The Codex File (2012)

by Miles Etherton

  Before he could progress any further he heard the slightest sound to his right. The sound of someone opening a filing cabinet. His heart raced. The knot in his stomach tightened. And he moved from one row of filing cabinets to the next, his gun raised in anticipation of Trevellion.

  The sound of his heart pounding rose to a deafening crescendo each time he turned to look discretely down an aisle of filing cabinets. But each time there was no sign of anyone.

  Continuing forward he could feel the sweat on his brow as he reached yet another row, turning to investigate. He felt the air almost being sucked from his lungs as he saw Trevellion standing in the aisle, holding a paper file, looking down as he read its content.

  His grip on the handgun tightened as he turned fully into the aisle, slowly approaching his nemesis.

  It took a few long agonizing seconds before Trevellion finally looked up from the file he was reading. A thin, almost indiscernibly, smile crossed his distinctive features as he registered Michael’s presence.

  “You know, I really didn’t think you had it in you. Kennedy kept telling me you were close to cracking. But he still thought you’d see it through to the end. I must admit I had my doubts.”

  Michael continued walking until he was no more than ten feet away from Trevellion. The drawer of the filing cabinet, open at waist height, the only thing between them. Michael pointed the gun at Trevellion’s head.

  “I would have walked to the ends of the earth to find who was responsible for Colette and Clare’s death. I think that walk is over. You’re all that’s left now before I have my vengeance.”

  A slight look of surprise crossed Trevellion’s face before his normal calm expression returned.

  “You took care of Kennedy as well, did you?”

  Michael nodded, his right eye throbbing a little, still moist from where it was weeping.

  “Pity. He was a dedicated follower. A believer of the cause. You don’t find too many like him.”

  “He was a sadistic bastard that deserved what he got.”

  “That really depends on your perspective, doesn’t it?” Trevellion said patronisingly, looking into Michael’s left eye, the fire of his hatred burning bright.

  “Spare me your political rhetoric. There’s no justification for this or what you and others have done. It’s coming to an end tonight. UKCitizensNet is collapsing around your ears. The R.I.G has already hacked into the system and posted a statement on your homepage telling the country what a murderous sham this whole state network is. This is over. And so are you.”

  “Yes, I did notice the Guardian’s handiwork. Most irritating. But you are quite wrong about there being no justification for our actions. Our work is helping preserve the best interests of this country. And there are plenty of us that believe that and would die for that.”

  “Well, that’s quite fortunate then, isn’t it? Nobody with any decent moral code would condone, nevermind participate in this.”

  Michael’s finger slowly tightened on the trigger as he looked down the barrel of the gun and at the centre of Trevellion’s head.

  “Not even your wife?” Trevellion said quickly, watching as Michael’s trigger finger began to twitch.

  “What did you say?” Michael replied with surprise, lowering his aim slightly.

  “This has nothing to do with morality. This has to do with power. The power of this country to push its own agendas,” Trevellion continued quickly.

  “What did you mean when you mentioned my wife?” Michael said angrily, waving his gun frantically at Trevellion’s head.

  “I knew you were going to come looking for me. It’s quite fortunate really that the system backups and core infrastructure of UKCitizensNet are housed with our information archive. I’ve dug out a file with a few documents I thought you might be interested in seeing.”

  A look of growing confusion spread across Michael’s face, but his gun remained constantly pointed at Trevellion.

  “The state network tender was never an open tender. It just had to seem that way in order for us to get national buy-in to the project and support for banning of access to the former internet. In reality there were only three companies that could have ‘bid’ for the project: SemComNet, ACE Solutions and SW Technologies. Over a year before any public discussions about the tender were circulated to the press the government was planning its strategy for how to ensure SemComNet, a very discretely government-backed company, had access to all current knowledge on 5G Semantic Web technologies to ensure the project would succeed. We had some of the answers, but ACE Solutions and SW Technologies had made substantial progress in other areas. We needed that knowledge and had to retrieve it through covert means.”

  “What has any of this got to do with my wife?” Michael demanded angrily.

  “Not just your wife, but David Langley also. When the strategy was finalised the covert team running this project for the government approached both your wife and David Langley, revealing the plans for the state network and how this would serve the national interest. At that point they came over to work for us, in a covert sense at least. For over a year they were both supplying us with important information about their own company’s R&D pipelines.”

  Michael blinked in disbelief, his anger welling up at the sullying of his wife’s name and integrity.

  “You’re lying. This is just a trick.”

  “Think about it. All those conferences and overnight stays Colette had to make, allegedly working for SW Technologies. They were all meetings and debriefs with SemComNet and Langley. If you don’t believe me, read the reports she filed to me.”

  Michael shook his head angrily, waving the gun maniacally in Trevellion’s face. In his head he recalled all the nights Colette had been away, allegedly working. And he remembered one night in particular. The evening she’d been called away from Clare’s dance competition and the first prize she’d won. That had been for yet another ‘conference’.

  But was it all for them?

  For SemComNet?

  “No. I read the meeting minutes Vera Langley gave me. SW Technologies and ACE Solutions were contemplating some sort of collaboration to strengthen their tender bid in order to beat SemComNet to the contract. Colette and Langley were leading on the tender bids for each company. That was why they were meeting. They weren’t working for SemComNet.”

  Trevellion sneered, a knowing look crossing his face.

  “The two companies themselves may have been planning that, but your wife and Langley fed us every bit of data about this potential partnership. Why do you think we chose them? They were perfectly placed within their own companies. And they were only too willing to help.”

  Trevellion put down the paper file he was holding, turning it round to face Michael. Stepping forward, but with his gun still raised Michael leant forward and began to read the incriminating file. Scanning the title Jones’ words in the mobile home came rushing back to him.

  “I briefly saw a confidential Defence Department file about a project called CODEX which mentioned the establishment of UKCitizensNet. At the time, I couldn’t understand why the Defence Department was interested in the network. But now it all makes sense. Thanks to your wife’s files.”

  The title on the cover of the file burned into Michael’s memory of Colette and his head began to swim, nausea rushing through him, bile burning the back of his throat.

  CODEX file OP09/ST - UKCitizensNet implementation and development

  Inside the file, which was several hundred pages deep, Trevellion had turned over the top right corner of a specific document. Turning to that place Michael began to read.

  Memo from: Colette Robertson, Technical Director, SW Technologies

  Recipient: CODEX

  Subject: Brief update

  Since the last CODEX meeting the project team preparing SW Technologies’ tender bid for the state network has met for the first time. Technical implementation issues are being examined by a separate working group who will report progre
ss to the project team directly in due course.

  The initial delineation of tasks is broken down as follows:

  Project team:

  Budgetary overview

  Project deliverables

  Project milestones

  Redundancy estimates/scenarios

  Regulatory framework

  Ethical data collection

  Technical team:

  Bandwidth issues

  Wireless access

  IP synchronicity

  Single network sign-on

  Network services

  Email services

  The relevant project documents, including the Project Initiation Document (PID) and a preliminary Gantt chart detailing first phase project milestones and deliverables are attached. A more detailed brief of important ‘issues’ discussed, but specifically not recorded in the event of a Freedom of Information request, will be provided at the next CODEX meeting.

  Most of the technical detail was lost on him. But as he read through the report there was no doubt it bore out Trevellion’s assertion of information gathering from SW Technologies and industrial espionage. At the bottom of the page was Colette’s familiar signature.

  And one phrase in particular struck deep inside him, boring into his soul, eroding his perfect image of Colette: Redundancy estimates/scenarios.

  Even now he could still remember the long hours she’d worked, even on her birthday. It had all been to safeguard the jobs at SW Technologies she had told him. Repeatedly she had told him this.

  She lied to me.

  Stepping back from the file he could feel the tears beginning to well up, his emotions threatening to overwhelm him. Everything he thought he’d known about Colette was disintegrating in his mind. The perfect woman with her perfect integrity had all been an illusion.

  How could she have done this and not have told him? He might have understood. Or he might have been able to persuade her not to do it. Everything he thought he knew and held dear was a lie. And the root of it was standing in front of him.

  He raised his gun again, the tears rolling down his cheeks.

  “She believed in the cause,” Trevellion said dismissively. “Don’t talk to me about the morality of the project. This isn’t about morality. It’s about guaranteeing control. The former internet didn’t allow it. UKCitizensNet does. It’s as simple as that.”

  As Trevellion spoke Michael could hear a stream of questions being asked in his head, his anger rising by the moment.

  “But if she was so important to you, why did you have her killed?”

  Trevellion didn’t respond. A slight grin formed on his lips.

  Michael’s finger squeezed the trigger. The bullet flashed past Trevellion’s head, catching the side of his ear, puncturing a hole in the metal filing cabinet to the right of him.

  Trevellion flinched slightly before touching his ear. His fingers were coated with blood from where the bullet had grazed his lobe on its way past his head. The aim had been slightly closer than Michael had intended. But it had the desired effect.

  “We couldn’t afford for there to be any loose ends. If either she or David Langley had been exposed as passing on secrets to SemComNet then our tender would have been over. And we were always very careful who she actually met at SemComNet. It wasn’t desirable for her to ever meet with any of the senior team. Myself included. The risks of exposure and being implicated were far too great. She always met trusted ‘go-betweens’ at meetings. Any risks or exposure and the project would have failed. There couldn’t be anything that led back to us once UKCitizensNet was operational.”

  “So she was expendable then?” Michael said angrily.

  “She’d served her purpose,” Trevellion replied honestly. “She knew the risks when she got involved. That’s why she didn’t want you knowing about it. She wanted to protect you. What we hadn’t counted on was her taking out a little insurance policy by storing information elsewhere rather than sharing it with us.”

  “I guess she didn’t quite trust you enough,” Michael sneered back. “Maybe the cause wasn’t the be all and the end all. Her family came first. Clare came first.”

  Trevellion scoffed at the assertion, aware Michael was trying to hang onto anything that held his wife’s memories sacred.

  How many bullets were still left in the clip he wondered, staring at the pointing barrel.

  “Don’t kid yourself, Michael. She believed in it and she was prepared to see SW Technologies go to the wall when they didn’t get the tender. The company’s future was dependent on it, but still she fed us information because she understood the wider picture, and what we could do with UKCitizensNet. She was a patriot. Read the file, man. It’s all in there.”

  As Michael glanced down at the file again Trevellion lunged at the end of the cabinet, thrusting it closed, smashing into Michael’s arm which was in the way. Colette’s incriminating files were thrown into the air as Michael slipped to the ground. Trevellion turned and began to run.

  Pulling himself to his feet Michael set off in pursuit, unable to lock his aim on Trevellion as the pair of them scurried down the aisle of filing cabinets. Eventually their pursuit opened up into an office area. Michael grinned triumphantly as Trevellion ran into a cul-de-sac from which there was no escape.

  His nemesis stood behind a metallic desk, a single tablet computer on it, linked to a large screen on the wall opposite. Trevellion cursed at his wrong turn, glaring angrily at Michael.

  “Just answer me one question,” Michael said slowly, calmly, keeping his rage and his trigger finger under control. “Why did you film it? Why did you film what you did to my little girl?”

  He paused as an almost indiscernible expression of guilt and concealment crossed Trevellion’s face. The realisation hit him like an express train.

  “You videoed that butcher killing Colette too, didn’t you?” he yelled, as Trevellion edged slightly backwards, the first signs of fear showing on his sombre features, his eyes widening slightly.

  “Answer me, you bastard,” he bellowed again, his rage threatening to overwhelm him.

  But before Trevellion could reply he involuntarily pulled the trigger, and again, and again, and again, until the barrel stopped firing as the magazine emptied. For a few long seconds the smell of cordite filled his nostrils, smoke blurring his vision.

  As the haze cleared he blinked. Trevellion was still standing motionless in front, four yawning craters in the wall to the left of his head where the bullets had impacted with the brick wall. Michael had missed his target. The magazine was empty. Turning to examine the holes in the wall Trevellion smiled wryly, turning back to face Michael.

  “It looks as if you’re out of ammunition. I think the odds have swung back in my favour somehow.”

  In an instant Michael dropped the gun, anticipating some sort of retaliation from Trevellion. Slipping his hand into trouser pocket he pulled a small hand grenade from within. Trevellion stopped his approach and looked warily at Michael.

  “I’ve got a bit of my own insurance,” Michael said firmly. “Something I picked up from one of your soldiers who didn’t survive all the blasts that have been going off.”

  Sliding his finger through the pin at the top of the grenade he ordered Trevellion to sit down behind the desk.

  “The question remains: why did you video their deaths?”

  “We thought it would give us a little extra leverage should certain circumstances ever arise. And how right we were.”

  “But why kill my little girl? She wasn’t involved. Why kill an innocent child?”

  Trevellion rolled his eyes, exasperated at Michael’s continuing naivete.

  “Have you understood nothing? We had to publicly crucify Davey Wilkes to ensure the public’s appetite was satisfied in having someone to blame for the killings. The murder of a child ensured that appetite was insatiable. I told you before, this is a dirty business. One you shouldn’t even think of playing.”

  Michael looked down a
t the grenade in his hand and smiled thinly.

  “You’re right. I don’t want to play this game anymore, which is why I’m going to end it, here, tonight.”

  He looked at his watch again. The launch of the app was less the two minutes away if Simon had kept to his word.

  “Why do you keep looking at your watch?” Trevellion snapped impatiently. “Is there somewhere else you need to be?”

  “I’m not going anywhere. In fact I’m not going anywhere ever again. I came down here looking for you for one reason and one reason alone - to ensure you never leave this room. You see, in less than two minutes this room is going to fill with a deadly gas cocktail from SemComNet’s own resources. Ironic really. In less than a minute you’ll be dead, amongst your prized computer network.”

  Michael looked up at the sprinklers evenly distributed in the ceiling panels and smiled knowingly. A slight look of panic crossed Trevellion’s face as the realisation struck him.

  “Didn’t Kennedy explain to you how we tried to kill you previously? I guess not.”

  “But you’ll be killed also?” Trevellion protested.

  “What have I got to live for? You took everything from me. There’s nothing for me to go back to. My wife and daughter are dead. The police and army are hunting me because they think I’m some sort of child-kiling cyber terrorist. What could I possibly have to live for outside these walls? The only thing I have left is ensuring you die with me, and that UKCitizensNet ends here, tonight. Your CODEX project has failed.”

  Trevellion began to advance on Michael who held the grenade up in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.

  “If you try to get past me and escape, I will detonate the grenade, which will be a far less pretty way to go. Although probably somewhat quicker. The choice is yours.”

  He looked at his watch again. Thirty seconds to the gas was due to disperse.