by Karen King
“That’s exactly what you don’t want to do,” the smaller man butted in. “In fact if you want to see your son alive again, we advise you not to talk about this case to anyone.” He looked over at me again. “And you’re best keeping away from that Harving lad, young lady. He’s a troublemaker. Mixing with him could be dangerous for you.”
Dad stepped in front of me. “Are you threatening us?” he demanded.
“I’m merely giving you some advice, sir.” The bald man spoke quietly but there was no mistaking the underlying menace in his voice. “Leave the LEF to look for your son. They’re the experts. It will be safer for everyone.”
The other man nodded. “Best take our advice. And just to make sure you do, we’ll be monitoring all your e-activities and will close your networks down if necessary. Now do continue with your meal. We’ll see ourselves out.”
We all watched in silence as the bald man opened the front door and they both walked out, pulling it shut behind them. Then, as one, we hurried in the living room to peer out of the window just in time to see them get into a black saloon and drive away.
“I don’t understand why they’re so annoyed,” Mum said. “Why don’t they want us to search for Josh or tell anyone about the other missing children?”
“Maybe they’re scared that we’ll find something out we shouldn’t,” I replied, angry at being ordered about.
Mum frowned. “Do you think they’re right, Neil? Do you think that by trying to get publicity we’re putting Josh in danger? We don’t know the mental state of the person who’s taken him. If they feel they’re about to be captured, they might harm Josh...kill him even.” Her voice quivered.
Dad put his arm around her shoulder. “Don’t work yourself into a state thinking like that. We’ve got to stay positive.” He turned to me. “You’d better heed their warning, Morgan. No more amateur detective work, right? Leave it to the LEF and keep away from that boy for a while. I don’t want you getting into any trouble.”
“But…”
Dad put up his hand to silence me. “No arguments. I mean it. Your mother and I have enough on our hands without having to worry about you. I forbid you to contact that boy anymore. Do you understand?”
I was fuming and had no intention of letting those bullying officials, or Dad, stop me from talking to Jamie or looking for Josh. But I couldn’t let Dad know that. As he said, he and Mum had enough to cope with. “Ok, but I don’t like it.” I scowled, knowing they’d be suspicious if I gave in too easily.
“I know. And I don’t like asking you to do it, but I want to keep you safe.” Dad put his other arm around my shoulder. “There’s something fishy going on and I intend to get to the bottom of it. Don’t worry, we’re not giving up on Josh, but please keep out of it. It’s too dangerous.”
****
I messaged Summer to tell her about the Ministry men’s visit and she messaged right back to say she was on her way round. Half-an-hour later, we sat on my bed drinking fruit smoothies and discussing the latest developments. Summer said that Leo just had a call from his Chief Superintendent friend asking him to make sure Summer didn’t interfere with the LEF’s ‘line of investigation’ any further.
“Leo and Tamara made me promise not to do anything else to publicize the disappearances. They believe Sir Simon that it will jeopardise the investigation,” she explained.
“It makes me wonder what they’ve got to hide...” Then a thought occurred to me. “You don’t think the Ministry has got anything to do with it, do you?” I jumped up off the bed and paced around, waving my arms. “I mean, they’re always trying to get Mum and Dad to put Josh in a RLC. What if they’re kidnapping any RAD children whose parents won’t agree to do it? Maybe they’re keeping them somewhere, out of the public gaze.”
I got so carried away that I forgot I was holding my smoothie and it splashed over the carpet. Luckily, my glass was almost empty. I put it down on the table.
“Don’t be silly. Of course the Ministry hasn’t anything to do with the kidnappings,” Summer replied.
“Then why don’t they want anyone to know about all the missing RADS?” I demanded.
“Perhaps they think it will make them look incompetent.” She got up. “Let’s ask Jamie if they’ve been to see him too.”
“I’ve messaged him but he hasn’t replied yet.”
Just then my squilb beeped as a message came in. It was from Jamie.
Come online. Need 2 spk 2U. J.
I showed it to Summer, then messaged back. Login now. I grabbed the remote and switched on the webscreen.
As the vid link flashed onto the screen Jamie’s face came into focus. “Hi, Morgan.”
“Hi,” I smiled. “Summer’s here too.”
Summer leaned over my shoulder and waved. “Hi Jamie.” She seemed to have gotten over her initial dislike of him.
“Hello Summer.” He raised his hand in greeting. “Listen,” he leaned forward a little, as if he was whispering to us. “I had a visit from those Ministry guys too. They said I had to close down my website.”
“What!” Summer and I exchanged incredulous glances, then looked back at Jamie. “Why?” I demanded.
“Because they said that I’m drawing too much attention to the disappearances and could be endangering the lives of Holly and the other missing children.”
“That’s more or less what they said to us,” I told him, filling him in on the visit we had.
“Well it’s a load of rubbish. What they mean is they don’t like the way I’m publicizing the fact that they’re not doing anything about these kids disappearing simply because they’re RADS. I’m showing them up for what they are.”
But I wasn’t sure it was as simple as that. “My parents are totally freaked by all this,” I said. “The men from the Ministry worried them and they’ve forbidden me to contact you. I was just telling Summer that I think the Ministry are hiding something.”
“Maybe they’re scared what you’ll find out,” suggested Summer. “Maybe there are more children missing than we think. That would explain why the Ministry want us to back off.”
I shook my head. “It’s more than that, I’m sure it is. I feel that we’re onto something mega, and we can’t let them make us back off. Maybe they’re not involved in the actual kidnappings, but they’re hiding something or those two heavies wouldn’t have been sent to put the frighteners on us.”
“I’m with you on that,” Jamie said.
“What else can we do?” Summer asked me. “I mean, your dad’s tried touring the country looking for Josh, we’ve sent out hi-wave messages, put up PLS ads, got it on the E-news, but we’re still no closer to finding Josh or the others. Whoever’s taken them has covered their tracks well.”
“Josh, Holly and all the other children can’t just disappear,” I said. “They’ve got to be somewhere and we’ve got to keep looking until we find them.”
Chapter Eight
“There’s something else we’ve got to do too,” Jamie said.
“What’s that?” I asked, turning my attention back to his image on the webscreen.
“Warn other parents with disabled children what’s going on. Tell them to keep an eye on their kids.”
“And how are we going to do that?” I asked.
“There should be a list of RAD children on the Public Welfare database,” Summer butted in. “I don’t know how we can get hold of it, though. It’ll be covered by the Restricted Information Act and there’s no way I could persuade Leo to give it to us now that Sir Simon has warned us off.”
“Could you go onto his computer and get the information yourself?” I asked.
“Sorry, but Leo’s computer is networked to the PW server and it’s protected by iris-security so I won’t be able to log on.”
My dad’s computer was the same. All official computer networks operated on iris scan technology. Which meant that Leo had to put his face close to the screen so that the computer could read his iris print and confirm
his identity.
Mum said that when she was younger, she had to remember passwords but people kept forgetting them, which was a hassle. And they weren’t much protection against hackers. Once a gang of cyber crooks hacked into the central banking system and stole millions of pounds, so the Ministry had to come up with something more secure. Fingerprint scans were used for some computer systems, but iris scans were considered even safer. So the Ministry and banks always used them.
“I might be able to get around that, but I’d need some personal details about your dad, Summer,” Jamie said.
Summer raised an eyebrow, and shot me a quick glance. I guessed what she was thinking: how come Jamie knew all this stuff about hacking into websites?
“What sort of personal information?” she asked, looking a bit wary.
“His full name, the department he works for, position held, date of birth and PI number for a start. Could you give me those?”
It was asking an awful lot from Summer--to sneak around and get her dad’s private information, then help Jamie hack into his computer. Would she do it? Her parents would go berserk if they found out. But I knew that I would do it for her if it was Kyle who had been kidnapped.
Summer didn’t hesitate. “Sure,” she agreed. “I’ll do anything to try and stop those sickos from taking another child. I don’t have all the info though. I know Leo’s birthday, but not the year he was born, and I know what hospital he works at but not the department or position held. And, of course, I don’t know his PI number.”
Everyone was allocated a Personal Identity number when they were born and kept the same PI number all their lives. I wasn’t surprised that Summer didn’t know much about her dad’s work. I hardly knew anything about my parents’ jobs. I knew the name of the solar panel firm Dad worked for, but not exactly what he did. And I knew Mum worked as a sort of web secretary for different firms but I’d no idea what she actually did either. I’d never really thought about their lives. They were just my parents, who were a bit of a pain most of the time but handy to have around in a crisis.
“Do you reckon you can find out the rest?” I asked her.
“I think Tamara keeps a hard copy of all our personal records in the top drawer of her desk.” Summer turned to me. “Can you come around tomorrow? Everyone’s out for the day so I can get the information then.”
“Sure,” I agreed. I’d be glad to be out the house for a while. The atmosphere was still a bit strained. “What about you?” I asked Jamie. “Can you be online tomorrow?”
“Yep, I’m in all day so message me when you arrive and I’ll come online. It shouldn’t take me long to get into the computer, and download the info we need.”
I didn’t stop to think about the enormity of what we were doing. It wasn’t just Summer’s dad’s computer we were planning to hack into, but a Ministry-controlled website which was a serious offence. All I could think of was trying to save another child from Josh and Holly’s fate. And I’m sure Jamie and Summer were thinking the same.
****
“I’ve got the info, it was all in the top drawer, like I thought,” Summer said when I arrived the next morning. “Now let’s log on and tell Jamie to see if he can hack into the website.”
“Are you sure no one one’s likely to come home?” I asked as we stepped into the lift.
If we were caught hacking into Summer’s dad’s computer I’d probably be banned from her house forever. I thought of how mental my dad would go if I went on his computer without permission. Make that even stepped in his study without permission. Dad was mega-protective about his stuff. Leo was bound to be the same, if not worse. He was a top surgeon so would have all sorts of confidential information on his computer.
“Positive. Tamara’s at the Royal Theatre beautifying the celebs for the Gala tonight, she won’t be back until tomorrow and Leo’s taken Kyle to the Inventors’ Fayre. They’ll be gone hours,” Summer said.
“Wow! Didn’t you want to go with her?” I asked. If my mum was spending the day at the Royal Theatre mixing with the celebs, I’d have walked barefoot over hot coals to go with her.
“I can go another time,” Summer said. “This is more important I didn’t want to pass the chance of getting the house to ourselves for the afternoon.”
“Thanks.” I touched her arm.
She beamed. “Don’t be daft. That’s what friends are for. You’d help me if it was Kyle.”
It was strange to stop at the second floor instead of carrying onto the top where Summer had her rooms. I’d never been in her parents’ quarters before. Not that I saw anything except a tufted cream hall carpet and a row of sparkling white doors with gleaming gold handles.
Summer paused outside a door at the end of the hall. “Here we are, Leo’s study.” She turned the handle and we both stepped inside.
I couldn’t help staring. It was massive. The floor was covered in a thick, deep blue carpet that my feet sank into. There were bookcases all along one wall, a long, mahogany desk by the window with the latest UDS computer on it, a comfy black leather sofa with stainless steel legs in the middle of the room, a stainless steel filing cabinet, a beautifully sculptured mahogany coffee table and a top-of-the-range coffee machine. Amazing. My dad’s study was the poky spare bedroom, just big enough for a desk, filing cabinet and chair.
Before Summer booted up the computer, I phoned Jamie, as we’d arranged, so he could talk us through and selected the loudspeaker to make sure we could both hear his instructions.
His face came into focus on my squilb. “Hi Morgan. You all set?”
“Hi, Jamie. Summer’s just about to boot Leo’s computer.”
“Okay, tell her as soon as it starts to load to hit the SX button twice. That’ll take us into system set up where we can hopefully bypass the iris scan.”
I relayed the information to Summer. She did as Jamie said, and a black screen appeared with all sorts of mumbo-jumbo on it.
“Now what?” she asked.
“Have you got a black screen with numbers and stuff on it?” Jamie asked.
“Yep. I can’t make any sense of it,” I said.
Jamie could. He told me some commands for Summer to type in--which she freaked out about a bit but Jamie promised it wouldn’t permanently affect her dad’s computer in any way--and then another screen appeared asking for personal information. The exact information Jamie asked Summer to find out.
This guy knows what he’s doing I thought in admiration.
Summer keyed it all in, then the screen flashed again. The words Security Override Finished appeared, followed by another screen flash and finally the desktop. Success!
“You’ve done it!” I exclaimed.
It didn’t take us long to find the PW database. ‘Welcome Leo Maddison, Senior Consultant,’ appeared at the top of the screen, along with a message saying when he’d last logged on (the day before at four o’clock).
“We’re on!” Summer announced.
“Okay, now let’s see if we can find any information about the number of disabled children born in the last, let’s say, ten years,” Jamie said.
It would have been quicker to give Jamie remote access and let him control the computer, but that would have left a record and we couldn’t risk Leo finding out what we’d done. We had to do it the slow way.
Summer started clicking away and going into different screens while I looked over her shoulder. “Result!” she yelled in triumph as a chart headed UKRAD140 births over the last twenty years appeared on the screen followed by a long list of names and addresses.
A lump formed in my throat as I looked at them all. All of the children were RADS, like Josh, some with even worse disabilities than his. It was incredibly sad to discover how many children were in RLCs. I guessed it was probably the best place for them right then. At least they were safe.
“Let’s print out the list, then we can go through them all later,” I suggested.
Summer clicked the print icon and the printer whirre
d into life, churning out several sheets of paper, which we scooped up, careful to keep them in the right order.
“I’ll scan them and email them over to you on my computer,” she told Jamie. “Now if I close down this down it will start normally next time my dad switches it on, won’t it? He’ll kill me if he finds out what I’ve done.”
“Chill. It’ll ask for his iris scan, as usual. I didn’t permanently override it. I promise,” Jamie assured her.
Summer logged off the PW website and shutdown the computer. We hurried out of Leo’s study, making sure we closed the door behind us and then went up the stairs to Summer’s quarters. She quickly booted her computer, scanned in the database pages and emailed them over to Jamie, who was already waiting on Chatweb for us.
“Why don’t we meet up tomorrow?” I suggested. “It would be helpful to get together and look through the lists. We might be able to come up with ideas for getting more publicity.”
“I thought you were going back to school?” Summer asked.
I shook my head. “This is far more important. And I don’t think I could face going back to school until we’ve found Josh. You go, though. Me and Jamie can look through the lists.” There was no real need for Summer to be there and, to be honest, I was worried how much we’d involved her already. I liked Leo but I got the impression it was best not to cross him.
Summer shook her head. “We’ll get through the list quicker with three of us checking it so I’ll give school a miss. It’s only English and Art. Besides I can give you a lift to Jamie’s house.”
Jamie told us his address and we arranged to go over the next day in Summer’s eco-bug. Summer and I spent the rest of the afternoon checking through the list and putting a star by the names of children not in RLC’s. Those were the ones who might be in danger. Then she gave me a lift back home.
“You have the list,” she said, handing the papers to me. “Mum and Dad never go in my quarters. But even so I don’t want to risk them finding it.”