Interface: A Techno Thriller (25 page)

CELIA BERN PARKED HER FERRARI across the entrance to the CERUS underground car park and climbed out.
 

Two security guards immediately ran up to her, waving their hands. "You can't put your car there," said one of the guards. "The building is closed to visitors."

She turned on him, eyes blazing. "Do you know who I am?"

"It doesn't matter who--" he began.

"Mrs Bern," said the second guard, jabbing the first with his elbow. "Perhaps we could find you a space? Or move it for you?"

Celia glared, threw him the keys then marched past. She had to fight her way through a steady stream of people leaving the building, eventually reaching the front desk.
 

A security guard the size of two men sat there, his expression placid. "Can I help you?"

She leaned towards him. "My name is Celia Bern. I want to see Neil Bradley. Immediately."

"I'll take things from here," Peter Marron said, appearing from a door behind the desk. "Celia, would you come with me?" He led her to a meeting room on the first floor. "Neil is just finishing up a meeting. He'll be down as soon as he can."
 

Celia sniffed. "Nobody is answering my calls. Nobody is telling me anything."

"There's been rather a lot going on." Marron placed a hand awkwardly on her shoulder. "I know this is a difficult time for you. And I'm very sorry for your loss."

She pushed him away. "Don't pretend that I'm some gooey-eyed twenty-year old. William had been cheating on me for years."

"I don't know anything--"

Celia raised a hand. "Don't bother. It doesn't matter anymore. It just wasn't supposed to be this way."

"No one could have predicted what's happened. It was just one of those freak--"

"You are
not
going to tell me it was an accident, Peter. I'm not in the mood to be handled. Was it the Russian?"

"I think perhaps you're getting a little carried away--"

"William was not destined to die in a random road accident." She closed her eyes. "I didn't want him dead. I wanted him to wish he was dead. I wanted him alive to suffer."

"Life doesn't always work like it should."

Celia opened cold, determined eyes. "William always trusted you. Now, I'm the one who's going to need your help. I'm stopping Tantalus – the whole project. With William gone, what's the point?"

Marron stared at her. "You're still grieving--"

Celia's eyes flashed angrily. "I am not grieving: I'm taking charge. Somebody is out there killing people. We have to go to the police with what we know. Before anyone else gets murdered."

"If you're right, you think the police can protect us?"

"We're more at risk if we do nothing. And it's the right thing to do." She looked into Marron's eyes. "I'll make sure you and the key team still get your bonuses. I'll pay them myself if necessary."

"They won't do us much good in prison."

"They'll do you less good if you're dead. And our lawyers have got us out of worse before. I'm going to need your support as I tell them upstairs, Peter."

"I understand." He pulled his phone from his pocket and looked at the screen. "Neil is free now – he's in the video conference suite. Follow me."

They walked to the express lift, and the doors slid apart. Marron turned to the control panel. "Level Minus 5." The doors hissed shut and the lift descended quickly.

"William never mentioned that the basement went down five levels," Celia said distractedly. "Why is the video-conference suite down here?"

"Something to do with isolating it from electronic interference." The lift slowed and the doors opened, revealing a dimly lit concrete corridor. Marron walked to the third door on the right. "This won't take a second." He walked in and the lighting came on automatically.

"What the hell?" said Celia. "What is all this?"
 

The walls were packed with weaponry: hand guns, automatic rifles, even a rocket launcher. Marron picked up a short rifle with a scope and calmly slotted a magazine into its chamber. "This is the armoury."

"Why do you have all these guns? It can't be legal."

"It's a security measure. Only registered operatives can use what's stored here."

"So where is Neil?"

"Actually I haven't spoken to him." Marron shouldered the weapon and aimed it at Celia. "William knew, you know."

Celia swallowed. "Stop it, Peter. What are you talking about?"

"William knew about you and Bradley."

"What?" She blinked rapidly. "He knew
what
?"

"About your little conspiracy. So he just slotted it into his plan."

"A lot of good it did him." She swallowed. "Did you kill him?"
 

"That's one theory." Marron clicked off the safety catch. "I'm sorry it's come to this, Celia. But this project is not going to be stopped."

The sound of the rifle firing, even silenced, was painfully loud in the enclosed space. Celia fell back, an expression of complete confusion on her face.

Marron walked over to her slumped form. "I would be the last one to kill William."

But she was already dead.

SEVENTY-NINE

TOM MADE YET ANOTHER TRIP, carrying a box of equipment from the barn and loading it into the van. The rusting vehicle was nearly full to bursting and creaked worryingly on its suspension.

Lentz shook her head. "Too much stuff, too little space. I've had no time to sort it. Don't get back home that often."

Tom stepped back, putting his hands on his hips. "Can I ask you a question?"

"
A
question?" she replied. "I don't think you've stopped since we first met."

He shrugged. "Why are you doing this? Helping me? Why come back at all?"

Lentz shook her head. "You know, I told myself that I wanted to stop CERUS. And part of me wants revenge. But then another part wants to see Tantalus work." She looked at him. "This thing you have, it has such wonderful possibilities. It will change the world in ways nobody can predict."

"What do you mean?"

"Do we really understand the human brain? We have theories and models - but we're still not even close to truly comprehending its inner workings. So how can we hope to understand the outcome of building an interface connected with it?"

"Didn't that occur to you when you signed up for the project?"

"Of course. But, as a scientist, I had to believe that some risks were worth taking if we're going to move forward as a species."

"Now you sound like Bern." Tom ran his hand through his hair. "If this works, will we become more or less human?"

"You tell me. Right now, you're the only one who really knows."

"I like to think I'm still the same person."

"But are you, given the things you can do now? When you moved that mechanical arm, were you moving something remotely or was it like it was your arm?"

"I'm not sure."

There was the harsh sound of a cheap mobile phone ringing. Lentz scowled and pulled it from her pocket.

"That's my phone!" Tom said.

"Did you do that?"

"Make it ring? No. Can I do that?"

"Then who has the number?"

"Only one person." Tom grabbed it from her and answered. "Kate?"

There was a pause, then a man's voice. "She's here."

Tom swallowed. "Marron."

"Excellent. I hate having to explain myself. Is Ms Lentz with you?"

"If you've hurt Kate I'll--"

"Ms Turner is fine. Mostly. Although you'll be flattered to hear she really didn't want to give up your contact details. Now, listen closely--"

Tom clenched his jaw. "How do I know you even have her?"

"I'd send you a video link but this phone is pre-industrial revolution. How about you have a very quick word."

There was a pause then a hoarse voice spoke, "Tom, just run. He won't hurt me"

Marron's voice spoke again, "I will actually, but for now she's fine. Come to CERUS Tower and she'll stay that way."

"So you can kill us both?"

"I have no intention of killing
you
, Tom. I want to help you. But I have every intention of killing your friend if you don't comply."

"I know what you did to me," Tom said. "Why would I ever trust you?"

There was a pause. "I'm sure Lentz has explained what she thinks this is about, but what she doesn't know is that you are in grave danger. The item in your head has proven unstable and we need to help you before it's too late."

"I suspect your definition of help and mine are somewhat different. I'll take my chances."

"I hope for Kate's sake you rethink that position. You have twenty-four hours. Come alone. If I even smell Lentz..." The phone clicked off.
 

Lentz looked at him. "We have to go. He's probably traced the call."

"It doesn't matter."

"Why?"

"Because he doesn't need to come here. I'm going to him."

Lentz put a hand on his shoulder. "Tom--"

"I'm going to rescue Kate. I'm going to stop him."

Lentz shook her head. "You're not thinking clearly. Kate made her own decision to get involved. In a few weeks, months, who knows what you'll be able to do. But now? What do you really think you can accomplish? "

He returned her look, his eyes hard. "I'm going to break into one of the most modern secure buildings in the world, protected by an army of security guards, save my friend and, if the opportunity presents, exact retribution on the people who experimented on me. Any questions?"

EIGHTY

THE WHITE VAN GLIDED UP the approach road to CERUS Tower watched by fifty pairs of eyes and twice as many cameras. It slowed as it approached the security barrier. Inside the glass front doors of the main building, Alex and a team of eight security guards crouched, waiting. She tapped her radio earpiece as she peered through a set of high-powered binoculars. "It's the vehicle he told us to expect. I see one figure inside. Can't make out the face, but it's his height and build."

Marron replied immediately. "Raise the barrier. Move Teams One and Two into position."

"He can't really believe you're going to release the journalist."

"I don't care what he believes."

Alex signalled and a guard raised the barrier. Two other guards waved the van towards a parking space in the pedestrian area immediately in front of the Tower. The vehicle manoeuvred smoothly over to it, as four other guards converged. Alex nodded with a smile.

There was a squeal of rubber and the van lurched from its path, accelerating towards the glass doors. Alex dived to her left, landing in a tight sideways roll, just as the vehicle exploded through the glass and skidded to a halt in the middle of the lobby. Alex looked around and saw that two guards had been knocked down and were not moving. Cursing, she unshouldered her weapon and crunched through broken glass to the front of the van, flanked by the six remaining guards.

"What the hell happened?" shouted Marron's voice in her ear.

"I don't know. He just went crazy." She signalled to the nearest guard. "Open it."

"Is he injured?" asked Marron.

The guard pulled the door open and leapt back. Seven weapons were instantly trained on the interior. A man sat at the controls. He was tied up and had clearly not been driving. He turned to her, eyes wide.

It was not Tom.

◇
◇
◇

In one of a network of sewer-access corridors not marked on any commercial map, Lentz looked at her laptop screen with a smile. "Time to move, before they work out it was simply a distraction. Though I expect it'll take them a while to realise how I was controlling the van."

"I get the strangest feeling that's not the first time you've remote-controlled a full-size vehicle as if it's a model car. How did you even get a signal down here?"

"I'm running through a relay. It also means Marron will start searching somewhere else if he manages to trace the signal."

"Nice of one of our guests from the barn to stand in for me."

"It was the least he could do." She closed the laptop and placed it in her bag. "Ready to break into theoretically the most secure office building in the world?"

Tom puffed out his cheeks. "You suck at motivational speeches."

"I said 'theoretically'. Marron's weakness is that he has an enormous building he is attempting to secure with no more than forty guards. He cannot possibly do that without the help of the technology, which he assumes is infallible. We just need to use that against him."

◇
◇
◇

Marron burst from the lift into the chaotic lobby scene, the air thick with the tang of splintered metal and dust. Two dozen guards and technicians surrounded the van, pointing guns and scanners.

"There's no sign of Faraday," Alex said, striding over, her boots crunching on fragments of black glass. "We thought about the 'Trojan horse' scenario. But the tech guys have run infrared all over it. There's no space large enough for him to hide."

Marron cursed. "So who's the driver?"

"This is the good part. He's one of our men. You sent him to Lentz's barn hideout."

"He was working with Lentz?"

"He wasn't really the driver. He was just tied up in the driver's seat." Alex pointed at a system of hydraulics that an engineer was pulling out from under the bonnet. "A remote control system, and cameras, all relayed via a mobile phone call. Whoever it was could be anywhere."

"Lentz," spat Marron.
 

"You have to admire the ingenuity. But why bother?" She gestured at the van. "What did this achieve?"

"I don't know. Maybe she's trying to create a distraction. But they must be close. I'm going to activate a cell-phone jammer around the building. It should stop her using the same trick again."

"Good." Alex stepped back and spoke a series of orders into her earpiece, then turned back to Marron. "All cameras are operational, all scanners are active. Guards are sweeping the vicinity. Faraday won't get within 400 metres of this building without our knowing it."

◇
◇
◇

Approximately forty metres directly underneath where Alex stood, Tom and Lentz had reached a grimy steel panel the size of a small door. It was held in place by hefty bolts that looked as if they hadn't moved in years. Lentz tapped the door with a smile. "Forget programming 'backdoors': you can't beat a physical one."