Urban Outlaws

by Peter Jay Black

  ‘Isn’t that risky?’ Charlie said.

  Jack thought the virus was beautiful. He wanted to know how it worked. He admired whoever had designed it. It was a masterpiece. He looked at them all. ‘It’s safe.’ Though he couldn’t expect them to understand.

  Obi shouted a swear word, which made them all jump.

  ‘What now?’ Slink said.

  Obi pointed at another screen. ‘Look.’

  Jack shifted position to see.

  It was a satellite image, though fuzzy and tinted green. It showed a bird’s-eye view of a camp in the middle of a desert. Several tents sat in a circle beside two pickup trucks.

  Jack could just about make out the silhouette of a man leaning against one of the trucks.

  The five of them frowned at the image.

  ‘Where’s that coming from?’ Jack said.

  Obi pointed at one of the other screens that showed an open command box linked directly to Proteus.

  For a moment, Jack didn’t understand, then he remembered. They’d been so distracted with the virus, they’d all forgotten the main thing – that they’d cured the problem with Proteus.

  From what Jack could tell, Proteus had been infected with that virus, not interference, and somehow, some way, it had moved from Proteus to their own server. Not copied, but actually moved.

  Now free, Proteus was running at maximum efficiency, and what Professor Markov had failed to do, they’d cured by accident.

  But what was Proteus actually doing?

  The image vanished and a document popped up in its place. At the top of the page was the logo and address of the Russian embassy in London. Below it was a letter typed in what Jack could only assume were Russian symbols.

  ‘I’m guessing none of you can read that?’ Jack said.

  They all shook their heads.

  The image snapped off and was replaced by yet another document. This one had a mug shot of a man with shoulder-length messy brown hair and a thick beard. He wore a dirty off-white shirt, and his cold, penetrating eyes stared back at them.

  Underneath the man’s photo was his name: Simon Grate. Age: 37. Wanted in connection with the Manhattan bank robbery of 3 August. Presumed armed and dangerous. Do not approach. Call –

  Before they could finish reading, the image changed to a new satellite photograph – this one of a densely packed city, though it looked less like a city and more like a shanty town. Thousands of red and grey boxes were packed close together on a hillside.

  Jack thought he recognised it as Caracas, though he wasn’t sure.

  It was at that exact moment that he got it. ‘I know what this is,’ he said, a blast of excitement rising from his stomach. The others looked at him with quizzical expressions. ‘Digital secrets.’

  ‘Digital what now?’ Charlie said.

  ‘Secrets.’ Jack pointed at the Proteus display. ‘That’s what it does. Don’t you get it?’ He couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t be real. But there it was.

  ‘Wanna explain?’ Slink said, folding his arms and leaning against Obi’s chair.

  Jack took a deep breath. ‘Proteus is a quantum computer, right? Theoretically able to surpass any other computer in the world?’ This was greeted with a mixture of shrugs and nods. ‘Well, one use for a quantum computer could be to have it crack any password, gain access to any network,’ he swallowed, ‘take any secret.’

  ‘Wait, wait,’ Slink said. ‘That virus was stopping Proteus from working, and we removed it, so now . . . what? Proteus is free to steal secrets from all over the world?’

  Jack nodded and watched as realisation dawned on each of their faces. Another document flashed up – this one a letter with TOP SECRET stamped across it.

  ‘Thanks to us,’ he said slowly, ‘Proteus is now the world’s best hacker.’

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Jack sat on the sofa and stared into space. The walls danced with the light from the LCDs as they flooded with images – hundreds of top-secret documents. He ignored them and a wave of guilt washed over him like an ice shower. What had they done? They’d cured the problem with Proteus and opened the door to the world’s secrets.

  Not the best day he’d ever had.

  It wasn’t as if Jack had known what he was doing when he’d asked Obi to copy the code. How was he to know the virus would move itself from Proteus to their own computers? All he wanted to do was have a look at it. In hindsight, it was obvious what the virus was created for – to stop Proteus from working. To stop the government from hacking the rest of the world.

  Jack groaned and buried his head in his hands.

  Proteus was now free to steal any secret, and the government had access to ultimate power. No nation deserved that power.

  Way too much temptation.

  Sure, they could use Proteus to hunt down every terrorist and bad guy in the world, bring them to justice, but they could also infringe on people’s human rights. No one would be free from Proteus’s gaze.

  Worst of all, the government could use Proteus to track down the Urban Outlaws. They would link Jack to all his previous hacking crimes, and send him to juvenile prison.

  God only knows what would happen to the others.

  Jack sighed. He needed to fix this before it went too far.

  Charlie sat on the sofa opposite. She looked pale. Clearly she understood the gravity of their situation. ‘I isolated the rest of the bunker’s security and air,’ she said in a low voice, as though elevated decibels would bring them more trouble. No worry on that score – it couldn’t get any worse. ‘We should be OK until we can hook it back up to the computers.’

  Jack nodded.

  Charlie hesitated, then said, ‘What do we do?’

  Jack felt so out of control. ‘We need to stop Proteus,’ he said, though he had no idea how to do that.

  ‘It’s the world’s problem,’ Slink said, dropping on to the sofa next to Charlie, ‘not ours.’

  ‘Of course it’s our problem,’ Charlie said, incredulous.

  Slink shrugged. ‘Don’t see how.’

  ‘How can you not?’

  A hint of a smile played on his lips. ‘Let the world burn. It’s governments versus governments. They deserve each other. Let them play their stupid war games.’

  ‘The thing is,’ Jack said, ‘it isn’t a game, and the rest of the world will burn with them. Including us.’ Though he normally admired Slink’s carefree, ‘anarchy rules’ attitude, now was not the time for it. ‘We’ve unleashed a monster,’ Jack said. ‘The government now have the power to watch us all, every minute of the day. The ultimate big brother.’

  A world without any privacy was a horrifying concept.

  He had to do something. Perhaps they could –

  ‘No,’ Obi shouted.

  Jack leapt up and hurried over to him. ‘What?’

  Obi typed and clicked. He looked at Jack. ‘The connection to Proteus, it’s gone.’

  Jack’s stomach sank. The agents must have found the backdoor connection they were using. Jack let out a slow breath. There was nothing else for it – they had to act, and act quickly. ‘We need to destroy Proteus.’

  ‘Destroy it?’ Obi said, aghast. ‘Are you cra–’

  Jack held up a hand and looked at Charlie. ‘We have to go back to that building, and we need to get there fast.’

  Charlie got slowly to her feet. ‘Are you saying . . . ?’

  Jack took a breath. He had a feeling he was going to regret this. ‘It’s the quickest way there, right?’

  ‘I thought you said you didn’t like me using it? You keep going on about how it isn’t safe.’

  ‘It isn’t,’ Jack said, marching to the door, ‘but we’ll either get there fast or die trying.’ Besides, he thought, right at that moment, he didn’t care.

  ‘That’s a win-win in my book,’ Charlie said, practically skipping after him.

  Jack heard footfall behind them. He stopped at the door and turned back. Wren and Slink were following. ‘You two have
to wait here.’ They started to protest but Jack held up a hand, silencing them. ‘We’ll need you to bail us out again if we get into trouble.’ That was a lie. Jack had already decided that if they got caught a second time, he wouldn’t ask the others to risk themselves to save them. This time, he’d face the consequences head on.

  ‘But you need me to get inside the building,’ Slink said.

  That was a fair point, but Jack was adamant about his decision. ‘Not this time,’ he said in a firm tone. They weren’t dealing with clueless criminals. This was the UK government, who knew exactly what they were doing.

  Normally, Jack wouldn’t rely so much on gut instinct. Acting on impulse scared him. Cool, calm planning was always the better option, but they simply didn’t have time. He called to Obi. ‘Are you still patched into the building’s security?’

  Obi typed a few commands and let out a relieved sigh. ‘Yep.’

  ‘Cameras as well?’ Charlie asked.

  Obi nodded.

  Jack hesitated. Something didn’t feel right again. He shook it off. Now wasn’t the moment to get cold feet, they had to move. He’d already wasted too much time. He’d have to plan en route. Though, with what they were about to do, Jack doubted he’d be able to think of anything but his probable imminent death.

  He turned back to the door, hit the keypad and it hissed open with a grinding sound, as though sand had got into its mechanism. Obviously it had sustained damage from earlier, but at least it still worked.

  Jack gestured Charlie through and balled his fists in anticipation of what was about to happen. Charlie, however, bounded through the door, beaming from ear to ear.

  • • •

  By the time Jack and Charlie reached the surface, it was eleven o’clock at night and eerily quiet. Too quiet. Like the world was holding its breath.

  Towards the end of the alleyway sat a metal skip with its lid padlocked shut.

  Charlie looked around to make sure they were alone, then reached around her neck and pulled out a key on a chain. She undid the padlock and released the clasp.

  With Jack’s help, she hinged the entire side of the skip upward. The top and sides worked on gas cylinders, the same things that people had to open the boot of their cars. Charlie had modified the skip the year before.

  What from the outside looked like a beaten-up and rusty skip was in fact lined with metal panels, welded together, painted smooth, creating a cocoon of protection.

  Batman would’ve been proud of her.

  And what was the object of this protection? A fluorescent light flickered on, and under it gleamed an MV Augusta sports motorbike, with customised silver and chrome body panels wrapped over a 1000cc engine.

  Though Charlie was still a year too young to legally ride a 50cc moped under British law, she would often take the bike out on short rides.

  Jack hated it when she did. He didn’t just worry about the inherent danger of riding motorbikes – if she crashed, she’d die – but it was also because of the chance that she might get caught riding the stupid thing.

  The cops would no doubt lock her up until they found a suitable children’s home. Oh, sure, it wasn’t the end of the world, just hassle to break her out again.

  Extra hassle none of them needed.

  Charlie ran her fingers over the smooth racing lines and sighed, then she wheeled the bike out from the skip, being careful not to scrape the sides.

  Jack reached in and removed two black helmets from hooks. He handed one to Charlie and she slipped it on.

  Jack hesitated.

  ‘I’ll be careful,’ Charlie assured him.

  Without responding, Jack put on his helmet, adjusted the built-in Bluetooth headset and climbed on behind her.

  Charlie turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life. ‘Hold on,’ her voice said over the intercom.

  Suddenly, the bike lunged forward and Jack gripped her around the waist.

  The front wheel lifted a foot or so off the ground and he heard Charlie’s squeal of delight.

  Jack redoubled his grip. ‘I thought you said you’d be careful?’ At least they’d get there in a fraction of the time, right? That was if Charlie didn’t kill them first.

  Charlie laughed.

  The bike’s wheel touched the concrete again. They slid out into the road and raced through a set of red traffic lights.

  Jack closed his eyes and prayed they made it there in one piece.

  • • •

  Five minutes later, they stopped at the end of the alleyway. The trucks had gone and the roller door was down.

  Jack looked around. The streets were also quiet. Not a single living soul was around. A shudder ran down his spine.

  ‘What you thinking?’ Charlie said.

  ‘Something isn’t right.’

  ‘Want me to get us out of here?’

  ‘Not yet.’ Jack looked up at the surrounding buildings. There was no sign they were being watched.

  For almost a full minute they sat and waited for movement. Jack was about to climb off the bike to go and take a look at the roller door, when they heard the rumble of an engine.

  Charlie looked in her side mirror. ‘Trouble.’

  Jack turned back to see a large van heading towards them. ‘Don’t run,’ he said. ‘It’ll make them suspicious.’ Not that two riders dressed in black, wearing helmets with darkened visors, were exactly incognito.

  Charlie walked the bike forward a metre or so, clearing the entrance to the alleyway and making it less obvious what they were looking at. She pulled a phone from her pocket and pretended to send a text.

  ‘Good idea,’ Jack whispered.

  Perhaps the van driver would think they were lost.

  Jack held his breath as the van drew near.

  Instead of driving past, however, the van pulled up beside them. Jack noticed Charlie’s grip tighten on the throttle as she prepared to fly off at the first sign of trouble.

  After an agonising few seconds there was a crunch of gears and the van backed into the alleyway.

  When it was out of sight, Jack climbed off the bike and ran to the corner of the building. He removed his helmet and peered into the alleyway.

  The van backed to the roller door and the driver climbed out. He walked to the door, it rolled up and he went inside.

  Jack stared for a moment, then understood what was about to happen. ‘They’re moving it.’ He pressed a finger to his ear. ‘Obi?’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘You see that?’

  ‘The van? I saw. Are they taking Proteus somewhere?’

  ‘That’s what it looks like.’ Jack’s mind worked fast. He had to destroy Proteus before they lost it forever. Once they’d moved Proteus, it was game over. ‘Can you still send recordings to their cameras?’ Jack asked.

  ‘Jack,’ Charlie hissed.

  He turned back. ‘What?’

  She nodded up the road. A black SUV pulled up to the kerb. Jack’s blood ran cold. He recognised the car from earlier.

  Sure enough, he could see Agent Connor behind the wheel. In the passenger seat was Agent Cloud, and behind her, the hulking frame of Agent Monday.

  For a few moments, no one moved. Then the driver’s side door opened and Connor stepped out. He pulled back his jacket, revealing a gun, giving no doubt of his intentions.

  Jack slipped on the helmet, sprinted to the bike, and leapt on the back just as Charlie opened the throttle.

  The rear wheel spun for a second, then found grip and they shot forward.

  Agent Connor reached for his gun.

  Charlie slammed on the brakes, slid the bike around one hundred and eighty degrees, and wheel-spun away from him, smoke filling the air.

  Jack looked behind to see Agent Connor jumping into the SUV and chasing after them.

  At the end of the road, Charlie took a hard left and the bike leant over so much their knees brushed the tarmac.

  When they righted again, Jack risked another glance over his shoulder
.

  The agents’ car slid sideways across the road and screamed after them.

  ‘Go, go, go,’ Jack shouted, gripping her tight and following the motions of her body.

  Charlie ducked low over the handlebars and the wind tore at their jackets.

  The next turn – a hard right this time – saw them slide across the road, straight into the path of an oncoming police car.

  They missed it by inches.

  Jack caught a glimpse of the cop’s astonished face as they shot past.

  The police car’s siren blared and Jack watched it fall in behind the black SUV, blue lights ablaze.

  ‘Great,’ he said, ‘now there’s two of them.’

  ‘Make that three,’ Charlie shouted.

  Another police car, lights flashing, was heading straight for them.

  Charlie turned into a narrow side road and opened the throttle.

  The agents’ car and the two police cars slid in behind.

  ‘They don’t give up easy.’ Charlie snapped the handlebars left, bumped on to the kerb, and squeezed between two fences.

  The bike wobbled for a second but she regained control and they shot forward, following the narrow alley.

  There was no way the cars could follow them down there.

  Charlie took several more turns, weaving in and out of rubbish and skips.

  Finally, she eased off the throttle and slowed the bike. It was like a maze back there.

  Charlie stopped in a deserted road.

  Jack took a moment to catch his breath. ‘That was close.’

  ‘I know,’ Charlie also sounded breathless. ‘So much fun though, right?’

  Jack could think of a few things to call it, but ‘fun’ wasn’t one of them.

  He heard a screech of tyres and looked up as the SUV turned into the road ahead.

  Charlie didn’t hesitate – she opened the throttle and they sped off again in the opposite direction.

  After a minute, Jack looked over his shoulder. The agents’ car was now only a few metres behind them and there were no side roads or alleyways to escape down.

  He faced forward again.

  Ahead, the two police cars had blocked the end of the road.