The Girl in the Wilderness (Leah King Book 2)

by Harris, Philip

  “In the VR? Transport’s citizen records database, mostly. Although I think you dipped into one of the public research DBs too—when you searched for Oakdale. I take it you were trying to find that woman, Katherine?”

  Leah nodded, not wanting to hear herself speak again just yet.

  “Oakdale is one of Transport’s high-security facilities, which means Transport has it locked down tight. You aren’t going to get anywhere near it.”

  Defeat pressed down on Leah. She felt it as something physical, and it threatened to smother her.

  “Why do you want to find her so desperately?” said Alice.

  “She…” Leah let her voice trail off. Should she tell Alice about her father? “She deserves to be punished.”

  Alice didn’t respond. She stared at Leah with sadness in her eyes until Leah became uncomfortable and looked away. Leah’s muscles were responding properly now, and the metallic, bloody taste in her mouth was gone. The hammer blows to her skull continued, however.

  “I’ve got a headache,” said Leah.

  “That’s to be expected. Without a BICE to interface with, the VRI is quite… intrusive. It’ll pass, and next time it won’t be so bad. After three or four sessions you’ll build up enough tolerance that you won’t feel the ill effects.”

  Leah shifted her head and felt a stinging sensation at the base of her skull. She reached around and found a scab. It ached when she touched.

  “That’s from the VRI.”

  “Is that the spider?”

  Alice smiled. “Yes, the spider. If you don’t have a port, it needs to break through the skin.”

  “A port?”

  Alice turned and pulled down the collar of her shirt. There was a metal disk located at the base of her skull. It was roughly an inch or so across and had four raised blocks on it in an X configuration. At the center of the disk sat a circle of rubber, like the one Leah had seen on the spider.

  “The VRI clips into the port. Makes it a lot simpler. We can get you fitted with one; it doesn’t take long.”

  Leah bristled at that. She wasn’t sure she wanted some sort of cybernetic implant.

  Alice raised her hands to placate Leah. “Or not. It’s your choice. But if you’re going back into the VR—”

  “This girl will not be accessing our technology again.”

  It was Colonel Billingham. He stood in the door to Leah’s room. The light behind him wrapped him in shadow, but Leah could almost feel the anger radiating off him.

  Alice stood as Billingham walked into the room. “Sir.”

  Billingham ignored Alice and walked directly to Leah’s bed. He towered over her, and the threat of violence hung heavy in the air. Leah pressed herself back against the bed.

  “What were you doing in our VR, girl?” He almost spat the last word.

  “I-I was looking for information on the woman that bombed the City.”

  “And why exactly do you want that information?”

  “I-I want to find her.”

  “And what were you planning to do once you tracked her down? Kidnap her? Kill her?”

  Leah tightened her jaw. “Well, if you weren’t going to do it,” she snapped. Her voice wavered, and tears formed in her eyes.

  Billingham’s skin flushed red. “What exactly did you think was going to happen? You’d just wander in here, point a finger at this Katherine woman and we’d drop everything and go running off with you to catch her?” Billingham’s nostrils flared. “That’s preposterous.”

  “No, I—”

  “And when we didn’t, you decided you’d just go poking around Transport’s network on your own.”

  “I didn’t know…” Leah’s voice trailed off under Billingham’s withering gaze.

  “With all due respect, sir—”

  Billingham rounded on Alice. “Sergeant. You would be wise to choose your next words very carefully. I’ve expressed my doubts about your suitability for your role already.” He jabbed a finger at Leah. “You seem to have developed a soft spot for this girl. I’m willing to put it down to motherly hormones, but I’m holding you personally responsible for her behavior from now on.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And I want her off this base by 0800 hours.”

  “Sir, she’s a natural with the VR. She could be invaluable.”

  Billingham sneered. “We already have men who are naturals with the VR. They are more than sufficient, Sergeant.”

  “Those men are struggling to keep up with the demands you’re putting them under, sir. With a little bit of training, Leah would be able to help—”

  “I want her off this base.” Billingham’s voice had gone quiet, but it was laden with barely controlled rage. “Have I made myself clear, Sergeant?”

  “Perfectly, sir.”

  Colonel Billingham turned and left the room. He didn’t look at Leah.

  Alice slowly shook her head as she watched him go. Leah saw her jaw clench.

  “Motherly hormones?” said Leah once Billingham had gone.

  “Let’s just say the colonel has some outdated views on a woman’s role in the world and leave it at that.”

  “He seems like a bit of a jerk.”

  “No comment.”

  “So,” said Leah hesitantly, “I need to leave tomorrow?”

  Alice sighed. “I’ll try to talk to him, but… probably, yes.”

  The idea of leaving TRACE didn’t worry Leah, but it would make it a lot harder to find Katherine.

  Hobbs appeared in the doorway. He glanced at Leah, but she couldn’t read the look he gave her.

  “Alice,” said Hobbs, “you need to get to the comms center.”

  “Something wrong?”

  Hobbs’s eyes flicked to Leah again before he replied. “Transport has locked us out of the network.”

  “What? How did they…” Alice’s voice trailed off.

  Silence stretched out painfully until Leah said, “It was me, wasn’t it?”

  Hobbs looked at her. “Yes, I’m sorry.”

  19

  Leah sighed and rolled over in bed for what seemed like the fiftieth time. She was tired, but the emotions roiling in her mind kept dragging her back to consciousness. Hobbs had refused, or been unable, to elaborate further on what had gone wrong, so Alice had gone with him to investigate. She’d insisted Leah stay behind and rest. She’d promised to come back and explain what was happening as soon as she could, but the hours were dragging by agonizingly slowly.

  Leah had considered going after Alice but quickly discarded that idea. Her refusal to do as she was told had created the problem in the first place. Colonel Billingham was already planning on throwing her out. Getting caught sneaking around again would only make things worse. If she wanted TRACE’s help getting to Katherine, she needed to find a way to convince the colonel to let her stay, not antagonize him more.

  Hobbs had dropped by with some food in the afternoon—macaroni and cheese. She’d pressed him for information, but he’d refused. She’d eaten the food eventually, but it sat like lead in her gut.

  Leah slammed her head against the pillow in frustration.

  “Trying to knock yourself out?”

  It was Alice. Leah had been too wrapped up in her own thoughts to hear her come in.

  Alice sat down at the edge of the bunk.

  Leah sat up. “What did I do?”

  “It’s okay,” said Alice. Her voice was quiet. “It’s not that bad.”

  The fear that had formed in Leah’s gut didn’t subside.

  “While you were in the VR, you triggered one of Transport’s daemons.”

  “A daemon?”

  “It was sort of a digital guard dog. Some of them can be very dangerous, but you were lucky. This one just went running back to its masters and told them someone was accessing something they shouldn’t.”

  “So Transport knows about us?”

  “Yes and no. They know we were in the system, but we route all of our traffic through proxies. The
y disguise where the signal’s coming from, so there shouldn’t be any way for them to trace it back to us.”

  “So I didn’t ruin anything?”

  Alice winced. “Transport has locked us out of the VR network. They sealed up the exploits we were using and changed the security protocols across the whole system. Sort of a scorched earth policy for network security. It means TRACE has lost all access to Transport’s DBs until we can hack back in.”

  “How long will that take?”

  “If things go well, a couple of weeks.”

  Leah felt sick to her stomach. “A couple of weeks?”

  Alice nodded. “If you’re looking for a silver lining, it’s a massive inconvenience for Transport too. It will disrupt their systems for at least that long while they adjust to the new protocols.”

  “Is Colonel Billingham angry?”

  “Let’s just say you’ve set women’s rights back a couple of hundred years. At least as far as he’s concerned.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Alice placed her hand on Leah’s leg. “Don’t worry. You weren’t to know. And what you did really was impressive. I’ve never met anyone who handled VR so well the first time out. Are you sure you never used one before?”

  “No, I’ve never even seen one.”

  “Well, if you’re interested, I’d like to get you into our sims and see what you can do with a bit of training. You could be very valuable to TRACE.”

  “But Colonel Billingham said I had to leave.”

  “That’s true, but we’ve had to move up the next mission, so he’s going to be distracted for a couple of days. If you keep your head down, he probably won’t know you’re still here. Once things have cooled off, I’ll try and get someone higher up to approve you staying here.”

  The sickness in Leah’s stomach eased slightly, although the guilt over her mistake was still there.

  “I’m not going to be here this evening,” said Alice. “Hobbs will get you some food and anything else you need.”

  Something about the tone of Alice’s voice and the hint of apprehension in her eyes caught Leah’s attention. Alice had said they’d had to move up the mission.

  “You’re starting the mission tonight,” said Leah.

  Alice gave a wry smile. “I need to be more careful talking to you. We’re infiltrating a Transport data facility. It’s a quiet op—in, access their DB, out. Easy.”

  Even Leah could sense Alice didn’t believe that was true. “It doesn’t sound easy.”

  Alice sighed. “Any other time, it would be. But Transport has us on the back foot, and I don’t have the people I need to do this safely. HQ is going to get us some reinforcements, but we can’t wait for them. We need that data.”

  “And because I screwed up, you have to go and get it yourself.”

  Alice didn’t reply.

  The seed of an idea took root in Leah’s mind. “How do you get the data, through a VR system?”

  Alice nodded warily.

  “What if I come with you?” said Leah.

  Alice held her hands up. “Oh, no. That’s not—”

  “You said you don’t have enough people and that I’m a natural with the VR. I can help you get the data.”

  “Yes, you’re a natural, but you haven’t been trained. VR networks can be dangerous. The data facility is small, but it’s still going to have defenses. The data you accessed was a public network with no real security. This is a military system.”

  “A military system you can’t get into safely because of me.” Leah’s face took on a pained expression. “It’s my fault. I want to make up for my mistake. Maybe then Billingham will let me stay.”

  Alice huffed. “Sneaking onto a critical mission is not the way to get into Billingham’s good graces, trust me.”

  Leah put on her most determined look. “You need my help.” She wasn’t sure that was entirely true until uncertainty flickered in Alice’s eyes. “Please.”

  Alice took a deep breath. “Leah, Transport knows what we’re doing before we do; we have a mole in the group somewhere. I shouldn’t even be talking to you.”

  “You think it’s me? You think I’m sending information to Transport.”

  Alice’s hesitation was just long enough for Leah to notice it.

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Yes, you do. Please, Alice. You can trust me.”

  “Then you need to tell me why you’re so desperate to find this Katherine woman. You’re obviously hoping to find information about her while we’re at the data facility. And don’t give me that crap about how she blew up Columbia and you think she should be punished.”

  Now it was Leah’s turn to pause. “She should. She killed all of those people.”

  Alice pursed her lips. “Leah, I know there’s more to it than that.”

  “No, I—”

  “Leah!”

  The anger in Alice’s voice stopped Leah dead.

  “Please,” said Alice, her voice soft again, “I know you’re from Columbia. Tell me the truth.”

  “But… how?”

  “You called New Leighton ‘New Larton.’ You refer to Columbia as the City, which only people who grew up there really do. And finally, you’re obsessed with a woman who helped blow the City up. I can see the fire in your eyes when you talk about her. This is personal.”

  Tears welled in Leah’s eyes.

  Alice reached out and touched her shoulder. “Please…”

  When Leah finally spoke, the words were quiet, halting. “It was my fault. I was given the memory module by someone from TRACE. It had information about the bomb on it. It would have been enough for TRACE to stop the explosion. I told my dad about it, and he got in touch with TRACE, but then he was captured by Transport.”

  Leah swallowed and blinked away more tears. “I made a deal with Katherine. She rescued him in return for the memory module. I thought she was part of TRACE, but she wasn’t.”

  “And she made sure we didn’t get the information on the bomb?”

  Leah nodded.

  “That doesn’t make it your fault.”

  “It is. If I hadn’t given Katherine the data or I’d taken it to TRACE straightaway, they would have been able to stop the explosion. All those people would still be alive.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “I do, it—”

  “No, you don’t! You can’t predict what would have happened. Maybe we’d have been able to stop the bomb, but maybe it was too late. There’s no way to know.”

  Leah looked at the floor. Alice’s words made sense, they really did, but the guilt was crushing. She’d tried to suppress it, hadn’t wanted to admit that she blamed herself for the destruction of the City, but she couldn’t manage it, and the pain was overwhelming. She wanted to curl up into a ball and cry herself into oblivion.

  Alice gently lifted Leah’s chin until she was looking into her eyes. “Look, I know you feel guilty and you think punishing this Katherine will solve that, but it’s not your fault. You don’t need to carry the weight of Transport’s atrocities on your shoulders. You’re not responsible for getting revenge for the entire city.”

  Alice wrapped her arms around Leah. She hugged her so tight Leah’s tears finally overflowed, and she hugged Alice back, pressing her face into the woman’s shoulder and letting her emotions burst their dam. Heaving sobs wracked Leah’s body. Alice placed a hand against the back of Leah’s head and stroked it. She whispered words of reassurance, of consolation.

  They held each other for several long minutes until Leah’s tears slowed. She raised her head and wiped the back of her hand across her cheeks. Her eyes felt puffy and hot.

  Alice brushed a stray lock of hair from Leah’s forehead. “It’s okay.”

  Leah felt her eyes fill with tears again. “Please, Alice. Let me come with you. I need to find out who Katherine is.”

  “And then what are you going to do? Hunt her down and kill her?”

  “I… I don’t know. Maybe.�
�

  Alice gave Leah a dubious look. “You’re looking for revenge.”

  Leah pulled away from Alice, sniffed and straightened her back. “Yes, and you know how that feels.”

  Alice didn’t respond immediately. Leah could see her wavering. She pressed home her advantage. “I’ll do everything you say, I promise. We’ll get the information you need first, and if we have to leave before I get the information I want, that’s okay.”

  Alice ran her fingers through her hair, but Leah could see the decision was made. “You’re going to get me court-martialed,” said Alice.

  Leah smiled. “Thank you.”

  Alice checked her watch. “We’re leaving in two hours. There’s just one vehicle—a Humvee. We’ll need to find a way to get you on board.”

  “Can’t I just come with you?” Leah pointed to her clothes. “I look like I’m part of TRACE now.”

  “Billingham will be there, ‘supervising,’” said Alice. She made air quotes around the last word. “He’ll recognize you for sure.”

  Leah worked the problem over for a moment, then said, “So give him what he wants. Kick me out, and then pick me up on the way.”

  Alice thought the idea over. “That would work.”

  “What about the other soldiers? Will they let me join you?”

  “There’ll be three other people. I trust them all with my life, and so should you.”

  Alice stared at Leah as though she still hadn’t convinced herself this was a good idea. Then she took a deep breath and said, “Okay, let’s go throw you out.”

  20

  Alice walked Leah out to the power station courtyard. The sun was beginning to sink behind the horizon, and the air was muggy. Leah eyed the sky nervously. Gray clouds hung low overhead. Visions of being caught in a storm while she waited for Alice hit Leah, and she shivered.

  Four guards stood on makeshift lookout posts attached to the concrete wall that ran around the power station—platforms built from scaffolding and salvaged wood. Two more guards stood beside the sliding chain-link gate that sealed the main entrance.

  The courtyard itself was empty apart from a dark green Humvee parked in one corner.