The Genius Wars (20 page)

‘Not just any target. Tell him it’s Com Daniels. In a yellow Camry –’

‘
Yeah, yeah. I heard. Heading north on Marrickville Road.
’ Reggie repeated the car’s registration number. ‘
Anything else?
’

‘It’s urgent. You have to be quick –’

‘
Roger that.
’

There was a click, followed by the hum of the dial tone. Reggie had hung up.

Cadel felt slightly winded.

‘He won’d ged far on Marrickville Road,’ Gazo remarked. ‘Id’s always jammed up.’

Cadel said nothing.

‘Your dad’s probably coming this way. He mide even see the guy himself –’

‘Gazo.’ Cadel couldn’t stand it any longer. ‘Why don’t you take off that ridiculous nose, and those stupid teeth?’

‘Huh?’

‘They’re driving me crazy.’

Gazo flashed him a reproachful look. ‘I’m in disguise, Cadel. You said I was under surveillance.’

‘Maybe. I don’t know.’ Cadel was so distracted, he could hardly keep still. ‘Oh, why doesn’t this
light
change?’

‘Id’s a long one,’ Gazo agreed, checking the rear-view mirror. Two vehicles were already lined up behind Thi’s car, and a third was rapidly approaching. Cadel glanced at his watch. Why didn’t Saul ring him? Was the detective worried about the security risk involved? Or hadn’t Reggie transmitted Cadel’s message?

‘So who’s this guy we’re chasing?’ Gazo queried, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. ‘Do I know ’im?’

‘I’m not sure. You might recognise him. He was at the Axis Institute.’ Cadel saw Gazo wince. ‘He was in my Infiltration class, but he disappeared when the institute folded. His sister turned up at Clearview House last year. She claimed that she was looking for him, but she was really working for Prosper English. They probably
both
are, now.’ After a moment’s reflection, Cadel added gravely, ‘They’re really smart, those two.’

Gazo gave a grunt. ‘You fink he lives round ’ere, then?’

‘I guess so. I mean – it makes sense.’ Cadel tried to imagine Com’s hideout. Was it being shared with someone? Had Com left much behind, in his mad dash to escape any wardrivers who might have locked onto his position? ‘He could even be living with his sister. She could have been in the back of the car, keeping her head down.’

‘Why?’

‘Because she’s a fugitive.’ Cadel shrugged. ‘Anything’s possible.’

‘D’you fink he’ll come back?’

‘I doubt it. He’d be a fool if he did.’ Staring blankly into space, Cadel considered the implications of what he’d just discovered. ‘I knew it had to be someone like that,’ he mumbled, thinking aloud. ‘I knew it had to be Com or Dot or Vee. And now I know who I’m up against, I can work out what to look for. Especially if we find out where Com’s been living.’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘Especially if he’s had to leave any of his stuff …’

‘Cadel.’ Gazo swung around. ‘We’ve god a problem, here. I don’d fink this lide is gunna change.’

Cadel blinked. Emerging from his reverie, he realised they were still idling at the same intersection, waiting for the same red
light to turn green. Eight cars were now sitting behind theirs.

‘If you ask me, id’s blown a fuse,’ Gazo observed. ‘Maybe we should go some uvver way.’

Cadel squinted up at the glowing red dot. After an extended pause, Gazo tried again.

‘Cadel? Did you hear me? I said, should we go some uvver –’

‘It’s been hacked,’ Cadel blurted out. His gaze travelled back to Gazo’s puzzled face. ‘Someone’s got into the controller box. I should have known.’

‘Eh?’

‘Which doesn’t
necessarily
mean we’re being watched.’ Hastily Cadel scanned his surroundings for a camera, a microwave detector, or any other form of monitoring device. But no spyware was visible on any of the poles or walls that loomed overhead. ‘It might be part of an evacuation plan,’ he hazarded, in a shaky voice. ‘Someone’s probably making sure that if Com’s being followed, he’ll be protected by an endless stream of red lights.’

‘Hang on.’ Gazo frowned. ‘Didden you say thad
Com
was the hacker?’

‘He couldn’t be doing all this alone. There has to be somebody else online. There has to be somebody helping him.’ Swallowing, Cadel glanced over his shoulder. ‘You’re right. We have to turn around. We have to go another way.’

‘Off we go, then,’ Gazo said cheerfully. And he executed a rather dangerous U-turn, nosing across the intersection before swerving back to retrace his route. As he whizzed past the vehicles still stuck in the adjoining lane, a lone car horn honked at him.

‘I’ll head for New Canderbury Road,’ he announced. ‘Your guy could be heading there himself.’

Cadel nodded. His mind was racing and his heart was pounding; he was trying to calculate Com’s likely point of origin, taking into account the Camry’s size, trajectory and maximum speed. And it was hard to concentrate when every car on the road had to be checked for another familiar face. What if Dot was out there, driving around? What if
Prosper
had been flushed from some dark and secret lair …?

Cadel suddenly realised that he hadn’t been logging his ID signatures. Was there any reason to continue the wardriving exercise? Might he regret it later if he didn’t?

Maybe I should stick to our schedule,
he decided, dragging his laptop back onto his knees.
Just in case I end up wanting the data, for some reason.

‘Oh, no.’ Gazo’s impatient groan cut across Cadel’s musings. ‘Will you look ad this? A bloody crash, and id’s ride in our way.’

As Cadel raised his eyes, he was conscious that the car in which he was travelling had begun to slow. It rolled to a standstill just a couple of metres from another set of traffic lights, beyond which lay a scene of pure chaos. Two other cars had collided at a four-way intersection; one of them had run straight through a red light, clipping the edge of the vehicle innocently heading across its path. The green station wagon had then spun around, leaving a black skidmark on the road. The white hatchback …

The white hatchback was Snezana’s white hatchback. And the green station wagon belonged to Duke’s father.

‘Bloody hell!’ cried Gazo, before Cadel could do anything but gasp. ‘Thad’s nod – is thad …?’

‘Oh no.’ Cadel shoved his laptop aside. He began to claw at his seatbelt. ‘Oh
no.
’

‘Don’d move,’ said Gazo, yanking off his fake nose, his fake ears and his fake teeth. ‘Stay here,’ he ordered. ‘You’re not allowed to get outta the car.’

‘There’s Duke – look!’ squeaked Cadel, ignoring him. Even from a distance, Duke’s blond dreadlocks were unmistakeable. ‘He’s walking around! He must be all right!’

Duke, in fact, was only one of several people milling about at the site of the accident. A fat, middle-aged man with a bag of groceries was patting Duke on the shoulder. Another, much younger man was peering into the station wagon. And a woman in a blue dress was hovering over …

‘Hamish!’ Cadel cried. Freeing himself from his seatbelt at last, he reached for the doorhandle.

‘Stay there!’ Gazo was already halfway out of his seat. ‘
Cadel!
You can’t be seen like that!’

‘Like what?’ Cadel gaped at him. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘The wig? The chin? The
flippers
?’

‘Oh …’

‘You look like a freak. You afta stay here. Your dad’s gunna skin me alive if you don’t.’ By now Gazo was standing on the road; he bent down to address Cadel through the open driver’s door. ‘Lock yourself in, eh? I’ll be right back.’

‘Wait –’

But Gazo refused to wait. He slammed the door and bolted, heading straight for the white hatchback. Even as he did so, Snezana emerged from her damaged vehicle, moving very slowly and awkwardly in her high-heeled boots. Skirting a patch of broken glass, she staggered across to where Hamish was slumped. She had a bloodstained tissue pressed against her nose.

Cadel couldn’t see what was wrong with Hamish, who was squatting on the edge of the kerb, minus his motorbike helmet.
If he’s sitting up,
Cadel concluded,
he can’t be too bad.
It was obvious that the smash had only just taken place. There were no police at the scene. No ambulance officers were tending to the injured.

Cadel began to peel off his wig just as his phone rang.

It was Saul on the other end of the line.

‘
Cadel? Where are you? I got your message.
’ Saul’s tone was crisp but calm. ‘
Tell me where you are, and I’ll meet you. I don’t want you wandering around out there – not with Com Daniels on the loose.
’

‘There’s been an accident,’ replied Cadel, who wasn’t really listening. He had removed his wig and kicked off his flippers; now he was picking away at his fake eyebrows. ‘Duke crashed into Snezana.’

‘
WHAT
?’

‘It’s on New Canterbury Road. You can’t miss it.’ Tossing aside a strip of acrylic hair, Cadel watched as Gazo approached Snezana and Hamish. Duke, by this time, was fishing around in the glove-box of his station wagon. It looked as if Vijay was still
sitting in the back seat. ‘Someone should find Mr Naidoo,’ Cadel went on. ‘Tell him what’s happened. Isn’t Thi with him? Snezana’s hurt. Her nose is bleeding.’

‘
Cadel
–’

‘I think you should come,’ Cadel declared. ‘Be careful, though. Someone’s been messing with the traffic lights. I think the SCATS regional computer might have been hacked.’ He was struck by a sudden, dazzling insight. ‘I wonder if that’s what happened to Duke and Snezana?’ he exclaimed. ‘I wonder if both lights turned green at once?’

It was a definite possibility. But how could both cars have been been tracked? Though Hamish might have been using a bugged phone (it was certainly possible), neither Duke nor Vijay had been carrying their phones with them. All unauthorised phones had been left back at Thi’s house.

Anyway, Com didn’t even know who Duke and Vijay were.

‘
Cadel? Listen to me
.’ Saul’s voice had sharpened, the way it always did when he was anxious. ‘
Where’s Gazo? Can I talk to Gazo
?’

‘He’s not here.’

‘
What?
’

‘He’s gone to help.’ Gazo, in fact, had joined Snezana. Cadel could see them both talking earnestly to the woman in blue, though he couldn’t hear what was being said. Snezana seemed to be crying. Gazo was grasping her elbow protectively.

Hamish was still sitting with his head on his knees and his arms wrapped around his stomach.

‘I think I’ll go and help too,’ Cadel decided. ‘I can’t just stay here in the car.’

‘
No! Cadel
–’

‘I’ll be careful. I promise.’ Though the situation had every appearance of being an ambush, specially designed to lure him into the open, Cadel didn’t see how another attack could be carried out – not at this particular accident site, anyway. The damaged cars were blocking every approach, so no one could possibly run him down – and he wasn’t afraid of snipers, because
Com and his cronies were obviously using subtler, more technology-based techniques. In fact Cadel couldn’t help wondering if he himself was the main target after all. If he had been, surely the malfunctioning traffic light would have been aimed at
him
?

At any rate, the risk wasn’t big enough to keep him in the car while his friends were suffering.

‘I’ll see you in a minute,’ he told Saul. ‘Don’t be too long. Someone needs to come here and organise things.’

Disregarding Saul’s tinny protests, Cadel broke the connection. He shoved the phone back into his pocket, without removing its battery first. He took off his prosthetic chin, checked his face in the mirror for bits of sticky residue, and pushed open the rear passenger door.

Then he climbed out onto the road.

Hamish wasn’t looking too good. Though he was able to lift his head, his face was ashen, and his glasses were cracked.

‘Bloody Duke,’ he slurred, when he caught sight of Cadel. ‘B-b-bloody idiot can’t drive for
nuts
.’

‘We had a green light,’ Snezana shrilled. ‘Ask anyone. They’ll tell you the same thing.’

‘Where’s Vijay?’ asked Cadel, who had been walking very carefully. In his bare feet, with so much glass around, he was afraid of cutting himself. ‘What’s happened to him? Is he still in your car?’

‘Vijay’s all right.’ Snezana cast a vague glance in the direction of her hatchback. ‘He’s just a bit upset, I think.’

‘You shouldn’t be out here, Cadel,’ said Gazo. ‘Not wivvout your shoes on.’

Cadel, however, didn’t even process this remark. He was too busy studying Hamish, who was breathing in short, shallow gasps. Cadel didn’t like the sound of them at all.

‘What about you?’ he said. ‘Are you okay, Hamish?’

Hamish gave a grunt.

‘Is it your stomach? Does it hurt?’

‘It’s my chest.’

‘Your
chest
?’ echoed the woman in blue. Her appearance was messy and uncoordinated, as if she’d ducked outside in her cleaning clothes to buy some milk. ‘That’s bad. Your chest? That’s
real
bad.’

‘Has somebody called an ambulance?’ Cadel wanted to know. He peered around for confirmation, but didn’t receive any. Gazo shrugged, in a hapless and hesitant kind of way. The woman in blue sniffed. ‘I got no phone,’ she said sharply, like someone accused of harbouring an illegal substance. Snezana quavered, ‘You told us not to bring our phones. Remember?’ And she fixed Cadel with a plaintive look, which he decided to ignore.

Hamish shook his head.

‘My phone got smashed,’ he croaked. ‘It was in my pocket. I tried it already.’

Cadel stared down at him, aghast.

‘It got
smashed
?’ he spluttered. ‘In your
pocket
?’ He didn’t even want to ask which pocket. A hip pocket might be all right, but a breast pocket …?

That could be serious.

‘Um …’ Weakly, Hamish flapped his hand. ‘I kind of … hit the gearstick.’

‘Oh, boy,’ said Gazo. Cadel straightened. He was about to suggest that someone call an ambulance right away when a voice behind him bleated, ‘
My
phone’s working. We can use my phone.’