The Adjusters (35 page)

Hank placed his hand on the scanner outside the entrance to substation nine – a discreet box located amid a little grove of trees. As it scanned his fingerprints, the
security guard glanced round at Henry, who was standing just a metre away with the taser trained on his back. He wondered if he just threw himself at the kid…

“Don’t even think about being a hero, Hank,” Henry said, raising the taser so it was pointed at his head again.

“Uh-huh,” Hank said, as the magnetic locks clicked and the door swung open, revealing a flight of descending concrete steps. He started down, and Henry followed closely behind. After
about twenty steps, they reached another door, which opened into a small room with a console and a bank of monitors. There were two leather chairs, but the place was empty.

“Take a seat,” Henry said and the guard did as he was told.

“They’ve probably found that truck by now,” Hank said as Henry found the
on
button for the console. The monitors sprang into life, showing a computer desktop on one and
multiple views of the security cameras on the others.

“Doesn’t look like it,” Henry said, indicating the camera views. The complex was as quiet as the grave. “What exactly is the point of this place? The substation, I
mean.”

“It’s a fail-safe in case the complex is ever attacked,” Hank said, trying to remember the induction talk they’d given him when he’d landed the job six months
before. “If the main command and control is knocked out, security operatives can access some systems from the substations.”

Henry sat on the edge of the console and gave Hank a hard stare. “Who were they expecting to attack the complex?”

Hank struggled to remember. “Uh…they said something about the FBI. Hmmm. Does sound kinda suspicious, now I come to think of it.”

Henry actually laughed. “How did you get this job, Hank?”

The security guard reddened. “My uncle works in personnel.”

Pushing himself off the console, Henry turned his attention to the monitors, grabbing the mouse and scrolling through programs on the desktop. He quickly found access to a second screen of
security cameras, which seemed to be located within the medical centre, and stifled a gasp of relief. One of the screens showed a view of a room in which Fox and his mom were standing. He also made
out the coach and Mary Layton. They were alive! And judging by the way Fox was searching around the room, they had yet to be adjusted.

“Hey!” Hank said, pointing to another view. “It’s that terminator guy!”

Henry switched to the other screen. Trooper Dan was striding along a corridor, an insane look of determination on his face – as if he were about to kill someone. He also appeared to have
some kind of a metal claw for a hand.

Hank shook his head. “I practically pee myself every time he comes through the front gate. He is one scary son of a bitch.”

“We need to access the broadcast system,” Henry interrupted. The fact that Trooper Dan was loose in the same building as his mom and Fox meant there was no time to waste. He had to
do something drastic.

Hank shook his head and folded his arms. “You do what you like, kid, but it’s more than my job is worth…”

Henry grabbed the arms of his chair and pushed it back against the wall so hard Hank almost pitched out the side. “Listen to me, you idiot!” Henry said, waving the taser in his face
again. “You work for the bad guys! You’re just too stupid to have figured it out! But when the FBI gets here—”

“The FBI is coming?”

“
Yes they are
, and when they get here they’re gonna want to
shoot
the bad guys. And that’s
you
, Hank.”

“But I’m not a bad guy!”

“You could have fooled me.”

Hank sat in silence for a moment, glaring at Henry. Then he sat forward abruptly and took the mouse, scrolling to an application called
Emergency Broadcast Portal
. As he logged in, Henry
lowered the taser and patted him on the shoulder.

“You’re doing a good thing, Hank.”

“Just tell that to the FBI when they get here,” the guard said. “What now?”

Henry leaned in and looked at the options on the screen and pointed to one labelled
Star-Spangled Banner
. “Bring that up.”

“Not many Americans appreciate a good smoke these days,” General Aziz said, leaning back on the sofa in Mallory’s residence and taking a slow puff on his
cigar. The glass coffee table Henry had destroyed had been replaced with an identical model. Aziz now had one of his highly polished black shoes resting on the glass, much to John Mallory’s
displeasure. Mallory had been up all night dealing with the situation created by Henry and Fox and, of all his “guests”, Aziz had proven impossible to get rid of. The general seemed
quite content to hang around in the midst of the crisis. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying it.

Rather than revealing his annoyance at being unable to shake the man, Mallory reached over to tap the end of his cigar into the ashtray resting in the middle of the table. “Well, I’m
not your average American.”

“And I am not your average customer,” Aziz said, looking around the interior of the house. The lights were dimmed and soft music played in the background, piped in through hidden
speakers. “That’s a nice piece of music. What is it?”

“Bach.”

“And infused with a hypnotic suggestion designed to make me more agreeable to purchasing your product, no doubt,” Aziz said, giving him a wide smile. “I’m trained to be
above such crude methods. I’m not one of your teenagers, Mr. Mallory.”

The head of Malcorp nodded and looked towards the kitchen, where Blake and Gabrielle were standing stiffly to attention, at the ready in case they were called upon. The girl was showing no signs
of resistance to the adjustment now, but Mallory wanted to keep an eye on her all the same. There had been enough mistakes in the last twenty-four hours. “Cut the music, Blake,” he
ordered and his grandson disappeared into the kitchen area. A second later, the music stopped.

“I shouldn’t have underestimated you, General,” Mallory said.

“I thought you might have worked that out when I didn’t run away like your other prospective buyers following the incident in the lab and the trouble overnight…”

Mallory held up a hand. “That was a mere glitch, which is now fully under control. It was good of you to stay through all that…commotion.”

“Please, Mr. Mallory. There’s no need to thank me. I know that every organization has its enemies – terrorist insurgents seeking to destabilize progress. Look at my own
country. My uncle’s government is hanging on by a thread! A democratically elected leader!”

Mallory smiled thinly. “Your uncle got ninety-eight per cent of the vote in the last election, didn’t he?”

Aziz threw up his hands. “It was a landslide! But still they’re not happy. That’s why we need your technology.” He clenched his fist and slammed it into the palm of his
other hand. “Stability is the key.”

Mallory nodded. “That I can give you, General.”

Aziz looked round at the kitchen. Blake had now joined Gabrielle and both were staring blankly ahead. “Very impressive indeed. Tell me. Do they really do everything you order, Mr. Mallory?
Or rather,
anything
you order?”

The head of Malcorp sat forward on the other side of the table and said, “I think you’ll find there’s very little…”

The sound of music from outside the building stopped him short. The familiar, distorted strains of “The Star-Spangled Banner” began drifting across the complex from the emergency
speaker system. There was a crackle as the volume on the complex-wide speaker system was cranked up to the loudest possible level.

“What the hell?” Mallory said, standing up and looking at the window, which showed only the century pool. Beyond, the complex was cloaked in early-morning mist. “They’re
playing that way too loud!”

General Aziz chuckled and leaned back on his sofa. “Another demonstration, Mr. Mallory?”

“Uh, yeah. I think…”

The speakers crackled again and a voice began to speak over the slowed-down anthem. “
This is Henry Ward,
” the voice said, “
and this is a message for kids of Malcorp
High. You have been lied to. Your parents have been manipulated by John Mallory and Malcorp. They are trying to control you, but I’m here to tell you that you can take back the freedom that
has been stolen from you…
”

“He’s messing with the theta wave,” Mallory said to himself. He snatched the communicator from his jacket, looking round at Gabrielle and Blake as he did so. They had not
moved. If they were hearing Ward’s orders, they didn’t show it.

“Alpha team to my house now!” Mallory snapped into the communicator. “Lock down the complex!”

Aziz sat up, interested now as Henry continued to speak.

“
Malcorp is not your friend,
” he said. “
You owe it no loyalty. The Malcorp complex needs to be destroyed. Destroy all Malcorp property. Tear it down. If Malcorp
security forces try to stop you…you have the training to fight back and defeat them. I also say to any Malcorp employees, do not attempt to stop me or any other free citizens from doing what
we want within this complex or Newton. If you are holding members of our families, set them free immediately and you will not be hurt. The FBI has been notified and agents are en route to this
location. The best thing you can do now is to give yourselves up. That is all.
”

Just as the message came to an end, the anthem began all over again. Henry’s words were on a loop, repeating every few minutes, to make sure no one could escape them. Blake raised a hand
to his forehead and closed his eyes.

“Malcorp,” he whispered.

Mallory grabbed an Initiator from his jacket and held it at the ready.

“What is going on here, Mr. Mallory?” Aziz asked, rising to his feet. “The FBI?”

“A bluff!” Mallory exclaimed, taking a tentative step towards the kitchen, where Blake and Gabrielle were standing.

“Are they going to attack us?” the general asked, moving to Mallory’s side.

The head of Malcorp snapped his fingers at Blake. “Who do you serve?”

“I am loyal to Malcorp and yourself, sir,” he replied snappily.

Mallory laughed and shook his head. “Crazy kid thought he could subvert months of programming with one message.” But the message was still repeating all over the complex. He looked
round at Aziz as the security detail he had ordered buzzed the front door. “Take a seat, General. I have a troublesome young man to deal with.”

“What about these two?” the general said, eyeing Blake and Gabrielle a little nervously. “I need protection.”

Mallory sighed and tossed him the Initiator. “Take my spare if it will make you feel better.”

Aziz nodded and weighed the switch in his hand. “It does,” he said, walking back towards the sofa. “Now go and deal with your problem quickly, so we can get on with our
business.”

With a final glance at the two teenagers, Mallory hurried down through the house to the main entrance and the waiting guards.

Rather than sitting down, Aziz walked over to where Blake and Gabrielle stood. With a quick check to see that Mallory had gone, he turned his attention to Blake.

“Put out your hand,” he ordered.

Blake raised his right hand, palm up. Aziz took a final puff on his cigar, before dropping it, lighted end first, into the boy’s palm. Blake didn’t even blink.

“Get rid of that for me, huh? And fix coffee while you’re at it.”

As Blake turned and walked through to the kitchen, General Aziz moved so he was standing directly in front of Gabrielle. He reached up and stroked a finger through her hair.

“You know, I’m a very important person to Mr. Mallory,” he said quietly. “You could say that I’m part of the whole Malcorp family. So you can take orders from me,
just like you would from him.”

Gabrielle’s fixed expression shifted, coming to focus on the general. “You are part of Malcorp.”

“That’s right,” Aziz said with a smile.

“Just like Mr. Mallory.”

Aziz nodded. “Just like Mr. Mallory. You should be nice to me.”

Gabrielle reached up and closed her hand around General Aziz’s. There was a sickening crunch as she jerked her arm back, breaking every finger on the man’s hand just above the
knuckle. Aziz let out a howl of agony and sunk to his knees before her, looking in disbelief at his mangled digits. The Initiator dropped from his other hand and skidded across the floor. Gabrielle
seemed to look right through him.

“Malcorp is the enemy,” she said, turning to Blake, who was watching her from the kitchen without expression. “It must be destroyed.”

A momentary look of confusion passed across the boy’s face, but as Henry’s message echoed through the house, he nodded and reached for one of the kitchen drawers.

“Please,” General Aziz spluttered, gripping his right wrist tightly in his left hand. He started shuffling across the floor towards the fallen Initiator.
“D-don’t.”

Gabrielle didn’t move, but there was a clatter from the kitchen. General Aziz watched, wide-eyed, as Blake reappeared with a mallet-like meat tenderizer in his hand.

“No!” Aziz exclaimed as the boy approached. “You can’t do this!

Hesitating, Blake looked at Gabrielle with a question in his eyes.

She said one word. “Malcorp.”

General Aziz let out a final cry as Blake stepped forward with the meat tenderizer raised…