let us fly home.’

  ‘Wait a minute.’ Slink’s face reddened. ‘You couldn’t have told us this before we left England?’

  ‘I didn’t think it would be a problem,’ Jack said. ‘I thought he’d want us to do something in New York. Something small. I wasn’t expecting –’

  ‘Oh, right.’ Slink glared at him. ‘Well, that’s OK then.’ His face twisted into anger. ‘Why didn’t you check with him first, Jack? You know I can’t risk getting stuck here. You know my mum –’

  Jack held up his hands. ‘I’m really, really sorry, Slink. I didn’t know this would happen. We won’t get stuck here. We’ll find a way to do the mission and get home. All right?’

  ‘No, Jack,’ Slink snapped. ‘Really not all right. Like, it’s so far from all right, you can hardly see it. The “all right” is a freakin speck in the distance.’ He stormed off, slamming into Jack’s shoulder as he went. ‘Idiot.’

  ‘Slink,’ Charlie called after him. ‘Please.’

  Slink spun back. ‘What? You’re gonna side with him, I suppose?’ He waved a finger at her. ‘You promised me too, Charlie. Remember?’

  ‘I know, Slink, I –’ She looked at Jack. ‘What do we do?’

  Jack shook his head and stared up at the ceiling.

  The fact of the matter was, Slink was right. If Jack had known what the Shepherd had planned, he wouldn’t have asked Slink to risk it by coming with them. They would’ve had to manage without him somehow.

  Jack squeezed his eyes closed.

  The Shepherd had really done them over with this one.


  The room was uncomfortably silent for a long while.

  Jack glanced at Slink skulking in the corner, but he wouldn’t make eye contact. He was leaning against a pillar, arms crossed, scowling at the floor.

  Lux stood up. ‘Let me see if I can get some help.’ She hurried off to Serene’s office.

  ‘What does the Shepherd want us to do?’ Wren said in a small voice, as though she was worried she’d set Slink off shouting again.

  Jack looked at her. ‘According to his email, we have to go to an address near Hollywood and steal a laptop. He’s sent a map like the one of RAF Hillgate, but that’s it. No further instructions.’

  ‘It’s OK,’ Lux said, returning to the group. ‘Drake is sorting it out. He can get us there.’

  Jack blinked. ‘What? How?’

  ‘He’s got a friend who’s a pilot. He’s good. Very good. Works for a private charter company.’

  Jack stared at her. ‘How old is this guy?’ He had visions of a sixteen-year-old wrestling with aeroplane controls while they plummeted to the earth at five hundred miles an hour. But he also had to admit he felt a huge amount of relief that someone might be able to help them, and he was grateful to Lux and Drake. ‘Thank you. I don’t know how –’

  ‘It’s fine,’ Lux said.

  Jack looked over at Slink and noticed his frown had softened slightly.

  Thank goodness, Jack thought. Because they were going to need him.

  ‘I’m calling Mum,’ Slink muttered, heading off to Serene’s office.

  ‘Right,’ Jack said to Lux. ‘I could really do with your help planning this mission. You in?’

  • • •

  Three hours later, Jack, Charlie, Slink, Wren and Lux were on the tarmac at MacArthur Airport on Long Island, just east of New York City.

  Obi had stayed back at the loft, keeping an eye out for Hector or for any movement at the Hindleton Building.

  The Outlaws expected to be gone less than twenty-four hours, but Obi had plenty of food supplies to keep him going.

  ‘Hey.’ Drake strode over to them and winked at Charlie and Wren. ‘How you doing?’

  They both beamed at him.

  Everyone shielded their eyes and squinted as a blue jumbo jet came in to land.

  ‘Is that it?’ Slink asked Drake, looking hopeful.

  ‘No.’ Drake pointed. ‘This is our ride.’

  A sleek private jet emerged from a hangar and taxied over to them.

  ‘We’re going on that?’ Wren said, open-mouthed.

  Drake nodded. ‘Yeah. Pretty cool, huh?’

  The jet stopped in front of them, and after a moment, the door opened and a set of steps unfurled.

  A man in a pilot’s uniform hurried down and came over to them. He nodded at Drake. ‘Howdy.’

  They shook hands.

  ‘Jon.’ Drake stepped back and gestured at the others. ‘These are friends of mine from England.’

  There was a flicker of confusion as Jon’s eyes moved over the Outlaws, but he quickly recovered. ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘Good to meet you all.’ He motioned to the jet. ‘Shall we?’

  Inside, five pairs of comfortable swivel chairs sat facing each other, each with small round tables between them.

  Jack didn’t want to think about how much it must be costing someone to get them to the other side of the country. It was money they could’ve spent on RAKing.

  Slink dropped his backpack to the floor, leapt into one of the seats and spun it around in circles. ‘This is freakin awesome. Beats some stupid crate where we have to stand still for, like, eight hours.’

  The others slipped off their backpacks and sat down too.

  ‘I’ve arranged for us to land at an airport outside Los Angeles,’ Jon said to Drake. ‘It’s a little way out, but I’ve taken care of security. You shouldn’t have any problems.’

  Drake smiled. ‘Thanks.’

  Jon walked to the cockpit door. ‘Oh,’ he turned back, ‘and I’ve organised a rental car for you. Gave them false details, so you can use that other licence you’ve got.’ He glanced at the Outlaws, then said in a hushed voice in Drake’s ear, ‘I didn’t want you to have to “find” a car when you got there.’ He cleared his throat and disappeared into the cockpit.

  ‘What’s the deal with him?’ Slink asked Drake.

  Drake sat down. ‘What do you mean?’

  Slink snorted and gestured around. ‘This must be costing a fortune. How come he’s doing it?’

  That was exactly what Jack wanted to know.

  ‘I saved his wife from a fire,’ Drake said.

  They all stared at him.

  After a moment’s stunned silence, Charlie said, ‘Really?’

  ‘Yeah. Really.’

  ‘I was there too,’ Lux said, ‘but I only caught the end of what happened.’

  The engines started up and the plane moved towards the runway.

  Wren leant forward in her seat and rested her chin on her hands. ‘Tell us what happened.’

  Drake kept his voice low. ‘Well, Lux and me were working on a job. Some dude had stolen data from a friend of ours.’ He glanced out of the window and back again. ‘He lived in Queens, another borough located to the east of Manhattan.’

  ‘We passed a sign for it on the way,’ Charlie said.

  ‘Yeah, I was supposed to be meeting Drake there, but I got delayed,’ Lux said. ‘We were running out of time, so –’

  ‘I had to break into the guy’s house myself,’ Drake continued. ‘It was easy – I recovered the data and destroyed his hard drives. I was just leaving when I noticed smoke coming from the place next door. It was pouring from the roof. I went to head off, but my conscience got the better of me and I turned back.’ He glanced between them. ‘There could have been kids in there.’

  ‘You went in?’ Wren said, her eyes wide.

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘There’s no way I would’ve gone back,’ Charlie said.

  No surprises there, Jack thought. Charlie’s biggest fear was being trapped in a fire.

  ‘What happened then?’ Wren’s voice was barely above a whisper.

  ‘Well,’ Drake said, ‘I went upstairs. When I opened the bedroom door, a wall of heat hit me.’ Drake rolled up his sleeves and revealed burn scars covering his lower arms.

  Wren gasped.

  Drake tugged at his sleeves, covering his arms again. He glanced at the cockpit door. ‘No kids, but I pulled a woman from the fire and somehow I managed to carry her out into the street.’

  Adrenalin, Jack thought. He’d been in dangerous situations and had found extra strength.

  ‘You were very brave,’ Charlie said.

  Drake waved her comment off like a fly. ‘I had to go in. I’d never have forgiven myself if I didn’t. I feel a bit bad though.’

  ‘For what?’ Slink said.

  He laughed. ‘This is the first time I’ve asked him for a favour.’

  ‘Well,’ Jack said, ‘we can’t thank you enough. Now we owe you big time.’ He glanced at Slink.

  The plane turned and stopped.

  ‘Safety belts,’ Lux said.

  They fastened their belts and the jet powered up the runway and into the sky.

  • • •

  It took five and a half hours to reach their destination in California. True to Jon’s word, an SUV was waiting in the airport car park.

  Drake then drove them into Los Angeles.

  As they drew near to the main city, Slink sang, ‘We’re the kids in America, whoa-oh,’ for the millionth time.

  ‘Slink!’ Charlie snapped.

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Can you not?’

  ‘What is that song?’ Wren said.

  Slink grinned. ‘A classic.’

  Wren frowned. ‘I’ve never heard it before.’

  ‘I hope we never do again,’ Jack muttered. He had to admit, Slink was getting on his nerves too, especially as he couldn’t even sing in tune. Though, thinking about it, it did beat Slink’s usual c
hoice of blasting everyone’s ears with dubstep. And, Jack had to admit, he still felt guilty about risking their return journey to England.

  Slink opened his mouth to start singing again, but Charlie shot him a look. ‘You sing that one more time and I’ll actually throw you out of the car.’

  Jack glanced at Lux. She seemed to be having trouble suppressing a laugh.

  Wren pressed her face against the glass as they drove past the Hollywood sign that was perched high in the hills to their right. ‘Amazing.’

  ‘It looks fake,’ Slink said, seeming unimpressed. ‘Like a toy town.’

  Lux glanced at him. ‘Tinseltown,’ she said. ‘And it’s a whole other world out there.’

  What time is it in London? Jack thought. Or in New York, for that matter?

  Travelling across time zones was a weird feeling – especially as they were still in the same country. Though, looking out of the window, Jack found that hard to believe. Lux was right – it was like another world.

  They were now driving down a busy street packed with shops and tourists.

  ‘I thought I’d come this way for you guys,’ Drake said.

  ‘Hollywood Boulevard,’ Lux said, answering the Outlaws’ puzzled expressions. ‘They call it the Walk of Fame.’ She pointed at a Chinese theatre. ‘This is where all the famous actors and actresses have their stars put into the sidewalk.’

  ‘Can we stop?’ Wren said, almost breathless with excitement. She turned to Jack. ‘Please?’

  ‘Can we can spare a few minutes?’ he asked Lux.

  She nodded.

  Wren squealed.

  Drake pulled to the kerb behind a tour bus and the others hopped out.

  ‘Be quick,’ he said. ‘There’s no parking.’

  Wren and Slink hurried through the crowd of tourists and when Jack, Charlie and Lux caught up with them, Wren was lying on the ground with her arms stretched out.

  Charlie laughed. ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘Marilyn Monroe.’ Wren had her hands pressed into the concrete where the movie star had made an impression.

  Above the handprints was Marilyn Monroe’s signature, drawn into the concrete. In the corner were the numbers 6.26.53.