Hack.A.I. (The Hack. series Book 1), page 15
“I may not have a choice.”
“NATE!!!” a feminine bellow called out.
Nate spun around on the spot.
Out the window, eighty feet below on the road beside the factory, Cassie hung onto the side of a panel van waving up at Nate.
Nate slid his finger along the side of his glasses frame and the lens zoomed to five times the magnification.
Sketch, driving the van, slammed on the brakes and brought them to a screeching stop.
Without missing a beat, Cassie jumped out and ran towards the building.
Bic got out the front passenger seat, with what looked like a multicoloured M4 machine gun in his hands, planting his feet like a trained soldier, followed by Cassie.
On Nate’s lens, using an inventory box, SQAI confirmed it was a paintball gun.
The door behind Nate rapped open.
“Hello, little boy.”
twenty-eight
Nate paused and rotated on the spot.
The two large men stood in the doorway, glaring at him.
Through his AR lens, an arrow the size of a beer keg popped up before him, directing him upwards.
With a quick glance, Nate noticed the panel wall making the office. A panel above the door was missing and created a clear route around the men.
With a swift kick, Nate toppled the desk, sending the typewriter crashing into the men's feet.
He took a quick step back and ran.
He pushed off the fallen desk, leaped and grasped a thick vent pipe, threw his legs over the panel wall and landed outside the office.
Amazed at his own ability in this condition, Nate paused on landing, before the grunts of two men, whose feet had taken full weight of the old desk and typewriter, brought him back into action.
Not hanging around to feel the outcome of their burgeoning anger, he ran down the middle of the desks towards the stairwell.
The two men swiftly rose and limped into a run, giving Nate a small lead.
He noticed a lift at the stairs' top, having missed it earlier.
The doors stuck open, revealing the clearly visible shaft framing with three lines hanging down.
With no time to secure the lines, he slid across the concrete and into the open doorway. He reached to grab the thicker of the three cables, hoping it wouldn’t give way.
It held him enough for him to swing a little before it did give way.
Using his momentum, he bounced off the back wall in the lift shaft, kicked off it like an Olympian swimmer, out onto the floor below.
Nate’s glasses, and essentially SQAI, fell off his face and plummeted to the bottom of the shaft.
The force of his landing caused a burst of air to escape from his lungs, leaving him winded and gasping for breath.
The unexpected descent of a lift platform from above startled the two men, with their heads hanging into the shaft. One of them reacted and pulled both of their heads out just in time.
It crashed into the buffer filled pit at the bottom. Sending a plume of dust upwards towards them.
Nate heard them call. “He’s on the floor below! Come on!”
Nate winced as his chest throbbed with pain, but he mustered the strength to stand up and swing open the double doors of this floor, revealing a carbon copy of the floor above without the desks.
With a sort of makeshift run, he hurried to the office at the end. This time, with no hesitation, he lifted a wooden chair and, with a lame throw, hurled it at the window leading outside.
The single panel glass and wood frame shattered to a rough outline of the chair.
Nate shielded his hands with fabric to avoid the sharp glass pieces.
He threw his leg over, careful to avoid the most prominent points, and slowly rested his crotch on the frame, a leg dangling over either side.
He felt a firm hand grip at the centre of his shirt and tossed him to the floor inside.
“Got you now, you little bastard!”
The two men stood over him, blocking any daylight from the window.
With a sudden burst of force, the window from inside the office exploded outwards, startling them.
Nate shielded himself with his arm as the bigger fragments landed on him. He was thankful none hit.
The two men also instinctively covered their faces with their arms.
Once all the glass had fallen, Nate glanced up and observed a small metal rock-like ball striking the bigger man's shoulder, resulting in a painful yelp.
A second sliver mini comet clattered onto his turned back, forcing him to buckle onto all fours in excruciating pain.
On the floor by Nate’s foot landed a comet that was actually a small metal circular pellet, about one centimetre in circumference.
The second smaller man glanced at his mate, then back out the destroyed window as a pellet broke through the air and grazed his right shoulder.
He let out a suffering groan, reaching for his shoulder.
Another pellet flew out of nowhere and crashed into his jaw.
His head shook and rolled like a bobble head on his shoulders and he dropped to the floor, his arms stiff at his side.
Nate realised he had lost consciousness. He skid across on his knees, stuck his two forefingers in the smaller man’s mouth and ensured he didn’t swallow his tongue.
“Nate, are you okay?”
Nate spotted the multicoloured gun and looked up to see Bic taking off his paintball mask.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Are you crazy? Why did you come for me?”
“Your family now, kid. We don’t leave family behind.”
In the madness, Nate paused and stared at Bic. He searched Bic’s eyes dubiously.
Bic smiled warmly, his eyes crinkling at the corners, as he extended his hand.
“Come on, kid, let’s get you out of here!”
Nate took his hand and got yanked to his feet.
“Follow me,”
Bic slid his mask over his face and walked like a soldier; careful steps, gun raised, checking his corners.
Nate followed him down the stairs and around the corner.
More of Dochlan’s men had reached the corridor and charged towards them.
Dochlan standing back at a safe distance, watching.
Bic fired wildly towards the group. They tried to dodge, but given the small corridor they trapped themselves in, many metal balls smashed into them, causing them to howl in pain and reverse backwards to the far end.
Most paintball “markers” are semi automatic and fire as quickly as your finger can hit the trigger. And Bics was no exception.
Tiny metal pellets zoomed around the room. Different from normal ammunition; the spherical paintballs spin wildly in the air like the old civil war musket rounds.
Cassie peeked out the first door on Nate's right, where SQAI had confirmed earlier the existence of a fire exit.
Bic stepped forward, providing cover fire, and ushered Nate towards Cassie.
The balls pinged off the solid wall. Destroying the remnants of old ceiling tiles. Smashing into the door frames, their splintering wood burst off recklessly.
Cassie beckoned Nate with a hand gesture.
Bic continued to fire but less wildly now, conscious of his ammo. Each marker could carry two hundred rounds, but they can empty in about ten seconds of constant fire.
He targeted them if they peered around the walls they were all hidden behind.
Nate walked into a former canteen. At the far end was a fire exit door, fully open.
“Nate, go! I got to get Bic!”
“I’m not leaving you here, Cass. ”
“We will be right behind you, now GO!”
Reluctantly, Nate walked away, his footsteps quickening until he broke into a hurried run.
Making it to the fire exit door, he glanced upwards at the cloudless sky. A cold wind brushed up against his skin.
Despite his impaired vision, he could feel Sketch's intense gaze directed at him from the van parked right outside the exit, with their doors wide open.
Nate jogged the five paces to the van quickly and hopped in the backseats.
Check, who had a laptop resting on his thighs, greeted him with his usually over friendly hug, and Sketch in the driving seat glared at Nate. Like his usual self, Nate thought.
“Eh, where the fuck are they, cabron?”
“Right behind me,”
A loud, bellowing gunshot rang out. A complete contrast to the swish of the carbon dioxide powered paintball gun.
As they all turned towards the fire exit door, Cassie's scream of terror filled the van, sending shivers down everyone's spines.
twenty-nine
Cassie raced through the fire exit door, followed by Bic.
They both leaped in the van, Bic in the front and Cassie in the back, not enough time to close the doors behind them.
Nate saw two of Benny’s goons enter the old canteen with pump action shotguns.
“Get the hell out of here.”
Sketch slammed his foot on the accelerator, omitting his other foot stuck on the clutch. The van’s engine roared while they remained glued to the spot. Quickly, he realised his error and yanked his foot off the clutch, stalling the van.
Bic fired recklessly again. All shots entered the canteen and the two main pursuers ducked and dived.
Sketch twisted the keys back and forward with force, igniting the engine again.
Bic’s marker then fired nothing but air. He was out of ammo.
The men took a few seconds to realise. They popped their heads into view to see a horrified look on Bic’s face as he stared at his empty gun.
They stood up straight, jabbed the shotgun butts into their shoulder and took aim.
The van’s engine roared on the second twist.
A shotgun blast echoed from the canteen.
The ball bearings destroyed the fire exit door frame, and clattered into the van’s back end. Destroying the back lights.
Making no mistake this time. Sketch hit the engine’s bite and wheel-spun the van away.
The two men raced after them but gave up when the van reached the industrial site’s main through road.
“They’re gone.” Check said, peering out the back window.
“Why did you come back for me?”
“I told you, your family now, kid. We don’t leave family behind.”
As Nate glanced at the sincere faces of Bic, Check, and Cassie, he couldn't help but hide his lips and feel his eyes well up with emotion. Something had cracked the numbness he felt in his heart.
“Thanks.” Nate said quietly, his voice cracked.
Cassie reached out and hovered a hand above Nate’s swollen eye.
“Is it painful?”
“A little, but the adrenaline has dulled most of it. It’s going to be a painful night, probably. How did you find me?”
“Thanks to the patch you gave us, we were able to track the vans on the ANPR cameras.” Check said.
“Then we got to this dodgy factory and called the police. We waited for them, watched them do nothing. And then we saw you on the top floor and took matters into our own hands.” Cassie intervened.
“Guys, I can’t thank you enough.”
“No need to thank us, kid.” Bic replied.
“Who were those people, Nathan?” Cassie asked, her eyebrows drawing together.
Nate stared at her, then at the concerned gazes of everyone else.
He composed himself then answered.
“I got into a little trouble in prison.”
“What trouble?” Cassie asked.
“Well, a guy wanted my sunglasses,”
“You wore sunglasses in prison?” Bic jumped in.
“I told them it was for light sensitivities,”
“And what was it really for?” Cassie questioned.
Nate took a moment to consider.
These people saved his life. Did they deserve to know? They put themselves in danger for him?
To know that Nate has created the greatest software known to man. An internet tool with access to all data. Every phone. Any computer. Any satellite. Anything with a chip.
That can predict patterns in any man’s behaviour up to ninety-eight percent accuracy. Monitor their movements, their habits, discreet or otherwise, so that it can create an accurate profile about them down to their exact stride length.
Or even access their medical records and predict their health status and risks based on the food they purchase.
Everything we do leaves a data trail and SQAI will own it within seconds.
And that being only a hint of her true potential.
Were they ready for it? Would they trust him with it? Could he trust them?
“I… just didn’t want them to see what I was looking at.”
Check and Bic accepted this explanation, while Nate observed Cassie's disappointed expression.
He wondered how women always knew you were lying.
“And then what happened?” Bic prodded.
“I put the man and his two mates in the hospital.”
“Mierda,” Sketch scoffed, his two peering brown eyes frowning at Nate in the rear-view mirror.
Cassie and Check shot Sketch a glance and murmured words of outrage.
“Shut up,” Bic punched Sketch in the arm. Narrowing his eyes at him, before turning back to Nate.
“Go on,” Check said, struggling to contain the eagerness in his words.
“Well, it turned out that one of those men was Jamie Dochlan.”
“Oh no,” Bic fell back into his chair. “I thought I recognised him.”
“Who?” Check asked.
“Benny Dochlan.” Bic replied with an exasperated expression.
Nate nodded.
“Oh,” Check realised and also fell deeper into his seat, deeper in thought. As did Cassie.
“¿Que? Who is that?”
“Benny Dochlan is a very well-known gangster. In London, mainly. But he has business everywhere. They say he made the Krays look like reasonable business men.” Bic answered.
“The craze? Like crazy, loco?” Sketch asked.
“No, they were gangsters, too. K-R-A-Y-S. Krays.” Bic spelled it out.
“That’s all bullshit, right?” Check said.
“Probably, but I wouldn’t say that to his face.”
“He’s very well connected, to say the least. He was blackmailing an MI6 agent. You wouldn’t do that unless you knew you could get away with it.” Nate replied.
Feeling the jarring sensation of his backpack being pressed into his back by the seat, Nate leaned forward to take it off and rest it in his lap.
His eyes widened as he noticed his bag was open, which subsequently shot a stinging pain across his forehead. Nate raised his eyebrows to some semblance of normal, and the pain lessened.
“No, no, no, no.”
“What’s wrong?” Bic turned to face him. Check and Cassie watching either side as Nate trawled through his bag.
“The USB. It’s gone.”
“What USB, kid?”
A moment later it clicked.
“Oh,”
“The one with the backup on it?” Cassie asked.
Nate nodded ruefully.
“Listen, kid, it doesn’t matter. You are safe. That’s all that matters.”
“Yeah, love, don’t worry about it.”
Cassie clasped Nate’s hand.
“Besides,” Bic said. “I’m pretty sure our business with Mr Dochlan hasn’t concluded.”
“Jesus, you talk like an old man, dad.” Check added. Smiling. “Who says ‘concluded’ like that?”
“Eh, I’m only forty. It’s not that old.”
“Plus another six.”
“Uh no,” Bic paused and seemed to do the maths in his head and it hit him. “Oh, shit.”
“Yeah! My point—Old man.” Check laughed.
Cassie chuckled and held Nate's hand with a firmer grip. He turned his drooped head to see her beautiful green eyes staring back at him.
“I’m sorry, not just for the USB.” Nate said.
Cassie leaned in and landed a soft kiss on his cheek.
“It’s okay.” She smiled.
Nate could see two peering eyes at him through the driver’s mirror.
“I tell you what, why don’t we go to Felson’s tonight? Blow off a little steam. It’s been a crazy few days and we all could do with a break.” Bic added to a general murmuring of agreement.
thirty
Most of the afternoon, Nate slept in the bunker. Cassie kept returning with food and drinks and refreshed ice to bring down the swelling of his eye. He had never had that before. Someone was caring for him.
Paracetamol couldn't ease the pain, but Bic's hidden co-codamol batch worked well.
Nate had a care plan put together by SQAI that was checking his vital signs regularly through his deep sleep as he recovered from the beating.
Those who opposed the celebration left. Either to return home to their families or to get an early night for their actual jobs the next day.
A few members had gone to Bic with concerns about their welfare.
Although part of a hacking group, most people involved were everyday citizens who possessed an extensive knowledge of hacking.
Cassie had to wake Nate from his latest bout of unconsciousness.
“Do you still want to go, babe?” she asked as he sat up in his bed.
“Yeah, of course. I'm feeling a lot better now.” Nate lied.
Check, Bic, and Sketch walked ahead of Nate, Cassie, and Alex Chang, who seemed deep in chat.
“Yo, Rookie man, we were all worried about you. I’m glad to see that you are alright.”
“I’m feeling better, thanks Al.”
“Just call me Chang, bro. Everyone else does. So Bic said we are going after the guys that did this to you!”
Nate glanced at Cassie, confused.
“He did?” Cassie said, her brows furrowed.
“Yeah, he had me put a tracker on their phones so that we can find their base.”
“No, that would be stupid. Did he really say that?” Cassie asked.
“You mean you don’t know?”
“Bic, babe, can you come back for a second?” Cassie called out to him thirty yards further on.
