One Life Remaining (Portal Book 2)

by Mark J Maxwell

  ‘Okay, I’m sorry. It was a low blow. It’s just that I’m still trying to piece together what happened. Our MET liaison’s getting stonewalled. We both know the procedure for a bomb attack in London. CT Command should be coordinating the investigation, right?’ Louisa nodded. ‘Well apparently it’s been taken off their hands.’ Simon threw his hands up in the air, then winced and gingerly touched his side. ‘No one can tell me who’s in charge.’

  ‘Take it easy. You’ll hurt yourself if you don’t calm down.’

  ‘I’ll take it easy when I find out why a seventeen year old kid blew himself up in my building!’

  Louisa bit her lip. Was it fair, keeping what she knew from him? He’d find out anyway, sooner or later.

  ‘Ah, I’m sorry, Louisa,’ Simon said. ‘I shouldn’t be taking it out on you.’

  ‘No, don’t apologise.’ Simon must have thought he’d upset her. It made her feel even worse. ‘The reason I came to see you. It’s related to the group who carried out the bombing.’

  ‘The group? You mean Henry Booth wasn’t acting alone?’

  Now it was Louisa’s turn to be taken aback. ‘How did you ID him so fast?’

  ‘I didn’t have to ID him.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘Piqued your interest, have I?’ Simon grinned.

  Louisa returned his smile. ‘Okay, you win. Why don’t you tell me what you know and I’ll do the same.’

  ‘We had a break-in at one of our server farms two months ago. I forwarded the sense footage to a firm of private investigators I’ve used in the past. Ex-MET colleagues. They ID’d Henry Booth within a few days. The second guy proved more difficult. They drew a blank on him.’

  ‘Can I see the footage?’

  He nodded. ‘Sure. ‘

  Louisa accepted Simon’s visual input request and pinned the open sense window to the wall above the bed. A watermark in the bottom-left corner indicated it was from a Portal server farm based at London docklands. Two men appeared, walking in between a rack of tall servers. One was Henry Booth, the other, Killian Baker. They stopped at a server. Baker inserted a cable into its rear, then connected the other end to a portable computer. Louisa glanced at Simon, then back to the screen when he caught her looking.

  ‘You know who Booth’s accomplice is,’ Simon said.

  If Drew caught her disclosing information he’d have her hide, but at this stage she’d gone beyond caring. With Ben a possible clan member her name was mud anyway. ‘I do. Have you heard of a Multiverse clan called the Sons of Babel?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘They’re behind the bombing.’

  ‘And Henry Booth was one of them?’

  Louisa nodded. ‘The man with him is Killian Baker. Another clan member. We arrested him during an operation at Tilbury Docks. Baker and an accomplice were attempting to buy military grade submachine guns.’

  ‘You have him in custody?’

  ‘We did. He committed suicide.’

  Simon raised an eyebrow, but otherwise remained unaffected by the news of Baker’s death. She nodded to the sense footage. ‘Did you discover what they were up to?’

  ‘They accessed a portion of the server farm set aside for our Research Subnet.’

  Louisa gave him a sharp look. ‘The same subnet your Kings Cross facility uses?’

  Simon nodded.

  ‘I can’t imagine it would have been easy to gain entry to one of your server farms,’ Louisa said.

  ‘It should have been impossible.’ A touch of frustration entered Simon’s tone. ‘I carried out a security review on our facilities upon being appointed CEO. Aside from the sense-driven intruder alarms they would have had to pass through two manned checkpoints. The guards swear they saw no one.’

  ‘Don’t you have any sense footage of the checkpoints?’

  ‘The sense motes at the checkpoints malfunctioned. Electromagnetic interference—or so the team responsible for maintaining our sense technology believes. It’s likely the only reason we have this sense footage is because the same interference would have fried the servers.’

  Louisa nodded. Just like at the power station. Still, it didn’t explain how Booth and Baker got past the guards. ‘Did your private detectives dig up anything else on Booth?’

  ‘Very little. He is, or was, a talented programmer. He won several hackathons in his youth, when he wasn’t banged up in juvenile detention centres.’

  ‘What did they take from the servers?’

  ‘Project data mostly, gathered during experiments carried out in our prototype labs.’

  ‘Can I see?’

  Simon shook his head. ‘Sorry, it’s commercially sensitive.’

  ‘You can’t be serious!’

  ‘I am. It’s bad enough Baker and Booth have the data. It’s not a question of trust. I can’t transfer it from the Subnet.’

  Louisa fumed. She’d been more than forthcoming with Simon, and now he was cutting her out? Well she knew one way to get Simon to talk. ‘I’ve got something for you. I think you misplaced it.’

  ‘Oh yes?’

  Louisa retrieved the cube she picked up at the power station from her jacket pocket and held it out. She hadn’t thought it possible for Simon to grow paler, but somehow he managed it. The cube was the real reason for her visit to the Portal HQ. She wanted to hear Simon explain how a device with Portal coded nanoware had ended up at a crime scene. ‘Do you know what this is?’

  Simon nodded. ‘It’s a prototype from our research lab. They’re called nanobricks. Our scientists first came up with the idea of a tool to help rescue workers in the aftermath of natural disasters. Earthquakes for example. The nanobricks are extremely robust, and as such can operate in environments deemed too hazardous for humans. They can slip into crevices, searching collapsed buildings to find buried survivors. They can even merge to provide structural support around survivors until rescuers reach them.’

  ‘If they’re so useful why haven’t you disclosed their existence?’

  ‘They weren’t deemed a viable product due to their extreme energy requirements.’

  ‘Then they aren’t a weapon?’

  ‘No! We don’t design products to harm people, Louisa. I thought you knew me better than that.’ He hissed, wincing, and raised a hand to the back of his head.

  ‘Are you all right?’ Louisa took a step toward him. ‘Should I call the nurse?’

  ‘I’m fine. I get pains sometimes, that’s all.’ He lowered his hand. ‘I shut the nanobricks project down. I thought they’d all been destroyed. Some of them obviously weren’t. I’ll get to the bottom of how they ended up at your crime scene. I promise.’

  ‘Why did you shut the project down?’

  Simon held her eyes for a long moment, then appeared to reach a decision. ‘It’ll be easier to explain if you see for yourself.’

  *

  Simon and five men in white lab coats stood before a wide glass wall. The men hovered nervously around Simon, fussing, like chicks over a mother hen. On the other side of the glass a complicated maze had been constructed from low brick walls and including obstacles such as ramps, deep pits and pools of water. In its very center thousands of nanobricks lay strewn in a haphazard manner.

  One of the lab coats tapped a terminal he carried. At first nothing happened, then two nanobricks clicked together. A split second later two more joined, forming a larger cube. More nanobricks slid across the floor, then they all started moving. Faster and faster they fused to the central mass. When the last nanobrick slotted into place a sphere had taken form.

  ‘Very impressive,’ Simon said with a smile. ‘Can they do any other tricks?’

  ‘Of course, sir,’ the lab coat said. ‘With your permission I’ll now activate free roaming. This program has been designed to test their environment adaptability.’

  Simon gestured at the glass. ‘Fire away.’

  The man tapped the screen again. The nanobricks slumped, forming the same flat disc Louisa wi
tnessed at the power station. After a few seconds he tapped the screen again. A sheen of perspiration glistened on his forehead. ‘Sometimes it takes a minute for the nanobricks to scan their immediate environs.’

  All eyes concentrated on the mass. A few more nervous seconds passed. When the flattened nanobricks slowly rose up the lab coats sighed in collective relief. Like a ripple across a smooth pond, the nanobricks undulated toward the observers. When they encountered the first wall, two tendrils shot out and gripped its top. They retracted, dragging the entire mass up and over.

  ‘What happens when they reach an obstacle they can’t climb over?’ Simon asked as the nanobricks approached the glass.

  ‘The nanobricks continuously map the environment using sense technology. They’ll try to find a way around.’

  The mass reared up and placed two tendrils against the glass. When Simon retreated a step the lab coat grinned. ‘It’s perfectly safe. We’ve run this test countless times already. They’ll go around.’ A tendril elongated, feeling its way up the glass. ‘This is new behaviour.’ The lab coat leaned forward, squinting. ‘Perhaps it’s testing the height of the obstacle.’

  The long tendril lifted from the glass and relaxed back. With a whip-like motion it snapped forward and hit the glass. The lab coat jerked away and hastily joined Simon and the other lab coats who’d shuffled back. The tendril snapped forward and struck against the glass once more. Cracks streaked away from the point of impact.

  ‘What’s it doing?’ Simon demanded.

  ‘I-I don’t know,’ the lab coat said. ‘They’ve never acted this way before.’

  ‘Shut them down.’

  ‘I’m trying.’ He prodded the terminal. ‘It’s not working!’

  With a resounding crash the glass gave way. Simon and the scientists had backed up to the door by this stage, which slid open behind them. The nanobricks retracted the tendril and poured into the viewing room.

  The recording ceased.

  ‘What happened next?’ Louisa asked.

  ‘They ran amok and trashed a nearby lab,’ Simon said. ‘Eventually their power ran dry and they fell apart. It’s lucky no one was injured.’

  ‘Did you discover why they behaved that way?’

  ‘The team carried out a comprehensive review.’ Simon shook his head. ‘An unreproducible bug was what they came up with. I ordered the project shut down and the nanobricks destroyed.’ He eyed the cube in Louisa’s hand. ‘It seems my instructions weren’t carried out. I assume they behaved the same way at your crime scene?’

  ‘They didn’t malfunction if that’s what you mean.’

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘I had someone look at this nanobrick’s code. It received instructions from the Global Web. Could your nanobricks have been under the same external influence?’

  ‘No. Not from the Global Web, at any rate. I had the subnet firewalls checked afterwards for intrusions, just in case.’

  ‘The lab your nanobricks attacked,’ Louisa said. ‘What were they researching?’

  ‘Why do you ask?’

  ‘It might mean something.’

  Simon’s eyebrows met and he pressed his lips together. To someone who didn’t know him it may have looked as if he was giving her question some serious thought. Louisa knew better. During their time together she didn’t think Simon had lied to her once. He was unfailingly honest. But when she asked him something he didn’t want to answer he clammed up and adopted the same obstinate expression.

  ‘Can you at least show me the footage?’ Louisa asked.

  Simon nodded. ‘I can do that.’

  This time the sense footage showed a spacious pearlescent room similar to the warehouse-sized lab where Louisa had discovered a neural lattice test subject on the Claire Harris case. It even possessed a number of the same square rooms. Louis counted fifteen in the footage, all their walls transparent. None were occupied. The nanobricks had already destroyed several floor-standing consoles and were currently laying waste to a piece of equipment similar to the scanner Ed used on the nanobrick. Three tendrils lashed against the machine, cutting deep grooves in its white casing. One tendril whipped back, then slowed. The next strike was limp, barely marking the machine. Then it froze. The mass disintegrated, scattering cubes.

  The lab’s sliding doors opened and a man stuck his head in. He relaxed once he saw the state of the nanobricks. More men and women in lab coats appeared. They stared open-mouthed at the state of the wrecked lab.

  Simon cut off the feed.

  ‘Wait,’ Louisa said. ‘Open it back up, please.’

  Simon gave her a curious look, but did as she asked.

  Louisa pointed at the one of the lab coats. ‘Who’s that man?’

  ‘He’s the project lead for the experiment.’

  ‘What experiment?’

  ‘The one the nanobricks just destroyed.’

  ‘And his name?’

  ‘Spencer Harrow.’

  *

  ‘There’s got to be some mistake.’

  Louisa shook her head. ‘Harrow’s with the Sons of Babel. We ID’d him at the same crime scene as Baker.’

  ‘But he worked for Portal for years.’

  ‘Worked for? Where is he now?’

  ‘I’ve no idea. I had to fire him.’

  ‘Why?’

  Simon pressed his lips together.

  ‘Come on, Simon. I don’t think the commercially sensitive excuse is going to swing it any more, do you?’

  Simon took a deep breath, then nodded. ‘Harrow was conducting research into optogenetics. It’s a technology that facilitates the triggering of parts of the brain by making the neurons receptive to visual stimuli. Normally this is achieved by treating the neurons with a light-sensitive protein. Harrow thought he’d found a way to achieve the same result without the protein. It was only after the nanobricks destroyed his lab I discovered he was conducting human trials.’

  Louisa’s voice took on a dangerous edge. ‘Human trials. After what happened with the neural lattice?’

  ‘I didn’t know what he was doing. I introduced strict protocols around human testing as soon as I took over as CEO. I had to give consent, personally, for any such trials. Harrow circumvented my authority.’

  Louisa didn’t like the look on Simon’s face. He was gearing up for something. ‘That’s not the complete story, is it?’

  ‘No. He was treating his subjects with a drug he synthesised from trance.’

  ‘He injected narcotics into people?’ Simon nodded. A horrible suspicion formed in Louisa’s mind. ‘Did you cover it up? Is that why you didn’t want to tell me?’

  ‘Of course not.’ Simon scowled. ‘I reported it to the police straight away.’

  ‘And they investigated Harrow?’

  ‘Actually, no. After hearing nothing for a week I chased it up through our MET liaison. He said the case was under review. Luckily I know a few officers who still owe me a favour. They told me the case file had been transferred out of the MET Subnet.’

  ‘On whose authority?’

  ‘The NCA’s.’

  Louisa’s shock rapidly turned to anger. Drew lied to me. He’d given her the impression he only came across Harrow a few days ago. Had he known about the clan for months? And if so, what else had he kept from her?

  ‘The NCA took over my case too,’ Louisa said. ‘We history graphed Harrow and it turned out he was Red Flagged.’

  Simon nodded thoughtfully. ‘Did you discover who authorised the flags?’

  She shook her head. ‘The NCA shut me out.’

  ‘The NCA has the capability, but it’s unlikely it was them.’

  ‘How can you be so sure?’

  ‘They feed off the MET and whatever scraps the intelligence services throw them. If they set Red Flags against Harrow, it was at the behest of MI5, MI6, or GCHQ. I’d bet my life on it.’

  Louisa recalled her conversation with Drew outside the flats. GCHQ selectors had instigated the NCA’s inves
tigation. Were GCHQ behind the Red Flags? It was possible, but GCHQ normally played a subservient role to MI5 or MI6. And given her own past with MI6, she wouldn’t put anything past them. ‘There’s something else I haven’t told you.’ She’d been dreading this moment, but now wasn’t the time to hold anything back.

  He arched an eyebrow. ‘Go on.’

  ‘It’s Ben. Two weeks ago he received a membership invite from the Sons of Babel. I haven’t seen him since.’

  ‘Ben’s a clan member?’ Simon was disbelieving.

  ‘Maybe. I don’t know. But he can’t be involved with the bombing.’ A tremor entered her voice. ‘He just can’t.’

  Simon reached over and gave her hand a squeeze. ‘Hey, I believe you.’

  Louisa nodded, but couldn’t bring herself to speak.

  ‘You know I’d do anything I could to help,’ Simon said, ‘but the MET have far more tools at their disposal for locating people than I do. I’ve spent the last three years tightening security around all of Portal’s systems. My staff doesn’t have access to profile data any more than the MET.’

  ‘I’m afraid for him, Simon. There’s a COBRA meeting in a few hours. Once the clan is viewed as terrorists there’ll be no distinguishing between its members.’

  ‘I might not be able to find Ben for you, but I can get you into the COBRA meeting.’

  Louisa almost laughed. ‘Why on earth do you think I’d be let into a COBRA meeting?’

  ‘I just finished speaking with the Home Secretary before you arrived. A Portal representative is due to attend the meeting. Originally I was going to send a board member. Now I think it should be you.’

  ‘Why? What good would it do? The Prime Minister wouldn’t listen to anything I have to say.’

  ‘It won’t just be the PM and her ministers at the meeting. There’ll be representatives from all the intelligence services, along with the MET Commissioner and the armed forces Chief of Staff.’

  Louisa nodded, realisation dawning. ‘The NCA Director General will be there.’

  ‘The PM will select someone to take charge of the investigation. If the NCA are as deep into this as you think, the Director General will do everything he can to retain control.’

  Louisa didn’t relish the idea of attending such a high-powered meeting. The MET Commissioner wouldn’t be impressed by her presence either. She was supposed to be under his command. If she attended as Simon’s representative he’d wonder where her loyalties lay. ‘What would I even say?’