The Secret War (Jack Blank Adventure) (10 page)

“I’m afraid that Agent Glave, whoever he is, is not the only possible source here either,” Stendeval said. The birds finished their song and began to fly off. Stendeval returned to the table, his hands clasped behind his back. He did not sit down. The grave look on his face had returned. “After you left the sphere, our next order of business was a trial. A real trial … for Speedrazor. He pled guilty in exchange for leniency, and revealed that the information his gang had gotten on Jonas Smart’s business had come from a most unusual source.”

“An unusual source?” Jack repeated. “Who?”

Before Stendeval could answer, Jack felt a strange broadcast signal fly across the airwaves, forcing itself forward like a battering ram. It was a pirate signal. Jack felt it taking over the holo-screen in his apartment next door. He saw the same thing happening on floating billboards that were hovering nearby. Screens on the sides of buildings that were playing NewsNet broadcasts got hit too,
and everywhere Jack looked, he saw moving pictures cut to static. Someone was hijacking every screen in Empire City.

“Speedrazor got his information from someone people trust to keep secrets,” Stendeval told Jack. He scrunched up his face with chagrin as the static all around was replaced by images of a cloaked figure with glowing eyes. “If I had to guess, I’d say that’s him now.”

Jack looked up at the holo-screen. The face on it was hidden behind bandages that covered the nose and mouth. A hood covered the person’s head, his glowing eyes hanging in the black shadows beneath it like lanterns in the night.

“This message is going out across all known Imagine Nation broadcast channels,” the figure on the pirated holo-screens announced. Despite the bandages that covered his mouth, his voice came through crystal clear. It was practically hypnotic. “I do apologize for the intrusion.
What I have to say is very important, and the truth is, there is no proper way to do what I am about to do. My name is Obscuro. I am a Secreteer.”

Jack put his hands on his head and clutched at his hair. “A Secreteer?” he said. “A Secreteer is telling secrets?”

Stendeval didn’t answer. He just put up a finger, telling Jack to wait. He was intently focused on Obscuro. Jack had never seen him like this. He looked worried. More than worried. Jack turned back to the holo-screen and listened quietly.

“I have been a Secreteer for as long as I can remember,” Obscuro continued, his voice echoing throughout the city. “It has been both a privilege and an honor. The greatest honor of my life. For hundreds of years the Clandestine Order has hidden the Imagine Nation from the Real World … a world that doesn’t understand us. A world that isn’t ready for us. It has been our sacred duty to ensure that the Imagine Nation remains unknown until such time that the Real World can finally welcome it back.” Obscuro paused a moment and looked down. His glowing eyes dimmed. “I’m sad to say that day will never come.”

Jack and Stendeval exchanged nervous looks, then turned back to the broadcast.

“It is with a heavy heart that I share this with you,” Obscuro declared. “It goes against everything that I am, and was by no means an easy decision on my part. People like myself with psychic powers—memory powers—we train for years for the right to perform the order’s sacred duty all over the world. It is hard work. It’s lonely work, but we do it without complaint. I remind you all of this only so that you will not doubt my word,” he explained. “By controlling information, Secreteers maintain order in the world, and in the process, we gain knowledge. Sometimes we discover things that we would rather not know. This is one of those times. It has come to my attention that the Rüstov are coming back, and this time … this time they are going to win. In five days, starting this morning, the Rüstov are going to take over Empire City, and there’s nothing we can do to stop them.”

Jack slid his hands behind his head and paced around in a small circle. “I don’t believe this,” Jack said. “Tell me this isn’t happening.”

“I cannot in good conscience keep this information
from you,” Obscuro went on. “There will be no beating the Rüstov this time. This is a fact. You all deserve to know at least that much. The enemy penetrated our defenses long ago, even before the invasion. Their agents are here now, even as we speak. They have been laying the groundwork for their takeover all year. I could tell you what I know of their plans … of their master spy …” Obscuro shook his head. “It would do no good. The Rüstov plot goes all the way up to Empire City’s greatest heroes, and their work is all but done. Better I give you all the choice and the chance to escape before it’s too late. I advise you all to pursue any means necessary to save yourselves. That is what I intend to do. I stand before you today, ready to break every vow I ever made to the Clandestine Order. I am selling my secrets—
all of them
—to finance my escape from this planet.

“Empire City, I make you the following offer: Those of you who have money to spend and wish to know what I know, make your intentions known and I will find you. If, like me, you are leaving this place, seek me out for information you feel might aid in your escape. If you choose to stay here, seek me out for information you’ve always wanted to
know before you die. All the knowledge I possess can be yours for a price. The combined secrets of the Secreteers—all the mysteries of the world—are for sale. Those of you who wish to engage my services, do not delay. Those of you who wish to stop me, do not waste your time. Believe me when I tell you there isn’t much left.”

Jack stared out in a nearly catatonic state as the holo-screens on the floating billboards and the sides of buildings all returned to static, then one by one flipped back to their regular programming of news and advertisements. Jack realized he’d been holding his breath for half the transmission. He let it go once all the screens were back to normal.

“It appears we’re going to have a panic on our hands after all,” Stendeval said, frowning. “Jonas Smart now has the confirmation he requires. There’ll be no keeping him quiet after this.”

“They both mentioned the same five-day deadline,” Jack said, nodding up at the screens. “Obscuro is worried about the same thing Glave is working on,” he said, connecting the dots as he spoke. “It’s the virus. It has to be.”

Stendeval looked at Jack. “We have to stop it.”

Jack didn’t reply at first. His mind was racing. He thought about how the Rogue Secreteer’s actions were going to spook the city, and shuddered. Then an idea struck him and he realized a potential silver lining to the dark cloud that was Obscuro’s warning. “Maybe we can stop it,” Jack replied. “If we know what he knows, we can. That’s the key, Stendeval. Forget the virus for a second—if we can find Obscuro, we can find Glave. We find Glave … and we shut him down.”

Stendeval shook his head. “That won’t be easy. Every Secreteer in the Imagine Nation will be looking for Obscuro after tonight. They’ll kill him for this betrayal.”

Jack sighed and shook his head. “Then I guess we’d better get moving.”

By the time Jack got back to his apartment, stories about the Rogue Secreteer had already begun to dominate the NewsNets. It didn’t even matter that none of them had any new facts to report. Speculation about Obscuro’s mysterious Rüstov threat was more than enough to keep the coverage going all night long. Jack’s powers being what they were, the media frenzy was tough to avoid. He meant to watch only a little bit but ended up listening to interviews and scanning cyberspace for reactions half the night. Every cybersite on the Net was buzzing with
frightened comments. A Secreteer selling secrets was completely unprecedented, a real hero-robs-bank kind of story. Sometime after midnight Jack remembered to call Allegra and ask if she could get Skerren and come by his place first thing in the morning. Fear was gripping the city, and Jack was one of the few people who knew exactly what there was to be afraid of. Membership in that very exclusive club was about to go up by two.

The next day Skerren and Allegra arrived at Jack’s apartment just after breakfast. By that time Jack had been watching the NewsNets for twelve hours straight. He barely said hello to his friends as they came in. He just nodded at them with a vacant look and quickly turned back toward the many holo-screens he had up and running in his living room. The members of the Inner Circle were all putting out statements, each of them addressing Obscuro and his grim predictions for the future. Skerren and Allegra got there just in time to catch the end of Stendeval’s speech:

“I reject as false the idea that the Rüstov have somehow taken our city without so much as firing a single shot,” Stendeval told the people of Cognito. “We are monitoring Rüstov activity inside our borders, just as we
have every day since the invasion. The Rogue Secreteer’s actions, and this notion that all hope is lost, run contrary to everything we stand for. Here in the Imagine Nation, we
always
believe that tomorrow a better day will dawn. Here in the Imagine Nation, we fight for that day. An old English statesman I knew years ago once said that wars are not won by evacuations. I urge all citizens of the Imagine Nation to remain calm and, above all, remain here. We’re going to need one another before this is over.”

“This is unbelievable,” Skerren said, motioning toward the screen. “A Secreteer selling off secrets because he’s afraid of the Rüstov? This didn’t even happen when Revile came back.”

“It’s crazy,” Allegra said. “The launchpads in Galaxis are already backed up with ships full of people who want to follow Obscuro’s advice and get out of here.”

“I know,” Jack said without taking his eyes off the screens. “I’ve been watching. It’s the same in Hightown. Noteworthy tried to downplay Obscuro’s warning, but he got drowned out by SmartNews.” Jonas Smart’s personal NewsNets were running nonstop the Glave transmission he’d intercepted.

Jack flicked his wrist, brushing away the holo-screen with Stendeval on it, and reached out with his other hand to pull another screen forward. He put both hands together and then separated them like he was pulling an invisible string at both ends. The holo-screen expanded to three times its original size, displaying an image of Jonas Smart being interviewed on SmartNews.

“The Rogue Secreteer is a hero,” Smart told Drack Hackman, his NewsNet’s lead anchor. “If not for Obscuro, I would still be bound by the Inner Circle’s order to keep this information classified. Thanks to him, I am free to act—free to give Empire City a fighting chance.”

“But what about those who say this warning comes too late?” Hackman asked Smart. “If even the Secreteers are convinced the Rüstov are going to win, shouldn’t we all be afraid? Clearly, this Secreteer knows something we don’t.”

“Without question,” Smart agreed. “But only for now. There’s no cause for concern as long as the Inner Circle gets out of my way and lets me do what is necessary to protect this city. The do-nothing Inner Circle stopped paying attention to the Rüstov long ago, but as my successor, Clarkston Noteworthy, is fond of saying, I am no longer
associated with that venerable institution. For the last year I have diverted a significant amount of SmartCorp resources away from my existing, lucrative enterprises and focused all my time and energy on a device that will tell us exactly what the Rüstov are up to. It’s called the SmarterNet,” Smart announced. “It would have launched already if Jack Blank hadn’t destroyed a key component the night before last, but have no fear. It
will
launch before the deadline Obscuro warned us about. Once the SmarterNet goes live, the Rüstov will never be able to hide from us again.”

Allegra shook her head. “Amazing how he never misses a chance to get in a dig at you,” she said to Jack.

“He’s been saying stuff like that in every interview,” Jack said. “Right now you’re probably one of about five people who care. Smart’s Instant Polling numbers are way up. Look.” Jack snapped his fingers, and a small data screen appeared. It read:

Jonas Smart, Current Favorability Rating: 65%. (Margin of error: 97%)

Jack grimaced. Yesterday Smart’s posturing would have drawn the ire of Jack’s many supporters throughout the
Imagine Nation, but not today. Today people had other things on their minds.

“Jack, you look awful,” Allegra said. “Did you sleep at all last night?”

Distracted, Jack stared at the screens a few more moments before he realized Allegra was talking to him. “What?” he asked. “Oh, yeah. I think so. Yeah, I passed out for a little while there. Definitely.”

“You’ve been watching this all night?” she asked.

Jack rubbed the back of his neck. “I didn’t mean to, but yeah … I guess I have been. I kind of got sucked in.”

“Maybe it’s time for a break,” Allegra suggested.

Jack’s eyes darted around at the screens and the relentless noise that was coming out of them, passing itself off as news. He looked at Allegra and waved his arm like he was clearing off a table with one clean swipe. The screens all blinked out, and the sudden silence came as a relief. Watching the NewsNets all night hadn’t helped Jack learn anything new; it had served only to stress him out.

“That’s better,” Allegra said.

“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “Yeah, I think so.”

Skerren took a seat on the arm of Jack’s couch. “So?”
he asked. “You watched everything the news has to say. What do you think? Is this for real?”

Jack collapsed into his chair and looked up at his friends. “It’s real,” he said. “I know it is. That’s why I asked you guys to come here.” He stopped and took a breath. Jack knew he had to tell his friends what was going on before they could help him, and thanks to Glave and Obscuro, he needed help now more than ever. That didn’t make coming clean any easier. He could guess how his friends were going to react to what came next. “The thing is …,” Jack began, “I know more than just what’s on the news. I know what’s got the Rogue Secreteer so scared.”

Jack’s apartment reached new levels of quiet as Skerren and Allegra stared at him in disbelief. Skerren got up off of the couch. “What?” he asked Jack. “What do you mean, you
know
?”