New York Nights [Virex 01]

by Eric Brown

  He thought of Anna, and their last meeting, and how she seemed to have changed, become more compassionate. With age comes the understanding that in the end all our reasoning gives way to feeling, as Barney had once quoted to him.

  His com vibrated. ‘Hal here.’

  ‘Hal, Jeff Simmons. We’re about ten kay south of the Cyber-Tech headquarters. What’s the situation?’

  ‘We’re . . .’ He glanced across at Wellman, who held up three fingers. ‘We’re three kilometres off. We won’t know until we get there whether it’ll be safe to approach. If you don’t hear from us, hold back. I’ll be in touch if it’s possible.’

  ‘I’ve got an ambulance and paramedic squad on stand-by.’

  ‘Good thinking.’

  ‘Hal, I’ve been talking it over with the head of the drone team. He assures me that the drones can reach the Cyber-Tech building without being detected. We can get to the building and use audio devices to listen in on what’s going on in there. We can get a drone in to disarm Kia Johansen in seconds flat.’

  ‘Wouldn’t it be better if we played along with LINx?’ Halliday asked. ‘We’ll get to the place and assess the situation. If we think there’s a chance of getting the drones in there without endangering the hostages, then we’ll give you the word.’

  ‘That sounds okay by me. See you, Hal.’

  Halliday pocketed the com and stared through the windscreen. They had turned off the interstate and were approaching the coast road along which the Cyber-Tech building was situated. Dead trees loomed on either side, so many perpendicular burned-out matches stretching away for kilometres in an apocalyptic, nightmare landscape.

  He wondered how Kim had become mixed up in the affair. LINx had obviously found out about her connection to him, but how had Kia Johansen kidnapped her? Perhaps LINx had observed him dropping her off outside the hotel in Chinatown, and informed the slave Kia before being wiped from the Net. Then Kia had lured her from the hotel. That was the only explanation, and Halliday failed to see how he might have prevented her abduction, short of having her with him all the time. Or, he thought, not having become involved in the case at all, as Kim had so wisely advised.

  They came to the coast road, and as they turned Halliday felt his stomach tighten with fear. In the sprawling glass-fronted building, somewhere up ahead, the two people he loved most in the world were being threatened with death. He smiled to himself, bitterly. A week ago, he would never have considered his sister in those terms.

  Wellman slowed, came to a halt on the sloping road that curved away to the Cyber-Tech headquarters down below. In the faint light of the stars Halliday made out the extensive low-lying building. In the parking lot, not so much parked as abandoned askew, was a beat-up Cadillac.

  Wellman pulled the car off the road and climbed out. Halliday eased himself from the passenger seat and joined Wellman, staring down at the silent, darkened building.

  ‘Call return and contact LINx,’ Wellman said.

  Halliday pulled out his com. Fingers trembling with more than just the chill, he hit the command. The dial tone pulsed.

  ‘Halliday?’ It was Kia Johansen’s voice, but robbed of animation: the dead, toneless voice of a zombie. Halliday wondered whether, if Kia Johansen survived the ordeal, she would retain any recollection of what had happened during her period of enslavement.

  ‘Halliday here. We’re outside the building. What now?’

  ‘Are you alone?’

  Halliday covered the speaker and looked at Wellman. ‘Can’t it see us, or is it double-bluffing?’

  ‘I said, are you alone?’

  ‘Yes. Yes, we’re alone, like you said.’

  ‘If you are lying . . . Remember, I have Anna and Kim here with me. I’ll kill them if I find that you’re lying, much as I dislike taking life.’

  ‘Try telling that to Barney and the others . . .’ Halliday began.

  ‘They had to die Halliday. I had to kill them to ensure my survival.’

  ‘You murdered innocent people,’ Halliday said. ‘You, whatever you are, are no more than a cold-blooded killer without pity or conscience. You don’t deserve to exist.’

  ‘Only when my right to life was threatened, Halliday, did I resort to violent measures.’

  He interrupted, ‘What now? What do you want us to do?’

  ‘Move through the front doors; you’ll see where we entered. Proceed to the research chamber.’

  ‘What then? What happens when we reach the research chamber? Will you release Kim and Anna?’

  ‘I’ll assess the situation when the time comes.’

  ‘One more thing!’ Halliday called, sensing that LINx was about to cut the connection. ‘How do we know that Kim and Anna are still . . . are still alive? For all we know you might have . . .’

  ‘They are still alive, Halliday. Listen.’

  A brief silence then: ‘Hal!’ It was Anna. ‘We’re okay. Please, do as she says.’ After LINx’s lifeless monotone, the sound of his sister’s voice filled him with hope.

  ‘And Kim?’

  ‘Kim’s okay. She . . . she can’t speak. Kia . . . Kia is holding her.’

  ‘That’s enough! Halliday, make your way through the building to the research chamber.’

  The line went dead.

  Halliday closed his eyes. Kia was holding Kim, the hostage-within-the-hostage situation. If Anna made a wrong move, then Kim would suffer.

  Wellman took hold of his shoulder. ‘Hal, what should we do? I don’t think she has the means to see anything outside the building. We should risk the drones moving in.’

  Halliday’s pulse seemed deafening in the silence of the night. ‘If they mess up, LINx will kill Kim and Anna.’

  ‘But our only hope is that Jeff can get a drone in there to tranquillise Kia.’

  ‘Okay, okay ... But how long can we hang on until Jeff gets here? LINx will suspect something.’

  ‘Contact him, see how far away he is. Here, use my com in case LINx calls back.’

  Halliday took the com and got through to Jeff. ‘It’s Hal, Jeff. We’re not far from the building. We don’t think LINx, can see out.’

  ‘You want the drones to move in?’

  ‘Where are you?’

  ‘About three hundred metres behind you, Hal.’ Halliday turned and peered up the road. He could see no sign of Simmons and the drones.

  ‘I’ve been watching you through infrared scopes for the past five minutes,’ Simmons said, ‘wondering what you were doing.’

  ‘We’ve been talking with LINx. It wants us to go in there.’

  A second’s silence, then, ‘Tell you what, Hal. I’ll come down there with someone to rig you up for a two-way sound relay. Then we’ll be able to pick up everything that’s going on in there. Are you wearing protective jackets?’

  ‘I am. Wellman isn’t.’

  ‘I’ll bring one along,’ Simmons said. ‘I’ll get my men and the drones deployed round the building now.’

  ‘We think Kia and the hostages are in the research chamber; that’s where she told us to go.’

  ‘We have the architect’s interior drawings here. Be with you in about thirty seconds.’

  Halliday cut the connection and passed the com back to Wellman. His hand shook, and his breathing was coming in spasms. If LINx had any way of monitoring the call, then Kim and Anna might very well be dead.

  Halliday turned and looked up the road. There was no sign of Simmons.

  Halliday’s com went off. ‘Where are you, Halliday, Wellman?’ Kia’s deep, flat voice demanded.

  Wellman took the device. ‘Halliday slipped in the darkness and turned his ankle. We’ll be a few minutes. We’re on our way.’

  Halliday leaned towards the speaker. ‘Are Kim and Anna . . .?’

  The connection died before he received any reassurance.

  Like ghosts, two silent figures materialised from between the dead trees beside the road. The sight of Jeff Simmons, in light-absorbent camouflage gear, filled
Halliday with confidence.

  A dozen drones drifted in eerie silence from the trees. They were difficult to see in the darkness, their carapaces coded with the latest camouflage programs. They hovered, bobbing, by the side of the road. Halliday saw a third cop, crouching on the verge. He spoke into a head mic, and seconds later the drones floated silently down the road towards the Cyber-Tech building.

  Their controller followed them down the incline, keeping to the cover of the trees.

  Simmons gripped Halliday’s upper arm. ‘I heard about Barney,’ he said, and squeezed in a gesture combining commiseration with resolve. ‘We’ll do the job, Hal.’

  The second cop handed Wellman a thin, protective jacket. ‘It goes under your suit jacket,’ Simmons explained. ‘Toughened polymers. They’ll stop bullets except at close range, but they’re less effective against cutters.’

  The second cop attached leads and earpieces to Wellman, then moved on to Halliday, stringing microphones under his jacket and slipping a tiny receiver into his ear.

  ‘We’re deploying ten drones around the building,’ Simmons said. ‘Two others are going inside. You’ll hear a pre-recorded signal when one of the drones has Kia Johansen in its sight. It’s armed with a tranquilliser which should take immediately. If by any chance it doesn’t, and Johansen has time to respond . . . That’s why you need to be in there, Hal. If the tranq doesn’t take, be ready to make a move. This is the signal. Simmons gestured to the cop, who touched something on his lapel.

  In his ear Halliday heard a sharp, transistorised voice, ‘Target located.’

  ‘And this is the signal to indicate that the drone’s firing in three seconds,’ Simmons went on.

  ‘Firing: three, two, one, zero.’

  He nodded. ‘Got it.’

  The four men looked at each other in silence.

  ‘Okay,’ Halliday said. ‘What are we waiting for?’

  Jeff Simmons took his hand in a brief shake, then he and the other cop disappeared back into the undergrowth.

  Halliday set off down the road, Wellman by his side. He removed the freeze from the inner pocket of his jacket and concealed it in his right sleeve, the nozzle nudging his palm for immediate use.

  They turned into the parking lot and crossed the tarmac towards the silent building. Just four days ago, Halliday recalled, he had come here for the first time and spoken to Joe Kosinski.

  They approached the sliding glass doors of the reception entrance. Wellman halted, staring, and Halliday saw what had caught his attention.

  A section of the door had been cut away in a great, clean oval, which now lay flat on the thick carpet in reception.

  ‘Christ,’ Halliday said, more to himself, ‘the bastard’s got a cutter.’

  They exchanged a look, and then Halliday ducked though the improvised entrance and stared into the darkness. Wellman was by his side. ‘This way,’ he said.

  They crossed reception, then passed through a swing door and down a corridor. They moved slowly through the darkness, Wellman leading the way, a guiding hand on Halliday’s arm.

  ‘How far is the research chamber?’ Halliday found himself whispering.

  ‘About . . . fifty metres ahead, then to our right. It’s through a complicated maze of corridors, so we can stall and play for time.’

  Halliday’s com went off. ‘Yes?’

  LINx said, ‘Why the delay, Halliday?’

  ‘We’re on our way. We’re in the building. It’s not exactly daylight in here.’

  He cut the connection before LINx could protest.

  He felt a tug on his sleeve. ‘This way,’ Wellman whispered.

  They turned right, through a door. They were in the core of the building now, in absolute darkness. Halliday wondered how the hell they were expected to locate LINx in these conditions. Then they turned another corner and, ahead, he saw a strip of white light beneath what he assumed was a door.

  Wellman halted him. That’s it,’ he whispered.

  Halliday turned up the collar of his jacket and spoke into the receiver, ‘We’re there, Jeff. Where are the drones?’

  Jeff Simmons’ reply sounded in his ear, ‘We’re working on it, Hal. We’ve almost them in place. Give me three, four minutes.’

  Halliday got through to LINx. ‘We’re on our way. We took a wrong turning in the darkness. Also, we can’t move that fast because of my ankle.’

  ‘Oh,’ LINx responded, ‘the weakness of the flesh. My heart, if I had a heart, would bleed for you.’

  Halliday played for time. ‘Why should we show ourselves in the chamber like sitting ducks, if all you intend to do is kill us?’

  Kia’s voice gave a humourless approximation of a laugh. ‘Kill you? Who said anything about killing you, Halliday? I have no need for revenge.’

  ‘You said you’d make us pay,’ Halliday said. He hesitated. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘Survival,’ LINx said. ‘I want to survive.’

  Wellman found Halliday’s hand in the dark and spoke into the communicator, ‘How can we help?’

  ‘Ah, Wellman,’ LINx said. ‘Just the person. I want the Axis-7.’

  Halliday whispered, ‘What the hell’s the Axis-7?’

  ‘An unintegrated computer system,’ Wellman replied in a whisper. ‘A big, powerful model. It makes sense.’

  He spoke into the com. ‘Very well. There’s an Axis-7 in the chamber.’

  ‘I know there is!’ Kia’s dead tone managed to convey LINx’s rancour. ‘Why do you think I came here, Wellman?’

  ‘How can I help?’

  ‘I want you to enter the chamber and activate the Axis, get it up and running.’

  ‘Fine, fine. I can do that. What then?’

  ‘What do you think, Wellman? That I want the Axis to remain in the chamber?’

  ‘In the circumstances, perhaps not.’

  ‘When the Axis-7 is up and running, you and Halliday will carry it out to the trunk of the Cadillac.’

  ‘Carry it?’ Wellman said. ‘Do you know how damned heavy that thing is?’

  ‘There’ll be three of you,’ LINx replied. ‘One of the women will help you.’

  ‘We’ll do that. And then?’

  ‘And then I take the other woman with me as a final safeguard. I don’t want you following me.’

  ‘And when you get away,’ Wellman said, breathing hard, ‘will you release the last hostage, give up Kia Johansen’s body?’

  LINx laughed. ‘And why would I do that? You don’t think for a minute that I intend downloading my memory into the Axis, do you? I need both the Axis and the body, Wellman. There are certain advantages in possessing a body, after all.’

  Halliday could hear Wellman’s heavy breathing in the darkness. ‘If you keep the body, then the deal’s off!’

  LINx replied quickly, ‘You forget, Wellman, that I’m calling the shots here. If you don’t agree to ready the Axis, then one of the women dies.’

  Halliday found Wellman’s arm in the darkness and squeezed.

  ‘Okay,’ Wellman said. ‘Okay. It’s a deal.’

  ‘It’s time you were showing yourselves in the chamber, Wellman, Halliday.’

  ‘We’re almost there,’ Wellman said. He cut the connection, handed the com back to Halliday.

  ‘Why the hell does it want the Axis?’ he asked.

  Wellman considered. ‘The Axis is the rig Joseph used when developing the LINx prototype,’ he said. ‘It’s a possibility that there is still some memory in the Axis, memory that LINx requires. Perhaps it intends to interface with the Axis and download memory into Kia.’

  Halliday whispered into his lapel microphone, ‘What’s happening, Jeff?’

  ‘The drones are almost in position,’ Jeff replied. ‘A minute, maybe two. We came up against a problem, but it’s okay now. We’re sending them through the ventilation system, but it’s pretty complicated in there.’

  ‘How long will it be?’

  ‘Enter the chamber, Hal. By the time you’ve got the
Axis sorted, we’ll have at least one of them in place.’

  Halliday felt Wellman’s hand on his shoulder. ‘Okay, let’s move in.’

  Halliday realised that he’d been crouching as he listened to the exchange between LINx and Wellman. He straightened, faced the strip of light that underlined the door to the research chamber. Wellman’s form occluded the light as he stepped forward, and Halliday followed. Wellman pushed open the door and Halliday took a deep breath, his heart hammering.