Urban Outlaws (9 page)

Obi sounded offended. ‘Of course. I’m feeding their security monitors with a looped recording. Only I can see what’s really happening.’

‘All clear?’

‘You’re good to go. I’ll guide you out.’

Jack and Charlie slipped into the hallway. They stayed close to the wall and moved silently towards the end.

‘Wait,’ Charlie said. ‘I think they put my stuff in here.’ She ran to another door, opened it, and went inside.

It was so quiet that Jack could hear the blood pounding in his ears.

A minute or so later, Charlie re-emerged. She slipped the shoulder cam into her pocket, clipped the headset back to her ear, and examined her phone closely. ‘Doesn’t look like they’ve tampered with it.’

‘We can check it later,’ Jack whispered. ‘Come on.’

They crept to the end of the corridor.

‘Left,’ Obi said.

Being guided made Jack feel uneasy, despite the fact that he trusted Obi with his life.

They tiptoed up the next hallway towards the door at the end.

‘Stop,’ Obi said.

Jack and Charlie froze.

‘Someone’s coming up the stairs,’ Obi said. ‘Quick. Hide.’

Jack grabbed Charlie’s hand and ran to an office door. He threw it open, pushed her inside, closing it just in time. Seconds later someone opened the door to the stairwell.

The heavy, slow thud of boots on marble echoed down the corridor. They stopped, a door opened, then closed and the footsteps moved on again.

‘Security guard’s checking rooms,’ Obi said.

Jack looked at the lock – it was an old-fashioned mortise type – not electronic. Obi wouldn’t be able to help them with this one – they were on their own.

Charlie was already hurrying across the room. They were in a small office. For a moment, Jack thought she was going to look for a way to open the window, but instead Charlie ran behind the desk and started opening drawers.

‘Obi?’ Jack said.

‘Yeah?’

‘Where is he?’

‘Three doors away.’

Charlie finished rifling through the first drawer, cursed, slid it shut, and opened the second.

They heard the guard’s footfall stop again and the rattle of a door handle.

‘That one’s locked,’ Obi said.

The guard’s steps continued.

Charlie shut the second drawer and moved on to the last.

‘Two doors left before yours.’ Obi sounded anxious.

Charlie cursed. ‘Nothing,’ she said and slid the last drawer closed. She spun on the spot, her eyes scanning the room.

Another rattle of a door handle.

Jack’s mind raced. They were cornered. The windows didn’t open. He looked up at the air vent in the ceiling. Even if they could get up there in time, he doubted it would hold their weight.

Charlie dashed over to a shelf unit.

Jack continued to run through scenarios. Maybe they could take the guard by surprise, overpower him. Problem was, they’d have to knock him out somehow. Those single magical punches only happened in films. If only they had Charlie’s stun gun.

Charlie upended a pot of pens. ‘Yes,’ she said, holding up a set of three keys.

She hurried back to the door and tried the first.

It didn’t work.

The guard’s steps moved on down the corridor towards the room next to them.

‘
Hurry, Charlie
,’ Jack whispered.

‘All right,’ she hissed. Beads of sweat covered her brow.

The door to the next office opened, then closed again a few seconds later. The guard’s footsteps sounded very close now.

Charlie tried the second key.

It didn’t work either.

‘Come on, seriously?’ she hissed through a clenched jaw.

She fumbled with the keys, slid the last one into the lock, and turned it. There was a small click and she pulled back, held up her hands, her eyes wide.

The footsteps stopped and for a second Jack thought the guard had heard the lock engage, but then the handle moved up and down. There was a pause of a couple more seconds, then the guard carried on.

Jack and Charlie let out simultaneous breaths.

•   •   •

Ten minutes passed before Obi was sure the guard had moved on to another level of the building and he gave Jack and Charlie the all-clear. They unlocked the door and slipped back into the hallway.

Their way down the fire stairs was uneventful and they reached the exit and stepped back into the alleyway.

Charlie ducked behind a van and peered round the corner. ‘Clear.’

Jack didn’t move – he was still holding the door open.

Charlie turned back. ‘What are you doing?’

‘You go.’

‘What?’

Jack glanced back at the stairs. ‘There’s something I need to do first.’

‘No way,’ Charlie said, rushing over to him and grabbing his hand. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

Jack pulled his hand free. ‘I’ll meet you back at the bunker.’

‘But –’

‘Trust me,’ Jack said in a firm tone. ‘Besides, if I get caught, I’ll need you to come get
me
this time.’

Charlie scowled, but then her face softened. ‘Just be careful.’

‘Aren’t I always?’

Charlie shook her head. ‘Not so much.’ She hesitated a moment longer, then pulled up her hood and jogged down the alleyway.

That was another thing he liked about her – if he needed to keep something to himself, Charlie would leave it alone. Besides, he told her everything, eventually. But, right at that moment, she’d been through enough.

Jack darted into the building and stood with his back pressed against the door. ‘Slink?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Have you found it?’

‘I think so.’

•   •   •

Obi guided Jack to the basement level of the building. The corridors down here reminded Jack of a prison with their unpainted concrete-block walls. He shuddered. The children’s home had been like a prison, and he had no intention of ever going back.

Jack stopped. The door at the end had the symbol of the sword in the shape of a number one. ‘Proteus,’ he breathed. Something hit the ground behind him and he spun around, fists balled.

A figure rose from the floor and an air-vent grate swung above their heads.

‘Slink,’ Jack said, clutching his chest. ‘Do you think you could warn me next time?’

Slink grinned. ‘That wouldn’t be any fun.’

‘You’ve done well,’ Jack said. ‘Get back to the bunker.’

Slink looked at the logo on the door. ‘I want to see.’

‘Can’t risk both of us getting caught. Give me that,’ Jack unclipped the mobile camera from Slink’s shoulder and fixed it to his own shoulder.

Slink didn’t move.

‘
Slink
.’ Jack gestured to the camera. ‘You can catch it on playback.’

Slink hesitated for a few seconds, then his shoulders slumped. ‘See ya later.’ He jogged up the corridor and vanished around the corner.

Jack turned back to the door, grabbed the handle and let himself in.

The space beyond was about seven metres on each side. There were no other doors or windows and the room was bathed in harsh fluorescent light. In the centre of the floor was a mass of stainless steel pipework and glass cylinders, all connected with a criss-cross of tubing and wires. Four two-metre-high coolant tanks sat side by side, and next to them was an isolated battery supply.

Jack couldn’t help but be impressed at how quickly they’d managed to set up the apparatus.

‘Obi,’ he whispered, ‘you getting this?’

‘Yeah. Told you it was real.’

Though Jack had never seen one before, he knew Obi was right, and a cold chill ran down his spine. This was the beginning of a revolution. One of the world’s first working quantum computers.

His eyes moved slowly around the room until they found a workstation in the corner. He hurried over to it and sat down. In front of him was the main terminal: a keyboard, monitor and mouse. He shook the mouse and the screen sprang to life.

PROTEUS.

For a moment, Jack sat in silence, unable to move. It was Obi’s voice in his ear that jerked him back to reality. ‘What did you say?’

‘I said you should hook it up.’

Jack frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Look to your left.’

A thick cable snaked across the floor, connecting Proteus to a server stack, but the server’s network cable wasn’t plugged into anything.

Jack glanced around and saw the empty port on the wall. He scooped up the network cable and plugged it in.

‘I bet the network security is encrypted,’ Obi said. ‘Shouldn’t be a problem for you though.’

Jack turned back to the monitor, flexed his fingers and set to work.

Obi was right – the network was encrypted but it only took Jack a few minutes to bypass it. Now Proteus was connected to the internet, they could access it from the bunker whenever they wanted. Jack was just testing it all worked OK when Obi spoke again in his ear. ‘Er, Jack?’

Jack concentrated. If he overlooked even the smallest error, it would all be for nothing.

‘
Jack
,’ Obi shouted.

Jack almost leapt from the chair. ‘What?’

‘Those three agents are coming.’

‘Where are they?’

‘Down the corridor, heading straight for you.’

CHAPTER SIX

Jack listened at the door and heard their footfall approaching. They sounded purposeful, like they knew he was there.

He ran back to the terminal. No more time to check it.

Jack hit Shut Down, flicked off the monitor and glanced around the room. There were no other doors and the agents were blocking his only escape route.

He hurried behind Proteus’s coolant tanks and ducked down.

‘Obi?’

‘Yes?’

‘Cut the lights.’

‘What?’

‘The power. Cut the power.’

‘On it.’ He heard Obi typing fast.

The door banged open and the three agents entered.

They began to walk slowly around the room, their eyes scanning the mass of tubes and wires.

‘Cloud, check Proteus,’ Connor said. ‘See if anything’s been tampered with.’ Then, louder, ‘Achilles, we know you’re in here.’

In his headset, Jack could still hear Obi typing.

‘Achilles, you can make this easier for yourself. Why don’t you –’ The room plunged into darkness.

Connor let out a roar of annoyance.

Jack felt for the edge of the tanks and stood up. There was no light anywhere, just pure inky black. All of them were now blind.

Someone banged into something.

‘Ouch,’ Cloud said.

‘
Be careful
of the computer,’ Connor snapped.

Obi’s hushed voice came through the headset. ‘I see them.’

Thank God for that
, Jack thought. The camera on his shoulder was sensitive to low light and had infrared diodes. Obi could see everything.

‘Two have gone right,’ Obi said, ‘the other’s to your left. Follow my instructions and I’ll try to get you out of there.’

A faint light appeared on the right-hand side of the room – one of the agents was using their phone as a makeshift torch but all the chrome equipment just cast confusing shadows around them.

‘What now, boss?’ It was Monday’s voice – coming from somewhere nearby.

‘Cloud, stay on Proteus,’ Connor said. ‘Monday, you check behind the tanks. I’ll get the door.’

Jack pulled back and braced himself. Agent Monday was heading straight towards him.

Obi’s voice came over the headset. ‘When I say, step back three paces . . .
Now
.’

Jack did as he was told and held his breath. He felt movement of air as someone passed in front of him.

‘OK,’ Obi whispered, ‘turn a quarter to the left. One step forward.’

‘Achilles?’ Connor’s voice sounded aggravated, and closer. ‘Stop playing games. We’re armed.’

Yeah, right
, Jack thought.
They might have guns but they have no target.
Not unless they wanted to risk shooting Proteus or each other.

‘Duck!’

Jack dropped to his knees.

Obi let out a breath. ‘Close one.’

Connor cursed under his breath. ‘Where’s the door?’ he growled.

Jack could imagine the agents walking around with their arms outstretched like mummies in a horror film.

‘Now’s your chance,’ came Obi’s urgent whisper in Jack’s ear. ‘Crawl forward until I tell you to stop.’

Jack followed Obi’s instructions.