Terror Kid (7 page)

‘In six days. We're almost there. So well done and thanks.'

‘No problem. I got her a great domain name and I've come up with a few tricks to make the site easy to find on search engines. Another thing. I checked your car and it's not on there. I checked all the cars flashed by cameras in the last six months, and your car's not there. So you have nothing to worry about.'

‘Thanks, man,' said Speech, relieved. ‘That's really taken a load off me. You're a good kid. Look, I really need to talk to you.'

‘You're talking to me now,' said Rico.

Speech took a step closer to Rico. ‘No. This is real talk.'

‘What is it with you?' Rico said, stepping away. ‘You just appear out of nowhere and you always want to talk to me. What do you want now?'

‘Do you remember the subway where we spoke the first time we met?'

‘Yes,' replied Rico.

‘Let's meet there in twenty minutes,' said Speech.

‘What's wrong with just talking here?'

‘Trust me. We can't talk about what I want to talk about here. This is big. Very big.'

‘I don't know about big. It better be good,' said Rico. ‘I'll see you there in twenty minutes.'

Speech walked off in one direction, Rico walked off in another. The subway wasn't far. At normal walking speed he would have reached it in ten minutes, so he took his time, and he still arrived before Speech. He waited, and Speech turned up ten minutes late. Speech's mood had changed again. This time he was serious. No smiles, no greetings, he just started talking.

‘You're good at what you do. You care about stuff. You got locked up during the riots, didn't you?'

‘Yes, but not for long. They had nothing on me.'

‘That doesn't stop them. They got you on their books, they got your DNA, they got you, man,' said Speech.

‘I know all that stuff. Big Brother and all that. It's happening, I know, but there's nothing we can do. If they're watching us, we just have to make sure we're watching them.'

Speech nodded his head in agreement. ‘You're damn smart, man. That's why I like you. You know what's going on. You got awareness, and you've raised your consciousness. A lot of kids your age haven't. You're intelligent, but you're a bit soft.'

‘What are you trying to say?'

‘Are you a revolutionary?' Speech asked.

‘What kind of question is that?' Rico replied.

‘It's a simple question. Are you a revolutionary? Do you want to change stuff?'

‘You can call me what you want but, yeah, I want to change stuff.'

Speech kept his eyes on Rico.

‘So tell me, what do you want to change?'

‘There's so much,' Rico replied. ‘Where do I start? Our school is falling down. I'd do something about that. How do they expect us to have a good education if the buildings are falling apart? Every other week my mum has to do more work for less pay – I'd do something about that. I keep getting stopped by the police, and I want to do something about that. I turn on the TV and all I see is war. I know we can't stop all wars but we can stop selling guns all over the world. I'd change the way old people are treated. I'd change the way we treat homeless people, refugees … you know, poor people. And most of all I would make sure young people have a say. There's so much.'

Speech interrupted. ‘But this is all talk, isn't it? You say all this stuff, but if it came down to really doing something about it you'd run a mile, because you don't know what you're really talking about, do you?'

‘That's not true, man. I care about stuff but no one else does. Especially not kids of my age.' Rico was getting angry now.

Speech looked deep into Rico's eyes. ‘I might not be your age, but I care,' he said. ‘And the truth is, I know you do too – that's why I'm talking to you now. Because you're talented.'

‘Get to the point,' said Rico.

Speech continued. ‘The cops have been doing what they want to do and getting away with it for years. It doesn't matter which government is in power, it's all the same. That's because all politicians are the same. The best government is no government; the best system is no system.'

‘Come on, man,' Rico said, showing his frustration. ‘I said, get to the point. I thought you wanted me to do something for you?'

‘I do,' said Speech. ‘Do you know Lloyd House?'

Rico thought for a while. It sounded vaguely familiar but he couldn't recall it. ‘No.'

‘It's on Colmore Circus. Not far from here.'

‘Of course,' said Rico. ‘The police headquarters.'

‘That's right, man. The headquarters of the West Midlands Police Force. The second largest force in the country. That's where they live. That's where they plot and scheme. That's where they launch their operations. How about you hack into their computers?'

Rico stiffened and shouted, ‘Are you joking?'

‘Keep your voice down,' said Speech.

‘You want me to hack into the police network?' Rico said, trying to control his disbelief.

‘Ah, are you saying you can't do it?' There was a hint of excitement in Speech's voice. His eyes had lit up. ‘Think about it, man, it's the ultimate protest. Almost anyone can hack into a supermarket, or an estate agent, but this goes right to the people who administer power over us. This goes right to the people who keep stopping and searching you as you go about your lawful business. You can do this. I know that they have a backup system – they'll spend about ten minutes trying to fix the old system, and if that doesn't work they turn on the backup. So it will be down for ten minutes at the most. But it's not about the time; the point is, they'll lose power for a while. And for the time that they lose control, we are victorious. It's easy.'

‘This is madness,' said Rico. ‘I don't even know you, and look at the things I've done for you already.'

‘Yes, and I'm grateful. But this is not for me.'

‘Who's it for then?'

‘This is for all of us,' Speech said, waving his hand to the horizon. ‘This will be part of a day of protest that many people have been planning for months.'

‘How come I haven't heard about it?'

‘Because it's an underground thing. It's not being advertised. This is not a student demo. This is going to be a national day of action by really radical organisations.'

‘So what else is going to happen?' asked Rico.

‘We got people hacking into banks, politicians' websites, loan sharks, even an arms dealer's website. It's all righteous stuff.'

‘So what do you want me to do?' said Rico, still uncertain.

‘You just have to put their systems down for ten minutes, man. You don't have to change anything; you don't have to take anything. You're just putting them out of action for ten minutes. I know you can do it.'

‘Of course I can do it,' said Rico. ‘But do I want to do it?'

‘Just ten minutes. Come on, man. That's all it takes,' Speech said, trying to reassure Rico.

Rico looked around. He stepped away, rubbing his chin and thinking hard. He thought about all the times he had been stopped by the police for no reason. Then he turned to Speech. ‘OK. I'll take it down for ten minutes, but that's all I'm doing.'

‘Great,' said Speech, smiling and nodding his head. ‘I got information and codes for their website and their internal site – they run on separate systems. Just think of it, cops running around like headless chickens for ten minutes. It will be cool.'

‘How long have I got?' Rico asked.

‘We need to do it on Monday.'

‘Monday!' shouted Rico.

‘Keep it down,' said Speech. ‘Yes, Monday.'

‘But I start school on Monday. Now it's Saturday. That gives me one day.'

‘How long will it take you to check it out and see what's possible?'

‘I suppose I could do that tonight,' said Rico.

‘Well, you do that, and then meet me here at this time tomorrow. If all goes well we should be ready for Monday.'

Speech reached into his jacket pocket and handed Rico a memory stick.

‘All the information you'll need is on that. I've done as much as I can but I need you to just crack the last stage. You'll see what I mean once you have a look, but make sure you keep that stick with you at all times, and make sure you give it back to me. And one last thing. Don't say a word to anyone, not even your closest friend. She's a great girl but we need to keep it tight.'

‘How do you know about her?'

‘I'm an organiser, Rico,' said Speech. ‘I have to know about everything. Just be really careful around her. She can't control her tongue.'

‘Don't worry, man. If you know so much, you'll know that I can control mine,' said Rico.

Speech reached out and put his hand on Rico's shoulder. Rico felt uncomfortable but didn't flinch or move away. Speech squeezed and said, ‘Great. I'll see you tomorrow.'

 

Rico went home and got to work straight away. His hacking technique was quick, and his work method well tested. It was now just a matter of breaking a few codes, breaching firewalls and working around security systems, and that didn't take long. Rico got in, and got out quickly. Then he got to work on some ideas that would make the hack more creative.

The next day at the appointed time Rico went back to the subway to meet Speech, who turned up ten minutes late again. Again he began to speak without saying hello.

‘So what you got for me?'

‘I'm all ready. I went onto the network and checked it out. They got good up-to-date security, but I can deal with that. We sell that stuff in our shop.'

‘So at a given time it will just go down, will it?' asked Speech.

‘No,' said Rico. ‘I thought I'd jazz it up a bit. There'll be this big peace sign that will come up on the public website for about ten seconds, and then the site goes down. As soon as it goes down, the internal network gets hit. First a page comes up with a big sunflower for five seconds, and then big words appear saying, “You're under arrest”. And then that network goes down.'

Speech rocked with excitement.

‘Oh man, you're having a laugh. That's so cool. I like that, I really like that.'

Rico continued. ‘They should both be down for ten minutes, then
ping
, up pops a laughing policeman for five seconds, and everything's back to normal.'

Speech's excitement rose even more.

‘A laughing policeman? Are you for real?'

Rico broke a sly smile. ‘I thought we should have some fun.'

‘Too right,' said Speech. ‘Fun. Militant fun. Yeah man, that's what we need. Have you got my memory stick?'

‘Right here,' said Rico, dipping into his pocket and handing the stick over.

‘This is going to be good,' said Speech. ‘We're making history.'

‘It might be good,' replied Rico. ‘But I'm not so sure about making history. Sites are being hacked all the time.'

‘Trust me,' said Speech seriously. ‘It is good, and you are making history.'

Although Speech was a little strange, and Rico wasn't as excited as Speech, Rico was beginning to feel that the idea of doing a peaceful, humorous cyber protest was a great one, and he was now very pleased that Speech had approached him. His previous hackings had been minor ones – solemn, lone experiences – but now he was part of something bigger.

‘We're ready to go tomorrow,' said Speech.

‘I just don't get it. I haven't heard about any cyber protest, and I usually know about these things,' said Rico.

‘I told you,' said Speech. ‘This is real underground stuff, and you're a part of it. This isn't organised by a trade union, you know, there are no posters on the streets. This doesn't happen until it happens. And it happens at one o'clock.'

Rico stepped back and flung open his arms. ‘What kind of time is that? I'll be in school then, and it's our first day back.'

‘You don't have to be. Just slip out during your lunch break. You can do that, can't you?'

‘I suppose so,' said Rico. ‘But I could also stay in school and just programme it so that it comes on at one without me.'

Speech thought for a couple of seconds and then spoke. ‘No. I think you should be there, just to make sure. And the timing has to be exact. One on the dot. You can do that for me, can't you, man?'

‘I can do that for you, man,' said Rico. ‘It's just weird timing. What kind of protest happens in the middle of the day, when everyone's at work – or school?'

‘Like I said,' replied Speech, ‘this is a protest like no other. It will be cool.'

‘But I need to get back to school quickly,' said Rico.

‘That's OK. Your lunchtime starts at twelve-thirty, it takes you about fifteen minutes to get home. You got time to relax, take it easy, and do your thing at one, then you got fifteen minutes to get back. Just don't stop and talk to anyone and you will make it in plenty of time. There will be a lot going on. Who knows, you may even get the afternoon off school.'