‘I wish I didn’t have to. I’d get far more credibility using my real name, that’s for sure. But, it is the way it is, and, frankly, I like my life. Despite what you have seen of me and the trouble I got myself into back there, I don’t have a death wish, I don’t want to die.’
‘Are you going to tell us your name, then?’ Dion asked.
‘Shiro Saito. See, nothing special, just another pacifist Japanese kid poking his nose in where it’s not wanted. But as Animus, I can reach anyone. Race, gender, nationality, religion, sexuality, all of that is stripped away and the message can get out in a purer form.’
‘Have you ever been mistaken for Chinese?’ Veronica asked.
‘All the time. I’ve had my life threatened a few times now because of my race, but it’s just idiots who see an Asian face and make an assumption,’ he said.
Frankie nodded. It had happened before World War three with the Muslim faith, and now, with the invasion by the Chinese, it was happening again. Nothing ever really changed, it seemed.
‘Hey, that’s her there,’ Animus said, pointing up the road to a woman striding towards them. She wore walking boots, jeans, and a coat that reached down to the top of her legs. She wore her brown hair up in a ponytail and scanned the road ahead with eyes that seemed wary and looking for danger around every corner. She didn’t wave or make any movements to indicate that she had seen them, she just walked straight towards Animus.
‘Animus,’ she said. ‘Always a pleasure, and, Karla, nice to see you again.’
Karla nodded hello.
‘Alana, thank you for meeting with us. This is Frankie and her friends. They wish to meet with Janus,’ Animus said.
‘Do they? And I should set this up for them because?’ Alana asked.
‘I owe them, and you owe me, so, let's do this and we can call it quits,’ Animus answered her.
‘I owe you, do I? After everything I did for you when you got here?’
‘Look, yes, you’re right, I do owe you a debt I can never repay, but I need to do this. I owe these guys my life, so, without them, I wouldn’t be able to pay back my debt to you.’
‘So, I owe them something? That’s a novel way of looking at it,’ she said, incredulous.
Frankie could see the line of reasoning that Animus was pursuing, even if it was flawed. Alana could see it also and didn’t seem to be having any of it.
‘Look, Alana, is it?’ Frankie said. ‘We don’t have much time, and we really need to find this man. Can you help us or not?’ Frankie asked, getting a little frustrated by the back and forth between them.
Alana looked at Frankie with a slightly angry expression on her face. ‘Impatient, I see. Okay, sure, why not. I am grateful that you saved Shiro’s life. So, I can arrange this meeting for you. May I ask what it’s about?’
‘We’re admirers of Janus’ recent work, but think we can improve it,’ Frankie said.
‘Is that right?’ Alana answered, her voice flat and unimpressed. ‘Okay, sure, let me see what I can do,’ she said, walking off a short way and pulling out her Pad to make a call.
Frankie stepped closer to Animus. ‘She’s a prickly one,’ she said.
‘Seems that way today, yeah. She’s very no-nonsense usually, but she’s not normally sarcastic and difficult. Secretive, sure, but… Maybe’s she’s woken up on the wrong side of the bed today,’ he suggested.
Alana walked back to them, sliding her Pad into her pocket. ‘Okay, the meeting is set. Thirty minutes from now in the park,’ she said, pointing back up the road, north along Main Street to where trees and bushes sat in the shadows of once pristine towers of glass.
Today, most of the windows were smashed and the building unused apart from a few DU rocket emplacements on the rooftops.
‘Half an hour from now?’ Frankie asked. She looked up the street. The park was no more than five minutes’ walk away from where they were stood.
Alana shrugged.
‘No, that’s fine, thank you.’ Frankie said and turned to the APC to find a place to sit. She settled herself in the open doorway on the side of the vehicle and got herself comfortable.
‘You see yourself staying here, then?’ Frankie asked Animus.
‘For the time being while the war is going on, I do, yes. The world needs an unbiased source for news so, that’s me,’ Animus answered.
‘It’s a dangerous life you’ve chosen for yourself,’ Frankie said.
‘I know. I keep telling him to not take so many risks. He can do the job without needing to put his life on the line the whole time,’ Karla said.
‘You say that, but it’s not as simple as that. The people need to see the war; they need it to be real.’ Animus said.
‘I get that, but literally living on the frontline? That’s how you end up in the mess you were in. What would you have done if I hadn’t sent in these guys to get you?’ Karla said.
‘I’d have figured something out,’ Animus muttered.
‘You’d have been killed,’ Karla snapped back at him.
‘So, you saved his life?’ Alana said.
‘Well, these guys did the hard work,’ Karla answered, indicating Frankie and her team. ‘When they contacted me asking for Animus, I hoped they could bring him back to me, and they did.’
‘Then I have you to thank as well,’ Alana said.
‘I didn’t do anything, really,’ said Karla dismissively.
Frankie continued to talk with Animus and her team, moving onto more mundane matters, not really feeling like she could talk about the mission or their work for the A.C.T. around either Animus or Alana. They just didn’t know them well enough. As they talked and the minutes ticked by, Frankie couldn’t help but notice that Alana seemed to be getting a little impatient. She was tapping her foot and not answering any questions until her Pad beeped and she walked away to take another call.
‘Is she all right?’ Frankie asked Animus. ‘She seems a little nervous.’
‘Well, she doesn’t know you, I guess,’ Animus said.
‘Sure, but it seems a little more than that.’
‘I don’t know,’ Animus said.
‘She’s a very secretive person,’ Karla interjected. ‘I doubt she’s enjoying meeting us all, what with us forcing her to set up a meeting with Janus.
‘I suppose,’ Frankie mused.
‘I think we need to give her a break,’ Animus said. ‘What she does is probably very stressful, so, let’s just see how this pans out, hey?’
‘I agree,’ Karla said.
‘Fair enough,’ Frankie relented. She understood stress and the strange things it could do to you, especially in a paranoid job and situation like this.
Alana walked back over to them, having finished her call. ‘Let’s head into the park now, shall we?’
‘We’re a little early,’ Frankie said.
‘So’s Janus,’ Alana answered, a smug smile on her face.
Frankie stood up and closed the door of the APC with a slam. She didn’t like this woman, but they had to deal with her to find the person they needed. Frankie fell into step with her team, and they all made their way up Main Street, walking around the rubble and debris as they headed to the park a short distance up ahead.
Set amidst the tall buildings and to one side was a Church that had seen better days. The park was a quiet little oasis amidst the chaos of the greater war zone they were in the middle off. The wind blew through the trees, and the greenery was a welcome change from her recent urban nightmare living. Neo London had its parks and areas of greenery, but they were few and far between and usually in the upper city, atop the taller buildings and reserved for the more well-off people in society. Down in the Undercity and the lower mid-levels, there simply wasn’t enough light for trees to grow.
The massive urban growth that had hit Neo-London and some of the other cities in the world had missed this and many other cities in America. The wars and the degeneration of the American government into its current fractured state
meant that there wasn’t the funding for such development. There also wasn’t the population here that there was in Neo-London. People didn’t want to live on the frontline. As a result, cities like Salt Lake hadn’t changed much over the last hundred years, not to the degree of its European counterparts.
Frankie looked back down in the direction they were going. She and Gibson were following behind Karla and Animus, who were talking and, in turn, following Alana along a quiet gravel path towards their meeting point.
Alana turned, and without hesitation, pointed a pistol at Karla and fired.
Blood exploded from Karla’s back, splattering all over Frankie’s face.
2.11
Alana moved again, shifting the gun to aim at Animus. Frankie sprang forward, diving for Animus to push him out the way, but the sudden and shocking nature of the attack caught Frankie off guard, and she doubted she would be able to save Animus from catching a bullet.
Another single shot rang out in the park as Frankie dove into Animus, throwing him sideways and onto the grass beside the path. Frankie didn’t follow him down. Instead, she stayed on her feet and pulled her gun, spinning around to hopefully get a shot off on Alana before she could shoot anyone else.
‘Shooter!’ called Gibson.
No shit, Frankie thought as she aimed her gun at Alana, only to see her lower her weapon, her face a picture of shock and surprise as blood leaked from a hole in her chest.
‘What the hell?’ Frankie said. She thought that Alana had shot Animus. She glanced down at Animus, who was looking back up at Alana and Frankie, now. He was unhurt apart from Frankie throwing him to the ground.
Looking back, Alana dropped to her knees and then fell backwards, her breathing growing short.
Frankie spun around, looking into the trees, and noticed that her teammates were already doing the same. Someone else was here, and they had shot Alana, which was what Gibson had meant when he had shouted, “Shooter,” she now realised.
‘Right side,’ Cole called out, and everyone span to look in that direction. Following his line of sight, Frankie saw a single figure step from the shadows beneath the trees. It was a woman, and she had her hands up in surrender, a gun in one of them.
Frankie, like her friends, aimed her pistol at the new player in this sick game.
‘Who are you?’ Frankie said.
‘I’m Kalypso. I know Karla. I’m here to help you, Frankie,’ she said.
Frankie didn’t like that this new person knew her name. She glanced back to Karla, who was now being held by Animus. She was still alive, but her blood was everywhere, including all over Animus.
‘Animus, does she know a Kalypso? Can you ask her, please,’ Frankie said. The situation was tense; she needed to know who this new woman was and if she would be a threat to them like Alana had turned out to be.
Frankie looked over at Alana again. She lay on her back alone, clearly in a huge amount of pain, writhing about, grasping for anything but finding nothing.
‘Animus?’ Frankie said, looking back at him. He looked in a state of shock.
‘Karla, do you know someone called Kalypso?’ he asked her.
Karla nodded, a desperate and shaky movement of someone bleeding out.
Frankie looked back at Kalypso. ‘Drop the gun,’ she said. Kalypso did as she was asked, the weapon bouncing onto the grass with a thud.
Frankie frowned, but stepped forward, picked up the gun and took the woman by the arm. She dragged Kalypso forward over to Animus so that Karla could see her.
‘Kal, I had no idea…’ Karla said.
‘Covert mission, I’m afraid,’ Kalypso said, with a sad smile.
Karla reached up towards the woman.
Kalypso looked over at Frankie, who still held her arm, but it was clear the pair knew each other, so she let her go. Kalypso nodded and sank to one knee beside Karla, who reached up and touched Kalypso’s face.
‘Help them,’ Karla said. ‘Promise me, you’ll help them.’
‘I will,’ Kalypso answered, holding Karla’s hand. Karla turned away from Kalypso then and writhed in pain once more.
Kalypso looked up at Frankie. ‘Trust me now?’
‘For the moment,’ Frankie said. ‘You can start to earn more by telling me what the hell’s going on, though,’ she asked.
‘I’m sure you’ve guessed that Alana had been compromised by the Corporations. They’ve been hunting Janus for a long time, and they finally found and got to her. I have no idea of the specifics, but I had a report that they had reached her and somehow blackmailed her. My guess is that they wanted to get to Janus. Maybe she would have killed him for them. I have no idea. But it looked like you were in the way, so…’ Kalypso gestured to the scene around them.
‘And how do you fit into this?’ Frankie asked.
‘I was asked to come here by Isaac Hughes, the UK Foreign Secretary that you have impressed recently, from what I can gather,’ she said.
‘I see, which is how you knew my name,’ she stated, relaxing further. She was too well informed about everything to be anything other than what she was claiming to be.
Kalypso nodded. Frankie looked her up and down. She was a distracting looking woman with her peroxide blonde hair and slim figure. She also had this air of danger about her, something you could see behind her eyes. She had seen some shit, that was clear.
Frankie decided she liked her already and handed the gun back to her.
Frankie looked back at Alana where she continued to bleed to death on the floor. ‘She might have been compromised, but, I bet she’s still good for the information on Janus,’ she said as she walked over to the dying woman.
Kalypso followed. ‘That makes sense, yes. What are you going to do?’
‘I’m going to hack her brain,’ she said as she knelt down next to her, reached behind her neck and reached inside a small hole that had uncovered itself with her fingers. She pulled on the metallic jack which protruded there, and it came away from her neck, trailing a wire behind it.
Frankie turned Alana onto her side and located her neural net sockets, quickly plugging herself into one of them with the lead she had pulled from herself.
- Connection made. Enter passkey. –
Frankie read the message that popped up in her vision and dismissed it. She would be using the back door. Frankie accessed one of her cracking programs and applied it to Alana’s firewalls.
The program ran, with code streaming up the side of her vision as it looked for a way in.
‘Will this take long?’ Kalypso asked.
‘Shouldn’t,’ Frankie said. ‘Why?’
‘We’ve just shot a Corporate asset…’ Kalypso began.
‘…so the Corporation forces won’t be far behind.’ Frankie finished.
‘Exactly,’ Kalypso said.
‘Understood. Guys, be on your guard, prepare for the worst; Corporate forces might be inbound,’ she said as she reached down and slid her hands beneath Alana. She picked her up and carried her easily to a nearby bench, but placed the woman on the floor behind it and stayed down next to her. There’s wasn’t much cover around, so this would have to do.
Her cracking software stopped and a message flashing green that appeared at the bottom of the code.
- Access Granted.-
Frankie smiled and opened up a graphical interface of Alana’s cyber brain. She decided that diving in would be a bad idea. She needed to remain aware of her surroundings, so opted for this method instead.
‘I’m in,’ she said to Kalypso and Gibson, who was now close by. She watched as Cole, Dion, and Veronica helped Animus move Karla to cover behind the next bench along. Karla had gone limp from the looks of things. Was she dead?
The loud noise of a flyer grew from nothing to ear-splitting over the course of seconds, followed by a large black aircraft banking around one of the nearby towers, sending dirt and debris flying as its backwash kicked it up into the air.
This would need to be quick and dirty,
she thought as she began to hunt through Alana’s brain for the information on Janus.
The flyer dropped into the park, descending to hover maybe twenty feet from the ground when ropes were flung from the sides. Kalypso aimed her gun at the flyer with Gibson following suit. Frankie looked back at where Animus held Karla. They were in cover now, but Frankie could only see Dion and Veronica with them. Another look and she could see Cole running away through the park back to the streets.
‘What the hell…’ she muttered.
The gun from the flyer roared as it fired on them, its stream of bullets spraying the ground and the iron benches they hid behind, throwing sparks flying into the air all about them. Frankie ducked and hid as best she could, focusing on hunting for the information she needed.
It seemed like it was taking forever as she listened to her friends firing on the flyer and the Corporate troops that had disembarked from the aircraft.
They were sitting ducks. The Corporate troops would move and eventually flank them and that would be it. Moving was impossible. They simply couldn’t afford to break cover as they would be shot in seconds carrying the bodies of Alana and Karla.
Frankie knew the best thing would be to finish the hack and then move.
But the troops were already circling around, and it was only the steadily dwindling ammunition of Kalypso, Gibson, and Veronica that was keeping them at bay.
Suddenly, she found the folder she was looking for, but it was locked. It would need to be hacked as well as copying a locked folder was impossible. She sent in her most powerful cracking software, hoping it would work quicker. Frankie ended up laid on the floor to avoid the bullet hits as the program worked its way through the security built into the file until it flashed and opened up.
There wasn’t much in here, but what there was would be invaluable.
Frankie copied it over, making sure Janus’ contact details had been saved without error before she pulled the plug from Alana’s neck and let it reel itself back into her own.
‘Get what you needed?’’ Alana croaked at Frankie, hissing with pain as she spoke.
Promethean Files 2: The Prometheus Gambit Page 13
