Urban Outlaws

by Peter Jay Black

  ‘No.’

  ‘What do you mean, no? No, what?’

  Jack pointed. ‘Look at their shoes.’

  They wore polished black loafers, not boots. No doubt about it, they weren’t workmen.

  The men glanced around, then, collars up, strode around the corner and behind the theatre.

  ‘OK. So, what do we do now?’ Charlie said.

  Slink huffed. ‘Stop talking, start doing.’

  Jack took a breath, and glanced up at the old tiled roof. There were several skylights – obviously added in the last decade or so – but there was no easy way to get up there. The scaffolding would be slippery. ‘Well, Slink?’ Jack glanced down the road. The rain had forced people indoors and the area was quiet. ‘You think you can get up there and have a peek?’

  Slink cricked his neck. ‘No worries.’ He slipped off his backpack, put on a pair of fingerless gloves and clipped a small bag to his belt. He dipped his fingers inside and when he pulled them out again they were covered in white chalk. He slapped his hands together, sending a puff of powder into the air, and stared up at the scaffolding, muttering under his breath.

  ‘Be careful,’ Jack said. ‘No heroics. And watch out for Del Sarto and his men.’

  ‘I got this.’ Slink bounced on the balls of his feet like a boxer preparing for a fight.

  ‘If you can’t make it,’ Charlie said, ‘we’ll find another way.’

  ‘All gravy, baby.’ Slink winked at her, and – laughing to himself – sprinted across the road.

  He leapt into the air, grabbed the lowest horizontal scaffold bar and swung up and over it.

  Jack watched in utter amazement as Slink clambered up the side of the building as if it were no effort at all.

  He was about two thirds of the way up when his right foot slipped on a wet bar. Charlie gasped as he fell, but by some miracle Slink regained his grip and swung by one arm.

  He finally managed to brace his feet again, looked down, and winced.

  Charlie shook her head.

  After another minute or so and Slink reached the top and pulled himself up and on to the roof.

  He scrambled up the tiles to the nearest skylight. Slink wiped away the rain and peered inside. Shaking his head, he moved to the next skylight and repeated the process. After another few minutes he’d checked them all. He slid back to the edge of the roof and then started looking through the upper windows.

  Finally, he turned around. ‘Can’t see anything,’ he whispered into the headset. ‘The place looks empty.’

  ‘Empty?’ Jack said. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Yes. I could see the whole inside of the theatre from that window.’ He gestured over his shoulder.

  ‘No workmen?’ Jack asked.

  ‘Not one.’

  ‘What about Del Sarto?’

  Slink squinted in the rain. ‘No sign of him.’

  That was good news – with any luck, that meant they were one step ahead of him. ‘Check the back of the building,’ Jack said.

  Slink hurried up and over the roof.

  A minute or so later he whispered, ‘OK, there’s two agents guarding the back door.’

  ‘Lock?’ Charlie said.

  ‘The swipe card type. Wait . . . they have the cards on their belts. And they’ve got guns.’

  Guns were never a good sign.

  ‘Get back down here.’ Jack looked at Charlie. ‘Come on,’ he said and marched across the road to the theatre.

  Charlie hurried after him. ‘Where are we going?’

  ‘Through the front door.’

  ‘Are you nuts?’

  As they reached the door, Slink dropped behind them.

  Jack tried the handle – it was locked. He stepped back and motioned for Charlie to look at it.

  She had no problem picking the old lock, and in less than twenty seconds had it open. ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ she said, glancing over her shoulder as if expecting Del Sarto or Connor to turn up at any moment.

  In answer, Jack stepped through the door.

  Slink chuckled and followed him inside.

  The three of them were now standing in an old lobby. A ticket booth – with a barred window – was to their left. The rest of the lobby had been stripped, the walls scraped down to bare plaster. Even the old carpet was gone, now only floorboards were left.

  Jack headed to the doors that led into the auditorium.

  Outside, he paused, listening.

  Hearing nothing, Jack pushed the door open a crack and peered inside. ‘Come on,’ he whispered to Charlie and Slink, and they crept through.

  Rows of rotting seats sat facing the stage. The thick red curtains hung torn and moth-eaten.

  Above their heads, balconies rose to the top of the theatre. Paint peeled from every surface and moulding.

  Slink was right – there was no sign of any workmen.

  ‘I don’t get it,’ Charlie said. ‘Have they only just started work on this place? It looks like no one’s touched anything in here for hundreds of years.’

  Slink nodded. ‘I’d say thousands.’

  ‘It’s for show,’ Jack said.

  ‘What is?’ Charlie said.

  ‘The lobby. They’ve done work on the lobby in case anyone looks through the front windows. It’s for show. They don’t intend to do any work in here. Which means –’

  ‘Which means,’ Charlie interrupted, ‘they’re doing something other than restoration.’

  ‘Well,’ Slink said, ‘where are they then?’

  Jack glanced around for cameras but couldn’t see any. ‘Slink, stay here and keep a lookout.’

  Slink nodded and climbed up to one of the balconies.

  Jack strode down the right-hand aisle and Charlie followed him to a door at the side of the stage. Jack opened it and, glancing up at Slink, slipped through.

  They were greeted by darkness. Jack unclipped a torch from his belt and flicked it on. He was standing in front of a small flight of wooden steps.

  Jack took a deep breath, put a finger to his lips and crept up them.

  At the top was a narrow hallway backstage.

  To their left was a door that Jack guessed led to the stage, and ahead was another door.

  He silently moved towards it and grabbed the handle.

  Jack paused again, listening. He thought he could hear a low humming but it was very faint.

  He turned the handle and peered inside. It was a broom cupboard. Jack swore under his breath and was about to turn away when he noticed light shining up through an iron grate in the floor near the back wall.

  He opened the door fully, went inside and bent down to look.

  Jackpot.

  ‘Can you get this grate open?’ he whispered to Charlie.

  Charlie pulled a huge screwdriver from her bag and knelt beside him. She wedged the screwdriver under the grate and lifted it out of the way.

  Jack lay flat on his stomach and peered down.

  He could hardly believe what he was looking at. Below was a ginormous chamber, as big as a warehouse, several storeys high, with crossbeams just below him.

  From this vantage point, Jack could see everything.

  At one end was a cluster of ten offices – with several workers in each – and a central winding corridor that led to the main chamber.

  Next to the offices was a steep ramp leading down to a parking area and two vans. Obviously, one of those had Charlie’s phone hidden inside it.

  Three guards stood next to the vans as another man in a dark suit gave them orders.

  Jack wondered where the entrance to the ramp was located, but then remembered the boarded-up café next door. They’d have to investigate on their way out.

  His eyes moved to the main section of the chamber, which was filled with computer server cabinets. In the middle of them –

  Jack’s heart sped up.

  They’d been right to come here.

  There it was . . .

  Proteus.

  T
wo men in white lab coats walked around the machinery, making notes on clipboards.

  Jack’s eyes drifted further right. Twenty or so agents sat at computer terminals. Jack squinted, but couldn’t see what they were working on.

  ‘Binoculars,’ he whispered to Charlie.

  She handed him a pair and he focused in on the displays. Jack’s breath caught – just as he feared, Proteus was working at full capacity, already hacking governments and organisations around the world.

  Each agent seemed to be categorising the stolen documents and filing the digital information. That was what the server cabinets were for – storing illegal data.

  Next to the terminals was a huge roll of data cable and three workmen were digging a tunnel.

  ‘Obi?’ Jack said into his headset.

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Open a map.’ Jack imagined the theatre around them, the streets, the other buildings. ‘Follow a path south-south-east from this location.’

  There was a pause, then Obi said, ‘What am I looking for?’

  Jack glanced at Charlie. ‘I’m not sure. There’s a tunnel and I want to know where it leads. Tell me what’s on that route.’

  ‘Right,’ Obi said, ‘you’ve got Golden Square, Piccadilly Circus, Pall Mall, The Mall, St James’s Park, Westminster Abbey, St John’s Gardens . . . Wait a minute.’

  ‘What’ve you found?’

  ‘You said they’re digging a tunnel?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I think I know where it goes – the secret service building next to the Thames.’

  Charlie frowned. ‘But that must be two miles from here.’

  Jack nodded. ‘They’re probably using some of the old network as well.’ He looked at the tunnel again. How much was already done? How long did they have before it was completed? When would they lay the data cable? Because, when the direct line was completed, there’d be no stopping them – information would flow from Proteus’s servers straight to their headquarters. He wondered how many secret documents they’d already gathered and stored, ready for transmission.

  Jack stared at the vast cavern-like space and understood why they’d chosen to hide Proteus here – who would expect all this to be under an old theatre that no one cared about?

  Jack’s attention was distracted as the main door to the office corridor opened.

  An official-looking man wearing a grey suit strode through and marched to one of the offices. Jack refocused on the door – beyond was a flight of stone stairs. They probably led up to the agents at the back of the building.

  Next, Jack looked at the other end of the vast space and his heart sank. He scanned the entire area and now he knew why there was little external security. It was because they didn’t need it.

  Charlie noticed Jack’s expression. ‘What’s wrong?’ She slid over to him and went to stick her head inside but he pulled her back.

  ‘Look at this.’ He pointed around the underside of the skylight. ‘Lasers.’ They formed a protective grid. No way for any of them to slip through without triggering an alarm. ‘Got a camera?’ he asked her.

  Charlie nodded, slipped her bag off, and removed a small wireless camera on a motorised mount. Carefully, she slipped the camera through a gap in the lasers, and secured it in place. Next, she set up a wireless signal booster on a shelf and covered it with a cloth. Finally, she pulled back and nodded. ‘Done.’

  They quietly slipped out of the theatre and stood back on the street. Jack glanced around and was about to go and have a look at the boarded-up café next door when he stopped.

  ‘Jack?’ Charlie said.

  He pointed. Under the eaves of the roof were two cameras. They were almost invisible in the shadows. Each of them was aimed at the front of the café.

  Careful to stay out of their line of sight, Jack gestured for Charlie and Slink to keep back and he edged forward as much as he dared.

  In the alley on the other side of the café was a roller door – a modern addition to another old building – and several more cameras were aimed at it.

  ‘Now we know where that ramp leads,’ Jack said. ‘Come on, let’s get out of here.’

  • • •

  Noble was fast asleep on the sofa when they got back to the bunker.

  As he walked over to Obi, Jack said, ‘Where’s Wren?’

  ‘In her room.’

  Charlie glanced at Jack. ‘I’ll go make sure she’s all right.’

  Obi tuned into the camera and Jack spent the next half an hour studying the chamber’s security set-up, and the agents’ movements.

  The more he looked, the more deflated he became.

  When she came back, Charlie noticed his despondency. ‘What’s up?’

  Slink came over to see.

  Jack took a deep breath and indicated various spots around the main chamber. ‘See this? Six heat-sensing cameras, laser trips, pressure-sensitive mats, four high-resolution cameras pointing at Proteus . . . and that’s just what I’ve spotted so far.’

  ‘At least Del Sarto will have the same trouble getting in,’ Charlie muttered.

  ‘That’s not all.’ Jack indicated for Obi to point the camera at the far side of the chamber. There was a security corridor with a computer terminal at the end, and two small rooms either side of that. The first was a toilet, the other was a break room, and sat around the table were four more security guards. All dressed in black. All armed. All serious-looking.

  ‘Every thirty minutes, they patrol the entire chamber. That, along with the two guards on the door, the other three by the vans, well . . .’ Jack let out a long breath and stepped back.

  ‘That’s going to be a problem,’ Slink said.

  ‘No,’ Jack said, ‘that’s impossible.’ He looked at the others. ‘It’s over.’

  There was a pause, then Obi said, ‘What’s over?’ He was now munching a bag of crisps. He swallowed and held it out. ‘Anyone?’

  Jack felt so deflated. The government had won. All this had been for nothing.

  ‘Jack,’ Slink said, ‘there must be a way.’

  Jack shook his head.

  ‘He’s right, Jack,’ Charlie said, ‘nothing ever beats us, we –’

  ‘We’re Urban Outlaws, remember?’ Slink said. ‘We don’t “give up”.’

  Jack spun round. ‘Says who?’

  ‘Says me.’

  ‘And me,’ Obi agreed, with a mouth full of food.

  ‘Me too.’ Charlie held up her hands. ‘Come on, Jack. There must be a way inside.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Slink said, ‘let me have a go at it.’

  ‘There isn’t a way,’ Jack said through clenched teeth. ‘I give up. Forget about it. Move on. We’re finished.’

  Charlie stared at him. ‘That sounds like a fantastic idea. And what’s going to happen to us? We go back to the children’s home? Prison?’ She thrust a thumb over her shoulder at the monitors. ‘Let them win, Jack. Let them slip past any security system. Let them be a fly on the wall of any place they like. No more secrets, right? Right? Sound good to you, Jack?’

  Jack stared back at her, open-mouthed. ‘Wait, what did you just say?’

  Charlie threw her hands up. ‘Forget it.’

  ‘No,’ Jack said, his eyes wide. ‘You said, “Let them be a fly on the wall”.’ A twinge of hope flickered deep down in Jack’s stomach. It was only a twinge but still . . . ‘Please tell me you’ve got Shadow Bee working?’

  Charlie stared at him for a moment, then said, ‘Yeah. Why?’

  ‘I need you to mod it with a finger on the front.’

  Charlie blinked. ‘A what now?’

  ‘A finger. A stick. Anything like that.’ Jack strode back to the camera monitor and leant in for a close look, his mind ablaze, working out if his crazy idea even stood a chance.

  Slink said, ‘What are you thinking, Jack?’

  Jack asked Obi to swing the camera around and he pointed at the corner of the image. ‘See this? The computer at the end of the corridor between the gua
rds’ break room and toilet?’

  Slink squinted. ‘Yeah.’

  ‘That’s the main security terminal. Controls all the cameras, the lasers, every bit of security in the building. Only the guards have access to it.’

  ‘OK,’ Slink said, glancing at the others, ‘but I can’t see how we’re going to get to it.’

  Jack straightened up. ‘We don’t have to,’ he said and grinned at Obi.

  Obi swallowed. ‘Me?’

  Jack felt exhilarated.

  This plan stood a chance.

  He paced for a moment, then stopped and said to Charlie, ‘Get Wren.’

  A couple of minutes later, Charlie returned to the main bunker with Wren in tow. Wren kept her distance and looked annoyed.

  ‘Right,’ Jack said to the group. ‘We go tonight when they have minimal staff there. Just guards.’ He held up a finger. ‘First, me, Charlie and Wren will get to the door at the back of the theatre.’

  ‘The one with the two guards?’ Charlie said.

  Jack nodded. ‘We’ll distract them long enough for Wren to swipe one of their security cards, OK?’

  Wren’s frown slowly turned into a grin. ‘OK.’

  ‘Then what?’ Charlie said.

  ‘After that, we need to get them away from the door long enough for us to slip past.’

  Now Charlie was smiling. ‘How about a small explosion?’

  Jack grinned back at her. ‘Sounds perfect.’ He turned to Obi. ‘Once we’re inside the office corridor, you need to deactivate the main chamber’s security.’

  Obi nodded.

  Next, Jack looked at Slink. ‘With the lasers off, you drop down through the grate to those crossbeams. Once there, watch out for more security guards, and guide me, Charlie and Wren to Proteus. All right?’

  ‘No problem, Jack,’ Slink said.

  Jack glanced at the screen. ‘Finally, we’ll destroy Proteus by shutting off the coolant tanks.’ He looked at them all. ‘Everyone clear?’

  ‘I’m in,’ Slink said. He stood in front of Jack and held his hand out, palm down.

  ‘Me too,’ Wren said, reaching up to put her hand on Slink’s.

  Jack rested his hand on top of theirs and looked at Charlie. ‘Well?’

  Charlie shrugged. ‘I have no idea if this will work, but what other plans have we got?’ She put her hand on top.

  ‘I’m in too.’ With some effort, Obi climbed back out of his seat. ‘I’ve wanted to go on a field trip for ages.’