The Phoenix Variant: The Fifth Column 3

by Nathan M. Farrugia

  Sophia locked the door behind her and drew her pistol. She moved through the apartment to the single bedroom at the end, clearing the apartment with her pistol held close. The powder room was untouched, just a toilet and basin and a packet of unopened toilet paper in the corner. She reached the bedroom and continued inside, moving along the wall, aiming her pistol to clear the far side. She found her barrel aimed at herself. The other side of the bedroom had mirrored closets and an en suite off to one side. The bed wasn’t made and the bedside table was littered with empty cups and cables. On the floor she noticed some discarded clothes. She recognized one of the T-shirts.

  This was most definitely Aviary’s apartment.

  She checked her watch. Still another twenty minutes.

  Why would Aviary invite her to her own apartment? Sophia had taught her to be more careful. Standing in the bedroom, Sophia ran through as many scenarios as she could before realizing she desperately needed to pee. The en suite was cramped and filled with more personal cleaning products than she’d thought existed. She turned the light on and was almost blinded by a naked bulb that buzzed at her intrusion. She switched it off and sat in the dark—the light had kicked in the fan. She wanted to hear if someone entered the apartment.

  Returning to the kitchen, she placed her Glock on the stone bench top, barrel facing the door, and looked around some more. There was a sponge in the sink. It was dry. A frypan on the stove, clean and dry. No utensils were out of place. A coffee-bean grinder with coffee grounds in it. She sniffed and quickly realized it wasn’t coffee grounds at all but iron oxide. She checked the dishwasher. It had a few plates and some cutlery. Aviary seemed to eat out a lot.

  Taking the pistol, Sophia shed her jacket and sat on the couch to wait for Aviary. She imagined this is what normal people did, sitting on couches when they were waiting for someone. They probably watched television while they waited or played a game on their smartphone. Or checked their email online—on the line as Freeman used to say.

  Sophia did none of those things so she sat patiently and thought of the possible reasons Aviary wanted to meet her. Her fingers ran through her wallet, checking its contents, revealing her photos once more.

  *

  The door closed, startling her awake. She grasped her pistol and aimed it one-handed at an intruder with fire-red hair.

  ‘Why are you already—?’ Aviary rolled her eyes. ‘Never mind. Sorry I’m late.’

  Sophia lowered her pistol and stood. She checked her watch. ‘Twenty minutes.’

  ‘Trains were redirected.’ Aviary kicked off her sneakers and paused. ‘You didn’t black out, did you? That shouldn’t be happening anymore.’

  ‘No. I guess I dozed off.’ Sophia slipped her pistol back into her waistband. ‘Is everything OK?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Aviary said. ‘I mean, I’m fine. My shift ended late and I was really hungry and I wanted nachos but then I remembered the festival tonight so yeah, that’s my cool story.’

  ‘OK,’ Sophia said.

  ‘How’s Nasira, still in Peru?’

  Sophia looked out the balcony window. ‘Haven’t heard from her. When she’s done, she’ll be back.’

  Aviary emptied her pockets on the kitchen bench top. ‘And the boys?’

  ‘Running jobs,’ Sophia said. ‘The less we ask, the better.’

  ‘Why don’t they do some honest work, like you?’ Aviary said.

  Sophia forced a smile. ‘Stealing cars? Trust me, their work pays better.’

  Aviary grinned. ‘That’s because you’re stealing the wrong cars.’

  Sophia noticed her wallet was sitting on the couch, part of Leon’s photo visible. She reached down to collect it.

  ‘You should never invite a terrorist into your home,’ Sophia said.

  ‘Really?’ Aviary said. ‘Because I’ve been doing that for weeks.’

  ‘I’m serious.’ Sophia noticed Aviary’s license on the kitchen benchtop. ‘Your name is spelled like a—’

  Aviary raised an eyebrow. ‘Like a large enclosure for birds? Yeah, my mother liked birds. Really liked birds.’ Aviary quickly circled the couch to her desks. ‘I have to show you this.’

  Sophia noticed an assortment of colored iPhones and HTC Ones on the desks.

  ‘I’m not using a fucking iPhone,’ Sophia said.

  ‘I knew you’d be receptive.’ Aviary laughed. ‘That was kind of a half-hearted pun and I need nachos.’

  Aviary flipped open one of her laptops. Sophia barely recognized the operating system, Kirin, developed by the Shadow Akhana a few years back. It looked like Aviary had made some significant changes of her own. But she didn’t mention it and instead pulled up a new window.

  ‘Google Maps,’ Sophia said. ‘Yeah, I know how to use that now.’

  Aviary snorted. ‘Hang on.’ She hit a few more keys and buttons until she was satisfied. ‘Look at the overlay.’

  Sophia stepped closer until she was beside Aviary. The map had zoomed out to encompass the United States. There were dots sprinkled across different states.

  ‘OK,’ Sophia said.

  Aviary zoomed out more, until half the planet was visible. There were more dots across Europe. She zoomed in on one of the dots, somewhere in northern France. She kept zooming in until she could make out the building number and the street name.

  The dot moved fractionally to the left, then stopped.

  ‘It’s live,’ Aviary said.

  ‘You’re tracking someone,’ Sophia said, leaning in.

  Aviary couldn’t hide her grin any longer. ‘Not just someone.’

  Sophia’s heart kicked up a few notches. She stepped back, fingers moving over her pistol grip. ‘Where’s this data coming from?’

  ‘The Fifth Column,’ Aviary said. ‘I’m pretty good,’ she added quietly.

  Sophia just stared at the screen for a moment, trying to get a handle on what she was seeing. ‘This is … this is incredible.’

  ‘You said you wanted to find them, right?’ Aviary said. ‘And with all the Akhana spies dead, because people killed them and stuff, that was going to be kind of hard. The operatives’ RFID implants aren’t just passive tags. They also contain geolocation broadcasting capabilities. So presto, you can see where they are anywhere in the world.’

  ‘And it’s live? The whole time?’ Sophia said.

  ‘Yeah,’ Aviary said. ‘Well, it drops out sometimes, but not for long. Dependent on the Fifth Column satellites that track them.’

  ‘How many operatives are here? In this country?’ Sophia said.

  Aviary didn’t need to look. ‘Thirty-nine.’

  Sophia nodded. ‘More than I thought.’

  Panning the map back to the US, Sophia noticed at least a dozen on the eastern seaboard. They were clustered; six in Washington, three in Philadelphia and three only ten miles east of her, in Newark. That made her uneasy.

  Aviary reached for one of the phones on her desk. ‘Something else.’

  Sophia shook her head. ‘Don’t even try,’ she said. ‘They’re too dangerous, and they’re unnecessary. I might as well check in with Denton on FourSquare.’

  ‘You’re kind of embarrassing. No one uses that anymore,’ Aviary said. She showed her the iPhone, wrapped in a powder-blue rubber case. She peeled back one side of the case and popped the SIM card tray with a paperclip. The tray was empty.

  ‘No SIM card,’ Aviary said. ‘No IMSI number. No voice. No text. Just data. Sexy, sexy data.’

  Sophia glared at it. ‘So it’s an iPod. I have one of those already.’

  ‘You don’t have this,’ Aviary said, pressing the home button. ‘But you’ll want it.’

  The screen warmed to show the usual rows of icons. It looked just like any iPhone screen. With her finger, Aviary pulled up the control center. The icons and labels looked somewhat more sinister.

  ‘This first button toggles hijack mode,’ Aviary said. ‘Try it.’

  Sophia knew it was just easier to get this over with so she press
ed the circle that had the little wifi icon inside. The circle lit up and underneath it said Searching …

  Aviary tapped and a full list jumped out.

  The Promised LAN

  blizzard

  Wi-Fi 4G-58A1

  Michael’s iPhone +1 (940) 603-8 …

  NetComm Wireless

  00:18:0f:c5 …

  Pennsylvania 6-5000

  BlackBerry 9700 +1 (267) 210-4 …

  Jessica Hyde +1 (212) 294-1 …

  attwifi

  Abraham Linksys

  The LANnister Always Surfs The Net

  ‘You can pick one manually if you like.’ Aviary was grinning again. ‘Someone’s phone. It can pick up anyone who has wifi—Wireless LAN—or Bluetooth turned on, which, let’s face it, that’s pretty much everyone.’

  Before Sophia could choose, Aviary picked one herself, Jessica Hyde’s phone. The list disappeared and the word Searching changed to Connecting. A few seconds passed and it said, Connected, highlighted in pale green.

  Aviary swiped the control center away and tapped another icon that Sophia didn’t recognize. A browser window popped up with a Google search. ‘Secure browser. You’ve—’

  ‘Hijacked her phone,’ Sophia said. ‘And she doesn’t know?’

  ‘No clue.’

  Sophia felt her eyebrows rise just enough that Aviary would’ve noticed. Without saying a word, she’d admitted she was impressed.

  ‘Once it has connected to one network, it will connect to two others in the background—usually in opposite directions if possible. Covers you if you have to move off quickly. Think of your connections like spider legs. That way, your connection will never drop,’ Aviary said. ‘And! It measures the fastest of the three connections and automatically preferences the fastest one! And if they are all slow it uses multiple connections. Does a small transfer and latency test. Saves you paying phone bills too.’

  Sophia nodded. ‘That’s actually really good,’ she said. ‘But what if there are no other phones around? What if I’m out in the mountains?’

  Aviary swallowed. ‘Well, it won’t connect automatically but—’ She swiped on the control panel again and hit the icon next to it, an antenna icon. ‘It can connect to cell phone towers and use false IMEI numbers. I have it on a five-minute changeover but you can reset it manually if you suspect you’re being tracked by someone who is trying to kill you and stuff. But this really should only be used as a last resort. And actually especially not in a remote region because—’

  ‘I’d be triangulated in a heartbeat,’ Sophia said. ‘I know, I used to track people for a living.’

  ‘Yeah, the old-fashioned kind, gotcha. But they’d have to notice the new IMEI numbers that keep popping up, which is like counting hats in a crowd. Not easy. So GPS is safe but it’s not accurate since it uses the coordinates of the phone or modem you’re hijacking. Unless you connect to a cell phone tower, of course. And it goes without saying not to log into a website that connects to you in some way. Then you’re just waving a big red flag at the Fifth Column. Unless you plan to high tail it out of there after they come hunting.’

  Aviary turned the phone up, revealing a second headphones jack. ‘Don’t stick your earphones in there. It’s a hidden wide-angle lens. You can take photos or record covertly. And my camera app even records from three angles at once, so you can cover yourself in every direction by looking at your screen as you walk—or run the feed to someone else like me, or someone using one of these phones.’

  Aviary hadn’t drawn breath for that entire explanation and inhaled rather suddenly.

  ‘OK,’ Sophia said.

  ‘I’m glad we talked about this too,’ Aviary said.

  Sophia tried to spot the lens but it was difficult to see.

  ‘The lens records 4K video, one-twenty-degree view,’ Aviary said. ‘Combine that with the two cameras already built in, you have a 360 view that is so fucking fabulous it’s off the scale.’

  Sophia turned the phone over in her hands. ‘Off the scale,’ she said. ‘I guess I could give it a shot.’

  Aviary’s eyes lit up. ‘Great! When Nasira’s back you can give one to her as well. And if you see the boys at all.’

  Sophia watched Aviary pour half a dozen phones into her own ruck. ‘Sure.’

  ‘I was wondering,’ Aviary said. Her gaze flickered. ‘If I give you this location data for the operatives, I was giving some serious thought to maybe you training me some more.’

  Sophia felt a knot in her chest. ‘What sort of training?’

  ‘I don’t know, operative stuff,’ Aviary said. ‘I mean, the Jaguar Knights—the Force Recon guys—they taught me some weapon handling and movement, maybe you could teach me some more? Of that stuff. The stuff I just mentioned.’

  Sophia handed the phone back to her.

  ‘Or other stuff,’ Aviary said.

  ‘I’ve already taught you some pretty high-level anti-surveillance and security,’ Sophia said. ‘That’s more than most soldiers know. And a lot of field agents.’

  ‘I know, but I’m not prepared for everything. Not like a—’

  ‘A black swan event,’ Sophia said.

  Aviary wrinkled her nose, confused. ‘Yes, how come I’m not prepared for a black swan event and other cool things?’

  ‘It’s an event with no precedence or warning,’ Sophia said. ‘You can’t deal with that, not yet.’

  ‘Don’t you think it’s a good idea if I could?’ Aviary said, waving the phone dramatically between them. ‘I mean, you have Nasira helping you all the time. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone else as well? Someone with cool hair maybe.’

  Sophia didn’t know what to say.

  Aviary pointed at the map on her laptop. ‘Is that why you want them? Only operatives can handle black swans? I wouldn’t be useful.’

  ‘You are useful,’ Sophia said. ‘You found the map, for starters.’

  ‘I’ve read the Akhana’s survival guide for humans,’ Aviary said. ‘I know it inside and out. I know every type of psychopath, I know all about the Fifth Column, I’m on the operative ketogenic diet. I think I would make a very good operative. No one ever suspects the weird Hawaiian girl.’

  ‘I’m not an operative,’ Sophia said. ‘And neither are you.’

  Aviary chewed the inside of her lip. ‘And you’re the authority on that?’

  ‘It’s dangerous, hacking into the Fifth Column,’ Sophia said. ‘You shouldn’t have done that.’

  ‘I just granted you your wish!’ Aviary said. ‘And you don’t want it anymore?’

  Sophia felt the heat build inside her. ‘This isn’t a game!’ she yelled. ‘One mistake and I find you in the bathtub with your brain splashed across the ceramic!’

  ‘I don’t make mistakes!’ Aviary paused. ‘And more to the point, I don’t have a bathtub.’

  ‘But you have this!’ Sophia said, trying to bring her volume down. She gestured to the couch, to the kitchen, the apartment as a whole.

  ‘Yeah, and it’s boring as hell,’ Aviary said. ‘Your life might be dangerous but it’s exciting.’

  ‘This is something real,’ Sophia said. ‘Your life is real. Mine’s just … I don’t know, like some passing reflection in the glass. I’m there one minute and then I’m gone. That’s how it is.’

  Aviary’s hands uncurled. ‘You’re not going anywhere,’ she said. ‘I have plans tonight and you’re coming.’ She handed the phone back to Sophia. ‘To something real.’

  Chapter 9

  Sacred Mountain Range, Peru

  With her ruck on her back, Nasira opened the door and stepped across the hard snow. The blizzard was gone and for the first time Nasira could make out the village. Only it seemed very different from what she expected. The buildings were Incan stone walls with new roofs and doors. Some new huts were sprinkled around the outskirts made only of timber and metal sheeting. Their walls were painted more colorfully than the stone.

  A trio of kids played near the center o
f town in colorful ponchos and snowshoes. The bare ground beneath their feet seemed almost visible in the snow, but the more Nasira looked the less obvious it became.

  She paused mid-stride and tried to focus. The light from behind the clouds seemed different now. And the darker patches in the snow seemed deeper, richer. She didn’t know what she was seeing and it didn’t make any sense.

  ‘Are you OK?’ Lucia said. ‘Would you like more potato soup?’

  Nasira shook her head. She removed her hood and knelt on the snow. She pinched the fingertip of her glove and pulled it off, touched the snow with her bare hand.

  ‘Is something wrong?’ Lucia said.

  ‘The snow’s changed,’ Nasira said.

  She looked up and noticed the snow extend through the village to the mountains. Then a pair of legs obscured her view.

  It was an old man. She looked up. He was short, thin and only seemed to have a few teeth.

  He said something to her, but it wasn’t in English or Spanish. Then he nodded to himself and continued a nimble walk through the snow. As he moved from her field of vision, she could see the shape of the earth. But it wasn’t quite the shape.

  The kids were chasing each other, laughing. One girl crashed into another and they toppled into the snow. She could see the collision. Not the girls, the collision itself.

  The girls started to laugh hysterically. They climbed to their feet, gasping for air.

  Lucia stood beside Nasira, watching her curiously.

  ‘I can see the magnetic field,’ Nasira said, turning to her.

  ‘I thought you couldn’t see it,’ Lucia said. ‘You told me—’

  Nasira massaged her temples. ‘That buzzing last night. Don’t know what the hell it was, but it’s like that. Except it’s focused.’

  Lucia had her hands on her hips. ‘I guess that makes you some kind of superhero.’

  Nasira’s stomach crawled at the thought. ‘What did he say to me?’ she said. ‘That man?’

  ‘Oh,’ Lucia said. ‘The world is as you dream it.’

  ‘Yeah, right,’ Nasira said.

  Lucia smiled. ‘I’ll take you to the trail.’