Gotta B

by Claire Carmichael

  ‘Allyx doesn’t much like me being a disconnect,’ he said. ‘Plus she and Mike have been comparing notes, and he told her you were acting all mysterious.’

  ‘I didn’t tell Mike a thing!’

  ‘Whatever, Allyx knows something’s going on, and she hates being left out.’

  ‘Why did you drop hints to Mike that you were hiding a big, fat secret?’ David enquired.

  ‘I didn’t have to drop hints. Mike knows me well enough to know something was up. Anyway, it was left to me and Tal to decide whether to tell Mike and Allyx, so it’s nothing to do with you.’

  Jennie came hurrying up to them. ‘George wants Maryann Dodd on the cyber team.’

  ‘No way!’

  ‘Hold on, David,’ Jennie said. ‘George says she’s great at cyber bullying, and that’s what this is going to be, but on a grand scale.’

  David folded his arms. ‘No Dodder. She can’t be trusted.’

  ‘We don’t have to trust her,’ said Petra. ‘We just have to use her. And what about Kimba and Tiffany?’

  ‘George mentioned them too.’

  ‘No way!’

  ‘Get a grip, David,’ said Petra. ‘You’re starting to repeat yourself.’

  At lunchtime Tal went in search of Allyx, finding her chatting with a group of other girls. ‘Can I see you for a minute?’

  ‘You can see me for a lot longer than that, if you like,’ said Becca Everett, with a flirtatious smile. The others laughed.

  ‘Are we going to get together tonight?’ Tal asked, when he and Allyx had moved away.

  ‘I don’t think so.’

  ‘Oh, come on, Allyx!’

  She flushed with anger. ‘No, you come on! You’ve got some important secret you won’t share with me.’

  ‘I’ll tell you when I can.’

  ‘You don’t trust me.’

  ‘That’s not the reason.’

  Eyes flashing, Allyx said, ‘You being disconnected sucks. Most of the time I don’t know where you are or what you’re thinking. We never talk.’

  ‘We’re talking now,’ he pointed out.

  ‘You know what I mean, Tal. We can’t do anything online together. We can’t share everything like we did before. I hate it!’

  Surprised by her intensity, Tal said, ‘Hey, it’s me who’s disconnected. I’m the one who can’t do anything, not you.’

  Allyx turned and began to walk away. Looking back, she said bitterly, ‘I knew you wouldn’t understand.’

  Tal found the second session at the centre rather more interesting than the orientation. Frank and Tal had discussed striking up conversations with the security team, because, as Frank said, it was basic psychology to be more relaxed with people with whom you had some sort of relationship, particularly if he and Tal came over as pleasant and non-threatening.

  The guards were the same three who’d escorted them to and from the research facility, their name tags identifying them as Cilla, Mitch and Brad. Tal guessed Cilla was about his mother’s age. Mitch was middle-aged, overweight and had a mean face. Brad, the other guy, looked only a few years older than Tal.

  While waiting in the foyer for everyone in the group to arrive, Tal struck up a conversation with Cilla, while Frank chatted with Brad. Later, standing in the line for their brain scans, Tal and Frank compared notes.

  ‘Cilla is really nice,’ said Tal, ‘but she takes her job seriously. While we were talking she kept checking around to make sure everything was okay.’

  ‘Brad’s too lazy to be serious about his job,’ said Frank. ‘He makes it obvious he’s bored out of his mind.’

  ‘So what did you talk about?’

  ‘Sport, mainly.’ Frank grinned at Tal’s expression. ‘Surprise! It is possible for a geek to be into sport.’

  Once the brain scans for the whole group were completed, Graeme appeared, just as officious as before, and haughtily read out the names of the eight members of the group who had made the gold-rating list. Tal and Frank were both on it.

  ‘What about me?’ yelled the skinny girl who’d complained about money in the first session. ‘I should be gold too.’

  ‘If I didn’t read out your name, you’re not gold material.’ Graeme looked pleased to be saying this.

  When she continued to protest loudly, Graeme spoke into his comm. The young guard, Brad, entered the room. ‘Yeah? You called?’

  Graeme’s lips twitched irritably at Brad’s casual attitude. ‘Please escort this young woman off the premises.’

  She was led away, still objecting.

  At the end of the session Tal sidled up to Cilla. ‘Guess what? I’m a gold-rated research subject.’ He hoped it came over as naive enthusiasm.

  She smiled. ‘Really? I’m so impressed.’

  With nothing to do that evening except school assignments – since his disconnection, homework for each subject was provided in printed form – Tal decided to go for a run. He headed in the direction of George’s place, intending to call in for a progress report. When he jogged up to the sagging front fence, he saw Becca sitting on the stairs to the verandah.

  ‘We meet again,’ she said with a wide grin. ‘Is it too much to hope that you’re stalking me?’

  ‘You wouldn’t be that lucky,’ said Tal, laughing.

  ‘Have you and Allyx broken up?’

  ‘No,’ he said curtly, feeling irritated with both Becca for asking, and Allyx for making it possible for Becca to ask. ‘Is George in?’

  ‘My brother is always in,’ said Becca, getting up to let Tal past. ‘Honestly, it’s a joke when Dad grounds him, because George spends most of his time in his room anyway.’ Becca gave Tal a shrewd look. ‘He’s doing something for you, isn’t he? Something big?’

  ‘Maybe.’

  Becca gave a gurgle of laughter. ‘I don’t know the target, but I do know it’s a cyber attack. George asked me if I’d help out.’

  Tal blinked at her, which amused Becca even more. ‘I do know a lot about cyber attacks. George isn’t the only nerd in the family.’

  ‘You’re calling yourself a nerd?’ said Tal, eyebrows raised.

  ‘A nerd in heavy disguise,’ said Becca. ‘And if anyone asks, I’ll deny it.’

  Rob had taken Tal’s mother out to dinner, and they came in shortly after Tal arrived home from seeing George.

  Over coffee, Rob said, ‘I’ve been telling Grace about the latest stuff FinagleAlert’s dug up on Villabona, Renfrew and Unwin.’

  ‘Anything interesting?’

  ‘Definitely. For starters, Renfrew’s almost broke.’

  ‘But he must have made heaps,’ said Tal.

  ‘I hope Renfrew’s a better psychologist than he is businessman,’ Rob said sardonically. ‘He’s made a lot of money, but has squandered most of it with unwise investments. A few months ago he was desperately trying to scrape up funds so he could continue his teenage brain research.’

  ‘This is where Joe steps in,’ said Tal’s mother. ‘It must have seemed too good to be true, but I guess Renfrew wasn’t going to rock the boat by asking too many questions.’

  Rob went on. ‘Renfrew urgently needs the backing of a huge company like Farront and, right on cue, Villabona appears and says not to worry, he’ll introduce him to Audrey and then help persuade her to pour money into the research. And what does Villabona ask in return? Full access to Renfrew’s findings, which as we know from Steven, he intends to sell under the table to any company willing to pay his price.’

  ‘Do you think Renfrew’s getting a cut?’

  ‘I doubt it, Grace. He’s got what’s most important to him – funding for his research. If Villabona goes down, Renfrew will want to be in a position to say, “I knew nothing about it”.’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ said Tal, ‘how Villabona would know that Dr Renfrew badly needed money, and at the same time just happened to have something of great value to Audrey.’

  ‘I suspect Villabona had other potential victims lined up, should the deal with Ren
frew not work out. I believe he plans way ahead, moving into a city with a new identity and using his skills to find people like Renfrew and Audrey to manipulate.’

  ‘Renfrew’s a fool, and Joe’s a crook, but the one that really chills me is Howard Unwin,’ said Tal’s mother.

  ‘And he’s supposed to be taking care of Rick,’ said Tal, feeling a chill himself.

  ‘As a renowned child psychiatrist, Unwin provides excellent window dressing for The Farront Centre,’ said Rob, ‘but he has some dark things in his past. Villabona would certainly know about the malpractice lawsuits brought by parents against the doctor. Unwin was accused of experimenting with psychiatric drugs unauthorised for use on children, and also of submitting young people to harsh regimens that not only failed to achieve what he promised, but in some cases made the patient much worse.’

  ‘Why isn’t he in jail?’

  ‘Principally, Tal, because he’s a very rich man. Most of these malpractice suits were settled before going to trial. Unwin paid the families enough money to keep them quiet. They signed non-disclosure documents that would mean forfeiting every cent of the settlement if anything about the legal action was revealed. Those few cases that did end up in court never resulted in a conviction. Witnesses didn’t turn up, or had unexpected memory lapses. It’s obvious they were paid off, but nothing was ever proved.’

  ‘I don’t get why Unwin’s involved in the centre,’ said Tal. ‘From what you say, he doesn’t need the money.’

  ‘Can you be too rich? Unwin has an expensive lifestyle to maintain. Also, I’m sure Villabona is aware of Unwin’s past problems, so perhaps he’s blackmailing Unwin into cooperating.’

  ‘Tell Tal what your informant said.’

  ‘Grace, what’s the point? No one can do anything.’

  ‘It’s about Rick? Is he okay?’

  Rob grimaced. ‘It seems the doctors told Rick they had bad news. His grandfather had died without regaining consciousness.’

  ‘That’s awful.’ Tal frowned. ‘I’m surprised I haven’t heard about it.’

  ‘You haven’t heard because it isn’t true. Les Lawrence is well on the way to complete recovery. And Rick knew it was a lie, because our informant had secretly passed on a message earlier from Thelma Lawrence saying his grandfather was awake and doing well. Understandably, Rick lost his temper. He punched Unwin in the mouth.’

  ‘Good for Rick! I hope he did some damage.’

  ‘Apparently he split Unwin’s lip. He didn’t have time to do anything else because he was immediately restrained and sedated. Our informant says he’s been moved to a basic room with nothing in it but the bare necessities.’

  ‘Before you ask,’ said Tal’s mother, ‘I’ve spoken to Thelma Lawrence. It was a waste of time, because Dr Unwin has been dropping by with glowing reports on Rick’s progress. Unwin told Thelma that Rick’s responding well, but she can’t visit yet because he has to be kept isolated for a little longer. Thelma sincerely believes Rick’s getting the best possible treatment.’

  Tal was thinking furiously. George had told him that the earliest the cyber attack could be launched was the middle of next week. It had to be sooner.

  He made a snap decision. ‘Rob,’ he said, ‘your informant’s name is Luis Cordova.’

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  Tal had to be content that Tuesday would be day one. It would take until the end of the week to fully launch the cyber attack, despite Tal, David, Petra and Jennie fretting over Rick’s captivity and trying to speed things up.

  ‘Look,’ said George. ‘I understand about Rick, but from what you say, his grandmother won’t budge unless there’s a tidal wave of bad stuff about the doctors. And that takes time.’

  Tal knew that getting Thelma to change her mind and demand Rick’s release – and having Renfrew and Unwin agree to it – was a long shot. It was far more likely they’d have to attempt to rescue Rick themselves.

  In the meantime, Frank and Tal continued to attend sessions at The Farront Centre. They were getting to know the staff members and become familiar with their routines, including Luis Cordova’s.

  Rob had been astonished, alarmed and furious all at once when he’d realised that Tal knew the name of FinagleAlert’s informant. ‘Someone’s broken through our supposedly hacker-proof security. I’m sure you know who it is. I want a name.’

  ‘Tal, tell Rob who it is.’

  ‘No, Mum, I won’t. The hacker doesn’t matter. Rick matters.’ Switching his attention back to Rob, he said, ‘Rick needs to hear from his friends that he isn’t alone and some day soon he’ll be back home. That’s the reason I wanted to know who your informant was.’

  ‘What do you intend to do, Tal? Walk up to Luis and announce you’re a friend of Rick’s? He’s got no reason to trust you, so he’ll tell you to get lost.’

  ‘That’s where you come in,’ said Tal. ‘When Frank and I meet with the guy, he needs to know we’re aboveboard.’

  ‘Tal, you can’t ask Rob to do that.’

  ‘Grace is right. I won’t jeopardise Luis’s position at the centre.’

  Tal didn’t bother to hide his anger. ‘What about Rick’s position? Don’t either of you care?’

  ‘Of course we care,’ said his mother, ‘but this isn’t the way to go.’

  ‘All I’m asking is for a simple message to be passed on to Rick. If you won’t help, I’ll approach Luis Cordova cold and try to talk him into doing it.’

  He had seen that Rob was wavering, so he’d said persuasively, ‘The guy’s given him a message before without a problem.’

  ‘Just a few words of support?’

  ‘Yes.’

  With obvious reluctance, Rob had said, ‘Okay.’

  Tal, Petra, David and Jennie had a final strategy session at Tal’s before the cyber war was launched. There was a strange mood in the room. Everyone was tense, but not serious. There was lots of talk and brittle laughter.

  Calling the meeting to order, Tal reported on his and Frank’s meeting with Luis Cordova in a crowded coffee shop. ‘Rob had shown him pics of us, and we knew what he looked like, so when he asked if he could share our table, we said sure.’

  ‘What’s this Luis like?’ said Petra.

  ‘Ordinary looking, but sort of intense and a bit sarcastic. One good thing – he’s really angry about Rick. He said it’s wicked, the way he’s been treated.’

  ‘So what’s he doing about it?’ David asked.

  ‘For starters, he’s going to tell Rick not to give up, because we’re working on getting him out.’

  ‘We know Luis is authorised to go anywhere in the centre,’ said Jennie. ‘Do you think he’d be willing to get you and Frank into the psychiatric ward?’

  ‘It’s not impossible. Frank and I hinted we might be planning to spring Rick ourselves, and he didn’t fall about laughing. The trouble is, we couldn’t say too much because we weren’t sure Luis could be trusted not to tell Rob Anderson.’

  ‘Speaking of trust,’ said Petra. ‘Now that Mike’s absolutely sure something big is about to happen, he’s started really bugging me about it.’

  ‘This close to launch, no one can be let in on the secret,’ said Tal. ‘That includes Mike.’

  ‘And Allyx?’ Petra asked.

  ‘Yes, Allyx too.’

  ‘Dudes,’ said David, shaking his head, ‘you’re worrying about the wrong people. I reckon parents are going to be the real problem.’

  ‘Our parents just think of us as kids,’ said Jennie. ‘At least in my family. It’d never occur to them that we could run a full-scale cyber war.’

  ‘Wrong, Jennie. Sooner or later they’re going to guess it’s us,’ Petra declared. ‘My mum is already asking why I joined the after-school debating club, which is my excuse for being home late. So far it’s worked, but if Mum checks and discovers I’m never there, she’ll go ballistic.’

  ‘You’ll come up with some convincing story,’ said David. ‘You always do.’

  Petra looked com
placent. ‘True.’

  Every person participating in the cyber attack had been sworn to absolute secrecy. George had been persuasive regarding Maryann, Tiffany and Kimba, so to David’s chagrin they joined Becca and a team of self-styled geeks under the leadership of George and Frank.

  Tal was amazed at how eager everyone was to take up the challenge, risky though it might be, especially in the early stages. Once the attack had gained momentum, the huge volume of electronic messages generated would make the chances of detection more remote.

  Led by Maryann and her clique, the attack commenced with a blizzard of venomous postings about Dr Renfrew and Dr Unwin on bulletin boards, blogs and social networking sites. They followed this up by using other people’s names to send inflammatory responses to their own postings.

  Meanwhile, Frank was distributing defamatory – but very funny – short videos mocking the two doctors and Farront International to sites like YouTube and ItsaZoo. Frank’s work soon inspired imitators, and a whole series of video skits ridiculing the two doctors appeared. Renfrew was usually depicted as a wild-eyed mad scientist; Unwin as an ever-smiling quack. These skits gained a virulent life of their own as they were copied and recopied across the internet.

  Some members of the team hacked into the doctors’ own websites, making alterations and linking them to other websites, including dummy sites. George was particularly proud of the one he’d created, QuackRenfrewQuackUnwin, accusing the psychologist and psychiatrist of treating human subjects like lab rats. Disturbing photographs were included, some of dubious origin. There was a listing of legal actions taken against Howard Unwin but never completed because they’d been settled out of court to avoid damning publicity.

  The radical anti-psychiatry protest group Clear Minds Forever jumped on the buzz and declared war on The Farront Centre, picketing the building every day while wearing death’s head masks. Images of members being arrested appeared almost immediately across the web.