by Tony Batton
"Marron knows where we are. He might be trying to lock the system down." Lentz picked up her laptop. "They're about to reach our floor." She hit a key and the screen switched to a video view. The lift doors slid back and a familiar figure emerged.
Tom pointed at the screen. "That woman. It's always her."
Lentz reached into her bag and pulled out a taser and an automatic pistol.
"There's seven of them," he said. "We can't win."
"If you have a better plan feel free to share it."
Tom closed his eyes, and tried again to feel the system. He pressed against the barrier. It would not move, but as he pushed harder he found he could glimpse through it. He could just make out...
He sat up with a start, his eyes flying open. He pointed to the back wall. "Over there. It's not a proper access panel, but behind it is ducting large enough to accommodate us. There's a ladder system built into the wall."
"Where would we go?"
"Up. I've ID'd a room on Level 60 with a non-standard connection to the building's datanet. We might have better luck there."
"Certainly beats waiting here to be captured."
Tom nodded. "So, Dr Lentz, I don't suppose you would happen to have a power screwdriver in your magic bag, would you?"
Lentz smiled. "I just might."
◇ ◇ ◇
Alex exited the lift on Level 45 and, with considerable impatience, led her team to the third office on the left. Her guards split ranks to stand either side of the door.
"Remember," she said quietly, "Lentz used to be a professional, so give no quarter, but Faraday must not be harmed."
Her team nodded sharply in reply.
"Now open it."
One guard pressed the door release. There was a hiss, but nothing else happened. The guard slapped the button again. Still no response.
"The door won't open," said Alex into her earpiece.
"Odd," replied Marron. "Let me override that for you. There you go."
The guard hit the button again, but still nothing happened.
"Nope," said Alex.
"Are you sure?" asked Marron. "My readout shows no issue."
"Perhaps your additional firewalls are causing interference. Or perhaps Lentz did more to the system than you realise."
"Actually, I think it's this," said one of the guards, pointing at the base of the door.
Alex looked and laughed.
"What is it?" demanded Marron.
"She stuck a pencil in the door track. Nothing like a low-tech solution to confuse us." With a grunt, she pulled it out and the door slid open.
The room was empty.
EIGHTY-THREE
THE SERVICE PANEL CLATTERED TO the ground and two figures clambered out.
"That was not comfortable for someone of my dimensions," Tom said.
"More comfortable than being captured by Marron, I'm sure," Lentz replied, looking around. "Where are we?"
"Ed Holm's office. He's one of the senior techies working on Tantalus. The connections to this office are higher bandwidth and they circumvent many of the system safeguards."
"Done with Marron's knowledge?"
"Who cares." Tom gazed around at the clutter. "Wow. How does he work in here?" He stepped between piles of paperwork and boxes strewn across the floor.
Lentz froze. "Are there cameras in here?"
Tom pointed up to his right. "There's only one and it covers the doorway. Stay away from it and they'll be none the wiser. Also don't make any unusually loud noises." Tom sat down and plugged his cable into the computer. "Now we just need a little bit of time."
◇ ◇ ◇
Peter Marron had joined the team on Level 45 as they examined the room for the third time. The answers he needed were still not forthcoming.
"Your systems are lying to you," said Alex through gritted teeth.
"There's a trick we're missing. I know they were in here."
Ed Holm walked into the room. "You called for me? What's going on?"
Marron turned, his face breaking into a smile. "I need your help, Ed."
Holm looked uneasily at Marron, Alex and the guards, each prominently armed. "With what?"
"Subject Zero is in the building."
"He's here? You want to run some analysis?"
"Indeed I do, but first I need to find him."
"I don't follow?"
"Unfortunately the Tower's systems have become rather blind, deaf and insensitive when it comes to Zero."
"Can't we track the nanites in his body?"
"That function has been deactivated."
"How?"
"Dominique Lentz is with him."
"What? How is that possible? I thought she was--"
"If we find her, you can ask for details. What I need right now are ideas."
Holm rubbed his palms across his face. "If you can give me access to your central security systems, I might be able to figure something out."
Marron's phone beeped and he glanced at it. "Good. Because Mr Leskov has just confirmed he is on his way to the Tower to inspect the product. Which means we'd better have something to show him."
EIGHTY-FOUR
IN ED HOLM'S OFFICE, TOM leaned back in the large leather chair, staring at the middle of three oversized computer monitors on the desk.
Lentz was next to him, her fingers blurring over the keyboard. "OK, I've configured the system: you've got the best access I can grant. That's your cue."
Tom closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Once again the dark space was around him, filled with an eerie hum. He reached out carefully. It felt like before, but this time there was no wall in front of him, just a clear path. And yet still he couldn't move forward. He wanted to use the interface to extend his perception beyond himself, into the computer, but his mind resisted.
It felt wrong.
Perhaps he needed to sharpen his focus. He took a deep breath and tried to move his thoughts out into the system. Still nothing.
He had to find the key. The motivation to step over that threshold: to step outside himself. Tom was aware of Lentz standing next to him, yet she seemed a thousand miles away.
"If I had more time," she said, "then maybe I could come up with a hack."
"Just a little longer." His mind wouldn't accept that it could reach into the computer. Something was telling him that if he went there he would lose himself. A bead of sweat formed on his forehead.
"We need to get out of here," Lentz whispered.
"I have to make this work. Just a few more moments--"
"You have no idea how long this is going to take. We have to get to safety."
"What about Kate?"
"This plan has gone from 'long shot' to 'suicide mission'. We'll have to find another way: regroup and try again."
"Marron will kill her."
"Tom, I'm disconnecting you. Killing yourself won't save her, and right now that's all you're likely to achieve."
Tom felt her reach forward in front of him, towards the cable. Without even knowing he was doing it, his hand caught her wrist. "That's not your call."
And something in him clicked.
At first it was just a point of reference in a shapeless mass. But it showed him the way.
He was at a junction: a connection to more substantive data. He opened his mind and let it flow through. He could feel it, almost taste it.
He opened his eyes. The screen in front of him blinked. A simple cursor prompt appeared. Then text started to scroll down the screen. Tom felt the collar humming around his neck. Information streamed from the computer along the fibre optic cable.
The Tower opened up to him.
He felt its thousand cameras become his eyes, its hidden microphones become his ears, its sensors become his skin. He was one with the enormous structure around him. And it threatened to overwhelm him. If he was to find what he was looking for he needed to filter: to constrain and limit. He needed a guide.
The Tower's systems were built around a hub
. He could feel the processing core: powerful if not sentient. What do you want to know? it seemed to ask him.
He focused on one question. Where is Kate?
Images of her face flashed up in his memory and he found he knew how to pass them to the system. Powerful pattern-recognition algorithms kicked into play, searching for Kate's image among millions stored on CERUS' servers. Tom felt his mind riffle over the floor, not sequentially but somehow all at once. And in a blink he had found her.
He turned to Lentz. "Kate's on Level 71. In an internal storage room."
"Are there guards?"
"Two outside. Armed. I'll see if I can do anything to even the odds by the time you get there."
"Can I use the lift? Will it be safe?"
He concentrated. "Take the lift furthest on the right. I'll take it off the monitoring system."
She handed him a small radio. "This is encrypted and linked to mine. Use it and there's no way Marron can listen in." She turned to leave. "Will you be OK here?"
"Just go get Kate."
EIGHTY-FIVE
TOM CLOSED HIS EYES AND let his senses expand. One moment he was Tom Faraday, the next he was something... more. His senses reached out within the building. He could feel its systems, its power, its sensors, its doors and windows. He was a part of it. It was a part of him.
Yet again it threatened to tell him too much - a flood of information that would exhaust and overwhelm him if he went any further - and he drew back. This was not about feeling powerful: this was about using his abilities to help Lentz to rescue Kate. He might have found her, but the mission was not over yet.
He focused instead on one small part of the building: the area outside Kate's cell. The two guards were alert, professional and carrying automatic weapons. He'd told Lentz he would even the odds, but how? The central computer had records of an armoury in the basement. Could he guide Lentz there? It was a far longer journey than the few floors to Kate's prison cell: a far greater risk that she'd be intercepted. Even if she did make it there and back, even if she had a bigger gun, a firefight with two guards was still a risk. There had to be a better way.
And then he found it.
There was a system not listed on any of the specifications. Hidden in part of the ducting next to a laboratory on Level 61 were six gas canisters. Each contained anaesthetic gas of a kind regularly used in medical procedures. Carefully, he made adjustments to the air flow and began pumping the mix into the section where the men stood, quietly closing off doors to seal them in.
He noticed one of the men sniff the air, as if subconsciously aware something was wrong, but the gas was virtually odourless.
Tom permitted himself a smile. There were plenty more guards to deal with if they were to leave the Tower safely, but once Kate and Lentz were safe, Tom would handle them. And then he would find Marron.
◇ ◇ ◇
Kate sat on her bed, looking at the wall, shame burning her from the inside out.
She had given up Tom's number.
She had tried to fight the truth nano, but she had lost. And lost quickly. Those things had got inside her head and taken apart every defence she could muster. They grated, they fought, they rearranged her very thoughts and memories. Within minutes she had found herself telling Marron what she knew. It was like someone else was controlling her speech, saying things she would never say. Whatever he asked, she answered. Finally the sensation faded, but by then it was too late.
There was a hiss and the door to the room swung open. But instead of a guard, a short, intense-looking woman stood there, a grim smile on her face. "Are you OK?" she asked.
"Who the hell are you?"
"My name is Dominique and," she stepped aside to reveal the two guards lying slumped on the floor, "Tom sends his regards."
Kate's eyes widened.
"He tells me they're just unconscious."
"No offence, but how do I know you're who you say you are?"
Lentz held out an earpiece. "Ask him yourself."
EIGHTY-SIX
MARRON'S COMMAND CENTRE HUMMED WITH activity. Holm sat, mouth open, staring at the screens around him as they cycled endlessly through thousands of different video-feeds. "I have never seen anything like this."
"There is nothing like this," replied Marron with a slight smile.
"How many cameras do you have?" asked Holm.
"Nearly 10,000 in the building: several hundred more outside."
"And how the hell do you monitor them all?"
Marron tapped a key and an interface appeared on the largest screen. "I have multiple monitoring programmes running. They scan all the camera feeds and run configurable analysis algorithms."
"So how do you track somebody specific?"
"Using their ID card. I can track every card to within a couple of metres in real time." He paused. "Of course Zero is no longer carrying his card, but there are several other options for tracking people and usually the system runs them in parallel. The cameras can attempt facial recognition. Also, when the building is relatively uncrowded, all activity can be flagged and inspected. Unfortunately, Zero and Lentz seem to have vanished."
"And all the systems still appear to be operational?"
Marron nodded.
"Then there are two obvious non-exclusive possibilities. First, that they are moving within parts of the building that do not have camera coverage."
"Everywhere has coverage."
"Then we have to assume they have somehow taken over the system and instructed it not to show them."
Marron stared at the screens. "She hasn't co-opted my hardware, so what is she using? It would take considerably more than a laptop's processing power. Unless..."
"Unless what?"
"Zero is connected."
Holm blinked. "I'm sorry. What do you mean 'connected'?"
"If I'm right, his Tantalus interface is already operational. And he's using it to connect with the building. To control it."
"That would be way ahead of our most optimistic projections. Does he even have the latest code?"
Marron shook his head. "Lentz must have helped him accelerate things."
Holm adjusted his glasses. "I'm pretty sure I can stop whatever is happening, however they're doing it. It's quite simple really: a hard reset. We turn everything off and then turn it on again. It'll trigger a complete cold reboot."
"Won't they just re-establish control?"
"Maybe, maybe not. It'll give us both a window of opportunity to come out on top." Holm hesitated. "There is a risk attached. The whole building will be temporarily offline. Everything will shut down. All doors will open, as if it's an emergency. Also, if Zero is connected, rebooting could be... painful. If Heidn were here, he might have a better idea--"
"Forget Heidn; he's chosen to run off on us. And don't worry about Zero. A little pain can be character-building." Marron reached forward and tapped a key. On the central screen a view of the empty cell where Kate had been kept flashed up. Changing cameras, he saw the two guards lying on the floor in the corridor outside. "Apparently they have control of the lifts, cameras and who knows what else." He turned to Holm. "We have no choice. Reboot. Now."
◇ ◇ ◇
Tom watched via CCTV as Lentz led Kate out of the cell and towards the lifts.
"What now?" Lentz said via the encrypted comms unit.
"Get to the ground floor," Tom replied. "I'll meet you there."
"Shouldn't we rendezvous with you on Level 60?"
"If I disconnect, I'll lose control of the system. I'd rather not risk us all being recaptured. If you can get out, you can get help."
"I have a contact," Kate said. "Someone who should be able to bring the cavalry."
Lentz nodded. "OK, Tom. But no heroics."
"As if," he replied. He turned back to the computer. He had so much control, but still he had not been able to locate Marron and the effort was making him weary. He began again at ground level, scanning each floor. But as he did so he bega
n to hear a pulsing sound. It grew in pitch and volume, filling his senses. Within the sound seemed to be a command: an instruction that he could not refuse. Something about beginning again. A fresh start. A reset instruction...
He yanked the cable out of the computer, falling backwards off his chair. The back of his head was buzzing, the collar hot. He seemed to be swimming in fog. Gasping, he closed his eyes.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Did it work?" Marron asked.
Holm looked at the computer screen. "We'll know soon enough. It's coming back online now."
Marron called up the building diagram. One item was flagged for attention: two figures in a lift that had started its journey on Level 71, but which had come to halt with the system reset. The lift camera activated and he saw Kate and Lentz frantically pounding on the controls. He permitted himself a smile: one problem solved.
Next, he analysed the recent data flows. They had been centred on an office on Level 60.
"That's my office!" cried Holm, leaning over Marron's shoulder. He backed away when Marron flicked him a stare.
"How irritatingly ironic." Marron clicked his earpiece. "Alex, get to Level 60. Zero is in Holm's office."
EIGHTY-SEVEN
NEIL BRADLEY SAT IN WILLIAM Bern's penthouse office, spreading his hands across the huge stone desk to feel every inch of its near-perfectly smooth surface. He had dreamt that one day he would experience this moment: to take the helm of a corporate giant. But not in these circumstances.
And even though he was acting CEO, he knew he was in control of very little. The plan he had been following with Celia had all but fallen apart in a slew of failures and death. Everything in his head was telling him to get out while he could.
