I entered the fringes of Bruce’s mind, and found there were only a couple of conscious thought levels. Below them, the subconscious levels were swirling with clouds of the obsessive malignancy that Buzz had described from her insight. At the heart of them was an unnervingly distorted image of Michaela’s face.
I remembered the words Lucas had planned for me to say. “Bruce learned the truth about telepaths nearly three years ago and started growing increasingly dangerous.”
I heard Adika’s voice speaking through my own ear crystal, as well as through my target’s ears. “Listen to me, Bruce. What did you do to Forge?”
A memory sequence triggered. Waiting until the blond-haired Forge had come out of the waves and was towelling himself dry, then walking along the Teen Level beach to smile at him. Having the fun of pretending I hadn’t recognized him. Asking if he’d be interested in joining a surfing team, and solemnly sighing when he said there was no point when he was only a few months away from Lottery. The critical moment when Forge had finished dressing, and stooped to pick up his surfboard.
There wasn’t just a mental memory at that point, but a physical one too. The satisfying feel of my hand stabbing the pressure jet against Forge’s back. The sudden lack of resistance as Forge threw himself forward onto the sand and rolled sideways. The agonizing pain as he reached up to clutch my wrist, and twisted the hand that was holding the pressure jet.
The protein scum had nearly broken my arm before he passed out. I’d had to ignore the pain as I hastily stabbed him with the pressure jet several more times to make sure he’d stay unconscious for a long while. Worried bystanders were hurrying up by then, so I had to reassure them there was nothing seriously wrong with the boy. He’d just forgotten to take his afternoon medication, so I’d given him the injection myself, and he would be all right once he’d rested in my office.
By the time I’d got a wheeled stretcher and towed Forge past my office to the freight lift, my arm was blazing in agony. Once we were inside the freight lift, I took my revenge by kicking Forge in the ribs. I felt Bruce’s savage joy at that memory, and then my own rising panic brought me back to being fully Amber.
“I don’t like this,” I said shakily. “Bruce caught Forge off guard, and stabbed a pressure jet of sedatives against his back. The sedatives were strong enough to knock Forge out within two seconds, but Bruce still used the pressure jet on him several more times when he was unconscious.”
“Adika, ask Bruce how many doses were in that pressure jet,” said Megan sharply.
Adika repeated the question, and I saw Bruce’s thoughts respond with disinterest.
“Waste it!” I said. “Bruce doesn’t know. He didn’t look. He didn’t care. All he knows is that the pressure jet was empty after he’d used it on Forge.”
“Bruce could have given Forge a massive overdose,” said Megan, in a strained voice. “Possibly a fatal overdose. We need to find Forge and give him an antidote immediately.”
“Adika, ask Bruce where Forge is now,” said Lucas.
I waited for Bruce to hear the question, and frowned. “Bruce bound and gagged Forge, and put him in a crate, but he doesn’t know where the crate is now. How can he not know?”
Lucas groaned. “Adika, ask Bruce how he’s been hiding the Blue Upway game master stack.”
“That question can wait,” said Adika.
“No, it can’t wait,” said Lucas grimly. “I think Bruce has used the same method to hide Forge. He took him to a freight lift and put him in a crate.”
“You think he’s sent Forge’s crate off on the freight system?” asked Rothan’s startled voice.
“Yes,” said Lucas. “Ask about the game master stack, Adika. That memory will include a lot more details, because Bruce wouldn’t want to lose the game master stack, but I don’t think he cares what happens to Forge.”
Adika asked the question, and I tried to make sense of the answer in Bruce’s head. “Bruce learned a lot about the freight system from a friend who works at the Teen Level beach storage complex, and thought of a brilliant way to hide the game master stack. Once you’ve set up the codes for a delivery route, you can keep using that code again and again to send items on the same route. Bruce said he wanted to play a joke on someone, and got his friend to set up a special code for him.”
“What does the code do?” asked Lucas, in a despairing voice.
“It sends the item as lowest priority traffic on a complete loop of the Hive before coming back to the Teen Level beach storage complex to be collected by Bruce. Whenever he gets the automated message saying his crate is ready for collection, he takes it to his office, works on the game master stack for an hour or two, and then sends it off for another loop of the Hive.”
“And he’s done the same with Forge’s crate,” said Lucas.
“I’m afraid so,” I said miserably.
“How long does the loop take, Amber?” asked Megan sharply.
“It depends on the volume of higher priority traffic. If things are busy, then the crate could get diverted off its direct route to a less crowded freight belt, or even bumped off the freight system entirely, and have to sit waiting for hours before continuing its journey. That means the loop can take anywhere between five hours and forty hours.”
“Which means Forge’s crate could be virtually anywhere on the freight system by now,” said Lucas. “Liaison, is there a way to locate the crate?”
“We’ve just checked that,” said Nicole. “Freight item movements are only recorded when they leave or arrive at a storage complex.”
“That’s no help,” I wailed.
“What does the crate look like, Amber?” asked Lucas. “Clearly it’s big enough to hold Forge.”
“It’s a long, oblong crate from a big surfboard delivery. Bright yellow. With the code YU0894L on the side and top.”
Lucas’s voice changed to be briskly decisive. “You can leave Bruce’s mind now, Amber. Megan can put him back under full sedation, and I’ll discuss plans for his treatment with Buzz in the morning. We know what Forge’s crate looks like. It’s just a question of searching for it.”
“And how are we going to search every freight belt in the Hive?” demanded Adika.
“We’ll use Halloween,” said Lucas. “I’ll record a new message sequence to send to the players right away. Gideon, we’ll need the holo tree background again.”
Lucas retrieved his red-eyed helm and cloak from where he’d left them earlier, put them on, and strode to the empty end of the office just as the holo red and black trees appeared.
He turned to face us and shouted in anger. “My scavengers of darkness, one of my most valued followers has been captured and caged. You must go to the lowest level of the Hive, and search the freight belts for his prison. There will be dark places there, but the reward for success is great. Whoever finds my follower’s prison must send me its image and location at once, to earn the title of Halloween Champion.”
“Excellent, Lucas,” said Gideon.
“Add the description of the crate and send the message out to all our players,” said Lucas. “How many do we have now, Beckett?”
“Twenty-three thousand, four hundred, and ninety-two including the cheats.”
Chapter Thirty-eight
Adika sent all his men, except for my new bodyguards, to join the hunt for Forge. I watched them head off in the lifts, dressed in black teen clothes, and wearing Halloween masks. I wanted to go with them, but Lucas pointed out that Adika would insist on a lot of men bodyguarding me, and they’d be able to search a bigger area if they split up.
So I went back to the Tactical office and sat tensely waiting with Lucas, Buzz, and the Tactical team. Some of the freight belts ran along dimly lit corridors, while others were totally dark. Our Strike team searchers were using their wristset lights, and had their crystal units set to visual since no one was likely to notice the camera extensions.
The main screen in the Tactical office was randomly switching
between the images from those cameras. Most of the time, all you could see was our men’s wristset lights shining on crates, but sometimes the shadowy figures of teens in Halloween masks would run by.
Rothan’s disbelieving voice spoke on the crystal comms. “I’m currently in Yellow Zone, and the Halloween players are everywhere I look. Have you got all twenty-three thousand of them searching this zone, Lucas?”
“If anything, there should be more players in Blue Zone than anywhere else,” said Lucas. “They’ll be searching solo rather than in groups because they know only one player can be Halloween Champion. There probably seem more of them than there really are because they’re running around so much.”
“There are a lot more than twenty-three thousand players now,” said Beckett. “We’ve had another big rush of cheats joining.”
“How many do we have now?” asked Lucas.
“Thirty-two thousand, one hundred and nine,” said Beckett.
“It sounds like we’ve got every game player in the Hive searching Level 100,” said Emili. “The reward of getting the title of Halloween Champion is obviously irresistible. Surely one of them must find Forge soon.”
“I think they’d have found the crate already if it was somewhere with lighting,” said Lucas. “It must be on a freight belt running along a totally dark corridor. Hopefully, it will soon reach a …”
Buzz spoke urgently on the crystal comms. “Lucas, I’ve got a call from Forge’s dataview.”
I gasped.
Lucas looked at where Buzz was sitting at the spare desk. “Is that Forge calling you or someone else using his dataview?”
“I can’t tell,” said Buzz, in a frustrated voice. “Nobody’s talking. There’s just some rustling and scraping noises.”
“You’re bound to be at the top of Forge’s frequent call list,” said Lucas. “His crate will be being automatically rolled on and off freight belts, and jolting across the gap between belts at a zone boundary. If the dataview is in the crate with him, then it could have got knocked around and randomly called you.”
He paused. “Nicole, patch the call into the crystal comms so everyone can hear it.”
“Patching now,” said Nicole.
“Forge, can you hear me?” asked Lucas.
“He can’t possibly hear you,” said Megan. “He wouldn’t have woken up from a single dose of sedatives yet, and Amber said he was given several doses.”
“Forge is imprinted for Strike team leader,” said Lucas.
“That doesn’t make him immune to massive overdoses of sedatives,” said Megan acidly.
Lucas ignored that. “Forge, your dataview called Buzz. We’ve got you patched into the crystal comms. Amber told us that Bruce bound and gagged you before putting you in the crate, so you won’t be able to speak on your dataview. Can you kick your feet or something to make two thumping noises for us?”
There were two muffled thumps on the comms.
“It’s Forge!” I cried joyfully. “He’s awake. He can hear us.”
“He can’t be awake,” said Megan. “It’s impossible.”
“Forge is imprinted for Strike team leader,” Lucas repeated his earlier words. “He’d react instantly to an attack. Amber, you told us that the sedatives were strong enough to knock Forge out within two seconds. What did he do during those two seconds?”
“Bruce and Forge were standing on the beach,” I said. “Forge stooped to pick up his surfboard, and Bruce hit him in the back with the pressure jet of sedatives. Forge threw himself forward onto the sand, rolled sideways, grabbed Bruce’s wrist and twisted it, but then passed out. Bruce’s arm was very painful after that, so he got his revenge later by kicking Forge in the ribs.”
“Forge dropped forward to minimize the dose of sedatives going into his back,” said Adika. “He then used an attack that involved twisting Bruce’s wrist so he could try to empty the pressure jet at the same time.”
“Forge must have succeeded in emptying the pressure jet,” said Lucas. “Bruce was too distracted by the pain in his arm to realize what had happened.”
“Forge didn’t get a fatal overdose of sedatives,” said Buzz, in a strained voice. “He didn’t even get one full dose of sedatives. He’s awake, he’s all right, and I am going to kill him!”
There was another muffled thump on the comms.
“Don’t you thump at me like that, Forge,” said Buzz bitterly.
There was an outbreak of relieved laughter.
“Forge is all right,” said Lucas cheerfully, “but we still have to find his crate. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but can we try one thump for yes and two thumps for no. Do you have any idea where you are, Forge?”
There were two thumps.
“Can you see any chinks of light around the top of your crate?”
Another two thumps.
“I was right about the crate being on a belt in a totally dark corridor then,” said Lucas. “Don’t worry, Forge, we’ve got thirty-two thousand searchers looking for you.”
“Thirty-three thousand, eight hundred, and counting,” said Beckett.
There were three thumps.
Lucas seemed to interpret them as a question and explained. “We’ve got all the Halloween players looking for you. If they don’t find you soon, then we can try sending a siren sound through your dataview to attract attention, but I’d rather not deafen you unless …”
“Lucas, we have a message from a player with an image and location,” interrupted Beckett.
“Put them on the main screen,” said Lucas.
“Strike team members, abandon the search. Stand by to go to Forge’s location,” snapped Adika.
I looked at the main screen. It was a terrible image, taken in darkness only broken by a small light balanced on top of the crate, but the code YU0894L was still visible. Forge was in area 400/0940.
“We have the minor complication that Forge is in Burgundy Zone,” said Lucas. “I don’t want to trigger more problems with Keith by sending a Strike team charging into one of his home zones to rescue Forge if there’s a quieter way to handle the situation.”
He paused. “Let’s set things up for the hunter of souls to call the new Halloween Champion. We obviously don’t want the Halloween Champion to hear anyone but me talking.”
Lucas put on his red-eyed helm and black cloak again, and headed for where the ominous holo tree background had already appeared at the end of the office.
“It’s going to be strange shutting down Halloween and having Lucas wearing ordinary clothes again,” said Emili. “I’ve completely adapted to having our Tactical Commander dressed as the hunter of souls.”
“We can’t shut down Halloween,” said Beckett. “It’s a huge success. We’ve got thirty-four thousand, three hundred and seventeen players.”
“Nicole and I have set up the call, Lucas,” said Gideon. “Making it in three, two, one. Action!”
A shadowy face appeared on the main screen. A boy, probably only fifteen years old, his face showing his thrilled excitement as he stood on the freight belt next to the crate.
“You have found my follower’s prison and earned my favour,” said Lucas. “Open the prison and release the captive to claim your title.”
The boy suddenly looked nervous. “Are you sure it’s all right for me to open the crate? It’s part of the game rather than belonging to someone else?”
“Halloween has authority over this,” said Lucas. “Release the captive.”
The boy nodded. He must have put his dataview in his pocket to free his hands at that point, because everything went abruptly black. “I’m not sure how to open the crate,” said his voice.
“There should be four catches on the side,” said Nicole.
“There should be four catches on the side,” Lucas relayed the message.
“I hope the crate isn’t locked,” said Emili anxiously.
“Only crates with hazardous contents are locked,” said Nicole. “People aren’t going to ris
k stealing things off freight belts when they believe nosies are reading their minds. This crate was only used for transporting surfboards, so …”
The boy’s alarmed wail interrupted her. “There’s someone in this crate! He’s tied up and gagged.”
“You are now Halloween Champion,” said Lucas. “Take the gag from my follower’s mouth.”
There was a brief pause before Forge spoke. “Thank you. Do you think you can manage to untie my hands as well?”
“I think so,” said the boy.
There was a long wait before Forge gave a sigh of relief. “That’s so much better.”
“What’s been going on?” asked the boy’s worried voice. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine,” said Forge. “Congratulations, Halloween Champion. Now you must listen to the orders of the hunter of souls.”
There was a scrabbling sound as the boy took his dataview from his pocket, and his face appeared on the main screen again.
“My follower must return to my realm, and you to yours,” said Lucas. “I will spread the word to the packs that the title of Halloween Champion has been claimed.”
“High up!” said the boy, and the screen went blank as the call ended.
A moment later, Forge spoke on the crystal comms again. “I’m back on my own dataview now.”
“We’ll send a medical team to meet you,” said Megan.
“I don’t need a medical team,” said Forge. “I’ve just got a few bruises. I’ll head up to Teen Level, and then get an express belt south to reach our unit’s bank of dedicated lifts.”
“Are you perfectly sure you don’t need help with anything?” asked Lucas.
“There is one thing that’s worrying me,” said Forge. “My surfboard wasn’t in the crate with me. Could Nicole contact Teen Level beach and ask if it’s been handed to lost property?”
I burst out laughing.
Borderline (Hive Mind Book 4) Page 38