The Overlord Protocol

by Mark Walden

  ‘Perfectly,’ Nero replied, his curiosity once again piqued by Number One’s uncharacteristic protectiveness where Otto Malpense was concerned. ‘He will be returning to the school very shortly.’

  ‘Good, I shall leave this in your hands, then. Do not worry – an example will be made of Cypher, a very permanent and obvious example.’

  Otto woke with a start. He had a couple of seconds of disorientation as he struggled to remember where he was, but then the memories of the past few hours flooded back, though he desperately wished that they wouldn’t. He sat on the edge of the camp bed that Raven had set up in the corner of her hidden safe house. She had assured him that there would be nothing that they could do for the next few hours and that he might as well try to get some rest. He hadn’t believed for a moment that he would actually be able to sleep, but the events of earlier that day had left him more drained than he had realised.

  Raven was sitting exactly where she had been when Otto had dropped off several hours earlier, scanning the monitors in front of her. She wouldn’t tell him what it was that she was looking for but he had little doubt that it had something to do with tracking down Cypher. She glanced over her shoulder as Otto walked towards her.

  ‘Do you feel better?’ she asked as Otto came to stand alongside her.

  ‘Less tired. I’m not sure that better is the right word,’ Otto replied, rubbing his eyes with one hand.

  ‘Well, I have some good news,’ Raven said with a slight smile.

  ‘That would make a nice change,’ Otto replied, peering at the displays in front of Raven. They were showing an array of maps and charts with the odd window displaying what looked like live satellite surveillance feeds.

  ‘Here.’ Raven tapped one of the screens, where a chart was displaying a stretch of coastline with a flashing red crosshair superimposed upon it.

  ‘What’s that?’ Otto asked, leaning in to look more closely.

  ‘That is the helicopter that Cypher used in the attack this morning,’ she replied matter of factly. ‘I’ve been waiting for the tracking device to go live, but it’s designed to not start transmitting until it’s stationary for a certain length of time. It appears that this was the final destination.’

  ‘Tracking device?’ Otto said with a note of disbelief in his voice. ‘We never got anywhere near that chopper. How did you get a tracking device on board?’

  ‘The shuriken that I threw at Cypher contained a tracking device. A tracking device that is currently well and truly embedded in the skin of his helicopter.’

  ‘Oh,’ Otto said, thinking back to those desperate moments on the roof, ‘I thought you were aiming for Cypher and missed . . .’

  Raven looked at him with an expression of mild annoyance.

  ‘Mr Malpense, I don’t miss.’

  She turned back to the screen and began to type a long string of commands into an open terminal window.

  ‘I’m just setting up a surveillance satellite that the Americans were kind enough to lend me to scan the area. The coordinates I’m getting are in the middle of the jungle – I need a clearer picture.’

  Otto wandered over to one of the storage cabinets that lined the room as Raven continued working on getting the hijacked satellite into the correct position. The door was open slightly and inside Otto could see racks of weapons and equipment. There was enough gear stowed away there to fight a small war and, judging by the expression on Raven’s face as she glared at the terminal, that was exactly what she had in mind.

  ‘Well?’ Nero said impatiently as the Contessa settled into the seat on the other side of his desk.

  ‘He’s strong, but you knew that – not just physically, but mentally too. He’s clearly received extensive counter-interrogation training.’

  Nero could see that the Contessa was tired. Her face was pale and she looked older than usual. Clearly the interrogation of Francisco had drained whatever physical or mental reserves she drew on when using her strange persuasive powers.

  ‘So what did you find out?’ Nero asked, leaning forward in his chair.

  ‘Not a great deal, unfortunately,’ the Contessa replied with a sigh. ‘He does not know the identity of whoever hired him to do this. He was contacted anonymously and offered a great deal of money to provide his mysterious benefactor with details of H.I.V.E. operations. He never had any direct contact with whoever it was that turned him.’

  ‘You’re sure?’ Nero said quietly.

  ‘As sure as I can be without putting him into a coma,’ the Contessa replied, rubbing her temples. ‘Obviously it’s fortunate that we caught him, but I don’t think that he will be able to provide us with much useful information.’

  ‘Well, I think that it’s safe to assume that we know who bought him,’ Nero said. ‘Cypher appears to have been planning this for some time.’

  ‘Indeed, Francisco appears to have been working for Cypher for several weeks, perhaps months. I took the liberty of asking Professor Pike to urgently review all of the security systems to which the Colonel had access.’

  ‘Good,’ Nero replied. ‘There’s something about this that isn’t right.’

  ‘There has been very little right about the events of the past few hours,’ the Contessa replied.

  ‘Yes, I know, but Francisco never struck me as the type that could just be bought.’

  ‘Everyone has their price, Max.’

  ‘Believe me, I understand that, but Francisco always placed such importance on personal honour. It was his military background, I think. I find it hard to believe that he would betray us so completely for a few zeroes added to the balance of a Swiss bank account. It’s not like him.’

  ‘His actions may be out of character, but there’s no doubt he’s guilty,’ the Contessa said firmly. ‘There are very few people in the world who can lie when I tell them to be truthful.’

  ‘I know. I suppose I’ve just been thrown off-balance by this.’ Nero was used to dealing with the day-to-day crises that H.I.V.E. generated, whether it be the students or the attempts of law-enforcement agencies to discover the location of the base, but the events of the past twenty-four hours were unprecedented.

  ‘Security are still trying to find students Block and Tackle,’ the Contessa continued.

  ‘H.I.V.E.mind has been unable to locate them?’ Nero asked, a note of frustration in his voice now.

  ‘No, they appear to have vanished. There are plenty of places to hide on the island and even our surveillance system doesn’t cover them all. Francisco will doubtless have furnished them with detailed schematics.’

  ‘I still can’t believe that he would stoop so low as to use his own students to assist him with this,’ Nero said angrily.

  ‘Yes, I know, but those two are easily led. I suspect that Francisco would have to do little more than tell them what he wanted them to do and they would just obey without question. The Henchman stream is not noted for generating independent thinkers, Max. Don’t worry, though. They’re not getting off the island, we’ll find them eventually.’

  ‘I want them found quickly,’ Nero said, ‘before they can cause any more trouble.’

  ‘Understood,’ the Contessa said, standing to leave. ‘What do you want us to do with Francisco?’

  ‘Transfer him to the detention centre for now. I haven’t decided what to do with the Colonel yet.’

  ‘Very well, I will arrange the transfer.’ The Contessa nodded and headed for the door.

  ‘And, Contessa,’ Nero said as she reached for the door handle.

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Make sure that his stay is as uncomfortable as possible.’

  ‘Well, that’s not good,’ Raven said with a sigh as she scanned the imagery that was flashing up on the monitor.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Otto asked, noting Raven’s look of frustration.

  ‘See for yourself,’ Raven said, stepping away from the monitor.

  Otto walked over and studied the images on display. At the centre of each of the pictur
es was what looked to Otto like an enormous black hole in the middle of the jungle. It had to be at least a couple of hundred metres in diameter. Otto noted the thundering cascade of water that poured over one side of the enormous hole and realised that it must have taken millions of years for the slow abrasive effect of the thundering torrent to carve an enormous rift in the jungle like that. He knew that such boreholes could end up being hundreds of metres deep and it was impossible to make out if there was anything hidden in the blackness at the bottom of it.

  ‘He’s down there?’ Otto asked.

  ‘It would appear so,’ Raven replied. ‘As you can see, or rather as you can’t see, it’s going to be impossible to tell what’s waiting down there. I don’t like to go in blind.’

  Otto understood Raven’s concern. Cypher could have an army waiting for her and there would be no way to tell. Tactically speaking, it was an unpleasant prospect.

  ‘That’s not all, though. Switch to the EM detection array,’ Raven said, rubbing her eyes.

  Otto quickly switched between the hijacked satellite’s visual sensors and its onboard electromagnetic scanners. Immediately the jungle surrounding the hole lit up like a Christmas tree – the dense forest was filled with active electronics devices for several miles in every direction. It was impossible to tell from this range what these electronic devices were, but it was safe to assume that they weren’t designed to monitor the local flora and fauna.

  ‘Hmmm,’ Otto said, his brain already starting to analyse the problem.

  ‘My sentiments exactly,’ Raven replied with a smile. ‘There’s no way that even I’m getting within half a mile of that place overland without being detected. Cypher clearly isn’t keen on uninvited guests.’

  ‘So don’t go overland,’ Otto replied with a grin.

  ‘Meaning?’ Raven asked, raising an eyebrow.

  Otto switched to the satellite’s terrain radar and performed a series of quick scans. The results flashed up on the screen.

  ‘Three hundred metres,’ Otto said, smiling as he scanned the screen.

  Raven stepped closer to the workstation, looking at the figures that Otto had just pulled up.

  ‘OK,’ Raven said as she looked at the numbers, ‘it’s a deep hole, so what?’

  ‘HALO,’ Otto said quietly as the numbers all lined up neatly in his head.

  Raven looked at him with surprise and then a broad grin spread across her face too.

  ‘Malpense, you’re a genius.’

  As Nero walked down the stairs to the crater launch bay he was pleased to see that preparations for launching the second Shroud were already well underway. Raven had contacted him just half an hour earlier to inform him that she had apparently discovered Cypher’s current location and that she needed transport to the location as quickly as possible. He had immediately given the order for the only remaining Shroud prototype to be prepped for emergency take-off and, by the looks of the frantic last-minute checks that the ground crew were performing, they were very nearly ready.

  The Contessa was talking to the pilot as Nero walked out on to the landing pad; seeing Nero, she nodded to the pilot and he hurried over to the waiting aircraft.

  ‘I have briefed the pilot,’ she said as she walked towards Nero. ‘He’s got the pick-up location and they should be underway within the next couple of minutes.’

  ‘Good,’ Nero replied, watching as the refuelling rig’s fat hose was detached from the smooth black belly of the Shroud. ‘He knows that he’s to bring Malpense straight back here after Raven is dropped at the target?’

  ‘Yes, he’s quite aware of the importance of his cargo,’ the Contessa replied. ‘Malpense should be back within a few hours. Are you still sure that it wouldn’t be wiser to send in a more . . . substantial force?’

  Nero gave a small, cold smile.

  ‘I am quite sure that Natalya is up to the task, Contessa. She has never let us down before, as you well know.’

  ‘Oh, I’m quite aware of Raven’s capabilities, Max,’ the Contessa replied, ‘but we really don’t have any idea of the true scale of the threat that Cypher poses. I just hope that we’re not underestimating him.’

  Nero knew that the Contessa had a point, but if he was to order a full-scale military strike on Cypher’s facility it would mean involving G.L.O.V.E. in the operation in a much larger way. Nero had the feeling that for the moment it would be better to keep this operation on a smaller scale. Not only was it easier to manage, but he knew that he didn’t have to worry about where Raven’s true loyalties lay. The business with Francisco had bothered him more than he had let on and he was in no hurry to escalate the situation still further out of control. Specifically, out of his control.

  ‘I understand your concerns, Contessa, but for now we will pursue a more subtle approach. If Raven discovers that the situation is more than she can handle alone we will consider alternative options.’

  The Contessa nodded as a harried-looking technician trotted up to the two of them.

  ‘The Shroud’s fully prepped for launch, Doctor Nero, and the pilot’s reporting ready. Is there anything else?’

  ‘Has all of the equipment that Raven requested been loaded on board?’

  ‘Yes, sir, it’s all there. Back-ups too. We’re good to go.’

  ‘Very well, give the order to launch.’

  The technician nodded and turned to the flight-deck controller, giving him the thumbs-up.

  The drone of the Shroud’s idling engines suddenly grew to a roar and she lifted vertically upwards, climbing out of the crater before disappearing into the twilight gloom overhead.

  Laura and Shelby sat in the atrium of their accommodation block in silence. Neither of them had spoken much in the past couple of hours, both lost in their own thoughts, their own grief. Nothing could have prepared them for what had happened to Wing. Laura couldn’t help but wonder whether Wing might still be alive if she’d been able to decrypt the coded message’s contents sooner, if she’d been able to give more warning of the attack. She wondered if that was what the other students were thinking too. The H.I.V.E. rumour mill had clearly done its usual efficient job of diffusing the news about the events in Tokyo around the school, judging by the whispered conversations and sidelong glances from the other students in the atrium. Laura supposed that if she blamed herself then there was no reason why everyone else shouldn’t too.

  ‘Hello,’ Nigel said quietly, snapping Laura out of her brooding, ‘mind if we sit down?’

  Laura didn’t say anything, just gestured to the empty seats opposite. Franz and Nigel both looked as if they were feeling much the same as the two girls, though their sadness was clearly mixed with concern. Shelby barely acknowledged their presence, simply sat staring at the floor as she had done for the last half hour.

  ‘We were both very sorry to hear what had happened,’ Franz said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. ‘We will be missing Wing very much.’

  ‘If there’s anything that either of us can do, just . . . well, you know . . .’ Nigel said quietly.

  ‘Thanks, I . . .’ Laura began, but trailed off. She didn’t really know what to say.

  ‘I remember when my dad died that my mum told me that I shouldn’t be sad, that our bodies are just like prisons for our spirits and his was free now to go to a better place,’ Nigel said sadly.

  ‘Free?’ Shelby snapped back suddenly, startling Nigel. ‘He’s not free, he’s not gone to a better place, he’s just gone.’

  ‘Shel, please, there’s no point . . .’ Laura said quickly.

  ‘Too damn right there’s no point,’ Shelby said angrily, standing up and gesturing at the hall around her. ‘There’s no point to any of this. This place isn’t a school, it’s a prison, and I don’t want to be locked up here any more while my friends die around me.’

  Her outburst had drawn the attention of everyone in the atrium. Heads turned to watch as she stormed across the hall to the lifts that would carry her up to her room. Nigel went to follo
w her but Laura put a hand on his shoulder and gently pushed him back down into his seat.

  ‘Leave her,’ Laura said with a sigh. ‘She’s just angry. We all are.’

  As the uncomfortable silence returned Laura found herself wondering what was more worrying – Shelby’s outburst and the bitterness her friend seemed to be feeling, or the fact that she felt exactly the same way.

  .

  Chapter Ten

  ‘Over my cold, dead body,’ Raven said firmly, her arms folded.

  She and Otto stood in the middle of an abandoned area of the docks, the distant gleaming skyline of Tokyo jarringly at odds with the battered and rusting shipping containers that littered the area around them.

  ‘So that’s a no,’ Otto said with a smile.

  ‘Absolutely,’ Raven continued. ‘Nero would have me shot for even contemplating taking a student into a tactical situation like that. Especially you, Malpense.’

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Otto asked with a frown.

  Raven hesitated for a moment. Otto might be the subject of extra precautions, given Number One’s close personal interest in his well-being, but Nero had also made it perfectly clear that Otto was never to know that was the case. It was not difficult to see how a student like Otto might exploit that situation.

  ‘Nothing,’ Raven replied. ‘It’s just too dangerous, you’re not coming with me. The transport will drop me off and then take you back to H.I.V.E. and that’s the end of this discussion.’

  Otto could tell from the expression on Raven’s face that debating the matter further would be pointless. It looked as if he was just going to have to trust Raven to get the job done. If it had been anyone else in the world, except possibly Nero, he would have just ignored them and found a way to get to Cypher whether they liked it or not, but he knew there was no way she’d just let him slip through her fingers.