Maxwell Huxley's Demon (14 page)

Nao mi looks at the electronic mess.
“
W
hat the hell Max?”

“No, no, no this is a good one. I dial into this phone , an d it makes the other phone dial out to any number I want .
If someone traces the call , they just get this phone , bec ause the handsets are physically disconnected. I t’s a perfect firewall, except you can only use it on c e . . .
that makes it an imperfect firewall . . . but a perfect single-use firewall . . . I guess that makes it a crappy firewall, but just what we need right now .
”
Max smiles.

“
Very nicely done , Max. Now b e quiet please .
” Naomi rolls over and pulls the cover up .

Max writes out a checklist : 1)
Fire, Ambulance, and Police hacked – can monitor and track authorities 2)
Canadian Air hacked – can book flights under any name and without payment 3)
Tower control at YVR
hacked – can alter take-off and landing priorities 4)
Passport office hacked – bypassed normal approval process 5)
Traffic Control hacked – remote control of city traffic lights 6)
Seismic Monitors hacked – can trigger earthquake alarms 7)
Bank machines hacked – can withdraw cash from phantom accounts 8)
Cell phones hacked – untraceable calls 9)
Cell phone tracker created – can monitor cell phone use near us

Next on the hack list are credit card companies. But Max thinks they have enough for now.

Just before sleep , Max opens the four cell phone s and loads his code onto the SIM
cards. In the process , he removes the telephone numbers and replaces them with voice recognition software . Similar protons are load ed up to the local towers, to spread themselves overnight.

Max lays the phone s on the dresser. Thump-thump. The phones visibly pulse. Max looks at the clock.

T
ick .

He leans on the dresser , and it squishes under his weight. He looks down; the dresser wobbles like a giant block of Jell-O
. Breath e . . . let it go . . .
it’s not real . The desk solidifies.
But t he phones keep throbbing like they have a pulse .

Tock.

Good enough.
Max goes to bed and dreams .

Max burs ts into a dingy bedroom and stands s till. Listening. Nothing. Light filters through torn curtain s, leaving the room dark. Max listens.

There is a four poster bed in front of Max, a wardrobe and dressing table to his right. The wall on his left is cover ed wall-to—
wall and floor-to-ceiling with drawers of all sizes, l arge and small , randomly placed over the entire wall .
Each drawer face is covered with intricate carvings.

Max faces the wall of drawers , feeling smaller than usual. Don’t touch. He knows he shoul dn’t open any of them.
This is unkind.
He listens.
From one drawer, Max hears a faint scrabbling sound. One drawer seems to move if he doesn’t look directly at it.

You don’t want to know this!

On his tip toes, Max can barely grasp the drawer knob .
T
he drawer front has a bracelet carved in it.
He opens the little drawer but can ’t see what’s in it. He senses Naomi in the room. Knowing she is sitting on the edge of the bed watching him.

“Max, stop , ”
Naomi whispers. “Y
ou don’t know where this will lead .”

Max pulls open a large drawer near the floor . It has a nurse leaning over a patient carved on it. It holds ruffled lace bedding. Max uses it as a stepping stool .
Standing on the edge of the first drawer , he opens a second.
T
his drawer has a bowl carved into t he front of it and contains a hat . He steps up on this drawer as well .

“Stupid boy,” Virginia scolds from her perch on the dresser.
Her long dark hair obscures most of her face but frames her mouth as she speaks.
“You’ll never hide this. She’ll know.”

Max look s in the little drawer.
Inside is a box . He reaches in to take it out . A mouse scurries from behind the box and disappears in the back of the lit tle drawer. Max looks in deeper. T
he drawer has no back, and the mouse is gone. He hears scratching sounds higher up the wall .

Max takes the box down , lays it on the bed, and opens it.

Naomi pushes away from him, moving to the other side of the bed. “I warned you , Max.”

The box contains sealed letter s addressed to Emma Huxley, old paper s , and photographs .
Max takes out two ultrasound images .
He looks closer at the printed words near the top of one of them .
“Victoria General Hospital – Ultrasound Imaging – Emma Huxley .”

‘Maxwell’
is handwritten near the bottom of the first ultrasound .

“Max, I’m sorry.
I tried,” Walker says from the bedroom door.
Startled, Max turns.
His mother storms toward him and snatches the pictures from him.

Max wakes up with a jolt.

No.
This is not good enough.

Chapter 14
–Passports

Overnight, t he entire platform updates . V
oice recognition and natural language routines find processing spaces as needed. This morning, the platform breaks through the Chinese firewalls.

Max, Walker , Virginia, and Naomi take the sky train and then walk to a café two blocks from the Passport O
ffice.
Walker takes out his laptop and they wait.
They are all so nervous no one can think of anything to say.

Finally, Max , barely able to walk, turns to Virginia. “It’s all up to you. The passports are in there ready for pickup. I can only get us this far. Now you have to use force to get us the rest of the way.”

At 8:45, numerous outgoing encrypted cell calls are made within a ten block radius of Max .
Walker ’s process creates a klm file and frequently imports it directly to Google E
arth and Google M
aps.
They see a dozen red dots appear on a map.
“
OK
, that will be all the agents checking in . W
e want more than that.”

At 8:55
, one encrypted call is made to another cell near here , Walker maps them. “That will be Pirelli and the other gorilla s .”

At 9:05
, one encrypted outgoing cal l is made, f ollowed by the same external number calling back at 9:06
. Max decides this must be Pirelli’s phone. “That ’s the one I want.”

Max opens one of their ha cked phones and calls the hotel. A fte r a pause, a connection is made.
Max puts it on speaker phone.

“Hello, who is this?”

“Hello Pirelli. I t’s Max.”

“Max , stop this , ” Pirelli says.
“
Y
ou have no idea what ’
s in play here.
”

“You ’re just not good enough , Pirelli; I hope you don’t get fired over me.”

“Max, stop this nonse —”

Max drops the line then calls Frank. “
Walker track who Frank ca lls after I talk to him alright?
”
Walker nods.

“Hello,” Frank says.

“
Hello, Frank. This a courtesy call to let you know I’ll never stop.”

“Neither will I, Max.
” says Frank.

“You did this. You made us. You deserve everything we do.”

“You’re just in a school for the gifted ”.

“What happens when we are ten , Frank? How long does a world class athlete live? How long does a chess champion live? Or an artist at the top? S
tatisticall y how long Frank? What’s the lif e expectancy of a poet Frank? How much did you speed us up? How many years do we have?
”

“You have no idea what you’
re talking about Max.”

“
Tell me where Connor is ?”
There is silence on the other end of the line.

“I’m right here , Max, ”
says Connor , “
s itting with Frank. Max come in, I can explain everything.”

Images bubble up within Max. Connor and Max playing chess. Connor and Max exploring the school grounds. Connor being taken away when he turned ten. Max shakes his head to banish the memories.
“I don’t believe it’s you.”

“Max , you’re out of time ,” s ays Connor.
“
O
ur agents are almost there. L
et me help you.”

Quietly to Walker , “How many agents stayed by the Passport O
ffice?”

“Three, ”
Walker answers.

“Max , ” says Connor.
“I t’s too late.”

The sound of a door crashing in , then everyone can hear Hastings ’
British accent “Where are they ?
!
” More smashing sounds.

“Fra nk, Connor, that would be your g orilla s finding our dead link. Did you guys think I would be doing nothing while you searched for my old hotel room?
”

“Max, this is Frank . Y
ou listen to me, where is Virginia?
”

“Getting my passport.”

Everyone hears Hastings growl , and then the line goes dead.

“So Walker , first number Frank call s , we need it . You track him .
I’
m calling in the distractions.
Max takes out his other phone and dials a code.

---

9:07
, Virginia and Naomi walk past a security guard and enter the Passport O
ffice .
People pack the room already , e veryone waiting for their number to come up.

The girls circle the room.
“Naomi, look over there.”
Virginia nods in the direction of a large table behind the customer service counter. A large sign reads, Daily Pickups . T
he table holds stacks of sealed folder s organized alphabetically.

A woman with a Passport O
ffice ID
badge approaches them. “Can I help you girls?”

“We’re OK
, my mom came in here. W
e’re just looking for her.”

“
OK
, but if you can’t find her, just go see that security guard over there.”
The woman walks to an employee’s entrance. Someone from the inside buzzes her into the area behind the service counter and security glass.

Before the woman gets the door fully open, Virginia st r eaks past her at a full run, turns sharply , and heads for the pick-up table. The woman hesitates.

In the time it takes the woman to recover, Virginia has hurdled two desks, launche d herself off a third and lands on the pick-up table. Virginia hears people call out in surprise and finally hears the w oman who is still standing half way in the door say, “Security!
”

Naomi, who is beside the security desk, trips the guard as he passes. He falls, taking down a rack of forms with him.

Huxley, Maxwell . One down.

Virginia moves to the next one, watch ing the closest employee to her ge t up and start moving .

Jacobs, Naomi . Two.

A man reaches out to grab her by the wrist. Virgi nia turns, easily avoiding him.

Northrop, Walker . Three.

A second man lunges at her; she places her hand s behind her on the table and pushes off his chest with her feet. This does two things; pushes hi m back, and launches her toward Susumu , Virginia . She picks up the last file, does a half gainer dismount off the table followed by a quick end of routine pose , arms stretched high in the air .

The security guard recovers and meets Virginia at the door just recently vacated by the woman who called him. Virginia charges straight at him. He braces himself. A metre before reaching him , she slides. He grasps at her as she slides between his legs. She grabs his wrist and yanks hard. He flips over , landing on his back; Virginia uses the force of pulling him over to flip herself back on to her feet.

Naomi and Virginia tear out of the building.

---

9:08
, a 911 operator receive s a call about a man with a gun on Granville Street near the passport office. Simultaneously a fire alarm goes off in an office building across the street.
Police and fire crews descend on the area , clogging the streets.

9:1
0
, all the traffic lights within ten blocks turn red and stay red, t urning the area into a densely packed traffic jam.

9:1
2
, Virginia and Naomi have the passports in ha nd and run out of the building.
They both quickly hide underneath a blocked-in city bus .

Walker give s Max a phone with the number Frank called queued up on it. Max presses the call button.
I got you!
Walker looks across the street waiting to see Virginia and Naomi.
Max ’s mind speeds up. Sounds are filtered out. He hold s onto the café table to keep balance.
The phone held to Max’s ear says , “State your reason.”