Chimera Code (Jake Dillon Adventure Thriller Series)

by Andrew Towning

  It was Dillon who spotted her.

  “Look. Over there to the left, that track running parallel to the road.” Dillon said, pointing.

  The young woman squatted down behind the remnants of a low stone wall when she spotted the quad bike. But by then it was too late

  - Dillon’s sharp eyes had spotted her.

  They came to a halt and climbed off the quad.

  Dillon moved off of the road and up the track, stopping just short of the dilapidated low wall. “Stand-up and show yourself!” He called.

  Nothing moved...

  Dillon pointed the gun at the pile of rocks. “Either you come out and show yourself or, I’ll come make sure you endure a slow and painful death. You have to the count of three. One, two, three...”

  The woman stood up slowly, hands held high in the air. She wore tight fitting stone-washed denim jeans and a brown leather sheep-skin flying jacket, and carried a small rucksack. Dillon gestured with the Glock. Out onto the road, where I can see you clearly.”

  Dillon moved closer, checking to see if she was alone. The woman was strikingly beautiful, her eyes bright. She looked frightened, terrified even. “Please don’t shoot me, please,” she said as Dillon came closer.

  He stopped a few feet away, looking her up and down.

  “What the hell are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?”

  “It’s a long story,” she said, smiling weakly. Slowly she lowered her arms, but Dillon waved them up again. He stepped in close and checked her for weapons, a cold sweat beading on his forehead as he fought with his inner turmoil of pain.

  He stepped back. “What’s in the bag?”

  “Nothing much. Just a few personal items.”

  Show me.”

  Claudia Dax opened the rucksack; she slowly pulled out the few personal items from inside and then showed Dillon the inside which was now empty.

  “What about the side pocket?”

  Claudia unfastened the Velcro flap. Slowly she withdrew a small silver disk and instantly Dillon aimed the 9mm Glock at her head and her eyes widened, like a deer caught in headlights. Tears started to roll down over her high cheekbones.

  “What is it?” Dillon asked.

  “That’s a relief. You’re obviously not from the facility?”

  Dillon raised his eyes, and smiled grimly. “Well, we did have a brief acquaintance with a man called Kirill.”

  Claudia looked into Dillon’s eyes at the mention of the name.

  “Where is he now?”

  “Very dead. Are you going to answer my question?”

  “It’s the entire blueprint of the Chimera virus programme. So you’ve not been sent to kill me?”

  “I don’t even know who you are, luv. Come on, walk over to the quad bike; you look like you’re suffering from the cold.”

  Claudia walked, with Dillon a few paces behind her, checking warily all around. When she reached the quad Tatiana smiled, and Claudia was allowed to lower her hands.

  “And who do we have here, Dillon?”

  “Haven’t got a clue, Tats.” Dillon took a long swig of water from the metal canteen.

  “But, she has got the blueprints for the Chimera virus programme,” said Dillon.

  Tatiana’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

  “Very serious.” Turning to Claudia, he said, “I’m assuming that you worked for Kirill?”

  Claudia nodded. “Kirill had the majority of his staff murdered by those freaky Assassins. I hid in the air-conditioning shafts, and as all hell let loose, I’m assuming that was you and your friends? I managed to escape off the mountain in the basket and then steal a trials bike from outside of the guard-room. But before I left, I made a master copy of Chimera. So you’re really not here to kill me?”

  “If I was going to kill you,” said Dillon softly, “we wouldn’t be talking now. Come on, jump up on the quad. I assume you need a ride out of here?”

  Claudia nodded, and climbed up behind Tatiana, squeezing onto the tail-end of the saddle, just above the two stealth pipes.

  Dillon fired up the engine.

  “Where are you heading? Or alternatively, you can have this quad in about three hours...”

  “I’ll go wherever you’re going. I just need to get as far away from this place as possible,” Claudia said wearily.

  “Well, we’ll see what we can do,” said Tatiana, smiling warmly.

  * * * After a couple of hours they stopped for a break, and a little respite from the rain that was falling heavily again. They stood at the base of the cliff face under a craggy overhang that jutted out like a witch’s brow. Dillon looked up, allowing a cold trickle of water to run down over his face.

  “We’ll be with Vince in about an hour and a half.’’ “Text him. Let him know we’re on our way, and to get some hot food on the go - I’m absolutely starving.” Tatiana said softly.

  Claudia Dax had wandered off a little way, stretching her legs. Her clothes were stained, and her leather jacket had a long tear in one of the arms, she looked in a sorrowful state, as they all did. Dillon caught her attention and she moved over to him, accepting his canteen with a radiant smile of thanks.

  How is it you know about the Chimera Programme? It’s a top secret project,” she said, lips glistening with water.

  Dillon shrugged. “It’s a very long story, luv, and believe me, we don’t really want to burden you with our problems. Kirill was the man with the answers and now he’s dead. Very dead.”

  “So the explosives detonated?”

  “Yes,” said Dillon, smiling a nasty malevolent smile. “Tell me; is this Chimera Programme really as powerful as they say?”

  “Chimera? Oh yes. It works all right. And because it is completely self-learning, there is no limit to what it can do. As a virus it is lethal. As a programme that can; seek - search - retrieve, it is capable of stealing; not only documents and files, but the entire contents of even the largest network. State-of-the-art security software doesn’t even know that Chimera has entered the system.

  Kirill’s words came back to Dillon.

  “This programme is so powerful; it will bring governments and global companies to their knees in a matter of seconds. It will throw up information about anyone or anything that could jeopardise its very existence. Chimera was able to enter the Government’s most secure Ministry of Defence server, and extract information relating to certain elements of the Scorpion network. It then advised that the Special Operation Units should be eliminated to safeguard the project in the future. You see, these were considered the most dangerous. Along with yourself, Mr Dillon.”

  Dillon was starting to get a crystal-clear picture of conspiracy: Kirill and this other man Ramus were in league and planning a global cyber-terrorist attack on a scale never seen before. The Assassins were obviously the private army of Ramus and had eliminated the Scorpion squads and had very nearly succeeded in killing him. They had tried to take out Ezra and had destroyed his facility on Santorini, because they wanted the final piece of code that would allow Chimera to run at one-hundred percent and not be copied as an anti-virus. These were cold blooded killers who would stop at nothing to safeguard their objective. The ultimate control of every military satellite orbiting the planet in their quest for global power…

  But what next? Where would they go next?

  What would be their next move?

  Bastards, he thought sourly.

  “What do you know about the Assassins,” he asked quietly, rubbing his tired eyes.

  “The Assassins? You mean those people in the black skin-tight lycra?”

  Dillon focused on Claudia. “When did you first notice them?”

  She shook her head, “They arrived about a month ago. It was the Assassins who killed most of Kirill’s research and development staff.”

  “Really…” Dillon scratched at his heavy stubble; it was making his neck and face itch bad and he needed a bath... Ye Gods, for even the most basic toilet! And a bath! And a cold b
eer! Or a glass of Champagne or two...

  “My God,” Tatiana said excitedly, rummaging in her pocket and pacing around. She pulled free her Ferran & Cardini smartphone.

  They all turned to stare at the slender black device.

  “Hell Tats. Did it bite you or something?” Dillon snapped. “You made me jump, and I almost choked on my water!”

  “It’s vibrating,” said Tatiana.

  “So what, it’s most likely the partners checking up on you!”

  “Dillon, as you know, it’s not just a smartphone but also a secure line receiver and it’s receiving now.”

  “Shit,” agreed Dillon. He peered warily into the distance, and checked overhead in the skies. “So whoever is sending knows exactly where we are?”

  “I suppose so.”

  “I thought the Government mainframes that served that phone of yours had been brought down?”

  “They had, but someone must be routing through another smartphone. They’re configured in such a way that allows them to work independently of the main servers in London, should the impossible happen and they fail - which they have.”

  Dillon slowly looked down, and then gazing out beyond the confines of their shelter, looked warily around the vast open space before them. He couldn’t see anything suspicious but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there. “So then, are you going to answer it?” He said as Tatiana continued to stare at the sleek black device.

  Tatiana touched the screen lightly. It immediately lit up with a soft blue background to a series of digits. Tats squinted at the data rolling down the page. It ended - reading:

  CLASSIFIED TRANSMISSION - Level 1/ ENCRYPTED SEND TO: T-0918273645 REC: E-1920384756 “Oh my God,” said Tatiana softly. “It’s from Ezra.” “That’s impossible,” said Dillon wearily. “We saw what happened on the cliff top on Santorini.”

  “But think about it, Dillon. If this was coming from Ramus, or whoever, then surely we would be fighting those Assassins for our lives?” There was hope in her voice, and her eyes had a sparkle in them. The tiredness and lethargy he had witnessed earlier had all but gone.

  Dillon looked at the smartphone suspiciously, then at Tatiana.

  “I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all,” he said.

  “And you think I do?”

  Dillon remained silent, merely gestured with the Glock for Tatiana to open the file and read the message. She read:

  My dearest Tatiana, you saw me fall to my death on Santorini: But I survived, saved by the SAS at the last moment; but the copy of the Chimera Programme that I made was lost when I went over that cliff.

  I am now in Nassau in The Bahamas, meet me there in 24 hours - use coordinates 25.066667,

  - 77.333333. Time is running out, and Chimera will soon be launched globally. Our meeting is of the utmost importance...

  I know you will think this is a trap. If Dillon is still alive, tell him that the very clever device that his Australian friend Vince Sharp designed for the British Special Services; saved my life. Tell him that if it weren’t for this incredible invention, I would almost certainly be dead.

  If you make it to the meet in Nassau, go to the Crystal Palace Casino and hotel; ask for a message for Jake Dillon at the main reception desk.

  “He said that it was Vince Sharp’s device that saved his life. He said you’d know what had saved him when he fell of the cliff on Santorini?”

  Dillon nodded. He walked back to the quad bike, staring out across the windswept landscape. What he’d give for a cigarette right now...

  Tatiana moved up behind him. She gently placed a hand on Dillon’s arm.

  “You okay?”

  “Hmm. Maybe.”

  “It’s a trap, right? Ezra is dead. We saw him jump, with our own eyes. We saw him die on Santorini.”

  Dillon nodded, turned around to face her, and looked into her eyes; and he saw it again, the desperation, the need to believe that her only next-of-kin was still alive. And yet... CouldEzra be alive? Could he have really been rescued by the SAS? Could he have been wearing a Chameleon Para-vest, something Vince had come up with in his lunch break, and could he have pulled the cord at just the right moment to brake that terrible fall into the water? The cliff top must have been at least three-hundred feet above sea-level. And if he did survive- is he now on the trail of those traitors who stole Chimera from the British Government?

  Ezra had been a veryresourceful man. Maybe, he had always had a contingency plan? But, it still left the question as to why he had not let the SAS take-out the Assassins. If he knew there was a squad on the island, why not let them fight the ferocious attackers of his facility on Santorini? And Tatiana, Dillon thought sombrely. If Kirill was telling the truth; if you really do work for the enemies of the British Realm - “traitors” - then you’re a bloody good actress.

  “We will go. We have to go.”

  Tatiana gently touched the side of his unshaven face with the palm of her hand. “Really?”

  “Yes, but don’t get your hopes up - and we’ll do it my way. Understand?”

  “Dillon, I know you think I...”

  “Don’t say it.” He placed a finger against her lips. “Kirill was lying, I know. But I’ve got a really bad feeling about this - and yet, if Ezra is still alive, if the mad bastard did survive that fall, and managed to escape those two Assassins, and get off the island unseen... Well, he’s just about the only ally we’ve got. It’s not as if Kirill was any great enlightenment... All we got out of him was a name - Ramus - a name we already knew.”

  Claudia had come up behind the two and Dillon spun his gun in her face. He smiled weakly. “Sorry, force of habit.”

  Claudia waved his apology away. “You said a name just then, didn’t you?”

  “Yes I did, Ramus. An international terrorist; originally a Russian mafia hit-man, based in Moscow. Graduated from Cambridge with a First in applied mathematics, with distinctions. His link with Kirill is most likely kept deliberately fluid, which is why there’s only the sketchiest details about him or his whereabouts. Have you heard of him?”

  Claudia nodded. “Heard of him, met him, turned down an offer of sex with the creep. Thought I was going to get fired.” She laughed softly. “Wish I had now.”

  “What do you know about him?”

  “Very little. He visited the facility on a number of occasions. He was a pent-up tough looking guy. One of those stereotypical ruffians

  - but he had a certain refinement about him, that made him very different from others.”

  “Sounds like a really nice bloke,” said Dillon, staring into the distance.

  “You want to know an amazing coincidence?”

  Dillon met Claudia’s gaze. She smiled gently. “Sorry, I’ve been eaves-dropping. But I think you’d like to know this... Ramus, well, on the occasions when he visited the facility, I overheard conversations with Kirill - said he’d come straight from The Bahamas.”

  “New Providence, by any chance?” Said Tatiana, frowning.

  “Nassau,” said Claudia.

  “Well, there’s a coincidence,” said Dillon grimly.

  “So what now?” asked Tatiana; Dillon could see it in her face. She knew the dangers, knew that there was the strong possibility of the whole thing being a set-up, a plot to ensnare them. But she wanted

  - needed - had to know if Ezra was still alive.

  Dillon looked into her eyes for a moment, thinking. Was she the bait to lure him into a trap?

  They’re either extremely clever and manipulative, thought Dillon. Or Ezra is onto Ramus... he’s still alive, and on the trail of those dedicated to creating global chaos...

  Decision time.

  He scratched at the stubble on his face. He placed a hand on Tatiana’s shoulder. “We’ll go,” he said softly. And smiled. “I have a lot of friends in the Bahamas.”

  * * * Night was falling as the quad bike reached the SAS depot. Vince was there and was sitting at a small fire he had lit; his almost trademark metal te
a pot brewing over the flames.

  “Dillon, it’s good to see you back in one piece, mate. What took you so long?” “It’s a long story,” Dillon said, with a quick glance at Tatiana. “Is there any of that tea on offer? I think we could all do with a hot drink.” Vince nodded, and poured out three mugs.

  He raised his gaze in Claudia’s direction, and then looked at Dillon quizzically. “You been picking up waifs and strays again, Dillon?”

  “This, Vince, is Claudia Dax. She escaped from the facility shortly after the Assassin’s started killing all of her work colleagues.”

  “Streuth. You’re one lucky lady, then.”

  “Claudia has a master copy of the Chimera Programme!”

  “Well, aren’t we the lucky ones, then. I suppose you know that Ezra is still alive?”

  “How do you know this?” Tatiana snapped.

  “He emailed the partners at Ferran & Cardini, telling them to thank me for his Chameleon Para-vest. Said it saved his life when he jumped off that cliff on Santorini.”

  “Well I’ll be, so it’s true.” Dillon said softly. “Tats also got an email from Ezra. He’s in Nassau in the Bahamas. And wants us to meet him there within 24 hours.”

  “We going?” Vince said excitedly.

  “Yes. But the problem is how do we get there?”

  “You leave that to me, mate. I know just the man who can fix that for us.”

  “Who?”

  “Edward Levenson-Jones.”

  Dillon felt his head ache at the mere mention of LJ’s name. “Does he know that I’m back on the payroll, so to speak?”

  Vince looked up at Dillon sheepishly, “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” He resumed tapping furiously at the laptop’s keyboard, and a moment later he punched the enter key, and said.

  “There...”

  “There?” Dillon mimicked.

  “Dillon. Don’t you know that, there, is a highly technical computer nerd’s term?” Tatiana said laughing. Claudia joined in as well.

  Vince looked up at them, unimpressed with the joke. The laptop made a strange pinging sound, announcing an incoming email. “Ah ha, LJ has sent back an encrypted response.”