by Utley, Todd
John was hard at work locking down every copy on every database of Dodge’s files that he could find. He signed in and out of the systems in such a way that the work appeared to have been performed by government personnel as per protocol. Once in, he applied “deceased” locks on all files to prevent copy, download, tampering, etc. Once a file was locked it would be reviewed and automatically purged from the system 72 hours later. Cyrus didn’t know it yet but his next step was already being thwarted.
At the farm, JC was watching twelve monitors with 4x multiplexers that split the screens into fourths. He effectively had forty eight video feeds in front of him to watch. The compound really was quite impressive in a way. The cameras were well positioned in areas where they should be and left out of the areas that didn’t matter. No money was spent on anything that wasn’t necessary. It was an old run down place with old worn floors and offices that had been converted into dorm rooms, labs, computer rooms, and a not so nice cafeteria for Cyrus’s battalion of unwilling soldiers.
Funds were not wasted on anything like paint or carpet or fake plants like you might find in a bank or insurance office. It was strictly utilitarian right down to the very old outdated intercom that Slade liked to use so much. All the furniture in the whole place was outdated junk picked up at second hand stores, dumpsters, or alongside the road.
Slade’s hijacked money was not wasted on luxury, instead the money was spent on things that Slade thought important to get the job done, like state of the art and beyond computer systems and plenty of security measures to protect it. Down on the main floor he had stationed four heavily armed robotic soldiers equipped with A.I. (artificial intelligence) tagged SUPER A.I.R.S. Remote Defense Systems equipped with the best laser cannons available.
At over twenty million dollars each they were not cheap and their high performance and quick maneuverability reflected the price tag. These weapons were certainly a force to be reckoned with during Black Ice. No one in the compound besides Cyrus and Glitch knew about them because they were each hidden behind vending machines down on the main floor ready to spring into action in the event of an attack.
If it were not for the cable that Toby slipped into the server room there would be no way John could have hacked into this high tech system. John was hopeful to hack the controls for the Super A.I.R.S. prior to the storming of the compound, but it was doubtful. The two programs that Toby had transported back to Glitch on Microdrives were like stealth bombs waiting to be detonated at John’s fingertips. Once launched they would do significant damage to Cyrus’s controls system. When the time was right he would launch the first virus which would change all of Cyrus and Glitch’s passwords to highly encrypted alphanumeric and wildcard pass phrases five thousand characters long that John had generated with a program. These pass phrases were crackable by an expert with the right tools but it would take even the fastest system days to do it, days that Glitch would not have once the attack was launched.
The first attack would be on Cyrus’s funds, while the second attack would be launched a bit later, it would disable every terminal in the compound and lock all the servers from access to anyone within the building, nothing would be able to bring it back on line again without the antidote that only John possessed.
Within ten minutes of the computer attacks the final wave of Operation Black Ice would begin, the physical attack on the compound that would bring Cyrus down. They would come into the compound from three entry points, the roof, a tunnel underneath used for drainage, and any doors or windows that Todd, Toby, and Alice could sabotage in advance. If none could be opened from the inside then the team would use a laser to cut them open as needed.
Toby would be given a ten minute window of warning to get as many people into the large oven as possible. They would lock it and not emerge until given the all clear. Only then could they be safe from the deadly signal that would detonate the charges in their brains.
Cyrus was plotting now, there had to be a rock solid logical next move. The one thing that would give him the power at the right moment over the exact right people. He simply had to get the answers about the LifeTech system now even if it had to get messy. Up until he had abducted Dodge he had flown under the radar undetected by authorities or anyone else, but now it was crunch time, it didn’t really matter that much to him if he were exposed to some extent. If he saw the authorities coming, he would slip away via his escape plan and leave Glitch standing there with a whole bunch of dead bodies to take the rap for the whole mess.
The media would get it wrong anyway as they almost always do and the government would cover up anything that appeared to be a weakness in the security of the LifeTech system or any kind of shortcoming on their part. They had to protect the public’s high opinion of the system and the government so that people would continue to use the services. Privatization of these services would likely bankrupt the federal government and that was not an acceptable scenario for the leaders of the free world.
Cyrus knew he had enough people on the inside to cover up a few deaths or some strange events with whatever means necessary. The only way he could be stopped was a full scale “blowing the lid off” kind of exposure that would create a media blitz against him and he just didn’t see that happening. So with no real consequences to worry about Cyrus believed it was time for something drastic, something that would get true results, but what? He continued to meditate on his next move until it was nearly dawn.
The next morning Bobby was up early at his Grandpas house. Alan Kerrington was still at the farm under the cover of his Island cruise vacation. Linsey, Sarah, and Bobby were staying there while they made arrangements to get the fire damage repaired back at home. They were not in any real hurry as they knew the whole thing with Cyrus was about to come to a head and they were certainly not excited to go back to a home filled with cameras and listening devices to humor Slade. Alan’s home was small but it was quiet, and they had their privacy. The Black Ops team Captain and one of his best men went into the house and defused and removed Alan’s booby traps so that the family could safely use the house.
The entire area was heavily surveilled by extended members of the Black Ops team so they felt quite safe and could once again have an actual conversation without having to guard every word. The team had changed their policy regarding shift changes and were determined to prevent any additional breaches to their security net. Cyrus got through once already, they wouldn’t let it happen again.
Bobby was up and had already made some coffee. He had tried coffee at the hospital and again at the racing academy and decided he liked it. Now he was up early every day to make it and he felt very grown up being the first one up. Linsey emerged from the guest room to make some breakfast and was glad to see the coffee already made. She started some eggs and bacon in the laserwave while she and Bobby talked about his experience at the racing academy.
Bobby was anxious this morning to get the day started because he was going to see Matt. He and Matt had not seen or talked to each other now for more than two weeks. Matt had been away to his relative’s house out of state and then on to the Grand Canyon and several other exciting places. No doubt he would have some great stories and they could catch up all day but how could they have any fun with his Father deceased in a fire? Bobby had laid awake the night before pondering whether or not he should tell Matt the truth, if he didn’t then he should be an emotional mess but he didn’t feel up to the act. He was a little bit concerned for Matt’s safety also, after all they were best friends, but then he reminded himself that it was his Father they were after, not him or his friends.
How do you tell your best friend that you’ve lost your father when you really haven’t? Do you whip up some tears? He knew he needed to act sad but the truth was he didn’t feel sad now. His father was very much alive, he was only faking his death until this thing was over. The experience of thinking about his father being dead and the thought of going through the motions of going to the funeral and the buria
l ceremony and everything really bothered him. It made him realize that even with Restoration some people were still dying, some were not able to be restored, it was disturbing to realize.
Breakfast was over and it was time to go. Linsey took Bobby to Matt’s and went in with him to talk to her friend and neighbor Brenda McNeil. She was distraught and confused about what she should tell her friends and neighbors of so many years. She knew she couldn’t tell them the whole truth because it could jeopardize everything that they had sacrificed for so long to protect. In the end, when it all came out, she only hoped that they would forgive her for lying about it.
They went up on the porch and rang the door bell and Brenda opened the door. Before Linsey could even say Hi, Brenda was out on the porch and had grabbed them both up in her arms squeezing them and breaking into a river of tears.
“I am so sorry for your loss!” She sobbed.
“I don’t know how you’re getting through this, just let us know if there is anything at all that Bill and I can do.” She had kissed Bobby’s forehead and was now holding both of Linsey’s hands.
“How rude of me, please come in and let’s sit and talk for a while. Bobby Matt is in his room you can go right on up dear, he will be so happy to see you.”
Neither Linsey nor Bobby expected such an emotional greeting, but they probably should have in such circumstances. Bobby went on up to see Matt.
“Hey Buddy,” he said, as he rapped his knuckles on the open bedroom door.
“Hey Bro!” Matt said, as he got up and ran over to do their usual four step handshake He stopped short when he remembered about the fire, and then he hugged him instead.
“I’m sorry Bobby, I really am, and I don’t know what to say.” Bobby didn’t know either.
“It’s okay,” was all that he could get out.
He was a little choked up just thinking about it even being thought to be true even though he knew full well that his father was just fine at the farm. Then he noticed Matt was tearing up.
“God, I can’t believe this, your Dad was the coolest, I was always a little jealous ya know.”
“What are you talking about Matt, your Dad is awesome, he’s a great Father and he loves you.” Matt was wiping away some tears now.
“Cut it out,” Bobby said, “you’re gonna get me started again and I can’t do it anymore.”
“I’m sorry, it’s just, I don’t know, I don’t do well with this kinda stuff.”
Bobby couldn’t take it, he just couldn’t stand allowing his best friend in the world to grieve while he stood there and allowed it. He pulled a scanner from his pocket and turned in on.
“What’s that?” Matt asked, while still wiping tears away as quickly as they emerged.
“Give me about three seconds and I’ll tell you.”
Bobby did a quick scan of the room and it was clean just as he had suspected it would be. He closed Matt’s door and handed him the scanner.
“Check it out,” he said.
“Okay, so what is it? And why were you waving it around my room?”
“Well Buddy, it’s a very long story, I’m going to fill you in but first let’s do the hand shake.” As they went through it Matt began to get control of his emotions, he knew something was up.
“Matt can I trust you with a secret that my very life may depend on?”
“Of course, you know we’ve been through thick and thin man, I’d do anything for you bro, I would’ve shoved you out of the street that day if I could have gotten there faster!”
“Yeah I know, I’m sorry I even asked the question.”
“Okay, well here’s the deal . . .”
Bobby went on for over an hour explaining to Matt everything that had happened. Matt was blown away by the whole thing and more than relieved that Dodge was alive. He felt a little silly for breaking down now that he knew the truth.
Meanwhile downstairs Linsey had been talking with Brenda over two glasses of iced tea and had now graduated to a glass of wine. Linsey had not been quite so informative, she was going along with the idea that Dodge was dead. She had become quite emotional playing the role just because the very thought of it made her so sad, it was easy to get emotional in spite of the truth.
Brenda wasn’t helping matters with her emotions for Linsey’s plight. Her sadness had touched Linsey and only added to the tears. Linsey was crying for three reasons, one because she lied to her friend and it caused her grief, two because just imagining the lie being real made her emotional, and three because she was so touched by her friend being so distraught for her sake.
They had finally gotten past the crying now and were just talking quietly about what the future might hold and about fixing the house, anything they could to put distance between themselves and the reality of it.
Bobby and Matt were still upstairs talking and they had moved on now to vacation stories of the Grand Canyon and Bobby’s super exciting high speed adventures at the racing academy. He had learned so much in such a short time and couldn’t wait until all of this was over so that he could get back to his new goal of racing professionally. They had covered g-forces, traction control, gear box configurations and gear ratios, proper handling techniques, high speed defensive moves, and then they went out and did it in real cars on a real track. It was the most fun he had ever had.
Matt agreed to study Mechanical Engineering in College with plans to become Bobby’s Head Mechanic for his racing team some day. Bobby needed to get a few things from home to take back with them to Grandpa Kerrington’s house so he and Matt went downstairs to talk to his Mother.
“Hey, Mom” Me and Matt want to go over to the house and get the things we talked about.”
“All right Son,” she said, “just come right back, I don’t want you over there too long, and don’t go in the kitchen area at all, the insurance adjusters don’t want that area disturbed until they have completed their review, okay?”
“All right Mom,” he said.
Bobby and Matt went out the side door of the kitchen into the garage. They walked over to Bobby’s and went in through the front door using the key code. The power was still off but the front door had battery back up to unlock it in case of power outages. Once inside they could see that the walls were somewhat discolored from the smoke damage but only in the immediate area of the kitchen and the dining room.
They went upstairs and got a few things out of Bobby’s room and put them in a bag. As they started back down the stairs they heard some glass break down the hall, it sounded like it came from Sarah’s room. Matt said in almost a whisper.
“What was that?” Bobby put his finger to his lips in the “sshhh” gesture and pulled Matt into his parent’s room.
“I think someone just came in through my sister’s window,” he whispered. “Let’s stay here for a second and see if they come this way.”
“Oh shit!” Matt whispered, “what are we going to do?” Bobby peeked around the door jamb very carefully and saw two men dressed in dark clothing carrying guns with silencers on them. They were working each of the rooms moving the opposite direction down the hall.
“Which one is the boy’s room?” One of them said.
The other man motioned down the hall pointing to Bobby’s room.
“You take the boy’s room, I’ll go through the office.”
Bobby pulled his head back just as the other man glanced back towards him.
“Oh, man!” They’re after ME now too! We gotta make a run for it.”
“Okay,” Matt said, “which way?”
“Let’s go through the kitchen and out through the garage.”
“We can’t without going toward that end of the balcony right at them,” said Matt in a whisper.
“Okay then, we’ll jump over the hand rail of the balcony and onto the sofa below, that should buy us about a three or four second head start on them.”
“All right, let’s just hope they’re a lousy shot! I don’t want to find out what Restoration feels
like just yet.”
“Trust me my friend, if those guys shoot and kill us there won’t likely be any Restoration.” The two men were working the upstairs room by room, one had just entered Bobby’s room now and was making all kinds noise ram sacking it looking for anything he could find while the second man went into the office.
“Let’s go!” Bobby said, and off they went like a dart. They ran out onto the balcony that made a big “U” shape around the upstairs rooms. The two men heard them and ran out onto the balcony opposite of them.
“Get’em!” The first man yelled. Bobby threw his duffel over the rail onto the sofa and jumped down right behind it. No sooner did he bounce to the floor, then Matt landed on the sofa right behind him and they both ran toward the kitchen. Cyrus’s men had started running towards them and had passed the stairs never suspecting they would jump. They had to turn around and go back to the stairs, it bought the boys a few seconds but one of Cyrus’s men still fired two shots that nearly took off their heads before they made it to the kitchen.
They wasted no time going through the kitchen and out to the garage. As soon as they got in the garage Bobby hit the overhead door button but there was no power, the door didn’t go up. Matt, quick man, help me with this freezer. The shoved the deep freeze over in front of the house door to the garage and threw a few things on top. Just as they did Cyrus’s men slammed into it hard and popped it open about 2 inches but not enough to get anything more than a hand through.
Bobby and Matt were trying to hold it but the two grown men on the other side were just too much for them. Bobby looked around and realized the half bath door adjacent to them swung out so he grabbed the door and swung it straight out wedging it against the freezer.
“Let’s go!” He said. The two of them ran out towards the man door on the other side of the garage that opened to the driveway and slung it open. As they headed out of it they saw two more men rounding the back corner of the house coming right at them. They did a fast 180 and went right back into the garage and locked the door.