The Grid 2 Read online

  Hannah looked at him doubtfully. Lucy was strong, but was she any match for the serial killer? She wasn’t so sure.

  ‘We’ll need to help her however we can, she’s certainly very determined.’

  ‘Okay, that’s good. The best we can do for her is to herd her towards the others for protection, we mustn’t leave her isolated. But, Hannah, it has to look good. If any of the others sense we’re protecting people, we’ll get an intervention. We have to keep the gameplay fast and interesting. Hunter will not accept low engagement levels.’

  For the remainder of the day, Hannah and Linwood worked at the next Mode, assisted by the other Gridders in the team. There was a general consensus that the labyrinth was a great concept and unleashing four massive creatures into the tunnels would create a compelling and frightening gameplay scenario.

  Later that afternoon, Linwood saw his chance to protect Lucy. It was he who opened up the passageway to allow her to escape. Then, in a dramatic moment which had caught the attention of everybody watching the screens, he crashed the barrier down onto Schälen’s hand in full camera view. His hand was crushed, he was in considerable pain and he was bleeding profusely.

  Lucy had got away – for now – and he’d made it look good. He’d steered Lucy towards Ross’s orange marker; he’d placed her where she could easily be reunited with the main group.

  But however much he and Hannah tried to control the action in The Grid, there was very little they could do to influence the actions of the individual Justice Seekers other than gently guide the action. They had free will, after all.

  Hannah and Linwood worked steadily towards the beginning of the next Mode, as confident as they could be they’d given Joe and Lucy every chance to survive the next horrific challenge. But there were two things happening that were completely out of their control. Both of these would steer events in a direction over which they had no influence.

  First, in a blood-soaked dungeon deep within the labyrinth, Schälen considered his options. His hand was almost severed, it was no use to him. But he had the resources available to help him get out of the situation. With his remaining hand, he stretched out to retrieve the discarded ties left behind by Lucy.

  As he reached out, he felt the crushed bones in his hand breaking off and the skin tearing. He nearly passed out with the pain, but he’d seen his share of human agony before. He knew he was a long way off dead – the human body could endure far more than he’d been subjected to.

  Slowly and deliberately, Schälen retrieved the ties, looped them below the joint in his arm and tied them as tightly as he could.

  Once he’d arrested the blood flow, he began to stretch his body as far as he could to retrieve his knife. Lucy had dropped it in her rush to escape him. He strained his tethered arm and his legs to reach the knife. Schälen shouted out as another broken bone in his hand shattered with the pressure, but that last push had allowed him to flick the knife towards his free hand. He worked through the pain, pushing it to the back of his mind as he finally clasped the knife.

  He was going to remove his crushed hand. There was much more pain still to endure, but he knew it was his only chance of survival. The hand would have to be cut off, bone by crushed bone, and sinew by sinew.

  There was a good chance he’d pass out during the process, but it had to be done, it was his only way out of the labyrinth. Once free, he was going after Lucy. Whatever creatures had been roaring in the tunnels earlier that day, there was only one animal she had to fear. If he caught her, he would finish her.

  But there was something even Schälen didn’t know about the events that were to follow. Unknown to any of the Gridders, an anomaly had been detected in the gameplay algorithms. Somebody was cheating the system, and the interferences were coming from the consoles of Janexx2 and 97TRaider. Not even the Head Gridder had access to this algorithm. It had been placed remotely onto all of the consoles to detect abnormal interference in favour of particular players.

  As Reevil96 sifted through the data a second time to confirm those suspicions, it became clear that Hannah James was definitely not who she appeared to be. Whatever she was up to with 97TRaider, they were trying to protect someone inside The Grid. It would require an intervention much sooner than anticipated.

  Reevil96 accessed the accounts of Janexx2 and 97TRaider via a remote and secure connection. There would be no legacy trail to detect that he’d ever been there. A few lines of code would fix things, it would redress the balance after their previous interferences.

  When the four beasts were unleashed later that day, they would be hunting for two individuals now. As they scoured the tunnels of the labyrinth, seeking human blood, they would be targeted on individuals wearing a particular colour of overalls. That colour would be green, the same as the overalls worn by Joe and Lucy.

  Matrix

  Wiz, Mitchell and Dillon worked at the new rig for several hours, always with one eye on the screen feed, which they’d set up in view of everybody.

  They’d had to place the consoles next to the windows, as they needed as much light as possible for a solar charge. Wiz was fearful they might lose power before the night was out.

  ‘Is there nothing we can do to lay our hands on a portable power supply?’ he’d challenged Mitchell.

  ‘I could get one on Silk Road, but how will I get past security? It’s too big for a bag.’

  Reluctantly, Wiz had agreed. Then Dillon had volunteered an idea – it seemed to be a good one.

  ‘How about I steal one?’

  Both Wiz and Mitchell had been surprised at this. They’d never really taken that much notice of Dillon, he seemed too young to them.

  ‘What do you have in mind?’ said Wiz.

  ‘The Centuria have power packs placed all over The Climbs. Why don’t I steal one?’

  Wiz and Mitchell were doubtful. They didn’t want to get Joe’s brother killed or thrown into The Grid beside him.

  ‘I’ll go with Jena,’ he continued. ‘She has a weapon. We can sort out the power supply together.’

  It seemed like a good idea. Mitchell didn’t want to admit it, but Dillon was slowing him down. He was quick to catch on, but his tech skills were nowhere up to their level.

  ‘Okay, go for it!’ he said, looking towards Wiz for approval. ‘I’m out of here at Segregation. If the power fails on you overnight, Wiz, you’ll leave Joe and Lucy very exposed in there.’

  Wiz was reluctant but saw the sense of it.

  ‘Okay, Dillon, but only with your mum – and if she takes the weapon.’

  Jena had left the apartment to see what could be done about Harry’s burial and pick up Joe’s rounds delivering food and water. Dillon would catch her on the stairways. They gave him the signal to be on his way.

  ‘I’ve got the WristCom sorted, Wiz. You can use this in relative safety now. There’s a direct line to Talya and me. It’s encrypted and you’ll be able to communicate with us on Silk Road. The signal won’t be strong, so it may not work all of the time. Send text messages if you can’t reach us, they’ll get delivered when you’re in range again.’

  Wiz nodded and continued typing at his console.

  ‘They’ve scrambled the encryption on Matt’s files again. I’m running multiple configurations across it, it’ll break eventually.’

  Mitchell leaned over to look at the code arrays sweeping across Wiz’s console. He nodded. Wiz had set it up correctly, it would just be a matter of time.

  They agreed to focus on accessing the cameras as Talya had requested. It would take all of their joint expertise to do that.

  Wiz still wanted to clean up the audio of Delman he’d saved earlier in the sewers. Mitchell was desperate to focus on the live feed – they’d need to be able to access that directly if Delman used it again.

  The two worked silently, side by side, running lines of code and trying as many permutations as they could find.

  As the light began to fade during the afternoon, Wiz moved the solar charger to c
apture as much daylight as there was left to squeeze out of the day. Where were Dillon and Jena with the charging panel? If they could lay their hands on one of those, everything would be good.

  Both were mindful of the screens feed in front of them. They’d been asked to disable the camera that was trained on Lucy, but they’d watched in horror as events in the labyrinth had played out and it had become the serial killer who was trapped in the chamber.

  They’d agreed to make for the same camera still – CTD/a2 – as Talya’s contact had suggested. Wiz’s frustration was beginning to get the better of him. The combination of dead ends on Fortrillium’s network and the scenes playing out on their screen feed made him feel useless.

  It was only when the new encryption key for Matt’s files was unlocked that they made the breakthrough they needed.

  Mitchell was beginning to wonder if he’d made the right choice to confide in Delman. He was enjoying this work tremendously. It was really testing his tech skills; it was illegal but incredibly stimulating for someone like him. He considered his conversation with the President. He was there to report back. There was no threat yet to his friends and he was still able to continue his work. He kept his mouth shut and carried on.

  Once they’d got to Matt’s files once again, it was easy for them to re-route elsewhere onto Fortrillium’s system. Working quickly and efficiently together, Mitchell and Wiz soon managed to access the camera array within The Grid.

  ‘We can’t get direct access,’ said Mitchell. ‘There’s a massive firewall protecting everything, and it’ll take years to break through that.’

  ‘We don’t need to penetrate the firewall,’ Wiz replied. ‘We just have to block the wireless feed from CTD/a2.’

  ‘You’re right!’

  Mitchell was excited now. He typed at his consoles, moving between multiple screens.

  ‘I’ve re-routed round Fortrillium’s system. It’ll go via several employees’ logins. It’s going to cause quite a stir.’

  They watched the screen feed. It turned their stomachs. The action was entirely focused on Schälen who was sawing away at his hand with a knife.

  Every now and then the screen view would flick to the main group, resting and getting used to the weaponry, to Lucy, alone in the tunnel, and then back to Schälen.

  ‘This is going to make all hell break loose,’ said Mitchell. ‘It’ll switch off in a moment.’

  They watched as Schälen forced the knife through a shattered bone, then appeared to pass out with the pain. Wiz had to look away, but as he did so the screen went blank.

  ‘Did we lose power?’

  ‘It’s fine, we’ve disabled the camera,’ Mitchell reassured him.

  ‘I’ll get a message to Talya, she needs to know this.’

  Wiz used his new WristCom. It worked as Mitchell had said it would, and she got straight back to him, confirming she’d alert her contact. Wiz had begun to think better of having cursed Mitchell when he was on his own in the sewer, or fighting for his life as he dangled from the scaffolding at the top of the tower block. His friend’s skills were remarkable, and they’d be lost without him.

  ‘What do we do now?’ he asked.

  ‘We just wait. Talya’s contact will try to get the WristCom where Joe and Lucy can find it.’

  ‘Okay, I’m going to clean up this audio of Delman I saved earlier. Before you go, can you work on the live feed?’

  ‘I’ve got just over two hours, then I’ll have to go back.’

  They could have done without Segregation, but it was important that Mitchell didn’t get caught out in The Climbs as Lucy had done. He would have to head back home before 20:00 hours. Besides, he had another appointment with the President and he wasn’t going to be late for that.

  The screens did not return to Schälen for some time, and the commentator had to switch back to Lucy and the main group as his focus. It was clear he was frustrated by not being able to watch Schälen. He made the excuse that the serial killer had passed out with pain and there was little to see at that moment. Wiz and Mitchell knew better. They just hoped Talya’s contact would do what he said he would do.

  There was more silent work as they tapped away at their consoles. An hour in, the camera came back on. Schälen was back, hacking at his hand.

  ‘How long does it take to cut through a hand?’ Wiz wondered. The whole process was excruciating to watch.

  Mitchell got his breakthrough before Wiz. The audio feed had been bad, and he wondered if it was worth the trouble. Matt’s files might hold more information now he’d managed to unlock them.

  ‘I’m in!’ he exclaimed. ‘Take a look at this, Wiz. I can tell by the degradation of the feed that these signals are coming from quite a way outside The City’s walls. There has to be something else out there, Wiz, or somebody, but who? Delman must know something. I’m as sure as I can be that it’s his voice I heard. There’s nothing coming on the feed right now, it’s audio only. There’s no data as far as I can tell, but that might change. We’re ready when it starts up again, though. You’ll be able to monitor whatever is going on.’

  Wiz felt frustrated by his own tech skills once again. Mitchell had made a great breakthrough, but his own progress had been less than impressive.

  ‘I might give up on the audio, Wiz. You’ll catch whatever they’re talking about next time they communicate.’

  ‘You’ve not got long left now. Can you take a look at Matt’s files before you go – see if you can find anything interesting?’

  ‘Sure, no trouble,’ replied Mitchell. ‘I wish Dillon would get back with those chargers, we’re losing light now.’

  He was right. The light was fading and it would soon be time for Segregation. It wasn’t long until Mitchell stood up and announced he’d have to be on his way. Wiz thought he still had plenty of time, but he seemed anxious to leave. Mitchell wasn’t accustomed to being in The Climbs after dusk, and Wiz cut him some slack – perhaps he was just scared.

  ‘I’m on my WristCom if you need me, Wiz. I don’t know how long the power will hold out, but it should get you through most of the night. Good luck!’

  Wiz was left in the apartment on his own, surrounded by lashed-up screens and tech. It was serving them well, and he’d know about it the minute there was any activity on the external feed.

  He decided to give the audio snippet a little more time before he moved to Matt’s files. With Mitchell gone, he found it easier to think clearly. He’d been careless, he’d forgotten to try a basic audio protocol. Mitchell made him doubt his own abilities whenever he was around; he needed to become less intimidated by people who lived on Silk Road.

  He’d got it. He cursed himself: fancy missing something so basic. Wiz ran the audio through a few filters, cleaned up the background distortion and routed the feed to the speakers Mitchell had procured for the technical rig.

  It was only a short clip of audio, but it was all he needed. There was no doubt now that it was Delman’s voice, there was no mistaking it. He’d grown up with that voice booming out of the screens, and it was definitely Delman. He was talking to somebody whose voice he didn’t recognize. It was a man and whoever he was he sounded much younger than Delman.

  It was what they were saying that caught Wiz’s attention most. They were clearly concerned with something called the ‘Centurial’ – Wiz had never heard the word before.

  Whatever it was, it was causing President Delman great anxiety. Not only was this event just hours away, but he was also making plans for his own urgent evacuation from The City.

  Sabotage

  The alarm went off in Max’s desk area. Normally it would have raised an amber alert. This time it was a red alert. Immediate action required.

  He’d been keeping an eye on the screens feed, cursing when Lucy left her chamber area. The scenario was certainly compelling, and the way she’d escaped Schälen must have made Damien Hunter ecstatic.

  For a moment he’d thought his plan would be foiled, until he saw
what Schälen was planning to do. He was actually sawing off his own hand. That would mean the camera he’d chosen for the sabotage was ideally placed.

  Max couldn’t believe his luck when the camera went dark. Talya’s friends had managed the hack – it was perfect. And now the alarm was going off and agitated Fortrillium staff were snarling at him to get it fixed – fast.

  This was his chance to get Talya off his back. He’d locate the WristCom, tell her where it was, and let her get a message to her daughter. It wasn’t his problem how she did it. His work was over at that stage. He could go back to his quiet life, head down, with nobody noticing him. It was how he liked it. Whenever you got involved with anything complicated you ended up in trouble. He rubbed his hand and gently clenched it. The pain was almost too much to bear. It would be some time before he got full use back, if at all.

  Max wondered what Schälen must be going through. Talya had mauled his hand, but she hadn’t cut it off. Schälen was hacking through his hand with an instrument that was unsuitable for the job. It was meant for cutting and penetrating flesh, not sawing through bone. Much as he loathed Schälen, he had to admire the man’s grit and strength. Max was not at all sure he would have been able to do the same thing.

  More orders came over the Comms system, and Max had to act fast. He requested permission to send three maintenance bots into The Grid: it was imperative the broken camera be fixed as soon as possible.

  The Fortrillium staff were in such a state about the loss of the live feed on Schälen that they agreed immediately. Max deployed the bots. They’d have to liaise with the Gridders to ensure the route was clear.

  Max dispatched the mechanical contraptions up the long, secure tunnel leading to The Grid. No human would ever make it up there – it was a place where only specially enabled machines could navigate.

  He sent coordinates and route requirements electronically to Fortrillium, who passed that data to the Gridders to secure a private route through the labyrinth. It was imperative that none of the Justice Seekers came into contact with the bots – that would really land Max in big trouble. He also needed to disable cameras on the route, since it would be unacceptable to have the mechanical devices seen on the screens.