Synthetica Page 22

  Before he entered in the last four ID numbers, he brought the CID back up and typed in the search term 'Civitas'. It took a moment, but eventually he had a list of all the company's employees. He scrolled down the list, deliberating over whom to choose. In the end, he simply closed his eyes and pointed at the screen, memorising whichever names and IDs his finger landed on.

  Finally, he had his last four victims. But the fireworks weren't all going to happen tonight, oh no. He edited part of the code in his SLP program and pressed 'Enter' with relish.

  He glanced at the old clock hanging on the wall and turned on the TV. It wouldn't be very long until the unfortunate Mrs A. May and Mr P. Hetherington would meet their untimely demise. But he wasn't really particularly interested in them – they were merely cannon fodder. It was tomorrow that he was really looking forward to. He felt like a small child waiting impatiently for their birthday to arrive. Or at least, how he imagined a child might feel, had they grown up with such concepts as 'birthdays'.

  He wanted to see Civitas' empire begin to crumble as four of their own employees were murdered in front of the entire city. He wanted to see the chaos and destruction that came when too many people relied on a false idol, and had that idol snatched away from them. He wanted to see the light of hope leave their eyes. The thought almost made him giddy.

  Speaking of Civitas, he still had a few jobs to do before the night was out. He grabbed his old battered canvas bag, double checking that everything was in place.Once he was satisfied, he turned back to the TV, waiting for the signal that everything had gone as planned.

  Not a moment too soon, there came an emergency broadcast over the TV. He didn't have to wait for the silly blonde newsreader to tell him what had happened. He already knew. He had orchestrated the entire thing.

  He glanced at the computer screen, his desire for perfection driving him to double check that everything was in place. Satisfied, he turned away from the four names on the screen.

  He threw his hood over his head and headed out of the door into the night. He hoped Miss Skye Belaforte, Mr Jonathan Parker, Mrs Freida Macier and Mr Xander Silvas all had something good planned for tonight. This time tomorrow, they'd all be dead.

  Fifteen

  The truck ground to a halt with a pitiful wheeze.

  As soon as the ignition stopped running, Xander opened the door and scrambled out, taking in deep breaths of air as though his life depended on it. Anais followed more slowly, slightly regretful that the ride was over so soon.

  Clay slammed his door shut.

  “Alright,” he said. “Where to now?”

  Perhaps it was just a trick of the moonlight, but Anais thought that Clay's face had gone rather pale as he stared up at the buildings around them. His jaw was set and he looked grimly determined, as though he had resigned himself to whatever fate awaited him tonight.

  “This way,” Anais said.

  The train station was empty, even though the hour wasn't late. The moon left stripes of white light and black shadow dancing across the platform, adding to the eerie feeling that they were the only ones left in this part of the city. The magnets hummed, almost too low for human ears to hear, and the train appeared silently, it's headlight chasing away the last of the darkness.

  In the dim light of the carriage, Xander's face had finally started to gain some colour. Clay, on the other hand, looked distinctly uncomfortable.

  Anais opened her mouth to ask Clay when the last time he'd travelled on a magnet train was, when a blare of music interrupted her. What followed next drove all thoughts of polite conversation from her mind.

  The advertisements for new fluorescent DNA that had been showing on the two screens above each end of the carriage were replaced by the words 'BREAKING NEWS'. A feeling of foreboding flooded over Anais. The last time she had seen those words, something terrible had happened. Almost unconsciously, she stood up and slowly walked down the carriage, her eyes never leaving the screen above her.

  The blonde newsreader appeared on the screen looking uncharacteristically serious.

  “Two more murder victims have been found tonight, with the bodies of their murderers discovered lying nearby. Mr Percival Hetherington and Mrs Adeline May were involved in separate incidents, although both attacks appear to have taken place at around 6pm this evening. In a further twist, police have finally revealed that the victims involved in the murders this week, all worked for either WireX Industries or MediTech Corporation. There is a growing fear that the murderers may have had a malfunction in their ID chips as a result of the upgrade produced by technology company, Civitas, last month. A spokeswoman for Civitas has denied these claims.”

  The camera cut to the image of woman with blue hair addressing a crowd of reporters. There was a jolt in Anais' stomach. Behind her, she heard Xander draw in a sharp breath.

  Although Skye looked just as beautiful as always, there was just a hint of strain around her eyes and her mouth was drawn in a tight line.

  “We here at Civitas are deeply saddened and shocked to hear about the deaths of Mr Hetherington and Mrs May,” Skye said, her melodious voice carrying over the crowd. “Although they didn't work for our company, we always respected the knowledge and innovation they brought to their companies. However, we strongly dispute any rumours that their deaths may have been caused, directly or indirectly, as a result of their upgraded ID chips. We conducted thorough testing on the new software before we implemented it, and we firmly believe that there were other factors that led to their tragic deaths.”

  Skye continued to talk but Anais wasn't listening anymore. She turned to Xander, who had followed her up the carriage. He gave her a look that meant he was thinking the exact same thing she was.

  “What do we do now?” he asked. “Civitas is going to be crawling with people after this.”

  Anais struggled with herself. If they went to the building now, there was a very high chance that it would be busy with people trying to do damage control, but equally, if two more murders had already been committed, how many more would it take before someone stopped whoever was behind all of this?

  Anais' eyes met Clay's, and he gave her an almost imperceptible nod.

  “We're carrying on,” Anais said firmly. “It's a risk we're just going to have to take.”

  “Hey,” Xander said, nodding at the screen. “Isn't that your friend from the police station?”

  Anais glanced back up at the news program and gasped. Officer Hughes was now speaking to the cameras, her heart-shaped face looking grim. Behind her, a swarm of securibots, police officers and medics were scouring the ground or milling around two small white tents that had been erected over the bodies of the deceased.

  “ - thoroughly investigating all avenues of possibility. We're working closely with all the families of the murder victims to determine the motives behind the attacks, as well as piecing together their last movements. We urge the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious behaviour to the police.”

  The film cut back to the newsreader, who flicked back her blonde hair.

  “The police were considering cancelling Civitas' fiftieth birthday celebrations, which are due to take place tomorrow afternoon, and imposing an earlier curfew until the murders have been fully investigated. However, Civitas have promised to step up their security measures for tomorrow's parade and have insisted that no citizen attending the celebrations will be at risk. Although it has been confirmed that Civitas' CEO, Magnus King, will be attending the parade, the Mayor of the city has declined, in light of recent events.”

  As the newsreader began to go over the events leading up to the murders earlier in the week, as well as the ones that had just happened, Anais turned to her two companions.

  “This is why we have to act now,” she said, a
slightly desperate edge to her voice. “Who knows how many people are going to die before the person behind all this is caught?”

  She was in agony over the thought that two more people had died already. She couldn't bear the thought that the murderer was simply going to keep going – who knew who might be next? Who else might end up like Dalla?

  Clay was still staring at the screen, his eyes wide. Anais snapped her fingers.

  “Clay,” she said sharply. “Are you even listening?”

  Clay blinked and seemed to come to. He grunted.

  “Whatever you say, Annie,” he said. His face had paled again as his eyes flicked back up to images now being shown of all the people who had died in the past week. Anais narrowed her eyes but didn't press him.

  “The train's going to get us there too slowly,” she told the others. “We'll get off at the next stop and get an auto-cab.”

  The auto-cab icon blinked in her eyesight as she connected to the service and ordered a cab for three. As she disconnected the call, she caught sight of Clay staring at her.

  “What?” she asked.

  “You've got one of those things in your eye,” he said squinting at her. “Does it hurt when it connects to the NIC?”

  “What?” Anais looked at him, baffled. “No, why would it?”

  “Oh right,” Clay seemed to lose interest. “That's what my initial prototype did. One of our fake eyeballs exploded. They've obviously sorted out a lot of the problems with it.”

  Clay stared moodily out of the window at the lights flashing past their carriage. Anais and Xander exchanged looks.

  Despite Clay's assurances that he hadn't murdered his own family, and whatever she had told Xander, Anais was still cautious; even though she believed his story, she was also positive spending all that time living on his own, dwelling on the deaths of his family couldn't have done any good to Clay's mental wellbeing. There was a very fine line between genius and madness. At the moment, Anais still wasn't sure what side of that line Clay was on.

  They stepped off at the next platform and found the auto-cab waiting patiently for them. They got in, Clay needing a slight push from Xander, and it rolled away towards the city centre. There was barely any traffic. Anais supposed the news of two more murders would've kept a lot of people inside. She couldn't help hoping it would be the same when they got to Civitas, but after the news report they'd just seen, she doubted it.

  The ride to Civitas was tense. Clay was staring ahead, his jaw tight. Anais could see his fists clenched on his lap. She wanted to offer some words of comfort to him, but what could she say? 'Sorry Clay about dragging you back into the building you swore you'd never go back to, after the company murdered your whole family and framed you for it. But you'll be okay, just take a deep breath and you'll feel a lot better. Never mind the fact that if you get caught, you'll be sent to prison for a very very long time.' No chance.

  Xander was quiet too, his face drawn. Anais could only suppose this was because she'd single-handedly managed to shatter his illusions about his employer, as well as asking him to help break into their most secure area. If he got caught, he'd be lucky if he only got fired, never mind going to prison for breaking and entering. She wanted to reach out and touch him, to say she was sorry for dragging him into this, but Clay was sat between them.

  Anais could only hope that they would find something, anything, that could lead them to the person who created the counterfeit SLPs. She didn't want to imagine the looks of disappointment and anger on Xander's and Clay's faces if they failed, or if they couldn't find anything at all. She couldn't think about what she'd do if they got there and found nothing. This had to work. She had no other choice.

  And there, constantly at the back of her mind, hovered Dalla. Her funeral seemed like forever ago, instead of just a few short hours. A fresh wave of pain pierced her heart, but Anais pushed it away, refusing to give in. You can hold on for a bit longer, she told herself firmly, you can grieve when this is over. Now's not the time. Concentrate.

  In what seemed like no time at all, they were pulling up outside the Civitas building. Anais got out of the cab and stood staring up at it, the moonlight reflecting off the dark glass. To her surprise, the place looked empty. She had thought after the rumours that their ID chips were to blame for the murders, everyone who was anyone at Civitas would be in, trying to limit the damage. Or at least if they didn't want to acknowledge the rumours, surely they'd still have to set up for the parade tomorrow?

  “Strange,” said Xander as he stood next to her. “They must have thought they said all they needed to on the news.”

  Clay grunted but otherwise remained silent.

  “This way,” Xander said, leading them round the side of the building. They passed a recycling bin at the entrance of a small street, which lead to a nondescript door in the side of the Civitas building. There was a small scanner by the door, the light above it glowing red in the darkness. Xander turned his head, and wave of blue light scanned the area where his ID chip was placed. The light turned green and the door clicked open.

  They stepped inside, the night lights flickering on in front of them, illuminating a small bare corridor. Anais squinted in the dim light. The door clicked shut behind them. Anais felt a sharp poke in the back from Clay.

  “Well, come on then,” he said in an irritable voice. “Show us the way.”

  Xander led them down the corridor. There were a few glass doors branching off it, but Anais could see there were only closets beyond them, holding cleaning supplies and broken computer parts. On the left was a large steel door that looked like it might belong to a lift. At last, Xander stopped at the last door at the end of the hallway and rescanned his ID chip. The door opened and they stepped out into the empty atrium.

  The moon's ghostly light filtered down through the glass that surrounded them. It was completely silent, adding to the illusion that the whole place had been abandoned. Anais barely dared to breathe as they crept around the edge of the room to the bank of lift pods that would take them to the research labs. It was a much smaller line of lifts than the ones that serviced the rest of building. Xander scanned his ID chip for a third time and the doors to the lift on their left opened without a sound.

  As soon as the doors shut behind them, Anais turned to Xander.

  “How come we didn't have to scan our ID chips the other day when we used the lifts?” she asked, keeping her voice down.

  “During working hours the lift scanners are open access, so anyone can use them,” Xander explained. “There's just too many people coming and going for the scanners to work properly. It would take too much time if everyone had to scan their chip every time they used the lift. Level 55,” Xander added in a clear voice.

  “No.”

  Anais and Xander turned to Clay. He was staring straight ahead at the darkness in the atrium.

  “All the research labs are on levels 55 to -” Xander began, but Clay waved him away.

  “I know that, boy. That ain't the lab you want. You want level 94.”

  “Why?” asked Anais.

  “You always this much trouble when someone's trying to help you?” Clay grumbled. “I'm telling you – higher security labs are at the top of the building. Where else would you expect the SLP designs to be? I thought even you'd be able to figure that one out, peacock.”

  There was a pink tinge to Xander's ears as he turned away from Clay and said, “Level 94.”

  The lift made it's way smoothly up the levels, the only source of light coming from the bank of glowing buttons by the doors. Outside, everything was in darkness. Only the occasional beam of moonlight filtered through the building's glass front, illuminating the empty floors. At last the lift slowed down and stopped. Their view outside the lift was now blocked by a metal barrier, with the words
LEVEL 94 imprinted on it in black ink. The doors opened without a sound. As the metal barrier slide back, lights flicked into life, revealing the stark corridor beyond. Anais shivered.

  This corridor was somehow more foreboding than the one Xander had shown her a few days ago. There were no windows or any decoration on the stark walls. There was only one other door, set right at the end of the corridor. It was an impressive circle of heavy steel; it looked almost like a great metal eye, staring at them distrustfully and daring them to come any closer. The sight of it made Anais' tongue go strangely dry. For one brief moment, she considered asking if they could turn back, but something stopped her. No matter what happened, she was doing this for Dalla.

  The trio made their way down the empty corridor, Anais' heart beating hard. They stopped short in front of the dull metal door and Xander turned to Clay.

  “Well, it's up to you now,” Xander said, pointing to the biometric scanner on the wall. Even Anais, with her limited knowledge of high-tech security systems, could tell that this one wouldn't be fooled by just anyone.

  Clay held his head up high and elbowed Xander out of the way. He examined the small scanner intently and touched the tiniest button to the right of the scanner. This brought up a small holographic screen, which showed the scanner's settings. Anais watched him avidly, fully expecting him to come up with an ingenious plan to bypass the security system.

  “Hmm,” he murmured. “Yes...I think...if we do this -”

  He pulled out a small revolver, pointed it, and fired at the scanner. Anais shrieked and ducked as bits of plastic and metal flew through the air.

  “What the f-” she began to shout, but Clay had now retrieved a pocket knife from inside his wax jacket, and had swiftly cut through a number of wires that were poking out of the hole in the wall.