Trojan Gene

by Meg Buchanan

  He picks up the music box Ela dropped. He stares at it for a while, turns it round, watches the little ballerina dance. I imagine I can hear the music. Then he shuts it, hands it to the sidekick, says something. Stands there, gloves on hips looking around, down the line of glass houses, then up at the hills.

  And the sun chooses that moment to reflect off Nick’s glasses.

  I see the flash of reflected light and see Vincent see it too. It’s like he’s been hit by an energy bolt. He spins around, yells something. We can hear the echo of the order. Suddenly there are VTroopers streaming out of the buildings and starting up the hill in this horde towards us.

  “Fuck.” Nick leaps to his feet. He has the glasses around his neck and pack and rifle over his shoulder like lightning. Me and Ela are moving fast too. We take off again, Monsanto ahead of us.

  We fly after him. I figure those VTroopers are going to spread out and sweep the bush. Six metres apart, in a line. They’ll be able to cover a strip just over a kilometre wide. Our advantage is they won’t be fast. But they can go forever at that march they use. They’re like bull dozers. Nothing stops them.

  We’re going to get tired. We keep it up for around a kilometre, maybe a bit less, not quite running blind but not thinking too much either.

  I might like the chase, but it turns out I’m not too keen on being the quarry. Then Nick stops.

  “This is crazy.” Nick unslings his rifle and hands it to Ela. Then follows with his pack and binoculars. He gives them to me.

  “You got a plan?” I ask. He’s pulling the Swanndri over his head then shrugs out of it.

  “Yeah.” He hands that to me too. “I’m going back to get the ute.”

  “They’ll catch you on the road. They’ll have roadblocks up by now.”

  “I’m counting on it,” he says. “But they’ll let me through. I’m a trusted employee who has just spent Sunday with my grandma. You and Ela carry on through the bush, another four or five kilometres. Once I’m clear, I’ll pick you up.”

  As a plan it could work. Nick’s just in jeans, boots and t-shirt now, and he won’t have any hunting gear with him if we take it. But whether he’s still a trusted employee, I’m not too sure. With all the extra surveillance, it sounds like Jacob and Fitzgerald have their doubts about whether Vector still trusts Locals.

  But I can’t see any other way. And Nick does need to move his ute before one of those VTroopers stumbles on it. His whole family could be in the shit if it’s found.

  “Where do you want to meet?” I ask because I can’t see any better plan.

  “At the bridge where we met up with Fitzgerald this morning.” He starts moving off.

  “What about the wrist shield?”

  “I’ll throw it into the bush once I’m on the road.”

  “Clean it off first,” I say. Don’t want his fingerprints or DNA on it if it’s found.

  Nick nods. Monsanto looks at Nick then me. Like he’s wondering who to go with.

  I call him back. He waits a bit before he obeys. Like he’d rather go with Nick. No loyalty that dog.

  “Okay. See you in a couple of hours.” Then Nick disappears into the bush.

  “Can you keep going?” I ask Ela. Elite females aren’t exactly known for their fitness.

  “Yep,” she says and slings Nick’s rifle over her shoulder. I stuff his Swanndri into his pack. I loosen off the straps and put the pack on top of mine. More to carry but better than leaving it to be found.

  Then Ela and I take off. A bit slower than before. But faster than a march. It’s going to take us a good hour and a half to run to the bridge through the bush. We need to conserve energy but still stay ahead.

  *

  We make it to the bridge. Ela did bloody well. You’d think she was used to this stuff. Nick’s there waiting for us. It’s a relief.

  “Any problems,” I ask, slinging the two packs onto the back of the ute.

  Nick gets out, takes his rifle off Ela. Starts to stash it behind the seats.

  “You were right about the roadblocks. Got stopped twice.”

  “But they let you through.”

  “Yeah, they thought my story checked out.”

  I stick my rifle with Nick’s then flip the seat back into position. Ela climbs in the middle all legs and hair. She gives me a grin like she’s enjoyed herself.

  She did better than I expected.

  I climb in beside her, and she curls up and puts her head on my shoulder, she’s soft and Elite again. But I’ve just seen her run for two hours straight, carrying a rifle, and wearing a Swanndri. It’s a revelation.

  Chapter 10

  I RECKON IT WAS Vincent and the sidekick we saw kill old man and old lady Stevens.” We’re on the way back into town.

  “Yep,” says Nick. “I didn’t get a good look at them then, but they were sort of familiar when I saw them at the pub, and they’re the right shape.”

  “Yeah, and from when Vincent turned up things changed.”

  Nick nods. “It’s not just the Stevens. There’s Lucinda taken by Vector, Jacob put into hospital and Jacob’s house getting trashed. It’s all pretty bad.”

  “What are you talking about?” asks Ela.

  We tell her the whole Stevens’ saga. She goes quiet and moves even closer to me. I hold her a bit tighter. “Yeah, and Fitzgerald will tell us to stay out of this. He’ll say let him and Jacob handle it.”

  Nick nods. “Do we tell Fitzgerald?”

  “Not yet.”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  Ela lifts her head off my shoulder. “Telling Fitzgerald doesn’t seem like a bad idea if they’re killing people.”

  “Chicken,” I say.

  Ela gives me a bit of an eye roll. “Is this because he’s Vector?” she asks hopefully.

  “No, it’s because he shot the Stevens,” I say. It’s tempting to try to get that bastard ourselves after what he did.

  “I don’t want anyone telling me to back off,” says Nick. So, Nick agrees with me.

  “I’ll get more information about Vincent then take it to Fitzgerald. Right now, we keep it to ourselves.”

  Nick nods.

  So me and Nick school Ela up on how the day really went. There was no hunting. There was no going down to look at the glasshouses. We didn’t recognise anyone. And there definitely was no getting chased by Vector.

  The story is, we got the Egans out, then went back to their place and stayed just inside the bush line until the Hovers arrived. We watched while Vector searched the house and glasshouses, and we didn’t recognise anyone. Then after the Hovers left we came back into town.

  Ela lifts her head off my shoulder and looks at me then Nick. “You don’t think Jacob or Fitzgerald would like what happened today?” she asks.

  Nick glances at her. “Nope.” He goes back to watching the road, changes gear before taking a corner. Ela gets pushed closer to me. “We’d get the ‘this isn’t a game’, and the ‘when you are given an order, follow it’, and the ‘don’t try to be a hero’ lectures again, so don’t say anything.”

  “Okay, my lips are sealed.” She makes that zip sign at her mouth. I put my arm around her. She puts her head back on my shoulder.

  Interesting though. Didn’t know Nick was getting those lectures too. It’s actually a bit of a relief to find that they don’t think Nick’s more responsible than I am. Maybe they really did just give him the code word to keep him safe.

  We get to the pub and drop our gear off. We pick up our Coms and my Land Rover.

  *

  Fitzgerald’s in his office going through the files on his desk when we arrive.

  “When did Vector turn up?” He gets up and shuts the office door behind us.

  “Around midday,” says Nick.

  “A long wait.” Fitzgerald starts to go through the usual procedure of getting notes on what we saw. We don’t mention Vincent, but we tell him our theory about the OffGrid kids.

  “You might be right.” He
scratches his nose. “I’ll talk to Jacob about that.” When we’ve finished talking, he gets up. “We didn’t get fingerprints from the Willises in Jacob’s house. It’s going to be hard to pin anything on them without any evidence.” Fitzgerald walks to the reception area with us. “But we did get some fingerprint matches. Two names came up.”

  “Whose?” I ask.

  “Jack Fraser and Ela Hennessey.”

  I look at Ela. I’d expected them to get a match for my fingerprints, but never suspected they’d have Ela’s on file.

  *

  Once we’re outside, and Nick’s gone, I say to Ela, “So, you’ve got a criminal record?”

  “No.” Ela opens the passenger door of the Land Rover and gets in.

  I grab her door before she can shut it. I lean on it. She’s acting cagey. “They don’t keep your fingerprints on file unless you’ve been charged and convicted of something.”

  “Then they’ve made a mistake.” I get a look flicked at me but no more explanation. She shuts the door like she wants to shut me up. I have to move my fingers out of the way fast. I walk round to the other side and open the driver’s door.

  Ela looks over at me. “You and Nick should have told Fitzgerald about recognising Vincent,” she says, changing the subject.

  “He’d just tell us to stay out of it.” I get in. “Me and Nick want to find out a bit more first.”

  “Telling Fitzgerald is a good idea.”

  “Soon. When we’ve got something to tell him.” I shut the door, wind down the window, lean on the window frame and watch her. “So, what did you do to get arrested?” She mightn’t want to talk about it, but I’m curious. I can’t imagine her beating anyone up or stealing anything. But she’s surprised me a couple of times today.

  She still doesn’t tell me. Ela ignores the question again. “Vincent’s killing people.”

  I’m not going to be side-tracked. “Come on. What did you do to get arrested?” I coax.

  She just flicks another sideways look at me then pretends to look out the window, still not talking. Finally, she says, “You go first.”

  “Dangerous driving.”

  “Big crime.” She’s still staring out the window.

  “Yeah. Lost my licence for six months. It was a pain in the arse actually.”

  She just keeps looking out the window. I lean over, put my arm around her shoulders and whisper in her ear. “Come on. What did you do?”

  Ela turns slowly. Swivels under my arm, pulls a bit of a face. “Much the same as you.”

  “Dangerous driving? In that Eco of your mum’s?”

  Ela shook her head. “No. A HyperMarket trolley.”

  “You’re kidding?”

  Ela shakes her head and gives me a half smile.

  I don’t believe her. “They convicted you of dangerously driving a HyperMarket trolley?”

  “It sounds ridiculous put like that. But not convicted. The charges were dropped.”

  “What happened?” I ask.

  Ela leans forward. Fiddles with the rear vision mirror, plays with the gear lever, generally wastes time for a while. Then she starts talking, a bit hesitant. “Me and Amon…”

  “Amon?” I ask.

  Ela nods. “He’s a sort of friend.” Her voice is cross.

  “Keep going,” I say.

  “… and four of our friends, were walking though the carpark at the mall.” She looks at me.

  “So far it doesn’t sound like the crime of the century.”

  “No, not yet. We’d been at the Vids, and we saw some trolleys that had been left out, and Amon suggested we have a race. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

  “Sounds fun,” I say.

  Ela nods. “That’s what I thought. The parking bays were almost empty. The white tiles stretched out like glass. The lights of the City cast a sheen across everything, and no one was around to see, because it’s the sort of idea that gets you into trouble. But old school trolleys that run on wheels, with no air assisted hover like most HyperMall trolleys have, looking unloved in a parking bay were tempting. So, we decided to do it. Izzy pointed out there were only three trolleys, and there were six of us.”

  Ela looks over at me. “It was a wonder Izzy could talk, let alone count, with the number of bliss drops she’d had,” she says.

  “Bliss drops?” I ask.

  “They make life more fun. The Vids weren’t bad, holographic, stereophonic, tactile, and interactive, but Isabelle and Lucan still decided to improve them chemically.”

  “How come Locals don’t get Bliss drops?”

  Ela shrugs. “Chemicals?”

  “Probably. Need to keep the breeding stock healthy. So, what happened?”

  Ela shrugged. “Amon waved at the two self-drives still in the bays. A red one in the middle and a purple one way over by the stainless barrier. ‘First trolley to get to the other end then back to the red Eco wins,’ he said. I nodded, and fished in my pocket for a hair tie.

  ‘You’re taking this race seriously,’ said Amon.

  “I put my cloak and Com in the trolley and pulled my hair back into a pony tail. He was right, I planned on winning. Then Isabelle decided to go in my trolley and Lucan could go with Amon. It meant I had a big weight advantage. Isabelle is sixteen like me, but Isabelle is tiny.” Ela makes a tiny girl shape with her hands. “Lucan and Amon are a year older and a lot heavier.” The hand shapes are bigger now. I held my trolley steady while Izzy climbed in,” says Ela.

  “It wasn’t easy, her cloak was wrapped around a diaphanous tutu. Tiny jewels attached to her eyelashes sparkled in the light. She made herself comfortable, her knees drawn up, and leaned against the back of the trolley, arms resting on the sides. Damus helped Jadah into a trolley too. They were no competition,” says Ela. “They’re both gentle studious types. I knew Damus would just dawdle across the parking bays, but Amon and Lucan, they’d really try. Elite don’t take risks. But when the Administration issued that proclamation, they didn’t factor in me and Amon.” Ela grins like she is enjoying telling the story now. “I pulled the trolley back a bit ready to explode away the moment I got the signal. There was no way Amon was going to win. I’d never hear the end of it.

  ‘Ready?’ asked Isabelle from the trolley. She pulled off a white lace glove. ‘Get set.’

  We gripped the push bars of our trolleys and leaned forward.” Ela made gripping gestures with her hands now.

  “‘Go.’ Isabelle dropped the glove and it fluttered down as they blasted away from the wall. We raced across the parking bays. The smell of the spent biofuel floated just above the polished tiles. It combined with the grind of the trolley wheels.

  The trolleys made for the purple Eco. Amon and Lucan started to edge away. The wheels screeched. The baskets sighed. I pushed harder, faster. I started to catch up to Amon and Lucan. Boots pounding, skirt fluttering, she headed towards the purple blur. A shuttle train on the rail flashed silently past, bullet shaped. Faces flickered like white petals behind the glass. ‘Cut her off,’ yelled Lucan. And Amon changed direction, enough to stop me getting through. I moved faster. I could get there before him, slide through the gap. The small wheels complained again. Amon angled in a bit more. I headed for the opening, slipped through the gap, and took the turn, with the trolley on two wheels. Just as I got around the Eco, the trolley overbalanced. It toppled and crashed into the purple Eco, gouging it along the side. Isabelle tumbled out onto the smooth tiles. My Com in the trolley went with her and smashed, and that was it,” says Ela.

  “What were you charged with?” I ask. It did sound like she’d been recklessly driving a HyperMarket trolley.

  “Everything.” Ela gives another shrug. “It kept changing: vandalism, theft, damaging private property, reckless endangerment. Between the insurance companies and the HyperMarket owner and Isabelle’s mother, Vector were getting plenty of suggestions.”

  “All of you?”

  “No, Amon, Jadah and Damus took off before the guards turne
d up.

  “And they didn’t own up?”

  Ela shakes her head. “Amon is scared of his father.”

  “The arsehole,” I say and Ela giggles.

  “You wouldn’t have taken off, would you?” she asks.

  “It would be tempting. You’ve met my mum.” Ela giggles again. Then I remember how often I’ve seen her look at her phone and delete texts.

  “Is it Amon texting you?” I ask.

  Ela nods. “He thinks I’ll get over it and be friends with him again.”

  “Will you?”

  “No.” It’s like that’s all she wants to say. I decide not to push it any more.

  “Come on, let’s go home, I need sleep before we go check those drill sites tomorrow.” I turn the key and start the motor.

  “Okay,” she says quietly clutching her Com.

  Chapter 11

  BACK AT THE PUB we find Mum to see if she knows anything more about Vincent.

  “The Willis boys were talking about him this morning.” She takes two clean glasses off the shelf, fills them with ice and water, and pushes them over to me. I give Ela a glass. Mum picks up a cloth and starts drying glasses from the machine, putting them back on the shelf. “Kept calling him the Godfather like it was a joke. They seemed worried.”

  “When are they meeting him again?” Mum doesn’t need to know what we know yet. She’d tell us to leave Vincent to Jacob and Fitzgerald.

  “They said tomorrow morning. And Vincent has booked in here. Says he’s staying for a few weeks maybe.”

  “Here?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why?”

  “How would I know? It’s not like he pulled out his Com and gave me a copy of his itinerary.” That’s my mother with the smart mouth. I lean against the bar and watch the ice clink in my glass.

  “When did he book in?”

  Mum dries another glass and it goes onto the shelf with the rest. “He rang about an hour ago and booked two rooms starting tonight. He should turn up soon.” Mum shuts the glass washer and wipes the front of the door.

  “What do you think of Vincent?” I ask her.