Blackout

by Peter Jay Black

  Hector stepped into view, on the other side of the glass, and held up a USB drive. He waved it back and forth.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Slink shouted.

  Jack glanced at the computer terminal, but he needn’t have bothered, he knew it was his drive. In its place was a blue one. Obviously, Hector had replaced it.

  Jack didn’t bother to grab the blue drive from the USB port. Hector’s program would have infected the system already.

  Jack’s gaze moved back to the window.

  Hector adjusted his headset. ‘Well, well,’ he said in a smug tone. ‘You’re all as stupid as I thought you were.’ He moved close to the glass. ‘I’ve won . . . I’ve won. You hear that, Jack?’ Hector straightened up and continued, ‘I suppose you’re wondering what’s happened to you?’

  ‘Not really,’ Jack said.

  Hector’s eyes flickered. ‘Now, now, Jack. No need to be rude. No one likes a sore loser. I’m sure the others want to understand what’s going on.’ He looked at Charlie, Slink and Wren. ‘Right?’

  None of them responded.

  Hector paced back and forth in front of the window. ‘My real name is Quentin Del Sarto.’ He paused, as if letting that piece of news sink in.

  Charlie looked at Jack. ‘Del Sarto.’

  ‘I’m glad you recognise the name.’ Hector’s lip curled and his voice was full of venom. ‘Benito del Sarto is my father.’

  ‘Is?’ Slink said. ‘You mean he’s still alive?’

  Hector’s cold eyes moved to Slink, then back to Jack. ‘You almost killed him in that theatre. You left him for dead. The fire.’ Hector took a breath, seeming to compose himself. ‘My father is in a coma. He has third degree burns over eighty per cent of his body.’

  ‘He did that himself,’ Wren said.

  Hector shot her a nasty look. ‘Shut your mouth.’

  ‘Hey,’ Slink said, stepping in front of Wren. ‘When I get hold of you, I’m gonna –’

  ‘You couldn’t do a thing to me,’ Hector snarled.

  ‘Oh, yeah?’ Slink moved to the window. ‘Open the door and find out.’

  Hector laughed at him. ‘Pathetic.’ He looked at the others. ‘Now I have the virus, I’m going to finish what my dad started. I’m going to find this bunker of yours and destroy it. Then I’m going to expose your little gang to the rest of the world.’ He smiled. ‘Consider this payback.’

  Hector spun on his heels and marched up the steps.

  An alarm sounded.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Slink shouted above the alarm, ‘I thought I got that?’

  ‘You did.’ Jack rushed over to the computer terminal. He typed a few commands and the alarm stopped, but the damage was done. The police would be on their way.

  ‘Jack, I’ve been thinking.’ Slink leant against the wall and crossed his arms. ‘I’ve changed my mind. I’m not sure we should let Hector join the Urban Outlaws.’

  ‘Me neither,’ Wren said.

  ‘That goes for me too,’ Obi said in their ears.

  Charlie was still staring through the window. ‘He tricked us.’ She looked at Jack. ‘He tricked us, Jack. How did that happen?’

  The fans in the server cabinets started to speed up.

  ‘What now?’ she said.

  Jack checked the computer terminal. ‘Payback is right,’ he muttered.

  Knowing they’d disabled the main building’s alarm, Hector had infected the servers, triggering their internal alarms. He’d also planted his own program and it was now overheating the processors. Hector’s plan was either to burn the Outlaws to a crisp in there – like Del Sarto senior – or, if they survived that, the police would turn up and arrest them.

  Either way, Hector had planned this moment carefully.

  Charlie examined the door, but there was no way to open it from the inside.

  Slink looked up at the ceiling. ‘There has to be a way out of here.’ But his eyes gave away that he knew as well as Jack did. They were trapped.

  The ceiling was solid plaster and it had no panels, hatches, or air vents big enough for Slink to crawl into.

  ‘Hector’s got the virus,’ Wren said to Jack, her eyes wide and panicked. ‘We have to stop him.’

  Jack held up a USB stick. ‘No he doesn’t.’ He yanked out Hector’s drive, threw it across the room, plugged in his own USB stick with the program on it and started the transfer. In a minute or so, the virus would be on Jack’s drive as originally planned.

  ‘What? Wait a sec,’ Charlie said. ‘Hector hasn’t got the virus?’

  Jack shook his head.

  Charlie pointed at the terminal. ‘It’s still on there?’

  Jack nodded.

  Charlie put her hands on her hips. ‘OK. How long have you known?’

  ‘Known what?’ Jack said with an air of inno­­­c­­­ence.

  ‘How long have you known that Hector was going to stitch us up? That he wasn’t who he said he was?’

  ‘That he’s a lying worm,’ Slink added.

  ‘I didn’t know for certain,’ Jack said. ‘Well, not until about five minutes ago. It was then that I guessed something wasn’t right.’

  ‘Guessed something wasn’t right?’ Charlie repeated, her voice raising an octave. ‘When? What?’

  ‘It was just before I plugged in my drive,’ Jack said. ‘Hector asked me if I was going to use the program I’d used to attract the virus on to Proteus’s servers.’

  Charlie nodded. ‘Yeah. I remember. Hector already knows about Proteus and the program. So what?’

  ‘You’re right – he does know the government computer was called Proteus,’ Jack said, glancing at Wren and Slink. ‘And Hector also knows I wrote a program to attract the virus. Which is why it took me a second to realise what was wrong with what he said.’

  Wren’s eyebrows pulled together. ‘What was wrong then?’

  ‘The only way he could’ve known that I’d used the program to attract the virus to Proteus’s servers in the first place was if Connor, Monday or Cloud had told him. Apart from us, they were the only ones there at the time.’

  Charlie squeezed her eyes shut. ‘I used Cloud’s laptop when we were at Proteus.’ She opened her eyes and stared at Jack. ‘That’s how they knew. It’s all my fault.’

  ‘No, it isn’t. I asked you to use Cloud’s laptop that day.’ Jack sighed and leant against the desk. ‘It’s all starting to make sense. The way the agents turned up at Hector’s apartment, forcing us to take him with us. And the same after the Science Museum.’

  Wren folded her arms. ‘If all this is true, then why didn’t you tell us? Why let Hector escape?’

  ‘It was a little difficult to say anything with him standing right there,’ Jack said. ‘Anyway, I wanted to see what he was going to do. And, I wanted him to think he had the virus.’

  ‘You still could’ve told us.’

  ‘No, I couldn’t.’

  ‘Yes,’ Wren said. ‘You could. We’re a team. We could’ve helped.’

  ‘I would have punched his lights out,’ Slink said.

  Jack’s eyebrows rose. ‘Even if I had managed to tell you Hector was a traitor, would you have believed me?’

  ‘Yes,’ Wren said, looking at Charlie and Slink for support.

  They both nodded.

  ‘Oh, come on,’ Jack said. ‘You’ve been hassling me to make Hector one of the Urban Outlaws. If I had suggested, even hinted that he was up to something, you would’ve –’

  ‘All right, all right,’ Charlie said. The sound of the fans was growing louder and more intense. ‘We can argue about this later.’ She took a breath. ‘So, how are we getting out of here?’

  ‘I have a plan.’ Jack checked the monitor. The virus had transferred to his drive. He unplugged it and slipped it into his pocket.

  How long did they have left before the police arrived? Before Highgate Cemetery was flooded with armed agents?

  Jack looked at Charlie. ‘When I say, I need you to release the lock o
n the guards’ door. OK?’

  ‘What?’ she said, unbelieving. ‘Have you lost your mind?’

  ‘It’s the only way to get out of here quickly.’

  ‘Yeah?’ Slink said. ‘Quick, maybe, but they’ll put us in prison, Jack.’

  ‘Do you have a better idea?’

  Slink glanced around the room and his shoulders slumped. ‘No.’

  Jack turned away from him. ‘Charlie?’

  ‘Are you sure you want me to release the lock?’ she said.

  ‘Yes, but give me a minute, OK?’ Jack had a plan, but between the moment he’d realised Hector was up to something and now, he hadn’t had enough time to think it through entirely or consider any alternatives. It was this or nothing.

  Jack quickly gave Charlie, Slink and Wren their instructions, spelling out exactly what they had to do.

  When he had finished, they looked puzzled, but nodded their agreement.

  ‘Positions,’ Jack said. ‘And make sure your faces are covered.’

  They pulled up their bandanas and hoods.

  Wren hurried between the server cabinets and disappeared.

  Slink climbed on top of a cabinet near the door and braced himself above it, in the corner where the walls met, keeping out of sight.

  Charlie pulled her custom stun gun from her bag and laid it on the floor behind the door. She straightened up and looked at Jack. ‘You do realise this probably won’t work, don’t you?’

  Jack shrugged. ‘It’s the best I’ve got right now.’ He stepped to the window. ‘OK, disengage the lock.’

  Charlie typed in to her phone and Jack watched the light on the guards’ door turn from red to green.

  In less than a second, the door flew open and the men, guns drawn, burst into the hallway. Their eyes locked on to Jack and Charlie through the glass and for a long while no one moved.

  Jack wondered if the guards were considering leaving them in there until backup arrived.

  The lead guard frowned through the window over Jack’s shoulder. This seemed to snap the man to his senses and he moved to the door.

  Gun still raised and ready, he unlocked the door, opened it and stepped inside. ‘Hands up.’

  Jack and Charlie did as they were told and raised their hands high into the air.

  The lead guard glanced at the servers, then back to Jack and Charlie. ‘What have you done?’

  Neither of them answered.

  ‘Get out of there,’ the lead guard said. ‘Now.’ He waved his gun and stepped back.

  Slowly, hands still raised, Jack and Charlie walked past him and into the hallway.

  The other guard shouted, ‘Look.’ He waved his gun at the window.

  ‘What?’ the lead guard said.

  ‘There’s another kid in there.’

  They both stared as Wren darted from one server cabinet and hid behind another.

  ‘It’s just a little one,’ the lead guard said. ‘Go get her.’

  The other guard stepped to the door and hesitated.

  ‘What’s wrong with you? Get going.’

  He turned back. ‘I don’t want to shoot a kid.’

  ‘You don’t need to. Just threaten her a little. She’ll come out of there all nice and quiet like.’

  The other guard entered the room, his gun lowered but ready.

  Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind him and there was a muffled cry.

  ‘Hey,’ the lead guard shouted. ‘What are you doing?’

  No one answered.

  The lead guard kept his gun trained on Jack and Charlie as he edged to the window and peered through. Obviously seeing nothing, he stepped to the door and grabbed the handle.

  He suddenly went rigid and his whole body convulsed.

  Jack and Charlie ducked as the gun swung wildly around in his hand.

  ‘Slink,’ Jack shouted. ‘Enough.’

  The guard let go of the door handle and fell to his knees, his eyes glazed.

  Charlie kicked the pistol out of his hand and it skidded along the floor out of reach.

  The door opened.

  Slink held the stun gun and looked down at it. ‘I have got to get me one of these.’

  Jack took it from him.

  Inside the server room, the other guard lay on the floor, moaning.

  ‘Think I broke his collar bone when I landed on him.’ Slink touched the guard’s shoulder and he yelled in pain. ‘Yep, definitely broken.’

  ‘Where’s his gun?’ Jack said.

  Slink pointed under a server cabinet as Wren ran up to them.

  ‘Er, guys?’ It was Obi.

  Jack answered, ‘Yeah?’

  ‘There’s a load of cars heading your way.’

  ‘By a “load”,’ Jack said, ‘how many do you mean exactly?’

  ‘Five. Oh, wait, six.’

  ‘Police?’

  ‘Worse.’

  Jack glanced at Charlie. ‘Agents?’

  ‘Yep,’ Obi said.

  ‘How far out?’

  ‘I reckon you’ve got about five minutes.’

  ‘Let’s get out of here.’ Jack hurried over to Slink and they both helped the injured guard to his feet.

  Wren and Charlie lifted the other electrocuted guard up too and they struggled up the stairs with him.

  Jack glanced back at the server room.

  At the top they walked along the landing and into the tomb. Charlie quickly removed the keypad overlay and they stepped out into the darkness.

  They sat the guards down on the stone steps that led back out.

  The main guard scowled at them. ‘You’re going to get into a lot of trouble for this.’

  Slink grinned at him. ‘Not today, cupcake.’

  They heard sirens approaching in the distance.

  ‘Time to go,’ Charlie said.

  They all started to jog away, but Jack turned back to the tomb and hesitated.

  ‘Jack,’ Charlie hissed. ‘Come on. Hurry.’

  Jack handed her the USB drive with the virus on it.

  Charlie looked shocked. ‘What are you up to?’

  Jack addressed the entire group. ‘Get away from here. Go – as quick as you can.’

  ‘Why?’ Wren said. ‘What are you doing?’

  Jack ignored her question. ‘Get to the bunker. Let me know when you’re safe.’ Without looking back, he marched to the tomb.

  When he reached the entrance, Jack glanced over his shoulder to make sure the others had gone, and he hurried inside. He jogged down the steps, along the corridor and into the server room.

  The fans were still running high, but the servers seemed to be holding up so far.

  That wouldn’t last for much longer – Hector’s program was obviously targeting the hardware itself.

  He could not let the Nexus be destroyed. It was the world’s most sophisticated virtual reality and it wasn’t owned by criminals – it was government property. Jack wasn’t a supporter of the government, but if he allowed another one of their advanced computer systems to be wrecked, the Outlaws would be forever hunted. The government would constantly be on their backs.

  Besides, who knew how many lives the Nexus could possibly save by running those anti-terrorist simulations?

  No, Jack had to try to stop Hector’s program, before it did too much damage.

  He sat in front of the terminal and set to work. Jack opened up a command box and typed. Hector’s program was clever – the way it infected the system and sped up the fans. Hector had realised that the Urban Outlaws would shut down all the alarm systems and telephone lines to the building, but Jack had overlooked something – the maintenance alarms on the servers themselves. Right now, they were sending out a signal to say they were in trouble.

  He opened several more terminal boxes and started searching for the main program, but he couldn’t find it anywhere. He looked in several obvious places for the file and even in the redundant folders, but it was nowhere.

  Where was it?

  ‘Jack?’ O
bi said in his ear.

  ‘What?’ Jack opened another command prompt and tried a new search.

  ‘The agents are in front of the main gates. They’re getting out of their cars and they’re on their way to you.’

  ‘What about the others?’

  ‘They got away. They’re safe.’

  Jack let out a breath. That only left a few minutes for the agents to get through the graveyard and to the Nexus.

  Jack stared at the screen. It made no sense – Hector’s program was software, which meant it –

  Jack’s thoughts froze.

  ‘That’s it.’

  He quickly opened another box and searched – he found the code and it wasn’t a full program, not as such – it was just a few simple commands. Jack’s eyes went wide.

  He heard the agents rushing into the tomb and along the metal landing.

  Jack swore. Hector’s program was designed to speed the server fans up. That was all. It didn’t attack the hardware. It had no chance of destroying the Nexus. It was another one of Hector’s stupid tricks.

  There were footfalls on the stairs.

  Jack deactivated Hector’s program and the fans slowed.

  Several agents ran into the room, guns aimed at him.

  ‘Get away from that.’ A tall agent stepped forward, grabbed Jack by his shirt and pulled him from the chair.

  Jack hit the floor and looked up at the screen.

  Hector had tricked him again.

  He ground his teeth.

  The tall agent stood over Jack, his face twisted into rage. ‘You’re in a whole heap of trouble, kid.’ He grabbed Jack by the collar and dragged him from the room.

  Back outside the main gates, the agents handcuffed Jack and bundled him into the back of a car.

  He sat there and watched as agents and cars flooded the road. A van turned up and four techies carrying toolboxes were escorted inside.

  Several agents stood in a group and seemed to be in an animated discussion. They were probably wondering how a kid had broken into one of their most secure facilities.

  Two break-ins in the last couple of weeks was probably making them re-evaluate their security.

  It was at that point Jack wondered if the agents would link him and the others to the Winchester Theatre they’d destroyed.