GENESIS (GODS CHAIN) (67 page)

She
did not speak.
‘Francesca
,
what were you looking for earlier to get yourself into so much trouble? Did you find where he might be hiding?’

‘
Michaelangelo
is still missing
,’ she said quietly.
‘
I think he holds the secret to what is going on here.’ The girl
paused for a moment
and continued, ‘Do you not care about Massimo? I found him next to a computer, the computer was communicating when I found it in a hidden location.
It is the machine which is being used by the mystery Apostol user!
It stands to reason
,
that I am sure of
—
it is likely
being
used
via
remote access.
Unfortunately for our mystery person, something went wrong.
There was a fault and this disconnected him.
Apostol was blind.

‘
I did not have a chance to look too closely at the computer.
It is now connected fine on the network.
I have to say that there was something strange about the back of the machine
,
though
....
’ Francesca tried hard to remember
.
‘
Si,
yes
,
that’s it, I’ll be able to find it in five minutes on the network right now, depending on the beaconing configuration settings.’
The girl’s mind
was
sharpening and
already
crystal clear! She seemed to be getting stronger
with rest
.

‘What if we all go downstairs to the dungeons and have a look at it?’ he tried to persuade Francesca with a reassuring voice
.
‘We are all
quite
qualified to check a computer you know
,
and take care of Massimo
.
Guielletta will come too, if you feel up
to it
—w
e can go now
.
You could take us there
...
?
’

He
i
s asking more questions than
he is
administering first-aid
!
W
hat a meddlesome
turd.
I never
even
mentioned anything about Massimo being downstairs
....
Francesca was finding
Jonathan to be
more than irritating than helpful
, as usual
.

             
‘Massimo is beyond help,’ she was annoyed
.
‘
A
nd when did I say that Massimo was down in the dungeon?’

‘Oh
,
I’m
sorry
—
I meant upstairs, when you spoke about escaping upstairs.
I’m not listening correctly
,
’ he apologised.

‘Surely you would be thinking that Massimo was the man lying dead upstairs,
since
I already told you that he was dead?
Agata already spoke of a man in the server room upstairs.’
There were two dead bodies in the one building!
What were the chances of that?
Francesca
rag
ed
with the Project Leader
for
his insensitivity
.
H
e never listened
,
the bastard!

‘Ha, ha, ha
, my
apologies
,
’ he laughed with embarrassment,
although
it was not real.
‘Francesca, you are quite correct.
Pardon my stupidity.’
T
he man looked aggravated
.
‘Then who is the dead person upstairs
,
if not Massimo?
’

Francesca heard
Guielletta’s voice
as she said
, ‘I would like to place a call to the
gendarmerie
,
please.’
H
er voice was dull. Guielletta was speaking into her cell-phone
, which
gave her a direct outside line rather than going through
the
automated switchboard.

‘It’s Zito.’ Francesca answered.

‘Zito?’ Jonathan’s face changed, he could not believe this!
Zito
was
VIA

‘Hello? It’s the
Istituto per le Opere di Religion in the Palazzo de Governmanato,
ah
si,
we are having a critical problem in the administration building at the moment.
There has been a serious accident, I think someone is
...
dead? I need urgent assistance, can you send someone here please, as soon as possible?’
The girl had
an analytical tone of voice, almost like a computer program, without feeling
.
T
ypical Guielletta
—c
old as ice.

Then came a silence,
Guieletta
appeared to be listening intently to someone on the other end of the line,
and
then answering one question after the next regarding
what
she thought had happened.

             
‘We should not go downstairs
,
Jonathan, it is very dangerous!’ Francesca responded belate
d
ly and in all seriousness to his earlier question.
Francesca suddenly had an idea!
It popped into her head without warning, a
nd
she opened her drawer
,
pick
ed
up her personal cell-phone and called
Michaelangelo
’s number!

If it
was
active now she might be able to trace its location using some new free software she had installed earlier in the day on her own mobile.
The technician could accurately track
Michaelangelo
’s
location to the nearest twenty metres anywhere in the world
,
provided that his cell-phone was switched on!
Francesca had noticed that the personnel section had downloaded a payable product like this earlier in the week.

Typical!
Those
VIA
Agents
wanted to use
it for employee
surveillance
!
She thought
again of Massimo and that killer upstairs.
She pressed
Michaelangelo
’s
number and waited
...
.

Hopping
...
hopping
...
hopping.
.
.Server has
c
onnected to Client
...

Transmitting data now
...
.

“Connecting
,
” the metal
l
ic voice
chimed
.

A
map appeared like a trace
on her cell-phone
and in about ten seconds, a
s
atellite
map and an image came on her little screen.
Looking at the diagram
,
she saw that he
was only about three hops away
.

Francesca
’s
call went transparently through the local firewalls and filtered routers to the nearest Satellite Internet service provider and repl
ied
back again, downloading data to
...
to
...
where?

It was here
...
right here
,
inside this building!
Michaelangelo
was in the
Pallazzo?
She thought of the empty pizza box upstairs
.
It
started to
make sense.

             
Next came a
nother
message on her display
:

...
feeding to
...
Recipient Voice
Established.

A voice came instantly on the phone
, sounding
strang
e
ly familiar
—
it was speaking
...
to her
...
.

‘
Si,
the
Istituto per le Opere di Religion,
Administration Buildings,
si
the Palace.
Hello
o
fficer, I would like you to send
some
men
here right away
,
’
came an
anaesthetic
female voice through
Francesca’s phone speaker
.