“I come down here sometimes at the weekend, just for a bite to eat, or to meet up with a girlfriend for lunch.” She sighs. “So, what now?”
I shrug. “How long do you think this kid will be?”
“I dunno… twenty minutes, maybe?”
“Okay.” I gesture to the café over my shoulder. “Drink?”
21:14 AST
We’re sitting on separate tables adjacent to one another outside the café. We have our backs to each other and our chairs pushed out a little, so we’re almost sitting next to each other, but facing opposite directions. We’re close enough that we can talk, but far enough away that, to the casual passer-by, we don’t look together. I told Kaitlyn to try her best not to move her lips when she talks to me, too.
She lets out a taut breath. “Here he comes.”
He’s approaching from her side, so I can’t see him. I nonchalantly lean forward on my forearms and take a sip of my coffee, and then glance absently around. I catch a glimpse over my right shoulder as the kid reaches her table.
He’s almost as tall as me, but very thin, with long limbs. He has the beginnings of a dark beard forming on his pockmarked face. His hair is thick and short, and he’s dressed casually in shorts and a thin jumper. He has a bag over his shoulder.
I look back at my table. He didn’t see me staring.
“Yaz, thanks for coming,” says Kaitlyn. “Can I get you anything?”
“N-no… thank you. Are… you alright?”
His English is pretty good, but his voice is cracking with nerves.
“I’m fine, I think. Please, sit down.”
I hear the chair scrape along the ground as he joins her at the table.
“Yaz, I really do need your help with something, okay?”
He clears his throat. “Ah… yeah… I mean, sure, I’m happy to… That’s if I can. You think your computer’s bugged? That’s crazy…”
Kaitlyn sighs. “Yes, it is a little strange. It’s… also a lie. I’m sorry, but that’s not why I asked you here. I just thought if I told you the real reason, you wouldn’t come.”
“I… I don’t understand. Is everything okay? I can get my mom to come or something and maybe she can help, or…?”
“No, it’s fine. It’s you I need. I know you’re, like, a computer genius. I figured if anyone could help, it’d be you.”
Feeding his ego… nice. But she needs to hurry this along.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a genius… but…”
“Yaz, this is the situation. A friend of mine—”
I get up and walk around to their table. I stand between them, facing the café. The kid looks up at me, frowning with uncertainty, and maybe a little fear. I bet I look pretty weird with my head all wrapped up and my hand in a cast…
I smile. “It’s Yaz, right?”
He nods tentatively.
I extend my left hand, turned outward. “I’m Adrian. Kaitlyn’s friend.”
He shakes it weakly. His palm’s a little sweaty. I casually wipe my hand on my shorts. “Look, what I’m about to say is gonna be a little difficult to take in, alright? But I need your help. See, I have a tracking device implanted in my neck, and I need you to disable its signal. Can you do that?”
He’s not blinked in a while. He’s just… staring at me.
“Y-you look… r-really scary… sir.”
I glance at Kaitlyn, who smiles to herself. I nod at Yaz. “I can be pretty scary when I need to be, I won’t lie. But I promise I’m a nice guy. I’m just in a bad situation. Can you help?”
He looks over at Kaitlyn, presumably for reassurance. When he gets some, he takes a deep breath and seems to relax a little. He reaches into his bag and takes out a laptop, which he sets up on the table. “Can’t you just… y’know… take the device out?”
I shake my head. “If only it were that easy. See, it’s a pretty sophisticated piece of tech. If it’s removed, it… kinda explodes.”
His eyes grow wide. Kaitlyn leans forward and puts her hand on his. “Yaz, it’s okay. You’re not in any danger or anything. We just know that some bad people can use this tracking signal to find Adrian and I, and we’d rather they didn’t.”
He shakes his head. “What are you mixed up in, Miss Moss?”
The kid clearly has a crush on her. I can see it in his eyes. His gaze softens when he looks at her, and like any other kid in the latter stages of puberty, he keeps staring at her breasts thinking no one is noticing.
I put my hand on his shoulder, to offer some additional reassurance. “Nothing too bad, I promise. And Yaz… I’ll keep her safe, okay?”
He looks at me, and after a moment, he nods, as if he’s resigning himself to the fact that this is happening and he needs to accept it. He takes a breath and starts tapping away on the laptop. “Okay, uh, Adrian… take a seat.”
I pull the chair out in front of me and sit down.
Yaz reaches back inside his bag and pulls out what looks like a small walkie-talkie. It’s a small black box with two antennae sticking out the end. He plugs it into a USB slot and resumes his key tapping. “Right, this is going to scan for the frequency your implant is transmitting on. Once we find its signal, I can identify the coding of it and, hopefully, disable it remotely.”
I raise an eyebrow. “I’m impressed. You remind me of an old friend.”
He ignores me. He’s focused on the screen. I exchange a glance with Kaitlyn, who smiles.
“Oh… oh my…”
That doesn’t sound good.
I look at the laptop, then at Yaz. “What is it?”
“Well, I’ve located the signal, but it’s got some sick encryption on it. Like, military-grade stuff. This is… insane!”
“But you can still block it, right?”
He shakes his head. “Honestly, I don’t know, sir. Wait…”
I roll my eyes. “What now?”
“There’s… It looks like there’s a second signal coming from the device. It’s a different frequency, but has the same encryption.”
I sigh. “Yeah… I’m gonna need you to disable both.”
“Wh-what’s the second one for?”
“That’s… ah… that’s the one that can remotely detonate the device and blow my head off.”
His eyes go wide again, and I genuinely think he’s about to throw up.
“So, thinking about it, if you could go ahead and disable that one first, I’d really appreciate it.”
“I… I can’t… I…”
Kaitlyn stands and moves round the table to his side. She crouches next to him and puts her hand on his arm. “Yaz, please… if there’s any way of helping us here… We need you.”
He stares at her for a moment, a mixture of fear and longing dancing in his eyes. Then, he snaps his gaze back to the laptop and sits up straight. “Okay… wait a second…”
This looks encouraging. Josh used to do the same thing when he thought of something.
I lean forward. “What you got for me, Yaz?”
“I’m gonna be honest, I don’t think I can hack either signal to disable it. But, I might be able to redirect it…”
I nod. “Keep talking… and pretend I’m an idiot and don’t understand a word you’re saying. Because… y’know… I don’t.”
He points to the screen, which shows a very busy display with lots of wavy lines. “Okay, so your device has a unique signature, right? Something that identifies it on the bandwidth that allows it to be found and tracked by the system on the other end of the connection. I might be able to alter that signature, so the system thinks it’s connected to something else, even though it’s not.”
I frown. “Okay, I kinda understand that…”
“So the signal from your device will still be there, and it’ll still be sending information, but the connected system won’t see it—all it’ll receive is the information coming from the new signature I assign to the device, which will essentially mask the original signal by sitting on top of it.”
> “And you can do that for both signals?” asks Kaitlyn.
Yaz nods. “I think so, yeah. There’s no way I can stop the signal altogether, but I should be able to disguise it.”
I nod. “Okay, I think that makes sense. But what information will they actually be receiving?”
He shrugs. “It could be anything. I’ll extract from a random cell phone signal or something, so they’ll just receive a bunch of basic binary commands from the cell network, that’s all.”
I laugh. “Man, that’s fucking brilliant! How long will that take?”
He’s still tapping away on the laptop. After a few moments of silence, he looks up at me. “Done.”
“Huh? Are you serious?”
He nods. “Yeah, it was pretty simple. There’s a lot of network traffic, because we’re in a public place. Didn’t take long at all.”
“So, that’s it? The tracking device is no longer visible to anyone, and it can’t be remotely detonated?”
He shakes his head. “No, sir.”
“Holy shit! Yaz, you really are a genius!”
He looks away, awkward and uncomfortable. Kaitlyn and I stand.
“What now?” she asks.
“Well, now we’re free… kinda… I’m gonna drop you at your place and leave for Dubai.”
She frowns. “Leave? What do you mean?”
“If they can’t find me anymore, then you’re in no danger. This is my last known location, so once we leave here, we disappear. You can go back to your life, safe and sound.”
“But…” She stops herself, knowing there’s no logical argument. “What are you going to do?”
I take a deep breath, steeling myself for what I know comes next. “I’m going to pay Horizon a visit and finish this once and for all.”
26
21:58 AST
It made sense to offer Yaz a ride home, which he gratefully accepted. Kaitlyn’s driving, and we’ve just turned onto her street now. The traffic was light on the way here, given the time. The sidewalks were busier, filled with people going about their normal lives, drinking, laughing, socializing…
Ignorance is bliss.
We pull over outside a low apartment building about halfway along on the right. I step out and look around. It’s a quiet neighborhood. You can’t hear any of the bustle from the city center. I look up and down the street, instinctively cautious. It looks clear. The moon is full and bright. The last slivers of daylight are disappearing in the dark sky. Streetlights create shadows as their beams illuminate the sidewalk at spaced intervals.
Kaitlyn and Yaz walk down the path toward the building. I follow a few steps behind. It’s only two stories, and given the size of the place, I reckon there’s maybe eight or nine apartments contained within. The ones facing the street have double doors serving as a main window, with a barrier just in front of them, as a kind of balcony for the lounge.
The main entrance is under cover, with mailboxes built into the wall to the left. Yaz reaches into his pocket and takes out a key. He opens the door and steps through, holding it open for Kaitlyn and myself. Inside is cool—the air conditioning must be on constantly. There’s a wide hallway with an elevator lobby on the left, just before a flight of stairs. As we draw level with it, Yaz gestures down the hall. “This is me.”
Kaitlyn gives him a hug. “Thank you for everything you did tonight, Yaz. I can’t tell you how grateful we both are.”
I step forward and pat his shoulder. “Yeah, you pretty much saved my life tonight, kid. I owe you one.”
He shrugs bashfully. “I’m… I’m glad I could help.” He looks at me. “So, are you, like, a spy or something?”
Kaitlyn laughs. I guess I do owe him an explanation. Plus, I can have a little fun with him.
I nod, keeping my expression solemn. “I used to be, yeah. I’m just trying to enjoy retirement, and my old boss won’t leave me alone. Listen, you need to keep this between us, okay? No one’s supposed to know I’m here.”
He shakes his head enthusiastically. “Oh my God, no way, man! I won’t say anything to anyone, I swear. Man, this is awesome!”
I smile. “You’re a good kid, Yaz. Are you going to look after Miss Moss after I’m gone?”
He nods. “Yes, sir.”
“Good man.”
I look at Kaitlyn, who rolls her eyes at me. She turns to Yaz. “Say Hi to your mom for me, okay?”
“I will.”
He disappears down the hall. I watch him go, and then turn to Kaitlyn. “Listen, I promise I’ll come back to check in on you when all this is over, okay?”
She frowns. “What? You’re going right now?”
I shrug. “Yeah. No sense in waiting. I have to finish this. I have to make them pay for what they did to Lily…”
“I know you do. I never thought I’d be accepting of what you do for a living, but I think I know you pretty well. Regardless of what’s right or wrong—or legal—I know you need revenge on that Pierce guy for killing Lily. But… look, you’re here now. At least let me change your bandages. Maybe get a drink and something to eat? They can’t find you here, and they’ll still be there tomorrow. You need to rest. You look like crap.”
“Gee, thanks…”
Ah, damn it. She’s right, isn’t she?
I nod. “Okay, I’d appreciate that, thanks.”
“Come on, my apartment’s upstairs.”
I follow her up, and we take a left at the top. Hers is the first door on the left—number four. She opens the door and holds it for me. I step past her and inside. There’s a small reception area with four doors around it. Two ahead of me and one either side. There’s an old-fashioned coat stand to the left of the door, and a small table standing against the strip of wall between the two doors in front of me.
She shuts the door and puts the chain on, then moves past me. She points to the first door on the left. “That’s the kitchen. Next to it is the lounge.” She turns her body slightly, so she’s facing the other side. “Then we’ve got my bedroom, and finally, the bathroom. It’s not much, but it’s home.”
I look around. “No, this place is nice. Modest, fit for purpose… I like it.”
She smiles at me and points to the lounge. “Make yourself at home. I’ll just grab the first aid kit.”
I push the door open and step inside. It’s a decent-sized room, dominated by a large, L-shape sofa in the middle of it. Mounted on the far wall is a big TV screen. Either side of it, large windows look out over a large, well-maintained communal garden. There’s a bookshelf running along the left wall. I move over to it. She has a variety of classics on here—Pride and Prejudice, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare… even some Sherlock Holmes. Next to them are books about psychology and therapy, including some works by Carl Jung.
I hear her come in behind me. I turn and smile. “Just admiring your collection.”
She shrugs. “I work long hours, and don’t really watch much television. Reading is how I shut my mind off from my job.”
She walks over to me holding a box containing a roll of bandages, some scissors, band aids, painkillers… everything a beaten up old man needs. We sit down on the sofa and she begins peeling my bandage away. I wince a little as she does.
“How’s it looking, Doc?”
She screws her face up as she stares at it. “Like you need stitches. Like I keep telling you…”
“I know, I know… I’ll go to a hospital after I’ve dealt with The Order, alright?”
She leans back a little and stares at me.
Shit. I was a little off with her then, wasn’t I?
“Ah, damn it. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… I’m just—”
She holds her hand up. “You don’t have to apologize. I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now. I know you didn’t mean to take anything out on me. I’m sorry for hassling you about it.”
I go to speak, but I can’t think of anything else to say. It’s been a really long day, and as I sit here, I’m re
alizing I’m more tired than I thought. I just don’t have the energy for all this anymore.
Kaitlyn patches my head up again. “We might as well take a look at your hand while we’re here.”
I hold out my cast and she unfastens the straps securing it in place. She slides it off and starts gently unwrapping the bandages across my palm. I wince as she pulls the last of it away. There’s a dark incision across my hand, neatly stitched together. Keeping my palm flat, I try to flex just my fingers and thumb.
“Ah! Shit…”
Kaitlyn shakes her head and pulls a face. “Yeah… maybe don’t try clenching your fist just yet, eh?”
I smile, but say nothing.
She re-bandages my hand and wrist, like a coach would a boxer, wrapping it around multiple times, weaving it between and around each finger until it’s thick and tight. She tapes it all down and slides the cast back in place. She fastens it and checks the straps are as tight as they can be without cutting off the flow of blood.
I move my hand around, admiring her work. “Damn… thanks. This is great.”
She smiles as she packs everything away. “Well, just don’t get carried away, okay? I’m running out of medical supplies because of you.” She stands. “I’m gonna grab a shower. I think there’s a beer in the refrigerator—help yourself, okay?”
I nod. “Thanks.”
She leaves and I sit back on the sofa and stare up at the ceiling.
So, now what?
I’m working on the assumption Horizon’s still in his fancy penthouse in Dubai, and I’m figuring after Qatar, and the fact I didn’t head for the airport, Pierce will have gone to see him. When my tracking device disappeared off their systems, they’ll start to panic, and it makes sense that they would assume I’ll be coming after them. Which means, knowing Horizon, that hotel is going to be locked up tight and surrounded by security. Heading there is stupid.
Which is exactly why I’m going to do it.
Given everything he’s told me, I doubt The Order ends with him, but if I can do enough to get them off my back, I’ll happily disappear, never to be heard of again. I’ve been thinking about it. About everything over the last few weeks. The world thinks I’m dead. This could be my opportunity to truly start over and put Adrian Hell behind me. I know it didn’t work out so well the last time I did that, but I’ve learned from my mistakes. See, last time, I tried to properly retire and be happy. For a while, it was fine, sure. But I was too visible. Too normal. Too happy. This time would be different. I don’t want to find peace. After all the shit I’ve done, whatever the reasons, I probably deserved that lethal injection for real. If I get the chance to start over again, I’ll just stay under the radar. I’ll be alone. I won’t allow myself to get close to anyone, that way, no one will ever get hurt again because of me.
Good Intentions - Adrian Hell #6 (Adrian Hell Series) Page 25