Inescapable (15 page)

‘Uh-huh, and
they got through some of MarTech’s latest locking systems to get in
here.’

‘You can’t
expect locks to work all the time. You have to assume people will
get past them.’

‘Uh-huh,
agreed.’ Turning, she marched back up the corridor for a hundred
metres and then out onto a better decorated but similar one which
provided more routine access to some of the lower-level machinery
areas. ‘This is the door the guards noticed was not secured
properly?’

‘Yes, so we
know they came through here.’

Kit was keeping
Fox’s implant out of the local building network, but they had been
provided with a full schematic of the tower before leaving New
York. Fox examined it now, checking on the nearby environment. ‘So
there’s a room a hundred metres away one level down which handles
the main network trunk in and out of the building.’

‘We checked it
and it
looked
like it was still sealed up. The primary
computer core is nine hundred metres above us, a little more. We
know with reasonable certainty that they were in here for no more
than ninety minutes. They can’t have got far.’

‘I’m going to
get a forensics swarm down to go over that network room’s doorway
while we wait for the diagnostics. When we’ve cleared the network,
I’m going to need all the camera feeds from that corridor. We’ll
see if we can find anything in them which
might
have
indicated we had intruders.’

Jarvis gave a
grunt. ‘We’ve got a suite ready for you up on the top level near
the hangar bay. You should be able to peer-to-peer with your
aircraft from there, but I hope you brought a book because the
whole tower is locked down until you clear it.’

Fox rolled her
eyes. Something like three hundred thousand people were without
entertainment until Pythia had done her stuff. That was going to
make her popular.

13
^th
April.

The network was cleared
for outside access by midnight, and at that point a host of AI
forensic programs had swept in to help Pythia with her analysis.
All that meant, when the Palladium heads met up for a conference
with New York at eight in the morning, central time, was that they
were a little more perplexed than they had been.

‘The network is
clear,’ Jackson’s avatar announced. ‘Nothing we’ve been through has
suggested
any
evidence of a network intrusion, and there was
no indication of the same virus used in East Africa.’

‘That hooks
into the forensic analysis so far,’ Fox said. ‘Either they are
very
good or they went nowhere near that network trunk. I
couldn’t find any signs that they’d tried to get past the security.
Oh, as per your request, I’ve got a unit crawling all over that
external locking mechanism. You should have your results in a
couple of hours.’

Jackson gave a
nod. ‘Someone breached the physical security and I want to know
how.’

‘You have to
expect that,’ Jarvis said. ‘Physical security
will
be
beaten. They shouldn’t have been able to go undetected for so long.
That’s the thing.’

‘Oh, agreed,
Ryan. I don’t expect our product to be perfect.
Nothing
is
perfect. On the other hand, I don’t expect it to fail the same way
twice if something can be done about it. So if Fox can determine
how they cracked the locks, I’ll have them reengineered to stop it
happening again.’

‘They have to
be using the same sort of camouflage technology they used in East
Africa,’ Fox said. ‘The internal cameras are showing no signs of
anyone moving along that corridor. We did find a couple of short
breaks in coverage at the external hatch they used which, I think,
means we have definite entry and exit times. I’ve got Pythia
scanning the feeds for anything which looks off, but there’s a lot
of data.’

‘Alice,’
Jackson said, ‘the corridors down there, what are the lighting
systems set to?’

Vaughn blinked
at actually being addressed: she had thought she was there for
form’s sake, but she found the information quickly enough. ‘The
service corridors are on motion sensors with a manual override,
sir. If there was nothing detected in the corridor, the lights
would be off.’

‘Alice, we’ve
talked about this…’

Vaughn cringed
a little. ‘Sorry, sir… um, Jackson.’

‘Better.
Reprogram the lighting to have those corridors illuminated at all
times. Low levels will be quite enough. Fox, those sensors respond
to ultraviolet light and the type of camouflage they’re using is
likely to be ineffective in that frequency range. You may be able
to spot them once they get into any area with any light.’

‘Doesn’t work
on UV?’ Fox said, raising an eyebrow. ‘You didn’t mention that to
me when you had me wearing it.’ In-vision she saw a message from
Kit indicating that the new information was being passed through to
Pythia.

‘Most people
don’t watch the UV range. And we’re working on fixing that. Ryan,
we use an AI assist to watch the security cameras, don’t we?’

‘Yes. Way too
many feeds for people to watch them. I’ll check up on the frequency
range being observed.’

‘Very good.
This is what I mean about not getting caught the same way twice.
There
will
be something else, but we can only plug the holes
we find.’

Mariel
Hoarsen’s avatar shifted slightly in its seat for the first time,
looking across the table at Jarvis. ‘Oh, and Ryan? If I receive a
resignation letter from anyone over this without
significant
proof of personal fault, I’ll fly out to Chicago myself to feed
them the hard copy.’

Jarvis’s brow
furrowed. ‘I’m responsible–’

‘For seeing to
it that this is handled. You can fall on your sword when
I
tell you to and not before.’

‘Quite,’
Jackson said, and Fox could tell he was trying not to look
surprised by the exchange. ‘I believe that further investigation by
Fox will determine that these people were equipped with the latest
technology and knew exactly what they were doing. I hope we’ll
discover precisely what their intention was, because not knowing
that is my biggest worry at this point.’

In Fox’s vision
field, a sequence of stills began to appear. The images looked
weird, grey and oddly distorted in places, but they definitely
showed a team of three people in skintight bodysuits, their faces
entirely covered. ‘Got them. Looks like they showed up when they
opened the door out of the service corridor. Two men and a woman.
One of the men is carrying a case. Pythia’s going to see if she can
track where they went. Good call on the UV, Jackson.’

The thin man in
the surfer T-shirt and jeans smiled, looking rather proud of
himself. ‘I admit to having little or no clue about setting up
security systems, but the technology behind them is another
matter.’

‘Well, I’ll go
follow your technology and see where it gets me.’

~~~

It got her, by late
morning, to a utility room three hundred metres across the tower
from the tunnel the infiltration team had entered by. The room had
no camera coverage so Fox stood outside while Pythia’s entire
contingent of forensic drones set about the task of scanning the
room.

‘Pythia, do we
have images of what they did after leaving here?’ Fox asked over
her network link.

‘It appears
that they retraced their steps and left, Miss Meridian. I am
systematically checking camera feeds along their route, but I am
seeing no diversion.’

‘You have an
image of them leaving the room?’

‘I have an
image of them two metres outside it, heading for their egress
point.’ Fox’s telepresence system was good enough that she could
get the full effect projected into the corridor and she looked at
the three figures carefully. There was always a limitation on the
resolution, and she was viewing a projection of a UV-only image
which tended to make things look a little strange. UV reflected
differently when compared to visible light and the material it was
reflecting from was a complex weave of sensors and nano-scale
display elements which produced weird patterns in the light.

‘The case is
lighter,’ she said after a second. ‘All the other images I’ve seen
he was carrying that case low, as though it was really pulling on
his arm. Now his elbow’s bent more. He’s finding it easier to
carry.’

‘They left
something in the utility room,’ Kit said, appearing beside the
projected image to join the conversation.

Fox looked at
the case, estimating volumes and dimensions. ‘More than one thing.
Several objects no larger than… twenty centimetres across. Maybe
six of them, or more, smaller objects. This room has one of the
main environment control plants in it, right?’

‘That’s what
the schematics say.’

‘Pythia,
prioritise any covers or hatches leading into the air ducts.’

‘Prioritisation
noted, Miss Meridian,’ Pythia told her. ‘The laser map of the room
indicates nothing matching the description you suggested.’

‘No, because
there’s not much point in leaving anything lying around in plain
sight. I’m guessing we have robotic rodents in the air
conditioning.’

‘What are they
going to get from that?’ Kit asked, frowning.

‘Well, we’ll
have to lay down traps, catch one, and then someone can ask
it.’

New York Metro.

Sam noted the
connection request coming through and frowned. Great Park Holdings.
All he was getting was a company name, no personal one, and he had
never heard of them. Well, he had a couple of minutes before he
dressed for a client. Selecting an outgoing image of himself
dressed in a suit, Sam picked up the call.

‘Mister
Clarion?’ The speaker was visible as a head-and-shoulders video
image to the side of Sam’s vision field, an older man with a little
grey showing in his hair and no desire to have the wrinkles
smoothed from his brow. Sam was quite sure he had the money for the
cosmetic work because the suit the man was wearing was designer,
and not a cheap designer. Older people tended to confirm the
receiver of their call verbally rather than simply checking the
correspondent ID.

‘I’m Sam
Clarion, yes.’

‘I represent
Great Park Holdings, a private company working in the Manhattan
Conservation District to ensure that the MCD maintains its unique
ambiance.’

Still no name
to go with a face which could easily be entirely faked. ‘I see, and
what is it that your company wants with me, Mister…?’

‘You have
recently come into some property within our district. We wish to
make an offer to purchase.’

‘I’m not really
ready to–’

‘Thirty million
dollars, Mister Clarion. A very fair offer I think you’ll
agree.’

Sam paused for
a second. The offer was not just fair: it was maybe fifty per cent
over the best he could expect if he put Felix’s house on the
market. ‘It’s most generous, but–’

‘It is a
limited time offer, Mister Clarion, we will–’

‘Then I’ll have
to decline,’ Sam said, tired of being interrupted.

‘I beg your
pardon?’

‘No. The
property was given to me for personal reasons. I won’t simply hand
it over to someone who won’t give me his name and promises a lot of
money. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a business meeting to
prepare for.’

There was a
brief pause. ‘We’ll give you a few days to consider our offer and
contact you again. Good evening, Mister Clarion.’

Sam was about
to tell him not to bother when the connection closed. ‘Javen,
package that up, encrypt it, and send it over to Fox. Let’s see
what she makes of Great Park Holdings. Then confirm the dinner date
with Mrs Oliver’s PA and check the reservations.’ Sam reached for
his dress pants as his VA got on with his tasks. He had work to do
tonight, not unpleasant work, but he did not need the distraction
of mysterious holding companies hanging over him.

Detroit–Chicago
Metro.

‘Great Park Holdings
does not exist,’ Kit stated flatly.

‘Big surprise,’
Fox said as she scanned over the forensics results which had come
in so far from the utility room.

‘Even a private
company would require tax documents and this one has nothing.’

‘It’s not an
officially registered company. It’s likely something informal, a
group of individuals hiding behind a dummy.’

‘More than one
kind. My analysis of the video image suggests that it was entirely
manufactured, but the animation suggests direct capture. Sam was
talking to a human using a video mask.’

‘Probably an
audio one too. Have Pythia run the entire thing through her systems
to check, but I doubt we’ll get any useful information out of it.’
Her attention shifted to one of the detail reports. ‘Unlike here,
where we see abrasions on the heads of two of the screws over one
of the vents and there is no report of any maintenance work being
carried out in that room any time in the past month. Pythia, you
are beautiful, but keep looking.’

The voice
sounded vaguely pleased. ‘Thank you, Miss Meridian. I have not
ceased analysis. Completion in one hour, fifty-two minutes.’

Fox smiled. ‘So
they put their payload into… mmhmm, the main environmental control
ducting system.’

‘How do we get
them out?’ Kit asked.

‘Not sure,’ Fox
admitted, pursing her lips in thought. ‘We’ll put a call through to
Jackson. He’s probably got something that can sniff out things
hiding in the ducts.’

‘There is
something else I noticed while going over the news feeds.’

‘Oh? I suppose
we’ve been a bit off the net for a while. What did you find?’ A set
of news streams began to play in Fox’s vision field and she
frowned. ‘This doesn’t look good.’

‘INN is
reporting the death of Alison Clifton, youngest daughter of a
retired mining consultant, Barrymore John Clifton. Inspector Ivers
of precinct eighteen has been assigned to the case and NAPA is
saying that the death is linked to Remus’s homicide “and possibly
others.”’