The Breaking, page 21
part #2 of The Reckoning of Anecor Series
“Did you see the first name? Was it Trevor?” Bendi asked.
“Yep, that was it! I’m right, then, aren’t I? It’s his dad.”
“Yes, his dad’s name is Trevor. He works on AI with the Security Division. Both his parents work in the Security Division, but different jobs,” Bendi said, with a calm that surprised Destin. Bryn, too. “Are you sure that what you saw didn’t have something to do with his normal job?”
“Well, I’m sure that it has to do with BRO and this virus, so unless that’s a part of his normal job, then I’d say what we saw was something else entirely. And when Troy saw it, he bolted for the door without a word. Almost fell out of his chair in his hurry to get up and away from there. I had too much sensitive information open on the computer to chase him down before I shut everything down. Then Dad showed up right after I got it all put away safely. Tried messaging Troy, but he didn’t answer, so I contacted you because I didn’t know what else to do. Didn’t think I should go to Melody with this.”
They were at the edge of town now, moving from the pavement to dirt. Bryn turned off her headlights and slowed her speed down while her eyes adjusted to the darkening light. No need to give the Guard notice of their approach if they happened to be coming this direction on the road. She only hoped they had their lights on. She exhaled a large breath of air, trying to calm nerves that were beginning to fray. So much was happening so quickly. And after months of nothing. It was hard to know what was coming from one minute to the next.
“No. You did the right thing, Destin. I’m glad you came to me first. I’m not sure what to make of it yet. I hope Troy comes around quickly. I know that this had to be a shock. Sounds like he had no idea.”
“No way. Totally a surprise to him.”
“Are you okay, Bendi?” Bryn asked.
“I’m okay. I’m a little shocked myself. I would not have imagined that someone I know could be involved, and I really can’t imagine how Troy must feel right now. This has to be awful for him. I am going to message him to see if he responds.”
“Good idea. You might not want to mention that you know anything, though,” Bryn suggested.
“No. I agree. He definitely would not answer if he thought I knew. I just want to see if he answers. If he does, I might be able to find out where he is.”
“Good idea. So, Destin, what were you guys doing that you were able to see Troy’s dad’s name linked to Manglebee and BRO?”
“We breached their security system and broke into their files.”
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She was there. Juniper was still there. Lucash exhaled a breath he didn’t know he was holding, tears springing to his eyes. He quickly jabbed his palms against his eyes to rub them away. Then he knelt down beside her.
“Juniper?” There was no reply but her labored breathing assured Lucash that she was at least still alive. For now. He rested his forehead against his arm, just for a moment. A moment to recognize that he’d made it back to her. A moment to hope that this man behind them might be someone who could help them. Someone who could help Juniper come back to him.
He lifted his head, and brushed her hair back from her face, where it had fallen again and stuck with the moisture of her fevered sweat. During this, he was grateful for Remy’s respectful silence. He didn’t rush Lucash, though they had a great need to get back out to the road in a hurry. Lucash cradled one arm under Juniper’s neck and the other under her knees. He gathered her up in his arms and stood up, whispering reassurances to her as he did, though the words fell on unhearing ears. She’d stopped even mumbling his name.
Only after he’d stood up with Juniper in his arms and turned towards him did Remy approach to check on her condition. He placed a hand on her forehead then shined a light towards her eyes and peeled back her eyelids, to which there was no reaction. Her ragged breathing indicated the effort her body gave in bringing in much-needed oxygen.
“She doesn’t look good, Lucash. I’m sorry. Has she been hallucinating?”
“I—I don’t know. She’s said my name over and over again but didn’t respond when I answered her. Is that hallucinating?”
“Yeah, I’d guess she was, though that’s not as bad as what some get. This could be a milder form of the virus, though if it is, you should have it, too,” Remy said, hesitant to confirm the possibility that it was the virus when Lucash showed no symptoms.
“Can you guys help?”
“I sure hope so. Let’s get her back out to the road. Can I help?”
“No. No, thanks. I got her.”
They left the hiding spot and Remy took the time to cover the entrance and brush away evidence of their entry as a precaution, removing any sign that anyone had been there in the first place. The fewer clues they left behind of their whereabouts, the better. Remy led the way back out towards the road, where they waited, just inside the trees.
Within moments, headlights shown on the road, but from the wrong direction. The Guard. It had to be them, making their way back to BRO. Remy sent out a message to Bryn: Guard truck headed your way. Get off the road now.
Lucash shrank back further into the trees with Juniper at the sound of the truck, petrified. He held Juniper as close as possible, willing their invisibility in the dark.
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“Another message from Remy,” Bryn said, handing Bendi the phone again.
Bendi opened the message. “Pull over! Fast! Get off the road!”
Bryn was off the side of the road before Bendi got all the words out. She knew why she was being given the directive without even hearing the message. They bounded over the field a good distance, Bryn driving blind to the terrain they were crossing. Without headlights she had no ability to tell what they were driving into or over.
There was no place to take cover. They just had to hope the guards weren’t looking off on the sides of the road, or, if they were, that the car was not visible in the dark. The field was grass. Soft enough that they’d likely leave some tracks there that might remain visible by morning. At least they didn’t kick up a lot of dust. Dust would be visible in the headlights of the Guard truck as it passed.
All three waited in silence. Afraid to speak. Afraid to breathe too loud. They were all twisted in their seats, eyes piercing the night behind the back window, looking for the telltale headlights of the Guard truck headed their way.
๛ ๛ ๛
Remy watched the Guard truck pass slowly by, while Lucash stayed put, back to the trunk of a tree, Juniper held tight in his arms.
CHAPTER 33
“
F
ind anything yet?” Trevor called out, checking on the others without lifting his head up from the screen.
“We aren’t finding another layer of encryption. Either this guy’s really good—and we already know he is—or he’s really in Quadrant 4.”
“Two people live at that location. Father and daughter. Seems mom died not too long ago. Health file says she died of ‘natural causes.’ Doesn’t say anything else about it, though. She was young when she died. Just 47. Whole family works at the nuclear waste treatment facility, including the daughter, who is 18,” came the report from behind one of the other computers.
Yeah, right, natural causes…more like radiation toxicity. Trevor kept the words inside his head.
Out loud, he asked, “What are their names?”
“Dad’s name is Sy; daughter is called Destin. Last name’s Orr.”
A father and daughter, who just lost their wife/mother. The one thing Trevor never thought about when he began his new life after The Reckoning was the impact this new way of living had on others. He had been too happy with his own change of circumstances to realize that it wasn’t the same for a large number of people forced to do the dirty and dangerous work in the newly formed country and live in barely survivable conditions. Now he was being confronted with yet another brutal reality in the world Manglebee created. What am I supposed to do with all this?
“That doesn’t seem a likely pair to be breaking into our system,” Trevor said.
“Not likely is right. Quadrant 4 is still working, right?”
“Yes. Just like us,” grumbled one of the team members.
“Yes, they’re working, but on reduced shifts,” said Trevor.
Everyone grew quiet again, with only the sounds of occasionally whispered words against a backdrop of computers whirring. Trevor was finding no indication at all that there had been an error in the programming of the robots. All the codes looked as they should for the days he’d checked so far that had had an individual with no reaction to the virus.
Immunity. That was the only plausible answer. He saw no need to continue his efforts in looking for human error. He would have found it already. He would have to report this to Manglebee. The question was when? Before or after they solved this current problem?
“It was the daughter who was home.”
“The daughter?” Trevor was a little confused by the statement.
“Yes. Dad was at work. If it was someone in this house, it would have been the daughter.”
“An 18-year-old broke into our system? This is growing more unbelievable by the minute.”
“Not necessarily impossible to believe,” said Trevor, thinking about his son. Trevor might not have been able to break into the system, but he recognized how much more talented his son was than him, even at 14. Someone with Troy’s smarts could break into their system, though he highly doubted there were too many kids that smart out there. Still, he had to allow for the possibility. “What is harder to believe is that someone in Quadrant 4 would have the knowledge and the access.”
“What do we do now?”
“Good question. I’d like to know we are right about this before reporting it. No sense getting Head Councilor involved until we are sure. And I don’t know of any way to be sure other than to go to that location and see if we can find the computer.”
“Okaaay. You sure that’s a good idea? Shouldn’t we just tell Head Councilor so the Guard can go looking?” The question came from the newest team member, but the others nodded in agreement.
“Tell Head Councilor what, exactly?” asked Manglebee himself, evidently having just entered the room without notice.
Trevor stiffened at the sound. He suddenly lost all feeling in his limbs, and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Now, he’d have to tell him. He’d have to tell him and put this family of two in danger. Trevor felt an odd connection to Sy and Devin, and the now dead wife. He suddenly wanted to know her name too. It was an irrational thought at that moment, he knew. Something that was keeping his brain from immediately registering what was happening right here, right now. He stole a glance around the room at the others, all of whom had bolted to their feet at Manglebee’s entrance. There wasn’t a one of them who looked anything less than terrified.
Including himself.
Trevor quickly ran through his mind the option of telling Manglebee about the lack of evidence for a programming error in the robots’ delivery of the virus, but he quickly realized that was out of the question. Manglebee almost certainly heard their comments about the Guard. No. He wouldn’t get away with it.
Manglebee stood in front of him now, flanked by Henderson and Witton. Witton hadn’t been there earlier. He must have been ordered in to assist Trevor, which was probably why they were all there right now. Manglebee would want to coordinate between Witton and Trevor, as well as receive an update. Trevor noticed how uncomfortable everyone was starting to appear. All except Manglebee, of course. He wondered how long he had let the silence drag on.
“Sir, we have been working on two different issues.”
Manglebee raised a single eyebrow.
Trevor heard someone clear his throat nervously, as it became apparent to the team that he was going to tell Manglebee everything. He could almost feel them bracing themselves for the outcome.
“Well…uh…first, the issue we originally came in for…it appears that it isn’t a programming issue. I could find nothing wrong in the code on the days there were…uh…concerns.”
“You are absolutely certain of this?” Manglebee asked in a too controlled voice.
“Yes. The code checks out.” Trevor watched Manglebee’s face visibly harden and felt like he always did in these situations. He felt like it was his fault, even when there was nothing wrong in what he did. It should have been a good thing that there were no issues with the coding. That meant his team was doing exactly what they should. But this was a no-win situation. There was really no good outcome. Either the team screwed up, or there were people who were immune to the effects of a virus that was designed to work specifically on that individual.
“The second issue?” Manglebee asked when Trevor hadn’t continued to speak.
Trevor had been waiting for a response that was obviously not forthcoming.
“Yes. The second issue.” Trevor took a deep breath. Embarrassingly, he felt his face growing flush. He felt a little light-headed, while the edges of his vision darkened. He realized with horror that he was close to passing out. Get a grip, Trevor. He took a second inhalation of air and willed his heart to slow down. He pushed his glasses up on his nose and wiped away the bead of sweat making its way down the side of his face.
“We were examining the files for coding errors when we noticed that data were being changed as we watched. The changes were being made to the doses.” Trevor shot these words out in a blast, afraid to even stop for a breath. When he did stop to breathe, he waited for the wrath. As did everyone else in the room.
Witton and Henderson both took a step back and stood with feet shoulder width apart, as if they were actually bracing themselves for a physical combat. Manglebee’s barometer was the vein at his temple. Trevor had grown used to watching that to gauge Manglebee’s mood. Sure enough, the vein was pulsating and looked ready to burst.
“Your team,” he spat, “assured me our system was impenetrable.”
At this point, the members of his team looked ready to bolt for the door. Trevor understood the feeling.
“Yes. Sir. The system is…was…impenetrable. We aren’t sure how this person was able to manage. Truly genius. Sir.”
“Tell me you have at least tracked down the identity of this person.”
“We aren’t sure, sir…Maybe.”
“Maybe? You seem to be uncertain about a lot these days,” Manglebee’s voice oozed disgust.
“Yes. Uh. The thing is, we broke the encryption and found a location. But…uh…it doesn’t make sense…where the signal is coming from. We think maybe this person has another layer of encryption. That he put a false location signal up under the first layer. We can’t find it, though.”
“What is the reason you believe you have not found the actual location?” Despite himself, Manglebee seemed almost interested.
“It pings to a location in Quadrant 4 where a father and daughter live. During the time of the incident, the father would have been at work at the nuclear waste facility. Only the 18-year-old daughter would have been home.”
Manglebee looked surprised. Trevor had never seen the look on his face prior to that moment. It felt like something of an accomplishment. Or it would have, if his heart still weren’t pounding out of his chest from fear.
“It does not seem possible that your information is correct. I agree. However, I will not take chance that you are wrong. What is the location? I will have the Guard search the premises. In the meantime, I expect you to continue looking for the real intruder.”
“Yes, sir.”
“One other thing.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Fix that security system. If your team continues to demonstrate this degree of incompetence, you will have a heavy price to pay. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir. We’ll…we’ll get right on it.” Manglebee’s eyes pierced his own. His threat was far from empty, Trevor knew. He also knew that the only reason he was still here right now, even after all this, was because there was no one else to replace him. Manglebee really couldn’t get rid of him. But he could certainly replace his team. Their expressions said that they, too, understood this.
“I am still waiting on the location.”
One of the team called out the coordinates in a quivering voice. Manglebee turned without saying another word and walked back out the door. The other two followed him out.
Within minutes, Witton returned. Though he was one of Manglebee’s 12 Councilors, Witton, like most of the others, was terrified of Manglebee. He seemed to covet his role a little less than the others, however. Rather than doing anything he could to keep it because he liked power, he did anything could to stay in Manglebee’s good graces because he liked living.
Witton approached Trevor as Trevor was giving instructions about which of the team were to work on reprogramming the security system and which were to continue digging for their clever intruder.
“Head Councilor is sending the Guard to the location. He is not happy about this turn of events, especially on top of the escaped prisoners,” Witton said to Trevor in a low voice so the others would not hear.
Trevor had an easier relationship with Witton than he did with any of the others. Without saying it, they both recognized in the other their similar positions on working for Manglebee. They did not, however, do anything that would reveal their friendship—of sorts—to the rest of Council.
“I know. I am surprised he remained as calm as he did.”
“Yes, well, that’s always the case in front of others. He was less calm when we walked out the door. Fuming, actually. Though this person who managed to break through our system intrigues him.” Witton gave Trevor a long look before continuing, “He said something about using this person when they find him instead of you, if you can’t get your act together. We both know Manglebee has no sense of humor. I just thought you should be warned.”
“Thanks, Witton. I can’t say I’m surprised. I’m more surprised that I’m still here, in all honesty.”
