Zero World (51 page)

“I don’t…they seem to be offline. Pakistan, I mean. The whole goddamn place. Just like Africa yesterday.”

That gave Nigel serious pause. There’d been no shortage of theories on what was happening in Africa. And yesterday parts of southern Europe had gone dark. And now Pakistan? Whatever it was, it was spreading, and fast. Some kind of computer virus, that was the theory Nigel subscribed to. “Well,” he said, “worry about it later. Take me to your boss.”

The guard turned in his seat, and goggled when he saw Nigel brandishing the single envelope that had been inside the safe.

An hour later Nigel was in the bar, keen to drink to his success. Novak & Sons would soon have a contract to supply the hotel—indeed all eighteen locations in the chain—with modern safes and the procedures that dictated their proper use.

“Martini,” he said to the bartender. “Shaken or stirred, I don’t give a shit. Very dirty is my only requirement.”

The woman leaned against the inside edge of the bar, her back to the customers, face tilted up and blue-lit by the sensory screen she stared at. She and everyone else, Nigel realized.

He followed her gaze. Three screens were mounted high on the wall behind the bar. They all showed the same thing: the wretched scene from Pakistan. The guard had been right, it was an epic piss-up. RUMBLE ON THE PITCH scrolled by in big block letters at the bottom of the sensory as perfect, vivid images of the melee were streamed one after a-gut-wrenching-nother. Nigel looked away as a fist caught one of the players on an already bloodied mouth.

“Amazing what people are capable of,” Nigel said to no one in particular. “I mean, it’s supposed to be a civilized sport, isn’t it? Rumble on the pitch, indeed. Drink, barkeep!”

The woman didn’t move. The people sitting on either side of him were still. Nigel glanced back up at the screen. A trio of evening newscasters was discussing the footage. He’d not gestured for sound to be beamed his way and heard nothing, so subtitles appeared in cartoonish bubbles. He caught only snippets. Things like “…mystery ailment sweeps through Pakistan…” and “…total information lockdown.”

The last, “outbreak of biblical proportions,” seemed excessive to the point of irresponsibility.

Nigel’s comm bleeped. Not the fancy sensory-grade model he used for legitimate business, but the throwaway he’d bought upon arrival in case a special assignment arose. The sort of work that required discretion. A little tingle ran up his spine. He fished the thin plastic slab from his duster’s inner pocket and pressed it to his ear. No need to check the caller’s name; only one person had the number. It took a few seconds for the encrypted link to complete its handshake, then came the sound of labored breathing on the other end. Nigel lowered his voice to a sort of whispered shout. “Boss man! Are you watching this atrocity?”

“Of course I am.” This came as a surprise. Novak cared little for sport. The business was his life. “Everyone is. Was. It’s unbelievable.”

“At least you’re not among Aussies.” Nigel cast a sidelong glance at the other patrons. “I thought they’d be happier.”

Novak spoke again. His breaths came in quick rasps. “Look. Something’s come up. Are you in your room?”

“I’m at the bar. Untended!”

“Well get back to your room. Someone will be along to collect you.”

Without a drink to finish, Nigel shrugged. “What about the job? We got it, by the way. Just paperwork now.”

“Forget it. This one is more important.”

In the elevator “The Girl from Ipanema” had given way to a horrendous interpretation of ~/funk’s latest megahit, “Orgasm Organism.” Even rendered by soulless piano the beat set Nigel shuffling from foot to heavy foot.

The door opened.

A man stood just outside, back to the elevator as if he’d not been waiting, but standing guard. His posture, the suspicious glance backward, his dark comfortable clothes…all of it put Nigel on instant alert.

“Mr. Proctor?” the man asked.

A myriad of clever replies flittered through his head. He chose “Yes?”

The man looked him up and down, then tilted his head and pressed one finger against a small black disk adhered to his neck just below the ear. “He’s here. Yeah. Understood.”

Nigel glanced past the man. Down the hall, standing in a patch of yellow light that spilled from the door of his own room, were two more stiff-backed gentlemen in dark clothing. Presently another pair emerged. The first, a woman, had Nigel’s briefcase in one hand and dragged his overnight roller with the other. She looked vaguely familiar, as did the man who emerged behind her. He carried two black trash bags.

The group made their way toward the elevator.

On instinct Nigel moved back into the corner. He watched the approaching people closely, finally realizing where he knew the man and woman from. “Some holiday, eh?”

The woman swept into the waiting elevator first, pressing his briefcase into his chest. He clutched it. Her hand went to her pocket, came back out with a hotel keycard. “Thanks for allowing us into your room, Mr. Proctor.”

He took the offered card, realizing belatedly it had been in his front left duster pocket when he’d ridden down. “I have an open-door policy,” he said lamely.

The others filed in, cramming the small car. The woman selected the top floor, 83, and within seconds the chime began to count their progress.

Nigel glanced around. “I assume you’ll explain who you are and where we’re going?”

The woman turned her head slightly. “Were you not contacted?”

“Boss said to wait in my room. That a new job had come up and someone would be by to collect me.”

“Which we’ve just done.” She flashed a half smile. “Search him.”

Nigel ignored the hands pawing at his duster and pant legs. “Penthouse suite safe, I’m to gather? The jewels of some wealthy dignitary? An executive’s datacube, perhaps?”

Her smile ticked wider.

They examined the two locksmithing kits he carried in his coat, showing them to the woman, who gave the slightest of nods at each. Both comms were studied, thumbed alive for a few seconds, then returned along with the kits. “He’s clean,” one of the men said.

When the doors slid open the woman exited first. She turned left at the penthouse doors and continued down the hallway to a door marked
ROOF ACCESS
, where she paused and stared up at a discreet bubble camera mounted just above. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then an audible click from somewhere within the wall broke the silence. The woman pushed the door open and powered up a flight of stairs. Nigel followed.

A stiff, chaotic wind brought faint smells of the streets far below. He followed the woman out onto a landing pad. A clunker of an aircraft waited, white surface worn to bare metal in places. Little streams of black scarring trailed from every rivet, and the porthole windows were scratched and yellowed.

Five minutes later the cabin door hissed shut and they were airborne, powering into the sky on the wail of vertical thrusters. Out the window the pin-light jungle of Sydney slid by to the south and east, falling away with every passing second. Nigel shifted in his seat. They’d guided him to the middle row of three. The handsome wag
sat in front of him, the woman across the aisle. Neither had spoken since entering the aircraft, their attention held rapt by the glowing screens of their pocket comms. Every now and then they’d glance at each other simultaneously, concerned.

Nigel checked his own devices. The cheap one simply demanded more credit to continue working. He stuffed it into the seatback pocket in front of him, happy to be rid of it. His other device, the high-end model, showed the usual steady connection of the state-run network, plus thirty-seven HocNets. These he unified into a single river of information and dipped in.

Garbage. Chatter. Kids, speaking a cryptic language anyone over twenty would struggle to understand. As a rule Nigel avoided this kind of shit. Anyone could say anything with as much anonymity as they desired. Information sloshed about, leaked, dried up in a frenetic unreliability that the youth mistook as energy. But in certain situations—an election, a catastrophe—the Hocs were useful. Nigel forced his brain to follow the flow rather than the individual ripples, hoping trends would emerge. The information drifted by, networks falling away as the plane gained altitude and distance, replaced by new ones almost as fast. Almost, but not quite. Steadily the counter dropped until, at cruising altitude and a hundred kilometers from Sydney, the river dried up.

In the blur of messages he’d spotted a few recurring themes that left him cold.

Gone dark.

Lockdown.

Lethal.

Flu?

His mouth tasted faintly of bile. He swallowed with an effort and let his gaze drift to the lone woman in the plane. She sat still. Relaxed, he could even believe, until his eyes slid down to the one hand he could see. Her white-knuckle grip on the end of the armrest painted a different picture.

Nigel became suddenly aware of the handsome wag leaning over him from the forward row, outstretched palmed turned up.

“Your comm,” he said.

“What’s your name?” Nigel asked.

“Call me Bruce.”

Nigel glanced sidelong. “And that’s Sheila, I presume?”

“If you like.”

He grunted. “What I like is Rebecca, if we’re pulling names out of thin air.”

“Fine. The comm.”

He handed over the device. Bruce passed it to Rebecca, who initiated the shutdown sequence. The man kept his gaze on Nigel, looking him up and down now. “Where’s the other? I thought you had two.”

“I ditched it. Only good for one use, you know?”

“Okay then.” He glanced around at the others in the cabin. “Offline, everybody.”

An hour later the aircraft banked. Out the window Nigel’s view shifted from horizon to sky, and for a few seconds he saw the strand of winking lights that stretched up until they mingled with the stars. The grandiose sight of the Darwin Elevator eased his frayed nerves somehow.

The window shade came down with a plastic smack. Bruce’s hand lifted away from it, moving to the one immediately forward. Around the cabin, the other shades were drawn closed as the team busied itself with preparations to land.

Going in dark. Comms off. What has Novak gotten me into this time?

A whine started to tickle the edges of his hearing as thrust transferred from cruising vents to those pointed at the ground. Outside the metropolis of Darwin rose up to meet them. The city had a sloppy, haphazard layout born of centuries as a second-rate tourist stop before the explosion of development that followed the arrival of the space elevator. Beach town to metropolis in twelve years flat.

Rebecca turned and looked back at him. “The others will exit first and secure transport.”

“You’d think that would soothe me.”

She ignored him. “How much time will you need?”

“Somewhere between ten seconds and infinity, given I have no idea what I’ll be opening.”

The skin between her eyes creased. “Kastensauer. Mark 8.”

Nigel’s energy drained like air from a birthday balloon. He eased back into his seat and closed his eyes.

“Familiar with it?” Rebecca asked.

He nodded slowly. He knew everything now. “You’re here to rob Neil Platz.”

Someone in the cabin inhaled sharply.

Nigel sank farther into his chair, as if the gravity of this admission carried with it a physical force.

A few seconds later Rebecca spoke. “How did you—”

“There’s only one Mark 8 in Darwin. I know because I installed it. Even if I hadn’t, it would not be hard to figure out. Few other than Platz could afford such a…capable deterrent.”

“How…” She faltered. For the first time he heard a crack in her confidence. “How much time?”

Her question barely registered as Nigel thought through the angles. The Mark 8, top of the line, installed at Nightcliff Secure Storage by Novak & Sons out of Wellington, the only authorized installer in this part of the world and one of five worldwide. The Mark 8, requested and paid for by Platz Industries.

The fucking Mark 8, impenetrable.

Not a single recorded breach since first introduced because it could not be breached save for one method: Get someone with access to open it for you.

Which is exactly what these grifters had done. Only…

Connections slid into place like the wheels of the safe he’d just cracked, each more quickly than the last until finally he arrived at the obvious conclusion.

This would be his final job.

Try to back out and Rebecca would have him killed. He’d seen their faces. No loose ends on a job of this magnitude. Failure would of course mean arrest, punishment. Perhaps he could claim he’d been coerced, but even if that worked he’d still never get another job in the field.

Success…would be just as bad. Once the theft was reported all evidence would point to him, again ending his career. Surely Novak knew this, and yet he’d agreed. Why?

Nigel glanced down at his massive round belly, his long leather duster. He was not the type of man who could vanish. Even if he succeeded and managed to leave the scene alive, he couldn’t hide. Not for long.

“How much time?” Rebecca insisted.

Nigel cleared his throat. “To open it? Eight seconds.”

She blinked, exchanged glances with her team. Eventually her gaze swiveled back to him, expression fixed somewhere between surprise and skepticism. “Eight seconds?”

“Correct.” Eight bloody seconds, followed by an end to this life. Either a bullet to the head or a new career as a yak herder on the Mongolian steppe. No more luxury hotels, triple-diamond sushi restaurants, or Thai masseurs walking on his knotted spine…

The aircraft settled onto a landing pad, signaled by a brief chirp as the skids met concrete.

Bruce donned a pair of tactical glasses and moved, the other toughs right on his heels. They leapt out, avoiding the flimsy metal ladder, and disappeared into dim moonlight and a patter of lazy rain.

The cabin became uncomfortably quiet. Rebecca had barely moved, her gaze on the comm held in both hands. Nigel saw motion on the screen. Sensory feed from Bruce’s glasses, no doubt, though he couldn’t make out specifics beyond the vague impression of dark hallways and then a stairwell.