Assured Destruction: The Complete Series

by Michael F Stewart

  Idiot.

  I need help.

  @HairySays, @Paradise57, @TuleSays, @Heckleena, @GumpsSays, @FrannieMouth, come to Assured Destruction pls. #GOGOSHADOWNET, JanusFlyTrap tweets.

  Hopefully that makes it out to them all.

  #Gogoshadownet together hah! shadownet forever, Frannie replies and there’s pretty much only one person who I bet caught the Power Rangers reference. Hannah’s on her way and that chick is tougher than she looks. But strong enough to take on a gang? No way. None of us are.

  Chapter 29

  <> Hairy tweets.

  Jonny’s first through the door, skidding on the snowmelt I’d tracked onto the tiled floor. OMG we have a tiled floor! I haven’t even processed everything the awesome people have done for me and my mom.

  “What’s up? What’s going on?” Jonny asks.

  “Peter,” I say. “Wait until everyone arrives and then I’ll explain.”

  Everyone. Hannah, Harry, Karl, Jonny, and Ellie. I make six.

  We’re sitting on a huge plush sofa. I’ve ordered pizza, because no one attacks gangsters on an empty stomach, and we’re chugging Coke.

  I explain to them everything that I know. That my dad was part of a gang called Bitchain. That I’ve been to his grave. That Peter is a former agent for an anti-fraud group investigating my father; he fell in love with my mother and now won’t let the case go.

  He’s on his way to collect evidence, but doesn’t realize that I’ve already blown his cover.

  I don’t know how many gang members there are, only that they’re all gathering for some sort of annual meeting.

  “If they’ve killed once, they’ll kill again, right?” Harry asks, his afro bobbing.

  “Anyone who doesn’t want to be a part of this, say so right now. I totally understand,” I say. “You’ve done way too much already.”

  Karl cracks his knuckles. Jonny’s frowning.

  “What about the police, I know you said there was a leak, but—” he says.

  “Do you think Williams would believe me? That she wouldn’t tell anyone else?” I ask.

  “What can it hurt?” Jonny replies. “If Peter’s cover is compromised already, then the leak won’t be revealing anything they don’t already know.”

  “Yeah, just keep the plan a secret and send out a tweet if the police are going to take care of it all,” Harry adds.

  “Okay,” I say, not seeing fault in his reasoning.

  “So what’s the plan?” Ellie asks. Her voice quavers. Not everyone is as impulsive as me.

  “Oh, right.” I point to a notepad with the locations of all known gang hideouts.

  “We can’t take on a gang,” I say, and everyone nods. “But we can get the police to come pay them a visit. They’ll provide cover for whatever we’re up to.”

  Harry’s nodding. “They can’t shoot us with the police right there.”

  I hope.

  “I thought the police were the leak,” Karl says.

  “They are, but not everyone on the force,” I reply.

  “Or the fire department,” Hannah says.

  I shiver a little, having had enough fire in my life. “Hannah’s right. The fire department can be a part of helping us with this too.”

  “So what are we doing?” Jonny asks.

  “First we need to be sure where the meeting is happening. You’ll split up and report back here what sort of activity you see,” I explain as I write names beside each of the locations. “I’m pretty sure it’ll be at the mansion, but I don’t want to assume anything.” I’m so turning over a new leaf!

  “What are you going to be doing?” Karl asks.

  “Jonny and I will be preparing the attack. Testing a few things.”

  I could give them details but am beginning to think like a secret agent—what if they are caught? The less they know the better.

  “You heard Jan, let’s get going,” Karl says and stands.

  Hannah’s obsidian eyes seem to cast sparks. I’ve seen the look before. No one is smiling, their faces are grim and focused. To my surprise no asks any more questions; they stand, give each other and me quick tight hugs, and set off. They trust me. Like Peter trusted me.

  When they’re gone, Jonny checks that the stairwell is clear and then sits back beside me.

  I sag into the couch.

  “What?” he asks.

  “Sometimes when I think I’m over my dad, something will trigger a memory and all the pain comes back.”

  “I didn’t know my dad much,” he says. “My parents divorced when I was five and he took off to work oilrigs.”

  I’ve never heard Jonny talk about his dad. I guess I’d never asked.

  “I still miss him, though,” he adds. “A family of two isn’t very big.”

  We’ve more in common than I thought. I thread my fingers through his.

  “I’m scared.”

  “I’m sure the police will help,” he says.

  “I’m scared for my friends.” Asking for their help makes me responsible for them.

  “We’re all adults.” He smirks. “At least, we make our own decisions.”

  I stare into his eyes. “Why do you believe in me?”

  “I love you.”

  And it’s out and he’s said it. I totally, completely have never heard these words from a boy who wasn’t my father, and it feels so indescribably good.

  I can’t help my grin. “Jonny … I … when I was lying in the hospital and I didn’t think anything was possible. I didn’t want to eat. I didn’t care. That’s the opposite of how you make me feel.”

  That’s all I’ve got for him. And maybe it’s enough. Maybe it’s the definition for love. That the person you love makes you feel invincible.

  “You do have a plan, right?”

  “We’re making phone calls,” I say, my eyes narrowing as I come back into focus on the strategy. “Hacking the cops. We’re smoke-bombing U Technical and the house in Centretown. We’re doing whatever we can to cause an exodus from the mansion and distract the people from the real problem. Which is how to get Peter out of there. Alive.”

  “What about the mansion? You do remember that they have an electric fence?”

  “A good hacker doesn’t need to use brute force,” I say. “I have an idea of how to get in.”

  “And out? What if you are caught?”

  “I don’t think they’ll hurt anyone if the cops and media are outside their gates.”

  Jonny doesn’t look so sure. “Media?”

  I ignore his question. “I need you to go out and buy as many sparklers as you can.” The media is a challenge I need a chance to work on.

  “Sparklers.”

  “Yeah, hundreds of them. We’ll strip off the sparklers bits, funnel them into these Coke bottles and set them off. Makes a great firebomb and won’t do any real damage.”

  “YouTube?”

  “Where else.” I grin.

  “When are you going to the cops?”

  “First the sparklers.” I pass him the keys. “Take the van. Pull for gas, push—”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know.”

  Jonny heads out and I swallow another piece of pizza. In the meantime, I track down the phone numbers for A ZaZa, U Technical, the Centretown address, and the mansion.

  For my media trick to work, I need to be able to hack Twitter accounts. Given enough time, I could probably set up a phishing scam to prompt a tired publicist to use a fake link, but I have minutes, not days. I use my new ID to sign into Darkslinger and play script kiddie. Sure enough, there’s a whole thread devoted to hacking Twitter and other social networks. Even the exploit is free.

  Karl, who went
to U Technical, is first back, followed by Hannah, who checked out A ZaZa.

  “U Technical has only one car out front,” he says.

  “And the warehouse at the back?” I ask.

  “Maybe a truck.”

  “Good.” That was the second most likely location for the gathering.

  Hannah punches through the fire exit and flops on to the couch. “The pizza place was open but it only had some pimply kid at the counter. I went in.”

  “Perfect, Hannah.” Having A ZaZa open is critical.

  The elevator grinds slowly up. When it dings, the doors open to reveal Ellie.

  “No one home,” Ellie says, and I know the Centretown location is clear.

  “Ellie, I have a celebrity question.” She perks up. “If some celebrity bought a new home and it was nearby, would you go see it?”

  She shrugs. “Maybe, depends who it was?”

  “Who would you for sure go to see?”

  Her brow knits as she thinks. “Celine Dion!”

  I laugh. She’ll be perfect.

  Every minute we wait is another that Peter loses and I debate whether to visit Williams before the plan is in place, but hold off. When Jonny returns with a bouquet of sparklers, we set about filling the now-empty Coke bottles with the gray matter we strip away.

  With everyone but Harry back, it only takes a few minutes before the two soda bottles are nearly full, and we make a few more sparkler-bombs with smaller bottles.

  Harry returns at a sprint.

  “It’s like it’s fair day,” he shouts. “The cars are parked all over the lawn. Way too many motorbikes.”

  “All right,” I say, dusting the last of the sparklers from my hands. “Here’s what we’re going to do.”

  Chapter 30

  <> JanusFlyTrap tweets.

  I tweet in the face of danger, Hairy replies.

  “Who wants to do the dangerous stuff?” I ask.

  All hands shoot up except Harry’s.

  “What?” he says. “I’m a lover not a fighter.”

  “Okay, Karl, you’re on U Technical. You’ll light the sparkler-bomb and make phone calls from nearby, claiming to see a fire there. I’d throw the bomb on to the roof because they won’t be able to put it out or investigate, but make the calls first. The bomb won’t last long.”

  “Harry, you’ll stay at Assured Destruction. You’re to make phone calls, posing as each of the locations, claiming that your place is on fire.”

  “But they’ll know I’m not calling from them,” he says.

  “We can spoof our ID so it looks like it is.”

  “Say what? You can make it look like they’re calling 911?”

  “Yeah, it’s not hard.”

  “You rock,” Hannah says, and we bump fists.

  “Ellie, you’ll set your sparkler-bomb off at the Centretown house, then make a call from nearby so that they have multiple people all claiming the same thing.”

  “What’s that going to do?” Hairy asks.

  “Hopefully Bitchain will believe they’re under attack and will send a bunch of gangsters out. Thin the ranks a bit and cause disruption.”

  “Jonny and Hannah will set up reconnaissance at the mansion. After you see the gangsters go, send a tweet to @HairySays. That will be his signal to order five party-size pizzas and have them delivered to the mansion. Then send a second tweet when the pizza guy arrives. That will be the signal to call the fire department about a fire at the mansion. Only send that tweet after the pizza’s delivered.”

  Everyone nods but Jonny, who’s gone quiet and squints at me.

  “No way,” Jonny says.

  “What do you mean?” I ask.

  “You’re sneaking into the back of the pizza delivery car.”

  “Brilliant idea, right?” I say.

  “It’s crazy.” Jonny clucks his tongue as if amazed at my stupidity.

  “Maybe, but do you have a better idea? We need to bypass an electrified fence, an open field, likely under surveillance, and then whatever’s inside.” There’s only silence. “I don’t have a plan B.”

  “Let’s hope the police will handle this,” Harry says.

  “Hannah and Jonny, you’ll be our watch. You tweet if anything happens, using the Shadownet hashtag. Harry needs access to everyone’s Shadownet Twitter accounts because he’ll be tweeting a lot.”

  “Tweeting?” Harry scratches his bulb of hair.

  “Yeah, you’ve got a huge tip.” A big smile starts to spread across my face. “Celine Dion just bought a new mansion.”

  “Really?” Ellie asks.

  I roll my eyes. “No, not really, but her fans don’t need to know that.”

  “I see,” Karl says. “You want people to come to the mansion.”

  “Yep, Harry’s going to tweet the address at every news service he can think of and retweet everything Celine Dion puts out. If we have media, we have safety.”

  “You’re hacking Celine?” Ellie asks, eyes wide.

  “Already hacked in fact,” I say. “Password is Nearfarwhereeveryouare.”

  Ellie starts singing the Titanic theme song, and her voice is … it’s as if I gathered all the tails of my strays and then proceeded to whirl them around my head. That’s what it sounds like.

  Hannah’s hand shoots up like she has a question.

  I laugh. “Hannah?”

  “Thinking … We could find some Road Closed signs and detour traffic toward the hideout. The more people the better, right?”

  Fist bump.

  “How about you make some sort of WiFi grenade to hack their surveillance, record what they’re seeing, and then loop it so they can’t see us coming!” Karl says.

  “What?” I ask.

  “You can’t do that?” Karl asks.

  “Uh … Maybe if we had more time, but thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  “Brainstorming,” he says, flushing red.

  “Hey,” Jonny says. “Thanks for letting us in on this. It’s a first.”

  It is, I realize.

  “Um … you know we could get hurt, right?” I say. Everyone nods and my throat tightens. “You guys are the best.”

  For the next twenty minutes we walk through each of the tasks. And everything that could go wrong, which is a lot. I pack the three small sparkler-bombs into my parka with some matches.

  When we’re all set, I ask: “Everyone know their jobs?”

  Nods all around.

  “Remember, no one moves on this until they’ve heard back from my meeting with the police,” I say.

  More nods.

  It’s time.

  “Good luck,” I say.

  And everyone rushes together into a giant huddle-hug that I never want to end.

  Chapter 31

  <> Paradise57 tweets.

  Despite the cold I’m sweating as I open the doors to the Ottawa Police Department. Why wouldn’t they believe someone who recently went crazy and was convicted of sending false tips to the police, something I plan to do again?

  I know this is the right thing to do, but talking to the cops will set off a whole slew of potential outcomes. Will Assured Destruction be investigated by the police for money laundering? Will they force its closure? What about the Zombie Worm? Have I broken the law by agreeing to help out Sw1ftM3rcy? Not that he’d see it that way.

  Maybe none of that’s important. Peter is under threat and I have to accept responsibility for putting him there.

  I knock on the security door in the atrium. No one answers but another cop is passing through. I don’t know him, but he appears to recognize me.

  “Sorr
y we won’t be having you on the force,” he says. “It was fun watching you.”

  Not sure what he means by that, but I smile anyways. “Can I come in and talk to Detective Williams?”

  He looks at me and says, “Come to try and convince her, eh? I’ll see if she’s in.”

  “Wait.” My foot props the door open. “Convince her of what?”

  The cop turns back and winks. “Kid, if you were on the force, I swear, I’d look forward to coming into work. Right back.”

  The door shuts.

  I wait a good ten minutes. Ten minutes Peter doesn’t have.

  #Shadownet Waiting … sucks, JanusFlyTrap tweets.

  @JFlyTrap, don’t worry, I’m sure your STD will clear up soon, Heckleena replies. Doctor will fix you.

  And since everyone else is accounted for, Hannah on Frannie, Peter on Gumps, and all the others on the Twitter handles they inspired, I know that Heckleena must be operated by Karl. Proof that everyone has some snark to them.

  Finally the door opens and Williams smiles down at me.

  “Jan, come on in.” She tugs me through the corridor of cubicles. “You’re looking well.”

  “Um, thanks.” I struggle to keep up. “Can I talk to you about something really big going down?”

  “Sure, let’s find somewhere private.”

  “Hi, Jan!” It’s Ethan, Hannah’s brother, who, although he has to like me because I saved his sister, played a pivotal role in bringing the wrath of the captain down on me. I give him a wave and a smile. I would thank him for his help on the Kickstarter campaign but there’s this gang to bring down first.

  This time Williams finds a meeting room. It has a small table and four chairs.

  “What can I help you with? How’s Annie?” she asks.

  “Annie—sorry, this is serious.” I have no time for chitchat. “Remember how I told you about my mom’s boyfriend?”

  She nods.

  “Well, he’s trying to infiltrate the gang I mentioned: Bitchain. And I know his cover is already blown and he’s walking into a trap.”