One Life Remaining (Portal Book 2)

by Mark J Maxwell

  She glanced at Stephen Cunningham, who then took over. ‘Thank you for your time, everyone. These meetings will be repeated on a daily basis until the situation had been resolved.’

  The scene before Louisa shimmered. She found herself once again in the blue room. The meeting could have ended better. But it could have gone so much worse. She knew she’d made an enemy of the NCA Director, but she didn’t care. Ben might still be arrested, but at least now he had a chance to make it into custody alive.

  For the moment it was all she could hope for.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Louisa considered returning to see Simon after the COBRA meeting. Instead she instructed her car to head home. She needed time to think. Did he truly believe they’d made a mistake splitting up? He’d been sure of his feelings back then as well, when he was still recovering from Benoit’s assault.

  For a man there’s nothing like illness or injury to spark a false need to commit.

  The thought came unbidden, and she wondered if she’d found the truth. The last time they’d broken up because of the media attention, and for their careers. Perhaps for Simon it had been a convenient excuse. Had he become bored? And would he eventually feel the same way again?

  But right now, relationship worries were at the very bottom of her priorities. Putting Simon to the back of her mind, she accessed the peaking newscasts and feeds and mirrored them onto the car’s windscreen. The bombing still dominated. Four people had died in total now, and many more still fought for their lives.

  A fresh news item caught her eye. The headline mentioned the Sons of Babel. The government had released a new statement. They’d named the Sons of Babel as being wanted for questioning in connection with the bombing. The government urged all members of the Multiverse clan to report to their nearest police station.

  The press release was good news, in a way. The NCA couldn’t very well gun them down if they gave themselves up peacefully. She thought back to the COBRA meeting. Why had the NCA Director been so keen for lethal force to be used against the clan? And how was MI6 involved? She considered calling Drew to see if he could shed any light on what was going on, then figured it would be a waste of time. He’d made himself clear at the hospital. He intended to keep her at arm’s length. And besides, she wasn’t sure she could really trust him. The NCA Director admitted to placing the Red Flag on Harrow’s profile. It was hard to believe Drew knew nothing about it.

  She scanned through the other peaking feeds. As ever, they offered a microcosm of prevailing public opinion. Sometimes public feeds fed off each other, especially if a singular opinion resonated. From what Louisa could see, the feeds had turned into the modern equivalent of a lynch mob, baying for clan’s blood. Baying for Ben’s blood. It proved tough reading. She disconnected for the rest of the journey.

  *

  Louisa and Charlie ate alone. Jess had gone into town to see a movie with friends. Charlie pushed his food around the plate with a fork. She’d made a chicken curry with microwave rice and sauce from a jar and thought it tasted all right, but she didn’t have the heart to bully him into finishing it.

  At least Jess had a distraction to keep her mind from Ben. Going to the cinema remained one of the few physical activities still popular with teenagers. Portal’s screencast producers were the first to realise the potential of combining entertainment dramas with implants. They recorded a series of screencasts using sense strips and then allowed viewers to jump into the action under full immersion. The audience was no longer limited to one or more camera angles. They could roam anywhere within the sense-captured screencast. Movie studios followed suit. They bought derelict cinemas and converted them to house dozens of sense rooms, each a larger version of the one Louisa used for the COBRA meeting. At home you could enter a screencast with your friends using implants, but everyone would be represented via their avatars. The cinema allowed Jess and her friends enter the movie together as a group, and they loved it.

  ‘They’re saying Ben’s a terrorist, Mum.’

  ‘Who’s they?’ Louisa demanded.

  ‘I don’t know.’ Charlie pointed at the wall screen where a newscast was covering the Portal attack. ‘Everyone.’

  By the time Louisa arrived home the clan’s membership list had leaked. They were teenagers mostly, although the NCA Director had been correct in his assertion. Legally they were all adults.

  ‘Ben’s not a terrorist, honey. He’s mixed up with some bad people, that’s all.’

  Charlie remained glum. She wasn’t sure she’d convinced herself either. She couldn’t stop thinking about Henry Booth, and the split second prior to the bomb detonating. Henry hadn’t looked confused, or even afraid. She was reminded of Killian Baker’s expression when he pulled the trigger. Resolute. Determined.

  The newscast anchor was interviewing Dr Alan Finch, a psychologist. Bespectacled and with long hair tied in a ponytail, he could barely contain his excitement at being on a prominent newscast. His round-rimmed spectacles were an affectation, most likely, as optical implants corrected all but the most serious eye conditions. He’d written a book on Portal game culture and the bombing had thrust him into the spotlight.

  ‘I spent months studying the behaviour of Multiverse users when researching the book.’ He brandished a hard copy. ‘The interactions between players are fascinating.’

  ‘In what way, Doctor?’ the newscast anchor asked.

  ‘The conversation you and I are having is clearly demarcated by social convention and instinct. I say something, you consider it, and respond. Now consider a forum where there are a thousands of such speakers, or hundreds of thousands. What do you suppose happens then?’

  ‘Chaos, I would imagine.’

  ‘You’d think so, wouldn’t you?’ The doctor smiled knowingly. ‘In reality, such large groupings of individuals within Multiverse develop a pattern of interaction which repeats itself each time a new gaming session is started. I contend this is because of the games’ unique social environment. You see, only a small number of players’ statements are displayed at any one time. Perhaps ten to twenty.’

  ‘But how do conversations even develop in such an arena? Surely the participants end up talking over one another.’

  ‘Actually what happens is that some player’s statements are deemed more important than others and gain traction. It all comes down to who the group as a whole regards as being worthy of their attention. If you could physically see the players, you might use their appearance as a basis. However without knowing who you’re conversing with, you’d have to base your decision purely on their statements.’ The doctor held up his book and prodded the cover. Louisa noticed now it was a prop, not a real paper book at all. ‘In my book I describe a clear link between radical opinions and topic popularity. Time and time again in-game interactions are driven by extreme views.’

  ‘You’re saying radicalism surfaces within Multiverse games?’

  ‘Exactly. The formation of a clan like the Sons of Babel wasn’t a surprise to me at all. It’s a natural result of the toxic environment Multiverse has engendered.’

  ‘What do you suggest then, Doctor? Should the government impose restrictions on these Multiverse clans?’

  ‘I think the Sons of Babel will prove to be the tip of a very large iceberg. As a collective they formed because they share the most extreme views within the Portal community. Censoring a single clan won’t have a discernible effect. The Sons of Babel are the head of a hydra. Lop it off and two more will spring up in its place. The government needs to address the root cause, the games themselves.’

  ‘Utter crap,’ Charlie muttered.

  Louisa turned the volume down. ‘Sorry, what did you say?’

  ‘He’s talking utter crap. The in-game chats take place amongst players waiting to respawn. They’re blowing off steam. No one pays any real attention to them.’

  Louisa wasn’t so sure. The doctor’s theory was gaining traction on public feeds. ‘Perhaps you should take a break from
your Multiverse games for a while.’

  Charlie rolled his eyes. ‘I didn’t think you’d buy into mass hysteria, Mum.’

  Louisa smiled. She wondered where Charlie had picked up the term. ‘Why don’t you play one of your other Portal games?’

  ‘Because they’re boring. The Multiverse games are so much better.’

  ‘What makes them better?’

  Charlie gave her a suspicious look. ‘You’ve never been interested in my games before.’

  ‘I’m serious. I want to know.’

  ‘Well, for one thing, the Multiverse games adapt to the individual player. Every choice you make inside the game alters your future sessions.’

  ‘What do you mean, the games adapt?’

  ‘They have random events which trigger profile changes. Say if you get offered drugs.’

  Louisa set down her fork. ‘You’ve been offered drugs in a Multiverse game?’

  ‘Okay, yeah, but that’s not a good example. Let’s say you do something bad in a game. Your profile remembers what you’ve done. The next time you play, the NPCs react differently and you get offered different side quests. No one ever ends up having the same game in Multiverse. They’re not even called game sessions any more. They’re episodes, like you’re part of a story.’

  It sounded like the Multiverse profiles were similar in a lot of ways to those maintained by Portal. They were building a picture of their players to tailor the content they served. She’d never been keen on Portal monitoring her children, and now it seemed Multiverse was doing the same. ‘Please, stay off Multiverse for a little while, will you? Until we have Ben back?’

  Charlie sighed. ‘All right.’

  The newscast had cut to a sound byte from the Prime Minister. She’d made a statement earlier denouncing the bombing as an act of terrorism and vowed to do use any and all means possible to bring them to justice. No doubt journalists were already digging into the clan members’ pasts. It wouldn’t be long before they linked her with Ben. Fostering records would show she took him in. Then the guerrilla casters would set up camp outside her house again, just like after the Portal leak. Perhaps the kids should go and stay with John for a while.

  ‘If Ben joined the Sons of Babel,’ Charlie said, ‘it’s because he had a good reason.’

  Louisa gave him a sharp look. ‘Do you know what his reason might be?’

  ‘Well, no, but I’m sure he had a good one.’

  It never occurred to Louisa that there was a motive behind Ben joining the clan. Then a thought occurred to her. Did Ben blame Portal for what happened to Claire? He’d never expressed any desire for revenge against Portal before, even if Benoit Walsh was responsible for Claire’s death. And the experiments didn’t stop with Claire. Had Ben found out about those experiments too? Or had Spencer Harrow told him?

  No, it didn’t make sense. Ben wouldn’t help Harrow if he knew the man had experimented on people. But what if he doesn’t know Harrow ran the trials?

  Was she blinkered by her feelings for Ben? Had she lost her objectivity? If she’d never met Ben before, and he was presented to her as a suspect, would she still be so convinced of his innocence?

  Louisa stared down at her plate. She’d lost her appetite now too.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  ‘Shouldn’t you be at work?’ Simon stood beside his bed, a hand resting on the metal frame for balance. He flashed Louisa an infuriating grin. ‘Not that I’m complaining.’

  ‘I took the rest of the week off.’ It was close to the truth. She’d woken to a meeting request from DCI Lenihan. The DCI said he’d been instructed to ensure she wasn’t on active duty while she “continued to represent Portal” at the COBRA meetings. He suggested she extend her leave of absence. She didn’t blame her boss. The commissioner had decided she was too much of a liability and wanted to put some distance between her and the MET. ‘Shouldn’t you be in bed?’

  ‘The sooner I’m mobile the sooner I can get out of here.’ He winced and placed his palms over his temples.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Louisa rushed to his side and helped lower him into a chair. ‘Do you want me to fetch a doctor?’

  ‘I’m fine. Sometimes it feels like a nail hammering into my skull. It’ll pass.’

  Louisa watched him with concern. ‘You might fool the nurses but I know you, Simon. No more work when you’re supposed to be sleeping. Lay off the implants.’

  ‘Yeah, yeah.’ After a few moments his pain appeared to lessen and he lowered his hands. ‘I see the NCA are still running the show.’ Simon nodded to a wall screen where the NCA Director General was holding a press conference. ‘Did you mention Harrow?’

  ‘I did.’

  ‘His clinical trials must have caused a few ripples. Did anyone else back up the NCA Director?’

  Louisa nodded. ‘The MI6 Chief said he had full confidence in the NCA.’

  ‘I bet he does.’ Simon didn’t appear fazed by the news.

  ‘You suspected MI6 would be mixed up in this, didn’t you?’

  ‘They were the most likely candidate. I’ve been digging around since we last talked. The Home Secretary has ordered a cost benefit analysis of the NCA. In other words, the agency’s on thin ice. There’s a good chance their funding will be redistributed in the next budget.’

  ‘They’re going to be shut down?’

  ‘It looks that way. And this time it won’t be a rebranding exercise like with SOCA. They’ll be gone for good.’

  ‘But why would MI6 get into bed with an agency that’s about to go under?’

  ‘They wouldn’t. Unless, of course, the NCA somehow justified the vast amounts of taxpayers’ money keeping them operational. Like if they redeemed themselves by neutralising a terrorist threat.’

  ‘Simon.’ Louisa couldn’t keep the disbelief from her voice. ‘You’re not saying MI6 orchestrated the bombing to give the NCA a shot in the arm, are you?’

  He shook his head. ‘Even I don’t think they’re capable of that. But if they aren’t behind the Sons, they’re still taking advantage of the situation. Consider this, if the NCA arrested the clan two days ago would they have ranked at all on peaking news feeds?’

  ‘You think they were biding their time until the clan became more of a threat?’

  Simon shrugged. ‘If they swoop in now and stop the clan they’ll be hailed as heroes. Then if the Home Secretary cut their funding there’ll be an outcry.’

  ‘Let’s say you’re right and MI6 are helping the NCA take down the clan. What then? What do MI6 gain from this? You said before the intelligence services already have their hooks in the NCA.’

  ‘The decision’s already been made to cut the intelligence budget next year. There’s always enough strife abroad to safeguard MI6’s funding. If the NCA isn’t axed then the cuts will have to be made elsewhere. Like MI5, for example.’

  ‘I doubt very much the government would disband MI5.’

  ‘Perhaps not disband them, but what will happen if the NCA proves to be just as effective as MI5 in combatting threats to national security? The NCA budget is a drop in the ocean compared to MI5’s. What would be the point in running MI5 at full capacity if the NCA could do their job for a fraction of the cost?’

  Louisa realised what Simon was getting at. ‘If the NCA takes over from MI5, then MI6 will be in control from behind the scenes.’

  ‘It’s perfect, really. MI6 and MI5 have always been rivals. This way, MI6 get what they want, and to all outward appearances a balance is still maintained. MI6 and MI5 have been kept separate by every government since their formation for one very good reason: it doesn’t pay for too much power to be placed in the hands of a single intelligence service. The two operate under a very different mindset. MI5 is the shield, protecting British citizens at home. MI6 is the sword, supplying the military with the intelligence they need to neutralise foreign threats. If MI6 handles domestic security, how long would it be before they start viewing British citizens as the enemy?’

  Louisa k
new firsthand MI6 capabilities. They’d failed to respect the bounds of their operational remit in the past, so why would they have any qualms about using the NCA to do their work for them? ‘The NCA Red Flagged Harrow’s profile. If they were monitoring Harrow they could have received prior warning.’

  ‘The Red Flag might signify something more sinister. Remember Kane Shepherd? What if Harrow is one of theirs?’

  Louisa shuddered. Kane Shepherd still gave her nightmares. ‘So now we’re back to saying MI6 is behind the Portal bombing?’

  ‘Why not? MI6 wouldn’t shed a tear if I’m out of the picture.’

  Louisa thought back to the bombing. Henry Booth had been staring at Simon. Was Simon the target all along? ‘But the NCA wanted authorisation for preemptive lethal force from the Prime Minister. If MI6 had an operative embedded in the clan, why would the NCA be so keen to have him killed?’

  Simon shifted in the chair. He winced and touched the dressing taped to his side. ‘You’re right. We’re missing something. But I’m certain MI6 is in this up to their necks.’

  Louisa wasn’t ready to believe the worst yet. Even if MI6 wanted MI5 out of the picture, or reduced in status, she didn’t think they were capable of the Portal bombing.

  ‘Another two have died.’ Simon stared at the wall screen showing the Portal headquarters. From the outside, the damage didn’t look too bad. Few of the exterior windows had shattered. The large domed lobby allowed the blast wave to dissipate, resulting in superficial damage to the building. ‘They were both Portal staff. In their early twenties. Fresh out of university.’

  ‘This isn’t your fault, Simon.’

  ‘It’s not that. I’ve been trying to understand Henry Booth’s motivations. The newscasts are saying how awful the bombing was, and how terrible the clan was for carrying it out, but none of them have examined how it came to be. What was going on inside Booth’s head?’