The Grid 2 Page 9

  ‘Where are we with Mitchell now?’ he began. ‘Any progress?’

  ‘He’s meeting with Talya Slater and Shen Li later this morning. I think we’ll get a clearer idea then.’

  ‘Do you think he’s safe?’

  ‘I think he’s unreliable but easy to handle.’

  ‘Keep him close to you. I don’t want him to waver.’

  Delman placed The Pact back into his secure locker. Teanna watched his every move.

  ‘I’m more interested in Talya Slater – she made her scheduled visit to the Gridder facility this morning.’

  Delman entered his code into the locker and checked to make sure it was securely shut. Teanna observed everything.

  ‘You know that Hannah James is one of the new Gridders, don’t you?’

  ‘I don’t know her personally, but surely Hunter knows there’s a connection?’

  ‘I don’t think so. Hannah has a relationship with Lucy Slater, but it has been kept out of the bounds of whatever Talya’s daughter was up to.’

  ‘So he hasn’t made his own connection yet?’

  ‘I’ve accessed footage from the facility tour. There are three points of interest.’

  Teanna touched her WristCom and there was a sound at Delman’s console. He approached his desk to watch the footage Teanna had just sent. There were three clips. On the first he watched Talya Slater and Damien Hunter in conversation walking along a corridor. There was no sound, but it looked almost cordial, the body language was not entirely hostile.

  In the second clip, he watched as Hannah left the main office space, followed by Talya moments later.

  ‘What’s this?’ he asked.

  ‘That’s Hannah James,’ Teanna replied. ‘This all happened earlier this morning at Fortrillium.’

  ‘Why is Talya Slater following her?’

  ‘That’s why Hunter can’t have made the connection yet. He must know about her daughter’s friendship, but he wouldn’t have left them alone if he’d been worried about any subterfuge going on.’

  ‘Interesting,’ Delman remarked as he replayed the clip.

  Talya had quite clearly been alert to Hannah leaving the room. She’d spotted her opportunity and taken it. It had taken Hunter quite a time to realize what had happened. He’d summoned a Centuria to move things along when he’d seen that Talya was unaccompanied. Delman moved on to the third clip. He played it twice.

  ‘What’s this?’

  ‘Look carefully. It only lasts for a second, but there’s a final contact between Hannah and Talya at the end of the tour.’

  Delman played it back again, and Teanna walked up to his desk to point it out on the screen.

  ‘There!’

  ‘You’re right. I wouldn’t have spotted that.’

  ‘They’re up to something, and Hunter doesn’t know it yet.’

  ‘What’s he got on Slater and Parsons, do we know?’

  ‘I can’t access that information. He’s covered his tracks well. I don’t even know who he’s working with. As far as I can tell, he thinks it’s just Parsons, Slater and Shen Li, the one they call Wiz. He has two of them in The Grid, and they’re trying to locate Li. He’s still in The Climbs somewhere – the Centuria have not been able to find him yet.’

  ‘This is good, Teanna. Hunter has been careless. He hasn’t connected Mitchell with Parsons and Slater yet. We need to watch Mitchell carefully – I don’t want Hunter getting to him. If they capture Shen Li, they’ll make the connection to Mitchell, and we need to prevent that. Mitchell will lead us to him – he’s being tailed now. Don’t let him know we’re watching him; he has to think he’s trusted. The key to managing that boy is flattery. He needs to think he’s an essential part of our operation.’

  Teanna nodded. She was well versed in the frailties which made humans so easy to manipulate. She’d recognized within minutes of first meeting Mitchell that he was vain and had a strong sense of self-importance. That made him an easy puppet to control.

  There was an awkward silence. Teanna wanted to ask something, but she wasn’t sure how it would be received. Delman sensed it. Teanna was usually forthright and confident – he knew what she was going to ask.

  ‘What’s on your mind, Teanna?’

  ‘I was thinking about my grandfather,’ she began, hesitantly.

  Delman knew it would be about that, it always was. Usually a display of short temper and intolerance prevented her from asking too many questions, but over the years she’d continued to chip away, determined to excavate the truth.

  ‘We’ve discussed this a thousand times, Teanna,’ he responded impatiently.

  That usually discouraged her from pushing at the door any further.

  ‘It was something my father said when I was taken away. It’s been troubling me for many years now.’

  ‘Your father was a dear friend, Teanna, as was your grandfather. They were very loyal to me, and your grandfather saved my life … I only wish I’d been able to repay the favour.’

  Teanna had heard all of this before. This was a conversation they’d gone through many times. But Teanna couldn’t help but think the President was withholding a crucial piece of information from her.

  ‘Your father was furious with me for taking you. You know that.’

  ‘Yes, but why would he warn me not to trust you? You were friends, weren’t you?’

  ‘Of course we were good friends, but he was frustrated that you had to leave Centrum. He blamed me for that – I was taking his daughter from him.

  ‘Do you trust me now, Teanna?’

  That caught her off her guard.

  ‘Of course I do, sir. It was just the way my father said it – it was the last thing he said to me.’

  ‘Teanna, what can I tell you to put your mind at ease? Your father was under a lot of stress at the time; he said a lot of things to me he probably regretted. But you understand why I had to take you, Teanna, your father was too old by that time, he might not have survived until …’

  Delman cut himself short before finishing the sentence. This is how she chipped away at him, getting little snippets of information every time. He’d almost mentioned Catharsis, but she wasn’t to know about that. If her father was still alive, she’d be reunited with him soon. He’d snatched his daughter from him as collateral. The Schaelles family had one more duty to perform for him before they were free.

  Just like Edward Schaelles before him, Philip Schaelles was a talented CryoBiologist, trained by his father. He’d made significant advances since his own father’s death, and it was the reason why Josh Delman needed to take his daughter. Teanna was a competent and formidable member of the security team at the place beyond The City called Centrum; she would serve well as his adjutant. Only, he hadn’t told Teanna the whole truth. Philip Schaelles had been furious with Delman – he’d all but abducted his only daughter. He’d had no choice – he understood that Delman needed her as his guarantee. But he despised the man and resented every minute he’d spent parted from his beloved Teanna.

  There was one other thing only Delman knew. Most people in The City believed he was the only person ever to have walked out of The Grid alive. It had become folklore in The City, and he was happy to leave it that way, it helped to maintain and sustain his power base. But, in fact, he’d entered The City via The Grid twice. The first time was fifty years previously when he’d been running for his life, hunted by those who reviled him. The second time had been years afterwards when he’d re-entered The City with a heavily sedated Teanna Schaelles.

  At the time, she had believed there was no other choice and had opted to serve the President voluntarily. Her identity had been created in Fortrillium’s data records, and as far as anybody knew she had always lived in The City, though nobody could recall having grown up with her. She became pivotal in the President’s office, and nobody ever challenged her presence.

  The first time Delman had entered The City he’d done it on his own, out of necessity. The second time he’d done i
t, he’d had help, with another coerced ally waiting in the wings for the Centurial. When that time came, the masks would drop from the faces of those hiding in the shadows and the true threat would be revealed.

  Confined

  Joe felt the fury of helplessness. They were being toyed with and manipulated, he could tell. It was intentional that he had been split up from Lucy. He knew it – they were doing it to mess with their heads.

  Lucy’s screams had stopped. He couldn’t tell where they were coming from anyway. They were in some sort of dark labyrinth. The light was minimal, and it was easy to get disoriented.

  The roars continued to make their way along the tangled tunnels. They’d had long enough to understand that those sounds were just another part of the intimidation process, there to scare in readiness for the next Mode.

  They’d had to accept they were not going to find Lucy. They’d set out along the gloomy, echoing passageways, trying to follow the voice. They’d make a left turn, then a right turn, walk along another tunnel, and then lose any sense of where they were or where they had been. Sometimes they would encounter doors or obstacles that blocked their way, at other times the passage would be clear.

  After an hour of wandering, it had become apparent to the entire group that they were being herded. Joe was sure they were just going round in circles. It was so difficult to tell. Lucy’s cries had ceased, though the growls from whatever creatures were waiting in the darkness continued to unnerve him.

  Clay had finally called time on the exercise when they’d taken a number of sharp turns only to be manoeuvred to a place where they knew they’d been before. Ross had been canny enough to tear a strip off his orange overalls and leave it hanging from one of the sconces lining the tunnels. It had taken them minutes to return to the marker.

  ‘Enough!’ Clay announced. ‘This Mode has not begun yet, we’re wasting our energy.’

  ‘I’m so hungry,’ Chris complained. They really did need to find food soon.

  ‘I’m not giving up on Lucy,’ Joe interrupted. ‘Food or no food, we can’t just abandon her.’

  ‘We’re not helping her like this, Joe,’ came Marjani’s voice. ‘We could walk around forever in here.’

  Chris complained about his hunger again. He was becoming agitated and anxious; he would need to be calmed somehow.

  ‘Joe, Lucy is our highest priority, but we can’t help her if we’re exhausted and unprepared when the trial begins. I don’t believe they’ll let her come to any harm before the trial. You know how it works – they like a big audience for the trials.’

  ‘I agree,’ said Miron. ‘I know you want to help, Joe, but we’ve got to think ahead to the next Mode. We need to get Chris sorted out if we can.’

  Joe knew they were right, but he wanted to scream out along the tunnels. He was angry and frustrated, furious with himself for not being able to come up with a plan.

  ‘It’s okay, Joe. She’ll be alright.’

  The unfamiliar voice came from the darkness. It was Grace. So far she’d kept silent. She looked terrified most of the time. Grace was supposed to be guilty of assault, but somehow Joe couldn’t picture it.

  ‘Are we agreed then?’ asked Clay.

  There was a consensus that they should wait and preserve their energy. They would need to figure out a strategy to survive in those tunnels, whatever was going to be unleashed upon them.

  ‘You’re unusually quiet, Schälen,’ Ross said, as he retrieved the rag marker from the lighted torch to his side.

  Everybody looked around.

  ‘Schälen?’

  ‘When did we last see him?’ asked Clay.

  ‘He was with us when the Mode changed. I’m sure he’s been with us most of the time,’ said Miron.

  ‘I don’t remember seeing him after we left the marker,’ Clay picked up. ‘Joe, Grace, Marjani?’

  There was no response – they’d lost Schälen.

  ‘Is he dangerous, do you think?’ asked Joe, quickly becoming frantic about Lucy again.

  ‘It’s difficult to tell,’ Clay tried to reassure him. ‘I don’t think he’s here to help us, but whether or not he’d actually harm us, who knows? I’m really not sure yet.’

  That didn’t help to reassure Joe.

  ‘I’ve got to go after him. Is anybody coming with me?’

  The members of the group looked to Clay for guidance, but he said nothing.

  ‘I’ll come with you,’ volunteered Ross. ‘I can’t say I’ve taken to the man.’

  ‘Are you alright with that, Clay?’ asked Joe.

  Clay wasn’t keen, but he nodded anyway. Joe began to walk away with Ross. There was a loud rumble. Suddenly walls came crashing down, blocking the exits all around them.

  ‘Dammit!’ cursed Joe. ‘They’re toying with us!’

  ‘You need to stay calm, Joe. They’re winding you up ready for the main trial. If you use up all your energy before it begins, you’ll not be able to fight when the time comes.’

  Joe knew Clay was right, but it didn’t stop him cursing and vowing revenge for the next few minutes. He was embarrassed to see everybody looking at him when he’d finished.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he apologized. ‘I needed to get that out of my system.’

  Ross put his hand on Joe’s shoulder. There were words of support from all of the other Justice Seekers.

  A doorway opened behind them as suddenly as the other passageways had been closed. There was a new, dark tunnel behind them now. There was only silence; the roars of the beasts had quietened.

  ‘I think they want us to go this way,’ said Miron. Huddled together, the group made their way along the newly opened route.

  There were two chambers in this new tunnel, and the group split into two, with Clay and Ross grabbing the fiery torches so they could see what was inside.

  ‘It’s food!’ came a cry from Chris. ‘And water!’

  ‘We’ve got weapons in here,’ came Joe’s voice from the other room. ‘Nothing useful, just knives, spears, scythes and hammers.’

  ‘They’re getting us ready for the next challenge,’ said Clay. ‘We need to eat and prepare. This will be the last time we get to rest and plan before it begins. We should make the most of it.’

  The food was basic: bread and a selection of fruit, but the members of the group fell on it as if they hadn’t eaten in days. Chris in particular seemed to be ravenous, and the others let him take more than his fair share without complaint.

  Once they had fed, the conversation turned to how they were going to defend themselves. Ross held one of the hammers. It looked like a deadly implement with which to attack another human. But there was consensus that whatever they were about to face, it didn’t sound human. They would have to allocate the weaponry and agree to work in defensive teams.

  ‘They’re trying to disorientate us in here,’ said Clay. ‘I’m guessing that’s going to be a big part of what happens next.’

  ‘I agree with Clay,’ said Marjani. ‘This is going to be a nasty fight.’

  ‘We need to work as a team,’ Clay continued. ‘The way they keep opening and closing these passageways, we have to expect an attack from any side. We’ll have to form a defensive circle. Does anybody else have a better suggestion?’

  ‘Is it worth thinking about going on the offensive?’ suggested Miron, but the idea was dismissed quickly as impractical. Nobody knew what was going to attack. Fortrillium would want a spectacle, and it might take all of them to fight what was coming.

  The next task was to allocate the weapons. There was one for each of them, and two spares, which were intended for Schälen and Lucy. Joe was relieved Schälen hadn’t got his hands on one of the weapons; they were primitive and threatening. The blades had serrated edges – they were clearly intended to make a mess. Each person took an implement they felt they could handle. Most of them had never held equipment like it before. Life could be rough in The Climbs, but if you stayed in your apartment during the hours of darkness, most of
the time it was possible to avoid trouble. The Centuria were the greatest fear – their neighbours were the least of their problems.

  Joe walked along the passageway with his spear, getting used to its weight and handling. The tunnel had remained closed off. There was nothing he could do.

  Most of the others had decided to rest, on Clay’s advice. But Joe was going to stay alert and awake. When the creatures came down the tunnels, he intended to do everything in his power to protect the group and fend off the attack.

  Then he was going to kill the worst creature of them all. Schälen was going to feel the full force of his fury before the day was out.

  Chapter Seven

  Plotting

  Talya gasped with frustration. She felt she needed to be in four places at once. There was just too much to do and not enough time to do it. All the time her mind was on Lucy and Joe, but there was so much else that needed to be sorted out too.

  She shouted at Jena and immediately regretted it. When she’d left, Harry had been in a weak state. She was frail and elderly, it was no surprise she hadn’t pulled through her ordeal. It wasn’t Jena’s fault, and it was unfair to blame her. She’d covered Harry’s body and wrapped it in all the threadbare sheets and blankets she could find. With Dillon, they took her corpse to an empty room where they left it with as much dignity as they could. They would need to arrange for disposal, but it would not make any sense to draw attention to themselves. Harry’s body would have to wait until later – they’d organize a small gathering of friends to mark her passing before her body was incinerated.

  Talya recalled Harry once telling a story about how bodies were sometimes buried, not burnt, when she was a child. Space was at a premium within The City walls, and now everybody who died was incinerated. There were no graveyards or markers; a death in The City was like a disappearance, there was no memorial left to the deceased.