‘No,’ Charlie said. ‘This is way more basic than that, but it’s still sophisticated.’
‘So’ – Jack frowned – ‘what’s it for then?’
‘Hector needed something specifically to hold the modified virus, the program he’s now using as a hacking tool, right?’ Charlie took a breath. ‘He needed something that could contain it. Bring it under his control. This’ – she tapped the display – ‘this is it. We destroy this, and Hector has nothing.’
• • •
Jack and Charlie spent the next thirty minutes trying to work out if the computer Hector had built had any weaknesses.
Charlie finally pointed at another part of the circuit diagram. ‘It has several lines out to the internet and a sophisticated firewall system. I’ve checked – there’s no way in without Hector knowing.’
‘And if that happens,’ Jack said, ‘he’ll know we’re in New York.’ Their only advantage – the element of surprise – would be gone. ‘We have to destroy the hardware and the program directly somehow,’ Jack continued.
‘That’s not going to be easy though,’ Charlie said. ‘We still have no idea where Hector is.’
Jack glanced over at the office. ‘We’re working on it.’
• • •
After they’d all eaten an interesting meal of corn dogs, mashed potato and pancakes, Lux called Jack into the office.
Stomach churning in protest, Jack pushed his plate away, rose from the dining table and went to see what she had.
She brought up an architectural drawing of the police headquarters.
‘That’s great.’ Jack was impressed by the level of detail – the plan had everything, all the way down to individual power conduits.
Lux smiled at him. ‘I can send it to the Think Desk if you want.’
Jack straightened up. ‘Thanks.’ He walked back to the gadget room and Charlie joined him.
She moved Hector’s computer diagram aside and pulled up the plan of the building.
Jack leant over the Think Desk and studied it. As the seconds passed, he felt an awful sense of failure.
‘What’s wrong?’ Charlie said, noticing his pained expression.
‘We have a problem. Obi?’ he called. ‘When you’re done eating, can you see if you can get into their security?’
‘I don’t think you’ll be able to,’ Lux said as she came into the gadget room.
‘What do you mean?’ Charlie said.
‘I looked – it’s on an isolated system.’
‘Where’s the control room?’ Jack said. ‘It’s not on this plan.’
‘Underneath the main building,’ Lux said. ‘There’s no other way in or out.’
‘OK.’ Jack focused on the plan of the building again. ‘We’ll go in via the roof.’
‘No good either,’ Lux said. ‘They have six cameras, each covering the other. No way I can see how to get past them.’
‘Six?’ Charlie said, incredulous. ‘They really mean business, don’t they?’
Jack turned from the desk.
All they wanted to do was take a quick look at Chief Whitaker’s emails. Why was that so hard?
Then he reminded himself – they were dealing with a high-ranking police official.
Obi, Slink, Wren and Drake walked into the room.
‘What’s up, buttercups?’ Slink said, looking around at the depressed faces.
Lux forced a smile at him.
‘We’re trying to work out how to break in to the police building,’ Charlie said.
‘I’ve already done it,’ Slink said. ‘I can just do it again. It was easy.’
Jack shook his head. ‘It won’t be this time. They would’ve seen my attack on their systems and stepped up the building’s security.’
‘They’ll be on alert,’ Lux said. ‘They’ll think it’s terrorists.’
Jack nodded. Another stupid mistake he’d made. He was starting to make a habit of them.
‘Cheer up, Jack.’ Slink leant against the glass wall. ‘You’ll work out a way. You always do.’
Slink was right – instead of moping about past mistakes, Jack needed to learn from them and move forward. They were so close to Hector. Just a few more clues and they’d have him.
He turned back to the plan. There had to be a way inside without being shot by the police SWAT teams.
He closed his eyes and remembered the office next door to Chief Whitaker’s: there were no cameras or sensors inside, just in the main hallway, which meant –
Now, eyes wide open, Jack zoomed the plan in on the window to that same office. ‘The only way is going to be through this.’
‘The window doesn’t open,’ Lux said. ‘It’s solid, reinforced glass. Triple-layered. It would take forever to cut through it. No way you could do that.’
‘There might be one way.’ Charlie was staring across the room.
Jack followed her gaze to the back wall where the crate was sitting.
Charlie nodded at it. ‘We could use that.’
‘Wait a minute,’ Jack said, realising what Charlie was getting at. ‘You can use that from another street, right?’
‘Yes.’
‘In that case,’ Jack turned back to the Think Desk, ‘we have the beginnings of a crazy plan.’
‘Cool beans.’ Slink slapped his hands together. ‘I love me some crazy.’
CHAPTER TEN
At sunset, Jack and Lux were sitting on the roof of a building two blocks down from One Police Plaza . . . and Jack hated it. Being twenty floors up, perched on the edge of a building was his idea of a complete nightmare. But, right at that moment, it was marginally less scary than what would happen if they let Hector continue with his plans.
Jack had a telescope on a small tripod in front of him and through it he had a clear view of the surrounding area.
After making sure no one had spotted them, he pressed a finger to his ear. ‘Obi, how are we doing?’
‘I’m patched in to all the surrounding traffic and CCTV cameras in the area. So far it’s quiet.’
‘OK.’ Jack took a deep breath. One false move and they’d have the entire New York’s Police Department after them. ‘Let’s do this.’
‘Moving into position,’ Charlie said.
Jack swung the telescope around and watched as Serene’s laundry van turned into a road a few streets away and parked at the kerb. Drake had removed the labels so it was now just a plain white van.
Drake and Charlie hopped out.
They were both wearing overalls and hard hats. Drake quickly set up an orange tent next to the van, while Charlie opened a side door, grabbed a coil of thick cable and unrolled it.
Drake took one end of the cable into the tent and re-emerged a few minutes later.
‘Ready when you are, Jack,’ Charlie said, as they clambered back into the van.
Jack moved the telescope so he was watching a tower block across the road from Drake and Charlie. There was nothing remarkable about it – just a rectangular column of concrete and glass.
No, the problem was at the base.
There was a small convenience store and, through the window, Jack could make out the shopkeeper sitting behind the counter.
As soon as Drake and Charlie opened the rear doors of the van, he’d see what they were doing and call the police.
Jack had spent a long time trying to work out alternative locations for the laundry van, but had come up empty. This was the only place they could use – the safest distance away, out of view of the police.
Considering this was one of the busiest cities in the world – that had been no mean feat.
This was also where Wren had come up with a brilliant idea.
‘You’re up, Wren,’ Jack whispered.
She appeared from around the corner and hurried towards the shop.
‘Jack,’ Lux whispered, ‘are you sure she can do this on her own?’
He smiled. ‘Just watch this.’
Jack had learned quite a while ago t
hat Wren’s cute appearance was deceptive.
Wren entered the shop and walked along one of the aisles. She picked up a packet of biscuits, glanced around, then made a big show of shoving them under her hoodie.
The shopkeeper stood, his eyes fixed on her.
Wren moved to another shelf, grabbed a giant bag of sweets and stuffed them under her hoodie too.
She then made a beeline for the door.
The shopkeeper stepped in front of her. ‘Not so fast, kid.’
Wren went to step around the guy, but he grabbed her shoulders.
‘Get off.’ As Wren struggled, the packet of biscuits fell to the floor, followed by the sweets.
The shopkeeper snarled. ‘Got you.’
Suddenly Wren twisted around, there was a clicking sound, and the man staggered back in surprise.
A set of handcuffs now secured his wrists together behind him.
Not wasting a second, Wren dropped to the floor, there was another clicking sound and she straightened up again.
The shopkeeper went to take a step back, but a pair of metal cuffs now bound his ankles too.
Wren lunged forward, knocking him off-balance, and he crashed to the floor.
With another swift movement, she pressed a piece of tape over the guy’s mouth.
She stepped back and winced. ‘Sorry. I won’t hurt you. It’s life or death,’ she assured him.
She then glanced out of the shop window, locked the door and turned out the lights. ‘Done.’
Jack glanced over at Lux – she looked stunned by what had just happened.
‘Brilliant, Wren,’ Jack said into the mic.
‘Thanks.’
Jack turned his attention back to their target building – One Police Plaza.
‘How you doing, Slink?’
‘All gravy.’
‘There.’ Lux pointed.
Slink’s silhouette ran along the roof of a low adjoining building and leapt up on to another. Once on the far side, he stopped.
Jack and Lux scanned the area – no one had noticed him.
In front of Slink, the police building jutted out, supported by rectangular concrete columns that hung above his head. He’d have to jump across to them.
Jack pulled out a laptop and an image popped up on the screen. Jack and Lux could now see the world from Slink’s point of view.
Slink slipped off his jacket and chucked it on to the roof behind him. He was wearing the military exoskeleton from Serene’s gadget room. Charlie had modified it for the task, shortening it and improving the hand grippers.
‘Wish me luck,’ Slink whispered.
He took a few steps back, crouched down, then ran forward and launched himself off the edge of the roof. He sailed across the gap, gripped the sides of a concrete column and hauled himself up.
‘Nice one,’ Jack said.
When Slink reached the top, he grabbed either side of the first window and continued upward like a mechanical beetle.
Slink was soon halfway up the building’s facade and still climbing at a fast rate.
Jack and Lux gave the area another scan.
The entrance to One Police Plaza was on the other face of the building – cops came and went, but none of them could see Slink from their viewpoint.
Jack moved the telescope back to the foyer of the building opposite Drake and Charlie.
The window was still dark and he could just make out Wren standing by the door.
‘Two more floors,’ Slink said.
Jack swung the telescope back to the police headquarters and watched as Slink climbed the last few metres and stopped at the target window.
He reached down to his feet and locked them on – keeping him gripped to the window. Then, with his hands now free, Slink unclipped a cylinder from his hip.
He tugged out a suction cup attached to one end and stuck it to the middle of the window. Once it was secure, Slink pulled a set of diamond cutters mounted on arms from the other end of the cylinder.
It had only taken Charlie an hour or so to make the device, and Jack couldn’t help but be impressed by its simple yet clever design. ‘All right, Slink, get clear of it.’
Now for the real tricky part – they needed power. A lot of power.
Slink reached down, re-engaged his exoskeleton legs, then shimmied sideways like a crab.
When Slink was several windows to the left, Jack moved the telescope to the laundry van. ‘OK, Charlie. This is your bit.’
The rear van doors opened, revealing the Stinger mounted in the back. Jack could make out the thick wire that snaked through the side door and over to the tent on the pavement next to it.
Charlie and Drake had set up the tent, opened up a manhole cover and connected the Stinger to the main power supply beneath the street.
They now had all the juice they needed.
‘Everyone, brace yourselves,’ Charlie said, gripping the sides of the Stinger and aiming it between the buildings. ‘Three, two, one . . .’
A pair of harpoons shot through the air and hit the brickwork next to the window.
Slink shimmied over to it, connected the two wires to the cylinder, and got back out of the way. ‘Do it.’
Charlie hit a button on the side of the Stinger.
There was a faint crackling sound and the diamond cutters started to spin.
Jack could just make out a faint wisp of smoke as the diamonds cut the glass. ‘It’s working.’ His grip tightened on the telescope.
Thirty seconds later, more smoke wafted into the air.
‘Slink?’ Jack said.
‘Just a little further.’
Another twenty seconds passed before Slink finally said, ‘I think that’s it.’
Jack could see the arms of the cutters were glowing red hot.
Charlie cut the power. ‘Safe.’
Slink moved back to the window and severed both the wires.
Charlie spooled them back into the Stinger and she pulled the doors of the van closed.
Jack let out a breath. ‘Well?’ he said, refocusing on Slink. ‘Is it definitely through?’
Careful not to burn himself, Slink removed the cylinder and reattached it to another part of the window, out of the way. Then he reached up and pressed the centre of the glass.
Nothing happened.
Slink braced his feet and tried again. ‘It’s moving . . .’
After a few more seconds, there was a heavy thunk as it fell inside.
‘Yes,’ Slink said.
Jack punched the air. He couldn’t believe it – their plan was working.
Slink gripped the hole and pulled himself into the office.
Jack looked at Slink’s camera view on the laptop. ‘Next door – the computer.’
Slink opened the connecting door and hurried into the Chief’s office. He stepped over to the desk and disconnected the computer’s keyboard, mouse and display. Then he pulled out a small black box from his pocket and connected it to the USB port.
Jack unfolded a laptop in front of him. Charlie had fixed another black box with an antenna on to it.
He clicked an icon on the desktop and a window sprang up.
He was now linked wirelessly to Chief Whitaker’s computer. A password box appeared.
‘I’m in.’
‘Err, Jack?’
Jack glanced at Lux. ‘What?’
She pointed.
There was thick smoke coming from the office next door to Slink. ‘What the –?’ He grabbed the telescope and saw that, much to his horror, smoke was now filling the room.
Before Jack had time to react, an alarm sounded.
For a few seconds his mind refused to function and he just stared helplessly.
There were no cameras or sensors in the offices, but there were smoke detectors – something he hadn’t expected to cause them any problems.
The alarm pierced the night.
Suddenly sprinklers turned on in the ceiling, dousing the rooms in water.
‘Wh
at’s going on?’ Slink rushed back to the connecting door. ‘No way – the glass has set fire to the carpet.’
Jack’s mind raced – the people who worked in the building wouldn’t go to investigate the fire – that was the fire brigade’s job. No, they would have to evacuate and wait for them to arrive.
As if on cue, fire engine sirens blared in the distance.
‘We have to be quick.’ Jack executed his program and in less than ten seconds it had cracked into the system.
There wasn’t time to check the main computer’s documents, so he went straight for Chief Whitaker’s emails again.
His eyes scanned through the list until he found the one from CACloud90046.
‘Well?’ Lux said.
‘Cloud,’ he muttered. He opened it and read the short message:
Island agreed. Notify when secured.
Jack went to the Sent folder and found a message sent from the Chief ten minutes later.
The heading was ‘FBI Training’.
Lux frowned at the screen. ‘FBI Training?’
Jack opened the email and, as he read, confusion gave way to relief. This was it – this was what they’d come for.
The sirens grew louder.
Jack quickly grabbed a screenshot of the message, then scanned the rest of the emails. Seeing no others from Cloud, he pressed his eye back to the telescope. The fire had engulfed half the office. Slink still had a path clear to the window, but he had to be quick.
‘Get out of there, Slink.’
Slink stepped to the window and reached for the hole, but his hand jerked.
He tried again but his whole arm shook and the gripper was randomly opening and closing.
‘What are you doing?’ Lux said. ‘Hurry up.’
‘I can’t,’ Slink said, breathless. ‘This suit thing’s gone nuts. I can’t . . . control it.’
Jack heard a sharp intake of breath before Charlie said, ‘It’s my fault.’
‘What do you mean?’ Jack said, glancing between the buildings to his left as a fire engine came into view, its lights flashing.
‘When I modified the exoskeleton,’ Charlie continued, ‘I didn’t have time to seal all the wires. Water must be getting in.’
‘Really great, Charlie.’ Slink staggered back and almost fell over as he wrestled with the contraption.
Lockdown Page 12
