Code Breakers Complete Series: Books 1-4 (67 page)

The woman slammed her fist on the table triumphantly, clearly getting a little excited with her own speech. She wasn’t even anything to do with security. She was an economic representative. She was showing all signs of ‘Silvermania’, which had taken over a portion of the city since Malik Silverman’s heroic acts were promoted around the various media. The suit she wore was a common sight around the city now. Malik even had his own fan club that called themselves the Silvermaniacs.
 

Those around the table hid their mirth while muttering their agreement.

Jimmy spoke up. “President Fuentes, I’m sure Sasha and Malik will show intelligence and restraint. We currently have twenty-three cells free, but I’m not sure we should take the justice approach on this rather than the intelligence-gathering process. I’d like for them to recover this individual and bring him to a cell where we can question him. And, before you object, I’m absolutely not suggesting torture. I’m suggesting we let the boys and girls at Cemprom and young Jess here, analyse the chip in more detail and see if we can crack the encryption. At the very least, we should be able to find some way of tracking the other ronin via their connection if we’re able to reverse engineer it.”

Rosario Fuentes stood and raised her hand up. “Okay, okay, I’m convinced, but we really don’t have the manpower for a squad. If I take anyone off the streets, I’ll have no one left to deal with the current spate of crime. It’s going to take some time to re-engineer the security protocols without having to resort to using the citywide AIA network, which at this point is not an option until Cemprom can disable the Family-installed functionality.

“Malik, Sasha, you’ll have to go visit this man on your own. And besides, a full squad will cause suspicion and perhaps scare away the target. Go speak with him quietly, and bring him back here so that Jim...” She coughed, scratching at her face. “Erm... I mean Dr Robertson, can lead a team to crack the encryption.”

“That’s fine by me,” Malik said.

“Me too,” Sasha said.
 

“One last thing. Keep me informed with developments.”

As President Fuentes left the room, Sasha noticed a slight blushing on her face. Her earlier slip-up seemed to hint at a more personal relationship with ol’ Jimmy than she had let on. Sasha would have to interrogate him later on that juicy morsel of gossip.

The rest of Liberty departed the suite, leaving Sasha and Malik behind.
 

He stood up, straightened his blue uniform, and smiled at her. “You ready?”

“Sure, let’s go get this scumbag.”

As Sasha led Malik out of the room, she couldn’t help but notice in the reflection of the glass doors that he was checking her out. She was wearing her favourite outfit, a form-fitting black suit, and even she had to agree that her butt was looking particularly fine in it. She couldn’t blame him for looking.

***

Benedict Loas, the man they suspected of being a dealer, lived a twenty-minute walk away from the Presidential Suite. They would have taken the tram, but with it being controlled by the network, it too was currently offline. Besides, it was a nice walk. Most of the citizens, although on alert after the recent problems, were going about their business, crowding the sidewalks, making it difficult for Sasha and Malik to make quick progress.
 

They passed a group of protestors, no doubt under the influence of a ronin. They stood at the edge of the park with banners decrying the return of the network and its various systems.
 

The hustle and bustle of the protestors and the citizens made for a lively presence in the city. Still, Sasha didn’t mind. She’d spent almost all her life underground at Criborg’s island—which the scientists who had been left behind were redesigning into an outpost—and having the open air, albeit beneath the Dome, to wander around in was a nice change.
 

The journey took them through the mostly glass and steel structures of the financial and business district. There was no stock exchange to speak of, but the citizens did have a banking system. To the Family’s credit, at least in this situation, it actually worked reasonably well. Everyone was paid a fair salary, with just nine different salary levels depending on the job done. Benedict Loas worked as a senior analyst for the bank.

Because it was afternoon, the early shift had finished, and the late shift started. People buzzed around, either heading home or going into work.
 

Being a twenty-four-hour city, the running of it was divided into two shifts, and every individual took their turns doing a week of four early days and a week of three late days. Again, this was a system that the city was built around, and Liberty had decided to keep it the same so as to not upset most people’s lives.
 

Turning into a great, open square, Sasha admired the huge, central fountain. Rising up in the centre of the square, the fibre-optic and silicon structure resembled a tall redwood tree that Sasha had only ever seen in an old piece of video footage. Benches lined the edges, providing gathering places for teenagers and adults. The place felt abuzz with all the citizens going about their business. To the far side of the square, in front of the tower containing Benedict’s apartment, a group of people seemed to just stop what they were doing, turn, and then run screaming towards her and Malik.

“Oh, shit,” Malik said, quickly looking for means of escape. It was too late, though; the group were upon them, surrounding them.
 

Sasha sighed. “Really?”
 

“I can’t help it,” Malik said as he was jostled by a group of teenaged girls eager for him to sign one thing or another.
 

The high-pitched squealing made Sasha quite stabby. “You don’t look like you hate it.”

“The Silver Sisters are passionate. What can I say?”

Sasha pushed a couple of the girls away as they tried to pull her away from him. “Hey,” she said. “Get your little grabby hands off. Show some damn respect.” It had no result, so Sasha pushed her way clear and sat on a bench, leaving Malik to hilariously fend for himself. A part of her found the girls annoying. She couldn’t help but feel a certain attachment to Malik given the time they had spent with each other over the last month during his recovery.

She watched as Malik smiled and hugged one girl after another.

Two young blonde girls, no older than fifteen, had got him into a kind of headlock, smothering him with kisses while their friends took pictures and recorded the video on their smart-glasses. Sasha sneered, shaking her head.
 

Despite their hormonal fixation on him as some super war hero, in reality, Malik was a doofus—a lovely, kind doofus, but a doofus nonetheless—and yet, since the ‘Silverman Sacrifice’ documentary had gone out, he was now the closest the city had to a bona fide celebrity.
 

Despite the girls’ shrill attention, Sasha was pleased for him; his achievements and sacrifices deserved the accolades, but she also wished that everyone else got the same recognition. Maybe not the annoying hysterical girls... but her, James, Gabe, Cheska, Jess, Malik, and many more, specifically Petal and Gerry, had also sacrificed a great deal for the city.

Over time, once things had settled down, it would be time to tell what had really happened and what the stakes were, but for now, she was focussing on dealing with the ronin insurgents.
 

Losing her patience, Sasha got up from her bench and shooed the screeching harpies away. “I bet you’re enjoying all the female attention, eh?” Sasha said.
 

Malik blushed. “It’s not quite the attention I want. They’re... erm... a little high-pitched.”

“You can’t blame them, though. You’re a stone-cold hero.” She reached up and wiped lipstick from his face. “You look ridiculous.”

“What can I do? Sometimes I wish James had given me a new face. Would make this job a lot easier.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Sasha said. “You have a certain rugged charm. Sure, it’s a face that scares small children and animals, but in a certain light and at a certain angle, on the right day of the week when the sun is at the right height and the wind is blowing in the right direction, you do have a slight attractiveness to you... occasionally.”

“Gee, thanks a lot. The Sisters don’t seem too afraid of it.”

“See, I knew you were lovin’ the attention, ya dirty dog.”

“Jealous weasel.”

“Motherfucker!”

“Yup, you’re jealous all right.”

“Of having a bunch of screaming teens gushing over me? I don’t think so.”

“I didn’t say you were jealous of me...”

“Them? You think I’m jealous of them?” She made a loud ‘pfft’ noise and pulled ahead of him. The truth of it, though, was that deep down, yes, she was a little jealous. Not that she could ever admit to such a thing, of course.
 

Breaking the tense silence that had built up, Malik finally said, “So, what tactic are we using? What’s the plan? How are we gonna take this bastard down?”

Sasha laughed. Because of their time spent together Malik had picked up some of her language use. Most Libertas citizens were eloquent and well spoken. Sasha felt like some kind of primitive ape by comparison, but Jimmy had insisted she not change for anyone. So she kept on being her, and surprisingly, people accepted her for that.

“Tactics? Don’t know about that. I was thinking of just knocking on his door, then knocking him out. If he’s guilty, it’s unlikely he’s going to do anything suspicious. And we ain’t exactly the image of justice and vengeance.”
 

“Are you suggesting I’m not scary enough for this work?”

“You’re plenty scary. See how you made all those girls scream?”

It was Malik’s turn to retort with a ‘pfft’ sound.
 

They passed through the main doors of the building. Luckily there were no Silvermaniacs around to be a pain in the ass. She pressed the button on the elevator and stepped into the car. They were alone inside. She tapped number forty-three on the holocontrols.

As they ascended, Sasha wanted to say something, break the silence. They both stood there, occasionally glancing at each other before staring ahead, neither getting too close, ensuring a polite distance remained between them. Malik appeared tense, his shoulders all hunched up.
 

She wondered if he was claustrophobic or perhaps feeling the effects of his surgery. She’d grown quite protective over him given the extent of his injuries and the physiotherapy. She looked up at him; he stood nearly thirty centimetres taller than her. He seemed to be staring off into the distance, thinking about something.
 

“Everything okay in there, bud?” She tapped gently on the side of his head.
 

“What? Yeah? Of course, just thinking.”

“What about?”

“You seemed a little ticked off back there. With the Silvermaniacs.”

Sasha rolled her eyes, ignoring his question. “That’s such a stupid name, by the way.”

“I didn’t coin it; they did.”

“You’re like their god now. Can’t you decree they change it to something that sucks less?”

“Are you suggesting I abuse my power?”

“Why not? With all those hot girls begging at your feet, are you telling me you don’t get a little... you know... excited about that?”

Malik’s face reddened. He looked away. “That’s not me. I wouldn’t take advantage like that. I’d want to be with someone I cared about, anyway. I’m not openly available like that.”

“Oh, have someone in mind, do you? Someone already lined up? You sneaky goat.”

“No, nothing like that—”

The elevator reached the forty-third floor. The doors opened, and Sasha went first to spare him his embarrassment. She gave a little extra swing with her hips as she went.

She stopped outside Benedict’s door. Knocked twice.

Malik joined her as the door opened.

A man, in a charcoal-coloured suit and with tightly cropped brown hair with a dusting of grey at his temples, stood in the doorway. Confusion spread across his face. “Can I help you?”

“Mr Loas?” Malik asked. “We’re part of the interim government. It’s nothing to worry about; we just hoped to have five minutes of your time to help clear something up for us.”

Benedict sighed. “Is this about Li Fei? I told her the finance system wasn’t changing, but she just went ahead and... Oh, it’s not that, is it?”

“No, Mr Loas,” Sasha said, “can we come in and talk?”

His eyes narrowed, and then his face relaxed. “Ah, you’re Malik Silverman! Come in!”

Sasha sighed inwardly, but was grateful Malik’s stardom at least helped occasionally.
 

Benedict turned, stepped away from the door, and invited them in.
 

His suite was sparse, but pleasant—bright colours and soft fabrics. A fractal piece of art from the local artist ‘K-bit’ hung on the wall opposite his kitchen area. He approached the drinks dispenser. A half-drunk glass was already on the side.
 

“Can I get you both a d—”
 

Thwump
. A single sub-bass note broke his speech as parts of his skull splattered the wall behind him, creating its own meaty fractal. The body slumped to the ground.