The Golden City: Book Three of the Fourth Realm Trilogy

by John Twelve Hawks

  “I want to thank the press club events committee for inviting me here today. As we drove down Hollywood Boulevard on our way to the auditorium, I asked my friend, Donna Gleason, what kind of reception I might receive at this event. Donna told me you could be a tough audience and that I’d better say something significant.”

  A few reporters nodded and most of them seemed to relax at little.

  Michael decided that the photographs of the missing children had made the audience uncomfortable.

  “There’s nothing wrong with being a tough audience. That’s just means that you’re intelligent, informed and critical. We need all those qualities if we are going to save our children.

  “Before I present my proposal, I’m going to anticipate a question that some of you might be thinking: ‘How can an outsider, a person who isn’t a policeman or a government official, solve the crisis that has touched every family in California?’ That’s a reasonable thing to ask, and it doesn’t require a long answer. I think it helps that I’m not part of the system. I can approach this problem from a different perspective and offer a way out.

  “The Evergreen Foundation has been around for more than fifty years. We’re an international philanthropic organization with offices in London and New York City. Our goals are both idealistic and ambitious. We are dedicated to the health, safety and stability of human society. Over the years, we’ve funded the research of thousands of scientists doing medical and genetic research in over thirty countries. Recently, we’ve gotten involved in development of technology that fights crime and terrorism. Evergreen has no political agenda or government affiliation. We simply want to make things better—creating a world that’s healthy, prosperous and free from fear.

  “And fear is what I see here in California.” Michael gestured to the photographs behind him. “Fourteen children have disappeared in the last few weeks, vanished without a trace. Perhaps there are even more cases that have not been officially confirmed.

  “Somewhere, a monster stalks through our cities and small towns. This person is a sadistic creature whose only goal is to abduct and destroy our children—the precious little girls and boys who need our protection. Faced with this threat, how have the authorities responded? The parents know the answer. You journalists know the answer.

  But no one seems to have the courage to say it out loud. The politicians and the so-called experts have done nothing. Nothing.”

  He paused for a moment and studied the audience. Most of the reporters nodded slightly as if they had reached the same conclusion.

  “I predict that certain out-of-touch leaders, the faces we’ve seen blabbering on television, will attack me for telling the truth. They’ll say that an increased number of policemen are on the streets, that an increased number of cars have been stopped, and that an increased number of suspects have been questioned. But go ahead, be my guest, ask them: Have these useless activities stopped the monster that hunts our children?” Michael turned slightly and read the names at the bottom of the photographs. “Have they saved Roberto Cabral and Darlene Walker? Will they protect the boys and girls in danger right now while parents mourn the missing?

  “These days, mothers and fathers live in fear. They keep their children home from school. But the fear spreads, like a virus, infecting everyone. Go to the parks of this city. Children no longer kick a ball or play on the swings. Our communities have lost the laughter and joy of our little ones.

  “But I didn’t come to Los Angeles just to criticize the lack of action by the authorities. I came here to offer a solution. Our idea is simple, effective and almost immediate. What’s more, the Evergreen Foundation is prepared to fund all start-up costs.

  “The Save Our Children initiative is based on proven technology that is already being used in our research facilities. I’m proposing that a Guardian Angel radio transmitter chip with a GPS locator be placed beneath the skin of every child under the age of thirteen.

  “How does it work? The tiny chips transmit a signal to the local mobile phone networks that will be forwarded to a parent’s computer or portable communications device. With seconds, a mother can know her child’s exact location and, if there’s a problem, they can instantly contact the police.

  “Perhaps this sounds like something from the future, but I can show you how it works right now.” Michael held up his right hand. “I’m carrying a Guardian Angel clip on the back of my hand. Donna, would you please connect the Guardian Angel Program to the video monitors.”

  Donna typed a command into her handheld computer and a satellite image of Michael’s hotel appeared on two video monitors. “You’re looking at capture images of my movements during the last thirty minutes. You can see me leaving the hotel, traveling on the freeway and entering this auditorium.

  “Now a parent might say: ‘Great idea! But I can’t spend all day watching a computer screen!’ Well, the Evergreen Foundation has an answer for that as well. It will take us only a few days to connect the chips to a computer that will do the monitoring for you. All the parent has to do is establish what we call a safety perimeter—such as the child’s school, sports field and backyard. If the child is taken out of those areas, then the computer will know immediately. The electronic Guardian Angel will contact both the parents and the police.

  “These chips work, and the tracking system is amazing. Within a week, every child in California could be safe. Of course, the use of the chips will be optional, but every responsible, loving parent is going to embrace this idea. I can see a day when attendance at a public school will require proof of inoculations and a Guardian Angel chip.

  “To summarize: the system works, it’s free, and we can start protecting our children within a week. Maybe I should just sit down and eat my lunch while my staff passes out information sheets. But I can’t remain silent. I need to tell you what’s in my heart.

  “The world has become a very dangerous place, but we now have the technology to protect ourselves and others. Who could object to these simple changes? What could possibly be their motivation?

  “It’s clear that child molesters will be against these changes, along with thieves, rapists and murderers. Terrorists and the new generation of anarchists demand the perverse ‘freedom’ to destroy our way of life.

  “And who stands with this malevolent crowd? As usual, we have the cocktail-party intellectuals and left-wing college professors who have no clue about the darkness that has descended on our world. But we also have we have certain right-wing Bill of Rights crazies with old-fashioned ideas of personal freedom.

  “The average law-abiding citizen has nothing to fear from these changes. I’m not talking about some Hollywood star with private bodyguards, but the hard-working men and women who want to earn a paycheck, then drive home and watch TV while their kids play in the backyard. Who speaks for these people? Who cares for them? We do. We’re stepping forward.

  “Fourteen children have disappeared in the last few weeks. Fourteen children. Must there be more? Must posters of lost boys and girls be taped on every lamp post in this country? Will you stand up, stand together, and help us me save them!”

  There was a flurry of activity on a side aisle and Donna appeared with her arm around a small Latina woman. She pulled the woman up onto the dais, guided her over to Michael, and whispered in his ear. “Ana Cabral. You said her son’s name.”

  The mother was weeping as Michael embraced her. Yes, he thought. A good visual. And flashguns filled the room with light.

  36

  A round nine o’clock in the evening, Winston drove Maya and Alice across the river to the South Bank and dropped them off in Bonnington Square. Maya had assumed that the meeting was near Vinehouse, the illegal squat once used by the Free Runners, but they circled the square twice and couldn’t find Edgerton Lane.

  The Vinehouse chimney was still standing, but the rest of building was a pile of collapsed brick and charred floorboards. Maya paused beside the safety barrier and remembered the night she had dragged Jugger and his friends out the back door. A hundred yards away, near
the edge of the square, she had killed two Tabula mercenaries with a handgun attached to a homemade silencer. It was a Harlequin rule to never look back or express regret, but sometimes she felt like the past was following her like a hungry ghost.

  “Where’s Edgerton Lane?” Alice asked. “Let’s call Linden and get directions.”

  “Linden wanted a blackout on cell phone use two hours before the meeting.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll find it.”

  Alice ran around the square checking the street signs, then darted into a fish and chips shop. She came out with a triumphant smile on her face. “We go three blocks south and turn right.”

  They left the square and headed down a cobblestone street. Maya glanced up at the windows of the surrounding row houses and saw an older man watching television while his white-haired wife poured tea.

  “Why does Gabriel want you to come to the meeting?” Maya asked.

  “I thought he told you.”

  “He spoke to you for almost an hour, Alice. Since he came back, I’ve only talked to him for a few minutes.”

  36 Edgerton Lane turned out to be a vegetarian restaurant called The Other Way. A bulletin board outside was a virtual compendium of the different social and political movements in the last few years. Stop the war and save the whales. Raw food and hot yoga. Birth centers and new age hospices.

  She had seen notices like this since she was Alice’s age. But this time, there was a significant addition. On the lower right hand corner of the board, someone had placed a sticker that showed a surveillance camera with a bar slashed through it. Had enough? asked the sticker. Fight the Vast Machine.

  Maya expected to find a few Free Runners at the restaurant, but the shabby room was filled with strangers. She heard several different languages being spoken as people sipped drinks and waited for the meeting to start. Every table was taken, but Simon Lumbroso had saved them two chairs.

  “Buona sera. It’s a pleasure to see you both. I was worried that you didn’t receive the message.”

  “We got lost,” Alice said.

  “I didn’t think that happened to Harlequins.”

  “Winston dropped us off on the square,” Maya explained. “But we couldn’t find the street.”

  “So I asked the fish and chips man.”

  “Ahhh, I see. You weren’t really lost,” Simon winked at Alice. “As Sparrow suggested, you were cultivating randomness.”

  While Simon chatted with Alice, Maya studied the crowd that had assembled to hear the Traveler. Everyone in the room could be placed in one of two categories. Jugger and his friends were there along with various off-the-grid tribes that were their natural allies. Regardless of their different political philosophies, the members of this group dressed pretty much the same—jeans, boots, and old jackets. They were an odd mixture of low and high technology: some refused to use credit cards and grew food in rooftop gardens, but their mobile phones and computers were cutting edge.

  There was a second group at the restaurant—faces she didn’t recognize. Unlike the Free Runners, these new members of the Resistance were citizens that looked like they paid rent, raised children and held down regular jobs. They seemed uncomfortable to be sitting in cast-off chairs next to a group of shabby looking twenty-year-olds

  The owner of the restaurant was a little man with a white beard who resembled a ceramic garden gnome. As both cook and waiter, he scurried back and forth, serving herbal tea and juice smoothies. Maya wondered if any strangers had crashed the meeting, but the gnome was checking names. When he approached their table, he spoke in a low voice.

  “This is the monthly meeting of the South London Compost Society. Are you members?”

  “We are charter members,” Simon said grandly. “I am Mr. Lumbroso, and these two ladies are my friends.”

  When the gnome had spoken to everyone, he locked the door and hurried back to the kitchen. A minute later, Linden marched into the dining room. Pure Harlequin, Maya thought. The big Frenchman was calm, but alert. Although he didn’t show a weapon, there was something about him—some lack of boundaries—that was intimidating.

  “C’est bon,” he said in French and Gabriel came in behind him. The Traveler appeared tired and fragile, as if his empty body had spent too many days alone in the secret room. Maya wanted to stand up, draw her sword, and take him away from these people. Maybe they needed him, but they didn’t understand the danger.

  The Traveler circled the restaurant personally greeting everyone who had come to the meeting. He stared at each face with a power that allowed him to see split-second changes in a person’s expression. Maya doubted if anyone else in the room was aware of this ability but they knew that Gabriel saw them clearly and accepted their fears and hesitations.

  Simon leaned across the table. “Did you see the change?” he whispered. “When the Traveler is here, this becomes a movement.”

  Maya nodded as she watched the transformation. Even EricVinsky, the computer expert who called himself the Nighthawk, tried to sit up in his wheelchair when Gabriel approached him. Finally, the Traveler arrived at their table, touching Alice’s shoulder and nodding to Simon.

  “Is everything all right?”

  “We got lost,” Alice said.

  “That’s not always a bad thing, Alice. Getting lost means you’re trying a different path.”

  He turned away from them and that was it. No words for her. Not even a smile. I’m carrying your child, Maya wanted to say. Just thinking it made her nervous. She pressed her lips together so the words wouldn’t burst out of her mouth.

  Gabriel stood in the middle of the restaurant. When he raised his hands slightly, everyone stopped talking. “This is the first meeting of the worldwide Resistance. I want to thank all of you for coming. According to Jugger, our Japanese friends are stuck in Frankfurt Airport, but we do have delegates from the United States, Canada, Australia and Poland.

  “You are the core, the foundation of our group. I want all of you to get to know each other after I explain the next step in our evolution. The people in this room have different backgrounds and speak different languages. Some of you have unconventional political views while others see yourselves as liberals or conservatives. This issue unites all of us. It transcends conventional political labels. The real division in our society is between those who are aware and those who choose to remain blind.

  “Every person in this room has had a moment when we’ve looked at the world and have realized that a permanent system of surveillance is being created by the new technology. This system is able to track your movements and monitor your actions. In a few years, it would be able to control your behavior and destroy the privacy of thought that is essential for any democracy. We call this system the Vast Machine, and we are attempting to destroy its power.

  “Surveillance technology is the most visible sign of a fundamental change in human society. We are approaching a time when each of us could become another bar-coded object in a world of objects. Distracted by fear and the stress of our contemporary lives, we could only pretend to make free choices. I say ‘pretend’ because the direction of our lives would be manipulated from birth.

  “The people in this room have taken the first step. You’ve seen what’s going on and realized that our freedom is about to be lost forever. The obvious question is: how can stop this from happening?

  “The Tabula and their allies have the power to crush any conventional sort of protest group. They’re like Goliath standing on the battlefield with an enormous sword and shield. The only way to defeat them is to act like a modern David. We need to surprise our enemy with quick, decisive action. We need to conceal our organizing efforts until the last possible moment so that our movement will not be compromised or crushed.

  “Most of you have heard about the Nighthawk—the person who created our encryption code. He’s also developed and released a program called the Revelation Worm, which will allow me to speak to people all over the world. Eric, could you give us some more information ”

  The Nighthawk moved his wheelchair a few feet
from the table. Although his body was still crippled, he seemed happy that he had finally left his dormitory room. “Revelation was released six days ago. I estimate that it’s currently hiding in eight to ten million computers, and millions more are being added every day. Remember, this worm can only be activated once, and then security patches will be developed to block it. Think carefully before you pull this particular trigger.”

  Gabriel nodded, and the Nighthawk rejoined his friends. “The moment I make this speech, the Resistance has to appear and assert itself throughout the world. Some of you feel comfortable about taking part in public demonstrations. Consider yourself the ‘Voice of the Street.’ Other people here know how to influence the media and members of the government. You’re the ‘Voice of the Forum,’ and should focus on the activities of the Evergreen Foundation.

  “Both groups are necessary for our success. You need start organizing as soon as possible. Send a brief description of what you plan to do to Linden. He’s in charge of strategy and will make sure that the different groups don’t duplicate activity.”

  A few people nodded and spoke quietly to their friends. Maya stared at Linden, but the Frenchman avoided her eyes. Harlequins weren’t supposed to get involved, but it was clear that Gabriel had pulled him into the Resistance.

  “Most of you have heard about the anthrax scare in Japan and the museum bombings in France. These attacks come from unknown groups with vague objectives, but I don’t believe that these are terrorist actions. In both countries, legislation was immediately proposed by politicians with past involvement with the Evergreen Foundation’s Young World Leaders Program. The new laws would end anonymous activity on the Internet and require mandatory biometric I.D. cards. There’s also been similar activity in the United States. Simon Lumbroso has been monitoring the American media, and he’s going to explain the situation.”

  Simon stood up beside the table and checked a slip of paper with some notes. “Fourteen children have disappeared in California. As the new head of the Evergreen Foundation, Gabriel’s brother, Michael, appeared in Los Angeles and made a speech that received a great deal of publicity. Michael used this crisis to set up something called “The Guardian Angel” system. RFID chips are being placed under the skin of all children under the age of twelve. They are the first generation of people that can be scanned and tracked like merchandise in a department store.”