35
The one minute walk from the front door to the row of elevators forced Jay and Faraji to make decisions in rapid succession. They whispered to each other, trying to muffle their voice from the listening computers and the few Villans in the corridors. They could not wait for Billy now, they decided, but would try to find him once they were safely away. Faraji would go to Oz, while Jay would return to Infohogs. From these two separate hiding spaces they would collaborate and fight, if at all possible, to get into Bellick’s computer.
Where before they had felt adrift, searching and preparing for something unknown, with all the time in the world, now they were awake, brains functioning on adrenaline, counting every hundredth of a second, and hoping that their plan might not be so ill-prepared as it seemed to each of them.
The first elevator arrived, heading down, and Faraji stepped in alone and waved a tentative see-you-soon to Jay.
The next arrived shortly after. It gave Jay just enough time to watch Faraji’s elevator pause at floor 76 before he stepped in and pressed the top floor on his way to the Cyberdistrict.
Faraji was already set and waiting by the time Jay finally managed to acquire a screen at Infohogs. No sooner had the latter situated himself in the black leather surfing seat, than Ms. Omid knocked and furtively let herself into the cubicle. Her tawny face was usually composed but today, Jay noticed, something looked different. She was contained, but on edge.
She came to him and whispered in his ear:
Someone is here watching us. Our systems were breached just a minute ago. We’re trying to fix the system but haven’t been able to root out the infection yet.”
It’s possible,” he began delicately, “that I have something to do with that.”
Ms. Omid straightened severely. Her eyes reflected both anger and relief.
It’s probably a . . . friend of mine,” said Jay. “He wasn’t supposed to do anything except wait for me.”
She nodded slowly.
Not bad skills then, just to get past Piper,” she said. “That does explain why he left all our systems untouched and all our lights still blinking. I suspect Piper will want a word with your friend, if possible.”
Jay was trying not to appear rushed, but he also felt the seconds evaporating. Ms. Omid appeared curious now, just as she had when she had helped him find Hurn’s medical evaluations. He could hardly blame her, and felt some contrary sympathy for her, but couldn’t yet bring himself tell her anything. There was simply too much risk for both of them.
A thought occurred to him.
As she turned to leave, he asked:
Can you . . . How easy is it to get information to press?”
She put her hand on the door frame of the cubicle.
That depends on the information, and if you can find a real journalist . . . I know one or two. If you tell me what you have, I may be able to help sort this out for you.”
He shook his head. He knew they weren’t ready yet.
Haven’t found it, have you?” she said. “Well, good luck. I’m glad someone is taking advantage of the facilities.” She ducked out again, leaving him by himself.
He popped two red-blue Midalins and felt them settle in his stomach and the comforting stability of consciousness that followed as they metabolized. Now, he was focused. Aside from fear, nothing even threatened to distract him, but he still had to hurry. Faraji was waiting.
He started just where he’d left off, the doctor’s records and the hospital folder with Hurn’s information. A simple search for the @ sign yielded six results—all of which could have been either the doctor or Bellick’s email address—and for a minute, he felt stuck until he did a Net search for each of the possible addresses. Incredibly, this search gave one clear match, the doctor, one Mr. Joshua Baird, and Chief of Artific Medicine at St. Mary’s Construction Ward. The ease with which Jay rushed into the man’s life almost made him feel guilty. He used Infohog’s password cracking software to break into this man’s email, recalling years of his business and personal communications and returning a decade to the time of Hurn’s admittance into St. Mary’s.
Eureka! There it was, Bellick’s mail. It was attached to a series of emails sent between Bellick and Baird, in fact arranging the details of Hurn’s still undecided fate.
Mr. Baird,
It has recently come to my attention St. Mary’s Hospital has admitted a high profile patient, one who has withstood great family tragedy, and moreover, as a public servant, one who should be treated with society’s utmost respect.
I am in a position to help this man, with your expertise, discretion and support, I’m sure that we can form a relationship that will be beneficial for Mr. Hurn, for myself and for you.
Someone from my office will be coming early tomorrow morning to discuss the details of what my organization can do to help.
Regards,
C. Bellick
Biomerge Inc.
Jay read the first email in a flash of exhilaration. Nothing much of interest here, he thought. Still, it was a victory, a small vindication of the paranoid scenarios he’d laid out in his head. He copied the thread of mail to his memory drive. Being so close felt good, but he had a hunch that breaking into Bellick’s email wouldn’t be so effortless, and he had to hurry. They all had to hurry.
Now Bellick. He ran the same program that had yielded Dr. Baird’s password only moments before, this time with decidedly different results. In total, three red epileptic error messages seizured and flung themselves at him, in layman’s saying that this account was not crackable, that this account’s password has been changed in the last thirty seconds, and that this account was recently used in close proximity to the the software user. He was not at all sure whether the latter was a ray of hope or a sign that they were in danger, but he tried to run a trace on the location—something he had once watched Ms. Omid do and now remembered thanks to Midalin recall. It seemed the Old Man had had plans for them after all.
After running another scan, the program found Bellick. Not so close, Jay thought, not on foot at least. Bellick’s computer was apparently in Villa 6, which was scheduled to complete its construction soon, wasn’t it?
He messaged Faraji.
J:
Faraji. I’ve got our starting point right here.
F:
ready then? billy isn’t in here or at least I couldn’t find him
J:
Then he’s probably on his way back to the apartment
F:
what should we do? we can’t go back there
J:
We’re only hours, maybe minutes from being caught ourselves. I think the only thing left is to see if we can find anything. If we can find anything at all.
F:
if I can even get in
J:
Right. Here’s the location of the last computer he used. Hopefully it’s his personal computer, or it’s synced with his cloud. It’s in Villa 6. Keep in mind it’s opening doors today.
F:
great. tell me exactly what im looking for
J:
Afraid I don’t know much better than you, let me in if you can, once you’re in. I’ll help you look.
F:
if i get in
J:
Good luck.
F:
talk soon
Jay said a silent prayer as the conversation remained static. It was hard to say exactly how long the process might take before Faraji might contact him again. In fact, he had no idea whether or not he would hear from him ever again, but he promised himself that he would be ready if he was. He hoped that there might be some way for him to help Faraji search the computer, to do something more than wait to be captured and be subject to who knows what fate. He had faith in the younger boy, especially when it came to fighting the digital fight. But he also knew the power of the drugs coursing through his system, that he could read faster and remember everything. He was, in this state, a functioning savant. He knew that if they were to find anything at all it would be he who found it.
In preparation for Faraji’s uncertain return he attached two memory drives into the slots, opened the file search application, took two more Midalin, and waited.