Electronic Gags (22 page)

“Maybe the animals killed your team
after it entered the area without cell network,” Christopher reasoned.

“We can’t tell when exactly my team
died. Maybe they outlived your team.”

“Maybe they didn’t,” Christopher
objected.

“For now, no one won the game. Maybe TD
Communications left out a pocket of the wilderness without cell network.”

Christopher took out his phone, eager to
prove his brother wrong. “Let me phone the Minister of Information.”

As his brother phoned the Minister of
Information, Brandon looked at his computer, hoping Freddie and Jennifer would
suddenly reappear on NASP.

“He said he believes TD Communications
put enough cell towers to cover the whole area,” Christopher Ward said
exultantly. “He said he will ask the TD Communications director to check whether
his guys did a good job.”

Brandon took out his cell phone and phoned
Professor Reed.

“Hallo Patriot President.”

“Fine… Patriot Reed, what happens when
someone’s electronic gag explodes? Does a gag disappear from NASP when it
explodes?”

“No, Patriot President. An electronic
gag’s tracker continues to work after the gag’s detonation.”

“Are you sure, Patriot Reed?”

“Yes, Patriot President. I did a lot of
tests on that. You remember that woman who tried to kill you by detonating her
electronic gag?”

“How can I forget her?”

“Her electronic gag continued working
after it exploded. Did someone disappear from the tracking system, Your
Excellence?”

“Unfortunately yes. Two of the fugitives
taking part in that police drill simply disappeared on Wednesday. Is it
possible that they switched off their electronic gags?”

“Any attempt to do so would have
triggered explosion and the gags would have continued showing us their position
after the explosion.”

“So what happened?”

“I will go to the CIB headquarters to
find out, Your Excellence.”

“Go now.”

“I’m on my way, Your Excellence.”

Brandon opened his Skype account and
watched the live stream of the cops looking for Freddie and Jennifer.  After a
minute, he switched on his microphone. “Reporter, are you there?”

Silence.

“Hallo reporter. Are you there?”

“I’m here, Your Excellence,” the reporter
groggily answered.

“Brief us on the chase.”

“The cops are still looking for the
fugitives,” the reporter said as the camera zoomed in on the visibly tired
cops. “The cops only managed to track the fugitives to the cave where they
slept on their first night out of jail.”

“When was that?”

“On Thursday. The police have a very
good tracker among them, officer Akiak who hails from the Inuit people. He
couldn’t proceed with the tracking because heavy rain washed away the
fugitives’ tracks.”

The supreme leader switched off his microphone
and rose from his seat. “Christopher, I’m going to my office. I have a country
to run.”

* * * * *

Freddie sat on a chair and Jennifer sat
on his lap, watching Kyle scroll down the CIB’s NASP files. Freddie was
worried. Time was running out. He had promised his mother he would go out of
the Ten Distrcits in a week and there appeared to be no progress in the
hacking. The only breakthrough was the discovery of the detonation button but Freddie
was unwilling to use it. Any day, the supreme leader could release four more
prisoners for the death games. With each day that passed, Michael and the other
death row prisoners came closer to violent death. What was more important, the
life of his friend or the lives of Ward’s servicemen? Freddie had asked himself
the question over and over again. Ward’s policemen, soldiers and intelligence
agents harassed, tortured and killed people at the whim of the supreme leader.
But did they all deserve to die? There were moments when he thought of
massacring them, but his humanity always took over in the nick of time to stop
the bloodbath. He had to find a way with less bloodshed.

“Kyle, where is your tracker?” Freddie
asked.

“It’s in the closet in my room.”

“What is the balance of your NASP
account?”

“About seven lucres, I think. Is there a
problem?”

“I want to see what happens to someone’s
account when he speaks without airtime. When I bring the gag, I want you to
spend all the money in your account.”

“What will I talk about?”

“I don’t know. Just don’t say anything
that can get us in trouble. When the CIB and the police find out that I’m no
longer in the wildlife refuge, they will listen to everything that my family
and friends say.”

He gently pushed Jennifer from his lap
and went to Kyle’s room. The electronic gag was on a shelf in the closet. He
pulled out the gag’s keypad and display panel and dialed *100#. Kyle had six
lucres and eighty-one cents in his NASP account. Freddie quickly took the
device back to the basement and put it on the desk in front of Kyle.

Kyle shuddered as he looked at the electronic
gag. Now that he knew the government could kill him at the click of a button, he
didn’t want the device near him.

“God please help my cousin, Freddie, who
is in the maximum security prison. Please make prison guards kind to my
cousin…”

Freddie and Jennifer gritted their teeth
to avoid laughing as they listened to Kyle’s ‘prayer.’ If CIB agents were
listening, they would surely think that Kyle knew nothing about Freddie’s
release from prison. Kyle checked his balance after praying for more than half
an hour. He had spent just over three lucres.

Freddie looked at his watch.
Three
minutes to twelve!
He patted Kyle’s shoulder, beckoned him and quickly led
him out of the basement, out of the range of the electronic gag’s microphone.

“It’s three minutes to twelve,” he
whispered. “Don’t forget the national anthem. We don’t want the CIB here.”

“Good Lord!” Kyle said, rushing back to
his electronic gag. “I had forgotten the national anthem.”

He sat near the electronic gag and
opened the clock of his computer. When the clock struck twelve, he started
singing
God Bless the Ten Districts of America.
Kyle’s voice amazed Jennifer.
If the supreme leader was listening, he would have enjoyed Kyle’s flawless
singing of the national anthem.

At four minutes past twelve, Kyle
resumed his prayer. He checked his balance after more than twenty-five minutes.
His NASP account had fifteen cents.

“Jesus, I’m left with only fifteen
cents,” he pretended he was talking to himself. “This thing is very expensive.
I guess I have to buy more airtime…” He kept on speaking, and checking his
balance till he was left with only two cents. He beckoned Freddie and they went
out of the range of the NAST’s microphone.

“There is only two cents left.”

“Let’s go back and see what happens to
your account when you speak without airtime.

They returned to the basement and Kyle
entered his ID number to open his NASP account. As he spoke his balance came to
minus four cents but quickly returned to zero when he stopped speaking. He
spoke again and his balance went to minus eight and returned to zero after he
stopped talking. Freddie grinned and beckoned Kyle.

“I think we have found our weapon!” Freddie
whispered when they were out of the basement.

“Explain.”

“When someone speaks without airtime,
his balance falls below zero and his NAST shocks him for the time equivalent to
his arrears.”

“You mean that defaulters pay their arrears
with electric shock?”

“Yes.”

“How can that help us?”

“All the NASP accounts of members of the
security forces have a zero balance. If we manage to reduce the balance of
their accounts to a negative figure at a one given time, we will shock policemen,
soldiers and CIB agents, creating a diversion that will help us kill the
supreme leader.”

“What are we waiting for?” Kyle said,
walking back to the basement. “Let’s test it on one serviceman.”

Jennifer looked at them with suspense.
She knew they were on to something. Kyle selected a file from the accounts
marked
X
and debited it with a cent. The account stayed negative for six
seconds before it returned to zero. Freddie gave Kyle a high five. Kyle debited
the account with two cents, laughing as he imagined the unfortunate serviceman in
fits of electric shock. After that, he selected five
X
accounts and
clapped his hands with ecstasy when he managed to debit them at once. It was
possible to shock President Ward’s entire security force at the click of a
mouse.

He beckoned and Freddie and Jennifer
followed him out.

“What are you guys grinning about?” Jennifer
demanded.

“We have just discovered that we can
administer electric shocks on Ward’s servicemen,” Kyle said.

“Whoever they are, those servicemen had
the shock of their lives,” Freddie said with laughter.

“How did you do it?”

Freddie explained everything to Jennifer.

She hugged him with joy. “We just have
to look for a public event that Ward will attend. When Kyle shocks cops and CIB
agents, I get a gun from the nearest cop and shoot the president.”

“Now we have to lie low and avoid doing
anything that might lead to our detection,” Kyle said.

“Our next job is to look for news about Ward
and find the place where we will kill him.”

* * * * *

Professor Reed arrived at the CIB
headquarters eighteen minutes after receiving the supreme leader’s call. He
went straight to the director-general’s office to ask for permission to use the
CIB’s computers. He didn’t need the director-general’s permission but he wanted
to be polite. He didn’t want to antagonize security chiefs.

“The director-general is out,” said the
CIB chief’s secretary. “You can talk to the deputy director-general.”

“The deputy director-general will do,” Reed
said.

“Go one floor down.”

“Thank you, patriot.”

He rushed downstairs, unwilling to waste
time waiting for an elevator. The deputy director-general frowned when he saw Reed.
The professor was a civilian but he was now acting as the CIB supremo.

“Good afternoon, Patriot Taylor,” Reed
said. “I come here on the supreme leader’s orders.”

“Please sit down, professor.”

“Thank you, Patriot Taylor,” Reed said, dropping
to a chair.

“How can I help you, professor?”

“Patriot Taylor, do you know of the
drill the police are carrying out using prisoners from maximum security prison?”

The CIB deputy chief snickered.
“Professor, we are the CIB… we know everything.”

“Two of the prisoners vanished from NASP
and the supreme leader wants me to find out why?”

“All CIB resources are open to you as
always, professor. Do your thing.”

“Thank you, Patriot Taylor.”

Professor Reed went to the sixth floor
and walked straight to the office of the CIB agent in charge of the NASP
computer hall.

“The good professor,” said the CIB agent
in charge. “What brings you here?”

“Two fugitives disappeared from NASP and
the president sent me here to investigate. Do you know of anyone else who
disappeared from NASP?”

“No, professor, only those two. Please
sit down.”

“I have no time to sit down, Patriot Roberts.
I want to go into the computer hall.”

“Okay professor.”  The agent in charge
was once Professor Reed’s student at the Brandon Ward National University and
he respected the professor. “I hope you will help us track the two fugitives.”

The professor entered the NASP computer
hall, which was full of computers manned by more than fifty CIB agents. All the
agents he met greeted him with respect. They didn’t see him as Minister of
Education, but as a high-ranking CIB agent. He went to an unoccupied computer
and entered the administrator’s password. Professor Reed, President Brandon Ward
and the CIB director-general were the only people who had the password. Without
this password, one could not do such things as changing the status of a person
from civilian to serviceman, or editing the list of red words.

He took out his phone and phoned the Minister
of Interior.

“Reed, what do you want?” was Campbell’s
disgusted reply.

Reed smiled, delighting in Campbell’s
displeasure. “Hallo Patriot Campbell.”

“What do you want?”

“I call you in the supreme leader’s name.
I need the ID numbers and the names of the four death row prisoners who were
released from prison on Wednesday.” He smiled as he imagined the Interior
Minister’s disgust at taking orders from him. “I want the information as soon
as possible, Patriot Campbell.”