Day Zero

by James Swallow

  “Are you still… in the city?”

  Olly paused. Then, “Yes. Why?”

  “I know who killed Liz, and. I know where they are.”

  He frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m sending it through now.”

  Data flooded his display. A name, a face – and an address. His hands knotted into fists. “Coyle,” he murmured. “Hannah… thanks.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. Albion know as well. You might not have time.” Hannah paused. “Good luck, Olly.” She ended the call.

  Olly leaned back. “Bloo-dy hell,” he breathed.

  “Who was that?” Danny asked, leaning forward.

  Olly shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. I know where he is.”

  “The assassin?” Danny asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “So what’s the problem? Let’s go get him.” Ro cracked her knuckles.

  “Albion knows too.”

  Danny paused. “That explains some things. I bet that’s what Faulkner was busy with today. Trying to mount an op to hit this guy. Ten to one, he’s heading there right now.”

  “Then we need to get there first,” Olly said. “We catch this guy, maybe we can get him to talk. We could take down everyone involved in this, clear DedSec – hell, clear ourselves. And we stop him from killing any more people.”

  “I’m in,” Danny said. He looked at his sister.

  She sneered. “I was in like ten minutes ago. Keep up.”

  Danny looked at Olly. “We’re in.”

  “Well that’s a relief,” Olly said, laughing. He paused. “Only missing one thing.”

  Ro looked at him. “What?”

  “It’s just… in DedSec, we use these masks. Usually when it’s something big, you know?” He sat back. “We make our own. Rite of passage, innit?”

  Danny reached into the gear he’d scavenged from the APV and tossed something to Olly. Olly caught it and looked at what he held. “A gas mask?”

  “Practical and stylish.” Danny pulled out two more and tossed one to Ro. “May as well be prepared, right?” He began pulling things out of the bags – body armour, grenades, extra magazines for the ACR rifle and the Albion-issue P9 pistols.

  Olly stared. “That’s a lot of iron.”

  “Probably going to need it,” Ro said. She slid her P9 into the back of her waistband. “What’s the plan?” She and Danny looked at Olly.

  “Why are you asking me?” he protested.

  “Because I’m a grunt and she only knows how to hit things.” Danny checked the ACR. “You’re the one in DedSec. By default, that makes you in charge.”

  Olly frowned. “Fine.” He looked at the mask in his hand. “Okay. I’m in charge.”

  “Great. So what’s the plan?”

  Olly pulled on the mask.

  “We improvise.”

  29: The Pinnacle

  “The Pinnacle?” Ro said. “He’s in the fucking Pinnacle?” She sat in the back of a stolen transit van with Danny and Olly. Olly had hacked the van and they’d used it to navigate the increasingly blocked-off streets. It had still taken them longer than any of them liked, and they’d lost most of the day avoiding checkpoints.

  “Makes sense,” Danny said. He checked his rifle over again, moving his hands over the weapon without looking at it. “One of the tallest buildings in London. And it’s at the heart of everything. If I were a sniper, that’s where I’d set up.”

  “And it’s mostly empty, since the crash,” Olly said, tapping at the screen of his Optik. “Of the forty-one floors, over half are currently unoccupied. This guy Coyle is renting one of the uppermost storeys. Claims it’s a business, lot of equipment moving up, but nothing beyond that.”

  “He’s probably been here a few weeks,” Danny said. “Checking the lay of the land, making sure he had access to the right equipment. These guys – operators – they’re like fucking ghosts. Nobody knows they’re there until they do the job.”

  “Met many of them then?” Ro asked. She meant it to come out curious, but it sounded acidic. Danny frowned.

  “Not for sure. But… you hear things.”

  Ro leaned back, arms crossed. Impatience brewed in her gut. She wanted to do something, to hit something, but so far they’d just sat in the back of a van parked a few hundred metres from the Pinnacle’s entrance on St Mary Axe. Around them, from what Ro could tell, the city was tearing itself apart.

  Spontaneous protests were springing up everywhere, mostly in the form of flash mobs and street parties. Albion and the Met were doing their best to disperse these gatherings, but for every one they stamped on, two more sprouted elsewhere. Olly had implied that DedSec was behind some of these, but Ro suspected he was just putting on a brave front. He didn’t know for sure any more than she did.

  Danny and Olly kept talking, chewing over the problem. Ro closed her eyes, tuning them out. She wondered what she would do next, if they made through the next few hours in one piece. She couldn’t go back to the Kelleys, even if she’d been inclined to do so. Faulkner had never gotten around to debriefing her, but that didn’t mean much where Mary Kelley was concerned. She and Billy would assume Ro had talked, and they’d top her if they got the chance. Maybe Danny was right and they should leave.

  But not forever. Just long enough. Then she’d come back and settle up. She owed Billy Bricks a slap, and Mary Kelley as well. And Faulkner, come to that. She glanced at Olly and wondered if DedSec were looking for new members. She wasn’t any good with computers, but she could learn. And she could fight. Something told her they were going to need fighters soon.

  Danny snapped his fingers in front of her face, startling her. “Oi, you listening?”

  “Yeah,” she said, swatting his hand aside. “You two are talking bollocks, when we should be going in there. Building is empty right now, yeah?”

  “Yeah,” Olly said. “Most everything inside closed early today. Might be some people in the offices, security, that sort of thing though…”

  Ro shrugged. “Nothing we can’t handle. We know where we’re going. Let’s go.”

  Danny shook his head. “And do what?”

  “Punch the fucker in the bonce, what else?” Ro said.

  “And then what?” he pressed. She made to retort, but realised he had a point. She settled back with an impatient grunt.

  “We grab him,” she said, after a moment.

  Olly stiffened. “Not him. The drone.” He looked at them. “We need the drone. Think. It’s like Colin’s van, it’s got a GPS. That thing will have a record of everywhere it’s been, everything it’s done. If we take the drone, we’ve got him.”

  “And we keep him from using it again,” Ro said, nodding. She gestured to the Optik in Olly’s hand. “So do it.”

  He frowned. “I need to be close to do it. In sight of the damn thing. And even then, it’s not certain. Especially if its shooting at me.” He looked at Danny. “If we could get to the floor below him, I might be able to do it. But we’d need to distract him. If he sees what I’m up to, he’ll just send the damn thing after us.”

  “I can do that,” Ro said.

  “Do what?” Danny said, staring at her. “You’re not going in there.”

  “Fuck that noise. You want him distracted? I’ll distract him. Come to that, I’ll take him down.” She leaned forward, eager now. “He’s using a drone to do his dirty work. How tough can he be?”

  Danny looked at Olly. Olly shrugged. “I mean… you got a better plan?”

  Danny sagged. “No. And we’ve got no time to come up with one. Faulkner is probably already on the way.” He looked at Olly. “If it comes to it, I’ll keep them off of you as long as possible. But if they show up before we get out, I can’t promise we’ll walk out of there. If Faulkner knows what he’s dealing with, he’ll come in shooting.”

  “That might make it easier for us,” Ro said. She saw the look on Danny’s face and smiled. “Cheer up, bruv. Maybe you’ll get to tell Faulkner what you really
think of him.”

  Danny snorted and looked at Olly. “Think you can get us in the building?”

  Olly nodded. “We need to go now though.”

  “Then let’s do it,” Ro said, standing and throwing open the back of the van. She looked around. The narrow street was mostly empty, except for a few parked cars, but in the distance she could hear sirens and the faint crackle of loudspeakers. Riot drones swept by overhead, racing towards some unseen confrontation.

  Danny checked his radio as they crossed the street towards the diamond shaped archway that hung over the front entrance. Glazed glass made a shadowy mass of the interior, and the revolving doors were shut. “Nothing on the frequency yet. Too much going on. But if they’re not already on the way, they will be soon.”

  “We’ll be quick.” Olly had his Optik out as they reached the doors. He brushed his fingers across the screen, doing what Ro couldn’t tell. Some hacker bullshit that might as well be magic as far as she was concerned. “Doors are on a timer. The mechanisms automatically lock when they shut it down for the day. But… ah. Give it a push.”

  Ro pushed one and was rewarded by a slow revolution. She glanced at the others. “Right. Top floor, then?”

  “I’m sending the schematics to your display,” Olly said. “Fire routes and service stairs are highlighted – just in case.”

  Ro blinked as the schematics for the building suddenly overlaid her vision. She hadn’t often used that function of her Optik, and it was somewhat disorientating. She shook her head and pushed through the revolving doors.

  It was quiet inside. Polished chrome columns rose to either side of the entrance. Long reception counters ran along the walls to either side of the security gates that allowed entry into the building proper. Olly motioned for them to wait and went behind the counters. After a few moments of hurried work, he said, “Right. The security system has been deactivated and the CCTV is looped.”

  “That was quick,” Ro said, impressed despite herself.

  Olly shrugged. “Not exactly MI5, is it? The system hasn’t been updated since they converted it to cTOS. A baby could crack it.”

  “Take your word for it. What now?”

  Olly extended his hand. “After you.”

  “Wait a sec,” Danny said. He pulled out a grenade and a length of wire. He used a roll of duct tape to attach the grenade to the side of the counter, and stretched the wire from the grenade’s pin to the other side of the security gate. “Flashbang,” he said, as he worked. “Someone tries rushing through, it’ll buy us some time.”

  “How many of those do you have?” Ro asked.

  “A couple. Not enough.” Danny pulled out another. “I’ll set some more toys as we go up, though.” He smiled and she thought that he seemed happy for the first time since he’d come home.

  Ro felt a sudden twinge of regret. She looked at Danny. “Thanks, by the way.”

  “For what?”

  “Coming to get me.”

  He shook his head. “Didn’t do it for you. You imagine what Mum would do to me if I’d left you there?” He grinned as he said it, and when she punched his shoulder, she pulled the blow. Only just, though.

  “Shithead.”

  “I love you too,” he said.

  “You two done?” Olly asked. “Because there’s a killer upstairs, waiting for us.”

  “Luckily he don’t know that,” Ro said. She shifted the P9 in her waistband so that it was out of sight. Two lifts sat opposite the entrance, to either side of a long corridor. “I’ll take the lift,” she said, heading that way. “You two take the stairs.”

  “He’ll see you,” Danny objected.

  She hit the button and turned. “We want him to, don’t we?” As the doors opened, she stepped back into the lift and waved goodbye to her brother and Olly.

  “Better hurry, lads. We’re on the clock.”

  Red sky at night. Coyle gazed out over the London skyline, looking west. He could not help but wonder at the purpose of it all. And there was a purpose, however oblique it seemed from the outside. He’d begun to pack earlier and clean the empty offices, obliterating all physical traces of his presence. Once he was finished, he would begin moving his gear downstairs, to where his car waited. The only thing he couldn’t easily move was the drone. He hated to abandon it. It was just as well that he had other plans for it.

  He smiled, pleased that his gambit had succeeded, if only at the eleventh hour. He was fairly certain he had isolated Zero Day’s signal, and that meant he could find them. Each call they made to him had brought him one step closer, and now he was certain he needed only one final contact to acquire a target and bring this affair to a satisfactory conclusion. Or at least, to make the attempt. Coyle was no fool, to proclaim victory before the final blow was struck.

  He finished the last of his supplies, and disposed of the rubbish. The building was empty, having been evacuated earlier, during the excitement. Albion and others patrolled the streets, but he would have no difficulty getting past them.

  He checked the drone, in preparation for what would likely be its final flight. As he was reattaching the ammunition hopper, he heard an alert chime. The sensor network he’d installed after moving in had detected something. He brought up the CCTV feeds on his display, but saw nothing. Acting on a sudden suspicion, he switched to his own cameras and saw that someone was in one of the lifts, ascending to his floor – a young woman, dressed for the street, rather out of place in this upscale environment.

  As he retrieved a pistol from his bags, he considered his options. He could kill her in a moment, obviously. But he found he was curious. So instead, he waited. When the lift chimed and the doors slid open, he smiled politely. “May I help you?”

  “You Coyle?” she asked, in brusque tones. East End, he guessed. A faint lilt to her voice, hinting at Caribbean antecedents.

  “That rather depends, my dear. Who are you?”

  “Someone looking to do some business with you,” she said. “We’ve seen what you can do with that toy of yours, and we want you to do it for us.”

  “And who is us?”

  “Clan Kelley, yeah?”

  Coyle frowned. “Really? How did you know where to find me?”

  “Tracked the GPS on Colin’s van, didn’t we?” She tapped the side of her head and circled the room like she owned it. “Wasn’t hard.”

  His frown deepened. On the face of it, perfectly reasonable. “So why did you wait so long to pay me a visit?”

  “Wanted to see what you were up to.” She spotted the drone and stopped. She gestured. “That it? That the thing that shot our Colin?”

  “Yes. I hope he wasn’t a friend of yours.”

  “Just a driver,” she said, but he could hear the lie in her voice. “Ten a penny, them. Out of curiosity, who hired you to do it?”

  “I’m sure you understand that I cannot divulge that information.”

  She shrugged. “Fair enough.”

  “How do you know my name?”

  “We know a lot?”

  “By ‘we’ you mean Clan Kelley?”

  “Who else would I mean?”

  He studied her for a moment. “You’re a bad liar.” He raised his gun.

  “Woah woah, wait, wait…” She raised her hands.

  He paused. Alerts flooded his display. Every motion sensor he’d planted was going off at once. He checked his private feed and saw a flicker of light from downstairs. He knew a flashbang when he saw one. Figures in black were pouring into the foyer, moving up the stairs, taking the lifts. He counted twenty at a glance. “Albion,” he murmured. “How unexpected.”

  She smiled. “Someone must have grassed you up.”

  “I wonder who,” he said.

  “Not me,” she said quickly. “I don’t want to get caught any more than you do.”

  “Mmm. Then you won’t object to me activating my security team.”

  “Team?”

  Coyle extracted his Optik from his coat pocket and tappe
d it. There was a sudden flurry of clicking as a dozen of his spiderbots scuttled into view. Each was armed with a homemade firearm, no two alike. They scurried past her, moving towards the elevator shaft.

  “The fuck?” she said, watching them.

  “Idle hands are the Devil’s playground,” Coyle said. “They won’t keep Albion back forever, but they will buy enough time for escape.”

  “Well, let’s shift it then,” she said.

  Coyle raised his weapon. “I didn’t say ‘we’, now did I?”

  “Is that any way to treat a future business partner?”

  He laughed. “The pretence was amusing at first, but I’m tired of this game. Who are you really? And why are you – what?” He turned as the drone suddenly twitched in its berth. He activated his display. Data spilled across his vision. Warnings flashed. Someone was trying to crack the firewall. They were trying to hack the drone. “Ah, so that’s it…” he began, pleased to have figured it out.

  He heard the scuff of a shoe on carpet, and realised his error even as he turned back. A distraction. Of course. Coyle caught the punch on his forearm and swung his weapon around. She backpedalled, throwing herself behind a stack of boxes as Coyle fired. She scrambled towards the kitchenette as Coyle tracked her. She slid behind an island countertop and out of sight. Coyle didn’t pursue her.

  “I don’t want to kill you,” he called out. “I will, if you insist, but I’m pressed for time. As are you. I doubt you have any wish to be caught by Albion.”

  Keeping one eye on the kitchenette, he retrieved his Optik and activated the drone. It took him only a few moments to locate the intruding signal. One floor down, directly below. He smiled and gave the drone its orders. As it lifted off and sped towards the open window, he turned back to the kitchenette. “You made a good effort, but not good enough.”

  Silence.

  Coyle frowned and started towards the last place he’d seen her, his pistol extended. “Tell me just one thing – did Zero Day send you?”

  “What the fuck is a Zero Day?” she snarled, lunging forward, swinging the wooden cutlery drawer at him. He fired even as she brought the drawer down on the gun in his hand, tearing it from his grip. She came at him fast, fists low. He caught a punch in the side and returned it with interest. They moved in a tight circle, trading blows. She was skilled – trained. And she had the advantage of youth. He swatted her fists aside and scanned the floor for the gun. When he spied it, he made a dive.