by Adam Steel
‘So where are we going?’ Aya asked, frustrated by Jack’s lack of reaction.
Secretly she was hoping that Jack was taking her to see Max. Jack adjusted the cigar and finally spoke.
‘The station. Just like I said,’ he replied.
‘WHAT!? I can’t take you in the station!’ Aya snapped. ‘You’re not with CURE anymore and I can’t just let you in there. I’ll get fired, worse prosecuted!,’ she protested.
Jack puffed on his cigar again.
‘You and me aren’t going. You and Commander Betts are going,’ he said, flipping a CURE officer ID badge onto her lap.
It was an identical copy of Commander Betts’s ID, except, the photograph had been replaced with one of Jack in a CURE officer uniform smiling proudly. So that’s how he convinced mum, thought Aya. He’d forged Betts’s ID. Aya glared at him.
‘That might have worked back there, but it isn’t going to work down at the station. Betts works there. Everyone knows what he looks like and it’s nothing like you. He might even be on shift!’
Jack flipped another ID at her. It was a reporter’s.
It read: “Martin Zasz”.
A reporter for 'Utopia’s Finest’ magazine. It had Jack’s photograph in it again, but this time he was wearing a suit.
‘Amazing what a reporter can find out,’ he commented.
Aya felt sick. She realised that it had been Jack phoning the station earlier: finding out Betts’s shift: checking he wouldn’t be there that evening. He knew about her notice, probably even got her home address the same way. He had been planning this for some time.
Jack had spent his time in Eden well. He had been able to find out all about his new client. He had watched her on the Info-Coms at the Masquerade Ball with Aarif. He had also used a few back handers to have her followed. Trying to get to her, past Ajit, had been tough. He had been forced to intercept her at home, with her interfering mother, after the giant had departed. He had been able to get Betts’s ID forged for a handful of credits and had used his fake reporter credentials to get the rest of the info he needed. He knew Jomo Marseilles (AKA Red-Man) had a price on his head now and he had precious little time to get the goods before they caught up with him. The run in with the girl’s mother and the mention of Max had made her nervous and desperate. It was perfect.
‘You just need to get me in there,’ Jack said. ‘I can do the rest. Who else can help you now? – get you out of the mess you’re in?’
Aya stopped. There was nowhere else to turn, no one else to go to. She slumped back in the disgusting seat: considering.
‘All you gotta do,’ continued Jack,’ ‘is find a little bit of information for me. Then I can get your boyfriend out of that rat-trap he’s in. Your new boyfriend won’t have to know anything about your previous one and you two can run off into the sunset together, away from that big bastard who keeps following you.’
He grinned at her.
She hated him.
‘What kind of ‘information?’ Aya asked quietly.
She was unsure she wanted the answer. Jack didn’t reply, as the car lurched onwards.
‘We’ll need to wait until shift changes to the night staff. Then maybe I can distract the receptionist. Changeover is at ten, but there’s no way I can stay out that long! What will I say when I get back?’ she stammered.
‘You’ll think of something,’ Jack said, and brought the car to a halt around the corner from the station.
Jack turned off the engine and faced her, blowing another cloud of smoke in her face.
‘Right. Listen carefully. We wait for the shift change. You go in first and get rid of the receptionist. I don’t care how…just get her to leave her desk. Then meet me in the main offices.’
Aya shook her head, ‘I can’t do this. It’s illegal.’
Jack snorted, ‘Okay, I’m outta patience. We’re either going in there and getting this information, or you can go home and explain to the queen mother back there, about how much you’re looking forward to your new life with what’s-his-name. You can kiss goodbye to Max, and me, because you won’t look up a file. Your call.’
Aya’s shoulders fell. Max.
‘Okay,’ she whispered, and together they sat and waited for dark.
There was no more discussion.
Aya pushed the double doors of her work place open and Aniese looked up blinking. The station was almost deserted. Anieses’s eyes widened in surprise at seeing Aya. She had been working overtime and looked a lot worse for wear after twelve hours. She quickly began sorting her hair and whipped up one of her fake beaming smiles.
‘Oh, back again Aya, did you forget something?’ she queried.
‘Um, yes, I’ve…made a mistake. Look Aniese, I need a favour. Can you let me into the archives? I’ve misplaced one of Betts’s files and if it isn’t back where it’s supposed to be before he gets in tomorrow, I’m for the high jump.’
She rolled out the excuse she had been cooking up for the last few hours. It came out rushed and false sounding.
Aniese looked triumphant.
‘Well, it’s against regulations for me to leave the desk unattended at night...’
Aya got the hint and pounced on it. The money signs were back in Anieses’s eyes again. She used it.
‘Aniese, this will be a BIG help to me, and I’m sure Aarif would be very grateful to know how big a help you’ve been to me. I’ll make sure he knows of course…’
Aniese began to rise from behind her desk: eyes gleaming at the thought of expensive gifts and dinner parties. Aya tried to return the smile and failed. Her nerve was wavering. If she looked outside the doors, she could just make out Jack’s silhouette cast on the pavement. Watching and waiting for his chance.
She swallowed hard, ‘Can you just let me in there please? I really need to get this done,’ she said, and jigged on the spot, urging the receptionist on with pleading eyes.
‘Well...okay. Of course I’d be happy to help you. Betts won’t have to know. I suppose the desk can survive without me for a minute or two. I’ll open the archives for you and you can tell me all about Aarif. He sounds amazing.’
The receptionist moved off with Aya towards the administration offices. She had stars in her eyes as she interrogated Aya about Aarif. Behind them the door edged silently open. Aya kept Aniese busy at the archives with ten minutes of talking about fine clothes, dinner parties, and of course Anieses’s wedding invitation which she would now defiantly be getting. Satisfied, Aniese had returned back to her desk, leaving Aya to head for the main administration offices. Aya moved cautiously into the main offices. The room was deserted. She felt foolish. Jack wasn’t there. She felt like the butt of some sick joke.
‘Jack?’ she whispered, in a hushed tone.
He appeared behind her, emerging from the corner. He had blended perfectly into the shadows of the room. She got the impression he was used to sneaking around. He didn’t seem worried at all.
‘Shhh. Keep it down,’ he whispered.
His breath stank of stale cigars intermixed with tea.
‘Okay…That’s my desk over there at the back. Let’s be quick,’ she whispered back.
Jack shook his head slowly, stopping her.
‘Take me to this Commander Bett’s office,’ he said assertively.
Aya’s eyes widened.
‘What? You want me to access Bett’s system?’ God, she thought, this is getting worse by the minute. ‘I can’t do that!,’ she protested.
Jack moved in closer, whispering in her ear.
‘We’ve been here before - I need that information - get it? Only his systems will have it. Not yours, now let’s go.’
Aya cringed. She began to move, but stopped again.
‘It’ll be locked. Always is on night shift. I’ll never be able to get the keys from reception. It’s impossible.’
Jack silenced her by dangling a set of keys in front of her nose. Unbelievable, she thought. There’s no limit to his audacity. They m
oved off together in the direction of Commander Betts’s office. It was dark and empty. The key fitted perfectly and the door swung open with a satisfying ‘click’. Aya’s heart was in her mouth. She hadn’t felt like this since she had been little and went looking through her parents’ drawers looking for their secrets, terrified of being caught. Jack ushered her in and carefully shut the door behind them. He seemed at home in the darkness. He gestured towards the blank computer screen.
‘Get that thing on and get into it,’ he demanded.
Aya sat down reluctantly in Mr Betts’s chair. She hit the power to the system and waited.
‘You know how to get into it right?’ Jack quipped.
‘I...need the key,’ Aya managed. ‘It’s normally in his desk drawer. But…It’ll be locked.’
Jack looked up and down the side of the desk: making jerky motions as he examined the drawer.
‘Hmm…’
He reached into his pocket and removed two small thin pieces of wire. Aya watched with wide eyes as - illuminated by the computer screen - Jack expertly picked the lock. The drawer sprang open and Jack handed her a small sliver key.
‘This one?’ he quizzed.
Aya didn’t reply. She inserted the key in the same way that she had seen the Commander do countless times before.
ENTER ACCESS CODE:
The message flashed up across the screen.
‘What’s that mean? said Jack, pointing at it.
‘It means - it wants his personal password, we can’t get in without it,’ Aya answered, staring at it, deep in thought.
‘Fuck!’ stormed Jack under his breath. ‘Fucking computer bullshit!’ he ranted. He hated computers. ‘Now what are we supposed to do?’ he spat.
Things were starting to fall apart. Screwed by computers again. Should have known, he thought. He didn’t notice that Aya was lightly tapping keys. A selection of characters were filling up the password field. She stopped once the field was full. She had caught Jack’s attention again.
‘What is that?’ he pointed.
Aya didn’t answer at first. Secretary’s (like her) had a habit of knowing more than they were supposed to and she had seen Betts enter the key many times before.
‘You know it don’t you?’ nudged Jack. A gleam had appeared in his eyes. ‘c’mon girl – enter it. We need to get in there. The info on Max is IN THERE.’
Aya pressed the last key and hit enter.
The screen changed to:
C.U.R.E STATION SECTOR 2
OPERATOR BETTS
UTOPIAN ID: 4376235
AUTHORISED
Jack rubbed his hands together gleefully.
Aya hung her head.
‘Get me into the people finding part of it,’ he ordered.
Aya sighed and hit a few more keys. The response flashed up across the screen.
ENTER UTOPIAN ID:
Aya began to enter Max’s number when Jack stopped her.
‘No wait...try this one instead,’ he prompted.
He produced a small scrap of paper with a different number on it and handed it to her. Aya looked at the number and frowned. She didn’t recognise it. She tapped it in, confused, and hit enter. The screen paused for a moment as it accessed another system. Then the screen filled with new information. A picture of a young Jamaican man filled the top right. He had long dreadlocks and a glazed expression. It looked like a prison mug shot. Reams of information scrolled beside it. Jack clapped his hands and pushed her up from the seat and taking her place. Aya looked at the screen confused. Her dark eyes were reflecting the blue and white text that was now scrolling down the side of the picture.
‘Jack…What is this?’ she said, shakily.
He didn’t answer. He was busy scrolling through the information looking for something. Aya went to repeat the question, when she noticed the man’s name on the screen. It read:
MARKO MARSEILLES
Aya clapped a hand over her mouth as Jack scanned the information. Oh my God. Marseilles. This is the man that ran the gang they had arrested. The one the station had been in such an uproar about: the one who’d been arrested with Max. Aya felt like running: getting the hell out and away from Jack and the awful man on screen. She grabbed at Jack’s arm and tried to pull him away as he studied the details on the screen.
STATUS: INCARCERATION
C.U.R.E. PRISON NORTH
ALPHA WARD CELL 2E
AWAITING TRANSFER
Several options were listed under the information.
[CLOSE] [ENHANCE] [DATA] [RETRIEVE] [ROOT]
‘Get off me lady, we need this,’ Jack hissed at her.
He hit [RETRIEVE].
The printer fired into life spitting out the reams of information into the drop tray.
‘Jack, what are you doing?!’ Aya protested, pulling at him.
Her voice was getting higher and louder.
‘This isn’t why we’re here!’ she spluttered, almost panic stricken.
‘This is exactly why we’re here,’ replied Jack coldly. ‘Now be quiet and gather that file. You want Max? He’s with this guy. We find this guy. We find your boyfriend.’
Aya threw her hands down in protest.
‘I don’t believe you! You aren’t trying to help me!’ she cried in desperation.
‘Whatever you think lady, but it’s too late for that,’ he replied, gathering the information from the printer. ‘Now shut up before we both get caught. No time for your whining now. Turn that thing off and walk out past reception. I’ll find my own way out and be in contact soon.’
Aya started to speak and then stopped. The last time he had said that he had not contacted her for over a month. If he did that again it would all be far too late to save her from Aarif. She cried inside. She knew it was already too late to stop the process he had started and that Jack was her last hope of seeing Max again and escaping Aarif. She had no choice but to trust him. She stifled her tears and switched the system off before leaving the room.
Jack looked at the document in his hands. At last, he thought, one more task to do before his arse was saved. He began to clean up the room, wiping his prints clear off the drawer and key. He let out a small chuckle.
Aya didn’t speak to Aniese as she took her leave out into the night. A small wave was all could manage. She leaned against the streetlight outside shaking all over. Tears ran down her face. She had never felt so lost and confused. One thought echoed in her mind. What have I done?
Chapter 17: Irene
Plastic Paradise: Sector Two
Friday 13th July
It was 9:00 p.m. when Ellie arrived at the glass house on the roof of Plastic Paradise to meet up with Irene. Irene had left a message on Ellie’s Info-Pad asking her if she would meet her after work, at that time. Irene had sounded ‘odd,’ and she had mentioned something about Nicholas Oggwell. Ellie had not taken the matter any further after being denied access to his file. She had been puzzled by the entry on ISIAH’S system that Nicholas Oggwell’s file had been marked access denied, but work had got in the way of things and she had been too busy to think any more on the subject. She had been more concerned with Irene’s mental stability than she was about one of Irene’s missing clients. Now she was looking around the deserted glasshouse and wondering if she should have pushed Irene harder to get counselling.
She could see Eric down at the end of the glass house. He took care of the running of the glass house and he appeared to be busy picking tomatoes. Eric’s choice of music for the plants that evening was Mozart’s Requiem Mass in D Minor. He had told Ellie in the past that he always played that particular piece of music when he picked fruit from the plants. Ellie presumed that he was a little mad. She believed that it was a result of being shut up with his plants for too long.
Eric was a left over casualty from the old days, before the Day of Reckoning. He had been by-passed by the high tech advancements of Utopia; to be forgotten and allowed to live in the glass house. His task was to provide food for
the staff canteens. Eric had his own private place in the boiler and maintenance room which was located at the far end of the glass house. She suspected that he lived in it, even though he was not supposed to. He had kitted it out with a put-you-up bed; a fridge, a portable gas stove and a music player for the plants. He even had a tiny table and two chairs: one for him, and one for a guest.
Ellie was sitting on a bench under the tomato plants waiting for Irene listening to the music and checking her watch. Twenty minutes passed and there was still no sign of Irene. It was nothing unusual. Irene was often late, or, never even showed. Ellie sat and waited impatiently thinking about work, Irene and Jon Li.
Eric had disappeared into his boiler room and closed the door behind him. Mozart’s Requiem died a death, and the glass house fell eerily silent. Ellie sat in the silence, with nothing but the plants for company, and waited another ten minutes before dialling Irene’s pager.
Nothing.
The pager was offline.
She tried Irene’s office and got her answering machine – same again with her Info-Pad, so she left a message on the device.
‘‘Where are you? Been waiting ages, please call me, Ell.”
Ellie sat and thought about her best friend and how Irene’s manic episodes seemed be getting closer and closer together. She worried about the effect that it would have upon her unborn child. She found herself thinking about how she would behave if she were pregnant. She put her hands on her abdomen and thought of Jon Li and his ‘future baby’ that might be growing comfortably inside her one day. Then she thought about their lovemaking the night before, and smiled shyly to herself.
Ellie checked her watch again.
‘Where the hell are you, Reenie?’ she whispered to herself.
She was getting irritated. She wanted to be home with Jon Li, not hanging around in a lonely glass house at night. It was only the sound of urgency in Irene’s voice that had persuaded Ellie to meet her so late, otherwise, she would have asked Irene to wait until the weekend. She would have preferred it if they could have met up in Diamond Square and talked over a coffee. The glass house seemed cold. She shivered. After another ten minutes passed and she decided that she had waited long enough. She made her way towards Eric’s domain at the end of the glass house and when she got there she tapped lightly, and hesitantly, on Eric’s boiler room door.