by Paul Teague
His purpose was clear now. He had to save his family. The rebels would head for Fortrillium first since it was the seat of control in The City. It had to be protected at all costs if he was to make his safe exit. He would stop Delman making his escape and force him to release his family. He would then take them through The Core to whatever life was out there. They would go where Delman was going – to safety.
Hunter could see what was happening, but he didn’t understand why. Why was Delman doing what he was doing? What had President James Morgan done that meant he had to be removed? And why was Delman so driven by a need for atonement? What was he trying to put right that meant it was better to destroy an entire city?
There was an urgent poll on Hunter’s WristCom, a top-level alert, one he couldn’t ignore. It was the rebels. He had a more immediate problem to deal with. Her name was Talya Slater.
Chapter Twelve
Captured
‘Wait!’ shouted Talya as the Centuria began to look at each other, wondering how to respond to the command to shoot their prisoners. Talya stepped forward, looking directly at the cameras.
‘Is that on Damien Hunter’s command? He will want to see these prisoners, and he will want to speak to me too. You have a rebellion on your hands, if you hadn’t noticed. I suggest you run this by Hunter.’
There was silence. They waited.
‘Stay as you are,’ Leo whispered to the group. ‘We’re still your captives, remember.’
‘Make sure your cuffs are locked now,’ Talya said in a low voice. ‘They need to see us properly secured.’
Leo didn’t want the Fortrillium officials to suspect that the small band of Centuria had already thrown in their lot with the rebels. In any case, he wasn’t entirely sure about the rest of the group – they would probably do whatever it took to stay alive. And that meant switching sides once again if the going got tough.
The silence seemed to last forever. It was broken by the scraping of the iron gates opening. Talya was relieved that she’d instructed the rebels not to break through the gates further along the wall, as awaiting them on the other side were three of the biggest machine guns she’d ever seen. Where did Fortrillium keep this equipment? Their patched up rocket launcher would be no match for these weapons which were capable of mowing down hundreds of people in minutes. She’d made the correct decisions so far. It was right that they were risking their own lives instead of sacrificing hundreds or thousands of innocent people.
Their treatment was rough and contemptuous. Talya wondered what the Centuria knew about the rebellion. Many of them would not have seen her address on the screens if they were on the Silk Road side – they’d only managed to broadcast in The Grid. She should have set Wiz and his team onto that task. They needed to be perceived as a force for positive change, not the enemy.
Leo and Jody fared particularly badly. They were struck with gun butts and knocked to the ground. The Chief Centuria was the initiator of this assault. He would be ensuring that discipline remained strong, he would not want his teams to believe that treason did not have severe consequences. He kicked them both in the ribs when they were down on the floor, and they groaned with the pain of the blows from his heavy boots.
He drew his weapon and held it to Jody’s head. She looked directly into his eyes throughout, struggling through the pain of a cracked rib, defying him to pull the trigger.
‘Kill us now and you’ll make martyrs of us!’ Leo shouted, attempting to stand. He’d done this intentionally to draw the Chief Centuria away from Jody. He struck Leo again, and spat on him as he lay on the ground. That last blow had hurt him badly, he was in a lot of pain.
‘Take them away!’ the Chief Centuria commanded. Talya noted the reticence from his team. There was a fraction of a second when they looked at each other before moving. That would be her opportunity. Rebellions were best fought in the mind, not through violence, and these Centuria were already halfway there. They just needed the push to stand up and be counted. They understood that they were a mistake away from ending up like Leo and Jody. They were ruled by terror.
Leo and Jody were thrown into a truck. Their bodies were bruised and battered, but they were alive. Talya had to trust that they could take care of themselves. The Centuria defectors who had accompanied them through the gates were led towards the same truck, supposedly for a debriefing. She hoped they could survive together and their change of allegiance to the side of the rebels remain undiscovered.
At last Talya and Brad Sivil had been recognized as the assets that they were: two Law Lord defectors, one of them the rebel leader. The Chief Centuria had given Leo and Jody such a hard time because he’d been humiliated by Damien Hunter. Hunter had berated him for thinking it might be a good idea to execute the traitors on the spot.
‘You damn idiot!’ he’d shrieked via the WristCom. The Centuria under the Chief Centuria’s command had nervously shuffled, they could hear everything.
‘Why would you think that would be a good idea? And you’re in command of a team? I’m taking your name and I’ll review your position later. In the meantime, debrief the two Centuria traitors and bring Slater and Sivil to me.’
Leo and Jody had borne the brunt of that admonishment. The Chief Centuria’s team would also pick up the aftermath of his temper. Evil ripples were sweeping through The City and at their epicentre was Damien Hunter.
Talya and Sivil were given marginally better treatment. They were rough-handled into a military vehicle, but nothing was done to bruise or damage the assets. That would be Damien Hunter’s job. Their cuffs were checked and they were blindfolded. The vehicle drew off and made a ten-minute journey. Talya tried to work out roughly where they were. It had to be Fortrillium, there was no other place for Hunter to take them.
She finally caught some thinking time. Perhaps this wasn’t such a good strategy after all. She hadn’t thought things through beyond getting past the gates. Hunter would want to use her as propaganda. She was reasonably sure he wouldn’t kill her, that would be a waste of a good show trial. He’d put her in The Grid, as he’d want to draw out her demise for as long as possible. That would give her time. Time to manoeuvre, time for the rebels to gain a stronger foothold, time for the news of the rebellion to spread to Silk Road. Would it be long enough for Lucy and Joe? Could Wiz and his team make a breakthrough in that time? There were too many events in play. She had to keep pressing onward, her main target was Hunter. She would have to deal with their most immediate problem.
They were kept blindfolded. Talya thought they were at Fortrillium but she wasn’t certain. It had a military feel about it, there was no doubt about that. She heard his voice first.
‘Talya, what a pleasure to see you again!’
It was Damien Hunter, of course. His presence turned her stomach.
‘And Law Lord Sivil too, what a surprise to see you both. Remove their blindfolds and sit them on the chairs in front of the camera.’
Talya and Sivil were moved into place as instructed, and all of the Centuria left the room. One staff member remained behind the camera – Damien Hunter had set up his spectacle already. Talya supposed they were in his office, she’d never seen it before.
‘You know that this is the end of your little rebellion, Talya? You don’t hand your opponent the main players. Did they never teach you that in Law School? Of course they wouldn’t. You think that everything can be solved by negotiation and rules. Sometimes, Talya, those things don’t work and you have to be a little more proactive.’
Talya thought he was deranged. He was raving, his eyes were wild. She’d never seen him like that. Certainly there had been hints of it in the past but never this extreme.
‘Time to make a broadcast on the screens. By the way, Talya, you’re probably not up to date with what’s going on in The Grid. Your daughter is currently being tormented by some rather unpleasant nightmares. She gets to live through every blow and wound – she’s being peeled alive by that nice fellow, Schälen. Not for re
al, of course, that would be too easy. Much more fun if she gets to live through it time and time again.’
Hunter faced the camera, standing in front of Talya and Sivil. This broadcast was for The Climbs only, it would be a disaster if it was seen by those on Silk Road.
‘Citizens of The Climbs, good evening! As you can see, your little tantrum is over. Your two leaders have been captured and, to be honest with you, there really isn’t a lot of point carrying on. You need to return to your homes now. You should stay there until you get the signal that lockdown is over. I will personally ensure that extra supplies are delivered to all areas—’
‘Nothing will change if you listen to him! We need to rise up against Fortrill—’
Sivil had stood up behind Damien Hunter and started to shout towards the camera. Before he’d finished his second sentence, Hunter had taken a gun from his belt and shot him through the head. Everything was on camera. Pieces of his exploded brain spattered across Talya’s face. She retched, her eyes wide with terror.
‘As I was saying before that rude interruption, do as I say and we’ll all be back to normal in a couple of days. Continue with this futile resistance and you’ll find out what it’s like to be Law Lord Sivil. You have until 06:00 to comply with this request. Fortrillium thanks you for your attention.’
Talya didn’t know what to do next. Sivil’s limp, bloody body was slumped next to her. The red light at the top of the camera went out indicating that the broadcast was over. She gasped for air, trying to catch her breath.
‘So, Talya, as you can see, things really aren’t working out how you’d expected. Looks like we now have two vacancies on the Law Lord panel. Such a shame. Law Lord Sivil was a valuable member of our little team. Did you know he’d accepted a larger house to help me press through the trial of Matt Parsons?’
Talya was distracted, just for a moment. Her eye had been caught by the red light at the top of the camera. It had been activated again. The operator gave her a stern look indicating that she should look away. She complied, realizing what was going on. Another frightened person was helping with the resistance. He couldn’t fight Damien Hunter or challenge the Centuria but he could switch on the camera feed so that The Climbs was treated to Hunter’s private conversation with Talya. Talya held Hunter’s gaze, she wanted him looking directly at her.
‘It’s all over anyway. Delman has betrayed all of us. You’re wasting your time, it’s too late for a rebellion. The whole of The City is about to be destroyed and you’re too busy throwing a tantrum!’
He laughed loudly. Talya was sure he was losing his mind. He’d always seemed so calm and calculating, but he had become manic and unstable.
‘What do you mean? Why is The City going to be destroyed?’
He was pacing the room now. She did not want him to see the red light on the camera.
‘What do you mean, Damien? I want to know what’s happening to The City?’
‘Didn’t you know, Talya? It’s all been one big lie. A hundred years in here, our supposed sanctuary, and the danger was always somewhere else. I’ve seen it for myself now, and Delman knew all along. He’s killing my family too. He wouldn’t even give me my family back before he stole everything!’
Talya couldn’t make any sense of what he was saying, but she could see that something very serious had tipped the balance of power.
‘You’re not making any sense, Damien. I came to you in friendship before. We can still resolve this, we don’t need to lose any more lives.’
‘That man has tormented me for years. He incarcerated my family and stopped me watching my children grow up. And now he’s going to finish us all off, Talya. This rebellion of yours, it’s a waste of time. We’ve been fighting the wrong enemy!’
Damien Hunter stopped suddenly. He stared directly at the camera, seeing that the broadcast light was on. He raised his gun and pointed it at the operator.
‘Was that broadcast? How long was that broadcasting?’
He didn’t let the camera operator speak. He shot him directly between the eyes, then he shot the camera. The red light went out.
‘That decides it now, Talya. You’re coming with me. We’re going to finish this thing together. It’s time to end it.’
Hunter grabbed Talya’s arm, pulled her up out of the chair and held his gun to her back. She tried to control her shaking, she had to hold steady. How had Joe and Lucy survived living in constant fear in The Grid?
‘You’re going to get your tour of Fortrillium, Talya, the parts of the complex you weren’t allowed to see.’
‘Where are you taking me, Damien? We need to start evacuating The City, don’t we? You have to tell me what’s going on. We can work together. We should have worked together before.’
‘Just come with me and don’t make a fuss. We’re all on borrowed time now, but there’s one way we can stop it. We have to get to President Delman before he gets out of The Grid. We’re going into The Grid, Talya!’
Breakthrough
The combination of the rebel tech team and the breakthroughs Joe, Lucy, Mitchell and Wiz had made facilitated progress at a remarkable speed. A full dossier of Damien Hunter’s atrocities was soon assembled. They had just skimmed the surface with the images they’d shown during Talya’s address.
They’d discovered something that none of them had known: Damien Hunter had a family which had mysteriously disappeared at the time he’d got the job as Head of Fortrillium. The atrocities in The Climbs began shortly afterwards. There had been a cover-up on a massive scale. Powerful people within the Centuria had protected him and concealed the trail of carnage he left in his wake.
There were records of payments made to certain individuals within the Centuria: the greater the atrocity, the higher the payment. It appeared that a group of senior personnel within the Centuria and Fortrillium had helped to sustain Hunter’s activities. They had been well rewarded for their efforts.
The evidence trail had dried up six years previously when Tom and Matt were stopped dead in their tracks. But the personnel were still in post, there was enough information in those files to damn Damien Hunter in hell for several lifetimes. He’d be accompanied by some very senior people too, Leianna Richwald included.
What provided the greatest breakthrough was the work they’d done on accessing Matt’s secure server area. From there, the tech team managed to reach the Fortrillium mainframe, piggy-backing in via Matt’s old profile. They’d reverse engineered the protocols and were able to penetrate several other secure locations.
‘We can bring down Fortrillium from here,’ one of the team had announced. ‘We can switch the power off and take over the Comms.’
‘Can we power down The Grid?’ Wiz asked hopefully.
‘Not a chance. It has a separate power supply, I can’t get to it from here. But we can throw everything into disarray.’
‘Hold it for now. We might mess things up for Talya, Jody and Leo. Let’s focus on this external source, see if we can see what’s out there.’
There was more tapping at keyboards. They were doing ten times the work Wiz had been able to achieve, in a fraction of the time. Great tech, reliable power and skilled people. If they’d known about the rebels a long time ago, they could have achieved so much. They’d all been working in isolation, but when they came together like this they finally regained control. They monitored the line. There was no sign of Delman or his mystery contact, but Wiz noticed a slight reverberation on the line, not audio, but something electronic.
‘Can you scan for data rather than audio?’
‘No problem.’
A short delay, a few buttons pressed.
‘Look at the screen, Wiz. They’re communicating by text. It’s the same source from the external location, but they’re talking to somebody different. They’re hooked directly into Fortrillium.’
Contact
Linwood felt that every move he made on his console was being scrutinized by the Centuria. It was only his sense of fe
ar and guilt, of course, but he was nervous as he typed the messages onto his screen. He was concerned too about how long to run the Psyche-Eval Mode. He was pushing his luck, he knew, but at least the Justice Seekers weren’t killing each other while they were trapped in their own minds. Some of the heart rates were being pushed to the extremes – Joe and Max in particular looked under strain and at risk. Linwood didn’t want to chance any heart attacks, but to a certain degree the Justice Seekers determined their own demons in this round. He hoped it would be over soon. He was making his own move now, taking his own risks. It only takes small actions by a few brave individuals to create change, and Linwood had seen his opportunity and was ready to grasp it.
For Linwood, it had always been about finding his brother. Jacob had inspired him as a child, and he’d been heartbroken when he saw him pulling away from the family and becoming more distant. When his brother had disappeared, he’d been distraught. His sadness turned to rage and then became focused on finding out what had happened. That had taken him to his present position as a Gridder at Fortrillium. If he didn’t act now, when would he?
He could see what Jacob was doing, if indeed it was Jacob. He had opened a Comms socket in their private area within The Grid. Linwood had to reciprocate. It had to be secure. Was this a trap? Was Damien Hunter luring him to his death? Hunter would not have known those details about their family. Nobody knew about the book. It was forbidden to keep it, Jacob would never have shared that information – it would have placed his family in immediate danger. Looking around to make sure nobody could see his screens, Linwood opened his own secure socket in the virtual space. He waited. He wanted the person at the other end to make the first contact. A text message appeared on his screen, and he had barely enough time to read it before it disappeared. It had to be Jacob. Only someone as capable as he was would think to send self-destruct text messages so as not to draw attention. Linwood typed some lines of code, emulating Jacob’s idea in his own way.