Urban Outlaws

by Peter Jay Black

  Charlie frowned. ‘What are you saying?’

  ‘I see how much you hate the children’s home.’ Noble cleared his throat. ‘There’s no reason why the four of you can’t live down here. If you want to, of course.’

  Six months later, the Outlaws did indeed call the bunker their home.

  Now? Well, now they owed Noble everything.

  Occasionally he’d need helping out with some reconnaissance or a piece of code, but mainly he’d check up on them from time to time, and stay in the background.

  • • •

  Jack snapped out of his memories as a cold wind whistled around the tower and bit at his flesh.

  Charlie zipped her jacket up to the neck, folded her arms across her chest and rested her head on his shoulder. ‘Night, Jack.’

  ‘Night.’

  Charlie said, ‘It’s not your fault, you know.’

  Jack didn’t answer. He watched the lights of the traffic below and wondered what he’d be doing right at that moment if his mum and dad were alive.

  • • •

  Jack had a restless night and was relieved when the time came for them to move on. At midday, he and Charlie stood on the bank of the Thames. The massive wheel of the London Eye loomed above them, casting a shadow over the river below.

  Crowds of tourists stood in line while others bustled past. Jack hated the oppressive feel, like everyone was watching him. He felt vulnerable, but among so many faces, they were well hidden.

  There was a honking of a horn.

  Jack looked towards the road in the distance in time to see a blue, split-screen, Volkswagen Camper. Bemused and annoyed tourists parted as the camper van mounted the kerb and parked.

  Jack grinned. ‘Not very subtle, is he?’

  Charlie smiled too. ‘He doesn’t need to hide any more.’

  That was true – Noble used to be one of the world’s best hackers. Sometimes he’d done good – like finding security vulnerabilities in companies’ websites and politely letting them know, or he’d done bad – like when he hacked Microsoft and changed their homepage to a giant picture of an otter.

  Noble was born in America. Back in the eighties he’d been caught hacking the Pentagon and had spent the next seven years in prison before escaping to England.

  Now, Noble sometimes took honest paying jobs testing company security systems, networks and firewalls. He used scheduled attacks to probe for weaknesses and suggested ways to help increase their protection.

  Jack and Charlie pushed their way through the throng of tourists until they finally reached the camper van.

  The side door slid open and Noble climbed out. He wore a long grey coat and his silver hair was tied into a ponytail. He looked like a child of the sixties – the original Urban Outlaw, and, in a way, he was.

  Noble’s eyes lit up when he spotted Jack and Charlie.

  Charlie bounded up to him. ‘Hey.’

  ‘Charlie,’ he opened his arms wide and they embraced. After a moment, he let go, cupped his hands around her face, and fixed her with a stern expression. ‘Are you taller?’

  Charlie smiled. ‘A bit.’

  ‘Growing into quite the young woman.’ He released her and looked at Jack.

  Jack held out a hand to shake.

  Noble snorted, pushed it aside and pulled him into a tight hug. ‘I’ve missed you, kids.’ He let go and looked at them both with paternal fondness. ‘It’s been too long.’ His eyes scanned the crowd and his expression turned serious again. ‘Anyone follow you?’

  Jack shook his head. ‘Don’t think so.’

  ‘Even so,’ Noble said, gesturing them inside the campervan.

  Jack and Charlie climbed in.

  The interior was crammed full of electronics, all buzzing and humming. LCD monitors hung from the ceiling. A leather chair faced the screens, with a keyboard and trackerball fixed to the armrests. In fact, it was a compact version of Obi’s set-up at the bunker.

  Noble called this his ‘Mobile Command Centre’.

  Jack and Charlie sat on the bench seat at the back.

  Noble said, ‘Where are the others?’

  Jack winced. ‘We’ve got a lot to tell you.’

  Noble considered him for a moment, then said, ‘I’ll get us away from here.’ He climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine. He pulled the camper off the kerb and drove noisily down the road.

  Jack pulled back the thick curtains that obscured natural daylight. As far as he could tell, they still weren’t being followed.

  Ten minutes later, Noble pulled into a car park, climbed out of the driver’s seat, and stood in front of a small sink with a fridge underneath and a kettle to the side. ‘Tea?’ he asked.

  Jack and Charlie nodded.

  He flicked on the kettle and removed three mugs from a cupboard while Jack and Charlie told him about how their latest recruit – Wren – was getting on.

  Finally, Noble handed them a mug each and sat in his leather chair. ‘I think it’s time you two explained why you’re here.’

  Between them, Jack and Charlie brought Noble up to speed with everything that had happened: discovering Proteus, finding out it wasn’t working, inadvertently downloading the virus, then losing it again. They left out no detail.

  They also told Noble about Proteus stealing secret documents and the way they’d tried to go back and destroy it, but were too late. They were now afraid that Proteus had the potential to help capture every hacker in the world, and they didn’t know what to do next.

  By the time they’d finished explaining, Noble looked thoughtful.

  Jack knew that look. ‘What is it?’ he said.

  Noble snapped out of his daydream. ‘Clever.’

  ‘Clever?’

  ‘Someone was using the virus to stop Proteus from working.’

  ‘That’s what I thought,’ Jack said.

  Charlie glanced at him, then back to Noble. ‘But who planted the virus in the first place?’

  Noble sipped his tea. ‘Perhaps it was that scientist you spoke of – the one in the video diary.’

  ‘Professor Markov,’ Jack said.

  ‘Maybe he realised what the government were going to use Proteus for and decided to try and stop them.’

  The sinking feeling returned to Jack’s stomach. ‘And we removed it for them.’

  Noble nodded. ‘You need to put it back.’

  ‘The virus?’ Jack said. ‘But we don’t have it any more, and we don’t know where Proteus is.’

  ‘Jack,’ Noble said with a wry smile. ‘One thing at a time. Where do you think the virus has gone?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘But you do know how it travels.’ Noble leant back.

  Jack frowned and then his eyes went wide. ‘The internet,’ he said.

  Noble nodded. ‘And by downloading the virus, you taught it how to move through computer systems. It adapted. It learned. I don’t think it was designed to ever leave Proteus.’

  Jack shook his head. ‘It’s my fault.’

  ‘But you’re saying we need to find the virus and put it back into Proteus?’ Charlie said to Noble.

  He nodded. ‘It’s worth a shot, don’t you think?’

  Charlie looked doubtful. ‘Won’t the agents be after the virus too? Won’t they want to stop it? It’s the only thing that can get in the way of them using Proteus.’

  Noble nodded again. ‘I would’ve thought so, yes.’

  ‘And they’ll be on the lookout for anyone else going after the virus, and want to stop them too.’

  ‘Indeed.’

  ‘So, how can we find where it’s gone and not get ourselves caught?’ Charlie asked.

  ‘I’ve got an idea how,’ Jack said.

  • • •

  The campervan travelled painfully slowly along the busy London street, surrounded by traffic queues – a sea of mainly black taxis. Crowds of people bustled down the pavements, moving more quickly than the traffic.

  Noble slouched fo
rward in the driver’s seat, his arms rested on top of the steering wheel. ‘Best I can do, I’m afraid.’

  ‘It’s OK,’ Jack said. ‘The busier, the better.’ He sat in the leather chair and took deep breaths, preparing himself.

  Charlie pulled back the curtains and scanned the faces of the crowds. ‘No one’s following.’

  Not yet, Jack thought. But they would be. Guaranteed.

  He removed his phone and connected it via the USB port to the computer. It would act as a modem.

  Next, Jack brought up a map of the world. The red line that represented the path of his phone signal criss-crossed over the image so many times that it almost completely obscured the green outlines of the continents. ‘Trace that,’ he said under his breath.

  Charlie continued to watch the crowds. ‘This is mad,’ she said. ‘They come after us again, we’re in serious trouble.’

  ‘Relax,’ Noble said. ‘They’ll have the same problems with traffic. Besides, it’s better than being out in the open.’

  ‘We are out in the open,’ Charlie reminded him.

  ‘Why are you so worried all of a sudden?’ Jack said. ‘We’ve done more dangerous things than this.’

  ‘It’s the government, Jack. They catch us again, they’ll kill us.’

  Jack sighed. ‘They won’t kill us.’

  ‘No, you’re right,’ she said. ‘They’ll torture us first, then kill us. The government can do that, you know? They can do what they want.’ She huffed and returned her attention to the window.

  Jack couldn’t help but smile. Charlie was happy when she was doing something physically dangerous, but now they were in his world she was uncomfortable.

  Jack flexed his fingers in preparation and rested them on the keyboard. He took a quick breath, then typed fast. The code flowed through his mind, down his arms, through the tips of fingers and into the keys. In less than three minutes, he was done. He stopped, and a satisfied smile played on his lips. By remembering parts of its code, he’d just written a program to find the virus’s signature and give up its location.

  ‘Ready?’ Noble said.

  ‘Ready.’

  Noble held a stopwatch – they’d guessed they had under five minutes to find the virus before they were traced. ‘Three, two, one, now.’

  Jack raised his index finger and blew on the tip. ‘Kablam.’ He watched, as if in slow motion, his finger drop to the Enter key.

  He closed his eyes and imagined the sequence of events that followed. A tiny electrical impulse raced along wires and circuit boards, turning into a wave of energy that shot from the mobile phone, past Jack, above the car, the street, hitting an antenna perched on top of a tall building. New waves pulsed from a dish, travelling skyward, above the city, through the clouds, into space, and slammed into an orbiting satellite. In less than a blink of an eye, they hurtled back towards the Earth.

  Somewhere, in a server room, a rainbow flickered across the crystals of an LCD monitor as light pushed through them and delivered Jack’s signal.

  Jack opened his eyes and watched the screen in front of him.

  A box popped up and the tracking program he’d written started to work its magic. The progress bar moved slowly.

  In the bottom corner a warning flashed red.

  TRACE ACTIVATED.

  Jack stared at it, momentarily stunned. ‘They’re tracing us.’

  ‘Already?’ Noble said. ‘They must be using Proteus to help them.’

  The red stopped flashing and a new message replaced it.

  TRACE COMPLETE.

  Noble threw the stopwatch into the passenger footwell in disgust. So much for having at least five minutes – they’d underestimated by a long way.

  Proteus now had Jack’s mobile number and would be calling the cavalry, sending their approximate location, triangulated using phone masts.

  It was a race to the finish line.

  Either the program Jack had written would find the virus in time, or the agents would get to them first.

  The next few minutes passed like hours.

  Noble thumped the steering wheel. ‘Come on.’ The car in front began to move forward. He followed, close to its bumper.

  ‘Just try to keep us moving,’ Jack said, refocusing on the LCD screen. So far, the program had not found any clue as to the virus’s location. ‘Where is it?’ he said through clenched teeth.

  ‘Company,’ Charlie said.

  Jack looked up and she pulled the curtain back so he could see. Five cars behind them, the black SUV slid out of a side street and entered the traffic.

  Jack muttered to himself and returned his attention to the screen.

  Still no sign of the virus.

  ‘Where is it?’

  The SUV sounded its horn, squeezed its way past two cars, and drew nearer.

  Jack stared at the laptop screen, willing it to complete its task. It had to be close to finding the virus. They just needed a few more minutes. He looked through the rear window and realised they didn’t have a few minutes – the SUV was almost on them.

  ‘I’m sorry, Jack, they’ve got us.’ Noble glanced into the side mirror and gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles stretched white.

  Charlie said, ‘Turn off the phone.’

  ‘That won’t work,’ Jack said, watching the SUV’s progress.

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘They’ll have the phone’s number and know it’s in one of just a few cars,’ Noble said. ‘All they need to do is stop the traffic ahead of us and search each vehicle in turn.’

  Jack said, ‘My bet is they’ll start with the big blue hippy bus.’

  Noble winced. ‘Sorry.’

  Jack looked back at the screen again – still no sign of the virus. They just didn’t have enough time.

  With a grunt of annoyance, he disconnected the phone and clutched it in his hands, staring out of the window, searching for inspiration.

  ‘Turn it off, Jack,’ Charlie said. ‘They might not find us.’

  Too much to hope for.

  Jack stood and looked over Noble’s shoulder. ‘Pull up over there,’ he said, pointing to a gap in the cars parked at the side of the road.

  Noble looked confused. ‘What?’

  ‘Just do it.’

  Noble did as Jack asked and pulled into the empty space.

  Jack looked out the rear window. The SUV was just a couple of cars back. He slid open the rear door and went to step out.

  Charlie grabbed his jacket, pulling him back. ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘Go down a couple of roads and park. I’ll come and find you there.’

  ‘I’m coming with you.’

  ‘No,’ Jack said, ‘that’ll double our chances of getting caught.’ He shrugged her free, got out, shut the door, and – keeping low, his face hidden – disappeared into the busy crowd. He glanced back to see the camper van pull out of the space and back into the flow of traffic.

  The SUV stopped in the same vacant space and Agents Cloud and Monday stepped out. Agent Cloud held a phone signal tracker in front of her.

  Good, Jack thought. They were following the signal and not the camper. He gripped the phone and darted into a busy shopping centre.

  Moving through the sea of people, Jack looked back and saw Agent Cloud stop outside the doors. She said something and gestured in his direction. Agent Monday pushed open the doors and they entered.

  Jack brushed past people, and kept glancing over his shoulder. He slammed into something solid and looked up to see a man in his early twenties, over six feet tall, and built like an American football player, snarl at him.

  ‘Watch where you’re going.’ He shoved Jack hard in the chest and Jack staggered backward.

  ‘Sorry,’ Jack said, raising his hands.

  ‘Too right you’re sorry,’ the man growled, fists clenched. He stormed past Jack, almost knocking him over.

  Jack turned and pushed through the shoppers.

  He spotted a fire exit at the end of a
deserted corridor, and made his way quickly towards it.

  As the exit drew nearer, he took another look over his shoulder.

  Agent Cloud and Agent Monday stopped at the end of the corridor, Agent Cloud transfixed on the tracker image, and Monday looking in the opposite direction.

  Jack continued to stride towards the exit, body tensed, eyes squeezed to a squint, ready for the capture. He considered running, but knew this would draw attention.

  After an eternity, he reached the exit, took a deep breath, and grabbed the emergency bar.

  One last glance up the corridor and he saw Agent Cloud look at the tracker for confirmation, and back at Agent Monday.

  She pointed at the football player who was looking in a shop window.

  In two strides, Agent Monday was on the guy. He roughly patted him down and pulled the mobile phone from his pocket.

  Jack didn’t hang around to see the outcome, and he slid out into the sunshine.

  • • •

  Noble was tapping the steering wheel when Jack opened the side door and hopped in.

  Charlie let out a huge sigh of relief. ‘Are you OK?’

  ‘Fine,’ Jack said. He looked at Noble. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

  Noble nodded and pulled away from the kerb.

  Jack dropped into the chair, deflated. ‘Well, that was a waste of time,’ he mumbled.

  ‘Jack,’ Noble said in a calm voice, ‘you tried your best.’

  ‘What now?’ Charlie said.

  Jack turned to Noble. ‘If you have any ideas, now would be a good time.’

  A wry grin played on Noble’s lips and the corner of his mouth twitched. ‘Well, it just so happens that there is something else we could try. It’s a long shot.’

  Jack sat back. ‘Everything we’ve done recently has been a long shot.’

  CHAPTER TEN

  Noble drove Jack and Charlie to Bakerlin, a small town just outside London. The train station was like something out of a nineteen-fifties photograph, with its redbrick walls and four tall chimneys jutting from a pitched roof.

  Tall, slender windows, spaced a metre or so apart, still had their original sliding mechanisms.

  Jack, Charlie and Noble went to the ticket office. The only hint of the modern world was the computer the attendant used behind the small glass window. She stared at Noble when he asked for three tickets. His striking appearance did seem more out of place the further from London he got.