Ixeos: Book One of the Ixeos Trilogy (29 page)

“Boucher would care,” Abacus said.

“Yeah, but he can’t find me if I go with you. He can look all he wants. He’ll just think I got caught or killed, or maybe that I finally took off.” Rod sat back in the chair and spread his legs out in front of him.

“I know I screwed up. I’ve done some things… Well, there are things I’ll never forget, and I don’t know if I can forgive myself for. But I never gave y’all up, I never told them where I came from, and I would never, ever do anything to put Hannah’s life in danger up here. I’ve made sure we stay away from the Opera House, the vault…” He leaned forward, his eyes pleading with Abacus. “Help me. Please. I’m sorry. I’ll do whatever you want, go wherever you want. Just please help me.”

For five minutes, Abacus didn’t say a word. Hannah knew that Rod was looking at her, but she didn’t raise her eyes from her clenched hands. Abacus studied Rod, and, to his credit, Rod sat still and took it. Finally, Abacus stood up from this chair and clapped his hands together.

“Right. Let me tell you what I told Hannah. Vasco and I don’t feel we can make a final decision without Landon. In fact, we have decided to defer to Landon’s decision completely since only he knows the purpose you were to fulfill while you were here.” Rod opened his mouth to speak, but Abacus held up his hand for silence.

“However, it’s obvious that your life is in danger, and it’s also obvious that our own lives will be in danger if we continue to risk meeting with you here in Paris. So we did come up with a plan…” He glanced at Hannah, who gave a small smile and looked at Rod.

“We’ll take you with us now, today, back to the tunnels.” At Rod’s elated expression, he hurried on. “But we will not endanger the lives of the other three hundred, and we don’t know when Landon will be coming back. He was just here a couple of days ago, before we knew your situation, and it might be a while. What we
will
do is take you somewhere else. Somewhere you don’t know and where you don’t know your way back to the tunnels. We’ll put you with a group helping a rebel cell and let you work. As soon as we have either spoken with Landon and he’s given us his verdict, or else he requests you to return to the tunnels, we can reevaluate. That’s the best we can do.”

Rod sat speechless, gaping up at Abacus. He glanced over at Hannah, then back at the older man. Tears pooled in his eyes and spilled over to run down his cheeks. All he could say was, “Thank you!”

Chapter Forty

“D
id we use the wrong
rotors?” Marty asked.

“Not if they’re using this code book and using it correctly.” Clay skimmed the tape and the groups of letters. “My theory is that Lockwell is encoding the message before he gives it to that scientist… What’s her name?”

“Verestyuk,” Marty said. “Alexandra Verestyuk.”

“Right. Her. I think he’s encoding it and either giving her that group of letters to make the crazy email, or else he’s writing the email himself. So for now, let’s assume that Lockwell has encoded the original message with a more normal code. Substitution, key, something like that. All I have to do is figure out the code he used and we’ll get the original message.”

“Oh, that’s all…” Marty said. “How many ‘normal’ codes are there?”

Clay grinned. “Thousands. But the good news is that apparently the Firsts aren’t very creative.”

“How will you figure it out?” Marty asked.

“The way code breakers have done for centuries—a pencil and lots of paper.” He stuck the tape in his pocket. “We’re headed back to the tunnels in the morning. As soon as we get back, I’m taking over the library.”

“You still need me?” Marty asked.

“Once we figure out the code, we’ll have to decipher all these emails. I could really use your help, and Neahle’s. I hope I can crack the code before you have to come back here. I wish there was some way to get information from here back to the tunnels quicker—if you come across an email with urgent information, we’re not going to be able to do anything about it.”

Marty perked up. “Oh, hey, that reminds me. Two things. One, since you got two, you could leave an Enigma machine here so I can decode right away. That way I’ll know what’s important and what’s a weather report. And two, I actually had a thought about communication. Not with the tunnels directly; since they’re so far underground, that’s not possible without laying cables. But I think I can hijack a number from the comm center if we can find a couple of cell phones.”

“Really? How would we use them?”

“Someone would have to come to the surface every day at the same time and check in. But it wouldn’t have to be at the Opera House. There are lots of places that the tunnels come up in the city, like manholes and basements. I think I can clone two phones and get us connected. If we keep it to under three minutes—or even two, to be safe—I don’t think they’ll figure it out. It’s not like someone’s studying their phone bill every month. ”

“Clone?” Clay asked, confused.

“Yeah. I find two numbers that are hardly ever used. There are dozens of them. Then I clone it, make a second phone that uses the same number. The risk, of course, is one side or the other trying to make a call when the number is in use. But if I pick it right, that shouldn’t be a problem. And if it does happen, we just ditch the phone and start over. Obviously we’d only use it to pass vital info, not a have daily gossip session, but at least we wouldn’t have to wait days or weeks for someone to show up.” Marty smiled at his cousin.

“That’s brilliant!” Clay said. “Where’d you learn that stuff?”

“Burn Notice. The Bourne movies. Wikipedia. It’s amazing what you can find out these days.”

They approached the side door of the Opera House just as it was getting light. The drizzle that had been falling for days continued and there were pools of standing water throughout the city, making their travel miserable. Clay hunched over the duffel bag he held, trying to make sure the Enigma machine stayed dry. With his head down and his hood pulled low, he didn’t see Vasco stop and ran into his back.

“What?” Clay said irritably. He wanted to be inside and dry.

“Someone’s been here recently,” Vasco said, pointing at wet footprints on the otherwise dry concrete near the door. The overhang protected the entrance unless there was a strong wind, and there were three definite sets of shoes leading in the door: two large, one small.

“Is anyone else topside now?” Marty asked.

Vasco cocked his head, thinking. “My brother and Hannah had a job. I would have thought they’d have gone back by now, but it’s possible the weather slowed them up.” He put his foot over one of the men’s prints, then the other, and shrugged. “The right size. I’m not sure…”

“Who else would it be?” Clay asked.

“Gangs. Firsts. Junkies. Rebels…”

Chastened, Clay shifted the heavy bag and waited. Vasco studied the door and the tracks a bit longer then spoke. “Three of us, three of them. One’s obviously a girl. Not that around here there are many girls I’d like to meet in a dark alley.” He reached out to the handle. “In, and be quiet. I have a knife and a flashlight… Marty, do you have a weapon?”

Marty looked confused, then patted his pockets like someone had secreted a weapon in them. “Um, no, sorry.”

Clay swung the duffel bag over his shoulder and pulled out a flashlight. “This is all I’ve got.”

“It’ll have to do. Marty, stay behind us. Clay, stay beside me. Don’t turn on a light unless I say so.” Vasco quietly turned the door handle and slid into the darkness within.

The three stood inside the doorway, straining to hear anything unusual in the expansive hall. The monotonous sound of the drizzling rain drowned out any other sound. Vasco waved them forward, pointing to the wet footprints on the marble floor. Looking behind them, Marty saw that they were leaving their own puddles, a perfect trail for anyone else to follow.

They crept down the side gallery of the Opera House, not noticing the opulence and beauty. As they went further from the front lobby, it became almost too dark to see. Only Vasco’s knowledge of the place kept them moving forward without running into the statuary. Once again, he held up a hand They all heard it: the quiet squeak of a hinge, then low talking.

Recognizing one of the voices Vasco called out, “Aaron?”

“Bobby?” came the answer back.

“It’s Abacus,” Vasco said to the boys, adjusting his pack and heading towards the back of the Opera House. “He must have Hannah and Rod with him.”

Clay raised an eyebrow to Marty. “Rod?”

The group was silent as they left the Opera House by the vast underground reservoir and made their way back to the living quarters. After quick introductions between Rod and the McClellands, Vasco and Abacus made sure that Rod was between them and away from the others as they all walked single file towards home. Hannah kept her hands in her pockets and her head down. Bemused, the boys followed along, Clay holding a torch aloft and letting his mind wander to the code.

When they reached the living room, the three older men walked straight through and into the office, not speaking to anyone. Hannah found Neahle reading a book on a long sofa and sat down to join her, peeling off her wet sweatshirt. Clay and Marty, after quickly greeting Neahle, went to the library with the heavy duffle bag and closed the door.

“So, I guess that was Rod?” Neahle asked, looking down the empty hallway where the office and library were.

“Yeah,” Hannah said, sliding down on the couch so her head was on the back cushion and her legs were stretched out in front of her. Her hands were still scrunched down in her pockets.

“And?” Neahle prompted.

Hannah shrugged. “He agreed. They’re going to get him some clothes, let him eat dinner in the office, and then they’re taking him off somewhere.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know. Abacus didn’t say. No one is supposed to know until it’s all worked out with Landon. It’s not like I’m going to run away with him or something!” Hannah slumped even farther down on the cushions, her backside now over the edge and her arms crossed over her chest.

“They know that. And he passed the first test, right? Agreeing to go?” Neahle looked at Hannah’s scowl and smiled. “Come on now, you knew it would be this way. You knew he’d have to earn back trust.”

“I know,” Hannah muttered.

“So… What’s the deal?” Neahle turned sideways so she could face her friend.

Hannah stared off across the room for a long moment, then turned to Neahle. “He cried.”

“What?”

“He cried. Rod Hewitt cried. When Abacus offered him the deal… He couldn’t even speak.”

“Wow. It must have been bad out there,” Neahle said, leaning over her crossed legs.

“It was terrible. He told us some of it but I’m sure there’s a lot more he didn’t say. He always had a lot of pride; I think he stayed so long because of it.” Hannah sat up some and tried to push her wet hair back into a ponytail.