by Tracy Lawson
A man spoke behind them. “I told you she was here.”
Careen whirled around. Art Severson and Sheila Roth stood in the open doorway. He pointed a gun at Careen as he pocketed a QM handheld scanner.
Sheila seemed intent on fueling the drama. “Pete, how dare you associate with a murderer! And after what that girl tried to do to me!”
Pete ignored her and stepped between Careen and the gun. Severson attempted to wave him out of the tiny room. “Get out here. Hands on your heads.”
With Pete blocking Severson’s view of her, Careen slowly reached back for the gun in her waistband.
Pete shifted position as he pointed to the monitor, and she froze, her fingertips just brushing the gun’s grip. “Look what’s happening! The coup is over. Congress has voted to downgrade the authority of the OCSD. Citizens are calling for the elimination of the Link. You missed your chance. Leave this young woman alone.”
“Do you really think a Congressional vote will be enough to get rid of the OCSD? Now get out here!”
Careen pulled the .22 free, but Pete surprised her with his own plan of action, lunging at Severson before she had time to aim. Sheila ducked out of the way as the two men grappled over Severson’s gun. A single shot rang out, and Pete slumped to the floor.
“Oh no!” Careen fell to her knees beside him, dropping the gun to press both hands against the blood that spurted from his neck. Atari had hardly bled at all compared to this, and within seconds Pete was fading. His lips moved and she leaned closer.
“Don’t give up. Death is not … the worst evil. Keep fighting.” Then he was still.
She choked back the bile that rose in her throat. Pete’s blood had splattered her clothing, and now it dripped from her hands. Severson reached in and hauled her up by the elbow, making her step over the body, and then shoved his gun into Sheila’s hand. “Take her into the studio.”
Chapter 37
11:18 PM
“So it didn’t used to require a password?” Chester peered at the tablet and then looked over his glasses at Tommy, who shook his head. Jaycee stared around the dusty office, which doubled as a workshop and was crammed with all manner of audio and video equipment, some of it current and some looking beyond repair. Ancient reel-to-reel tape spilled out of a flat box, and hundreds of VHS tapes, something Tommy had never seen in person, were stacked on metal shelves.
“I could go in and make changes to the data until about half an hour ago, when it locked itself down,” Tommy said.
“Easiest way to take care of that is to wipe the contents. Gives you a fresh start.”
“But won’t that eliminate the only way to control the Link? We need to get back to that particular program, the sooner the better.”
The engineer glanced around before he spoke. “I do have some software that might open it. I have it because sometimes we share tablets, phones, and other station equipment. Sheila can never remember passwords, and, God help us all, she’d try to change them and then mess everything up. I had to get special approval, you understand, and I’m required to file a report with the OCSD every time I use it to unlock a device.”
“I’d appreciate it if you’d give it a try.” Tommy handed over the tablet, wondering if there was some trick to the password in case the tablet was stolen or compromised.
Chester rolled across the floor in his chair, grabbed a patch cord, and then rolled back to connect the tablet to one of his computers. As soon as he started the diagnostic, the tablet emitted a loud, annoying alarm.
The engineer winced as he disconnected the tablet, and when it fell silent he shook his head. “This thing’s got extra protection and a paranoid owner, it seems. I won’t be able to get past it. Sorry.” He handed it back to Tommy.
Jaycee asked, “Couldn’t Atari help us?”
Tommy realized he had no idea where Atari was and no faith that he would be willing to help if they could locate him. “He wouldn’t help us. He’d gloat about being the smartest one in the room. He likes to put people in mazes and watch them fight their way out.” Tommy closed the cover. “At least no one else has control of it either.”
Someone spoke behind him. “That’s about to change.”
Jaycee yelped in fear and Tommy turned around. The quadrant marshal who stood in the doorway looked familiar. Nelson. He’s Wes’s old partner.
“Get out here.” He motioned with his gun. As they filed out, he shook his head at Chester. “Just the kids. We don’t want to hurt you.” He grabbed Jaycee by the arm and held his gun to her head as he spoke to Tommy. “Tie him in his chair.”
When Tommy was finished, Nelson patted him down and took his gun. “Give me that tablet. Hands on your head. Let’s go.” He shoved Jaycee ahead of Tommy and held his gun at Tommy’s back as they headed down the hall.
Somewhere nearby, a single shot was fired. “Stop!” Nelson halted them and glanced around. Before long, Tommy heard rapid footsteps approaching and lowered his hands to be ready for whatever.
Severson, his shirt and pant legs splattered with blood, rounded the corner and ran toward them. He grabbed Jaycee by the hair and forced her to come with him. Tommy felt Nelson’s gun at his back, warning him not to interfere, but he shouted in protest as he and Nelson followed them down the hall.
“Take it easy. She hasn’t done anything to you!”
Severson ignored Tommy and spoke to Jaycee. “Imagine how delighted I was to find you and Careen together, and then to learn that you girls were with Tommy Bailey. Looks like I’ll be taking over the OCSD and settling all my old scores before the year’s over.”
Jaycee struggled to free herself. “If you hurt Careen, I’ll kill you!”
“Shut up.” Severson opened the door to a utility closet and sent her sprawling inside. Nelson shoved Tommy in after her.
Tommy heard the click of the lock, but he rattled the doorknob anyway. When it refused to yield, he pounded on the door in frustration and called Severson a few choice names.
Jaycee whispered, “Did he shoot Careen?”
“I don’t know.” He threw himself against the door, but it held fast.
Jaycee found the light switch, and began to rummage around by the light of the single uncovered bulb. She handed him a crowbar. “I didn’t know you knew him. Besides, it’s not like he counts as my stepfather or anything.”
He tried to force it into the space between the door and the frame. “Wait, what? He’s your … so Beth is your mom?”
“Yeah, although I just met her last week.”
He tossed the crowbar on the floor in defeat. “Huh. I’m trying to picture your mom and Mitch … wow. Weird. I always thought she could’ve done better than Severson.”
“I know, right? Wish I’d bitten him, too, when he and that marshal Linked me.”
Tommy raised his eyebrows. “You bit the marshal? Way to go! Severson’s the one who sold out my parents and got us into this whole mess in the first place. The nicest thing I can say about him is that he’s a power-hungry jerk. But he’s got a reason to be pissed at me. A few months ago, I threw his keys and his cell phone in a lake and left him stranded in the middle of nowhere.”
“We have to get out of here.” She looked up. “Hey, there’s a drop ceiling. Maybe we can ….” She climbed up on the edge of the cast iron stationary tub and pushed at one of the ceiling panels.
“Here.” Tommy grabbed a stepladder from the corner and set it beside her.
“I don’t have to get far. Just up and over will do it.” Her head and shoulders disappeared into the space. “Here goes.”
He heard her land outside the door, and within seconds he was free. He grabbed the crowbar and followed as she ran down the hall.
11:34 PM
Severson strode into the soundstage, the tablet under his arm and Nelson at his heels. “Sheila, give us a spotlight.”
She hurried over to the panel on the wall and flipped about ten different switches until she turned on one of the overhead spots. As she turned off the rest
of the lights, Careen fought to control the panic that gripped her as memories of being interrogated and abused nearly overwhelmed her.
Severson nodded to Careen. “I believe you remember how this works.”
She shook her head and folded her arms on her chest to control her trembling. “I don’t have anything to say to you. Where are Tommy and Jaycee?”
“It’s over, Careen. You can’t continue to reject the OCSD’s authority.”
She felt braver in the shadows. “The OCSD is nothing but rubble.”
“That sounds symbolic, and actually it’s all for the best. Madalyn’s tenure was short-lived and fraught with scandal and mismanagement. It’s time to move forward and think of the future. Under my direction, the OCSD will rise from the ashes, and the Link will proceed as planned.”
“You can’t make me advocate for the Link.”
“I wasn’t going to suggest it. Everyone knows you’re a liar.” He smiled. “No more subterfuge or tricks. Together we’ll show people what happens to those who defy me.” He nodded to Nelson, who twisted Careen’s arm behind her back and forced her into the circle of light.
Severson joined him in the shadows and held out the tablet to Careen. “Open the program.”
“I can’t. I don’t know the password.”
Severson tsk-tsked. “Surely you don’t expect me to believe that when just hours ago you were on television bragging about being able to manipulate the Link.”
“We were able to for a while, but now we can’t!”
“Lies.”
Nelson slapped her across the face so hard it knocked her to the floor. She dabbed at the blood that trickled from her nose, which smeared with Pete Sheridan’s that had dried on the back of her hand.
“Get up.”
She took her time getting to her feet.
“Tell me the password.”
She looked him in the eyes. “Resistance.”
He typed it in. “That’s incorrect.”
“Try disobey.”
He looked at her askance before he entered it and then swore. “That’s not it either. Tell me the truth.”
“The truth is, you only get three tries at a time before it locks you out.” She held up her arms, poised to ward off the blow that was sure to follow, when Tommy’s voice came out of the darkness.
“Leave her alone!” He dashed into view and swung a crowbar at Nelson like it was a baseball bat. Nelson sidestepped him, and when Tommy rounded on him again, Nelson deflected the blow, wrenched the crowbar from his hand, and twisted Tommy’s arm behind his back. He wrapped his other arm around Tommy’s neck and seemed to enjoy holding him there for Careen to see.
A moment later, Jaycee came forward. Sheila Roth had a gun to her head.
“Ah, your would-be rescuers vanquished.” Art extended the tablet to Tommy, and Nelson relaxed his hold and took a step back. “Give me the password, tough guy. I’m looking forward to Linking you and keeping a close eye on you in the future.”
As everyone stared at him, Tommy’s brain seemed to stall out. He couldn’t think of a single thing Atari might have chosen for the password. He looked at both of the girls and realized he was going to fail them. He decided to keep talking until he came up with a better idea. “The program’s running. The Link is working.”
“You miss the point. Without the password, I lack the ability to truly control it,” Severson said, eyeing Tommy without emotion. “Stratford was too lenient with your parents. He could have quashed their little rebellion months ago. I won’t make the same mistake. Give me the password, or we’ll kill Careen.”
Sheila spoke up. “You’d better listen to him, Tommy. He killed Pete.”
Tommy stared down at the tablet, fighting the urge to snap it in two. Atari always acted like I wasn’t smart enough and said the only way I could solve a problem was through brute force. Nelson moved into position behind Careen, and she stood trembling, waiting for the kill shot, the light on her Link flashing as though it knew it would soon be stilled. He’d promised to protect her. Now he couldn’t even look her in the eye.
“Let her go. Kill me instead.” I’m already in hell. Wait …
Severson sneered. “Oh, so noble, but too easy. And it doesn’t solve my problem.”
I might as well be a character in one of Atari’s games. His heart leaped at the idea. I have to get past Cerberus. It’s the only way out of hell. Suddenly he knew. He typed in Hercules, and immediately the screen lit up with fireworks. Initiating Hercules. Join network. Tommy touched the prompt, and images spilled forth so fast he couldn’t look at any single one. Something called Google appeared. Several progress bars sprang up on the screen, and he saw Banned Books Database and Banned Films Database among them.
Severson grabbed the tablet away from him. “What did you do?”
The studio door burst open, and in rushed a squad of soldiers in bulletproof vests, weapons drawn. Nelson dropped his gun and put his hands on his head. Sheila tossed her gun away like she wasn’t really part of what had just happened and tried to scurry out, but one of the soldiers stopped her before she was halfway across the room. Severson raised his hands, and Tommy did too, just to be safe, but dropped them when he saw his parents, Eduardo, Kevin, and Trina hurrying in.
He was at Careen’s side in an instant, swept her into his arms, and kissed her like there was no one else in the room. It was the kind of kiss that held the promise of the future, and it wasn’t even close to over when Jaycee interrupted by throwing her arms around both of them. Tears were streaming down Careen’s cheeks, but she laughed as the three of them clung to each other in the spotlight.
“You did it! Hercules got past Cerberus! Look.” Jaycee held out her arm. The ID number on her Link was gone, and in its place was Hercules Network. She grinned. “I love mythology.”
The soldiers handcuffed Severson, Nelson, and Sheila and were leading them out when Lara stopped them. “Do you mind? I just need a moment. There’s one little thing…”
The soldier nodded, and she slapped Severson across the face. Some of the soldiers burst out laughing, and as she stood aside to let them pass, someone spoke from the doorway behind her.
“Aw, come on, Lara. You can do better than that.”
Mitch Carraway stepped into the room and dealt a smashing blow to Severson’s jaw. He staggered and fell to his knees. The soldiers hauled him up and guided him out.
“Daddy!” Jaycee pushed through the crowd and ran into her father’s arms. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, and Mitch addressed the squad leader over Jaycee’s head.
“I figured I should turn myself in. I just wanted to say goodbye to my girl first. Getting to pay my respects to Severson was an added bonus.” He held her at arm’s length. “Everything’s going to be okay. Understand?”
Jaycee nodded.
“I raised a fighter. I’m proud of you.”
Tommy watched as one of the soldiers took Mitch by the arm and led him out past a teenaged boy who’d followed Mitch into the studio. “Who’s that?”
Jaycee gasped. “Seamus?” She grinned as she hurried toward him. “I think he’s with me,” she said over her shoulder.
“Tommy?” A voice came over the intercom. “The computers in the control booth went nuts with downloads. We can access all the search engines and news agencies that have been blocked.”
Tommy looked around. “Chester? Is that you?”
“Yeah! Rolled down here from my office. Recorded most of what just happened and sent it out with the rest of Pete’s video archive. I always said I could run a control booth with one hand tied behind my back. Speaking of which, can you send someone in here to cut me loose?”
Everyone but the Resistance had cleared out when his dad came over and pulled Tommy into a hug. “Good work, son.” Tears welled up in Tommy’s eyes, and he held the embrace until he got control of his emotions. When they pulled apart, he was surprised to see his dad looking a little misty, too. Tom coughed. “I can’t wai
t to hear all about what happened this evening and piece the whole story together. Do you think we should move this gathering back to the safe house?”
Tommy grinned. “Sounds great to me. We have everything we need there—food, hot showers, extra clothes.”
“The perfect place to begin anew.” His dad clapped him on the shoulder. “They’ve got cars waiting for us downstairs.”
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Earlier, Atari said the Link meant freedom. I thought he was nuts, and I tried to stop him from activating it, but now I think he was planning to break the Link all along. Why didn’t he just say so?” He gazed at Careen, who was smiling as she talked to Trina. “It’s going to be awhile before I understand everything that’s happened.”
His dad followed his gaze. “Just take it one thing at a time. If there’s something you really want, don’t ever give up.”
“That’s the plan.” He strode over to Careen and led her out of the studio and down the stairs.
“What? I was talking to Trina.”
“Plenty of time for that. We’re all going back to the safe house in a bit.” They crossed the lobby and ran out through the main doors into the crisp night air, their frosty breath mingling with the falling snow that glistened in the streetlights. Careen threw her arms wide and spun around, laughing as the snowflakes swirled around her and settled in her hair.
Her kiss warmed him to his very core, and he smiled down at her. “Happy New Year, Careen.”
SIX WEEKS LATER
5:47 PM
Washington, DC
Tommy put the top bun on his loaded burger and passed the ketchup to Jaycee. “Atari’s on a tropical island bragging to some girl in a bikini about his gunshot wound.”
Jaycee turned up her nose at the suggestion. “I bet they’ll find his body when they clear away the rubble of the OCSD building.”
No one had seen Atari since New Year’s Eve. A recently completed forensic audit of the OCSD’s accounts revealed a five-million-dollar wire transfer sent just hours before Madalyn Davies’s death. The fact that Atari and the money were both missing seemed like too big a coincidence to Tommy.