by Emery Hale
Apparently Jessica and my mother shared the same love of grey – they did know there were other colours out there, right?
What I noticed was missing, however, was any sort of laptop. I’d assumed Jess would have one but apparently she didn’t. Another thing she didn’t have was an en suite bathroom or a private lift – if only I could tell Jennifer.
As I stepped further into the room I saw a black duffle bag shoved under the desk. It was large and bulky but I presumed it was just washing, since a couple of shirtsleeves were poking out the top. Without another glance I ignored it and sat down on the bed with a sigh.
What was I really doing here? I wasn’t a detective! I didn’t have any training or experience so I had no idea what to look for. Sure, there was that delivery slip but anyone with eyes could have spotted that. Kayson was right, I had no idea what I was doing. Grace also had a good point, my being here it put them all in danger. Right now it felt like I was doing more damage than – wait, what was that?
Something sharp dug into my butt. I shot off the bed but didn’t see the outline of anything – was I imagining things now?
I knelt in front of the bed, gently pushing back the covers to reveal a laptop hidden under the bottom sheet. Now, I don’t speak for everyone but I was sure hiding a laptop under your bedsheets wasn’t the norm.
Carefully I lifted the sheet and pulled out the laptop: it was brand-new, unmarked, apart from a few rock band stickers. As I held it in my hand I felt something scratch against my palm. I turned it over, thinking I’d ripped off one of the stickers, but when I smoothed it out again I saw it was a label with a name printed on it – one I could scarcely believe.
JAMES WINTERS
Jess had told me her brother died in a skiing accident years ago.
This was a new laptop and if his name was on it, then maybe he wasn’t as dead as I thought. But why would she tell me her brother died if he was, in fact, alive? Had there even been an accident at all?
If she’d lied about that there must have been a reason – which got me thinking. What else had Jessica told me about her family that was a lie? At the theatre she said her mum was busy with work – what was her job exactly? Did she know what was going on here? If I could somehow get a hold of her, she could help. I had only seen Jess’s mum a couple of times and let me tell you she was one of the scariest people I’d ever met. Her face sculpted and eyes piercing like silver daggers.
I didn’t get time to dwell on the thought before I heard the slam of a door; the front door. It couldn’t have been Jessica, it was too soon – then the sound of a woman humming floated up to me, and it wasn’t a voice I recognised.
Without a second thought I tucked the laptop under my arm and ran frantically towards the wardrobe hoping to hide inside, but when I got closer I realised they were far too slender. My luck dwindled as the thumping of feet started to make its way up the stairs. Oh poop. I bolted as fast as I could out of the room and into the one opposite, where I hoped there was a place to hide.
This room was a stark contrast to Jessica’s – it had pink walls, but interior design wasn’t my main concern. I spotted a large wooden wardrobe at the other side of the room and knew it was my best shot.
I grabbed the handle and yanked it open before throwing myself inside, closing the door and pushing myself through the clothes until my shoulders hit the wooden panels at the back. If there was anything I learned from the nature channel at two in the morning, it was that just because you couldn’t see the predator didn’t mean it couldn’t see you. Hiding in here was the best option rather than under the bed – but now I thought about it, wasn’t the wardrobe one of the first places a killer in a slasher movie would look? Well . . . guess this was it then, goodbye cruel world!
I stayed as silent as I could, one hand over my mouth to quieten my rapid breathing, while the other pushed clothes in front of my face to muffle it further. My legs trembled as the threat of a bullet rang through my ears. Suddenly this had all got very real. I didn’t want to die, and yet here I was.
Then I heard the room door open and a tightness gripped my throat – had she seen me?
Her footsteps were quick and light, but she must have some heel on her shoes as they clicked across the floor – then abruptly stopped. Then I heard something like material being moved or shuffled. Was she checking the bed for something?
Was this someone the Academy sent to go through everyone’s stuff? This place just got stranger.
A ringtone blared through the room, and my eyes bulged as I scrambled to find my phone. Then I stopped. That wasn’t my phone. It must have been hers. Lowering my bag back down carefully, I listened intently as she spoke.
‘I’m in but there’s nothing here, everything looks the same as it did this morning. You’ve got the wrong person. I don’t think Quinn is the one you’re looking for.’
So this was Quinn’s room.
What was this woman looking for? Did she know about Quinn’s private server? Did someone pick up on the email she sent my mum? It sounded like the woman had tried this more than once; maybe Quinn wasn’t as secretive as she thought.
‘I know that . . . wait, let me try her computer.’
There was more shuffling across the room before I heard the clacking of keys, but the sound grew heavier. Whatever this woman wanted, she wasn’t getting it. I hadn’t known Quinn long but she seemed like the kind of girl who would have more security on her tech than a flimsy password.
‘I can’t get in, you’ll need to send Thompson over to crack into this thing . . . send him over right now, the entire household is out.’
If Thompson, who apparently was my mum’s boss, came over then I’d have double the chance of getting caught. These people were trained.
‘What do you mean?’ the woman asked. ‘No, how on earth would she know about Black Scorpion? Like I said, get Thompson over here, we can get a look at this – I’m sorry?’
Who was on the other end of the phone? Was it Harkness? Black Scorpion must have been some sort of mission but why would Quinn have anything to do with it? The loose wire that Jess had thrown back at me was halfway down my shirt and dangling out my jeans so there was no way it could hear any of this audio. I wanted to reach for the video phone but by now it was at the bottom of my bag – if I went rummaging around she’d hear me! I pressed record on my own phone which was luckily in reach, my hand trying to avoid rustling the bag.
‘Yes, I understand. Fine,’ she said sharply, before I heard the click of the phone.
Then, just like that, the sound of her shoes clacked all the way back across the room and the door slammed shut. Was that it? Did she leave? I didn’t care, I was not leaving this wardrobe until I heard Jessica or the other girls.
So many nerves rattled through me that I didn’t think my legs would move, even if I wanted them to. I could hear the woman walk about the corridor, opening another door, but as each minute passed the sound of her faded until the bang of the front door closing echoed through the house.
I hadn’t realised I’d stopped breathing until the wrenching tightness of my throat reminded my brain I needed air. I sucked in an abundance of it, let myself pant for a few seconds before coming back to the situation. Just then the weight of the laptop made itself felt: it was time to see what was on this thing.
Lifting the laptop from my arm I slid down to the bottom of the wardrobe, moving a few rogue shoes out the way. I propped the laptop on my bent legs and opened the lid. I was glad for the rack of clothes in front of me as the laptop fans kicked in. Even though I’d heard the woman leave, paranoia lingered. What if she came back?
As soon as the blue screen popped up it asked me for a password – oh, great. How was I supposed to guess this guy’s password? I’d only met James twice.
I flipped the laptop round and picked a name from one of the rock band stickers.
ACCESS DENIED
OK, maybe someone who was dead but apparently not anymore was smart enough not to u
se something so blatantly obvious.
Come on, think! Maybe he put his password as Jessica? Yeah no, he wouldn’t do that. It was hopeless. Jessica never told me much about James at all apart from a couple things, like the time he swapped sugar for salt and how he always forgot her birthday . . . Hold on. When I want to remember something important I just repeat it over and over again. What if he used Jessica’s birthday as a password?
31-10-1997
ACCESS GRANTED
Oh you beauty! Yes! In your face, Ashford!
As the screen changed to the desktop it was the same blue, like no one had switched it from the factory settings. The small icons down the side, however, were definitely not part of the everyday run of the mill laptop.
RECORDS AND OPERATIONS
FIELD OPERATIONS
CHARLOTTE
JESSICA
CHARLIE
SECURITY FEED
If Jessica had this hidden in her room it had to be important.
I guessed that records and operations were things to do with espionage – that’s what this whole thing was, right? Charlotte was Jessica’s mother’s name; Charlie I didn’t recognise. Then my eyes landed on the security feed folder – what could be on here?
When I clicked on it there were different sub files, but their names were too simple to give much away. Entrance 1A, Corridor 2C, Passage 5G, the list went on. What I didn’t expect to see when I clicked on a random file was a live feed inside the Academy. It was from the other side of those big mahogany doors at the entrance to the school. Probably a reception area: I couldn’t see too much since the camera was pointed at the door, but I could see students walking past, some in uniform and some not.
I hit the right arrow and the feed changed to a completely different point in the building. The walls were made of bricks, but it was too grainy to make out the finer details. If I had to guess I’d have said this place was underground, going by the dim lighting and low ceilings.
The Academy couldn’t have known about this laptop; it was a major security breach. If Quinn was so worried about the top-grade firewalls, wouldn’t they have picked up on this? Was this why Jessica was hiding it?
When I moved to the next feed, it was from a spacious office. Only two people were inside, and one I recognised: Harkness. The other woman was in her late forties, very sophisticatedly dressed. I spotted a little mic button at the bottom of the screen and clicked on it and, just like that, sound tore through the speakers.
‘What is it you wanted to show me, Lennox?’ Harkness asked, his voice coming through with gritty static. ‘I asked for an idea, not a PowerPoint presentation.’
I watched as Lennox closed the laptop, leaning against the desk, arms crossed. I didn’t need HD to see she was not amused.
‘Well if you’re going to be an ass, you can wait until I announce it later.’
The microphone quality, though littered with static, was actually quite good – I could even hear Harkness’ sigh of annoyance and the strut of Lennox’s feet. Now I was in the clear I made a grab for the camera phone, opened it up and pressed record. If I was going to see this I’d be damned if I wasn’t going to record it. Anything these maniacs said could be evidence.
‘Lennox, just tell me.’
‘A new drug has just reached the market.’
‘I don’t need to know what you get up to on your Friday nights.’
Lennox rolled her eyes.
‘One that can alter a person’s perception, make them more likely to be susceptible. Give them this drug and whatever you say will stick in their heads. You wanted obedience – you have it, all in a little pill.’
‘I thought we were already using that,’ Harkness said, unimpressed at her proposal.
‘Not like this – they don’t take it themselves, not like the other ones – this drug is put through the water system.’
What? The Academy forced their students to take drugs and now planned to give them further doses without their knowledge? Jessica couldn’t have known about this, she was bad enough trying to swallow a paracetamol never mind whatever this was!
‘It’s distributed evenly throughout?’
‘You always said you wanted the younger years to learn compliance and obedience earlier, here’s how.’
‘But what’s it going to cost?’
Knowing the phone was recording I let myself fall back against the wardrobe’s side. This Lennox woman introduced the idea of drugging students into obedience, and Harkness’ only concern was how much it would cost? I didn’t care what Jessica said anymore, this was fucked up. How on earth did this place even open if this was what they did?
One thought struck hard in my heart: if they’re going so far as to drug the students into compliance then what were they going to force them to do? Shoot someone? Kill someone? Wipe towns off the map?
I couldn’t speak for the rest, but Jessica had changed. Before she came here there was more of a spark about her, but now it was like it had never existed. Was it part of the faculty’s plan to rid someone of that spark? The true light that made a person unique? The way she controlled a room, the confidence in her walk, the purpose and look of intent in her face. If they took that away and replaced it with teams, drugs, minimal food, little water, no sanitary or basic supplies, then what was that person clinging onto? How long did it take to break someone?
Jessica must have been holding onto something, like everyone else on her ‘team’ – they all seemed relatively normal compared to the faculty. What was so powerful, so innately impenetrable, that held her back from becoming just like them?
CHAPTER 12
Ignivomous
Vomiting fire.
JESSICA-GRACE WINTERS
For the first time in months we were able to get Quinn’s mum back to the safe house by ourselves. Kayson called his dad and he was able to call in a favour from another agent, who escorted her mum back home. It honestly saved the whole operation; I guess it really did pay off to have allies in this industry.
Of course Kayson was taking all the credit since it was his contact, but I knew we would have thought of another solution, so while he boasted about his miraculous save, I focused on blocking out his boisterous gloating.
As I started to shut down the Command Room, Quinn was already deleting the log history and looping the cameras so if anyone were to look back, they wouldn’t see anyone rushing in here like a wild pack of headless chickens.
Of course we were panicking: even though an operation like this was something we’d trained for, it always sent my heart racing. Most of our ops were field work, Quinn the only one used to staying behind. I had no idea of the nerve and strength it took to stand there and watch the monitor, and it was then I found a new respect for Quinn. When the last op went south, all she could do was stand here and watch, observe through my camera as I came across the bloody crime scene.
Flicking the monitor off and putting a couple of phones back on the hook, I looked over to Quinn who was shutting down the computer we’d used. Of course there was no need to remove our fingerprints, but there was a shred of doubt hanging in the air – what if someone saw us come in? No, I couldn’t work on what if’s.
The op was finished so now we could get back to sorting out the mess that was a civilian in our dorm house.
But as we all headed to the door Grace stood still, her arms crossed, brows furrowed and lips tight.
‘Keep the door locked, we need to talk,’ she said, motioning to Lily whose hand slowly fell from the handle. ‘About Naomi.’
I exchanged a glance with Lily but there was a knowing look on her face.
‘I think you already know what I’m doing to say,’ I told Grace, sighing. ‘If Naomi’s willing then this could work in our favour. Why are you so against it?’
Of course I understood her concern, but I knew what was best. If Naomi was handing us an out then we were going to take it.
Grace scoffed in my face. ‘How about the fact that this could af
fect us all? If she’s caught there’s no telling what they’ll do to us.’
I held back the urge to roll my eyes – what would she know about punishments? Grace was the golden child, followed all the rules, never got in trouble, she didn’t even speak up last night. Who was she to give us a lecture on this?
‘I’m Team Lead, Grace. If I think it’s best for my team then it’s what we’ll do.’
Grace was my second but it was my decision that counted, and she couldn’t exactly stop me. But as she spoke, her words were laced with venom and disgust.
‘Exactly who made you Team Lead? It certainly wasn’t us.’ Grace’s face hardened as she edged towards me. ‘We didn’t choose you – wait that’s right, everyone already knows who chose you.’
She had to be fucking kidding. Was this what it boiled down to, jealousy?
At her words the whole atmosphere in the room shifted: Quinn froze rigid, Lily’s mouth dropped open, even Kayson stopped.
‘Excuse me?’ I asked.
‘You know what I’m talking about,’ she said, but I just laughed. The tight-assed golden child was jealous, someone get it on video.
‘It was Harkness that decided,’ I told her.
‘Oh, we all know who influenced him.’
Lily stood by me, a warning look on her face. She was usually the one instigating fights – I’d never seen her play mediator before. ‘Grace, this isn’t the time for your shitstorm of emotions, OK? Let’s just get out of here and we can talk about it later,’ she said.
‘Later? Is that before or after Naomi leaves?’
‘Why are you so against her?’ Lily asked.
‘Why couldn’t Jessica have just cut ties with her when she was supposed to?’ she said.