Genius Squad (30 page)

Saul placed a hand on his shoulder.

‘Sit down, Cadel,’ the detective advised. ‘You don’t have to worry.’

‘
Would-she-know-about-Cadel-being-Prosper’s-son
?’ Sonja asked. She tried to say something else as well; her muscles, however, wouldn’t oblige. They began to work against her, contorting uncontrollably.

‘Niobe won’t go after you, Cadel,’ Saul insisted, reproving Sonja with a grim look. ‘She doesn’t know where you are, to begin with. Unless someone in Clearview House has spilled the beans.’

‘Oh, no.’ Judith had been inspecting Saul’s photograph; now she raised her head, becoming quite defensive. ‘No, we’ve all been warned about Cadel’s situation. No one here would put him at risk.’

‘I hope not,’ Saul observed dourly. Turning back to Cadel, he said, ‘We have you under surveillance. Niobe can’t get near you – as long as you don’t open any mail.’

Cadel was studying Niobe’s two-dimensional face. It had changed a lot since their first meeting. Back then, Niobe had been bubbly and affectionate. But the Institute had warped and twisted her personality. It had taught her to do more than lie and cheat.

It had taught her to kill.

‘If she ends up killing Prosper, it’ll serve him right,’ Cadel declared. Though he made an effort to sound untroubled, his voice cracked before he could finish.

Saul’s grip on his shoulder tightened.

‘I’m sorry, Cadel.’ It was a gruff but heartfelt apology. ‘I’d have asked Gazo to identify her, except that we don’t know if he’s still connected with this woman.’

‘He isn’t,’ said Cadel. ‘He never liked her much.’ After fingering the photograph for a moment, he passed it to Saul. ‘She was quite nice, really. Until they screwed her up at the Institute.’

Silence fell. Saul returned the snapshot to its envelope. Sonja was fighting a muscular spasm. Judith was trying to calm her down.

Cadel stood irresolute. He still felt shell-shocked.

‘I won’t bother you any more,’ Saul finally announced. ‘I’ll just tell you that Prosper English will be appearing at the Coroner’s Court on Monday, in relation to this death. As a witness. Of course his connection seems pretty tenuous right now, but it’s the Coroner’s job to investigate all deaths that aren’t from natural causes, so Prosper really has to be questioned. To establish if any charges should be laid . . .’ Saul shrugged, in a resigned manner. ‘You mustn’t worry, though. He’ll be closely guarded. I’ll make sure of it.’

When Cadel didn’t reply, or even acknowledge this news with a grunt, Saul murmured, ‘Will you be all right, Cadel? Do you want me to call Ms Currey?’

‘I’ll be fine,’ said Cadel. Then it occurred to him that Trader would probably want Saul escorted from the house. (What if the detective decided to poke around on his own?) So Cadel gestured at the back door. ‘You can leave this way, if you want,’ he said, adding, ‘There’s something I want to ask you.’

Saul didn’t object. At least, he didn’t give Cadel one of his quizzical looks. Instead he bade a polite farewell to Sonja, thanked Judith, and followed Cadel outside.

Together they walked around to the front of the house, Saul keeping his eyes peeled, Cadel racking his brain for a convincing question to ask. It wasn’t until they had reached Saul’s car that Cadel finally spoke up, having experienced a last-minute flash of inspiration.

‘You told me that you were analysing the envelope with Prosper’s name on it,’ he said. ‘Does that mean you’ve done a matching DNA test on Prosper?’

Saul paused in the act of unlocking his driver’s door.

‘We can’t use that sample for a paternity test. Not without permission,’ he said, reading between the lines. ‘I’m sorry.’

Cadel shrugged. ‘I figured you couldn’t, or you would have told me.’

For some reason, this careless remark made a big impression on Saul. He pondered it for a while, his expression serious. At last he said, ‘You’re right. I would have told you. There are people who believe you should be shielded from this kind of stuff, but . . . if I keep things from you, you won’t have all the facts. And without the facts, you won’t be able to protect yourself.’ He lifted an eyebrow. ‘I know you’re smarter than most of us. That’s why I figure, when it comes to the crunch, you’ll be safer if you’re properly informed. Don’t you think?’

Cadel nodded, speechless.

‘Okay, then. I’ll keep you posted.’ Without further ado, Saul climbed into his car and slammed the door. Revving his engine, he flapped his hand at Cadel, urging him to step aside.

But Cadel didn’t obey. Moved by an obscure impulse, he leaned down and tapped on the driver’s side window, which was immediately lowered.

‘What?’ asked Saul.

Cadel took a deep breath. ‘You don’t need to worry,’ he said. ‘I’ll be careful from now on. I won’t do anything stupid.’

At which point, for the very first time, Saul smiled at him.

‘Well of course you won’t,’ the detective replied. ‘I think I’ve worked
that
out by now.’

And he roared off towards the front gates.

TWENTY-SIX

The next morning, news of Prosper’s impending court appearance hit the GenoME system.

It was Devin who first alerted Cadel to this flurry of emails. Devin had been given the task of monitoring Jerry’s email traffic – and according to Devin, the local computers were running hot.

‘They found out about Prosper from the police network,’ he said, ‘and now they’re forwarding the information to the US.’ He spoke sullenly, looming over Cadel’s workstation with his hands in the pockets of his baggy jeans, and his black beanie pulled down low over his forehead. Cadel knew perfectly well that Devin resented having to concentrate on local activity. Hacking into GenoME’s American system was the glamour job of their operation; Devin made no secret of the fact that he would have preferred working alongside Hamish and Cadel.

As a result, the atmosphere of the War Room no longer crackled with excitement. Instead, a kind of gloomy impatience had infected the air, thanks to Devin’s hisses and sighs and fidgeting.

Lexi, on the other hand, was completely absorbed. Now that she had so much decrypting to do, she’d stopped wandering from workstation to workstation, snapping rubber bands between her fingers and commenting on people’s outfits. She didn’t have the time.

‘Well,’ Cadel remarked, giving Devin his full attention, ‘we know that Carolina’s interested in Prosper English. She’s got that file on him, remember?’

‘Yeah, but there’s something going down,’ Devin insisted. ‘It feels like they’re a bit frantic, suddenly. Like they’re up to something.’

‘Maybe they are,’ Trader suddenly observed, from behind him. ‘But we won’t know unless you keep an eye on them.’ Draping an arm across Devin’s shoulders, he flashed his movie-star smile, which was beginning to look slightly frayed around the edges. Like most of Genius Squad, he hadn’t been getting much sleep. ‘So why don’t you concentrate on your work, instead of distracting these people? Hmmm?’

‘I was just
telling
them,’ Devin growled, before shrugging off Trader’s arm and stomping back to his desk.

Trader turned to Cadel.

‘What about your side of things?’ he asked. ‘Any developments?’

‘Yeah,’ Cadel replied. He had been picking his way through the GenoME node-code analysis program, and had discovered two interesting features. One was a series of regular, automated downloads to an outside system. The other was an archive full of past node-code reports, dating back several years.

‘Hamish has been checking it out,’ Cadel reported, ‘and he’s found ten names linked to another database that we haven’t got into yet. It’s heavily protected.’

‘One of the ten names is Jimmy Austin,’ said Hamish, adjusting his glasses. ‘You know – Rex’s son. And one belongs to that guy Lexi mentioned. The guy who works for a b-bank.’

‘Really?’ Trader frowned. ‘Any idea what that’s about?’

‘Not yet,’ Hamish admitted. ‘Like Cadel said, I haven’t got into the linked site.’

‘Give it all you can, then,’ said Trader, after a moment’s intense thought. ‘And distribute that list of names. In fact I might do a bit of research on them myself.’ Again, he addressed Cadel. ‘What about the outside downloads? Do you know where they’re going?’

Cadel shook his head. ‘But it won’t be too hard to find out,’ he surmised.

‘Do it,’ said Trader. ‘That’s a priority. Because I wouldn’t be surprised if those downloads were going straight to Fountain Pharmaceuticals. What kind of stuff are we talking about?’

‘Genetic data,’ Cadel replied. And Trader nodded.

‘See, it makes sense,’ he mused. ‘Chester Cramp’s in charge of Fountain Pharmaceuticals, and I’ve always had a sense that he calls the shots, when it comes to process. Because GenoME’s gene analysis system probably came straight out of NanTex, and NanTex used to be run by Chester. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, Fountain Pharmaceuticals is just NanTex under another name.’ He clapped Cadel on the shoulder. ‘If we can get into the Fountain system, then we’ll know for sure,’ he finished. ‘I’m counting on you for that, Cadel. You too, Hamish. Don’t let me down.’

‘
Don’t let me down
,’ Hamish mimicked, after Trader had withdrawn to the other side of the room. ‘Yes,
suh
! Roger wilco!’ And he snorted. ‘I hate all this team-building crap, it’s so b-bogus. Like we’re stupid enough to need it, for God’s sake.’

Cadel said nothing. He had vowed to concentrate on his work, because if he kept himself busy enough, he wouldn’t fret about other things.

Unfortunately, Hamish wasn’t being very cooperative.

‘So what do you reckon?’ he asked, with a sly, sidelong glance. ‘Why are all these emails b-being fired off, suddenly? Why is Jerry so interested in Prosper’s court appearance?’

Cadel shrugged. He didn’t want to think about Prosper English. Or Niobe. Or anyone else associated with the Axis Institute.

‘I can’t answer questions like that,’ he said. ‘There’s no point running probabilities, because I don’t have enough information.’

‘D-do you think GenoME actually
hired
that poisoning girl to kill Prosper?’

‘How should I know?’

‘Because you’ve met her, that’s why.’ Hamish leaned towards him. ‘What’s the d-deal with her, anyway? Someone told me she killed her own twin sister.’

‘Not exactly. I mean – it was complicated. You wouldn’t understand.’ An image flashed into Cadel’s mind: a memory of his last meeting with Niobe. It had occurred on the Institute campus, quite late at night. Niobe had been dressed in a black turtleneck jumper, black trousers, a black vest, black gloves and a black balaclava. She had been on her way to the microbiology labs, where she had subsequently fractured her twin sister’s skull in hand-to-hand combat.

Cadel closed his eyes. He took a deep breath to steady himself.

‘Look – I don’t want to talk about it, all right?’ he snapped. ‘It’s pointless! This whole discussion is pointless! Why don’t you just wait until Lexi and Sonja have finished decoding? Then we might actually have some
data
!’ And he resumed his work, conscious of Hamish’s disappointment. By directing all his energy at the computer screen, however, Cadel was able to block out the frustrated pout next to him, just as he was able to block out Devin’s restlessness, and Lexi’s occasional bursts of excitement, and Judith’s loud comments about money laundering. Having thrown himself wholeheartedly into GenoME’s system, Cadel tried again and again to piggyback on those mysterious downloads.

By lunchtime, he had succeeded. And he had also confirmed Trader’s suspicions.

GenoME was sending genetic data through to Fountain Pharmaceuticals.

‘I knew it,’ said Trader, upon being informed. His eyes glittered and his teeth gleamed; his exultation was infectious. ‘Didn’t I tell you? It’s NanTex under another name.’ He ruffled Cadel’s hair. ‘Well done. Well
done
. That’s what I like to see!’

‘Most of the system’s off-line, now,’ Cadel remarked. ‘Things have shut down for the night, over there.’

‘But you can pick it up again tomorrow?’

‘Yes.’

‘
Attention, people!
’ Trader spun around to address the other occupants of the War Room. ‘You’ll be pleased to know that Cadel’s through to Fountain Pharmaceuticals! From now on, he’ll be in charge of finding out what Chester Cramp is up to!’ Cadel flushed as Devin slowly and mockingly applauded. Even Judith’s murmur of approval seemed rather weak. But Trader didn’t allow this muted response to intimidate him. On the contrary, he beamed at Devin and added, ‘Meanwhile, Hamish and Devin can focus on GenoME’s American network.’

Devin’s jaw dropped. Hamish scowled. Trader declared, ‘Never say I don’t care about my team, Devin,’ and waited for a response.

Devin scratched his chest awkwardly.

‘Uh – thanks,’ he said at last.

‘But I want to make one thing clear,’ Trader continued, raising a finger. ‘You do what Hamish tells you to do. He’s your boss on this.’ Before Devin could protest, Trader warned sweetly, ‘You’re a ram-raider, Devin. I need more subtlety than you can offer, I’m afraid. And if you don’t like it, you can go back to Jerry’s emails. All right?’

In the sudden silence that ensued, Cadel heard a strangled grunt. One glance told him that Sonja was struggling to speak.

He was about to draw attention to this fact when Lexi gave a yip, and swivelled around to face the rest of the room. She had been attending to her computer, oblivious to everybody else.

‘Oh my God!’ she cried. ‘Trader, listen!’

‘I’m talking, Lexi.’

‘Yes, but – ’

‘In a minute
,
please.’

‘But
they’re planning to free Prosper English!
’

Everyone was struck dumb by this announcement. Even Trader fell silent. Dot blinked. Hamish gasped. Tony’s eyebrows climbed his forehead until they almost disappeared into his hairline.

Cadel sat quite still, speechless with shock, as Sonja rolled an anxious pair of eyes at him.

At last Trader recovered. Crisply he demanded an explanation, which Lexi was eager to provide.

‘We’ve been lucky,’ she said, ‘because Carolina must be out and about. Instead of calling Jerry, she’s emailed him. Maybe she trusts firewalls more than she trusts mobile phones.’ Gesturing at her computer screen, Lexi added, ‘It’s all here. Laid out in dot points.’