Devan nodded, “And now there’s a bigger price to pay.”
“Don’t do it.”
“If you leave the district in the next forty-eight hours, I won’t have to.”
Nikoli put his hand up to his face. “But, we can’t move that quickly. There are transit papers to organise. I’ve got a house.”
“There are always ways for a man with your contacts.”
“Devan, I’m begging you.”
“You understand the penalty for being an unregistered telepath don’t you?”
Ruby knew that he did. It would be messy. For Nikoli and those close to him. If he was lucky, they’d give him the chance to sign the register but that meant a life monitored by OsMiTech and routine scanning by OsMiTech telepaths. And then, his movements would be restricted. If he thought it was difficult enough to get transit papers now, as a telepath that became ten times worse. The reins were always tight at OsMiTech.
He could take the diminishment option. But, they might be hard on him and dish out a prison sentence as well. His career would be over. Likely his marriage too. And depending on how reckless they were with the diminishment, he might spend the rest of his life being cared for by the state.
“You will burn in hell,” Nikoli spat.
“I’ll save you a seat,” Devan replied, and then as calmly as if he’d just concluded a minor business negotiation, he turned to the doors and opened them back out into the event. The noise of the event came through to the drone that had now focused exclusively on Nikoli.
Ruby froze the security footage on the image of Nikoli staring forlornly at the floor. What the hell had he been thinking to take on the country’s most powerful man? Nikoli never stood a chance.
3:39 PM
Ruby stared at the screen unsure of her next move. The feed was hard evidence that Devan had blackmailed her friend. The police would need to see this. She took her HALO and placed it beside the access point. There was a lightness in her chest as the adrenaline rush hit her. She drew in a long breath then input the instructions that would transfer the feed to her personal stack.
The lights flickered, then went out. The access point display wobbled as if it had been struck.
Ruby glanced at the door.
What the hell was happening?
The air conditioning units died. Everything went silent. With a crash, the door to the office opened and Julia Williams burst in, a security guard in tow.
“Get her away from that terminal,” she barked at the security guard.
“What’s going on,” Ruby cried, as the guard snatched Ruby’s HALO from the desk and slipped it into his pocket. “Give me that back!”
“Don’t play innocent. We’ve had a breach. Someone’s broken through the security protocols.”
“It’s nothing to do with me.”
But the security guard had already gripped her upper arms and was pulling her backwards, away from the access point. There was activity on the screen. Ruby could feel her chest tighten as she watched her find on the screen.
“Someone’s deleting it. You’ve got to stop them.”
Julia brushed in front of Ruby and took the seat, eyes poring over the access point.
“What have you done?” she snapped accusingly. “You’re deleting our security feeds.”
“It’s not me. I swear. I’ve only just found them.”
Julia’s fingers danced over the keyboard and her shoulders hunched as she worked. Ruby saw the feed she’d just watched revert to its file icon, then vanish from the screen. “Stop it,” Julia said at Ruby. “You’re deleting the entire security stack.”
Ruby struggled against the guard’s grip. His fingers dug into her arms painfully. Her mind raced, searching for answers, but nothing useful came to the surface. Instead, she watched on helplessly as the entire security stack was scrubbed whilst Julia struggled and failed to regain control.
“It’s all gone,” Julia said as she stood and squared up to Ruby.
“Take your hands off me. I’m a government employee. You can’t treat me like this.” Ruby twisted as she spoke but the guard didn’t seem to care, the grips just got tighter.
“You were looking for a breach in our security and it seems you created one. I don’t know what this is about, but you’re in a lot of trouble, and you will not be able to hide behind your government badge.”
“Julia, listen, please. Mrs Williams—that wasn’t my doing. I’m trying to find out why my friend was murdered.”
Julia stared at her with her jaw set. “Under the citizen’s charter, section fourteen, I’m arresting you until the police arrive.”
Ruby’s stomach curled. The skin on the back of her neck suddenly warm. “Police. Why? I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“You’ve no shame, have you? I’ve just caught you wiping our security feeds.”
“That wasn’t me.” Ruby remembered the flickering lights, the air conditioning. “You’ve been the victim of a forced attack. Whoever it was found a way to attack your main environment system first. Once through that, it was easy to trace their way down to the security footage.”
“You sound like you know a lot about it.”
Ruby yanked her hands from the guard’s grip and stood in front of Julia, leaning in. “It’s part of my job to know this. You’ve been attacked from the outside.”
“Ridiculous. You’ll say anything.”
“It’s the truth.”
Julia glared at Ruby, her nostrils flaring as she appraised the woman. “We’ll see what the police have to say.” She turned and left the room, gesturing that the security guard should follow. For a moment, Ruby stood and watched them, wondering why she was suddenly being ignored. There was a click in the door. They’d locked her in.
Ruby closed her eyes and caught her breath. She needed to think. Devan was blackmailing Nikoli. Did that make it more likely that Devan Oster could be behind Nikoli’s murder? Nikoli must have been terrified when Devan turned the tables on him like that. No wonder he’d been in such a bizarre mood when he’d left the event.
Ruby tried the window catches, but they were locked. The sun was out, throwing distorted light through the patterned glass. Ruby pulled the chair from under the desk and sat facing the door.
What the hell are you doing?
She felt for her HALO, ready to call Glynn, then remembered the guard had confiscated it. She settled back on the chair and waited.
Half an hour passed before she heard footsteps approach. The door clicked open and Julia Williams entered, swiftly followed by Glynn. Ruby’s heart skipped a beat as she saw his solemn expression. If the floor opened a big enough hole, she’d have gladly let it swallow her up.
“I can explain,” she began, but he put a hand up to silence her.
“I don’t want to hear it.” His tone reminded her of the old headmaster who’d given her detention for building a hacking bot in year twelve.
Glynn addressed Julia with a half-hearted smile. “Thank you.”
“I want you both gone.” Julia shot a look of irritation at Ruby, then handed Ruby back her confiscated HALO.
A quick nod of the head and Ruby followed Glynn out into the corridor, then the events hall beyond.
“We can’t go,” Ruby insisted, twisting her body as if to go back inside.
“We’re going,” Glynn said, pulling at her sleeve. “You’re lucky the police deferred to me or you’d be on the way to the police station.”
Ruby allowed her boss to escort her out into the street, aware of the looks she was getting from the centre’s employees. “Glynn, I’ve seen something important.”
He kept his grip on her arm, and she snatched it from him. He stopped. She stopped. Glynn glared down at her. The six-inch height difference seeming much greater. “Why are you doing this? They’ll have you arrested.”
“It was on their security feed,” she replied. A security drone was hovering close by, so she headed for the exit. Glynn followed.
The sun hid b
ehind a low-lying cloud and the air had turned chilly. Ruby shivered. This had become much more difficult than it should have been. She had a lead and every moment away from that security feed increased the risk that something might happen to it. But she had to be convincing with Glynn or she would not be able to get him to do anything about it.
They stopped by the low running wall surrounding an open courtyard on the main street. Children were playing in the floor-level fountains that sprayed up in giant arcs at random intervals.
Glynn put a hand on Ruby’s arm. It felt hot and intrusive, but she didn’t move it away. Her boss may not be the kindest man on the planet, but she’d always argue that he was at least fair. Many would have sacked her already before giving her the chance to speak.
“Are you going to tell me what you were doing there?”
“I wanted to find out about the confrontation Nikoli had with Devan on the night of the InfiniteYou launch. After Nikoli caused a scene in the middle of the drinks reception, they went off together. I put it in my report.”
“Yes, I remember.”
“I wanted to see what the arts centre security drones picked up. See if they’d caught anything we missed.”
Glynn was shaking his head as she was telling him this. “God’s sake, Ruby. No wonder that woman’s pissed.”
“Forget about Julia Williams—she’s a nobody. I’m trying to tell you what I found on the feeds. Devan was blackmailing Nikoli. He wanted Nikoli out of the district.”
“Why would he do that?”
Ruby considered this. Did Glynn need to know about Candice and the affair? Based on how her feelings had changed about Nikoli since finding out, she thought it better to avoid mentioning that transgression. That was Nikoli’s business. But, the other thing… It was too important to ignore.
“Devan claimed that Nikoli was an unregistered teep.”
Glynn’s reaction wasn’t what she’d expected. He pulled a curious face. “You can’t be serious.”
“He said he had evidence.”
“What evidence could he have?”
“Jeez, I don’t know. He has a thousand telepaths at his immediate disposal.”
“You’re wrong, Ruby.”
Ruby wanted to punch Glynn for being so obstructive. This wasn’t how it was meant to be. She was expecting to be thanked for her dedication to the truth and for hunting the answers the police had so far failed to retrieve.
“I’m not wrong. I’ve seen the feed.”
“Then Devan was lying.”
“Why would he lie?” Ruby demanded. “They were on their own in a private room. He had no reason to lie.”
“I disagree. If he was hoping for a reaction from Nikoli, he got one. Nikoli knew what happened to unregistered telepaths. Even the rumour he was one, could have seen him thrown out of the department whilst he was investigated. Mud sticks. What would it have done to his family?”
“Nikoli admitted it.”
Glynn hesitated. His dark brown eyes held her gaze, and she got a sense of what was going on in his head. Not telepathy, but empathy.
“He admitted it?” Glynn repeated, running his hand through his tousled hair.
“Yes, it was on the feed. Devan confronted Nikoli about being a telepath and Nikoli admitted it. He knew what would happen. That’s why he agreed to whatever Devan demanded. The night he went home he was scared that the truth would come out. He was prepared to run.”
“But that isn’t what happened. Someone stopped him.” Glynn turned and leant on the wall gazing out across the courtyard, watching the fountain and the kids still playing through it. “You think Devan had something to do with his murder?”
“It’s not a coincidence that this argument happened and then Nikoli wound up dead hours later.”
“But if Nikoli was doing what Devan wanted, why did he have him killed?”
Yeah, that was the bit that had thrown Ruby. If only they had access to the crime scene at Nikoli’s house, perhaps there’d be something amongst that lot that would help explain. “I don’t know,” was the only answer she could give to Glynn. Ruby watched Glynn with deep interest. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I know this isn’t easy.”
The breeze had picked up and made the fine hairs on the back of her neck quiver. With the sun out and the sound of kids playing, it would be easy to lie back on one of these benches and let the lazy summer afternoon cloak her in its simplicity.
“Do you know what will happen if word gets out that Nikoli was an unregistered telepath?” Glynn asked.
“Well, an investigation.”
“That’s the start of it, for sure. An investigation into Nikoli’s past. A focus on the man assigned to work at OsMiTech monitoring the registration process whilst being an unregistered teep himself. And then what? You think they’ll let the matter drop? The focus will shift. The next question to ask is how he could remain undetected whilst working in our department. They’ll tear us to pieces looking for their answers.”
Ruby realised that whilst Glynn may mourn the loss of a friend, his loyalty lay wider. “Glynn, we’re talking about finding Nikoli’s killer. Everything else is secondary.”
He looked at her. There was the determination she expected from her boss but it was tainted by a sadness too. “Who else was involved? Do you see how it’s too incredible that we didn’t know, that they’ll believe we had to have known? And when the media gets hold of the story or worse yet Growden’s group, there’ll be the need for scapegoats and the buck stops at the top.”
“You bastard,” she said finally when he’d finished talking. “You’re not seriously suggesting we brush this under the carpet.”
“It will not help catch his killer.”
“It might. I’ve seen evidence that Devan Oster was blackmailing a man who was killed less than twelve hours later. If I worked for the police that’s something I’d investigate.”
“But you don’t work for the police, Ruby. You work for me.”
Ruby gripped the edge of her shirt and pulled it straight. He was really doing this—putting the future of the department against the truth. If she was to stand a chance to find Nikoli’s killer, she would have to do this on her own.
Thursday, 2 May 2115
6:30 AM
Ruby woke to the warmth of Fin behind her, holding her tight. Her head was thumping and her mouth dry and feeling his body beside her, she realised that the trial separation would never work. She was either with Fin or she wasn’t. Her alarm hadn’t gone off, and it took her a few seconds to remember that she’d taken the day off and she could stay in bed for as long as she wanted.
As long as they both wanted.
Fin snored, and she gently extricated herself from his firm grip, slipping out from the covers. Carefully, so as not to disturb Fin, she pulled her shorts and running vest from the radiator. Her trainers still had yesterday’s socks in them but she thought what the hell and put them on anyway. Outside the flat, she popped some buds into her ears and tuned her HALO to her running playlist and set off towards the trail. She turned her music up and let the running agent monitor her pace.
Several runners were out on the trail already and she nodded as she passed them. Her feet kicked up dirt and occasionally, when she didn't pay attention to her footwork, she skidded on loose stones. Running under the tree canopies, she took a moment to drink in the majesty of the great pines that had been planted in this once empty woodland area. The great pines, the trees of the dead, were a lost species brought back from the brink of extinction and now genetically enhanced to ensure their survival no matter what environmental factors the world threw at them. They had a smell that tainted the air and depending on the time of day it either reminded her of pine or liquorice. Everybody smelled something different in the presence of the pines and that’s what made them so special—so magical. Farmland had been cleared for the plantation and over the last thirty years, the trees had become immense.
The trail snaked around the trees, blending into
the landscape like a dried riverbed that had always been there. Junctions every few hundred metres gave her choices, but she kept her usual route; the one she knew like the back of her hand.
It frightened her then that after twenty minutes she was utterly lost.
The canopy had become denser, cutting off the sunlight and deadening sound, creating an eerie otherworldly place that shouldn’t exist outside dreams. A noise made her turn.
She gasped and took a step back, bumping into the tree behind her before taking in the fenced-off zone and the signs and the thick cable that topped off the barbed wire and the great black bark fingers reaching into the sky.
The elder trees were magnificent. She glanced to her left and right, not clear how much trouble she was in for getting this close to the restricted zone. She wanted to sit and gaze up into the lofty branches and marvel at the unfathomable black crust that made these trees look like they’d been ripped from tar.
“They are striking aren’t they?”
Ruby scrambled to her feet. “You!” she said indignantly. “What the hell are you doing following me?” And her next thought was that he’d someone manipulated her, planted a suggestion that got her to come this way, off the beaten path. But that was ridiculous. No one could do that.
The snoop was casually dressed today in brown khakis and a light-blue t-shirt. The look reminded her of the college kids she’d pass on her way to work.
“Who said I’m following you?” he said, gazing into the depths of the fenced-off section. “I used to come here a lot as a boy. When they were first planting this area. To see them grow metres in a matter of weeks, was extraordinary. I’d seen nothing like it. We’re such a clever species aren’t we?”
Ruby didn’t feel that necessitated an answer. “Don’t pretend this is some fortunate coincidence.”
He studied her, shrugged. “What can you do? I’m just eager to talk to you away from prying ears.”
She thought of her HALO and felt its rim with her finger.
“You’re not going to be able to call anyone.”
Ruby checked the status of the HALO. No signal. “Have you done that?”
The Infinity Mainframe (Tombs Rising Book 3) Page 7