There were only two cars in the parking area. The morning sunlight glinted on the black metallic surface of his XJ Sentinel.
Jordan froze and muttered under his breath. She’d known he was there all along. Even so, he sensed the end of his mission. Physically, she was no match for an enhanced agent. For the first time, he stripped away her clothing with his terahertz vision. She wasn’t even carrying a hidden weapon.
Before he could take another step, though, he felt as if a light had gone out in his head. He blinked and gulped. He was no longer online. He was isolated and lightheaded. And he no longer picked up the smell of aviation fuel.
Raven turned to face him. She had a small computer in her left hand and she was typing with her right. One by one, she was disabling his enhancements, just like Eli Kennington had done in Cambridge.
Next, his robotic arm slammed against his side. No longer a limb, it was a lifeless piece of metal.
Raven had no need of a gun or a knife. In her hands, a computer was a very effective weapon. She was about to click another button, but she stopped herself. “You can keep your hearing and vision. They’re no threat to me. That way, you can see and hear the planes coming in and taking off. They’re a miracle of modern engineering, aren’t they? They’re so big, it’s amazing they ever get off the ground. From up here,” she said, “you get a direct line-of-sight view of the whole airport.”
“You’re using Eli’s hardware Trojans again, aren’t you? That’s why you need to be near the runway. To activate them with a radio signal.”
“You don’t have to be a genius to work that out.”
“What are you going to do?” he asked.
She closed the lid of her laptop. “Wrong question. It’s already done.”
“What is?”
“I learned a lot by crashing those first two planes and even more when I took over control systems. Two different skills. Now I’m combining them. Out there,” she said, nodding towards Gatwick, “two of the planes that are about to take off will switch to autopilot once they’re away from the airport. That’s what I’ve just programmed them to do and the pilots won’t be able to get control back. They’ll divert to the destination I’ve locked into their flight and control systems. Both will arrive at the same time. Actually, one would do the job, but it’s good to have backup, isn’t it? Just in case.”
“Where?”
“Wait and find out. Or work it out for yourself. But they’ll wish they’d never got off the ground.” She walked towards the hatch and said, “You’re useless without your enhancements, aren’t you?”
Jordan’s GPS probably wasn’t working any more, but Angel knew exactly where he was. He hoped that Kate was on her way, so Jordan needed to keep Raven talking for as long as possible. “You started out on Paige Ottaway’s medical robot.”
“Yes?”
“But it was you who first told me about Paige Ottaway. You must have been confident that I wouldn’t nail you or you’d have kept quiet. Maybe you thought you’d look guilty if I found out about her later and you hadn’t told me.”
She shrugged. “I didn’t care much. I set Kennington up. If you got close to cracking the case, I knew you’d go after him, not me. I told you: it’s good to have a safety net.”
He said, “But you deleted all the details of his trial – like the jury list.”
“Think about it,” Raven replied. “I didn’t want to make it too easy. If Kennington had been behind everything, he would’ve wiped the trial details, so I did as well.”
“You’ve been twisting and turning all along, haven’t you?”
She smiled sweetly. “I’ve thrown a few distractions into the ring.”
“You’ve been brainwashed into it by terrorists.”
“I’ve had a rubbish life. A rubbish family for sure. I had a job then lost it. I had a boyfriend and then lost him. After I joined Unit Red, there wasn’t any time for him, so he walked away. Too many sacrifices.”
For an instant, Jordan thought about his own sacrifices. He’d lost his family, his place at normal school and, after his first mission, his best friend.
“I suppose I’m showing my contempt for community – and the way it’s going,” she said. “Those terrorists – as you called them – welcomed me with open arms. We don’t see eye-to-eye on everything, it’s true, but one message is loud and clear. It’s about the type of society we want. We’ve become dehumanized. Look at you. Part human, part robot. It’s going too far. It’s about tearing down what we’ve got and building something better.”
“But...”
“No more. Your GPS will have told the others where you are. I’m not hanging around to take on the lot of you. I’ve got a busy day. Don’t think the planes are the only thing I’m doing today. They’re just the starting pistol.”
“What?”
“There’s a cybernetics factory. Maybe even HiSpec,” she said, plainly teasing him. “After all, they’re supplying the microchips.”
Desperate to detain her, he said, “Why don’t you kill me?”
She smiled. “I want the powers-that-be to see you fail. I want them – and you – to see robotics isn’t the answer.”
“If you can beat me with hardware Trojans, you’ll always be able to stop machines taking over, won’t you?”
She shook her head. “If only. The old spiked chips will be replaced. Design will be tightened up. No more Trojans.” Tapping her watch, she took some more steps towards the opening that led down to the offices. “You’re trying to delay me, hoping the cavalry will arrive. It won’t work. And, yes, both planes will have taken off by now.” She disappeared into the hole and, before Jordan could reach it, she slammed down the hatch and bolted it from inside.
To Jordan, it felt as if she’d retreated to the safety of a submarine and locked him outside to face the cruel waves without a means of escape.
He assumed she’d make her getaway in the stolen car. He had to find a way to follow her, but he was hampered by an uncooperative body. He went right to the edge of the roof. He was a long way up – much too high to jump. If he had been wearing his high-tech shoes and gloves, he could have crawled down the wall like a sure-footed beetle. That way, he might even have beaten Raven to the car park. But his gear with microscopic Velcro was in the XJ. He was trapped.
He couldn’t even ram her car with his own because he needed a working BCI to operate the Jaguar remotely.
As he looked around for inspiration, he updated Angel on his mobile.
“Okay,” Angel said. “I’ll get on to air traffic control and find out if they’ve got any rogue aircraft. You get after her, Jordan.”
“Easier said than...” He stopped talking as he stared at the flagpole. “I’m onto it.” He put the phone away and grabbed the rope. Hauling on it with his left hand, he lowered the flag and uncoupled the rope from the pulley. Hoping that it was long enough, he forced the thick rope past the rigid thumb into his clenched right fist. Then he yanked on it. Luckily, it slid through the fingers. Perhaps it was even threaded too freely. But he didn’t have a choice. His couldn’t tighten the grip because the motors in his fingers weren’t working.
He made sure one end of the rope was well anchored to the flagpole and then he laid it out to the front edge of the building. He looked down again. It was a long drop to the tarmac path. Heights had never bothered him, but falling was a different matter. He threw the rest of the rope over the edge and watched it dangling. He couldn’t see clearly where it ended, but he was sure it hadn’t reached the tarmac below. He hoped it was close enough. He also hoped that his lame false hand would provide the brake he needed if he wasn’t going to die when he hit the ground.
His shoulders rose and fell as he took a deep breath. Then he jumped off the roof and the rope ran through his fist.
24 OVERRIDE UNSUCCESSFUL
There was no longer anything solid beneath his feet. Rushing through his artificial fingers, the rope yanked his disabled arm up above his head. Bu
t there wasn’t enough friction between his fist and the rope so he plummeted down at breathtaking speed.
He’d never been abseiling, but this had to be similar. Without any of the safety features. And without the style. He had much more bravery than expertise. Swinging inwards, he crunched into the brick wall, bruising his back and legs.
Below him, Raven’s car accelerated down the narrow lane towards the main road.
He was falling far too fast. The tarmac seemed to be zooming up at him alarmingly. At this pace, he knew he’d break both legs when he hit the ground. To increase the resistance between his false fingers and the threads of the rope, he twisted his whole body so the rope had to zigzag through his unresponsive fist. At once, even his disabled sense of smell detected the burning of synthetic skin, but he had no sensation of the heat. At least he was slowing.
As he neared the ground, the rope sliced into his artificial skin, shedding strips of silicone from his palm. Then, suddenly, he fell free of the rope and his right arm collapsed against his side. He hit the tarmac.
He felt the jolt first in his ankles, knees and hips. The shock wave flew up the rest of his body to his neck like an earth tremor, but the pain was confined to his legs as he crumpled onto the ground with a grunt.
He didn’t have time to worry about the stinging sensation. He got to his feet and looked around. His Jag was right in front of him, but he couldn’t use it. He couldn’t transmit the codes he needed to operate it. But he had another idea. He limped towards the factory. Through the large window, he could see two huge diggers and a dumper truck.
Without a functioning right arm, he couldn’t smash his way through the window or the main door, so he staggered to the back door that Raven had forced open. Trying to ignore the aches in his knees, he dashed across the lower floor and hauled himself up into the earth mover closest to the window. The key was in the ignition. He turned it on straight away and the giant vehicle burst noisily to life. He rammed the digger into first gear and the monster leaped forward. Jordan had hardly worked out where the controls were before it crashed through the window. Like icicles falling from a thawing gutter, shards of glass fell all around him. Jordan protected his head and face with his left arm and the digger lurched to the right.
Clear of the broken glass, Jordan steered the earth mover away from his Jaguar. He shifted the gear stick and the engine spluttered and groaned.
In front of him, Raven was reversing her stolen car crazily back down the narrow lane. Another car was forcing her back towards the car park. It had to be Kate in a white Toyota.
At once, Jordan saw what he had to do. He accelerated towards the lane to block off Raven’s retreat. But the earth mover was nowhere near as nimble as his Jaguar. It seemed to take an age to turn and gather speed. Shaking Jordan in its rough seat, the digger lumbered across the car park just in time. He brought it to a shuddering halt at the end of the lane.
Raven executed an emergency stop and skidded. The rear of her car smacked into the earth mover.
It was as if a dog had run into an elephant. In the driver’s cab, Jordan did not feel a thing.
Kate turned and braked, stopping the Toyota across the width of the lane. Together, she and Jordan had boxed in Raven.
Laptop in hand, Raven got out and ran for it. She dashed away from the digger and the factory, but Kate was too quick for her. Drawing back her right arm, Kate punched Raven full in the face. Stunned, she came to a dead halt as if she’d run into an unseen plate of glass. Then her look of surprise changed to one of pain and her legs gave way. The laptop flew from her grasp as she fell to the ground.
Jordan winced at the power of the punch. Clambering down from the digger, he called out, “Ouch. Remind me not to get on your wrong side.”
Kate smiled. “I’ve done a bit of boxing in my time. Hey, you look rough.”
Jordan pointed to his false arm and then his head. “I’m out of action. Again.”
Kate had brought help in the shape of Eli Kennington. Climbing out of the passenger door, he looked surprised, shocked and a little amused.
On the ground, Raven stirred and moaned.
“End of mission,” Kate declared.
Remembering the two aeroplanes that Raven had sabotaged, Jordan shook his head. “Not really.” He reached down for the laptop and said to Eli, “I need you to save a lot of lives. We don’t have long.” He began a hurried explanation.
Surprising all three of them, Raven came round from the blow. She jumped up and ran in the direction of the airport.
Taking a breath, Kate said, “You deal with things here. I’ll get her.” She set off in pursuit.
Jordan balanced the computer on the bonnet of Kate’s car. “I’ll make sure you get full access to all my gadgets if you stop some hardware Trojans that are going to bring two flights down any second now.”
Eli jerked his thumb in Kate’s direction. “She has already promised me that.”
“Must be true, then.”
Eli was about to say something else but he stopped, opened up the laptop and turned it on. Almost immediately, he muttered, “I’m blocked from using it. It is protected by a password.”
“Hang on. I’ve got an idea.” Jordan called Angel and hurriedly filled him in on events. “What was Raven’s name before she was Madison Flint?” he asked.
“Julie Baker.”
“Okay.” He turned to Eli and said, “Try Baker, Julie or Julie Baker – all one word or with a gap. Something like that. Hurry.”
At the second attempt, the laptop accepted juliebaker as a password. “All right,” Eli said, “I am past security.” Seeing an icon for the program ‘UnTrojan’, he cried, “She stole this stuff from me!”
“Good,” Jordan replied. “That means you’ll know how to use it.”
The 09.00 flight from Gatwick to Atlanta had taken off without incident. The Boeing 767 had 304 passengers on board. But the air traffic controller in charge of the departure was staring at her screen in amazement and horror.
Trying to remain calm, she said into her microphone, “Flight AM5699. You have deviated from your flight path. Please correct at once.”
“Investigating,” the pilot replied.
There was silence for thirty-two seconds. Then the pilot’s voice told her, “The autopilot’s in control of this aeroplane and all my attempts to override it have failed.”
Control gulped. She could hardly believe her ears. “Say again.”
“Override unsuccessful. I have no control over flight. The autopilot is flying the aeroplane. I don’t know where we’re going. Bearing north and descending steadily.”
Further along the row of computers, another controller was having almost exactly the same astonishing conversation with Flight TOM4762 to Larnaca. The only certainty was that the Boeing 757 carrying 214 passengers was not headed for Cyprus.
25 SUDDEN DEATH
“Right,” Angel said into Jordan’s ear. “It’s started. There are two rogue flights out of Gatwick. I’ve scrambled Air Force fighter jets with missiles primed and ready to fire.”
Jordan didn’t know that his boss wielded such power. Unit Red was a secret organization, but it had authority and contacts in high places.
“Where are they going?”
“At the moment, I’m waiting to see. Find a way to give control back to the pilots or I’ll have to blast them out of the sky.”
Shocked, Jordan replied, “Eli’s working on it.”
“There are 518 people on those two planes, Jordan.”
He swallowed. 518 lives in the hands of an autistic computer geek and a teenager with a broken body. “How long do you need?” he asked Eli.
“I am trying to determine what has been sabotaged. I can see that you...”
Jordan interrupted. “Don’t worry about me. Look for planes.”
“Yes. She has reprogrammed an American flight called AM5699.”
“Well, unprogram it,” Jordan almost shouted.
Eli typed as he
replied, “It is possible, but it will take me a few minutes.”
The phone still clamped to his ear, Jordan fell silent, allowing Eli to concentrate.
Before long, though, Angel said, “I think you were right.”
“Oh?”
“They look like they’re heading for Sizewell. If that’s the target, I can’t let them strike.”
An image of a mushroom cloud sprang into Jordan’s mind. He shuddered at the thought of a nuclear explosion in East Anglia. He shuddered at the thought of the devastation it would cause. “How long have we got?” he asked, his voice suddenly quaking.
“A couple of minutes before I have to give the order to fire and destroy the planes.”
Jordan turned to Eli. “Can you sort it out in two minutes?”
“No,” Eli answered. “But I am making progress in releasing the first aeroplane’s flight and control system.”
“Flight AM5699,” the air traffic controller said. “I’m told someone’s trying to disable your autopilot remotely. Keep trying to override it. Repeat. Keep trying to regain control and prepare to alter course.”
“We are flying at an altitude of five hundred metres, Control. Five hundred metres! Towards coastal buildings.”
“I’ve got you on screen.”
The pilot said, “I can see another commercial plane. I estimate on a collision course. I don’t know if I’ll hit the ground first or the other Boeing.”
“We’re doing all we can, AM5699. If you get navigation back, fly east. Repeat. Go east over the sea. Flight TOM4762 has instructions to break away to the west, over land. Do you copy?”
“Copy. I note we have military escorts as well.”
“Confirmed,” Control said.
“What are their instructions?”
The air traffic controller hesitated. “The Air Force can’t stand by if you’re going to hit a sensitive target.”
“Like Sizewell B? That’s what it is, isn’t it?”
There was another short period of radio silence before she answered. “Yes, confirmed. I’m sorry, AM5699.”
Cyber Terror Page 17
