Catwalk Criminal

by Sarah Sky

  Her stomach clenched. She’d never seen Jamie gaze at her with such contempt before. She couldn’t bear the look in his eyes.

  “I don’t know who you are any more,” he said quietly. “It’s like you’ve been replaced by a stranger. The old Jessica Cole would never have lied to me. That’s what I always used to like about you. You were totally upfront. You never misled anyone.”

  She winced. He was talking about her, about their relationship in the past tense. Tears welled in her eyes. “That’s still me. I promise you, it is. I love you, Jamie. It’s always been you. Not anyone else. Not Zak.”

  A tear slipped down Jamie’s cheek. He brushed it away brusquely. “So tell me, Jess. If you had to choose between stepping out that door with me or Zak, what would you do?”

  She tried to grab hold of Jamie’s hand again but he backed away.

  “I need an answer.”

  Couldn’t he see this was breaking her heart? She had to leave with Zak right away if they had any chance of finding Henry, but it would rip her relationship with Jamie in two.

  “This is crazy,” she said finally. “Why do I have to choose?”

  Jamie shook his head sadly. “Because I need you to. Months ago, you wouldn’t have hesitated. You’d have come with me. I know you would. You were a different person back then.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “You’re right, I don’t. I don’t get you at all any more. We’re finished.”

  “Don’t do this. Please, don’t, Jamie.”

  He shrugged her off as she tried to embrace him and strode out the door without looking back.

  “Jamie!” She followed him to the gate, but he was too fast. He was already running down the street.

  This was all her fault. Why hadn’t she broken the rules and told him about Westwood? She was no longer a member; she couldn’t be disciplined for blabbing about the secret organization. But deep down, she knew why. She wanted back in and hated herself for it.

  “I’m sorry,” Zak said quietly. “But it was the only explanation I knew he’d actually believe, however much he wouldn’t want to.”

  Jessica closed the door and leant against it, eyes closed. She didn’t want Zak to see her cry. “It was the worst possible thing you could have come up with, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

  “But it meant you didn’t blurt about Westwood. I had to stop that.”

  “I wasn’t going to, thanks very much! And I didn’t need you to say anything at all. Why can’t you just butt out of my business?”

  “OK, OK. Calm down. I’m sorry. Whatever you said would probably have had the same outcome.”

  She glared at him. “I guess we’ll never know now, will we?”

  “You did the right thing,” he continued. “You couldn’t go with Jamie. We have to save Henry. That’s the most important thing. Hopefully you can find a way to patch things up with Jamie later. He might come around.”

  Seriously? She’d allowed the love of her life to walk out, suspecting the worst of her – that she was a lying cheat, thanks to Zak’s helpful intervention. There was no way he’d come around. Nathan had warned her right from the start that leading a double life would put a strain on personal relationships. That was undoubtedly why he didn’t have someone special in his life. She’d still signed up to Westwood, but back then she hadn’t realized it would break her heart, and Jamie’s.

  She blinked away her tears. “What’s so important that you had to come over here? We’d agreed to meet at the station.”

  “Gadgets.” He pointed at his rucksack. “I’ve gathered what I could from home. I wanted to check whether MI6 left anything when they confiscated your stuff.”

  She nodded slowly. “Nathan didn’t give Agent Hatfield a full list. He left off some things, like my taser trainers. It was probably an accident.”

  “Maybe a part of him still wants to help you.”

  She stared at the gold bracelet on her wrist. Nathan had given it to her shortly after she joined Westwood. She’d used a similar one to rescue him and Mattie back in Monaco, by blowing a hole in the side of a sinking boat they were all trapped in. Perhaps the bracelet had sentimental value for him.

  “Maybe. I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Anyway, I’ve got a few things upstairs.”

  “Good. Gather up whatever you have. We don’t know what to expect tonight, so we’ll need protection. I’ve brought a debugging device for our phones. I’ll check everything we take to make sure we’re clean. We can’t afford to leave anything to chance tonight. Not this time.”

  Jessica turned away before he could see fresh tears forming. Gripping the banister, she slowly climbed the stairs.

  “It’s going to work out OK,” he called after her.

  How did he know that? Hadn’t he seen the hurt in Jamie’s eyes? Hadn’t he heard what he’d said? It was all over. There was no going back even if she finally told him the truth. Zak had seen to that.

  Sheets of rain bounced off the pavement as they reached the arches near Charing Cross station. An injured boy matching Henry’s description had been dossing down among other rough sleepers. He’d shunned the help of volunteers from a homeless charity, bolting when anyone approached him, according to Lucy. She’d also warned Zak and Jessica that other Big Issue vendors had been approached days earlier by two teenage boys, waving large wads of cash in exchange for info on Henry’s whereabouts. They claimed to be school friends, but there was no doubt in Jessica’s mind that they were members of The Collective, tasked by LibertyCrossing with finding the missing hacker.

  The pair had swapped between buses, taxis and the tube after leaving Lucy at High Street Kensington. Zak claimed it’d have taken a team of at least twenty to keep tabs on them as they looped across central London, trying to avoid surveillance cameras. Teenage hackers weren’t highly trained like MI6 and CIA operatives; they wouldn’t have been able to keep up as the pair jumped from one mode of transport to another en route to Charing Cross. But they could be attempting to trace them through CCTV.

  “It’s impossible to tell if Henry’s been here today,” Zak said, scanning his torch across the cardboard city. A few old men rubbed their eyes and hurled abuse before rolling over again and attempting to get comfortable.

  “He might have moved on already,” Jessica said. “If he’s heard that people are looking for him, he’ll find somewhere else to hide.”

  “We’ll have to scope this place out. I hope you didn’t have any plans for tonight. It could be a long one.”

  Jessica flinched. She had no plans whatsoever after what had happened with Jamie. Was Zak’s short-term memory that bad?

  “That was insensitive, sorry.” He hesitated. “Honestly, I didn’t set out to cause a confrontation between you and Jamie back there or in the café. I concentrate on the job, and other things…” His voice trailed off. “Well, sometimes they suffer and I don’t mean them to.”

  “It’s been building up for a while, I suppose,” she said quietly. “It’s been tough keeping secrets from him.”

  “This job isn’t exactly great for personal lives, is it? I do know what you’re going through. I had my heart broken. My girlfriend dumped me a while back. But you do start to feel better. Eventually.”

  What? She’d expected Zak to be the heartbreaker, not the other way round.

  His eyes misted over. “I guess we both knew what we were signing up for, didn’t we?”

  Did they? Would she have joined Westwood if she’d known back then that it’d ruin her relationship with Jamie? Would Zak have signed up to Rodarte?

  He squeezed her shoulder. “You’ll pull through this the way I did. You’re tough, like me.”

  She didn’t feel tough; far from it.

  For the next couple of hours, they huddled together for warmth against a wall, far enough from the camp not to be detected. An overhan
ging tree protected them from the worst of the rain, but the damp had already penetrated Jessica’s trainers and anorak.

  “How are you holding up?” Zak didn’t take his eyes off the makeshift camp.

  “I’m fine,” she replied, stamping her feet. She took a sip from her bottle of water and shoved it back into her coat pocket. What wouldn’t she give for a hot chocolate?

  “I’m going back to try and speak to the men over there again.” She jerked her head towards the cardboard boxes and stepped out from the shadows. “They might open up to a girl after I’ve explained we’re here to help Henry.”

  Zak threw her back against the wall, his body pressed against hers.

  “What the—?”

  “We’ve got company.”

  She couldn’t see anything in the dark. “Where?”

  “Approaching from the west. A dark van, registration plate SR42 YMK. Check database. Start now.”

  She stared down the street and glanced back up at him. She couldn’t see a van but could make out the shape of a contact lens in his right eye. “You’ve got bionic vision, right?”

  “Latest technology from the CIA. The van’s using stolen number plates.”

  Not bad. He’d been able to instruct the eye gadget to search vehicle records, receiving info via the small plug in his right ear. His lens was far more advanced than the one she’d worn that night at the Shard. No way would she have been able to see all the way down the street and perform a number plate check within seconds.

  The van parked adjacent to the camp and killed its lights and engine. They’d been right to be paranoid. The Collective had found Henry Murray’s last suspected location.

  “Shouldn’t you call for backup?” Jessica urged.

  “We can handle this.”

  “Don’t be stupid! We don’t know how many people are inside the van. We’ll probably be outnumbered, plus they could be armed.”

  “We don’t have time,” Zak said. “Henry’s already here.”

  A tall figure with a baseball cap pulled low approached, keeping to the shadows on the opposite side of the path.

  “Are you sure it’s him?”

  “The facial recognition check’s come up positive. Henry’s walking straight into a trap.”

  Jessica held her breath. Henry was almost upon them. She glanced back at the van. The doors remained closed. The darkness and driving rain worked in their favour; visibility was terrible. But within seconds, he’d be spotted and the doors would fly open.

  Zak darted out.

  Henry froze. “Get back! I’m armed.”

  “Keep your voice down,” Zak hissed. “We’re here to help.”

  “Who are you? What do you want?”

  Jessica removed her hood. “We met before at your school. You need to come with us.”

  “I told you to leave me alone,” Henry said, falling back a pace. “The Collective will find me.”

  “They already have,” Zak said, throwing a glance over his shoulder. The van doors were open and dark figures streaked towards them. “Come with us if you want to live.”

  Before Henry could speak, the arches lit up with an almighty explosion. Frightened shouts rang out from the cardboard boxes. Jessica heard a dull thud as something landed close to their feet. Almost immediately, there was a flash of piercing whiteness. She closed her eyes. This was a more powerful version of the device used that night at the boarding school, designed to obliterate night vision.

  “Help me!”

  Coloured shapes danced in front of her eyelids. She blinked again and saw Zak fall to his knees, clutching his right eye.

  “It’s burning! I can’t see!”

  She grabbed her bottle and thrust Zak’s head back, pouring water over his face. As the water rinsed his eye, she flicked the lens out with her little finger. By then, four masked black figures had already surrounded them. They weren’t here to negotiate Henry’s handover. They moved in, attacking. Jessica lunged in front of Henry, kicking the first man in the stomach. She aimed again at his jaw and heard a loud crack. He fell to his knees, screaming.

  The second attacker wrestled Zak to the ground while two more dragged Henry towards the van.

  “Help! Help me!” Henry hollered.

  Jessica started to run after him, but the man closest to her stood up again, clutching something in his hand. She managed to block his arm as he charged, but her hand grazed whatever he was holding. A searing heat rocketed up to her shoulder. The pain almost took her breath away. No way could she risk being zapped by that again. Lifting up her foot, she flicked open the sole of her trainer and fired a taser. The man screeched, dropping the gadget, and convulsed on the ground. She snatched up the device and ran over to Zak. He was on his back, grappling with a large man. Zak was fighting him off with one hand while trying to grab his rucksack with the other. He hadn’t had time to pull out a single gadget before they were ambushed. She slammed the device into the side of the man’s neck. He bellowed with pain and slumped to one side, unconscious.

  “Thanks.” Zak clasped his throat, coughing.

  She helped him to his feet. “Can you see OK?”

  “My vision’s fuzzy in this eye, but it’s getting better.”

  “They’ve got Henry,” she breathed. “Over there!”

  The men had almost reached the van, half carrying, half dragging Henry past the rough sleepers. Jessica ran towards them, ripping off the book charm from her bracelet. She aimed at the van. A dart rocketed out, piercing a tyre. Within seconds, there was a loud bang as it exploded.

  Bullseye! Even if the men managed to get Henry inside, the van wasn’t going anywhere. She tried aiming a taser from her other trainer at one of the men, but he managed to dodge it. She wasn’t close enough. Zak passed her and grabbed the closest guy, managing to karate kick him in the shin and then the kneecap. He collapsed in agony. Zak spun round, kicking the other man hard on the chin. Jessica zapped him in the chest as he came at Zak again, this time armed with a knife.

  Both attackers lay on the ground, but one of the men further up the path was already on his knees, attempting to stand.

  “What now?” Henry cried.

  Jessica grabbed his arm. “We run.”

  They flew past the row of terrified homeless men, not stopping until they’d crossed the main road and reached civilization: shops and people. There was definitely safety in numbers here, despite the CCTV camera that Jessica had already clocked across the street. The men wouldn’t dare attack them in public; there were far too many witnesses.

  Henry gripped his side. “I can’t go on. I have to rest.”

  Zak leant against a doorway, panting. “We should be OK for a few minutes.”

  Jessica handed him a tissue. He dabbed at his lip, which was split and bleeding.

  “How did they track me down?” Henry also accepted her offer of a tissue. His face was bloodied and smeared with dirt.

  “Members of The Collective asked street people if they’d seen you. We think they’ve also been hacking into surveillance cameras to look for you.” She jerked her head towards the camera.

  Henry shuddered. “I told you they’d find me.”

  “Why are they after you?” she asked. “We know you were The Collective’s best hacker. You were responsible for most of the stuff on Saturday. What made LibertyCrossing turn against you?”

  Henry bit his lip. “How much trouble am I in exactly?”

  “A lot if your hacking’s made public,” Zak admitted. “It’ll destroy your dad’s career and you could end up in court. Zero trouble if you help us track down the leader of The Collective. That’s our priority.”

  A look of panic crossed Henry’s face.

  “MI6 isn’t looking to prosecute you,” Jessica insisted. “That’s what I was trying to explain to you the other night. We can keep your ident
ity secret in return for you giving up everything you know about LibertyCrossing.”

  “I didn’t expect it to end up like this,” Henry admitted. “It was a bit of fun. I wanted to see what I could hack into, like Lee Caplin. He was a hero of mine.”

  “Did you ever meet him?” Jessica said. “Online, I mean.”

  Henry shook his head. “I only got into this about a year ago and Lee had been forced offline by then. But he had lots of fans, people like me who wanted to carry on where he left off. We met in forums and discussed what we’d done. It’s a competitive world, you know. Everyone wants to be better than the next hacker.”

  “This way.” Zak gestured for them to start walking again. He was getting jumpy about staying in one place too long. “How did you meet LibertyCrossing?”

  “I blogged about how I’d managed to get into the computers at the National Grid and the Metropolitan Police. Someone called LibertyCrossing started regularly posting comments to me. We started to correspond via a hacking website and eventually, when he trusted me enough, through a protected email address. LibertyCrossing became a kind of mentor; it was obvious he was far more experienced than me. Sometimes I showed off what I could do hacking-wise, and other times LibertyCrossing asked me to target something.”

  “Like what?” Jessica demanded.

  “A few months back, he wanted me to test the firewalls in the security system at the Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas.”

  Her eyes widened. That was Lee’s prison.

  “I didn’t actually release any prisoners,” Henry said hastily. “I looked for glitches and found a few, which I reported back. I’d helped LibertyCrossing organize the hacking competition and thought it’d help me win the million dollars if I did exactly as he said.”

  He’d fallen for that too? LibertyCrossing probably had no intention of paying the jackpot to anyone; he was dangling a lucrative carrot and getting hackers to do all his dirty work. It was time to cut to the chase.

  “Do you know the identity of LibertyCrossing?” Jessica said.