The Secret War (Jack Blank Adventure) (30 page)

“People have short memories. Especially when they’re scared,” Noteworthy explained. “The Rogue Secreteer’s actions and the Glave and Khalix transmissions have got the people of this city remembering exactly why they’re afraid of the Rüstov.”

“People are lining up in Galaxis to leave the planet, and the ones who stay will put up with almost anything to feel safe again. Smart knows that better than most,” Midknight told Jack. “He built the entire SmartCorp empire on that principle the first time around. He’s as good as they come at striking fear into people’s hearts, even if he doesn’t have one of his own.” Midknight shook his head. “He’s a dangerous man when he’s in power, and his ego won’t let him accept being anywhere else. I’ve been investigating him ever since I first found out he was sinking all his money into one big project.
I knew it had to be his plan to get back on top. He lost his seat at the table once already. He’ll do anything to regain power.”

“Didn’t you say the same thing about the Noteworthy family during your campaign?” Jack asked.

“I did,” Midknight admitted. “I meant it, too. Clarkston and I don’t necessarily like each other. We’re just working together because sometimes the enemy of your enemy is your friend.”

Noteworthy nodded. “I don’t want to see Smart back in power any more than you two do.”

“Exactly,” Midknight said. “The intel for our last mission together came from Clarkston. My street connections picked up rumors about Speedrazor’s plan to steal something important from Smart. It was his connections that cut through SmartCorp’s front companies and identified the most likely target.”

“The Intelligent Designs cargo train,” Jack said.

“Very good,” Noteworthy said. “Unfortunately, you blew up the cargo before we could find out what Smart was bringing in.”

“Sorry about that,” Jack said.

Midknight shrugged. “At least you managed to slow Smart down a few days. In the meantime I tried everything I could think of to find out what was on that train. I tracked down the rest of his gang in Gravenmurk Glen, but they were all brainwashed by the Secreteer and were no use to me. Next I went out into the Real World and infiltrated Intelligent’s labs myself, looking for answers.”

“What did you find out?” Jack asked.

“Nothing,” Midknight admitted. “That was why I needed Speedrazor’s help. Clarkston was there to help me break him out, and I was going to take him back to the Real World with me. The plan was to raid Intelligent Designs together and steal Smart’s replacement for the SmarterNet component you blew up. No such luck.”

“I don’t get it. What’s in the box, then?” Jack asked.

“The only thing Speedrazor could give me,” Midknight said. “A blueprint of the technology he was trying to steal.”

“He doesn’t need to know all of this,” Noteworthy said, losing his patience. “We don’t need to explain ourselves to you,” he told Jack. “We need you to tell us what this device does. Now.”

Jack gave Noteworthy a tough look. If the Inner Circle’s newest member was trying to intimidate him, his words were having the opposite effect. Jack didn’t appreciate getting ordered around by the one Circleman he hardly ever saw and respected even less. “You know,” Jack began, “if I had your money, I’d be able to afford some manners.” Before Noteworthy even had a chance to respond, Jack turned to Midknight and asked, “Can I talk to you alone for a minute?”

“Of course,” Midknight said. He followed Jack a few feet away from Noteworthy, who just stood there seething. On the other side of the roof, Jack motioned for Midknight to come closer. As he leaned in, Jack put his hand over his mouth and whispered, “Are we
sure
he’s not Glave?”

Midknight let out a short chuckle. “Noteworthy?” he said, as if the very idea were ridiculous. “Why, because he uses that energy glave?” Midknight shook Jack off. “That’s
just a coincidence, Jack. The real Glave wouldn’t be dumb enough to go around flashing a weapon with that very name every time he feels threatened.”

“What if he’s counting on you thinking like that?” Jack asked. “I don’t know him that well, but he’s definitely smarter than I thought. What if he wants to shut down the SmarterNet because it’s going to expose Rüstov conspirators just like Smart says it will? What if he aligned himself with the Rüstov to get his family back into power?”

“Slow down, Jack,” Midknight said. “Before we answer any of that, let’s get a look at the evidence. A detective needs evidence to back up his theories or that’s all they are. Theories.” Midknight held up the tiny box with the SmarterNet data on it. “C’mon. Let’s see what we’ve got here.”

Jack agreed to do as Midknight said, and followed him back across the roof toward Noteworthy. Mid-knight handed Jack the box, and Jack activated it. A holographic blueprint projected itself into the air, displaying an incredibly complex and elegant design. Luckily, the blueprint was also very friendly. Jack asked the
machine what it did, and it told him right away.

Jack’s heart nearly stopped when he discovered the machine’s purpose.

“Oh no,” Jack said. “No!”

“What?” Midknight asked. “What is it?”

“Tell us!” Noteworthy said.

“It’s a super-relayer-connector,” Jack said. “A really strong one.”

“A super what?” Midknight asked.

“Speak English, boy,” Noteworthy said.

Jack ran his hands through his hair, trying to wrap his head around what he’d just learned and figure out how to explain it to Midknight and Noteworthy. “It’s a computer signal broadcaster,” he said. “The most powerful one I’ve ever seen.”

“This little thing?” Noteworthy asked. “Really?”

“Jack, what does that mean?” Midknight asked. “I don’t understand. What’s the problem?”

“Midknight, this is bad. The SmarterNet goes way beyond surveillance. It’s not just listening to all communications in the outside world. There’s a meta-code hidden in the super-Wi-Fi signals this thing puts out. It
links up every machine it touches on the same network so Smart can listen in. It
connects
every machine in the world, including everything right here in the Imagine Nation!”

“So the eyes and ears of every machine and every Mecha in this city become part of Smart’s new spy network,” Noteworthy said with a scowl. “I knew he was up to no good. This makes the SmartCam program look like child’s play.”

“You don’t understand,” Midknight told Noteworthy, his eyes growing wide. “This is bigger than Smart spying on people. It’s bigger than Empire City.”

“Way bigger,” Jack said. “This thing goes out to the world. Smart probably thinks this thing is going to help sniff out Rüstov spies, but he doesn’t realize what he’s doing. He’s just given the Rüstov the means to infect every machine on Earth! It’s been running all day, and no one’s got any idea. We have to stop it before the spyware virus goes global. We have to shut down the SmarterNet!”

“Spyware virus?” Noteworthy asked. “What spyware virus? Jack, what are you talking about?”

Jack let out an exasperated sigh. Noteworthy didn’t
know anything about the virus yet. Jack was about to start explaining, when a massive explosion ripped through the night. The Empire City skyline lit up with fire, and sirens began to wail in the mechanized borough to the north. Machina was erupting in chaos.

It was already too late.

“I don’t understand,” Jack said as smoke began to rise up off the burning skyline of Machina. “We were supposed to have one more day.”

“Looks like the Rüstov have moved up their schedule,” Midknight said.

Sirens rang out across Empire City, and Jonas Smart’s voice started broadcasting:

“People of Empire City … hear me now, and hear me well. The time has come to take up arms against the Rüstov once more. We are under attack.”

The voice was coming from everywhere. Just like Obscuro’s announcement four days earlier, this message wasn’t just limited to the SmartNews channel or personal holo-screens. This broadcast was being projected all over the city: on the sides of buildings, on floating billboards, and on giant holo-screen projections that were being shot out of SmartNews image-casters. Jonas Smart’s rallying call echoed through all six boroughs as he spoke, and the words
IMAGINE NATION EMERGENCY
flashed over and over on the screen below him.

Another round of blasts punctured the Machina skyline like bullets fired from a gun, and the screens cut to images of Mechas rioting in Machina. Jack, Midknight, and Noteworthy watched the anarchy unfold on-screen. The Mechas were tearing their borough—
and one another
—apart. They were picking up HoverCars and smashing them down on the MagLev roads. They were pulling recharge stations out of the ground and throwing them through windows. Jack looked on, helpless, as healthy Mechas tried to control their infected brothers and sisters. It was a lost cause. The few healthy Mechas left standing were either greatly outnumbered or falling prey to the
virus themselves. The Mechas shouted epithets in the Rüstov language as they wrecked buildings, vehicles, roadways, and whatever else they could get their hands on. The senseless destruction was horrifying—even more so because it showed the people of Empire City exactly what an army of infected Mechas was capable of, in the most graphic manner possible. The Mechas were out of control. Worse, they were being controlled … by the Rüstov. Jack watched the chaos play out on the holo-screen and heard it in the air seconds later, like thunder following flashes of lightning. The storm he’d spent the last year dreading was raining down at last.

“What is this?” Noteworthy asked. “What’s happening?”

Jack was about to explain, but Smart beat him to the punch. As the newsreel played on, the former Circle-man’s smooth, terrible voice laid over the images like a blanket of thorns. Noteworthy shushed Jack before he even got a word out. Midknight was fixated on the screen as well.

“These images are courtesy of the SmartNews Machina branch,” Smart announced. “They will be confirmed, and
no doubt duplicated by other NewsNets coming late to this story, but no one else in Empire City is going to tell you what I am about to. No one else in Empire City knows what I know, save for a young boy who isn’t talking.”

The picture on the holo-screen cut to an image of Jonas Smart speaking directly into the camera. The live feed showing the riot in Machina continued to play in a small box in the corner of the screen. Smart was not about to cut away from that scene. Not for a second.

“Less than a week ago we were all shocked to learn that a member of the Clandestine Order had gone rogue,” Smart began. “So convinced was he of the Rüstov’s advantage over us that he began selling off secrets so that he could flee the planet before their next attack. I for one was not at all shocked to learn that the primary source of the rogue’s fears was a secret known only to Jack Blank.”

Midknight and Noteworthy both cast dubious looks at Jack and then quickly turned back to the screen.

“It is no secret that I have never trusted Jack, despite his actions on Wrekzaw Isle last year,” Smart went on. “I’ve gone through great pains to find out what he’s been hiding ever since he first arrived here. This afternoon, at
great personal expense, I finally acquired that information from the Rogue Secreteer. It is for this reason that I can tell you with absolute certainty that the riot in Machina is not a simple case of malfunctioning Mechas or some supervillain plot. This is a Rüstov attack, and Jack Blank is part of it.”

Jack groaned and looked up at the sky. Everything he’d feared most was coming to pass. He paced the rooftop as Machina burned and his world fell apart.

“Today I learned about the Rüstov
spyware
virus—something you are seeing the effects of on your holo-screen now,” Smart announced. “Once again our enemies seek to use our fellow citizens as weapons against us, only this time the deadly virus they have brought to bear is aimed at our Mecha population. The spyware virus lets the Rüstov see what they see … hear what they hear. The Rüstov can even take control of the Mechas and use them toward whatever ends they see fit. I’m sure you can imagine what ends they have in mind. What you may find hard to imagine is that Jack Blank knew about this threat more than a year ago and said
nothing
.” Smart paused to let that fact sink in. “It’s true. Just like every other
creature infected by the Rüstov, Jack Blank is bound in the service of our enemy. The emissary who brought Jack here, Jazen Knight, was infected as well. Last year he and Jack led a team of Rüstov Para-Soldiers into SmartTower to try to kill me.”

Jack spun around to look at the screen. “That’s not true!”

“It’s all true,” Smart continued, almost as if he were rebutting Jack’s outburst. “Jack Blank lied about the virus and covered it up. Then he and his Rüstov allies orchestrated a fake battle with Revile that he could win, so that he could endear himself to the people of the Imagine Nation. All the while he kept silent about the Rüstov’s true plans, allowing the spyware virus to flourish. And it has.”

“Because of your SmarterNet!” Jack shouted at the screen. He was seething. The parts of the story that Smart had right were bad enough, but he was jumping to conclusions to fill in the gaps, and twisting things to fit his version of history as he went along. He was also leaving out any part he’d played in creating this crisis, and he was smearing Jazen’s good name while he was at it. This was
going even worse than Jack had expected, something he hadn’t thought was possible. Once again Jack was discovering new reasons to hate Jonas Smart.

“I warned you all, but no one listened. Telling the truth about this boy nearly cost me everything,” Smart said. “Tonight I am vindicated, but what has ignoring my counsel cost this city?” Smart shook his head sadly. “We have long known that our enemy is clever, cunning, and, above all, patient. Clearly, that patience has served them well, but we have not yet begun to fight. I am calling on every citizen of the Imagine Nation within the sound of my voice to rise up and go to Machina now. Just as when a person is infected by the Rüstov they are no more, these Mechas are no longer our fellow citizens. They are tools of the Rüstov. We need to destroy them! Our very lives depend on it!”