Genesis Pact (Genesis Book 4)

by Eliza Green

  ‘You mean us?’ said Jenny.

  ‘More likely the Indigenes that have returned home.’

  ‘Whatever faction runs this area,’ said Jenny, ‘they’re interested in this place. They’re protecting their own life support.’ She looked at Hayes. ‘How do we get to it and stop the virus?’

  Hayes went still and stared at her DPad, causing Olsen to lean in for a closer look. ‘I’ve seen that expression before. What is it?’

  Hayes muttered something to herself. She snapped out of her daze and looked at Isobel. ‘Any mind readers among your kind?’

  ‘Telepathy is possible, but I haven’t been able to communicate with any of the others. The chip I received when I returned to Earth prevents me from using my abilities.’

  ‘Have you tried removing the chip?’ said Olsen.

  ‘It emits some kind of dampening field, which affects not only my telepathy, but my ability to locate it.’

  ‘Well,’ said Hayes. ‘Someone just hacked into my mind. I was thinking about the code when someone just sent it.’

  ‘From where?’ said Jenny. ‘From inside the World Government offices or somewhere else?’

  ‘According to this, from nowhere,’ said Hayes.

  ‘Try the new password,’ said Olsen.

  Hayes typed the code on the console. She let out a little squeak.

  ‘Shit! It was the right code.’

  ‘I guess someone is listening,’ said Jenny. She looked up at the ceiling, imagining the guards coming for them at any moment. ‘So let’s disable the remote system virus, reroute control and get the hell out of here.’

  With full access, it didn’t take Hayes long to find the original message from Theodore Drake, the man who had planted the virus. Once she was in, a second message played.

  ‘If you’re accessing this port, you have successfully reached the heart of the supercomputer. Congratulations. You made it back to Earth and you can help the people rebuild their lives in the absence of the oppressive World Government regime. The sentient programming is offline. If you wish to disable the virus, click “Confirm”.’

  Hayes hit something and stared at the open-faced server. ‘I can’t find the controls for the criminal strongholds.’

  Olsen dashed over to the door. ‘We should go soon.’

  Jenny thought she heard movement above them and tightened her grip on the gun.

  ‘Hold on. I have access to Waverley but I’ll just need a minute to reroute control of the other neighbourhoods in the vicinity to the Fortress...’ She trailed off.

  ‘What is it?’ said Jenny.

  ‘Someone has just given me full access to the life support in the buildings that the criminals occupy in the New York area.’ Hayes lifted a brow. ‘How many should I reroute?’

  Jenny looked at Olsen. ‘All of them,’ they said together.

  Isobel moved to the door, so fast that Jenny sucked in a breath.

  The guards were coming.

  31

  Jenny stood at Isobel’s shoulder as she stared at the ceiling. ‘Did you hear something?’

  ‘Movement, coming from up above.’

  ‘How can you tell?’ said Hayes. ‘It’s solid concrete above us.’

  Isobel gave her a look.

  ‘Yeah, sorry, I keep forgetting. Is your hearing still at Indigene level?’

  Isobel checked around the corner. ‘Yes, among other things.’

  ‘Like?’

  Isobel disappeared in a blurry flash, leaving a shocked Hayes without her answer. Jenny remembered Stephen doing the same thing back when she had been on her spacecraft in the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta docking station. A volatile and desperate Stephen had threatened her with a weapon.

  Isobel returned as fast as she had left. Her return created a soft breeze that brushed against Jenny’s cheek.

  ‘Two of them are coming down in the turbo lift. They’re also armed. I can feel the electricity in the air.’

  ‘That’s our cue to go. Hayes?’

  Hayes pulled the cable out from the administration server and clicked the front closed.

  Jenny exited the room first, with Olsen close behind. She kept her gun high as she moved away from the service lift. The others followed. Isobel moved to the front.

  ‘We need to hide. Now.’

  Jenny swept her gun inside an empty room a short distance from the turbo lift. ‘Everyone in here.’

  They piled into what seemed to be an old storage room with tables, chairs and tatty plastic plants. Jenny closed the door until just an inch of light streamed inside.

  The lift stopped. Jenny pressed her face up to the gap in the door. A man and a woman wearing military uniforms stopped in the corridor.

  ‘There was some activity in the server room,’ said the woman. ‘Boss says we need to check it out.’

  ‘What are we checking for?’ said the man. ‘I’m not fucking IT. Why don’t we send one of those devolved things?’

  ‘Because the boss doesn’t trust them down here.’

  ‘And he trusts us?’ said the man with a snigger.

  ‘Apparently. Now come on. I hate being this far below ground.’

  ‘What, you feelin’ all creepy down here?’

  ‘Shut your mouth, Johnson. I’m claustrophobic.’

  ‘Uhuh. I’ll flatten myself against these tight, restricting corridors so you don’t get stuck.’

  The woman took a swipe at Johnson’s head but missed.

  ‘Come on. You and me stuck in a place so tight we can barely breathe? That’s making me horny just thinking about it.’

  The woman swiped a second time and hit her mark.

  ‘Ow!’

  ‘Serves you right for bein’ a dick.’

  Their voices softened as they disappeared inside the computer room.

  Isobel nodded at Jenny. ‘We should move, now.’

  Jenny opened the door and they hurried towards the lift. Safely inside, Jenny whispered a command for Level One. The doors shut.

  ‘We’re not out of danger yet,’ said Olsen. ‘We still need to get back to the tunnels.’

  ‘I need a weapon,’ said Ben. ‘Give me something.’

  Jenny ignored him. She pointed her Buzz Gun on the lift doors.

  The doors opened on Level One and they ran to the stairwell door leading back to the tunnels. But when Jenny tried it, the door wouldn’t budge.

  She turned to Isobel. ‘Can you try?’

  Isobel tugged on the handle but the door wouldn’t open for her, either. ‘It’s locked. Someone’s been here.’

  ‘What do we do now?’ said Olsen.

  Ben picked up a discarded piece of wood and twirled it like a baton. ‘There’s only one way out. Through the front doors.’

  ‘Ben’s right,’ said Jenny. ‘If we can’t go back the way we came, we’ll have to leave the old-fashioned way.’ She checked the charge on her gun.

  ‘But they’ll catch us for sure,’ said Hayes.

  ‘What choice do we have? Those guards won’t be far behind us. Now would be a good time to contact Robinson.’

  Hayes removed her DPad from her coat. Her hands shook as she pressed a few buttons. ‘The force field is interfering with the signal. I’ll need to go outside.’

  They returned to the turbo lift and called it.

  ‘I don’t like this,’ said Olsen, pacing back and forth, gun in hand.

  ‘It’s our only way out of here,’ said Jenny. ‘Unless you’ve a better option?’

  The turbo lift doors opened and Jenny called for the ground floor. As the lift rose, Jenny and Olsen formed a protective arc to the front. Jenny braced herself to meet resistance.

  But when the doors opened again, no guards waited for them.

  ‘They must think the guards below called the lift,’ said Isobel. ‘They’ll soon realise their mistake.’

  Ben held the piece of wood across his body like a bat. ‘How do we get past the guards outside?’

  Jenny checked with Hayes. ‘Ca
n you reach Robinson now?’

  She looked at her DPad. ‘The force field is not as good up here. I’m calling him now.’

  Their time was almost up. The second turbo lift stirred.

  ‘We’ll have to risk it without Robinson’s help,’ said Jenny. ‘Let’s go.’

  They crept along the corridor that led to the open foyer, then hurried to a revolving door and a smaller side door part of the main entrance. Several guards stood outside, their backs turned away from the foyer. None were inside.

  ‘Take the side door. Let’s surprise them,’ said Jenny. ‘And as soon as we’re outside, ping Robinson.’

  ‘Already done,’ said Hayes with a nod.

  A guard stood with his back to the side door. Olsen pushed hard against it, knocking him to the ground. The other guards rallied round and trained their Buzz Guns on the group. Hayes discreetly checked her DPad, then hid it.

  ‘Where the fuck did you all come from?’ said one guard, as Hayes, Jenny, Ben and a covered-up Isobel followed Olsen outside.

  Olsen lifted his hands up and smiled. ‘I’m sorry, I thought the tour of the old World Government buildings was scheduled for today. My mistake.’

  One of the military guards pointed his gun at Olsen’s chest and pulled the trigger. Olsen shuddered as the shock ripped through him. Jenny was relieved to see the guard had used an Impulse Taser designed to stun. Olsen slumped to the ground, but was still conscious.

  ‘On your feet, old man. Unless you want another hit of this.’

  Another guard produced an old walkie-talkie. ‘We have intruders at the offices. Yes, sir.’ He looked up and spoke to the other guards. ‘Take them to the Potomac shipyard.’

  Two guards hustled them into a land vehicle parked close by and climbed into the front, their guns pointed at the group.

  The self-drive car moved. One of the guards squinted at Isobel then whipped back the scarf on her head.

  ‘What is a Devolved doing out here? Where are your papers? You all need to show me your papers. What neighbourhood are you from?’

  The rules in Washington D.C. must have been different to New York. Devolved humans didn’t need papers in Waverley. Nor did ordinary citizens. Nobody answered as the car moved away from the World Government offices.

  ‘If someone doesn’t talk, the old man gets a hit of this.’ The guard held up a Buzz Gun.

  Jenny flinched. A Buzz Gun discharge in the confined space of a car would affect everyone, no matter how low the setting.

  Olsen pointed at something out of the window. A black mass caught Jenny’s eye. She grabbed hold of the door handle. ‘Brace yourself!’ she yelled.

  The car hit them side-on. The impact made a loud splitting noise as metal ground into metal, leaving the two guards disoriented. Isobel opened the door and pulled Ben out, then Olsen. Jenny stumbled out the other side.

  Hayes still had one foot in the door when the guard in the front seat discharged his weapon. A blurry mass passed by Jenny. She heard a car door slamming and electricity bouncing inside the car. Hayes was lying on the ground, wide-eyed. Isobel had one hand on Hayes’ shoulder and the other pressed against the car door.

  ‘Come on,’ said Olsen, his words thick and sluggish. Isobel helped a stunned Hayes to her feet.

  They climbed into the vehicle that had hit them.

  ‘Your timing couldn’t have been more perfect,’ said Olsen.

  Robinson grinned back at him from the front seat. ‘You know me. I like to make dramatic entrances.’

  The driver commanded the vehicle and they moved at speed. Jenny heard a clanging noise outside.

  Half a mile later, the front bumper fell off.

  Robinson assumed a medical-like tone. ‘So, who’s hurt?’

  Isobel pointed to Olsen. ‘He took a hit of electricity.’

  ‘What setting did they use?’ said Robinson.

  ‘It was an Impulse Taser,’ said Ben.

  Robinson nodded. ‘Good. He’ll live. His body will twitch for a while but I can’t do much here. Did you find the virus?’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Hayes. ‘The medical facilities now control the life support for the general population. We also gained control of the buildings occupied by the criminals in the New York area.’

  Robinson tapped his lip. ‘Could come in useful. Any idea how we leverage that one?’

  ‘We have to play it right,’ said Jenny. ‘If we turn off the life support to all the criminal faction buildings at once, it will drive them to search for the medical facilities. You have a lot of valuable equipment down there. Your people will need extra protection since you now control the life support. The underground movement can help you with that.’

  ‘So, are we going to talk about what happened while we were down there?’ said Hayes.

  Robinson’s brow furrowed. ‘What?’

  ‘Someone fed me the code to break the encryption for the criminal-occupied buildings. I sent a message and they responded with the code.’

  ‘We think it was one of the captured Indigenes,’ said Ben.

  ‘So, not all is well in criminal land,’ said Robinson.

  Isobel lifted her chin. ‘The Indigenes want the same thing you do. A chance to live a decent life. I may win their support if we can encourage the neighbourhoods to fight back, with your help.’

  Jenny turned to Ben. ‘Do you think the people of Waverley will fight back?’

  Ben shrugged. ‘Some of them work for the gangs. We would have to be selective about who we tell about this. It could get back to Marcus.’

  ‘Marcus is the one who runs your neighbourhood?’ said Olsen.

  Ben nodded. ‘He’s one of them. I know some kids have been doing jobs for him. I’ve no idea who else he’s got working for him.’

  ‘Your grandfather will know who to trust,’ said Isobel.

  Olsen shuddered—after-effects from his mild electric shock. ‘We need to get back to the medical facility and work out a way to send a message to the trapped Indigenes, particularly the lot working with the Agostini family up in Astoria Park. If they can get communication devices out to each of the New York neighbourhoods, we can spread the word to the ordinary folk about what we’re doing, and the tables are about to turn in their favour.’

  Jenny nodded. ‘It’s a start. The neighbourhoods don’t trust the couriers. They think they’re working for the factions, which most are. It will take a little planning to get the devices into the right hands. Greyson and I will speak to key people in Waverley neighbourhood to see if we can work out a strategy.’

  Robinson lifted a brow at Isobel. ‘How can you be sure the devolved Indigenes will even help?’

  ‘With the right motivation, you’d be surprised,’ said Isobel.

  Olsen shuddered again. ‘Okay, so we have some sort of a plan.’ He glanced at Isobel. ‘But first, I think we promised to give Isobel back her ability. Robinson?’

  32

  The vehicle pulled up near Hope Street where they had begun the journey. Hayes and Robinson jumped out first, grabbed the tools from the boot and carried them inside the storage unit. Jenny stayed with Ben and Isobel in the car.

  Robinson returned with something in his hand. He climbed inside the car and closed the door. ‘Before we do this, are you happy for me to proceed?’

  Isobel nodded. ‘Let’s do it.’

  ‘Turn your head to the side and lean forward.’

  She did, and Robinson ran a scanner over her neck. He rubbed his finger along a small area and cut her skin with a laser scalpel. Isobel flinched as Robinson pressed the sides of her skin together and eased out the small disc preventing her from communicating telepathically with the other Indigenes. Jenny watched as her skin healed over.

  Robinson shook his head. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing that. With the disc gone, you should hear thoughts a lot easier. And it’s quite possible someone’s keeping tabs on you with this.’ He held up the disc. ‘But there’s nothing we can do about that.’

&n
bsp; Isobel rubbed the already healed spot. ‘I know. The quicker we get a handle on this situation, the better.’

  She fell silent, leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes.

  ‘I can feel the captured Indigenes resisting me.’

  ‘Do what you can to get through,’ said Jenny.

  Isobel nodded.

  ☼

  A short while later, the vehicle stopped close to the black market in a road concealed from the main thoroughfare. Ben, Isobel and Jenny got out; Hayes, Olsen, Robinson and the driver sped off toward Harvard. Jenny had almost reached the front of the markets when Isobel stopped her.

  ‘Something’s happened. At Waverley. They vendors are anxious about it.’

  Jenny could see no criminal vehicles or associates shaking down vendors. But she heard the chatter, fraught with tension.

  ‘Wait for me here.’ Jenny entered and found Greyson at their stall trying to reason with two vendors who looked ready to bolt.

  ‘Calm down. There’s no proof that Marcus will come here next.’

  The hard lines of his face softened when he saw Jenny. He excused himself, and she met him halfway. ‘Please tell me it’s not what I think it is.’ She recalled her recent run-in with Marcus; the beating she’d endured over two missing apples.

  Greyson shook his head. ‘Much worse. Marcus went on a killing spree in Waverley neighbourhood. Several residents are dead. He kidnapped a bunch of others.’

  ‘What?’ She covered her mouth with her hand. ‘Shit. I thought we had until at least tomorrow.’

  ‘Seems that Marcus lied about that,’ said Grey. He rubbed his hand over his stubble. ‘I’m sorry, I tried to get there before... You know.’

  Jenny pulled him into a tight hug. ‘I’m just glad you’re okay. I know it’s selfish, but if anything happened to you...’ She released him. ‘I’ll see to it personally that Marcus’ days are numbered. I’m heading to Waverley now. Come with me. We can talk about what we found in DC on the way.’

  ‘What about the others?’ Greyson gestured to the agitated vendors.

  Jenny glanced at them. ‘There’s nothing more we can do here. What happens next does not directly involve them.’