by Matt Doyle
I place it on top of my phone screen and reply.
Did you recover Joe’s body?
We did. What happened?
Angel got him riled up about some military op he was intel for. Apparently, he felt responsible for the deaths in a village.
Yeah, I know about that one. What happened after she brought it up?
Angel shot him. We figured out a plan where I was gonna shoot him in the body armour. I think he planned to ambush her when she got close, but she was too cautious.
So, she shot him in the head when he was playing possum.
Yes.
A pause and then:
How are you holding up?
Not well. If I’m gonna keep working with her, I’m gonna uncover more and more.
How far have you got with that?
Now I pause. After thinking it through, I send:
You mentioned once there was more to why Casille is playing Allen Fuerza than I knew. I have a pretty good idea what the power structure is in New Hopeland now. The problem is, if I’ve figured things out, then so has Angel.
Okay. Any idea what she’s planning?
No. She mentioned orchestrating a direct confrontation, but I don’t know who with exactly. It could be Dean Hollister, Jonah Burrell, Casille, or the King’s Guard. And she knows all the King’s Guard, by the way, so now I do too. Tell Hanson she has some explaining to do if I get out of this alive.
I think I hear a chuckle drift across from somewhere, and Devin replies.
I’ll do that. Any other intel you can give us?
Angel has access to whatever monitoring network the government is running and can monitor pretty much everything. Any plan you guys get in place needs to be set up in a way that isn’t recorded.
We can accommodate that. Honestly, though, we’re kinda planning to follow your lead as far as possible.
I’m not in charge here, Devin.
No, but Angel is. So, following your lead is, by extension, following hers. We can let things get to where Angel wants them and deal with her then. Any idea what her overall goal is?’
No.
Okay. We recovered the communicator from Joe’s body, so just keep Bert transmitting. Trust us, Caz. Things will work out.
And with that, Devin gets up and leaves.
*
I open my eyes, and I’m back in my family home. Mom is in the kitchen ignoring me, and I’m in the living room ignoring her. My tablet is in my hands, and I turn it on.
I remember this. I opened the web browser next. But it was wrong.
Sure enough, when I open the browser, my homepage has been changed to a news article about some city in Utah that’s going through a huge rise in crime. The city is called New Hopeland, and the local police are struggling to keep up.
I didn’t really know too much about the city until then.
We jump to later the same day. I’m looking through some other sites, and the ad banners are showing property in New Hopeland.
That happened a few times.
The next day, now. I’m on the phone to Kirsty Macdonald, one of the cops who stood by me after what happened to Dad. “So you know someone down that way…? Do you think you could get them to put a good word in for me with the Captain…? No, I can’t stay here. Not much longer. I need to do something, Kirsty. A change of scenery is just what I need, eh…Okay, thank you.”
I’m in New Hopeland. The realtor had just told me about how there are so many housing options available due to a massive turnover in residents. We’d put it down to rising crime. The property we’re in is the third one she showed me. Kirsty helped me get fully licensed, and my historical records were enough to secure me the mortgage, though really, I should never have been approved.
Looking at it empty like this, it’s hard to believe it would become home.
With Lori, now. “Apparently, Devin knew you by reputation back when you were in Vancouver. He said something about some associates of his knowing about your work or something like that.”
*
I sit up in bed, panting heavily, and wipe my brow.
“Diu. There’s no way. They couldn’t have…”
I grab my tablet and start searching for articles relating to housing booms in New Hopeland. There’s nothing. At no point in time has New Hopeland ever been officially in a housing boom.
“But when I got here, there really were a ton of houses and apartments available. It seemed like a third of the city was vacant. That can’t be right either.”
I put the tablet down and try to think things through.
“Could they could access people’s equipment outside New Hopeland? Of course, they could; anyone can remotely access anything with the right tools. They knew me by reputation. I shouldn’t really have been approved for a mortgage on this place, but I was. And whenever I run low on funds, something comes along paying just enough to keep me going for a while longer. Either I’ve been very lucky, or they headhunted me and have been watching me all along.”
I shake my head.
“No, headhunted isn’t right. Handpicked and influenced maybe, but I was not meant to be King’s Guard. Maybe a back-up plan—someone they could hand stuff off to without me knowing?”
I drop back onto my back and stare up at the ceiling. That’s when it hits me. “I’m overlooking the important part of the dream. What really happened to the people who left the city?”
*
Ordinarily, a shower and drowning in coffee would make things more bearable. Not today though; everything is getting on top of me. In truth, if what I’m thinking is right, I’m not certain anymore which side I come down on. No, you know you aren’t on Angel’s side. You just don’t know if you’re on the government’s side.
I make it out of the elevator just as the door to Angel’s apartment shuts, and to my disappointment, it’s not Angel who’s leaving but the person I hoped to keep out of this. “Hi, Charlie.”
“Caz,” she says, sporting a cheery smile. She nods over her shoulder to the door and adds, “She said she thought you’d be dropping by. I was coming to grab you, actually.”
“Oh? So, is this what you were talking about when you said set for life stuff?”
“Yeah. Who’d have thought he was the one behind the Four Kings?”
“It was…a surprise. If you figured that out, did you make contact?”
“That was a tense night. Still, it put us in an interesting position. When our mutual colleague in there got in touch too, I couldn’t believe it. This is a chance to change everything.”
“And Gary Locke?”
“I thought you’d pick up on that. Yes, that was us.”
I close my eyes and sigh. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Charlie.”
“More than you realise,” she replies and gives the door a knock.
It cracks open, and Angel peers out. When she spots me, she finishes unlocking it and steps outside. “Are we ready to go?”
“Go where?” I ask.
“You’ll see,” Charlie says and starts leading us away while Angel piles me up with a couple of extra bags.
As it turns out, there’s access to one of the dealer supply tunnels, a complex run of secret underground corridors used to move drugs, a few blocks from my apartment. Eventually, we come out into a small room fully decked out with carpet, chairs, and proper lighting. “What is this place?” I ask.
“One of our rest points,” Charlie replies. “You can walk the entire length of the city and be a little tired, right? Try doing it while carrying supplies. There are a few of these spots dotted around. The other Elites know what it’s going to be used for, so you won’t be disturbed. Outside, turn right and keep walking. There’s a manhole opening to another warehouse if you need a quick escape. No ladder, though, so be ready to climb.”
“Got it,” Angel says. “Well then, we better get set u
p.”
“Gotcha. Give me a call if there are any issues. And Caz? Don’t worry. Things will work out; for both of us.”
Charlie leaves, and once I’m certain she’s out of earshot, I turn to Angel and ask, “How much does she know?”
“Right now? The identity of the Four Kings and that Casille essentially controls crime in the city. I haven’t told her anything else.”
“Don’t you think you should?”
“I will when it’s time. Unless she does something silly before then, of course.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I believe the Dealers may yet betray me. It’s risky working with them given they’ve met with Casille, especially as, unlike you, they negotiated their position upward. That’s the advantage of having a gang of mercenaries at your beck and call, I guess. Right now, I’m keeping an eye on things and riding the wave of resources.”
“Even if she does move against you, I won’t let you kill her. You know that, right?”
Angel grins, baring her teeth, but without looking at me. She’s like a lioness who knows she could spring whenever she wants. “If that’s the case, Cassie, then you had best hope she doesn’t betray me. I’d hate it to ruin our partnership.”
“Noted.”
Angel turns her laptop on and starts rearranging some of the other computer equipment. “So, you were quiet on the way down here, and the first question you asked me was what the Dealers know. Given your natural paranoia, I’d say that means you’ve found something but weren’t sure whether to mention it or not.”
“I might have. When I first came here, it was in the middle of a housing boom, but there’s no trace of it anywhere online. The governmental monitoring offices won’t give me access to the files for each and every past citizen without me having just cause, but I think it’s worth looking into.”
“Oh? And why’s that?”
“With the amount of links Hollister has to seemingly everyone in a high position in the city, the set-up of the TS Murder Files, and the fact he and Jonah bought land here before the city was built…I’m beginning to wonder how many of the original citizens were legitimate homemakers.”
“Hmm. What set you off down that path?”
“I was told at least one member of the King’s Guard knew about me before I came here. It wasn’t until days before I moved that I really knew much about the city, and even then, it was only because of online adverts that started appearing for me when I surfed the web. The thing is, at the time I didn’t meet the criteria for a mortgage, but they gave me one, and whenever things get tough, a case drops into my lap that fixes everything. I think…I may have been brought to the city. If I can read the records, I can at least figure out if the housing boom was natural or not.”
“Interesting. That would mean there may be more like you. Well then. Switch on the computer over there.”
I follow her gesturing thumb and do as I’m told. When the computer finishes loading up, Angel joins me and places a briefcase on the table next to me. She opens it, pulls out a small metal sheet with a USB attached to the bottom, and plugs it into the base unit. The briefcase also contains a number of vials of blood, and she selects one marked with the initials RH. Using a pipette, she drips a drop of blood onto the sheet, and says, “Give it a minute or two.”
Time drags on, and eventually, the screen flashes up a Welcome, Rebecca Hanson message and a bunch of file folders. Angel starts clicking through the folders and says, “It’s amazing what you can access with the right blood, isn’t it? Ah, here we go. These relate to housing. I’ll leave you to find the right time period. After that, you can just get the computer to cross-reference names the same as you normally would. We have net connectivity, but with enough layers of security to mask us so long as we don’t overdo it.
“So, work quickly. Got it.”
It doesn’t take long to find the names and addresses of people who moved within three months either side of my arrival. I’m on the list too. A good chunk of the information I was looking for is even included in these files. The bits I can’t find, I set the computer to locating, and in under ten minutes—because Angel apparently splashes out a good deal more on tech than I do—I have it.
Once I’ve finished reading through all the information, I call her over and run through my thoughts. “I reviewed a six-month period, and it looks like at least one third of those who left New Hopeland had civil service jobs while they were here then moved on to high paid jobs in other cities but within in the same employment sector. Those coming in were a mix of new starters and transfers from outside. A small number of people held more standard jobs; mechanics, postal workers, and so on. Some moved within the city, others move away. The majority, though, couldn’t be found. They left, allegedly, but there are no mentions of them anywhere online.”
“Social media?”
“Even there. The weird thing is, a lot of them don’t even have profile photos on these files, so I can’t run an image search for them.”
“Pseudonyms.”
“That’s my thinking too. I had a brief look back and it does seem like there’s been periods of mass property shifting every year over the last seven years. Both sales and rental properties come into play here. It’s like a refreshing of the guard. Is there anything on here that goes deeper? Maybe we can find out who some of these people really are, or why I’d be manipulated into moving to the city?”
“Probably. This is about as much as we can access with Rebecca Hanson’s blood though. I suspect we’d need someone far higher up in the food chain to go deeper.” She clicks her tongue and says, “With everything we’ve uncovered so far…You know what this points to, don’t you?”
I nod. “New Hopeland was built for a specific reason. It’s not a real city. It never has been.”
We sit in silence for a moment. When it becomes clear she isn’t going to say anything, I turn to face Angel and ask, “So, what do we do with this?”
“Tell me, Cassie, what do you think my overall goal is here?”
“I have no idea. You haven’t told me anything about what you want to achieve.”
“I’m a careful person. I saw you as a potential ally for two reasons. One, you were already established here and had links I could use if I got you on side. And two, you’ve been used and screwed over by the King’s Guard, who’ve forced you into life-threatening positions without forewarning. Even so, I needed to be sure I could trust you before I gave too much away.”
“And can you trust me?”
“I can trust in the way you act. That’s good enough. What is my goal in New Hopeland? Change, I guess. The full extent of the change, I’m not sure yet.”
“Change, eh? Everything we’ve seen points to this system that’s in place being so far ingrained in the city that it’s…it’s like the city’s central nervous system. Bringing it down in any way would be difficult at this point.”
“I quite agree. We’re also missing an important piece of information: what Jonah’s AIs have to do with it. My existence brought Hollister to him, and now he has a new one to play with. There’s no trace of the project’s aims in the files we have. I know, I’ve checked. Still, we can always ask him. Yes. Tonight, in fact. Once we know that, we plan the big attack.”
*
“How are you feeling?”
I shrug. The voice changer in the mask makes my words sound strange to me as I answer, “The LV suits are actually pretty comfortable. If only I wasn’t worried about you controlling me, eh?”
She rolls her eyes. “I already told you, I’m not going to do it again. It was necessary when we broke Locke out, but not now.”
“Here’s hoping. Any luck with the lock?”
“No, not yet…you know what? Screw it.” Angel lifts her leg and slams her foot down hard on the lock, once, twice, three times, stripping it away from the wall. I guess we’ll never make locks that are actually sec
ure. With the door open, she walks inside and slams a fist into the control panel to the right of the door, cutting the alarm that’s blaring. Next, she grabs a decorative pot from a small table and throws it at the security camera.
“What happened to being quiet?” I hiss, walking in behind her.
“Like I said, screw it. He’d know we were here soon enough anyway.”
Angel stops in her tracks and raises her hand, halting my walk forward. In the darkness ahead, a shadow moves. Slowly at first and then breaking into a dash. Before I can even register what’s happening, Angel throws her hand out. There’s a clunk and then a thud, and we’re on the move again. On the floor just ahead of us is a pitch-black Familiar in the shape of a Doberman. It looks like Angel used one of her remote disablers on it.
We move into the living room, and Angel grabs the TV remote, and uses it smash another security camera. With no way for Jonah to see us now, she points to the door. I nod and walk over, pressing myself against the wall so as not to be seen. Meanwhile, Angel sits herself down into one of the chairs and waits.
Moments later, the quiet padding of someone sneaking down the stairs makes its way into the room. When the unmistakable sound of a gun being held by a shaking hand joins it, I tense up. I have to time this right.
Jonah Burrell steps slowly into the room. He brings the gun up to aim it at Angel. “I know it’s you, Angel. You can take off that ridiculous mask.”
“Fair enough,” she replies, and slowly slides her LV mask off. She drops it down onto her lap, and Jonah steps further into the room, his gun still up.
Seeing my opening, I step to the side, and place a hand on his shoulder. I give him a quick tug. Jonah starts to turn with the pull, and I mirror the movement, bringing my hands into position around the gun as it comes into view. A shot fires, and something behind me smashes. With a twist, I disarm the businessman and then force his arm behind his back and turn him back towards Angel. Upstairs someone screams.
A scream is usually followed by a call to the police, so I’m glad when Angel gets straight to the point. Even if her calmness is far too eerie. “Why did you really make Angela, Jonah?”