by Paul Teague
Already Max was among good people, he was part of a team, they had a common goal. He understood the chances of success weren’t high, but it felt empowering to be part of something so important.
‘I agree with you. When Talya Slater did this to my hand I learned that you can bear pain and survive it. It didn’t kill me, it forced me to confront who I am. I’m grateful to Talya for doing this to me. It hurts like hell, but it took this to make me see sense at last. If I die in here, I’m going out fighting.’
Max and Jena were walking cautiously through the ruined city. The newly rendered landscape in The Grid was fully established, and it seemed this was where the next Mode would take place. They were nervous about snipers. It had been a sudden and violent start to their time as Justice Seekers, but Clay had kept them safe, directing to them to cover.
As they walked past the ruined tower blocks, several rats crossed in front of them and ran into a building. Max jumped. He’d got used to a life on Silk Road without the creatures. Jena didn’t flinch, she’d grown accustomed to vermin since moving to The Climbs. They were everywhere and there was nothing you could do to stop them. You had to accept them as a way of life.
Seeing the rats made Max and Jena turn and take more notice of the building they’d run into. There was a faded and heavily rusted sign above the shattered windows. It had once been a Med-Centre but had probably been stripped clean many years ago. It was wrecked, decaying and unwelcoming, but Jena and Max decided to step inside, it seemed a good place to start. Mitchell and Ross were in a bad way and even discarded bandages or dressings would help.
Their hunch was well rewarded. Unknown to them, Linwood had placed fresh supplies in the area. He’d had to take care not to show too much generosity, but they were more plentiful than Jena had ever seen in her six years living in The Climbs. When she thought how they’d had to scratch around to find dressings to help Harry, her anger began to burn once again, and her resolve to fight back was renewed.
There were two bags in the Med-Centre, both placed there by Linwood. It was he who’d triggered the rats to cover his tracks and make it look like a natural part of the gameplay. Inside the bags were water, bread and a collection of dressings. There was even disinfectant, Jena had not seen that in many years. Hygiene was something you had to let slip in The Climbs, even on Silk Road disinfectant had been hard to come by.
‘This is good,’ said Max. ‘This must have been placed here for us to find.’
‘We can get Mitchell and Ross patched up with this. I’m not sure how mobile they’ll be when the next Mode begins, but at least we can clean the wounds and stop their bleeding.’
It was something positive at least. They could eat and recuperate, and they would be able to make the wounded more comfortable. Jena and Max returned to the main group, walking in silence. Jena was preoccupied with thoughts of Joe and Dillon, Max was wondering what Talya Slater was up to. She was a strong woman, she would be plotting something. If they hadn’t caught her yet, she’d be trying to protect them. That much he’d learned from their brief encounter.
There was an immediate lifting of spirits when they rejoined the other Justice Seekers. Hannah was particularly pleased to see what Jena and Max had found on their journey. She didn’t want to say anything in case it was picked up by the microphones, but as a former Gridder she knew it was no coincidence that the supplies had been found. In the same way she and Linwood had left food and water in the labyrinth, Linwood was sending her a signal to tell her he was watching out for them. His hands would be tied, just as hers had been, but at least she knew that he was doing what he could.
Jena set about dressing wounds straight away. She attended to Mitchell first – he was barely moving, whatever had happened to him had left him weak and vulnerable. Chris was calm and had responded well to Hannah’s company. He worked with her to bandage and clean Ross’s wounds. Ross was tough, he’d sustained several injuries but none so bad he wouldn’t be able to fight back when the next Mode began.
It wasn’t long until Mitchell and Ross were patched up. There were sufficient supplies to re-dress Max’s hand wound as well as allowing Chris and Jena to clean up the minor cuts and lacerations they’d sustained in their own battles.
‘Hold some back for Clay and Julia,’ Max suggested. ‘Clay was in a bad way, I didn’t notice if the Centuria had been hurt at all.’
The food was divided up and eaten, the water shared and information exchanged between the Justice Seekers about their experiences and reasons for being in The Grid.
It seemed as if things were going well. The two casualties were comfortable, even if Mitchell had barely uttered a word since his arrival. It was easy to forget this was a controlled environment which was created by other human beings. Nothing was real, their surroundings were artificially constructed on consoles by Gridders who’d been specially selected for their gaming abilities. In The Grid appearances were always deceptive.
The Gridders had just put another plan in action for the Justice Seekers. It was a small diversion, a minor digression to keep the group on their toes before the final Mode was activated. But before the hour was over, it would leave two of them dead.
Punishment
The Gridders were in a state of high alert. Damien Hunter was paying an unannounced late night visit and the rumour was that he was taking scalps. They’d relaxed too soon, they thought they’d be off the hook once they’d covered up whatever had gone wrong in The Grid. They should have known better. Hunter had been more attentive than usual on this trial, he wasn’t going to let it slip. The Head Gridder gave the team a five-minute warning of the visit. She warned them to be on their toes.
Hunter had stormed into the room, throwing it into immediate silence. The Gridders stood up when he entered – there was something about the way he burst through the doors that demanded it.
Linwood had taken care to cover his tracks. He knew he was vulnerable because of his collusion with Hannah, but so far they’d left him alone.
There were already extra Centuria in the area, placed there after Hannah’s arrest. They seemed particularly alert once Hunter was in the building.
Hunter walked along the rows of desks, saying nothing, just looking at the Gridders. He approached Linwood, he could feel himself sweating. A drop trickled from his temple, down his cheek and onto the floor. Did Hunter see it? He seemed to miss nothing.
Damien Hunter walked up to Linwood, staring him directly in the face. Linwood averted his eyes, not wanting to appear confrontational. He could hear Hunter’s breathing, the room was in complete silence.
Without warning, Hunter drew a weapon and placed it to the head of the Gridder who was standing to the side of Linwood. He pulled the trigger. There was a loud bang and the Gridder dropped to the floor. A splat of brain passed Hunter and landed on Linwood’s cheek.
A ripple of shock ran around the room, but nobody said anything. They continued to stand in silence, terrified of what he was about to do next.
Hunter barely flinched. His shirt was speckled with the blood of the man he’d just killed. The body was twitching on the floor, it was the only movement in the room. At last he spoke. It was a relief when the silence was finally broken.
‘I’m a little bit annoyed about what happened in The Grid earlier. You need to make sure that I don’t become extremely annoyed. We will now be monitoring all of your consoles continuously for unusual activity. I want these Justice Seekers tormented, but I need to keep a few of them alive, potentially up to twenty-four hours longer.’
Another bead of sweat trickled down Linwood’s face. Was everybody else in the room sweating like he was? He daren’t turn to look. He thought it must have been obvious to Hunter, but so far no bullet through the head.
‘If any of you were working with Janexx2, please step forward now.’
Linwood hadn’t been expecting that one. His face reddened, he felt himself burning up. Should he step forward? Would Hunter kill another colleague if he didn’
t?
‘No volunteers? Very well, if you step forward now, your death will be swift. If we find you out later, I can promise it will be very slow and extremely painful. Now, does anybody have something that they want to tell me?’
Linwood hesitated. To step forward would mean instant death. He was no use to Hannah if that happened. Hunter couldn’t have known if anybody had been working with Hannah, they’d have been escorted out of the building alongside her if he had. Linwood thought he was safe from detection. Hunter would kill Gridders at random if he wanted to, but there was nothing he could do to prevent that.
Hunter was walking up and down the rows of desks again, looking into the eyes of the Gridders one by one. The tension was electric, Linwood just wanted it to end. He had decided to gamble. Hunter couldn’t have known he had been working with Hannah, they’d been careful to cover their tracks. He’d opened up a secure socket before Hunter’s announcement so his attempts to track the outside source of interference should avoid the scrutiny of Fortrillium. He’d have to take great care over what help he gave to the Justice Seekers. He was relieved to have placed the MedPacks earlier, before Hunter’s visit, he wouldn’t have dared do it after the warning was issued.
Linwood chose to stay alive. He was going to help his friend Hannah and the other Justice Seekers. And he was determined to track down whoever was interfering with the trials. He had to find out what was going on. If he was discovered, he’d take his chances. It didn’t seem to matter to Hunter if people were guilty or not, everybody’s life was balanced on a knife edge anyway.
Hunter stood at the front of the room. There was complete silence again. The body of the dead Gridder had stopped twitching, but there was a large pool of blood around the blasted skull. Hunter spoke again, moving to the side of the Head Gridder who looked as terrified as everybody else in the room.
‘I have one more announcement before I leave. We’re making an internal re-organization. We’re removing a tier of management.’
Linwood looked at the Head Gridder’s face. She had guessed what Hunter was referring to. On Damien’s final word, she began to run along the aisle between the desks, jumping over the dead body obstructing her exit. The Centuria raised their weapons and pointed them directly at her, fingers poised on triggers and ready to end her life.
‘Stop!’ shouted Hunter, holding up his free hand.
He levelled his weapon as if he had all the time in the world. The Head Gridder was almost at the office door, surely they weren’t going to let her run? She placed her hand on the ID panel and it turned red.
‘Access Denied’ came the electronic voice.
Frantically, the Head Gridder placed her hand on the panel again.
‘Access Denied.’
She turned to look at Damien Hunter. She knew she was on borrowed time and couldn’t believe she was still alive.
Hunter waited until the Head Gridder looked him directly in the eyes, then shot, right in the centre of her forehead. She dropped to the ground. There was an audible gasp this time. The Gridders couldn’t contain the tension any longer.
Damien Hunter handed his weapon to a nearby Centuria and began to head for the door, ignoring the shocked faces of the Gridders.
‘Consider your department reorganized,’ he said, as he stepped over the body of the woman whose life he had just ended.
‘Make sure this trial is good, or next time I visit I’ll be looking for some new people to fire.’
The last thing he did as he left the room was to turn and point directly at Linwood.
‘You’re in charge,’ he said. ‘You have two hours to do better than the dead woman over there.’
Chapter Six
Opportunity
‘I want you to be ready to leave immediately, Teanna.’
Delman had made the announcement out of the blue. He’d summoned her after hours, she’d barely had time to change her clothes after the interrogation session with Damien Hunter in the back of the van. Hunter was a madman, she’d ended up with Mitchell’s blood on her suit. She’d had to burn the clothing.
Teanna had been disturbed by the level of Hunter’s violence. Mitchell was only young, he’d have confessed anything at the sight of those torture instruments. In fact he’d told Hunter everything they needed to know within minutes. Hannah, Jena, Joe, Lucy, Dillon and Wiz, he gave them all up in no time at all. The rest was purely for Hunter’s own entertainment.
Teanna wondered if she was doing the right thing by colluding with Hunter. She felt forced into it. She knew Delman wasn’t being straight with her – he wouldn’t tell her the truth, she knew he was lying. If they could just put the lies behind them she would work with Delman.
Hunter had been making overtures to her for several years. She’d resisted all of them, but in a moment of frustration when Delman had blocked her questions one time too many she’d relented. She made her deal with the devil. It was her insurance. She would still work with the President – if she wanted to see her father again she’d have to. But Hunter was another iron in the fire. If things turned bad, she wanted him ready and primed.
It had also saved a lot of messing around with Mitchell. The kid was a weasel. She didn’t approve of Hunter’s techniques, but at least she knew everything at last. They were getting dangerously close to the truth.
She’d never seen Delman so agitated. Something was up – he was usually cool, calm and in control. He couldn’t stop reading that document on his desk. He’d been thumbing through it every time she’d been in his office for the past few weeks.
‘Are we returning soon?’ Teanna asked. ‘Will I see my father again?’
‘I’ll keep my end of the bargain so long as your father does, Teanna. If he plays ball this will all be over soon.’
Teanna wanted to ask her question again, to find out why her father had been so angry with Delman. She thought better of it, it wasn’t the right time.
The President picked up his papers and walked over to his safe. He placed the papers on the shelf, shut the heavy door and keyed in his code. Talya watched closely, she’d never caught the final digits, his hand always covered them.
This time, though, he was more careless about entering the code. It must have been because his mind was on other things, he was usually so cautious. Teanna was certain that she’d caught it. She already had the first eight digits memorized, but she’d never caught the last two. He’d left the outer cover open. That part required the President’s DNA, but he’d just pushed it closed, it hadn’t clicked shut. The DNA part was always going to be the challenge, but he’d left it wide open. He trusted her anyway, why would she think to betray him if he held the key to seeing her father again?
‘I’ll be back in five minutes, Teanna. I want to discuss Damien Hunter with you when I return. Stay here please.’
Delman left the room. Teanna had five minutes, maybe more, maybe less. The moment the door slammed shut, she made for the safe.
She pulled open the outer door, incredulous that Delman hadn’t activated the DNA lock. She tapped VX9+1ByP into the keypad. She’d known that part of the code for some time. She added T0 onto the end and hesitated. She was doubting herself. Was that a letter or a numeral at the end? If she got it wrong, the alarm would sound. In her mind she replayed the President’s finger movements. She’d seen the button he pressed, but she had to recall its position to figure out if it was a zero or not.
Delman had been out of the room for about a minute already, she either had to take a chance or wait for another opportunity. She wasn’t sure she’d get one. Teanna opted for the zero, confirmed the code and held her breath. She heard an internal whirring from the safe as it considered the code. She expected the alarm to sound at any moment. Instead, the door opened.
There was nothing inside the safe except for Delman’s copy of The Pact and some torn pages. At the top of those pages was the word ‘Catharsis’. Teanna took her WristCom and swiftly scanned the torn pages. She didn’t have long, but she cou
ld see that the sheets had been ripped out of another copy of The Pact. She guessed that was what was taking up most of the President’s time. It would probably be the only opportunity she would get to access the safe – she hoped the risk would count for something.
Teanna rearranged the papers in roughly the same order they’d been in when she disturbed them. She closed the safe door and pushed the outer door so it half closed. The door to the office began to open, she moved silently over to where she’d been standing when the President went out. He picked up his conversation as if he’d never been gone.
‘I’m moving things forward slightly, events are getting out of hand in The Grid. I want the trial to be over, but Hunter has just placed five new Justice Seekers in there. The man is an annoyance, I can’t wait to be rid of him.’
Teanna nodded in agreement. It was a good job there were no cameras in the President’s office. It was the one place in the entire building that wasn’t covered in them. The President had to hold top-level and secret meetings. In the running of The City there had to be one place where those private conversations could take place.
‘You’ll need to dress practically, Teanna. I think we’re going to have a tough time getting back to your father. You’ll need to come armed too.’
Teanna knew nothing about this process. Delman had refused to tell her. It was another secret he’d kept from her. All she remembered from their last crossing into The City was the warning from her father, then her departure. She’d been sedated, that was part of the deal with her father. Delman had implanted one of the devices in her brain using some terrible medical tool he’d brought with him. She vaguely remembered an elevator but her recollections after that were non-existent. She didn’t know what had happened after they exited the elevator. She regained consciousness in a medical facility. Delman continued as if nothing had happened. She stayed in the medical facility for a few days and was released to Silk Road where a house and new identity was awaiting her.