Blackout (2 page)

If Jack, Charlie and Wren went up the stairs, the software would detect movement and call the secur­ity company. They would then phone the concierge, and if he didn’t answer, the cops would be there in minutes.

Jack couldn’t help but be impressed with the building’s internal security and had to admit that he liked the challenge it posed. It was almost as if it was daring them to defeat it.

‘Come on,’ Charlie said through tight lips. The code extractor in her hand beeped and a series of six numbers appeared on the glowing display. Charlie hit a button to save it.

Jack looked at her. ‘Penthouse?’

She shook her head. ‘That was the code for the third floor.’

Jack had a funny feeling the Penthouse would be the last number the device cracked, but after another minute, it beeped again.

‘Got it.’ Charlie reached around the panel and hit the button to the top floor.

The doors closed and the lift started its ascent.

Jack ran through the plan. They had to get to the penthouse, bypass the alarm system and find the –

Suddenly, the lights went out and the lift came to a jarring halt.

Wren gasped.

Jack unclipped a torch from his belt and flicked it on.

‘What’s happened?’ Obi asked.

‘We’re in trouble,’ Charlie said. ‘The lift’s lost power.’

‘It’s not just the lift,’ Obi said. ‘There’s random blackouts all over London.’

Charlie looked at Jack, her eyes wide. ‘The virus?’

He nodded and a feeling of dread washed over him.

The virus was a sophisticated piece of software with the potential to cripple any computer. It was their fault it had escaped to the internet, and now it was taking down power stations around London. If they didn’t get to it soon – Jack shuddered at the thought of how much damage the virus could do.

They had to get this mission over with as quickly as possible, get back to the bunker and work out a way to stop the virus. But first . . .

He shone his torch at the ceiling.

For a few seconds, Jack imagined crawling on to the roof of the lift.

The building was twelve storeys high and they had no climbing gear. Besides, as far as Jack knew, the shaft didn’t have a ladder, and even if it did, that was one risky climb.

His stomach knotted. He hated heights.

‘We’re between floors,’ Charlie said, reading his mind.

Jack let out a slow breath and shone the torch back up at the ceiling again.

Nothing else for it
.

There were nine panels and the middle one had a latch. He looked at Wren. ‘Think you could unlock that for us?’

She looked up. ‘Yeah.’ She seemed relieved at the prospect of getting out of the confined space, even if it was going to be dangerous.

Jack cupped his hands into a stirrup for Wren to put her foot in and he lifted her up. ‘Mind the shoulder cam.’ He grabbed her legs, keeping Wren steady while she fumbled for the latch.

After a moment, there was a click and the centre panel swung down. Jack lifted Wren higher. She grabbed the edge of the hatch and crawled on to the roof of the lift.

Charlie was next through the hatch and once her feet had disappeared, Jack climbed up on to the handrail and sprang up, his fingers gripping the frame.

Slink would’ve been proud of that move.

With effort, Jack managed to haul himself on to the roof of the lift with the others.

He got to his feet and shone his torch upwards. The lift shaft stretched above them, reminding him of the tunnels beneath the city. Except this went straight up.

Jack considered waiting to see if the power would come back on, but that could be minutes or hours.

The torch beam moved to a set of doors just above their heads.

Jack slipped off his backpack and pulled out a stubby metal bar. He reached up, jammed the bar into the crack and tried to lever the doors apart.

The bar slipped free and he staggered back.

He tried again, but he still couldn’t get good leverage on the doors.

When Jack failed for the third time, he swore loudly and turned to Charlie. ‘Any ideas?’

She looked up and, after a moment she said, ‘Do you think you could give me a boost to that?’ She pointed at a flat box on the wall halfway up the fourth-floor doors.

‘I think so,’ Jack said. ‘What is it?’

‘It’s the control mechanism. When the lift reaches that level, both sets of doors open. It’s directly connected to the door motors and I think I might be able to do something with it.’ She glanced at him. ‘With a bit of luck.’

‘You know what you’re doing though, right?’

Charlie shrugged. ‘Not so much.’

‘Brilliant.’

‘Of course I do, idiot.’ Charlie smiled, slipped off her backpack, took out the code extractor and opened the back of it. She removed the battery and tore out a couple of wires. She placed them between her teeth and nodded at Jack.

Jack leant against the wall of the lift shaft and made a stirrup again with his hands.

Charlie put her foot in and he lifted her up.

‘Guys?’ Obi said in their ears. ‘What’s happening?’

‘Trying to solve a problem,’ Jack said, doing his best to hold Charlie steady.

She pulled a screwdriver from her hip bag, undid the cover to the door controls and looked inside. After a moment, she reached in and connected the battery. There was a small spark and the doors to the lift shaft opened a few millimetres. She did it again and they opened another five millimetres or so.

‘All right,’ Charlie whispered. ‘That’s the best I can do without mains power.’

Jack lowered her back down. He reached up again and jammed the bar into the gap in the doors. This time he got a better grip – he managed, with effort, to open them wide enough to get through.

Jack clawed at the bottom edge of the door and hauled himself up. He shone his torch left and right, checking no one was around, then hoisted himself over the lip and slid on his belly into the corridor.

Next, Jack spun around and held out his hands. Charlie lifted Wren up to him and he pulled her through.

Wren leapt to her feet and pressed her back against the wall, her eyes scanning left and right, straining into the darkness as she kept a lookout.

Jack turned back to help Charlie, but she was already sliding out next to him.

She stood up and dusted herself off. ‘Stairs?’

Jack shone his torch to the left. ‘This way,’ he whispered.

They silently crept along the corridor, listening for even the faintest sound.

At the end of the hallway, Jack opened the door to the stairwell. ‘We need to move fast,’ he whispered.

If the cameras came back on, they’d be in trouble.

How long would it take for the security computer to boot back up?

Jack ushered Charlie and Wren through and the three of them raced up the stairs as fast as they could, only stopping when they reached the door to the penthouse.

Catching his breath, Jack wondered how much time they had to make up. Speaking of which – ‘Obi,’ he said into his microphone. ‘How long do we have before the night shift starts and the next concierge gets here?’

‘Fifteen minutes.’

‘
What
?’ Jack looked at Charlie. ‘We don’t have enough time.’

‘Yes, we do.’ It took Charlie under a minute to pick the lock and open the door. ‘See?’

‘Wait,’ Wren whispered. ‘How do we know the apartment’s empty?’

‘He’s out for the evening,’ Obi said in their ears. ‘The Royal Opera House. Won’t be back for another couple of hours at least.’

Jack peered in to the penthouse hallway. With the power off, at least they didn’t have to bother about the alarm.

The three of them hurried inside.

Charlie stopped at the security box on the wall and cut the main wires. ‘Just in case the power comes back,’ she whispered.

Jack nodded and followed Wren through a set of doors.

The lounge was minimalist with stark white walls and two black leather sofas facing each other. Apart from that, there was no other furniture. Not even a TV.

‘What happened?’ Obi said.

‘What do you mean?’ Jack said, adjusting his shoulder cam and shining his torch around the room.

‘What’s my uncle done to this place? It used to be really homely. Where’s the grandfather clock?’

Obi’s mum and dad used to own the penthouse – along with a mansion or two – and, when his parents died, Obi’s uncle had made off with everything. Obi and his sister didn’t get a penny and that was something the Outlaws were going to change with this mission.

‘Which way is it?’ Jack asked.

‘The door to the right,’ Obi said.

Charlie joined them as they marched across the lounge and through the door.

They were now standing in a room filled with books. It seemed every available shelf was crammed full and the floor was covered with stacks of volumes. In the middle of the chaos was a leather, high-backed Oxford chair. A small side table was next to it with a multicoloured glass lamp.

The contrast to the rest of the neat, minimalist apartment was striking.

‘That’s more like it,’ Obi said. ‘He obviously hasn’t touched this room. Looks exactly the same as it always did.’

‘Doesn’t seem as though he ever comes in here.’ Jack’s eyes flitted around the shelves, looking for cameras, then he aimed the beam of his torch at the far end of the room. On the wall, under a brass picture light, hung a dark oil painting. It was a portrait of a man in an old military uniform. Jack paused for a moment, soaking up every brushstroke. He adjusted his shoulder cam. ‘Are you seeing this? Who is it?’

‘That’s my great-great-grandad,’ Obi said. ‘He was a captain in the navy.’

Jack took a few steps forward and his headset crackled. ‘Obi?’ He stepped back to the door. ‘Obi?’

There was no answer.

Jack looked at Charlie.

‘Obi,’ she said into her own headset, ‘can you hear us?’

Still no answer.

‘It must have something to do with the blackouts,’ Charlie said.

Wasting no more time, Jack, Charlie and Wren picked their way between stacks of books and stood in front of the painting.

Charlie pressed a button on the side of the frame and swung it away from the wall. Buried in the plaster behind was a large safe, its electronic keypad lit up in green.

‘How’s that got power?’ Jack said.

‘It can run on its own backup battery for months.’ Charlie slipped a screwdriver from her pocket and undid the keypad panel.

The safe would lock itself down permanently if they messed the next part up.

Charlie looked at Jack. ‘This is going to take both of us,’ she reminded him. ‘Remember to keep an even pressure.’

Jack put the torch in his mouth and together they carefully lifted the panel’s bottom edge away from the safe to allow Wren to peer underneath.

‘Is it?’ Charlie asked her.

‘Oh, yes,’ Wren said.

‘Like we discussed?’

Wren nodded. ‘Yep.’

With her free hand, Charlie reached into her hip bag and passed Wren a set of wire cutters.

Wren slid the cutters under the panel. ‘Which wire did you say it was?’

‘The blue one,’ Charlie said.

‘Oh.’

‘Why?’

‘They’re both blue.’

‘
What
?’ Charlie peered behind the keypad. ‘That’s just brilliant.’

Making sure he didn’t move the panel any further from the safe, Jack looked behind too and could see the anti-tamper contact switch. If they lifted the panel any further, the circuit would break and the safe would lock itself down. Wren was right though – both wires leading to it were blue. Charlie had thought one would be red.

Jack straightened up and looked at her. ‘Ideas?’

Charlie sighed. ‘Nope.’

‘Awesome.’ That meant there was a fifty per cent chance Wren would cut the right wire, and a fifty per cent chance she’d cut the wrong one. He looked at her. ‘You pick.’

Wren looked shocked. ‘Serious?’

‘We’ve come this far.’ Jack scanned the room again, looking for any hidden security he hadn’t spotted. Still not seeing any, he turned back to Wren and nodded. ‘Do it.’

Wren swallowed and reached behind the keypad. ‘Cutting.’

Jack closed his eyes and held his breath.

There was a snipping sound.

For a full five seconds no one moved.

‘It’s OK,’ Wren said.

Jack opened his eyes and saw she was now smiling. He grinned back at her.

Charlie quickly lifted away the keypad panel. Next, she took out a portable soldering iron from her hip bag, flicked it on and started working on the circuit board inside.

She joined several wires, removed a few components and then soldered a microswitch.