by E. C. Myers
Max glanced at the computers one last time then ran back to the stairway and clattered down the steps. He flew down to the second floor. Everyone must have already evacuated. He hit the first floor landing and started squeezing past some people coming up from the basement.
“Excuse me! Sorry, coming through!” He raised his axe above their heads and they got out of the way.
Max jumped the last few steps to the basement landing and hit the ground running. He ignored the pain in his feet.
“Penny!” Max shouted. He ran past the cafeteria. There was another row of conference rooms down here. The fire alarm was more muffled, but lights flashed up and down the hallway.
“Penny?”
Max heard a thumping sound on the far end. And a familiar voice. “Let me out!”
There she was.
The room Penny was in was named Thunderdome. Max jiggled the handle. Locked. Penny pounded at the door.
“Hello? Help!” she called. “I’m trapped in here.”
“Penny, it’s me,” he said.
“Max! The door locked while I was trying to hack into the server. Then the alarm went off.”
“The building’s surrounded by FBI agents.”
“I tried to pick the lock with a paper clip—” Penny said.
“You can do that?”
“Apparently not.”
He looked around. The floor was clear. The last few people were trickling into a stairwell on the other end of the floor. They would have to hurry if they wanted to blend in with the crowd.
“Stand back from the door. I’m going to hack in.”
“Max, no offense, but even I couldn’t hack it.”
“Penny, just get back!”
Max stood with his legs apart and tested the weight of the axe again. He cocked it behind his shoulder and took a slow practice swing at the door handle.
“On three! One. Two. Three!”
He took a real swing and sliced through the metal doorknob like it was butter. Bashed more than sliced with the blunt edge, but it got the job done. The metal frame around the knob shattered and clattered to the floor.
Penny pushed the door open with a stunned expression. She had lost her mask too.
“You have a hatchet,” she said.
“Battle axe,” he growled. He grinned and leaned it against the door.
“Sometimes the best tech—” Penny began.
“Is low tech,” Max finished. He’d heard Evan say that dozens of times.
Max held out a hand. “You ready to go?”
“Beyond ready.”
She took his hand.
“Run!” he said.
They ran. He led her to the stairs and they hurried to catch up with the tail end of the crowd of employees ascending to the first floor.
“The FBI agents waiting outside are checking everyone as they exit,” he said.
“Is there another exit?” Penny asked.
Max checked the HackerAid map. “Auditorium. Probably also guarded,” Max said. “We have to assume they’re at all the exits. They’re really serious this time. They know I’m here.”
“We should split up,” Penny said.
“Not again,” Max said. He squeezed her hand. “Any ideas?”
“We could hide somewhere,” Penny said.
“It’ll just get harder to sneak out when it’s full of people again.”
“Get new masks?” Penny asked.
“They’re checking everyone.”
“I bet that’s going over well.”
Max stopped walking. “Wait. They’re looking for me.”
“Max. No,” Penny said. “That already worked once. They won’t fall for it again.”
“I can turn myself in. While they’re busy with me, you and Risse can drive away.”
“We’ll think of something else,” Penny said.
“It’s too late.” They were nearly at the doors. Max handed her the USB drive with SH1FT on it. She might not get another chance to install it, but they could keep it out of Panjea’s hands and add it to the rest of the evidence of what they were planning. He also handed her Ariel’s puzzle piece and explained what it was.
“One more thing, and this is a big one: Vic Ignacio is 0MN1.”
“What?” Penny said. Her surprise quickly turned to anger. “Evan said he couldn’t be trusted.”
“Think he knew about it?”
“Evan would have found a way to warn me. It would have been in his files. 0MN1 must have kept his identity from him too. God, and we came right to Vic.”
They were just about to step outside.
“It’s time,” Max said. “You hang back and get ready to run.”
He lowered his head and studied the crowd, still looking for a path to escape as he came through the doors, Penny just behind him, still holding his hand.
His whole body was tense, ready to spring into action. He raised his head slowly. Vic was standing in the middle of the street, watching everyone who exited. Vic locked eyes with Max for a long moment then murmured something to a tall man standing beside him. A man in a gray turtleneck, with his arms crossed.
Kevin Sharpe.
Max almost lost his nerve when Sharpe turned and faced him.
Max dropped Penny’s hand.
Sharpe leaned toward Vic and whispered in his ear. Vic shrugged, and Sharpe walked away. He quickly disappeared into the crowd.
Max raised his hand to the brim of his hat. He was about to pull it off and step forward when Vic shouted.
“There he is!” Vic turned and pointed. Across the street—in the opposite direction from where Max was standing. A figure bolted down the sidewalk, his flannel shirt flapping behind him. It looked like PHYREWALL, but why was Vic sending the FBI after his own employee? Five agents chased after him.
“What?” Max lowered his hat again and Penny pulled him to the right, to where Risse was waiting in the idling BMW.
“No, no.” Max yanked his arm away from her. “We should split up to be safe. Meet me at Fisherman’s Wharf, near the big sign.”
“Max, come on. You aren’t even wearing shoes,” Penny said.
He grinned. “I’ve always wanted to try running barefoot.” He nudged Penny along and pushed off into the mass of people.
He was bumped and jostled as he squeezed through the tightly packed clusters of hackers. Most of them had replaced their masks and had their phones out, posting pictures and updates about Panjea to Panjea, while moving slowly away from the building. He heard them speculating about the fire alarm and the presence of the FBI, wondering if this was some kind of trap.
“Now what do we do?” someone whined.
“We have twenty-four hours in San Francisco. Let’s do everything!”
“What about the million dollar prize?”
“Like you would have won anyway.”
“I knew I shouldn’t have come.”
“If Feds are here, there must have been a high value target,” one girl said. “I know some Personai members were supposed to be coming.”
“Vic Ignacio wouldn’t sell out hackers to the FBI,” a boy replied.
If you only knew, Max thought as he pressed between them and worked his way to the head of the crowd. He was making halting progress, but every painful step was taking him farther away from Vic and his minions.
Max flinched when someone stamped on the toes of his right foot. Someone kicked his shin and he sucked in a breath. Fortunately the crowd was moving roughly in the direction he wanted, but he needed to split off from the main group soon. Penny and Risse would be waiting.
“Watch it!” someone said.
Max glanced behind him and saw there were three guards in Cylon masks pushing toward him. The guys he’d given the slip to earlier? Two more guards were converg
ing on him from either side, Tasers in their hands. They were only about twenty feet away and having better luck moving through the crowd, seemingly without a care to who they elbowed, shoved, and knocked down to get to him.
Angry shouts were rippling through the group now, and Max felt a shift in attitude as people shoved back.
Max shielded his face when someone pointed a phone at him, camera facing out, to get a recording of the approaching guards.
“Sorry, man,” the guy said.
Max shrugged and sidestepped him. If people posted complaints about being stomped by guards dressed as Cylons, Vic was going to have a PR situation on his hands.
He was now on the edge of the crowd, which had stopped moving and seemed to be turning in on itself. The Cylons were stuck, swarmed on all sides by angry hackers blocking them with their arms, grabbing onto their clothes, flashing photos and taking video. Someone grabbed one of their masks and held it up like a trophy, whooping.
Max backed away. This was turning ugly.
Red flashed in Max’s eyes. He blinked and looked down as a red dot traveled down his chest.
Shit.
He heard a loud pop, from somewhere in the middle of the crowd. A teenaged boy on Max’s left stiffened and fell backward with a garbled cry.
Max hopped away as the kid arched his back and convulsed with a plastic wire attached to his right arm. A sizzling sound filled the air. Then people screamed.
Max turned and ran. He heard another pop behind him, the buzz of electricity from a stun gun, more screaming. Someone yanked on his shirt, but he pulled free. He kept going and left the crowds behind him.
Max reached 8th and Hyde just as an F Line streetcar was pulling away. He hopped on and fell into an open seat, looking back toward the sound of sirens in the direction from which he’d come. His feet burned. Their soles were raw, and his calves ached. But he was pretty sure he hadn’t been followed.
25
Max heard a tone in his ears. It was Risse calling. He’d forgotten he was still wearing his earbuds. He answered the phone.
“You’re a stubborn ass,” Penny said.
“You and Risse are safe?” he asked. He steadied his breathing. The adrenaline high was finally wearing off, and fatigue was setting in.
“What’s taking you so long? Pier 39 is super crowded.”
“Good.” He picked a tiny piece of glass from the ball of his right foot. He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth from the pain. He wiped his bloody fingers on his pants. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
Max was relieved to see Penny and Risse. They were lingering near the Fisherman’s Wharf sign, people-watching and eating cupcakes. He limped up to them.
“Max!” Penny said. “You made it.”
She hugged him.
“I’m glad you two are all right,” he said. “Where’s the car?”
“In the garage,” Risse said.
They walked there together. Risse gave him half of her cupcake.
“Whew,” Penny said. “That was way too close.”
“Tell me about it,” Max said.
“What happened? Were you really going to turn yourself in?” Risse asked.
“I was. But Vic saw me and it seems like he set up a distraction of his own so the FBI wouldn’t get me.” He explained how he thought PHYREWALL had been sent to divert the agents, giving Max and Penny time to escape.
“He let you go?” Risse asked.
“Vic doesn’t let things go. He sent his own people after me, but I managed to get away. He wants SH1FT, and for now, he thinks he has a better chance of getting it without involving the FBI. It looked like he was taking orders from Sharpe.”
“So he doesn’t want the FBI to have SH1FT,” Penny said.
“I thought the government was working with Panjea?” Risse said.
“Sometimes the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing,” Max said. “Sharpe and his team are with the government, but they’re as much on the wrong side of the law as Panjea is. Maybe the FBI doesn’t know and is working against them too. Better to keep SH1FT in our hands than see me get arrested, have it fall into the hands of the FBI and risk public exposure.
“I think PHYREWALL doesn’t like Vic much. And GroundSloth could be persuaded to our side,” Max continued. “Did you get anywhere with the server?”
“No.” Penny scowled. “It’s like the production servers aren’t even in the building, or they’re so locked down I couldn’t see them. Did you have any luck?”
“All I got was this, but it could be something.” Max handed them the globe he’d stolen from PHYREWALL.
“It’s a 3–D puzzle,” Risse said. She turned it over. “Look at this.” She pointed out a small LCD display embedded in the bottom of the base. Max passed her PHYREWALL’s puzzle piece, and she slotted it into its matching shape on the globe, completing the puzzle. As soon as it clicked into place, six numbers appeared on the LCD screen.
“A security token,” Penny said.
Max’s dad had a security token for work, but it was just an app on his phone. It generated a number that would authenticate a remote user on a system. As Max watched the Panjea token, the code scrambled and changed.
“Why would they need this at Panjea, where they should have direct access to all the systems?” Max took the device back and examined it.
“Extra security?” Risse said.
It would make sense for Ariel to have one of these devices if she needed to access Panjea’s server from home. Max removed the piece with the first A in Panjea. The numbers disappeared from the LCD display.
The piece was identical to Ariel’s, and when he inserted her magnetic puzzle piece instead, the numbers reappeared. The completed 3–D puzzle must close a circuit and turn on the display.
“Maybe the servers are located somewhere else, like you suggested,” Max said. “Penny?”
She seemed preoccupied. He couldn’t blame her. She’d been locked in a room, closer than she had ever been to being arrested.
“So this was a waste of time,” Penny said. ”We shouldn’t have risked it.”
“We got some good information,” Max said. And now he knew for certain that his mother was out there somewhere, and it was possible to find her.
“We also got this.” Risse pressed a button on her phone. Its speaker played and Max heard Vic’s voice.
“When I ask you about SH1FT again, I want you to think about your friends and family, Max.”
A shiver ran down his back. “Risse, you hacked my phone?” Max asked.
“It’s easy when you can get your hands on it,” Risse said.
Max reached into his pocket but his phone wasn’t there. Risse smiled and handed it to him.
“You’re a pickpocket,” he said.
“It’s a gift,” she said.
“You got our whole conversation?”
She nodded. “Not entirely a confession, but he doesn’t sound innocent, either.”
Penny looked distraught.
“He gave Evan the same ultimatum,” Max said. “And it worked, but not the way he was expecting. It looks like our next stop is to find Panjea’s servers.”
Penny put a hand on his arm to slow him down. She let Risse get several feet ahead of them.
Penny took a deep breath. “Max . . . .”
“Uh-oh,” he said, sensing what was coming.
“We can’t do this anymore. We’re done,” Penny said.
“You’re leaving?” Max asked.
“We have to. I’m sorry. I know you’ve given up everything to see Evan’s mission through, but I’m not prepared to do that. For her.” Her eyes flicked to Risse, who was looking around happily at the stores along the pier.
“I understand,” Max said.
“You do?”
“I would do the same thing. You have to think about Risse, and your mom. Look, I tried to get out too, because it was dangerous. I totally get it. I really appreciate what you two have done. I couldn’t have gotten this far without you.”
“That’s what I’m worried about. Are you going to be okay?”
Max shrugged. “I’ll figure something out.”
“You’re good at that. I. . . . Thank you for saving me back there.”
“Whatever.”
“Max, it’s only going to get worse for you,” Penny said.
“Your pep talks are almost as good as Coach Kim’s. I know it sounds weird, but Vic’s threat made me more committed to seeing this through.” He didn’t mention that Vic now had something that Max wanted: means to find his mom. “The only path out of this is finding a way to get the altered version of SH1FT online and getting the truth out there.”
“Max, you can’t.” She held up her hands. “Sorry. That’s not my call to make. You have to do what you have to do.”
“You’re right. You two need to go. In fact, I insist on it. They’ll catch up to me sooner or later, and I don’t want either of you to get dragged into this any further. They’ll use our friendship against me. That’s what they do.”
When they got to the car in the garage, Max pulled on his sneakers and collected his things in his backpack. Risse eyed him warily.
“What are you up to?” she asked.
“This is where we part ways,” he said.
“What? No! We’re in this together, to the end.”
“It’s time to go home, Risse. We have to get back to our real lives,” Penny said.
“You’re that anxious to go back to school and your job and . . . Mama?”
“She’s going to miss us if we’re gone much longer,” Penny said.
“No, she won’t.”
“School then. We can cover for some of the time we’ve missed, but if we’re gone too long, it’ll invite more questions. They’ll figure out what we’ve been up to.”
“But we’re doing something. Finally! We’ve always talked about the good we were doing with Dramatis Personai, but that was just talk. Now here we are, fighting a real goddamn conspiracy. On the run from Men in Black. Exposing international crimes!”