Maxwell Huxley's Demon (13 page)

Pirelli he ads off to find the ship steward and c aptain.

---

At the airport two gorillas in well-tailored suits wait for a group of kids that never show up.

---

When they arrive on Digby I sland , the kids immediately get on a bus that takes the first ferry back to the mainland.
Max sits between Virginia and Naomi , three kids crammed onto a seat built for two .
Max talks to Virginia and Naomi even though they don’t seem to be listening.
“
School taught us many things. American football wasn’t one of those things. It should have been.
Wear your opponent down with a running game, and then destroy their morale with a well-timed pass.
Too bad I can’t play football.
”
He leans forward and looks across the aisle at Walker .
“
Walker , you have to keep coding.”

“
What do you need , Max?
”
Walker asks.

“First hack the Canadian Passport office and have them produce passports for us.
Don’t apply for passports; just force their system to print them . Have them ready for pickup.
”

“
I can do that, ”
Walker says.
“
Go to sleep Max.
”

“Code me hydrogen p eroxide . . .
” Max leans back and passes out .
The girls prop him up for the sixteen-hour bus ride to Vancouver.

---

Pirelli and Hasting walk back to the helicopter sitting on the deck of the Port Hardy ferry. “We had them.” They both say.
Then t hey call in a report to Mr. Newton .
It’s not pretty for either of them.

“I’m starting to hate Max.” Hastings spits.

“
Now you see how I feel. They could be anywhere now . . . Buy you a drink when we get back on land ?” Pirelli asks.
I’m starting to love Max; at least my life has some entertainment in it now.
I’ve been meaning to get down to Vancouver for months anyway.

Chapter 13 –Doritos

Walker
comes back into the room with some “
food ” from the hotel lobby .
He found muffins , which are essentially pure trans fats mixed with highly modified flour and genetically engineer blueberries. “Mental note, make stop to load up on Twinkies , much better than these glow in the dark radioactive muffins .
”

“
This isn’t good enough, we need new clothes and some real food, but first I need a shower ,” Naomi says. “
Then new clothes . W
e stand out too m uch with torn and dirty clothes. W
e should just throw them out .”

“For once , I agree with Naomi , ”
says Virginia .

“Alright.
”
Walker sets up his laptop . “Y
ou guys shower , then can you get clothes for all of us, you think you can buy boys clot hes too, just jeans and hoodies?
”

“Yup, we’ll get some food while we are out too.
”

“I’ll let Cinderella sleep as long as he wants.”
Walker fires up his reader and lies back in bed .

Max sleeps straight through until the girls return. They dump the supplies , clothes, new backpacks, first—
aid kit, four pay-as-you-go cell phones, crutches, and more food.

“Where is she, did she follow us, we have to use her . . .” Max finally wakes up.
The others ignore his questions unsure even w ho he was talking about.
Max stands up.
“
Walker are you coding yet . . .
we hav e to code ?”
He sounds frantic .

Virginia faces Max. “Max , you smell , and need a shower. Y
ou can show er on your own or with my help . . .
your choice.” Max tries to move around Virgi nia. Virginia gently blocks him.
“You stink, my friend.”
Max shrinks and moves to the bathroom.

---

Later
, sitting around the small round table the four devour some Doritos. “What the hell are these things?
” Walker says.
“
They’re fantastic.
Twinkies and Doritos, I’m not going to eat anything else ever.
”

Max finishes his third Twinkie.
“
We need to finish our passport pickup plans .
And hack more. I’m going to hack Fire, Ambulance, and Police. But first , Walker , can you do me a favour, I wanna hear wh at we’ve made?
”

“Hear it?”
Walker asks .

“
Ya , we have a synchronization pulse for all the electrons and protons right ?
I want to hear that.
”

“I get it, ” Walker says, “
just give me a minute.”

While Walker codes, Max turns to Virginia.
“
Virginia can you find us a n ew hotel for tonight?”

“What’s wrong with this one?”

“Nothing, but I won’t stay in a hotel longer than one night. How much money do we have?”

“I took out $1000 more today , so about $1200
, ” Virginia answers.

Max hands Virginia a list.
“Can you pick this stuff up from—”

“
OK
, I g ot it.”
Walker turns the laptop volume up and they hear a high pitch ed barely audible sound .

“Nice , Walker , ” Naomi says “Y
ou’ve invented the sound of finger nail s on a chalk board.
”

“Hold on.
”
Walker types again. The tone falls in pitch , lower and lower , until the y hear the individual beats , lower still , unti l Max says , “Stop.”

Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump.

“Hear it ?
” Max stands up and almost falls over.

“Yes , Max , ”
Virginia says .
“W
e hear that it sounds like a heartbeat, but really Maxwell . . .
I can do that with garage band.”

Max feels the world zoom out. He stand s behind himself again. “
Ya but . .
.”
I wonder if I have always loved her ?
“
But we have everything we need , Walker , you get this. Make the periodic t able dammit.”

“
OK
Max, I get it, make the elements”

“
Ya , the element s , but more, make chemicals, make DNA , RNA —make it all. You start on the elements , a nd I’ll start on DNA . G
et our hacking done , then the elements and proteins , OK
?”

Virginia, Naomi, and Walker exchange concer ned looks. They can tell they’r e all thinking i s Max still with us or is he slipping again?

“
OK
, Max,”
Walker agrees and they code.
This calm s Max.

Meanwhile, Virginia and Naomi leave to get supplies and to find a new hotel. At 3
PM
they return and a fter changing clothes , the group cabs over to the next hotel.

Max and Walker start coding again.
Virginia exercises, something like Pilates combined with kick-boxing. Naomi stares out the windo w lost in her own world .

---

Max and
Walker write code until late , then announce that the passpo rts will be ready for pick up Monday m orning at nine .

“Excellent Max, now please sleep, ” Virginia pleads.
“
You’re hurt and wo n’t get better unless you sleep.
”

“I’
ll sleep later; I need to finish the e lements and DNA with Walker first . We don’t have time, if I sleep now , we ’ll get caught.”

“If you don’t sleep , you might die.” Virginia turns her back on him and continues her ‘
yoga ’
routine .

“
Walker , please work on the enc rypted cell phone detector.
If an encrypted cell phone call is made near us then I want it s number, lat , long, and direction from us.”

“Alright Max, with what we have now this should only take four hours or so.”

“Ug h .
” Naomi groans and pulls her pillow over her head.

Max goes into the bathroom and although he knows he should spend time on it takes out his tablet looking for the next Midge entry.

2001/02/18 23:01

The following video was pieced together from school hard mounted security cameras, vehicle mounted cameras, and helmet cameras.

Midge runs along the top of the wall that surrounds the school. Guards attempt to illuminate her with spotlight s , but snow piled high on the wall makes their light s ineffective.

Midge is dressed in black. Her hair flies out behind her as she runs. Guards chase her along the wall , but she is easily running twice their speed. M
ore guards approach her from the adjoining wall. They threaten to trap her at the corner where the two walls meet .

Midge runs close by a security camera, her face ecstatic with black ey e liner smeared over her cheeks. S
he looks like she’s laughing.

The guards slow. T
hey can tell she's trapped, and draw their guns. Midge p icks up speed. T
he corner of the wall is scant metres away.

Sensing what she intends to do , Pirelli screams , “Shoot.”

Midge takes three more strides and launches herself off the wall and into the air . Twenty-one metres off the ground , she curls into a ball and disappears into the blizzard.

The guard s shoot a net where Midge was moments before.

(the video cuts to a view from outside the wall) Snow drifts tower high on either side of the road approaching the school, easily reaching four metres deep. The video shows new snow falling, but not only snow. A small black figure streaks down and disappears into a snow drift.

(the video cuts to a view of a snow covered road filmed from the front of some kind of vehicle) S
now blows at a ste ep angle through headli ght beams showing t wo snowmobiles carrying two people each on either side of the beam. The snowmobiles pull up and stop near a snow bank, the riders on the lead vehicles dismount.

With guns drawn , four riders climb the bank and disappear in the blizzard. Minutes pass , and then two guard s come sliding back down the bank unconscious. Then a black blur flips onto one of the snowmobiles and tears off into the storm.

(the video cuts to a view from a helmet cam) “S
pread out,” Pirelli screams . “Flank her.”

Midge flies over an open field of snow, her snowmobile quickly approaching the tree line. Pirelli stay s on her. The other two snowmobiles head right and left.

(the video cuts to a view from inside the forest) A snowmobile is bent and steaming, smashed into a tree. Pirelli approaches the tree. Blood and footsteps lead fa r ther into the bush. “Got you now , girl.”

Guards move along the trail of blood. The trail stops, no blood, no footprints. Pirelli senses it coming and crouches. A branch swing s over his head , narrowly missing him. The guard standing beside him is not so lucky. The branch knocks his helmet flying off. “She's up in the trees.”

Lights angle up. Midge flashes across to the left.
Her foot connects with a guard and he goes down ; bullets tear into the branches and trees. They fire dozens of shots. Bra n ches and twigs fall to the ground along with the small black figure, which hits the ground and lies still.

Someone knock s on the bathroom door.
“Are you OK
, Max?”

Max recognizes Virginia’s voice and pulls his thoughts away from the brilliant and reckless Midge and shuts down his tablet a lthough he wan ts to find out more about her .
“I’m OK
.
”
He leaves the bathroom and goes back to coding.

---

Agent Hastings ’
phone rings.
“Yes.”

“
Security alert for Agent Hastings.
CSIS
detected a s ecurity breach in the Passport O
ffice in Vancouver . Four passports order ed . Two nine-year-old boys, two nine-year-old girls. Rush order approved. To be picked up at 9
AM
this Monday at 757 Hastings Street West , Vancouver, BC
, Canada .”

Hastings hangs up and smiles .
“Got ya this time. I ’
ll be ready and waiting for you . . .” He points a picture of Max. “. . .
on Monday.”

Hastings calls Pirelli. They start making calls and putting a plan together. When they finish , two Canadian agencies, three American agencies, and of course the MGA are involved. This amounts to forty agents .

---

At 1
AM
Monday , Max start s working with the supplies Virginia got him.
When he is done he has two old style phones with their handsets duct taped to each other with ear piece to mouth piece.
There are odd looking mechanical fingers poised over the number pad of one phone , and both set s are connected by a mass of wires.