The Secret War

by Matt Myklusch

  Keepers swarmed him from all sides, and he fought them in the street, dodging HoverCars and LaserBikes as they sped down the road. No matter how many Keepers came at him, he always seemed to be in control.

  “Forget what I said about every Keeper in the building,” Allegra said. “That might not be enough.”

  No sooner had Allegra finished talking than Midknight paused mid-punch and started scanning the roadways beneath him. “I think he heard you,” Jack said to Allegra. Jack’s suspicions were confirmed as Midknight barreled into a throng of Keepers and ran them off the side of the road. They fell into the street next to Jack, Skerren, and Allegra, causing traffic to come to a screeching halt.

  “Hey, kids, fancy meeting you here,” Midknight said.

  “Midknight, we—we—,” Skerren stammered.

  “I hate to do this to you guys, but don’t worry,” Midknight interrupted. “They’ll let you go. Eventually.” Midknight’s hands moved like lightning as he went to his utility belt, detached three pellets, and threw them at the children. Before they could even think about dodging, each capsule hit its target, and Jack, Skerren, and Allegra were each enveloped by a fast-growing sticky green substance.

  “Jack, do something!” Allegra shouted as the rapidly spreading goo covered her body. She was stretching to escape it, but it was no use.

  “I’m trying!” Jack said. “It’s not mechanical!”

  “Nope, it’s organic,” Midknight said. “An organic wrap,” he added with a short laugh. He jumped off the down ramp, flipping over and up onto another MagLev road, where he hijacked a LaserBike. “I’m really sorry about this,” he told the driver. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

  The last Jack saw of Midknight, he was climbing onto the stolen LaserBike and speeding off into the shadows. As Midknight’s wrap covered Jack’s body up to the neck, he fell to the ground, where he had a sideways view of a mob of Keepers’ feet as they touched down on the road, one after another. Jack heard them talking to one another, but he couldn’t make out too much of what they were saying. “Looks like Smart was right about this one, eh?” one of them said clearly enough.

  “What are you doing?” Jack asked. “He’s getting away!”

  “Quiet,” the Keeper replied. “Jack Blank, you’re under arrest.”

  CHAPTER

  18

  The Prisoner’s Dilemma

  The Keepers took Jack, Skerren, and Allegra into Securamax and brought them all to different interview rooms. Several hours later Jack didn’t know where Skerren and Allegra were, but he was still stuck inside his room, sitting across from the same interrogator, going over the story.

  “I already told you ten times,” Jack said. “We weren’t here to help Midknight break into this place. We were here to stop him. I don’t know how many other ways I can say it.”

  Jack’s interrogator sat there staring at him and tapping his fingers on the table in between them. The man’s face was even less expressive than the four barren walls surrounding him and Jack. After what felt like an eternity, he snorted and shook his head. “You three can certainly keep your stories straight, I’ll give you that much,” he said. “But you must think we’re really stupid if you expect us to believe it.” Jack’s interrogator leaned over the table and locked eyes with him. “Every security measure we have looked the other way when Midknight broke in. I’m supposed to buy that the kid who controls machines didn’t have anything to do with it? Come on.”

  Jack put his head down on the table and sighed heavily. He was tired and had no idea how long he’d been in that room. “You don’t know what you’re doing, keeping me here like this,” he said. “I have things I need to get to. Important things.” Jack looked up from the table. “How much longer are we going to do this?”

  “Until we get to the truth,” Jack’s interrogator replied. “We know you were working with Midknight. The Skerren boy in the next room is his sidekick, for crying out loud. What were you doing here tonight? Why were you trying to break Speedrazor out of prison?”

  Jack put his head back down and gently banged his forehead against the table. This conversation was going nowhere … slowly.

  “How did you get to Midknight?” the man asked Jack, pressing harder. “We couldn’t see his face…. Is he infected? Does he have a Rüstov scar underneath that mask?”

  Jack grumbled into the table. “There’s no point talking to you. You’re not listening to a word I say.”

  “Just answer the question, Jack.”

  Jack sat up and pushed himself away from the table. “No. I’m done with that. This isn’t right. You can’t keep me here like this all night.”

  “I’m going to keep you here until the administrator of this facility says otherwise.”

  That actually made Jack laugh. “You mean Noteworthy?” he asked, making a big show of looking around. “Where is he? Let’s get him out here. I’d love to talk to him.”

  “He’s coming,” Jack’s interrogator insisted. The man shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I don’t know what’s taking him so long, but he’s coming,” he muttered. “Jonas Smart would have been here hours ago. I voted for him, you know.”

  “No kidding,” Jack replied. “That’s a real shocker. Here’s another: Noteworthy’s not coming anywhere near this place. I told you, he was the one working with Midknight. He bolted as soon as I set off the alarms.”

  “Then you better get comfortable,” the man across the table told Jack. “Because we’re going to be here for a long, long time, just you and me.”

  There was a knock on the door, and another Keeper poked his head in. “Jones, take a break,” the man said. “Someone’s here to see the kid.”

  Jack’s interrogator, the man called Jones, sat up straight and twisted around to face the door. “But, sir!” he said. “I’m not finished with my—”

  “Take a break,” the man repeated. “Now.”

  Jones scowled but didn’t argue any further. Instead he got up in a huff and stomped out of the room like a child. Once he had squeezed his way around whoever was waiting for Jack out in the hall, the man who had interrupted Jack’s interview put up a fist and said, “All yours, big guy.”

  A massive blue hand came into view and bumped the fist in return. “Thanks, Chief,” a familiar voice said, and Jack felt a huge swell of relief as his friend and mentor entered the room.

  “Hey, kiddo,” Blue said, grabbing a chair and turning it around to lean forward against its back. “Can’t seem to stay out of trouble, can you? Secreteers? Prison breaks? Maybe you oughta keep it simple and stick to blowing up trains.”

  “Blue,” Jack said, still shocked by his friend’s sudden appearance. “What are you doing here? How’d you even know to find me in this place?”

  Blue waved Jack off like it was no big thing. “I’ve got plenty of friends in this joint from my days on the force. They tipped me off that you and your friends were here.”

  “And you came just like that,” Jack said, leaning back with relief. “Does this mean you aren’t mad at me anymore?”

  Blue shook his head. “I was never mad at you, Jack. I was surprised when you told me about Jazen and the virus, sure…. I needed some time to wrap my head around it. But I wasn’t mad. More than anything, I hated that you felt like you had to keep the truth from me. You didn’t have to do that, Jack. You didn’t have to make it so hard on yourself.”

  Jack gave Blue a tired grin. “You’re telling me there’s some other way to do things?”

  Blue tilted his head and returned the grin. “Fair enough,” he said. “All right, tell me. What’s going on? What are you doing here?”

  Jack told Blue everything that had happened that night. He told him about the shady meeting between Midknight and Noteworthy. How they’d followed them both to Securamax, and how they’d stopped Midknight from busting Speedrazor out of jail. He even told Blue how they suspected that Noteworthy and Midknight were actually Glave and Khalix.

  “Notew
orthy?” Blue exclaimed. “Midknight? No way. Those two hate each other.”

  “That’s the perfect cover,” Jack said. “I’m telling you, Blue, I know what I saw. What else could they have been talking about on that roof? And what were they doing here, breaking into Securamax?”

  “I know, but Midknight …,” Blue said, shaking his head. “I just can’t believe it.”

  “Maybe he’s infected,” Jack said. “When was the last time you saw him without that mask?” Blue rubbed his face, thinking back and considering the possibility that Jack could be right. “And how about Noteworthy?” Jack asked. “Isn’t he supposed to be here? He runs this place now. Where the heck is he?”

  Blue nodded. “The warden here has been trying to reach him for hours. So far, nothing.”

  Jack put his hands up as if to say, “There you go.”

  “All right,” Blue said. “I’ll circle the wagons and see what kind of help I can get tracking them both. We’ll see if there’s anything there. First we gotta get you outta here, though. I can’t spring ya. We need a Circleman for that.”

  “Blue, I can’t stay here much longer,” Jack said. He leaned in and lowered his voice. “Obscuro’s gonna sell my secrets to Smart. If I’m still stuck in here when that comes out, they’ll never let me leave.”

  “Don’t worry,” Blue said. “I had ’em make a few more calls when they couldn’t get Noteworthy. Trust me, I know we gotta get you outta here and back to work on that virus.”

  Jack pinched the bridge of his nose. “The virus,” he said. “I was supposed to go back and work on it with Trea tonight, and I end up getting arrested instead. She’s going to kill me.”

  “She’ll live,” Blue said. “It’ll all be fine once you get back there and start pitchin’ in. You’re gonna do your part—she knows that.”

  “I don’t know, Blue,” Jack said. “I’m so burned-out on this thing, I don’t know if I can.”

  “No time to lie down on the job, partner. You gotta push yourself. You owe Jazen that much.”

  Jack rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at his shoes. He knew what he owed Jazen. He knew it all too well. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about him,” Jack told Blue. “I was protecting his memory as much as anything else. You’ve got to believe me.”

  Blue nodded. “I believe you, Jack. I just wish you’d told me sooner.” Blue reached over to mess up Jack’s hair. “It’s going to be okay,” he said. “Jazen already beat this thing once, right? That means it’s not invincible. You’ll beat it too.”

  “Okay,” Jack said.

  “I mean it,” Blue said. “But you gotta focus. You gotta buckle down. I know what’s going on in that head of yours, Jack. You can’t let what that Secreteer said about your dad distract you. This is the most important thing. This right here. Okay?”

  Jack nodded silently. Blue knew him so well. What Obscuro had told him about a message from his father had been rattling around in his brain like a lone penny shaking around in an empty tin can. Before that night in the glen, Jack had basically given up all hope that his parents were even still alive. Obscuro’s offer was hard to ignore.

  “You know, Jack, I was curious,” Blue said. “The other night when you told us about the virus, you said that you and Jazen broke into SmartTower last year to get some information about who you were. You never told me what ended up happening with that. Did you ever find out anything about your past?”

  Jack swallowed hard. He’d known this question would come sooner or later. The simple answer was yes. He had found out way more than he had ever bargained for that night, about both his past and his future. Telling Blue about it wasn’t quite so simple, especially in a room that he knew was bugged. It wasn’t a subject Jack liked to think about, and it certainly wasn’t anything he wanted to talk about. In the end, he didn’t have to. Blue knew Jack too well. The look on his face gave it all away.

  “I hate to see you like this, Jack,” Blue told his sidekick. “I can tell just by looking at ya, you’re all wound up. It’s not just this virus, either, is it?” Jack said nothing, so Blue just kept talking. “Jack, if there’s something else you’re worried Obscuro might say about you, even if it’s something you haven’t told me yet, that’s okay. I’m not gonna be mad. I just want to help you get out in front of this thing.” Blue put his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Whatever it is, partner, you can tell me. I’ve got your back. Think about it…. If you give up your secrets, they’re not secrets anymore. You sure there isn’t anything else you wanna tell me?”

  Jack gave Blue’s words serious consideration. He knew his friend was sincere, and he didn’t want to lie anymore either, but the weight of the secrets Jack carried was like a sack of bricks on his back that even now he didn’t know how to properly set down. Jack was still deciding what to tell Blue, when the door opened up and Projo flew in.

  “I certainly hope there’s nothing else,” Virtua said. “I don’t think my people can take any more of Jack’s secrets.” Jack clammed up as Virtua’s holographic eyes judged him from across the room. “Up, Jack,” she said. “You’re free to go. Come join your friends outside. They’re waiting for you.”

  Virtua turned to leave, and Blue rapped his knuckles on the table as he got to his feet. “To be continued,” he told Jack. Jack got up and followed Blue and Virtua out of Securamax, hoping against hope that he wouldn’t be back anytime soon.

  Skerren and Allegra were waiting for Jack outside the main gate, but Virtua wasn’t done with him yet. “Can I have a word with you, Jack?” she asked. The tone in her voice conjured up memories of Jack’s days at St. Barnaby’s and getting sent to H. Ross Calhoun’s office. He nodded and followed Virtua a few feet away from the others, where they could speak in private. Projo, Virtua’s orb-shaped image-caster, kept bumping into Jack’s head as they walked. Jack could tell he was doing it on purpose.

  “I’m sorry, Jack, but I am very concerned about your apparent lack of progress on the virus,” Virtua began. “Even more so with your lack of focus.”

  “That’s not how it is, Virtua. I—”

  “Let me speak,” Virtua said, putting up a finger in a manner that shut Jack up immediately. “I don’t think you fully appreciate the position I am in. I have been made party to an imminent threat to the Imagine Nation, a threat that involves using my own people as a weapon. Even worse, I can’t even warn this city of the danger at hand without inviting disaster into the lives of the very people I mean to protect.”

  “I hate to be the one to say it, but I don’t think building that wall without telling anyone why did anything to ease the tension,” Jack said.

  “That wall is for everyone’s protection,” Virtua replied. “And you are hardly one to lecture me about being open and honest.”

  “I know that,” Jack said. “Don’t you think I know that? That’s why I’m trying to make sure the Secreteer doesn’t tell anyone about the virus.”

  “If you had simply focused on curing the virus, the other Secreteers would have dealt with Obscuro on their own. You might have found a cure by now. This brings us to the heart of my dilemma. I cannot rely on you to solve this problem, Jack. While you are scattered, trying to figure out your priorities, the enemy advances unchecked. In the past I would have dismissed Jonas Smart’s paranoia as just that, but we both know the threat is real. Obscuro’s warning, coupled with the Glave and Khalix communications, tell us that this virus is about to go live. I have to plan for that contingency, Jack. I want a copy of all your research on the spyware virus to date.”

  Jack looked up, alarmed. “My research?” he asked. “But what if you get infected? The Rüstov would know how close we are to a cure. They might adapt the virus.”

  “What’s the matter, Jack? You don’t trust me?”

  “No, I do,” Jack said. “I do, it’s just …”

  “I need that information,” Virtua told Jack. “It would be one thing if you were working on it, but—”

  “I am working o
n it.”

  “Are you?” Virtua asked. “It looks to me like you’re letting Trea do all the work while you go chasing after the Rogue Secreteer. I wonder about your fixation with him…. Is it because he knows your secrets, or because he knows your father?”

  “Is that what you think I’m doing out here?” Jack asked. “Obscuro’s offer has nothing to do with me avoiding my lab.”

  “So you are avoiding it, then.”

  “No,” Jack said. “I didn’t mean it like that. Don’t put words in my mouth.” Jack looked away. He could guess how selfish he must have looked in Virtua’s eyes just then, but he couldn’t tell her the real reason he was so freaked out about the prospect of working on the virus. “I’m not avoiding the problem,” he said. “It’s just that I can do more outside the lab right now.”

  “My IP address is 239847230987230984,” Virtua told Jack, unmoved. “Can you upload your files to that location from here or not?”

  Jack sighed. “No, it’s too far away. But Trea uploaded all my research to the lab computers. If you can send a signal to my mainframe in Cognito, I can tell it how to get there and add an authorization code for the data transfer.”

  “Good enough,” Virtua replied. She created an info-light data package, a buzzing concentration of computer code stored in a glowing ball of pink light. Jack pressed down on it with his fingers to enter in the access codes to his mainframe. The info-light was hot to the touch. Jack released the data package, and it zipped away through the air like an oversize digital firefly.

  “That’ll give you everything I have,” Jack said. “It’s a lot of work, it really is. It’s just lately, I’ve been …”