by Terry Schott
“I’m guessing that removing Sticks and Stones paper books from circulation hasn’t killed sales.”
Victor laughed. “It’s caused the exact opposite to happen. The controversy has made it so that everyone wants an electronic edition to see what all the excitement is about. Digital sales are through the roof, and we can never shut them down.”
“Sure we can. Install a virus in the story code. Each time a person downloads it, the file will be corrupt and unreadable.”
“Doing that would reinforce the message of the book.” Victor spread his hands. “Anything we attempt moving forward will make the argument of the story stronger. It will cause the fear to blossom into panic, and then blind action. The worldwide herd would stampede.”
“I doubt that.”
“Would you risk everything on that opinion?”
Aleksy opened his mouth, then closed it, shaking his head.
“We need to identify and apprehend the Harbinger.”
“I don’t think that is a possibility, Victor.”
The older man leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. “If we don’t, then things are going to get bad.”
“How bad?”
“Dark ages.”
Aleksy laughed. Victor did not.
“Oh.”
Neither spoke for almost a minute.
“Keep looking?” Aleksy asked. “That’s all we can do, I think.”
Victor sniffed and ran a hand through his hair. “Keep looking. For the author, and the Harbinger.”
“What if they are the same person?”
“We should be so lucky.”
18
July 7, 2016
11:32 p.m.
Hi Gavin,
Great to hear from you, how have things been? I was surprised to hear on the news that that Sticks and Stones will no longer be available in print. I hope you guys made a good amount of money from it before they forced you to take if off the market. It’s okay, I won’t make you deny it by asking if it was the government or not. I am one hundred percent sure that it was! Oh well, what can you do? I guess find another new blockbuster story and publish that.
So pumped to hear that you are on the Shadow Web. Of course I am as well, and yeah, I would be thrilled to answer any questions you might have about how to use the Torment browser. Shoot me an email on my Shadow account. It’s [email protected].
Oh, by the way. I will be in your neck of the woods in two weeks. I don’t want to be presumptuous but, if you are available, it would be awesome to meet up for a coffee or drink.
Let me know. You can bring your laptop and I will show you the tricks and tips I know about the Torment browser.
Chris
July 8, 2016
2:22 a.m.
Heya Chris,
Glad to hear from you too!
Things are certainly interesting around here at the moment. It was a huge disappointment when the book got pulled. You’re right, I can’t talk much about who made us pull it, but . . .
We are optimistic about a few new authors. I doubt we will ever have another bestseller that performs as well, but maybe I’m wrong. I would like to be wrong. ;)
That’s awesome to hear you can help me out. At first I was a bit worried (I’ll tell you about it sometime, maybe when we hook up on the other web).
I will send you an e-mail over there soon.
As for the meeting in a couple weeks, I appreciate the offer and normally I would, but I will be out of town that week. I’m truly disappointed to miss a chance to hook up. Let me know when you come to town the next time and we will try again.
Best,
Gavin
Ariel minimized the email and typed a range of dates into a program window. She pressed Enter and the dates appeared coloured in green instead of black. She chuckled and shook her head. “He’s not out of town those days. His calendar says he is there the whole time.”
“Then he doesn’t want to meet you.” Aleksy spoke from the other side of the partition.
“He’s frightened. You and Victor put the fear into him.”
“We never spoke to the man. Victor sent a letter to Aldous Freign, who promptly replied that they would comply.”
“For all the good it did you.”
“I know.”
“What you working on now?”
Aleksy’s head appeared above the partition. “Trying to develop a program to hunt and kill all files related to digital editions of the book.”
“Why bother?”
“’Cause I was told to.”
“It’s on the Shadow Web.”
“Your point?”
Ariel laughed. “There’s no way you can ever find all the places they will hide it.”
Aleksy nodded. “I know.”
“Then why try?”
“Same reason you are hunting for the author and Harbinger. Even if you don’t find them, you will uncover a ton of other problems which you can correct. My new program will root out dissidents and allow us to thin the herd in a similar fashion.” He shrugged. “And who knows. We could get lucky and kill the right person by accident.”
She nodded and looked back at her monitor.
“How many on your kill list now for this project?”
“Sixty-three.”
Aleksy whistled. “Impressive.”
She frowned. “Not really. Takes a lot of time to vet them, and many fall off during the process.” She tapped the screen with her fingernail. “This one is a good example.”
Aleksy came around the partition and stood behind her, looking over her shoulder at the screen. “Gavin Herschel is on your kill list?”
She nodded. “He’s made it through the first four rounds. He’s in the fifth and final stage before I clear him for processing.”
“Four stages sounds like more than enough.”
She raised one eyebrow. “We’re killing private citizens, Aleksy. The eggheads decided on five steps, and that’s what it is. There has to be a comprehensive system so that we don’t make too many mistakes.”
“You mean any mistakes.”
She shrugged and looked back at the screen. “We’re human. Errors always occur. With the current system, alarms only sound if I go too far over the set margin of error. If that happens, then they take me out of the field and make me sit in an office. An accountant-type officer drills me on the details of every single case file, forcing me to justify my thought process during each and every step. Then they start hassling me about my decisions.” She let out a breath and shook her head. “Happened to me once and it was a grade-A pain in the butt. Slow and steady is my best course.”
“You’re telling me that if he doesn’t pass your final round, he lives?”
“Yeah.” She grimaced. “Which happens a lot. During this project, I’ve sorted a few thousand through the program. Most reach it to at least the third round.”
“After putting in so much work, do you begin to hope you get them in the end?”
“Yeah, but not always. I hope Gavin gets away.”
“Why?”
“He’s definitely not the Harbinger.”
“Any chance he’s the author?”
“Maybe. And if he passes and is neither, the process could still determine that he is a threat to the security of the average citizen in more than enough ways to justify putting him down.”
Aleksy patted Ariel on the shoulder. “Then I wish you luck with him, however you want it to turn out.”
19
Curtis scanned the links, still distracted by the different view and colour variations of the Torment browser. Initially, he had switched all the preferences so that it looked exactly like his regular web browser. After Ariel had almost sat down and read what he was doing, he decided that he needed to know for certain when he was looking at the regular web or the Shadow.
He laughed and shook his head. “There’s no way she would know what the Shadow Web looked like, anyway. I doubt insurance adjusters know about it.”<
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Still, he was afraid that his enormous burden would leak out and put her in danger. He would never forgive himself if that happened.
Curtis dropped his hands to his sides and tilted his head back, closing his eyes. “This is too much to bear alone.”
He opened his eyes and looked around the room. Saying the words aloud, even in his empty apartment, was dangerous. Speak the wrong phrase and it will activate your cell phone, loser. People in suits will walk through your door, put a bullet in your head, and no one will ever know why.
He shuddered and looked at his computer, typed a search phrase into Torment and hit Enter. In less than a second, the Shadow Web displayed millions of links on his topic.
The Harbinger.
Curtis clicked the first link, an article from a well-known news organization with a presence on the underground network. There was nothing concrete about the Harbinger, no one knew who he or she was. Yesterday in the Middle East there had been a massive power outage. It had taken over twelve hours to bring power back online and oil production to resume.
The Harbinger had claimed responsibility for the event.
Curtis closed the window and clicked the next link, reading that news story, and then the next, and the next.
When his eyes began to burn, he looked away from the computer, reaching for a coffee mug filled with water. He downed the entire contents and looked at the clock on the screen. An hour had passed. Curtis frowned and brought up his calendar, scanning the schedule for the evening. “Ariel isn’t staying over tonight. She’s out of town on insurance business.”
He stood and went to the kitchen, filled his glass with more water, and returned to place it on the desk. Then he went to the washroom. He glanced in the mirror as he washed his hands. The face staring back at him looked tired, haggard. There were dark circles under his eyes.
He splashed water on his face and looked at himself again, this time glaring. “You should tell her.”
He frowned and shook his head. There are dangerous people hunting for me. I can’t share the knowledge with anyone. If I do, they die. We all die.
He reached for the hand towel and dried his face. Then he returned to his desk and stared at the screen.
I've got to remain quiet and poor. Somehow, my story is changing the world, and no one can know it was me who wrote it.
Curtis laughed.
The voice in his head laughed.
Both sounded bitter to his ears.
20
September 23, 2016
Heya Chris,
Thanks so much for all of your help with the Torment browser! I’ve been afraid to ask around. Strange thing happened when I first installed it: a kid told me that I had done it wrong. Instead of installing it from a jump drive, I uploaded it directly from the web. He made it sound like a horrible mistake, but I think he was simply being paranoid. Months have gone by and I haven’t noticed anyone following me. I’m relieved, since I never intended to do anything illegal on the Shadow Web.
How are things with you? Still travelling from state to state?
Did you hear about the Harbinger announcing that he will be appearing on a live broadcast tomorrow? Everyone is going nuts over finally seeing what the guy looks like. I’m fairly certain he won’t show himself. Why would he? A big part of his mystique is that no one knows what he looks like.
He’s claiming responsibility for the collapse of that small coalition of countries in the Baltic region and I think it might have actually been him that did it. It’s so difficult to know what he is responsible for and what he isn’t. Every single thing that happens in the world is followed by an announcement from the Harbinger that he caused the crisis. It’s gotten a bit ridiculous, don’t you think?
I’m not travelling for the next three weeks. If you happen to be in town, let me know and we can get together. I think it’s long overdue that we meet in person.
Gavin
Luke used the edge of the desk to pop the bottle cap from his drink. “Got time for me, Sandy?”
She made note of the mark on the edge of the desk, and then looked at him and nodded. “Yeah.”
“Great.” He reached for a spare chair and rolled it beside hers before sitting down.
“How’s the tournament looking?”
“Sold out.”
Her eyes widened. “Already? Didn’t they go on sale”—she looked at the clock on the monitor—“under three hours ago?”
“Yeah.” Luke grinned and raised the pop bottle to his lips. “Two hundred thousand seats in two-and-a-half hours.”
“Wow.”
He took a swig, swallowed, then chuckled. “Yeah.”
“Are all competitors confirmed?”
“Absolutely. Two of the Chinese teams were dragging their feet, but when tickets were half-sold after the first hour, I called them and said if they didn’t commit, I would replace them. They transferred their registration fee while I waited on the line.”
Sandy shook her head. “Video games. Did you ever imagine them becoming this popular when you were a kid?”
Luke laughed. “I’m still a kid! And of course I did. I imagined it vividly and it is coming to pass. We create our own reality, Sandy, don’t forget that.”
“Yes, oh wise and ancient one.”
He set the bottle on the desk and examined the screen. “This what you wanted me to see?”
“Yeah.”
“Can I borrow your notebook?”
She pushed it toward him, placing her pen on top of the blank page. His eyes darted from the screen to the paper as he wrote, his lips moving. Sandy read his notes, remaining silent while he went over the information.
Finally, he drew a line across the bottom of the page and looked at her, his lips pursed. “This is a lot of money.”
“I agree.”
“Can we hide it all?”
She raised one eyebrow.
“Come on, girl. I fast-tracked your membership into the club so you could help us with this.”
“I thought it was because I can play three of the top twenty tournament games at a professional level.”
“Six.” He smiled. “Why you always have to make me say it?”
“I like the praise.”
“There is never a problem giving credit around here, you know that.” He pushed the notebook in front of her and tapped the page. “In fact, I want to praise you now for your creativity and genius.” He raised his eyebrows and waited for her to respond.
“Yes, I can hide it.”
He clapped his hands together and put one arm around her shoulders, pulling her close for a quick hug. Then his smile disappeared. “You’re not messing with me are you?”
Sandy laughed. “Fifteen million dollars is not something I mess around with, Luke. I can put it in safe havens around the world so the club doesn’t pay a penny of tax.”
Luke’s smile returned. “Sweet. I was afraid with the Harbinger causing so much mayhem it would be difficult.”
“I’m not sure why you’re so happy.”
“What do you mean? You’re saving us millions of dollars.”
“Not really. The club has been earning this kind of cash for years and dealing with it somehow. Financial history does not show much in the way of ever paying taxes.”
Luke shrugged. “That’s true.”
“Then what have you been doing with it up until now?”
He winced. “I’d rather not say.”
“Illegal stuff.”
“No.”
“You sound too certain of yourself. Like you’re taking a lie detector test.”
“Fine. You wanna know, I can tell you.”
Sandy considered him for a moment and then shook her head. “Maybe later.”
“I trust you, Sandy.”
“I know.”
“I’ll tell you. It’s only—”
“Another day.” Sandy patted his hand. “It’s no big deal.”
Luke’s shoulders sagged. Sandy looked at
the notebook. “How quick do we want to shuffle the funds?”
“Within the week?”
“Not a problem.”
“What kind of turnaround time if we want to put our hands on the money?”
“How quick would you ever want it?”
Luke thought about it for a moment. “Two days.”
She nodded. “Easy enough.”
Luke stood and clapped his hands together. “You’re gonna make us all rich and famous, girl.”
“You’re already rich and famous.”
“Er, then richer and famouser.”
She laughed and he did too. “With this much money we can make up entirely new words. I’m heading home. Promised Emma a night out on the town. You calling it a night soon?”
“Couple quick things for me to finish then I’m out too.”
Luke left and Sandy spent the next twenty-three minutes finishing her work. Then she turned off the lights, locked up, and left the building.
Twenty-seven minutes after that, Sandy’s computer accessed the Shadow Web and sent seven emails to various news agencies claiming responsibility for recent crises throughout the world.
Each email was signed, ‘the Harbinger’.
21
There is something sadly wrong with the world as it currently exists, my friends. This malaise is not new. Indeed, it has lived among us throughout the ages, festering and reaching outward with thin tendrils like some far-reaching fungus. Those who control the masses know of its existence. They are the ones responsible for encouraging it to grow, using the media and economy to keep the average person too distracted as the problem spreads.
That’s right, common people of the world: they have created the blueprint for your destruction and bided their time, hoping that no one would notice until it was too late to do anything about the situation.
Thankfully, one person saw the issue and conveyed that knowledge to the world in the form of a novel. Sticks and Stones is much more than a fictional story. Those in control soon realized what it was and scrambled to remove the book from circulation, trying to wipe it from our awareness.