Counterstrike

by Peter Jay Black

  Jack looked at the black door, then the sword. Finally, realising that he had no chance of slipping past the samurai, he took a cautious step back, walked to the table and sat down.

  The samurai sheathed the sword and laid it back on the floor next to him. He then poured two cups of tea and offered one to Jack.

  Jack took the cup. ‘Who are you?’ he asked.

  ‘My name is Mamoru,’ the man replied with a slight bow of his head. ‘You are . . . ?’

  ‘Achilles.’

  ‘The Greek warrior?’

  ‘Look, I’m running out of time,’ Jack said. ‘I need to go through there.’ He pointed at the black door.

  Mamoru sipped his tea, turned the cup in his hand and set it down again. ‘Why?’

  Jack thought about making something up, but considering their current location, he decided to choose the truth. ‘We . . . I need to get to the next level. There’s a weapon down there and a bad guy is after it.’

  Mamoru nodded at Jack’s cup. ‘Drink.’

  Jack raised the cup to his lips and took a small sip. Surprisingly it tasted good. ‘Will you let me past?’ he asked.

  Mamoru picked up his own cup of tea, sipped and set it down again. ‘I am the last line of defence. My job is to protect that which is sought by others.’

  Jack glanced around. ‘How long have you been here?’

  Mamoru sighed. ‘Far too many years.’

  ‘Years?’ Jack said, incredulous. Even the bunker was ten times bigger than this place, but he couldn’t imagine being stuck there for a huge amount of time.

  Jack looked at the door. ‘What is it?’ he said. ‘What is the weapon?’

  ‘That I do not know.’ Mamoru sipped his tea again, then considered Jack. ‘Why do you want to know?’

  Jack put as much sincerity in his voice as he could. ‘I’m going to destroy it.’

  A flitter of surprise crossed Mamoru’s face. ‘Destroy?’

  Jack nodded.

  Mamoru looked lost in thought for a while before finally returning his attention to Jack. ‘You need to leave.’

  ‘I can’t,’ Jack said. ‘I told you – I’m here to destroy the weapon. What I need to do is get to it before someone else does.’

  Mamoru placed his hands on his legs and his eyes narrowed. ‘Who is this other person?’

  ‘His name’s Hector.’ Jack balled his fists. ‘He wants to use the weapon. He’ll threaten people with it. He’ll control, manipulate and destroy anything and everyone he can.’

  Mamoru didn’t seem to doubt Jack’s words, but he still looked determined. ‘If someone doesn’t work here, they shall not pass by me.’

  ‘You won’t have a choice.’ Jack fought to bring his emotions under control. Mamoru was wasting time. Time that Jack could use to destroy Medusa and get out of there.

  He took a deep breath. ‘Look, Hector’s bringing a team with him. They’ll be here at any moment and they’re going to storm the Facility. These are trained killers.’ Jack nodded at the sword. ‘That won’t do you any good.’

  Mamoru’s face showed no reaction to this. He stared at Jack for a long beat, before finally saying, ‘I will make you a deal – you pass my test, and I will let you through.’ He gestured at the black door. ‘But you fail and –’

  ‘You’ll kill me,’ Jack finished. ‘Yeah, I know. It’s kinda the story of my life.’

  Mamoru shook his head. ‘You are a child. I will not kill you. But you will leave here and never come back.’

  Jack hated tests and he knew this one was unlikely to involve questions he knew anything about – like programming or hacking. Knowing his luck, it would be on sport or geography. He took a deep breath – ‘What’s the test?’ – and hoped it didn’t have anything to do with fighting either.

  ‘You’re on an island,’ Mamoru said in a slow, calm voice, ‘and you pay for a ticket to return to the mainland.’

  Jack nodded and imagined the scene.

  Mamoru continued. ‘You are about to board the ferry when you see three people. None of them have money to buy tickets.’ He held up one finger. ‘The first is an elderly man who is desperately trying to get to the mainland to see his wife. She only has a day left to live.’ Mamoru held up two fingers. ‘The second person is a good friend of yours who is out of work and has an important job interview. He helped you once when you were in desperate trouble, and if he misses that ferry, he’ll miss the interview and his life will be ruined.’ Mamoru held up three fingers. ‘The third person is your hero. You have wanted to meet them your entire life. You have a million questions and if you can only talk to them for a while, they will benefit you a great deal in your future.’

  ‘OK,’ Jack said, his stomach knotting in anticipation.

  ‘Now,’ Mamoru said, with an intense look, ‘you only have enough money to buy one extra ticket. Just one. What do you do?’

  Jack stared at him a moment. ‘I have my own ferry ticket, but only enough money to buy one more?’

  Mamoru nodded.

  ‘I can’t sneak all three of them on board somehow?’

  Mamoru briefly smiled and shook his head.

  Jack blew out a puff of air and he rubbed his aching temples as he struggled to clear his head enough to think the problem through: The elderly man’s wife is about to die, but they’ve spent an entire lifetime together.

  Your friend helped you out once, so how could you ignore his desperation?

  What about the hero? They can benefit you a great deal in your life, and if you give them the ticket, think of the possibilities.

  Jack closed his eyes and tried to think through each scenario, but his brain refused to function properly.

  What was wrong with him?

  He had to answer correctly or Hector would win.

  ‘Think,’ he said under his breath. ‘Think.’

  A thousand images passed through his mind, but none of them was any use. All they did was make his headache even worse.

  And all Jack could think about was Hector, his father – Benito Del Sarto – Cloud, Connor and Monday, Talya and Skin, the bunker, the skate park and the other Outlaws.

  He was sick of everything – sick of running after Hector, sick of constantly fighting all the bad things in the world, sick of having to be the one that solved problems.

  The world was a twisted, dark place and perhaps he should just give up. Give up and go home. Let Hector and all the bad people in the world get what they wanted.

  Who cared any more?

  Then an image of Scarlett pushed all other thoughts away. Jack would’ve done anything to see her again. He imagined replacing the third person in Mamoru’s test with her. Then his choice would be easy – he’d give Scarlett the money for a ferry ticket and they’d go where no one would ever find them.

  Another whole minute went by before he finally opened his eyes.

  The thing is – losing was easy. It was winning that was the real challenge in life. Good defeating bad was what kept the world spinning. Gave people hope.

  He looked at Mamoru. ‘OK. I’ve got my answer.’

  ‘What is it?’ Mamoru asked, with a genuine look of interest.

  Jack swallowed.

  Here goes nothing.

  ‘I go buy the extra ticket and I come back to the three people.’

  Mamoru nodded. ‘And who gets that extra ticket?’

  ‘My friend – the one who has the job interview. I can’t ignore him if he helped me out once. I owe him.’

  Mamoru opened his mouth to say something, but Jack cut him off –

  ‘Then I give my ticket to the old man.’

  Mamoru’s stared at him. ‘Explain.’

  ‘I can’t ignore him either. If I did, I’d have to live with a bad decision for the rest of my life.’

  Truth was, that was what kept Jack fighting against people like Hector – the fear of injustice and not having done anything to stop them when he had the chance.

  A life of regret was not one he wante
d to live.

  ‘So,’ Jack continued, ‘my friend and the old man leave for the mainland and I stay on the island with my hero. I guess that way we have all the time in the world to chat.’

  All the time in the world, Jack thought. If only wishes could come true, he’d be with Scarlett right at that very moment.

  He looked at Mamoru again and shrugged. ‘You said the hero will benefit my future, so perhaps we’ll work out a way to get two more ferry tickets.’

  Mamoru smiled and gestured to the door. ‘You may pass.’

  ‘That’s it?’ Jack said, stunned. ‘I answered correctly?’

  ‘You gave a selfless answer,’ Mamoru said. ‘Very few people are capable of that. Whatever you find down there, I believe you will do the right thing.’

  Jack got to his feet and bowed at Mamoru. ‘Thank you.’

  Mamoru nodded and closed his eyes. He let out a long breath, as though a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

  Jack cautiously walked around the table, but Mamoru didn’t reach for his sword this time.

  Mamoru’s head was bowed and he was muttering something under his breath.

  Jack stepped through the black door and it closed behind him.

  Now, he was standing in front of a lift.

  He hit the button, the doors opened and he entered.

  On the wall was a control panel with a keypad.

  A message flashed on the screen above it: ‘PASSCODE’.

  Jack fished a piece of paper out of his pocket where he’d made a note of the details Cloud had given him. He entered the code ‘67913081’.

  ‘PASSCODE ACCEPTED’

  The lift descended for a minute, then stopped.

  Jack stepped out, pushed open a heavy door ahead of him and walked into the airlock room.

  The door closed behind him with a heavy thud.

  Jack looked up. Above him was a giant extractor fan.

  Helmets and plastic suits hung on the walls.

  Was the weapon something to do with chemicals?

  Jack hesitated a moment and considered putting on one of the suits, but by the look of them they’d be too big. Was it just some kind of precaution? Was the weapon really that volatile?

  He looked around the room, but there were no signs saying anything dangerous lay beyond the next door. There were no windows either, no clue of what he was about to find.

  He looked at the suits again, then at the fan above him – perhaps it was some elaborate dust control. He’d seen similar things once on a documentary about making computer chips.

  Whatever this weapon was, perhaps it was delicate.

  Good, he thought. Delicate meant it would be easy to break.

  Jack decided it was best to err on the side of caution however, so he removed a breather mask from a hook on the wall and a pair of thick rubber gloves.

  He slipped on the gloves and pulled the mask down over his face.

  His breathing came fast and hard.

  Jack tried to pull himself together. He was being ridiculous. He needed to get in there, destroy the weapon and get out as fast as he could. Every minute he delayed meant Hector was getting closer.

  With a surge of determination, Jack balled his fists, walked over to the door and typed in the alphanumeric password from Cloud’s file.

  The door hissed open and he walked into the final room.

  Jack stood there for a few seconds and took in his new surroundings. The room itself was only five or so metres on each side and the walls were painted a gloss white. On the far wall were more air-conditioning vents and extractors. Jack looked at the controls next to them and decided that if the weapon was something chemical, he’d switch on the extractors and let them deal with it.

  In the middle of the room was a stainless-steel plinth, and bolted to the top of the plinth was a yellow canister, about the size of a fire extinguisher.

  Jack walked over to it and leant in for a closer look.

  A few centimetres from the top of the canister was a thin line. That meant it unscrewed.

  Jack stepped back a moment and examined the plinth, looking for any signs of security. There didn’t seem to be any hidden trip switches or booby traps, so he reached out and touched the canister lightly with a gloved finger. To his relief, no alarms sounded either.

  Jack grabbed the top of the canister and started to unscrew it.

  What if the canister was the weapon? What if it was some kind of advanced bomb and he was now taking it apart?

  Beads of sweat trickled down his face and stung his eyes under the mask.

  He briefly wondered if the bomb went off whether he’d even know about it.

  Here one second then . . . gone.

  But if he didn’t take the weapon apart, how could he figure out how to destroy it?

  Jack paused for a second as a thought struck him – radiation. What if this thing was radioactive? He glanced around the room, but there were no radiation warning signs. Mind you, there were no signs at all – the walls were plain white.

  With all the effort he could muster, Jack continued to unscrew the lid of the canister.

  Suddenly it spun freely in his hand.

  Jack held his breath and lifted it off.

  Nothing happened.

  No explosion.

  No blinding flash of light.

  Cautiously he leant over the plinth and peered into the canister.

  Inside was another metal cylinder.

  He reached in and tried to remove it, but the cylinder was fixed to the larger one and wouldn’t budge.

  Jack frowned at it.

  Whatever this weapon was, it was small. Mind you, that didn’t surprise him – modern technology and miniaturisation were still moving at an exponential rate. After all, in principle a single atom had the power to cause a chain reaction that could level a city.

  His mind went into overdrive, trying to guess what was inside the cylinder, but he drew a blank.

  He thought of nanobots – tiny robots – but that kind of technology was decades away. Wasn’t it?

  Jack wished he had Charlie with him – she’d know the answers to all the unvoiced questions spinning around his head.

  With care, Jack unscrewed the top of the inner cylinder and peered inside.

  His breath caught and he stared for a full thirty seconds, not wanting to believe his own eyes.

  ‘What’s going on?’

  The cylinder was empty.

  ‘Empty?’ he muttered.

  How could that be?

  Jack double-checked that there was no liquid inside the tube, but there wasn’t – it was definitely empty.

  He stepped back, shocked.

  How did it make any sense?

  For a long while he stood staring at the canister.

  The weapon, if there had ever been a weapon, was gone. But where? Why? Had Charlie been right after all? Had Cloud tricked them? Buy why? If that was true, then why go to all this trouble? It made no sense.

  Jack glanced around the room.

  What was he missing?

  His mind raced, searching for answers, but coming up blank each time.

  This was the last thing he’d expected. He had been prepared to see some kind of new gun or a bomb. Something he could take apart. Something he could destroy. Instead, there was . . . nothing.

  He looked around the room again, as if the top-secret doomsday weapon was hiding in a corner, but he knew it wasn’t.

  Jack leant against the wall and his mind flashed through all the events that had led to this moment – Proteus, hacking, Hector, the computer virus, the blueprint Cloud had given them.

  Suddenly Jack got it.

  He started laughing.

  He actually understood.

  Tears streamed down his face and he couldn’t stop laughing. It was ridiculous.

  Hector was an idiot – there wasn’t some doomsday weapon. There probably never had been. Hector was chasing a myth. Like one of Obi’s fascinations – Medusa was
n’t real. And, what was worse – Jack had fallen for it too.

  Who was the bigger idiot – him or Hector?

  A wave of dejection washed over him. He had wasted the Outlaws’ time, not to mention their skills. All because of his stupid obsession with Hector.

  Jack turned from the plinth, walked through the airlock room, threw the gloves and mask to the floor, then marched through the door and back into the lift.

  As it ascended, he thought of Medusa. It was a weapon. Well, in a way. The weapon was fear. The fear of an all-powerful doomsday device. Because fear meant control. If other countries or groups believed that the United Kingdom had such a weapon and were prepared to unleash it, perhaps they would hesitate before threatening them.

  When Jack reached the Japanese room, Mamoru was gone and the door to the bedroom was closed.

  Jack considered telling the old man that he’d wasted years guarding nothing – that it was all a hoax – but he decided not to. That was one truth that Mamoru deserved not to hear.

  Jack knocked on the chamber door.

  It opened and he walked through.

  Charlie looked him up and down expectantly. ‘Well?’ she said. ‘Where is it? Did you destroy it?’

  Jack shook his head. ‘There wasn’t anything there. The room was empty.’

  Charlie’s eyes went wide. ‘What? Are you kidding me?’

  Jack sighed. ‘I’ll explain later. Let’s get out of here.’ He pressed his ear against the door, but couldn’t hear the guard who’d chased them. Maybe he’d gone back. He looked at Charlie.

  She was still staring at him. ‘Cloud’s wasted our time then?’

  ‘No,’ Jack said, ‘I’ve wasted our time. It’s my fault.’ He shook his head. ‘There is a bright side though.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Hector – he’s finished. He doesn’t have Proteus. He doesn’t have the modified computer virus. And he doesn’t have Medusa. He’s got nothing.’

  Charlie nodded. ‘That does make me feel a little bit better, I suppose.’ She held up a small remote control. ‘Ready?’

  Jack pulled a pair of night-glasses from his bag and slipped them on. He pressed a button on the arm and the display flickered to life. He opened the door and peered out.

  The guard – wearing a gas mask - spun around and snarled, ‘Get over here.’