Blackout (12 page)

Charlie had spotted it too. She marched off to the bedroom and returned with them. She handed the stick to Jack.

‘Is the virus on here?’ he said.

Hector shook his head.

Jack frowned. ‘Where is it then?’

Hector squeezed his eyes shut. ‘Gone.’

‘
What
?’

‘Oh, that’s flipping brilliant,’ Slink shouted.

Hector opened his eyes. ‘It slipped through my firewalls.’

‘Of course it did, you idiot. That’s what it does.’

‘
Slink
,’ Charlie hissed.

‘What?’ Slink threw his hands up and walked to the window.

‘I know where the virus went though,’ Hector said in a low voice. ‘And I’ve been working on a plan to get it back.’

‘Where is it?’ Jack said.

‘Look.’ Hector leant forward in the chair. ‘Let me join your gang.’

‘No way.’

‘I can help you,’ Hector said, looking around at all of them. ‘We can catch the virus together. I’d make a good Urban Outlaw. Come on, please?’

Jack opened his mouth to answer, but his earpiece crackled.

‘Guys?’ It was Obi, and it sounded as though it was urgent.

Jack turned away and pressed a finger to his ear. ‘Can’t it wait? We’re just about to find out where the virus has gone.’

‘You might want to look out of the window.’

Jack hurried over and peered down. ‘Oh.’ A black SUV pulled up at the kerb. ‘No way.’

‘What’s wrong?’ Charlie joined him and when she saw what he was looking at, she gasped. ‘How the –’

Benito Del Sarto’s henchman – Connor – climbed out of the driver’s side.

Charlie said, ‘Why isn’t he in prison?’

Connor had tried to kill the Outlaws on several occasions.

The nightmare got worse – Monday, a man so big that he looked like he could pick up a sumo wrestler in each hand and not break into a sweat, stepped out of the back of the SUV. Last, Cloud, a smartly dressed woman got out the of front-passenger side.

‘This is not happening.’ Jack spun around. ‘We’ve got to get out of here.’

‘What’s going on?’ Hector said.

‘Bad people,’ Charlie said. ‘
Very
bad people.’

‘What do they want?’

‘I’ll give you one guess.’ Jack stepped in front of him. ‘Last chance – where’s the virus?’

Hector looked at the window. ‘I’m not telling you.’

‘What?’ Jack said, incredulous. ‘Yes, you are.’

Hector’s eyes moved to him. ‘You say those people are here for the virus?’

Jack nodded.

‘Then you’ve got to take me with you.’

‘We’re not recruiting,’ Jack said. ‘Tell us where it is or –’

‘Or what?’ Hector said.

They glared at each other.

Slink peered out of the window. ‘We haven’t got time for this.’

‘I’ll make a pact,’ Hector said in a calm voice. ‘Take me with you and I’ll tell you where the virus has gone.’

Jack shook his head. ‘No deal.’

‘Jack.’ Charlie grabbed his arm. ‘We can’t leave him for Connor to find.’

‘Yeah,’ Slink said. ‘They might beat the virus’s location out of him.’

Jack’s eyes didn’t move from Hector’s. ‘Where. Is. It?’

Hector sat back in his chair and crossed his arms.

‘They’ll be here any moment,’ Slink said, his voice urgent. ‘Are we staying to fight them?’

‘No, we’re not,’ Charlie said. ‘Please, Jack, let’s go.’

Jack hesitated, then he said to Hector through a clenched jaw, ‘OK. You’re coming with us, but if you try to run, we’ll –’

‘I won’t run.’ Hector stood up, grabbed a backpack from a table and held his hand out to Charlie. ‘Laptop, please.’

She handed it to him and there was a knock
at the front door.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Jack, Charlie, Slink and Wren sprinted down the hallway, following Hector into a cramped kitchen. He pulled up a blind, opened the window and scrambled out on to the fire escape.

Jack motioned for Wren to go next.

She climbed up and Hector helped her through.

There was another knock, louder this time.

‘Go,’ Jack said to Slink.

Slink jumped through the open window in one fluid movement.

Jack gestured for Charlie to hurry up too.

There was a loud bang as a heavy object rammed into the front door. Jack glanced down the hallway. He could guess what that object was – Monday’s shoulder or foot.

Charlie ducked through the window frame.

There was another bang, a cracking sound, and the front door burst open, the wood shattering and sending splinters flying.

Monday stepped into the hallway and dusted himself off.

Connor followed and, for a second, his cold eyes met with Jack’s. Connor’s face twisted into rage.

Jack leapt through the window and raced after the others. He clattered down the metal steps, almost tripping. ‘Hurry up,’ he urged.

Halfway to the bottom, Jack glanced up to see Connor staring down at him.

Connor reached under his jacket.

Jack turned and vaulted the remaining steps. He’d learnt from experience that Connor would not hesitate to shoot a bunch of kids. ‘
Run
.’

They sprinted along the alleyway, around the building, and skidded to a halt.

Cloud stood in front of them, blocking their escape. She had her right hand under her jacket. ‘Don’t move.’

For a few seconds, no one did, then Hector spun on his heels and sprinted back around the corner.

There was no time to think. Jack, Charlie, Slink and Wren followed him, with Cloud in pursuit.

Connor and Monday were still hurrying down the metal fire escape.

As the Outlaws ran past, Connor cleared the steps and lunged for them. Wren ducked under his outstretched arms.

Connor roared his annoyance.

Hector reached the end of the alleyway and sprinted right. ‘Come on,’ he shouted.

They raced after him and dashed across a main road.

Tyres screeched and horns sounded.

Slink vaulted over the bonnet of a black cab.

The driver wound down his window, swore and waved his fist at them.

On the other side of the road, Hector darted left. ‘Follow me.’ He sprinted across the street and down another alleyway. At the end, they went right, followed the back of the buildings and came out at a small park.

They stopped, catching their breath, sure they were out of sight and hadn’t been followed.

‘What now?’ Charlie said, panting and glancing around.

Jack looked at Hector. ‘It’s time you told us where the virus has gone.’

Hector hesitated.

Jack’s eyes narrowed. ‘Tell us.
Now
.’

‘Nexus,’ Hector said. ‘OK? It went to somewhere called Nexus.’

‘What’s that?’

Hector shrugged. ‘I don’t know exactly. I got a glimpse of that name in a line of code. I think it’s some sort of government project.’

Jack looked at Charlie. ‘We’ve wasted our time.’

‘No,’ Hector said. ‘I can find out where the virus went. My trace program was running automatically when it moved from my laptop. With a bit of work, I can get a location for this Nexus thing.’

Jack couldn’t help but show a huge amount of doubt in his expression.

‘Let him try,’ Charlie said. ‘We don’t have any other leads.’

Jack thought for a moment. What he wanted to do was get rid of Hector, send him home, but he knew too much. If Jack let Hector go now, he could reveal the existence of the virus to other people. As it stood, the Outlaws had a head start on anyone else that might be hunting it. Especially Connor.

So, that gave Jack little choice.

He sighed. ‘Fine. You can stay.’

For now, anyway
, Jack thought.

Hector nodded and Wren smiled at him.

‘So,’ Charlie said. ‘What’s next?’

‘Noble,’ Jack said. ‘If anyone knows what this Nexus is, it’s him. Come on.’

‘Who’s Noble?’ Hector asked, but Jack didn’t respond.

As they walked through the park, Charlie slid a phone from her pocket and keyed a quick message. A few minutes passed and no one answered. ‘Where is he?’ They reached the main gate. ‘Wait,’ she said. ‘What day is it?’

‘Thursday,’ Slink said.

‘No,’ Wren said. ‘It’s Tuesday.’

‘Yeah, Tuesday,’ Jack agreed.

‘That’s why I can’t get hold of him.’ Charlie looked at Jack. ‘He’s at the Science Museum.’

‘I remember,’ Jack said. Noble had told them there was a special exhibition on Alan Turing that he wanted to see.

‘Why doesn’t he just put his phone on vibrate?’ Hector said.

‘He doesn’t have a phone,’ Charlie said. ‘When I send him messages, it’s always through email.’

Hector frowned. ‘That’s just stupid.’

‘Noble is
not
stupid,’ Jack said, annoyed. ‘He’s a genius.’

Hector’s eyebrows rose. ‘Then why doesn’t he have a phone?’

‘A few reasons. The main one is that he doesn’t trust them. Thinks they’re too easily traced.’

‘He’s right,’ Charlie said. ‘They are a lot of hassle. We have to keep changing phones and SIM cards all the time.’

Hector looked at Jack again. ‘Can we wait for him?’

Jack shook his head. ‘He’s likely to be in there all day. We’ll have to go get him.’ He glanced around. ‘Where’s the nearest Tube station?’

Hector pointed towards an Underground sign on the other side of the park.

They all pulled their hoods up and marched towards it.

When they reached the top of the steps, Slink glanced back. ‘Er, guys.’

Connor, Cloud and Monday were running towards them.

‘Go,’ Jack shouted, and they hurried down into the Underground.

People protested as they shoved past them. At the bottom of the stairs, they ran right, then left towards the ticket barriers.

Hector stopped short. ‘We need tickets.’

‘No we don’t,’ Charlie said, pulling several Oyster cards from her pocket. Each one gave them unlimited credit to travel on the Tube.

Charlie handed Jack, Slink and Wren a card each. She then swiped hers over the reader, the barrier opened and she stepped through.

Wren and Slink did the same.

Jack glanced back to see Connor, Monday and Cloud pushing through the throng of people.

He chucked his card at Hector. ‘Hurry.’

Monday spotted Jack and pointed.

The three of them continued to shove their way past the crowd.

Hector swiped the card over the reader and stepped through the barrier. He turned back and tossed it to Jack.

The card slipped through Jack’s fingers and hit the floor. Cursing, he bent down and scooped it up.

Connor lunged forward as Jack swiped the card and slipped through just in time.

He stood on the other side of the barrier, staring back at a snarling Connor.

In desperation and anger, Connor started to climb over the barrier.

‘Oi, what’s your game?’ A Tube attendant shouted.

Connor kept his eyes on Jack.

The Tube attendant grabbed him and pulled him back.

‘Get your hands off me.’

Jack wheeled around and hurried to the others. ‘This way.’ They jogged to a set of escalators that led down. At the bottom, he said, ‘Left-hand platform.’

Charlie hesitated. ‘But Noble is –’

‘
Left
,’ Jack insisted. They ran along the platform to the end and tried to blend in with the commuters.

Jack kept glancing at the stairs. The seconds stretched into minutes.

After what seemed an eternity, he heard the unmistakable low rumble of an approaching train and warm air brushed past his face.

Connor, Monday and Cloud stepped on to the platform just as the train pulled in.

The doors opened and the five of them jumped on board.

It was too late – Connor, Cloud and Monday had spotted them and also climbed on, a few carriages back.

‘Jack,’ Charlie hissed.

‘I know.’ Jack looked at the doors. ‘On three.’ He glanced at the others and they nodded. ‘One.’ Jack saw Connor, Cloud and Monday making their way through the carriages towards them. ‘Two.’ The door to the next carriage opened and Del Sarto’s operatives stepped inside. The main doors beeped and started to close. ‘
Three
.’

Jack and the others leapt from the train just as the doors closed behind them.