Lockdown

by Peter Jay Black

  ‘Get him,’ Hector shouted.

  There was a scuffling sound and a crash.

  ‘Missed me!’ Slink laughed. ‘Whoops, and again.’

  Jack stood and took five steps forward, until he found the corner of the room and his backpack.

  He knelt down, unzipped the bag, pulled out a pair of night-glasses and slipped them on.

  He stood, still holding the backpack, and turned around.

  From his viewpoint, the room was now bathed in a green glow.

  Hector and Cloud were shuffling around, their arms outstretched.

  ‘Stay by the door,’ Hector warned her. He found his desk, reached under it, pulled out a knife and started waving it about. ‘Jack?’

  As quietly as he could, Jack hurried to the custom computer and slid out a metal cylinder from his bag.

  Following Charlie’s earlier instructions, Jack wedged the cylinder between two of the computer’s circuit boards, near a network hub.

  Next he took the network cable out of his bag, plugged it into the black cube Charlie had also given him, then connected the other end to the computer.

  He made sure the connection was secure and stepped back.

  Obi would now be hacking into it, finding the evidence they needed to reverse all the damage Hector had done.

  Jack spun around and looked at the AR Glasses on the desk.

  Hector was still waving the knife around, blindly slashing the air. ‘Jack, I’m going to kill you.’

  Keeping his back to the wall, Jack edged towards the desk but accidentally kicked a chair.

  Hector wheeled round and lunged for him.

  Jack spun to his left and ducked.

  The knife missed him by a few centimetres and hit the glass wall above his head. Hector’s arm buckled and he roared with a mixture of what sounded like pain and anger.

  Jack sprang to his feet and ran forward. He made it to the desk and scooped up the AR Glasses. Then he grabbed hold of Slink and guided him to the door.

  Cloud moved in front of them, her arms outstretched.

  Jack pulled Slink behind him, letting Slink know that Cloud was there, then glanced around.

  Hector was walking slowly towards them, swinging the knife back and forth, slashing the air and closing the gap.

  Jack grabbed another chair, picked it up and slung it to his right. As it clattered off the glass wall, Cloud’s head snapped in that direction and she went after it.

  Jack pulled Slink to the door and they slipped through.

  As they made their way across the room, carefully picking their way past debris, Jack glanced back – Hector and Cloud were still blundering about and had no idea Jack and Slink had made it out.

  Jack stopped, pulled a key fob from his pocket and held it up.

  He hoped Obi had managed to get the evidence they needed from Hector’s computer.

  Jack pressed the button and there was a huge snapping sound as sparks flew and thousands of volts of electricity tore through circuits.

  Hector fell back, covering his eyes with his arm. ‘No!’ he screamed, but it was too late – Charlie’s device had done its job – the computer was destroyed.

  Hector roared and spun on the spot, looking like an enraged animal. ‘I’m going to kill all of you.’

  Smiling to himself, Jack guided Slink into the corridor.

  But it wasn’t over.

  A gunshot rang out outside.

  Jack and Slink hurried through a side door, out into the open air, and looked around.

  Jack yanked the night-glasses off, slipped them into his bag and put on the AR Glasses in their place.

  The green arrow appeared, showing him the path to follow.

  ‘Charlie?’

  ‘I’m almost at the rendezvous point,’ she said. ‘I was getting worried about you.’

  ‘Never mind that,’ Jack said. ‘What about that gunshot?’

  ‘I don’t know. It must have been aimed at one of the others.’

  Jack thought of Obi, Wren, Drake and Lux and knew that Connor wouldn’t hesitate to kill any of them.

  Slink looked at him. ‘What do we do?’

  ‘Stick to the plan,’ Jack said. ‘We’ll go to the rendezvous point and meet up with Charlie and the rest.’ Hopefully they’d all make it there in one piece, he thought.

  Jack and Slink jogged right, following the green arrow between two crumbling outhouses.

  With the cameras and security down, getting out would be a lot easier than it was to get in.

  Jack and Slink hurried through the trees, making their way past a building that looked like a small church, and finally came to a clearing.

  Jack was relieved to see several hooded figures waiting for them. But as he approached, his relief gave way to concern.

  ‘Where’s Obi?’ he said. ‘He’s supposed to be back here by now.’

  Drake shrugged and Lux shook her head.

  Jack spoke into his microphone. ‘Obi?’

  There was no answer.

  ‘We can’t leave without him,’ Wren said.

  She turned to the path, but Jack spun on his heels – ‘I’ll go’ – and darted through the trees.

  As he headed back around the main building, he spotted the beams of torches – one outside and one going into the building.

  Jack squinted – Connor was going inside. That meant Monday was his only threat.

  Good.

  His size might slow him down if it came to a chase. Although Obi wasn’t exactly Usain Bolt.

  Jack jogged to the left, away from Monday, and headed to where Obi had patched into Hector’s cameras.

  Obi wasn’t there. The cable he’d used to hack into the security swung below one of the cameras, but there was no laptop.

  Jack turned slowly on the spot, his eyes searching. ‘Obi?’ he whispered.

  Still no answer.

  A torch beam swept past Jack, he dropped to his knees and watched as Monday walked through a clearing, scanning the trees and bushes.

  Jack bit his lip. Where was Obi? Was he on the way back to the boat? Had he gone another way?

  Monday kept going and soon vanished. At least if he was still searching, that meant they hadn’t found Obi yet either.

  Jack carried on around the main building.

  There was a sudden roar. It sounded like Hector.

  More lights appeared and several figures emerged from the building.

  ‘Jack?’ Hector screamed into the night.

  Jack kept moving, away from Hector.

  ‘Have you found Obi?’ came Charlie’s voice in his earpiece.

  ‘No,’ Jack breathed.

  ‘What’s he playing at?’

  ‘Are you at the boat?’ Jack whispered.

  ‘Yeah. We’re ready to go.’

  Jack glanced back to see the figures had split up and were moving through the trees behind him. He picked up his pace, trying to put as much distance as he could between himself and Hector and his cronies.

  At the building that looked like a church he stopped.

  Was Obi in there? This was ridiculous.

  Jack tried his headset again. ‘Obi?’

  ‘Jack?’ Obi said in a whisper.

  Jack let out a breath. Thank God, he was all right. ‘Where are you?’

  ‘In the glass room.’

  ‘What?’ Jack turned back towards the main building, keeping an eye out for Hector and his henchmen. ‘Why? What are you doing?’

  ‘No time to explain,’ came Obi’s faint reply. ‘Just give me two minutes and get me out of here.’

  As Jack approached the side door to the main building, there was no one around, so he ran inside, along the hallway and into the room with the glass hexagon.

  There was a light on inside the structure.

  As Jack approached, he saw Obi slip something into his bag and stand up.

  Jack opened the door. ‘What do you think you’re –’

  Obi put a finger to his lips and pointed to the doorway
.

  Several torch beams could be seen shining outside.

  Jack spun back to Obi. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

  The two of them raced across the room and back into the hallway.

  ‘They’re here somewhere,’ they heard Hector snap. ‘If you see them, you shoot, understand? I’ll give you one hundred thousand for each body.’

  ‘My pleasure,’ Connor said.

  Jack grabbed Obi’s arm and pulled him up the stairs to the first floor.

  They picked their way carefully along the corridor, heading for the window.

  Obi let out a cry and Jack spun back in time to see Obi drop, his legs disappearing through the floor.

  Jack lunged for him, but it was too late – Obi crashed through the ceiling below.

  Jack crawled forward and peered down at him.

  ‘Are you OK?’ he whispered.

  Obi groaned and sat up. ‘I think so.’ He struggled to his feet and dusted himself off. He was in a side room next to the main one.

  Heavy footfalls sounded on the stairs, and the beams of torches bounced off the ceiling and walls.

  ‘Go!’ Jack shouted at Obi, pointing to a door.

  Obi ran.

  Jack stood and backed down the corridor as Connor, Monday and Hector came into sight.

  Monday went to take a step forward, but Connor held him back and pointed at the hole in the floor. ‘Careful.’ He raised his gun at Jack. ‘Come here.’

  Jack continued to back away from them.

  ‘I told you I wanted him dead,’ Hector snapped. ‘Just kill him.’

  Jack turned and ran as fast as he could.

  A shot rang out just as he launched himself through the window out into the open air.

  Jack hit the ground, landing badly, and a sharp pain shot up his right leg. He crumpled, groaning.

  Connor leant out of the window and fired again.

  The bullet grazed Jack’s arm.

  He screamed out and scrambled back into the cover of the trees.

  Another shot pierced the night, but this one thudded into a tree above Jack’s head.

  Jack dragged himself to his feet and the sharp pain tore up his leg again. He winced, clutched his arm and hobbled towards the beach.

  It seemed to take for ever to reach the pontoon, but finally Jack spotted the boat and collapsed on the ground.

  ‘Jack!’

  Charlie and Slink ran over to him.

  As they half dragged him to his feet, Jack said, ‘Obi?’

  ‘We’ve got him,’ Charlie said, pointing at the boat.

  Sure enough, Obi was sitting in one of the seats.

  Shouts and torchlight came from behind them.

  Charlie and Slink took an arm each and helped Jack into the boat.

  Another gunshot rang out and a bullet thudded into the hull.

  ‘Go,’ Jack shouted.

  Drake threw the boat into reverse, backed away from the island, then spun it around.

  Several more shots hit the water around them.

  ‘Hold on tight.’ Drake rammed the throttle forward and the bow rose into the air.

  As they sped away from the island, Jack glanced back.

  Connor was waving his arms around, gesturing frantically at Monday.

  Hector stood behind them, and his cold eyes followed Jack as the boat headed away in the sun’s early rays.

  After a few minutes, Jack allowed himself to relax. He hobbled to the stern of the boat and sat down with a heavy sigh. His leg hurt like mad. Mind you, so did his arm.

  ‘Jack,’ Charlie said, noticing the tear in his jacket and hoodie, ‘did you get shot?’

  ‘A little bit, yeah.’

  ‘That’s cool,’ Slink said.

  ‘It is not cool.’ Charlie examined the wound.

  ‘Chill,’ Jack said. ‘It’s a scratch.’

  Slink dropped to the bench next to him and looked from Jack to Charlie. ‘So, I get how you fried Hector’s computer with that thing you made, but how did you cut the power in the first place?’

  ‘That was all Charlie’s idea,’ Jack said.

  Using a knife, she had torn off a strip of Jack’s shirt and was tying it around his arm. ‘You know those cylinders Hector had next to the computer?’ she said to Slink.

  He nodded. ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Well,’ Charlie said, ‘Hector was feeding the computer with wireless power.’

  ‘Wireless?’ Slink said, looking dubious. ‘Is that even possible?’

  ‘Of course,’ Charlie said. ‘One day everything will be powered wirelessly.’

  ‘That’s amazing,’ Wren said.

  ‘Anyway,’ Charlie continued, ‘the generator was in the room behind the computer. Jack lowered me down into it, and then when he said the signal word – “origami” – I unrolled a sheet of wire mesh, blocking the power signal like a Faraday cage.’

  Slink stared at her. ‘Right . . .’

  Jack glanced over at Obi. He was clutching his bag to his chest.

  He looked at Jack. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘What were you doing?’

  ‘You didn’t give me enough time to copy the data Hector had gathered. I had to go in there and get his hard drive.’

  ‘But you fried it,’ Lux said to Charlie. ‘Didn’t you?’

  ‘Yep,’ Charlie said, looking at Obi. ‘The data will be corrupted.’

  Obi threw his bag down. ‘Brilliant.’

  ‘Next time,’ Jack said, leaning back and wincing with the pain in his arm and leg, ‘can you tell us what you’re about to do?’

  Obi hung his head. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘So,’ Lux said. ‘That’s it? It’s over?’

  Jack nodded. ‘Yeah, it’s over.’

  Slink let out a yell that made everyone jump.

  ‘Come on, guys!’ he said. ‘We won. We finally beat Hector. No more stupid virus. No more supercomputers. It’s over. We’re done. We can go home.’

  Everyone glanced at each other a moment, then simultaneously whooped into the faint dawn light.

  • • •

  Jack sat at the dining table in Serene’s loft with the laptop from the Hollywood studio open in front of him. He stared at the blinking cursor in the password box.

  ‘Are you going to hack into it?’ Lux said.

  He nodded.

  ‘Then why are you hesitating?’

  ‘I’m not sure I want to know what’s on it.’

  ‘Why not?’

  Jack’s eyes remained locked on the cursor. ‘I’ve just got a feeling it might be –’

  ‘Hey, all.’

  Everyone looked up as Serene walked into the room.

  ‘How was your trip?’ Lux asked.

  ‘Successful.’ Serene dropped her bag on to the dining room table and looked at Jack. ‘How’s your mission going? Found your friend and sorted him out?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Jack smiled. ‘We got him.’

  Serene sighed. ‘Thank heavens for that.’

  Obi and Charlie came in from the gadget room.

  ‘We got it,’ Obi said.

  Jack looked up at them. ‘Got what?’

  ‘We recovered the data off Hector’s hard drive. It wasn’t quite that fried. We can prove everyone he set up was innocent. Well, kinda innocent.’

  ‘Great,’ Jack said. ‘Good work, guys.’

  Serene looked between them all with a bemused expression. ‘Care to explain what happened while I was gone?’

  • • •

  The next day, after plenty of sleep, Jack, Charlie, Obi, Slink, Wren, Drake, Lux and Serene went back to the warehouse outside New York.

  Much to Jack’s relief, the Shepherd had kept his word – the container was there with its ramp down, waiting for them.

  Everyone said their goodbyes and Serene gave them all hugs.

  ‘You remember to stay in touch.’

  Wren smiled. ‘We will.’

  ‘When are you next coming over to England?’ Slink asked.

  ‘I’m
not sure. Hopefully in the next month or two.’ She looked at Jack and gestured to the laptop in his hands. ‘Let me know how you get on with that Shepherd guy.’

  Jack nodded and looked at Lux and Drake. ‘If you ever come over, you’re welcome to visit.’

  Drake chuckled. ‘Don’t you live underground somewhere?’

  ‘Yep.’

  Lux smiled. ‘I’ll find you.’

  Jack smiled back at her. ‘I’m sure you will.’

  Serene looked at the time on her phone. ‘You have to go.’

  Wren gave Serene, Lux and Drake another quick hug and the five Outlaws hurried up the ramp and into the container.

  As Jack closed the door behind them, Obi said, ‘Are we going to get knocked out again?’

  ‘Hopefully you will,’ Slink said. ‘I’m not sure I can take eight hours of you telling us how great Lux is.’

  Obi swung for him, but Slink jumped clear and laughed.

  As they all strapped themselves into their upright beds, Jack thought of Hector. Was it really over? Would he give up on whole world domination?

  Somehow, Jack doubted it.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  By the time the Outlaws got back to London, Jack wanted nothing more than to go straight to bed and sleep for a few days, but they had a couple of things to do first.

  The five of them were on a tube train as it travelled between stations.

  Slink got to his feet.

  ‘Where are you going?’ Jack said.

  ‘I’m getting off at the next stop, I need to go and see Mum.’

  ‘We’ve got a little mission to do first,’ Charlie said.

  ‘I’ll catch up later,’ Slink said. ‘I haven’t spoken to her since we left Serene’s.’

  ‘She’s fine.’ Charlie gestured to the seat next to her. ‘Please sit down. Noble has taken good care of her.’

  Slink remained standing. ‘How do you know that?’

  ‘Come on, Slink,’ Jack said. ‘Just give us an hour, OK? It’s important.’

  The train stopped at the next station and the doors opened. Slink hesitated a moment, then sat back down next to Charlie. ‘Fine. Sixty minutes, but that’s all.’

  • • •

  Twenty minutes later, the Urban Outlaws entered a fully furnished apartment on the twentieth floor of a silver skyscraper in Greenwich.

  Wren gasped and ran over to the huge windows in the main lounge. ‘Look at this.’

  The apartment had a view over the River Thames.