He listens while Eileen speaks to someone else for a moment. It sounds as though she’s checking something with her assistant. “Of course, Stewart,” she purrs. “Always a pleasure. I’ll see you soon.”
“Thanks,” Stewart replies. “I’ll be there in five.” He ends the call and his smile fades. If he handles this badly and Eileen guesses the reason for his questions, he’s going to be in a lot of trouble with Stradford Brunner. But what choice does he have? He has to make progress, and he needs to get some leads right away. Soon, Northridge house will open its doors to a whole raft of new students, and if Grimwood is behind these security breaches, he’ll be lying in wait for them. They’ll be like lambs to the slaughter, he thinks, and when he remembers his promise to Angela, a sense of cold dread creeps across his mind and clouds his thoughts. He can’t let that madman Grimwood get away, not this time. Grimwood has to be stopped. Whatever the cost.
CHAPTER 11
AS HANK AND MERVIN WALK PAST the stands in the exhibition hall, Hank watches an awestruck young woman waving her hands in the air as she tries to pull virtual components into place to construct some sort of hexacopter in midair. The young woman has short, dark hair, cut in the latest androgynous style, and though Hank can’t see her eyes behind the tinted lenses of her headset, she’s intent on her work, moving her hands with an elegant sense of purpose, almost as if she’s conducting an imaginary orchestra.
“It’s weird,” Mervin says, “I’m starting to wonder what’s VR and what’s really here.”
“That guy looks real enough.” Hank nods toward the door.
Mervin turns around to watch a young man enter the room. “Looks like he’s stumbled into the wrong place.”
“I don’t think that’s likely, Dad, do you?” Hank asks. But the young man has a harried look, and he scans the room rapidly like he’ s looking for the exits. His gray hoodie is pulled up to shield his face, and his shoulders are hunched, his hands deep in his pockets. He takes a step forward and then appears to change his mind. He turns away and bolts for the door. And runs straight into Sue Derrick.
“Hey, slow down,” Sue says. “What’s the rush, Richie? I haven’t had a chance to show you around yet.”
“Get off me,” the young man says, and there’s a note of panic in his voice.
Sue stands back and holds her hands up in surrender. “You ran into me, remember? But what’s the matter? Are you feeling OK? Do you need a glass of water or something?”
“No. Nothing. Just leave me alone. I don’t want to come in. I don’t want any of this. I never asked for it. It’s all just bullshit.”
“Fine,” Sue says. “You’re free to go. But let me walk you to the door, OK?”
“Whatever.”
Sue holds the door open. “After you.”
The young man shuffles past her, and Sue shakes her head. Hank is just about to turn away, but then Sue does something that holds his attention. She pulls out her phone and mutters something into it, and her friendly smile turns into a scowl. She stares into the middle distance as she speaks and her eyes are cold as stone. It’s as if she’s transformed into a different person in front of Hank’s eyes, and it sends a shiver racing down his spine. Is that who you really are? he wonders. But then, Sue pockets her phone and looks around the room. She sees Hank watching and her face lights up, then she gives him a cheery wave. Hank forces a smile, and Sue breezes out the room as though nothing just happened.
“Did you see that?” Hank says.
Mervin grunts in disapproval. “Some kids these days just don’t know how to behave. That young man is going to regret his attitude one of these days.”
Hank checks his dad’s expression. Mervin looks genuinely annoyed, and for a second, Hank can’t think what to say. Did we just see the same situation?
“So,” Mervin says, “what do you want to look at next?”
“I don’t know. Maybe we’ve seen enough for one day.”
“Nonsense. You want to take a look at the hardware, don’t you? Time was, you would’ve jumped at the chance to try the latest gaming gear.”
“Yeah, but I’m not interested in that stuff anymore.”
“Look, here’s a space opening up. Let’s have a go at this.” He gestures toward the stand Hank was watching earlier. It looks like the young woman has completed her hexacopter design, and she’s moved to one side, where a bank of 3D printers is thrumming into life.
“All right,” Hank says, but his dad is already on the move. He’s like a kid in a candy store, Hank thinks as he walks to his dad’s side. But when he sees the excited grin on his father’s face, he has to smile. “Why don’t you try this one, Dad?”
“You sure?” Mervin asks.
“Yeah. Go ahead.”
Mervin rubs his hands together. “Watch and learn, son. Watch and learn.”
Hank stands back and lets his dad do the talking. The guy running the stand introduces himself but Hank doesn’t quite catch his name, and he tunes out for the rest. He watches his dad, and remembers the model robot kits they used to build together, all those years ago. There was always a part missing, or an instruction in the online manual that didn’t make sense. But while those niggling irritations got under Hank’s skin, his dad was always patient, calmly working through the problem until it was solved. And yet, when the robot worked, his dad always stood back, happy to let Hank take all the credit.
“That’s sweet,” someone says.
Hank snaps out of his daydream with a start and looks up. The young woman with the short, dark hair is at his side. “Sorry, what?” Hank asks. “Did you say something?”
“I said, that’s sweet—letting your dad take a turn.”
Hank shrugs. “Oh sure. It’s more his thing. I was never really into robots.”
The woman slaps her hand against her cheeks. “What? You never made those kits when you were a kid? That one with the arm that could play checkers? I thought everyone built that damned thing.”
Hank grins. “OK, you got me. I did have that one. It took us all weekend. I think there must’ve been—”
“—a part missing from the box,” the woman interrupts, and they share a laugh.
The woman thrusts out her hand. “I’m Georgie. Nice to meet you.”
“Hank.” He takes her hand awkwardly, but she has a firm grip and Hank finds himself smiling. There’s something refreshing about this person, something down to earth; she reminds him of Diane.
“Looks like your dad’s doing pretty well,” Georgie says. “Do you want to take a look around? It’s going to take a while for my copter to come off the printers and there are some game chairs I haven’t taken a look at yet.”
“I don’t know. I ought to wait for my dad.”
“What’s that, son?” Mervin calls out. He half turns and gives Georgie friendly a nod. “Oh, hi there.”
“This is Georgie, Dad,” Hank says.
“Nice to meet you, sir,” Georgie says. “I was just wondering if you’d mind me dragging Hank off to look around.”
Mervin looks taken aback. “Sure. You two go ahead. I’ll be busy here for a while and you don’t need me holding you up. Go on—take off. I’ll see you later.”
“Great,” Georgie says. She gives Hank an expectant look.
“All right, Dad. I’ll see you in a little while.” He gives Georgie a smile and they head across the room together with Georgie leading the way.
“I was talking to one of the other candidates,” Georgie says, and she speaks quickly, an edge of suppressed excitement in her voice, “and they were telling me about this new game they have—jungle combat. It sounds very cool. It won’t be released for at least a couple years and they have a demo right here. What do you think to that?”
“Cool,” Hank says, though without much enthusiasm. He stops walking. “Can I ask you something?”
Georgie stands still and faces him, her head tilted to one side. “What is it?”
“Did you…did you really want t
o come here today?”
Georgie’s brow wrinkles in a frown. “What?”
“You know what I mean. Did you choose this place, or do you somehow feel like they dragged you into it?”
“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about,” Georgie says. “Listen, if you don’t want to hang out with me, that’s fine, but just say so—there’s no need to act weird about it.”
Hank shakes his head in exasperation. “It’s not that. I’m happy to hang out. But this place…I don’t know.”
“Hold on a second.” Georgie lifts her hand and slides her headset off. “Take yours off too.”
Hank does as he’s told, and when he looks at Georgie, he loses himself for a moment in the warm darkness of her deep brown eyes.
“That’s better,” Georgie says. “What exactly is the problem, Hank?”
“It’s not a problem exactly. I just hate to be led around by the nose. It’s like, one minute, everything’s normal, and then the next, everyone seems to think I should sign up for five years, and then suddenly they’re talking about going to England. It’s all happening too fast.”
Georgie raises her eyebrows. “England? They talked to you about going to Northridge House?”
“Yeah. That was it. They’re talking like it’s a done deal. It’s too weird.”
“Oh my God, what did they say? Are you in with a chance? How did you do it? Was there a test or something? Can I…can I apply somehow? Should I go and talk to someone?” She looks around the room. “Who’s the right person? What should I say?”
Hank points across to the curved screen, but without his headset, he can’t tell if Angela is still there. “There’s a lady over there—well, a hologram anyway. Angela. She told me all about it.”
Georgie fixes him with a stare. “Angela Rosalyn? But I talked to her. She never said anything about me going to England. She just gave me a talk about the place.” She lets out a hiss of frustration. “Goddammit!”
“You really want to go there? You want to leave your family and go all that way?”
“Are you kidding me? Are you making fun of me or what? Because—”
Hank holds up his hands, the open palms toward her. “I’m not kidding you, OK? I didn’t really ask her if I could go. But she knew all about me.”
“What? How?”
“It’s a long story, but I met a guy who works for the Trust. I guess I helped him out, and he must’ve recommended me. That’s what Angela said anyway.”
Georgie grimaces. “Typical! I work my butt off to get the best, goddamned rankings in every game I can get my hands on, but when it comes down to it, it’s not what you know, but who you know.”
“It wasn’t like that,” Hank says. “But, listen, if you really want to go to England, maybe you should talk to someone today. Show them what you can do and see if it makes a difference.” Hank gives her an encouraging smile. “You never know. You stand as good a chance as anyone. Better. And if you make a good impression, maybe they’ll remember you when it’s time to decide.”
Georgie looks at Hank for a moment. “Sorry. I must sound kind of crazy. I was just worried in case I missed out. But maybe you’re right. The day isn’t over yet, so there’s still a chance I could put myself forward.”
“Sure, there’s always a chance. But I still don’t see why you’d want to go all the way to England. This place is pretty cool, and Austin seems OK.” Hank hesitates. “Don’t you have family, or folks you want to stay near?”
“Oh yeah, big time. There’s my mom and dad, and my lousy kid brother, and then there’s this whole army of assorted cousins and half-cousins and suchlike. My parents are around here somewhere, talking to everybody they can find, asking lots of questions. We’re from New York, so…” She smiles and shrugs as if that’s explanation enough.
Hank nods. “So, you want to leave all those folks behind and go to England?”
Georgie studies him for a moment. “Do you really not know what a big deal it is to get into Northridge? Don’t you know about all the people who’ve tried to get in and failed? I mean, come on, you must know. There was that girl—her dad was some kind of big-shot on the staff in the White House—she thought her old man could twist a few arms and get her in.”
“It didn’t work?”
“No way,” Georgie says. “And that’s just one story, there are plenty more—billionaire business-types try to wine and dine the right folks, just so they can to grab places for their idiot offspring, but they all get shown the door. They say an Arab sheik tried to literally buy a place for his oldest son, and that didn’t work. And there was this girl in England, her folks were literally lord and lady something or other, but they couldn’t get her into Northridge.”
Hank runs his hand through his hair. “I don’t get it.”
“But that’s just it—you already got it.” She gives him a rueful smile. “If Angela Rosalyn says you’re in, you’d have to be some kind of gold-plated meat-head to turn it down.”
Hank looks at her for a moment. She’s so self-confident, so utterly convinced that she’s right, and he can see no reason for her to lie about any of this. And when she appears to be so well-informed, who the hell is he to disagree? “I guess I’d better think about it some more. It just came as a shock, that’s all. I wasn’t really expecting anything like it. I just came to…to look around.” It sounds lame even to Hank’s ears, and he isn’t surprised when Georgie rolls her eyes.
“Come on, hotshot,” she says. “Let’s go and take a look at the gear. Maybe that will set your mind straight.”
“OK. Let’s do it.”
Georgie walks quickly to the back of the hall, with Hank tagging along, and when they get to the display of game chairs, a young woman steps forward to greet them. “Hi, I’m Sondra. Welcome to the future of gaming.” She gives them a wide smile, showing off her dazzling teeth. “If you’d like, I’d be happy to hook you up with a demo of our new system. It’ll give you the game of your life.”
Hank keeps a straight face. Where do they get these shiny, happy people? It’s like they’re churning them out in a factory somewhere. He looks along the game chairs. There are ten of them, laid out in a wide semi-circle, and they are the fanciest chairs he’s ever seen; sleek lines, a brushed aluminum finish on the frames and luxurious black upholstery on the seats. And four of them are already occupied. The players have their hands laid flat on the armrests, their eyes shielded by their headsets. The chairs look incredible, the best Hank’s ever seen, but the sight of the players sitting immobile and dead to the world drags up dark memories, and a flicker of fear stirs in the pit of his stomach.
“What do you think, Hank?” Georgie asks. “Are these chairs sweet or what?”
But Hank shakes his head. “You go ahead. I just came to look at the hardware.”
Georgie’s face falls. “What? You’re going to play aren’t you, Hank?”
“Sorry. I don’t play games. Not anymore.”
“Oh. I thought…” Georgie looks down at the floor and Sondra stands awkwardly, her smile frozen on her face.
Oh, Christ! Hank thinks. He looks at Georgie, and her dark eyes are filled with disappointment. He hardly knows her—they only just met—but the look on her face twists a dagger in his heart. First, he blurted out his worries about the offer of a place in Northridge, with no thought for how that might make Georgie feel, and now he’s acting like a total jerk, spoiling her fun for no reason at all. He swallows hard. “I guess…I guess I could play along. You know. Just for a while.”
Georgie looks up. “Really?”
Hank forces a smile. “Sure. Why not?”
“That’s great,” Sondra gushes. “Let me get you all fixed up and ready to roll.” She steps over to the nearest empty chair and swipes her hand across a panel on the armrest, then repeats the process for the neighboring chair. She waits a moment, then turns to face Hank and Georgie. “We’re good to go. Now, I see you’ve taken your headsets off. Normally, that would be fine, but
in this generation of chairs, you’re going to need them to interact with the system. OK?”
“Sure,” Georgie says. She puts her headset on and Hank does the same, and while his headset activates, he studies the chairs more closely.
“There are no gel pads,” Hank says. “Not on the arms or the head rest.”
Sondra beams with pride. “That’s right. The gel pads are rendered obsolete by the advanced neural interface capabilities of your headset.”
“Very cool,” Georgie says, and she’s practically bouncing with excitement.
Georgie’s enthusiasm is infectious, and Hank has to smile. “So, what’s the game anyway?”
“Is it jungle combat?” Georgie asks. “I heard all about it. It sounds awesome.”
Sondra’s smile tightens. “You heard about it? From who? Was it online?”
Georgie inclines her head back toward the room. “I was grabbing a coffee over there and a couple of guys were talking about it. They were all fired up about the whole experience.”
“Oh, OK.” Sondra takes a breath. “We do ask people not to talk about the game outside this room. It’s still in development and the finished game will almost certainly be very different. We don’t want people posting spoilers online. I’m sure you understand.”
Hank frowns. “If it’s that secret, how come you’re showing us?”
“That’s a fantastic question,” Sondra says. “And there’s a simple answer—we’re showcasing the jungle combat scenario today because it demonstrates how much we can achieve at the Trust when we work alongside the top tech companies on the planet. Jungle combat is being developed as a collaboration between the Downlode Trust and Agrippine Corporation. The developmental leads on this project work for Agrippine, and they’re all graduates from the Trust, so they understand what sort of experience our current students need. They’ve worked side by side with our students to develop and test this scenario from the ground up.”
“You keep calling it a scenario,” Georgie says. “Is it a game or what?”
The Trust (The Downlode Heroes Book 2) Page 10