Code Name Firestorm (10 page)

“Power surge!” cried Nero. “Sensors overloading! Will … try to … hack Hercules’s reprogramming…”

Suddenly, Hercules’s power systems shut down. The stag beetle dropped to the floor like a pebble, taking Nero with him.

Meanwhile, the fire in the garage was raging. The temperature rising rapidly. Blackwater’s weaponry had started to misfire and malfunction, sending explosive charges and crackling electrical arcs spinning everywhere.

“There’s no way we can stop it!” cried Morph.

“Mission priority is to escape,” said Chopper.

“But how?” asked Morph.

“By making things worse,” said Chopper. “Morph, you’re beneath Blackwater’s computer. Insert a destruct command into every weapon in the system at once.”

“But that will cause an explosion,” said Morph. “Even Blackwater didn’t intend that! He only wanted to gut the inside of this place. Anything visible from outside would draw attention.”

“There’s no alternative now,” said Chopper. “Don’t worry, we’re tough enough to survive the blast. In theory, at least.”

“Logged,” said Morph. He quickly squeezed over to the thick cable that joined Blackwater’s computer to the rest of the equipment in the garage. He stabbed into the cable with his antennae to establish a live connection into the data stream. “I hope this doesn’t damage us too badly.”

He sent the command.

CHAPTER NINE

Less than a second later, the whole garage shuddered and rocked. An explosive force cracked the walls and punched a wide split in the ceiling. The door trembled, then fell off and dropped forward with a loud clang.

At their positions outside the house, the MI5 agents flinched and looked at each other. Drake barked into his walkie-talkie. “Looks like Blackwater’s chucking bombs at us now! But he won’t get away! Move in – full force.”

The inside of the garage was a smoking, blackened ruin. Every last item of Blackwater’s
equipment was either burnt or completely destroyed.

For a moment, in the dark courtyard, there was silence. Then the SWARM robots shot out through the open doorway. Chopper carried Morph, while Widow spun her way along micro-threads. Sabre was followed by Hercules, who held Nero in his folded legs. All the robots were singed and grimy, but still fully functioning. Chopper immediately transmitted a package of data back to HQ, including the information that Drake had been working with Blackwater.

“Remarkably little damage,” said Sabre. “To us, I mean.”

“Hercules?” said Chopper.

“Nero’s cure worked,” said the stag beetle. “Blackwater’s subroutine has been deleted from my programming.”

“My sensors need to be realigned,” said Nero, “but I’m unharmed.”

Sabre buzzed in a way which a human might have said was grumpy.

Queen Bee cut into the robots’ communication network. “Good to hear from you all,” she said,
“but there’s no time to spare. Get out of there right now.”

As she spoke, Drake and his MI5 agents kicked in the front door of the house. The robots could hear shouts, and their X-ray sensors picked up agents charging through every room. Auntie Madge stood calmly, still under the influence of her nephew’s hypnotic signal.

The robots flew up and over the house, heading away at top speed.

“We’ve received your info on Agent Drake,” said Queen Bee. “You can leave him to us. Let him and his men go running round that house for a while, it’ll keep them out of our way. Sirena is on the roof of Blackwater’s car. Home in on her signal. We don’t know where he’s going, but that car has to be stopped.”

“He’s got the stolen MI6 data with him,” said Chopper.

“Exactly,” said Queen Bee. “And he knows about you now, which makes it all the more important that he doesn’t realize you’re after him. He’s almost certainly got some gadget rigged up to release the data online if he even suspects he’s
cornered. Get him, and get that data. Otherwise half the world could be at war by morning!”

“We’re live, Queen Bee,” replied the robots.

At SWARM HQ, Queen Bee and Simon Turing were watching screens showing each robot’s visual and sensor data. Images of everything the robots were seeing were overlaid with flowing streams of information.

“What’s the situation since the release of that video?” said Queen Bee.

“Major news stories across the world,” said Simon. “A lot of arguments between diplomats and politicians. The foreign secretary is flying to Brussels as we speak to hold talks with the governments of EU countries. Social media are going mad. People in various countries are demanding to know what’s going on. It’s being contained, but if more data gets out, we’re in big trouble. Blackwater was very clever. He released
just enough secrets to start a few rows, nothing more. For now.”

“At least we can get that traitor Drake out of the picture once and for all,” said Queen Bee. “I’m due to take a conference call with the PM and the home secretary in –” she checked her watch – “four minutes. Drake can expect to be arrested within the hour.”

“Let’s hope the robots can deal with Blackwater,” said Simon.

“Yes,” said Queen Bee quietly. “They’re our only hope right now.”

Blackwater’s rusty white car sped along, surrounded by the lights of the city. He was driving out of London, heading west.

“You need to hurry,” signalled Sirena. “He’s stopping and starting now, because of the traffic, but he’ll get to the motorway in approximately ninety seconds. Once he’s at full speed, he’ll be
moving too fast for you to catch up.”

“Logged,” said Chopper. “We’re less than five hundred metres away now. Closing in.”

“Is the car itself booby-trapped?” said Nero.

“Possibly,” said Sirena. “We should proceed with care. Scans show the rear of the vehicle contains only the luggage, plus some bags containing more clothes and electronic spare parts. However, I’m reading some odd electrical activity behind the car’s dashboard. He’s made modifications, but what they are I can’t be sure.”

“Logged,” said Chopper. “Where’s the data?”

“The USB stick containing the stolen MI6 data is inside the case, linked up to a laptop and a transmitter.”

“Has he made duplicates of the data?”

“I’ve searched all the computer memory in the luggage. There are laptop hard drives, solid-state memory cards and other USB sticks. None show data patterns similar to the USB stick with the data on it. That would seem to be the only copy. I’m sending you an exact fix on it now.”

“Received,” said Chopper. “Four hundred metres and closing.”

“What’s the best way to stop him?” said Morph. “A flat tyre?”

“I could sting a tyre and cause what would look like an accidental blow-out,” said Sabre. Then he corrected himself: “No, I tried that on a moving car during the Operation Sting investigation. It didn’t work.”

“Perhaps we should get into the engine?” said Nero. “We could cause a mechanical fault, which would force him to stop?”

“Whatever we do,” said Chopper, “we must remember Queen Bee’s orders. He must not realize that it’s us trying to stop him.”

“Logged,” replied the others.

Blackwater tapped the car’s indicator. The long ramp to the motorway was coming up on his left. His fingers jittered nervously against the steering wheel.

Suddenly, he slapped his hand on the wheel. “Idiot! I’ve let my own thoughts distract me! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his signal jammer. With one hand, and keeping his eyes on the road, he entered the code to turn it on.

“Something’s powering up,” said Sirena. “I think it’s—”

She vanished from the robots’ network.

“Where’s she gone?” said Morph.

Chopper’s night vision zoomed in on the car ahead. Sirena was still on the roof, the microscopic grippers on her thin legs holding her firmly in place.

All the robots could now detect a strange blank spot in their sensor grid.

“He really is extremely cautious,” said Morph.

“We’re less than a hundred metres from the car,” said Chopper. “If we get any closer, we’ll lose communications ourselves.”

“Our sensors will not function either, remember,” said Nero. “Sirena said there may be more booby traps. We’ll be going in blind. Our chances of success will fall dramatically.”

“We have to act fast!” said Morph. “The car is heading up the ramp. It’ll be on the motorway in a few seconds.”

Nero made a lightning-quick scan of the area around them. “I have an alternative plan. Hercules, catch up with the car and deal with the
stolen data. Beware of sensor malfunction.”

“Logged,” said Hercules. He shot off ahead.

“The rest of us will land on the roof of that articulated lorry parked outside the cafe on the other side of the road. Its steering and engine are controlled by a computer in the cab. We can hack into the computer and therefore control the lorry. We can chase Blackwater’s car, and remain out of range of the signal jammer.”

Up ahead, Blackwater manoeuvred the car out onto the motorway, which snaked away into the distance supported on massive concrete pillars. His headlights shone onto the stretch of road in front of him. The noise of the car’s wheels against the tarmac rose to a dull roar as he accelerated. Although it was now early evening, there were relatively few vehicles either ahead of him, or behind him.

Meanwhile, an angry lorry driver came running out of the roadside cafe. He yelled helplessly as he watched the back end of his lorry driving away up the motorway ramp.

Ahead, Hercules adjusted his flight pattern and landed lightly on the rear window of Blackwater’s
car. His sensors felt dull and swamped, like a human feeling the effects of a heavy cold.

Tiny laser cutters clicked into place at the end of his claw. He rested them against the window and the claw began to rotate. Miniature laser beams sliced through the glass. Seconds later, a neatly cut circle dropped away, and Hercules climbed through into the car’s interior.

“So far, so good,” he added to his internal log.

Quickly, he crawled across to the large trunk. It sat on the folded-down rear seats, and took up most of the space in the back of the car. He paused to consult the data Sirena had sent over, about exactly where the stolen MI6 data was located. He scuttled a little to the right, then began to cut into the trunk with his claw.

Blackwater glanced into his rear-view mirror. The headlights of the lorry reflected into his eyes.

“Wretched lorry drivers,” he muttered. “Driving too close. Come on, then, overtake me…”

The lorry maintained a steady speed, following exactly behind Blackwater’s car. Inside the lorry’s cab, Nero was at the windscreen, looking out at the road. Morph had squeezed himself behind
the touchscreen on the dashboard and hacked directly into the lorry’s computer. He relayed data to the others. Chopper, Widow and Sabre were standing by.

“Increase speed by three per cent,” said Nero. “Steering four point five degrees to the right.” The vehicle’s automated systems did exactly as he told them. The large steering wheel turned slightly, and the accelerator rose, as if operated by an invisible man.

“I wonder how Hercules is doing,” said Morph. “Is Sirena OK?”

On the roof of the car, the butterfly made quick movements with her wings, signalling back to Nero. “She’s fine,” said Nero.

The massive supports beneath the motorway were slowly reducing in height, as the road left London behind. Soon it was at ground level, no longer raised above the streets. Instead, it cut through a wide valley, with steep grassy hills to each side. The lorry rumbled along behind Blackwater’s car.

“Traffic density is light,” said Chopper. “Let’s move in on our target.”

The lorry suddenly revved up. Its speed increased and its front bumper moved to within a few metres of Blackwater’s car.

“We mustn’t endanger human life!” said Morph.

“We are far more efficient at driving than any human,” said Nero calmly. “The best way to safeguard human life is to get Blackwater off the road as fast as possible.”

“Make sure we stay at a distance from the signal jammer,” said Chopper.

“Logged,” said Nero.

In his car, Blackwater kept glancing nervously at the headlights coming up behind him. “What’s this fool doing? What’s he
doing
?”

The lorry suddenly swerved to the right. With its engine roaring, it raced ahead and quickly drew level with the car. Blackwater watched in alarm as the lorry’s huge wheels moved up alongside him.