Sequence

by Darren Wearmouth

  “Yeah, but it’s not inside my head,” he replied. “Where would you even connect it?”

  “Agent Vega, is this man here to give his personal opinion or to assist with us regaining control?” Gray said.

  “He’s here to monitor what Murphy does. Can you answer his question?” Vega said.

  “It would connect to the cerebellum and the sensory systems of the spinal cord. At the moment, this biochip is standalone, run by artificial power. It dies within days if disconnected.”

  “Do you understand this?” Vega said to Shane.

  “Yeah, I get the principles although I’ve never seen anything like this,” Shane said.

  “For all we know, the hacker has ordered my synthetics—” Gray said.

  “Your synthetics?” Vega said.

  “The hacker could have ordered the synthetics to assassinate the president. We need to recall them.” Gray frowned. Inwardly he was smiling. Bullshit baffles brains, as they say.

  Gray watched Michael connect to the in-house wireless network after Shane provided the details. He enabled the XNA VPN client and double-clicked on the company icon to launch his network management application.

  “I can see the biochip. I should be able to access it using the local administrator’s password.”

  “Why couldn’t you do any of this remotely? Why not just switch off the other nodes?” Shane said.

  “This has effectively taken over the network. I’ve told you we’ve been blocked and our only way in was locally.”

  “This thing is capable of doing that?”

  Michael sighed. “Yes.”

  He tapped the keyboard several times. “We’re in business. I think I can initiate a recall from here.”

  Michael glanced at Gray.

  “Continue,” Gray confirmed, “and please take Agent Vega and Shane through every step. We don’t want any accusations of not being transparent or helpful. Isn’t that right, Agent Vega?”

  “Make sure you call them back here,” she said.

  Michael nodded. He brought up a map of North America, “I’m going to attempt a location update.”

  The room fell silent in anticipation of Michael’s result.

  “I don’t understand. This should’ve worked,” he said.

  “The biochip’s useless?” Vega said.

  “I didn’t say that. Let me check the processes, configuration files, and data,” Michael said.

  He twisted the laptop towards Shane, slightly obscuring Gray’s view. It didn’t matter. Gray was confident in Michael’s abilities for this part. Michael opened a terminal prompt.

  “We’ve still got network processes running, here.” Michael touched the screen. “The last updates for the configuration, network, and data files were early this morning. You can see the updated time stamps. It hasn’t been used since around lunchtime.”

  “Open the files; let’s have a look,” Shane said.

  Michael tapped away on the keyboard for a couple of minutes, then sat back, scratching his head.

  “What is it?” Vega said.

  “I’m locked out of the files. Looking at the configuration set, it appears somebody has created a secure subnetwork to control the synthetics. I’ve tried to manually stop the processes, but I can’t. If I could access it… it’s going to take time.”

  “Is what he saying true?” Vega said.

  “It’s technically possible, I suppose.” Shane shrugged. “Why don’t you just destroy the biochip?”

  “Because we’d be destroying our only chance of tracking and controlling the synthetics currently on the loose and doing who knows what,” Gray said.

  “How long do you need, Michael?” Vega asked.

  “It might take thirty minutes. It might take several hours.” Michael glared at the screen, erratically typing, giving the enter key an occasional thump with his right index finger, audibly confirming command inputs.

  Gray turned to see Vega pacing behind the bench. Was she starting to feel the pressure?

  “How do you know once you get in, you won’t be facing the same problem?” she said.

  “Do you want him to continue?” Gray said. “I’d love to know what’s happening myself.”

  “Shut up for a minute. Michael, are you confident you can locate the synthetics if you access the subnetwork?”

  “Just give me time. I can do this.”

  “He’ll be able to generate a map so you can see their exact locations. Remember the recording we showed you in the control room?” Gray said.

  “I thought I told you to shut up?”

  “It’s your call, Agent Vega. Do we continue and avert a potential disaster, or should we stop?”

  Vega fixed her eyes on Gray’s, perhaps with more than a little contempt, he thought. If she was feeling up to her neck in it now, a much bigger surprise was on its way that would put her way out of her depth.

  He smiled and turned back to watching Michael work his magic.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  3:35 a.m., Day 4, Montana

  Zoe paced back and forth, her mind paralyzed with indecision. Time was crucial, and it seemed like Murphy was making progress, but something about the way Gray looked at her as though she were prey told her not to trust him. She felt played with, manipulated, but her options remained few and far between.

  “Well, Agent Vega? What’s it to be?” Gray gave her one of his smug smiles. She felt like slapping it off his face, but that’s what he wanted. He wanted to incite her. He clearly got his kicks from pushing people’s buttons.

  Well, screw him, she thought.

  Trusting her instincts, she pulled the laptop away and disconnected the dongle from the biochip, placing the latter back into the plastic container.

  “You’re making a big mistake,” Gray said. “The hacker could have instructed the synthetics to do almost anything.”

  “And so could you.”

  Zoe placed the laptop beneath her arm and left the room. “Shane, a word.”

  Once outside, she turned to the IT expert. “Do you think they’re telling the truth? Is all that back in there just bullshit, or is what Murphy doing legit?”

  “I can’t say for certain, as I don’t know the system, but what Murphy was doing was legit, insofar as he was communicating with a network and having problems with some files. It was clear to me that they had been altered and locked out. Whether that extends to a subnetwork controlling the synthetics, I couldn’t say without more intensive testing.”

  “What if you took this and the chip and tried to hack in?”

  He shrugged. “Same thing Michael told you, I’m afraid. It’s like any hacking situation; it takes time and is quicker with information about the network and system. Neither of which we have. They’re not leaving us with any real option here.”

  Zoe leaned against the wall and tried to calm her breathing, tried to think logically. It occurred to her that it was a fairly binary case: either Jacob was innocent of creating a secure subnetwork and controlling the synthetics, in which case Gray and Murphy were lying and guilty, or the opposite was true and Murphy was their only hope.

  “What would you do?” Vega asked Shane.

  His eyes widened, and an expression of panic came over his face. “Whoa, I… erm… well, that’s a big question. I don’t know, perhaps we could—”

  Cooley entered the corridor and approached them with a file in his hand.

  “Vega, got some info for you if you’re not too busy chatting with your boyfriend.”

  “Be professional,” Zoe said.

  “Cracked them yet?” he asked with a smile.

  “No need to crack anyone. We’ve discovered that the synthetics are being controlled from a subnetwork. The question is who’s controlling it.”

  “Oh? You don’t know that yet, eh? I thought you were going to work on Gray and Murphy and get all the answers. Not as easy as you thought? Want me to take over and lean on them a little? You might learn a thing or two.”

&nbs
p; She took the file from him and scanned the report.

  “What’s this about no body and some files?”

  “The kids reckoned they killed one of these freakoids, said that’s how they got the biochip. Ripped it right out of the thing’s head apparently.”

  “Wait, Gray said Jacob stole it when he broke into their facility.”

  Cooley shrugged. “The kid reckons he only took information. Said he wanted to expose Gray and that he didn’t take anything else. But, I got a local officer to check out his trailer, and there’s no body buried in the backyard, and they found these. He scanned them and sent them straight to me.”

  Zoe handed Shane the laptop as she took yet more files from her partner.

  “There must be, what, a hundred pages of information here.”

  “Something like that, but the most interesting is this one.” Cooley handed her a single sheet of paper. It was a printout of a map. Surrounding a central location were eight dots.

  “Eight missing synthetics,” Zoe said. “You think this is their location?”

  “Maybe. Looks likely. The fact there’s no body means the kids are lying.”

  For a moment she was stunned. Something within her wanted to believe Jacob and Emma were innocent. Looking at their records and hearing about the synthetic chasing them through New York, killing two of their friends, had given her the impression that they were the ones being pursued at the command of Gray, but this evidence… she couldn’t ignore it.

  “Where is this?” Zoe asked.

  “A nuclear power station.”

  “Shit, have you got officers on the way?”

  “One step ahead of you, Vega. I’ve already spoken with the director. He’s got a squad on the way right now. We’ll be there within the hour. But I think it’s time you handed things over to me. Let me deal with Gray and Murphy.”

  “No chance, this is my setup. You go find something else useful to do. I’ll call you if I need you.”

  “I’m taking over if you don’t have answers in twenty minutes.”

  “Relax, Cooley. I know what I’m doing.”

  She handed the files back, motioned for Shane to follow her, and headed back inside the interrogation room, locking the door behind them.

  If she could nail this, it’d be her redemption, and then she’d aim her sights on the full history of the NSA’s involvement with XNA Industries.

  The smug bastard was still smiling when Zoe set up the laptop and plugged the biochip back in. Murphy passively watched her work until she turned it around to him.

  “It’s imperative you access that subnetwork and find the location of those synthetics. I’m trusting you here, but we don’t have time for any games or bullshit. You understand me?”

  “Well, well, Agent Vega. Aren’t we all in a hurry now? Pray tell; what have you learned?”

  She ignored him, addressing Murphy. “Can you do it?”

  Without looking at her, he started typing on the laptop. “Yes.”

  “Shane, watch what he’s doing.”

  “And you still don’t trust us?” Gray said, all the time still looking as though he were enjoying a theatrical comedy on Broadway.

  “You find national security funny?” Zoe asked. “You think it’s funny the risk your synthetics pose? And what about Quentin Devereaux? You think it’s funny that his body was found dumped in the sea?”

  She saw Gray flinch just slightly then. A small chink in his façade.

  “I never found Devereaux funny in the slightest,” he said. “But I can assure you we had nothing to do with his death. He had many enemies. You only have to look at your own director as one example. People like that swim with sharks, and sometimes they lose.”

  “Is that a confession?” Zoe asked, leaning over the table.

  Gray sat back and remained quiet, all the while staring right at her as if daring her to make the next move.

  She refused to rise to his bait; instead she sat down and waited as the sound of Murphy’s typing filled the room.

  “He’s in,” Shane said ten minutes later.

  “How?” Zoe asked.

  Murphy stopped looking at the laptop to regard Zoe. “It was simple in the end. I just tested a number of common passwords. And… I think you should look at this.”

  Shane’s face had already turned pale.

  Zoe took the laptop and spun it around. Murphy had brought up a map and pinpointed the location of the eight synthetics. Double-checking against the printout Cooley had given her, they were almost identical, with one exception: the ring had tightened, and the synthetics were already closing in on the nuclear power station.

  “Recall them,” she said. “Shut them down right this minute.”

  “I’m sorry, Agent Vega, I can’t do that,” Murphy said.

  “Why the hell not?”

  “Although I’ve gained access to their GPS signals, I have no way into the subnetwork. It’s hidden; I can’t even find it on the overall network. We’re locked out.”

  “So that’s it? Tough shit? Your synthetics are heading for a nuclear power station and you’re telling me there’s nothing you can fucking do?”

  “Perhaps you should ask the hacker?” Gray said.

  “Perhaps you should shut your damned mouth.”

  Zoe stormed out of the room.

  She reached for her phone and dialed the director. This was getting out of control. At the very worst, she could update him on their location and hope that they were intercepted in time. The line continued to ring with no answer.

  Sweat dripped down her back.

  Pick up, pick up!

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  3:45 a.m., Day 4, Montana

  Gray repeatedly drummed his fingers on the iron table, creating an echo in the room like an amplified dripping tap. Shane glared in his direction, unsure of what to do.

  The IT consultant exhaled and shook his head. “Can you give that a rest?”

  “Do you get sick of working with these people?” Gray said.

  “I am one of ‘these’ people. Not sure what you’re trying, but don’t bother.”

  Gray smiled as Shane returned his attention to Michael’s laptop. He started drumming the table at a faster rate. Shane glared across, shaking his head.

  “Why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself?” Gray said.

  “You don’t need to know about me. Michael needs to hack this network. You’re wasting time.”

  “In which case,” Michael said, “it might help if you brought your laptop in. We can work on these files together.”

  “You just carry on. I’ll keep watching.”

  As soon as Shane finished his sentence, Gray started tapping the table again.

  “Okay, I’ll get my laptop,” Shane said.

  He slammed the door on his way out.

  “What’s the status?” Gray said.

  “I’ll just check, give me a minute.”

  Michael opened up another application on the laptop and clicked through a number of short hexadecimal-based reports.

  “We’re approaching final positions for the strike,” Michael said.

  “And Unit A?”

  “She’s estimating four hours from now; can’t confirm at the moment.”

  “Tell her she needs to do it at the first available opportunity. It has to happen today.”

  Michael nodded and continued working. Shane returned, placing his laptop next to Michael’s, and passed him a USB drive.

  “Put the files on here. I’ll run them through our programs.”

  “No problem, I’ll get them for you now. What kind of programs do you have?” Michael said.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  “Can you access those cameras from your laptop?” Gray said, pointing up.

  “That’s none of your business. Pass me the files so we can get on with it.”

  Gray looked at Michael and nodded. Michael’s face contorted; he grunted as a metallic snapping noise rang beneath t
he table.

  Shane’s shoulders sprang back and he tried to stand. Michael grabbed him by the back of his neck, forcing him downwards. Gray nodded in appreciation as Shane looked up with fear in his eyes.

  “How… how? What are you doing?”

  Michael stood, reached forward, and cupped a hand around his mouth, pressing Shane’s head backwards against his body. With his free hand, he reached down and snapped the loose chain free from the manacle around his right ankle. He wrapped it tightly around Shane’s neck, twisting both ends. Shane tried to shout, only managing a gurgle. He pulled at the chain with both hands, saliva spraying from his mouth.

  “Dr. Gray asked you a question. Answer it,” Michael said.

  The chain slackened around Shane’s neck. He immediately tried to shout. Michael grunted as he tightened his grip again. Shane’s face reddened; he shakily held both palms forward, unsuccessfully trying to speak in limited gasps.

  “I’ll ask you again, nicely. I don’t see the telltale red light coming from those cameras. Are they working and can you access them?” Gray said.

  Michael let the chain sag below Shane’s chin; he coughed and rubbed his throat.

  “We don’t use them. They’ve been out of service for years.”

  “And is Jacob Miller being held here?”

  Shane choked out an affirmative, confirming what Gray thought. They wouldn’t have had the BCI if that little bastard wasn’t here too under interrogation.

  Gray nodded. Michael folded his arm around Shane’s head and twisted. Shane’s streaming eyes focused on Gray; he looked back with indifference. After a dull crack, the IT consultant’s body went limp in Michael’s arms. He pushed him forward. The body slumped on the table head first with a thump and dropped to the floor. Gray raised his eyebrows.

  “It’s a shame the cameras are not accessible, but that would have made our lives too easy,” he said.

  Michael gritted his teeth and crushed the lock mechanism on his cuffs. They fell apart in turn and he threw them into the corner of the room. He repeated the procedure on Gray, who stood up and rubbed his wrists.

  “You watch the door. Anyone comes in…” Gray said.