Ciphers

by Matt Rogers

  ‘They probably know that we know,’ King said.

  ‘Yes,’ Alonzo said. ‘And I don’t think it’s a fake address. I can’t see how they’d do that. Not the way I got it.’

  ‘Could it be something you can’t see?’ Slater suggested.

  ‘No,’ Alonzo said. ‘I’m the best, and I hire the best.’

  Matter of fact.

  Straight to the point.

  No unnecessary detail that he and King wouldn’t understand anyway.

  King nodded, satisfied. He liked the man already.

  Alonzo said, ‘So here’s what I’m getting at. I can’t see any other solution to this clusterfuck of a situation other than to do things the old-fashioned way. I’m sure Violetta already laid that out.’

  ‘She did,’ King said.

  ‘Well, I’m here to reinforce it. The two of you are going to have to go into the Bowery, get inside that building, and find whoever the brains behind the operation is. It’s probably going to be a whole team of rogues. You can’t let a single one of them escape. You’re going to need to persuade them to hand over control of the substations. I’m not going to walk you step-by-step through how to do that. I’m sure you know.’

  King’s heart sank in his chest.

  He tried not to show it, but Violetta noticed.

  Probably because Slater was sporting the same signs of distress.

  She said, ‘What?’

  ‘I figured we’d just need to smash up some hardware,’ King said. ‘You sure there’s not another way around it?’

  Alonzo said, ‘If you destroy their computers, that doesn’t achieve anything. They’re still in the system. They’re still the only ones with access. They need to manually hand it back over.’

  ‘We’re not going to be able to do that,’ Slater said. ‘I’m telling you now.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing,’ King said. ‘They had reasons for it. They knew their location would be compromised. They’re willing to die for the cause. In comparison to everyone in this room, Slater and I don’t know shit about technology. But we know people.’

  Slater said, ‘We could torture them to within an inch of their life and they wouldn’t give up.’

  Alonzo said, ‘If you made it hell for them—’

  ‘They’d break,’ King said, ‘but they wouldn’t reverse it. They’d tap away at their keyboards and do something to stall. We wouldn’t know what we were looking at. But they’d never hand it back over. Not while they’re alive.’

  Alonzo stared at them.

  Didn’t respond.

  Violetta stared at them.

  Didn’t say a word.

  Then Alonzo leant forward and said, ‘I don’t know how else to put this.’

  They waited.

  He said, ‘You’re going to have to. Or tens of thousands of people will be dead by the end of the week.’

  Slater nodded.

  King nodded, too.

  Dread crept into the atmosphere.

  Violetta said, ‘Let’s get you geared up, then.’

  With his stomach twisted in a knot, King followed her and Slater through a doorway.

  32

  Everything was taken from them.

  Rico said, ‘What did your family do?’

  Samuel said, ‘Went out and got what they wanted. Didn’t care what the law thought about it.’

  ‘Mine does that, too.’

  Samuel looked over. ‘Maybe we’re similar.’

  ‘I don’t think so.’

  ‘Why’s that?’

  ‘You do important things, by the sounds of it. You know … like, kill people. I don’t get to do any of that shit.’

  ‘You just did.’

  ‘Not for my family.’

  ‘You’re not involved in their business?’

  Rico scoffed. Reached up and wiped sweat off his forehead. ‘Of course not. Why do you think I’m here?’

  ‘Your English is good. You come to America often?’

  ‘I had lessons when I was younger. But, yeah, I’m here quite a bit. Nothing else to do.’

  ‘There’s nothing to do back in Mexico?’

  ‘My father doesn’t tell me shit. I don’t see him.’

  ‘You want shit to do?’

  ‘I’d kill people for him if that’s what he wanted. Like you do. That’s got to be the life. Out on the edge, walking the fine line. I love it.’

  ‘Ain’t feel like much of anything if we’re being honest,’ Samuel said.

  His voice sounded hollow.

  Like he was speaking into an abyss.

  Rico said, ‘I need a taste of it. I can’t go anywhere in Mexico. I’m too valuable. Papá’s rich and powerful, so I’m what his enemies would use for extortion. So, yeah, I’m in a nice house, with a few nice cars and some toys, but it don’t mean shit. I can’t do anything. I can’t even party over there. The cartels attack each other in the clubs now. They’re hyper-violent. There’s no more unspoken agreements. Nowhere is safe. So I have to come here to party.’

  ‘That’s all you do over here?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Do you like it?’

  ‘It’s alright. It gets old, cause I can’t help thinkin’ about the future. My brother’s eight years older. He’s mature, apparently. Smarter, if you’re all about booksmarts. He’ll probably take over the cartel when Papá bites the bullet. And that leaves me with fuck all to do, you know? Got all I’d ever wanted, but at the same time it isn’t worth a damn thing.’

  ‘I wish I partied more, before…’

  ‘Before the killing?’

  Samuel lapsed into silence. Rico thought he heard a sharp, rattling inhale.

  Like the kid was trying to keep his composure.

  Samuel said, ‘I was always fucked up. But they made me do some bad things, man. Bad, bad things. Now I’m all the way fucked up. There’s no going back.’

  ‘Who made you? Your family?’

  ‘What’s left of them.’

  Rico mulled over that, then said, ‘The two men that ruined your family. They’re the two you were searching for earlier?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘What did they do?’

  ‘We used to be feared. Used to own this city. Not anymore. All thanks to them.’

  ‘Who’s we?’

  Samuel smirked. ‘You’ve got a lotta questions. What’s your name?’

  ‘Rico Guzmán.’

  ‘Guzmán.’ Samuel rolled the name off his tongue. ‘That must be a powerful name in Mexico.’

  ‘It is.’

  ‘I wish it were mine.’

  ‘And I wish I was involved in family affairs like you seem to be. If only we could swap lives.’

  ‘You don’t want my life,’ Samuel said. ‘Not for a second.’

  ‘And why’s that?’

  ‘Because we contributed to this,’ Samuel said, waving his hand around in the darkness. ‘And there ain’t no happy ending to this.’

  Rico stared.

  Tried to look deep into Samuel’s eyes to figure out if the kid was telling the truth, but there wasn’t much to see. It was too dark, too obscure. On a whim, Rico lurched to his feet, but he’d forgotten how drunk he was. He staggered a few uncontrollable steps into the middle of the path, and laughed as he righted himself. Samuel laughed too.

  Rico said, ‘You got any of that coke left?’

  ‘A bit.’

  ‘Take it. Then come with me.’

  Still seated, Samuel withdrew the baggie and snorted another hit. Rico didn’t see it, but he figured it must have been a sizeable amount, because Samuel leapt to his feet like he’d been electrocuted. He let out a primitive roar. The deep bellow echoed through the park, reverberating through the quiet. Rico knew it might have been his imagination, but he thought he heard birds scatter, disturbed from their slumber.

  ‘Let’s go,’ Rico said. ‘Walk and talk.’

  They set off south, aiming generall
y for the south-east corner of Central Park. From there he figured they could cut across the Upper East Side again, maybe prey on a few wealthy stragglers who hadn’t made it back home to their cushy apartments yet. There was still opportunity rife for the taking. And then…

  Where are you going? a voice in Rico’s head whispered. What’s the final destination?

  How does this impulsive rampage end?

  He didn’t know. He didn’t care.

  There were no bodyguards to his left or right. No one responsible for his safety and wellbeing, besides himself. And that was all he really wanted.

  He thought he heard Samuel skipping alongside.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Rico said.

  ‘Having fun. You ain’t never had fun before?’

  ‘Not real fun. Not like before.’

  ‘You like that feeling?’ Samuel said. ‘You like shooting a man dead?’

  Rico thought he’d recoil at the reminder, but he didn’t. In fact, he found himself strangely calm. ‘Yeah. I like it a lot.’

  ‘Then what are you doing as a slave to your father, boy?’ Samuel said. ‘Why you listening to him? Why don’t you run out there into the big wide world? Build something on your own.’

  ‘Is that what you’re thinking of doing?’

  ‘Nah,’ Samuel said. ‘My time’s up.’

  ‘Let’s pretend you actually had something to do with this blackout,’ Rico said. ‘Humour me. Why’d you do it?’

  ‘I didn’t.’

  ‘You just said—’

  ‘Said I contributed,’ Samuel sneered. ‘You gotta listen better, Guzmán. I ain’t the mastermind.’

  ‘Who’s the mastermind?’

  ‘If I told you,’ Samuel said with a psychotic glint in his eye, ‘I’d have to kill you.’

  Rico believed him.

  His head still swimming, he clammed up and kept staggering toward the edge of the park.

  Samuel skipped merrily beside him the whole way.

  33

  Slater followed King and Violetta into a drab hallway with paint peeling off the walls and cold leeching through gaps in the window frames.

  He heard footsteps behind him, and spun to see Alonzo following in stride.

  Violetta looked over her shoulder, too.

  Slater said, ‘Is he supposed to be here?’

  She said, ‘There’s nothing we know that he doesn’t.’

  Slater nodded.

  That was all he needed to hear.

  Alonzo gave a knowing smirk.

  Violetta brought them to a door at the end of the hallway and said, ‘This is the armoury.’

  Slater looked at her. ‘After you.’

  ‘You and Alonzo go ahead.’

  Slater folded his arms over his chest and turned from Violetta to King. ‘Thought you two were keeping your personal lives out of this.’

  ‘We are.’

  King said nothing.

  Slater shrugged. ‘Doesn’t affect me either way.’

  He opened the door and stepped through into another abandoned apartment. The interior had been entirely stripped away, leaving a notably sanded patch of floor where the kitchen island had previously resided, and a whole lot of threadbare carpet around it. The space smelled simultaneously of tenement housing and metal. The metal was thanks to a collection of gleaming racks that had been carted in when the black-ops crew had moved in. The racks were home to an assortment of firepower, ranging from assault rifles to shotguns to handguns, all sleek and matte black and state-of-the-art.

  The government had spared no expense.

  Slater recognised a collection of the same thin bulletproof vests he and King had used in San Francisco to help prevent a massacre of epic proportions. They were U.S. Armour Enforcer 6000s, and could be disguised underneath casual clothing to allow the wearer to blend into ordinary civilian surroundings. That way, you didn’t need to pad up like an armoured mercenary and draw the attention of everyone in sight as soon as you stepped out into bustling Manhattan. Not even the lowlight would mask the presence of body armour, so he gave thanks for her hindsight.

  Wordlessly, he shed his leather jacket and peeled the compression shirt over his head. The lighting was weak in the room, but there was still a lamp glowing in the corner, and every scar on his exposed torso was visible. He’d almost forgotten Alonzo was in the room.

  The man said, ‘How long have you been doing this?’

  Slater immediately knew what had led to the question. He glanced down at his hard-packed abdominals and noted the faint remnants of hundreds of nicks, cuts, scratches, wounds, and broken bones. All healed now, but they’d left behind a body sporting considerable wear and tear, despite his astonishing physical condition.

  He said, ‘Too long.’

  ‘So you work directly for Violetta?’

  Slater finally turned to face the man. Alonzo’s face, surprisingly, was creased with a mixture of concern and genuine interest. Slater didn’t quite know how to categorise the guy. Obviously intensely knowledgeable, probably a literal genius with technology, no doubt the best in his field. You had to be at this level of the game, to be allowed in the door.

  Slater said, ‘Sort of. I don’t know how to describe it.’

  ‘She’s explained,’ Alonzo said. ‘But I didn’t know whether she was feeding me bullshit or not.’

  ‘What’d she tell you?’

  ‘That you and King were the best solo operatives in government history, and that you both “retired” around the same time. She didn’t elaborate, but I got the sense you stirred up some serious shit when you went out. Am I far off the mark?’

  ‘Not very.’

  ‘And now you’re back doing this because you don’t know what else to do.’

  ‘Is that what she thinks?’

  ‘It’s what she said. But I don’t know how truthful she is with me.’

  ‘I know a million things I’d rather be doing than this.’

  ‘Then why do it?’

  Slater didn’t answer directly. He said, ‘Could ask you the same question.’

  To make a point, Alonzo lifted his cashmere sweater up, exposing a pale hairy midriff complete with love handles and an absence of abrasions. ‘You see many battle scars?’

  ‘Not all scars are external.’

  Alonzo dropped his shirt and stared at Slater in pensive silence.

  The seconds ticked by.

  But Slater didn’t take the bait. Someone less patient might have jumped to fill the void, but he was comfortable in the quiet. He waited for Alonzo to process what he needed to.

  Then the man said, ‘You’re a whole lot smarter than I thought you’d be.’

  Slater shrugged. ‘Same ball game. Different positions. You could make a fortune in the private sector with a whole lot less work, just like I could. There’s no shortage of billionaires looking for bodyguards with impressive résumés, and there’s no shortage of companies looking for tech wizards like yourself. Fortune 100s would be jumping at the bit to snatch you up. But you’re here, probably overloaded with stress, sacrificing your mental health and your sanity for your country. Because you want to do the right thing, and you’re talented, and you know you’re talented, and you don’t want those talents to go to waste. Same as me.’

  Alonzo said, ‘I’ve never met an operative who didn’t think I was an out-of-shape pen-pusher.’

  ‘Well, you’ve met one now.’

  A pause.

  Then Alonzo said, ‘Maybe that’s what makes you the best. You and King both. You don’t judge anyone. So you’re probably humble enough to be ruthless self-assessors, which allows you to improve on your flaws. I’ve met my fair share of SF guys and black-ops guys who were never able to evolve. Ego always gets in the way. It’s the silent killer. You think you’re top shit so you don’t work hard to get better. Or you only focus on your strengths.’

  Slater nodded. ’I’ll be working hard to get better until the day I die.’

  ‘As will I,’ A
lonzo said. ‘Guess that’s what makes us, us.’

  Slater didn’t respond.

  Alonzo said, ‘There’s gossip about you two in our world, you know?’

  ‘I figured there might be. Good or bad?’

  ‘The word “luck” gets thrown around more often than not. Especially after some of the stories that circulate about what the two of you have accomplished. But now, meeting you, I don’t think it’s luck. I think you just ruthlessly prepare for everything, so you have very few weaknesses. I’ve always thought that of high performers. I guess I try to apply it to my skillset, too. It helps me stay ahead of the tech guys on the other side, trying to destroy what I’m tasked with protecting.’

  ‘Thanks for the character analysis,’ Slater said with a smirk.

  Alonzo said, ‘I’ll leave you to it. Thanks for the chat.’

  ‘Anything I need to know about the building?’

  ‘I’ll send schematics to your phone over the satellite network. Other than that, it’s on you and King. I’m just as in the dark as you two are.’

  Slater glanced outside. ‘Quite literally.’

  Alonzo turned to place a hand on the doorknob, and then hesitated. He turned back one last time.

  ‘Give ’em hell,’ he said. ‘You might be our last shot.’

  ‘Seems to always be that way,’ Slater sighed.

  Alonzo nodded solemnly, then slipped outside, leaving Slater alone with all the pressure in the world.

  What’s new? he thought.

  He picked up one of the bulletproof vests and shrugged it over his frame.

  34

  King waited for the door to close behind Slater and Alonzo, then turned and pulled Violetta in close.

  She mumbled, ‘You said—’

  He pressed his lips to hers, and all went still. The quiet of the hallway amplified by ten, so silent they were able to hear each other’s breathing as they interlocked their mouths. When they parted, King kept his forehead resting against hers. She didn’t move, or protest. He could tell she had her own eyes closed, too.