Cyber Terror (18 page)

There were other, nicer smells. Raven hadn’t applied her fruity cedar-wood perfume recently, but the characteristic whiff lingered.

“Right,” Angel continued. “Visual system. Are you all ready? Jordan?”

“Yes.”

His eyesight clarified in an instant. It went from flat grey to full and clear colour, like turning on a TV. But he didn’t immediately make sense of the images, as if he’d tuned in
to a program showing a bizarre dream sequence. Tints, focus and lustre came and went.

“It might take a while to reboot itself,” Angel explained.

The chief was right. After a few seconds, the pictures settled to normal and Jordan sighed with relief.

Angel pointed to the eye-test chart attached to the far wall. “Can you read the bottom line of letters?”

“Easily,” Jordan replied. “And underneath, the small print says, ‘Made in Loughborough, UK.’”

“Does it?” Angel said, squinting at the testcard. He had to get close to check what Jordan had seen from a distance.

Within another three minutes, all of Jordan’s systems were up and running again. Using his false arm and hand, he’d passed Angel’s test of picking up a five pence coin from the
floor. He turned towards the IT specialists and said, “Thanks, guys.”

“You look a lot happier.”

“I feel...whole again.”

“Right,” Angel said emphatically. “Back to work.”

“Oh?”

“I got news from the windmill,” Angel told Jordan. “There was no sign of a breakout, but Kennington and his car had gone. That means he had a key inside. I guess he just woke
up, grabbed it and left.”

“I’m surprised he could find it. He had stuff all over the place.”

Angel nodded. “The agent’s sifting through everything right now. And these technicians are going through his laptop, looking for incriminating evidence.”

“No sign of it yet,” one of them said.

“But the important point,” Angel stressed, “is that Eli Kennington’s on the loose again. And we’re a day away from Short Circuit’s next strike.”

Looking up, Raven added, “It could be hours if he strikes just after midnight tonight.”

“The trouble with a job like ours,” Raven said to Kate, “is that it can become your life, instead of just being part of it.” It was lunchtime on
Saturday and Raven was about to leave. “I’m on call over the rest of the weekend. Slightest whiff of an emergency and I’ll be back in. Let’s hope I don’t see you till
Monday.”

“Okay,” Kate replied. “Have fun.”

As soon as Raven walked out of the room, Kate glanced at her watch. Without telling anyone else what she was going to do, she waited for half an hour and then went to her own car. First, she
checked that the transmitter she’d sneaked in to Raven’s Volvo was working. Then she eased out of the garage and followed the signal north-east out of London. By tracking Raven, Kate
expected to discover once and for all whether her colleague had anything to do with Short Circuit.

Guided by the transmitter, she pulled into a lay-by on a quiet road that cut through Epping Forest. With a puzzled expression, she examined the signal from the transmitter. Raven’s Volvo
was two hundred metres ahead and it hadn’t moved for twenty minutes. Kate looked around. Apart from the narrow road, she was surrounded by dense trees. She would have preferred to have been
called to this spot to put out a forest fire. That had its risks, of course, but Unit Red business was more menacing, it seemed to Kate, because its dangers were unseen. Slowly, she opened her car
door and emerged into the cool wind. Scanning from side to side, she decided to make her way towards the stationary Volvo on foot.

She walked parallel to the road on a footpath through the forest. There was little noise apart from the occasional passing traffic. After a minute, she saw the distinctive gold colour of
Raven’s car. Trying to keep to the cover of the trees, she crept nearer and nearer. There was no one in the Volvo. It had been abandoned in the wood. Jumping across a ditch, she came out into
the open. Curious, she went up to the car, peered inside and then walked right around it. Stopping by the driver’s door, she tried the handle. It wasn’t locked and she noticed that the
key was in the ignition. She opened the door and glanced about her once more. Still there was no sign of her Unit Red colleague.

Slipping into the driver’s seat, she felt underneath the dashboard. The transmitter she’d put there was no longer in place. But it had led her to this quiet spot. Where was it now?
Where was Raven and what was she doing?

Kate did not have to wait for answers. She jolted as she realized that Raven was outside, looming over her. Kate opened the window. “Hi. Er... I’m sorry...”

Black hair blowing in the wind and laptop in hand, Raven said, “Thank goodness you’re here. Can I borrow your mobile?”

“Er... Yeah. Sure.” Kate handed it to her through the window. “What’s wrong?”

Raven took it, slipped it into a pocket and replied, “Nothing. At least, nothing’s wrong with me. But it’d be a good idea if you stayed right where you are.” She pressed
a button on the laptop.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you think a computer specialist wouldn’t know who’s been looking up what at work? Like you checking my holiday dates. And do you think I don’t scan my car for bugs?
That’s very naïve of you. I can tell you’re new to this game.”

Kate took a deep breath. “I’m new to devious people, for sure.”

Raven had the tiny transmitter in her palm. She clenched her hand into a fist and threw the bug into the wood. “No more snooping. Did you tell the others you were after me? I doubt it. You
wouldn’t admit it in case you looked stupid, sneaky and disloyal.”

“I don’t think I’m the only one who’s sneaky and disloyal.”

A silver car zoomed past the lay-by.

“But you’re the only one who’s been stupid. I knew you’d come to investigate.” Raven leaned on the car with her elbow. “We’re going to swap cars. I
guess yours is just down the lane. And, yes, I came prepared with a key for it. You’re driving this one. Go exactly where the SatNav tells you. If you turn it off, stray from the course, push
any of its buttons, stop for more than five minutes, or get out the car, the explosives I put in the boot will go up. And you with them.”

“What?” The colour drained from Kate’s face and her stomach suddenly churned.

“I put a pressure sensor under your seat. It detects the driver’s weight so it knows you’re sitting there. I’ve connected it to the bomb in the boot. Quite close to the
fuel tank. If you take your weight off the seat...boom.”

“But...”

“You look petrified,” Raven said with a smile.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Unit Red wasn’t the only secret organization that recruited me.” It wasn’t really an answer to the question, but Raven gave no further explanation. She looked down at
her watch. “Did I tell you the clock started ticking down one-and-a-half minutes ago? I wouldn’t hang around if I were you. Five minutes without moving and then you’ve had
it.”

Kate tried to come to terms with her terrifying situation. “What if I get in a hold-up?”

“You won’t. It’s a high-class SatNav. It’s online, scanning for jams. If it detects any, it’ll route you round them.”

“What happens when I get where I’m going – wherever that is?”

“The SatNav signal will override the pressure sensor. You get out and open the boot. If anyone tries to get into the boot before that, the car goes skywards. You’ll see a hand-held
computer on standby next to the detonator. Hit the
return
key twice. That disables the bomb and let’s you get away safely.”

Kate hesitated, certain that she hadn’t heard the whole story. “That can’t be all. The computer button does something else as well, doesn’t it?”

Raven tapped the face of her watch. “Coming up for two-and-a-half minutes. If you don’t want to die right here, you’d better get cracking.”

Kate held out her hand.

“What?” Raven asked.

“My mobile.”

Raven laughed. “No chance. You’re on your own. That’s why I took it off you.”

“Jordan was right,” Kate muttered. “You
are
Short Circuit.”

Denied any real choice, Kate drove away in the car that would kill her if she deviated, stopped for more than five minutes, or got out.

At once, the male voice from the SatNav directed her on to the A414 towards Chelmsford. The voice was deceptively soothing. It packed a powerful punch if Kate dared to disobey. At least,
that’s what Raven had told her and there was no safe way to find out if it was true. Kate could do nothing but follow instructions.

Coming up to the traffic island in Ongar, she braked. On her left, a group of young people were hanging out in front of a garage forecourt. And that gave her an idea.

She pulled over to the side of the road, opened the passenger’s electric window and leaned towards it while keeping all her weight on her own seat. “Hey!” she shouted out of
the window. “Who’s got a crap mobile?”

The kids looked at each other and then one boy stepped forward. “What do you mean?”

“I need one in a hurry,” she replied. Fiddling in her purse, she said, “I can give you sixty quid. That’s all I’ve got.”

A girl came up to the window and waved a cheap pink phone at her. “Sixty for that?”

Kate nodded. “Sure. I’d pay double if I had it.”

The girl could hardly believe her luck. She glanced at the others and then said, “Okay. It’s yours. Give me a second to delete some things.”

Kate counted the banknotes again and held them out. “I don’t have long,” she said, “and I don’t care about your stuff. I won’t even look. Leave it switched
on. I just need to make an important call.”

“Sixty quid,” the boy said. “That’s a steep call.”

“Yeah, I know,” Kate agreed. “But...”

The girl leaned through the open window, took the money and handed over her mobile. With a wide grin on her face, she said, “Good deal.”

Kate nodded. “For both of us. Thanks.”

She accelerated away into the stream of traffic. Keeping an eye on the road, she dialled the Unit Red crisis number. Hoping there were no traffic cops in the area, she put the phone to her ear
with one hand and steered with the other.

Jordan and Angel were listening to Kate’s call on a loudspeaker in the bunker. “Hang on, hang on,” Angel interrupted with a look of horror and surprise on his
face. “Are you saying Raven...?”

“Yes, she’s Short Circuit. Ask Jordan. He knows all about it. But, right now, I’m driving a bomb somewhere. Somewhere I don’t know. I think I’m going to wreck
something or someone when I get there – or on the way. I should’ve refused to drive,” Kate said miserably. “That way, the car would’ve blown up and I would’ve
taken her with me.”

“I would’ve got going as well,” Jordan told her.

Angel put aside the shock that swept over him so he could deal with the situation. “No one here doubts your bravery, Kate,” he said. “You don’t sacrifice yourself when
there’s a chance...”

“What am I going to do, though?”

“Keep driving. We’ll lock on to your mobile and track your position. Before we make any decisions, let’s see where you’re going.”

Jordan said, “You can use the SatNav to find out where it’s taking you.”

“No, I can’t,” she replied. “The bomb goes up if I touch it.”

Angel paused for a moment, thinking. “All right. Drive slowly, Kate. I’m going to put Jordan in a helicopter. I can have him airborne in twenty minutes. He’ll be above you,
ready to help.”

“I don’t want to kill anyone else,” said Kate, her voice wavering.

“I’m used to explosions,” Jordan replied. “They’ve never finished me off yet. I’m on my way.”

The motorcycle rider wove expertly round the Saturday afternoon traffic, on the way to London Heliport. Clinging on tightly behind him, Jordan wondered why he hadn’t been
trained to ride a bike himself. The journey to Battersea would have taken him four times longer by car, bus or Underground.

A woman in a high-visibility jacket met him in the car park and ran with him to the helipad perched on the southern edge of the Thames. As soon as he was strapped in to the waiting chopper and
given a headset, the pilot left the ground. Almost at once, the helicopter rose above the height of the tallest buildings – all curves and glass – and soon left them far below. The
office blocks became stiff fingers, pointing up at Jordan. Battersea Park was a splodge of green among the bricks and concrete. At its far side was the unmistakable Battersea Power Station. Wasting
no time, the motorized bubble lurched north-east. Next to Jordan, the pilot soon had the chopper on full throttle, speeding towards Essex.

“Going round Chelmsford,” Kate’s voice said hesitantly. “Turning onto the A12 towards Colchester, Ipswich and Felixstowe.”

Inside Jordan’s helmet, speakers fed sound to his ears. He could hear every conversation involving Angel, Kate or the pilot. The tiny microphone that bent round in front of his mouth
allowed him to speak to them all.

“Yes,” Angel replied. “We’re still locked on.”

“Copy,” the pilot said. “We’ll be joining you as soon as possible.”

“Is the phone battery okay?” Angel asked Kate. “It’s not going to die a death soon, is it?”

There was a delay of a few seconds. “Two bars of power left,” she replied. “I guess that’ll do for a few hours.”

The helicopter followed the Thames for a few minutes and then flew over the brand new Olympic Park. Jordan’s whole body felt the vibrations from the rotors and, despite the muffling effect
of the headset, there was a constant loud drone in his hearing system. “Can’t we go any faster?” he asked the pilot.

“No. Our forward speed is just over two hundred kilometres an hour. That’s tops for this model.”

“How long before we catch her up?”

“She’s leaving Chelmsford so we’re about sixty kilometres behind. If she’s taking it easy on sixty or seventy kilometres an hour, we’ll be above her in...er...half
an hour.”

“Let’s hope it’s soon enough.”

Sensing Jordan’s anxiety, the pilot kept pointing out features on the ground to stress how quickly they were leaving London behind. “Romford,” he said, jabbing his finger
downwards. Later, he said, “The M25. Brentwood ahead. We’re in Essex. That ribbon’s the A12.”