The Radical (Unity Vol.1) (35 page)

‘I am not some imbecile you can brainwash, Childs. Get to the point before I blow you away.’

He smiled, the bastard smiled. Goddammit I wanted to shoot.

‘When you offered yourself up as an
emissary, I allowed you to undergo the training, certain that you would come in handy one day, just as your father did. I’ve no doubt the
Operator
sent you to us and I would thank him if he wasn’t dead. When we realized you and Miss Maddon were both heading for the airport, we put out the news about the storms to trap you both in the UK. She has been a terror for years. We spotted a way to finally deal with her without getting our hands dirty. We knew it wouldn’t be long before you got her in the sack. Unfortunately you had help, and then we had to lift the ban on the skies to let you loose again. However, we knew you would come home… and we knew you would try to get hold of the vaccines.’

I
felt sick and my vision became blurry. I wanted to tear across the room and bash the living daylights out of the loathsome creature before me. I realized, quickly, he was using every trick in the book. He was going to use my newfound love to break me.

‘I’m offering you a chance. If you leave the country today and take her with you, we will deposit five million ED in whatever account you wish.’

The director retrieved two U-Cards out of his pocket and placed them on the desk in front of him. I saw my picture and Seraph’s, just with different names.

‘You will take these, and you and she will go, and never return. Leave today and you need never fear for your lives again. We can have a jet ready and waiting to take you wherever you want to go within half an hour. We will deposit another five million ED in five years’ time, and every five years after that. We will guarantee your safety, security and anonymity. As long as she never steps foot in this city again.’

My eyes wavered and the director must have known I was tempted. He grinned confidently and a set of pearly white dentures gleamed back. In the vaults of my mind, I heard Mara’s words back.
Remember you have love
. I saw Seraph’s face. I put myself in her shoes and knew one thing. If she were stood with me, she wouldn’t let this man get the better of her with offers of money and a desert island somewhere.

In return, I
smiled menacingly at the elderly fellow and started laughing hysterically. ‘You puerile fuck! You hoped you could simply tempt me just like that, with your treasures and your so-called security and anonymity? There is something you have no understanding of in this world, and it’s called decency.’

He gave me a bored expression and re-asserted,
‘Just take the money and go Captain Hardy, before you pay with your life.’

‘I’d rather die than see
you
continue to manipulate this world without impediment. I’d rather die than turn.’

‘And if you die, what will happen to her? Think about that Hardy, think very hard, and very carefully.’

I didn’t respond; I knew doing so would reveal too much.

‘We could have killed you when you were sleeping in that shed with her in
Warwick. We tracked you from your chip.’

What fucking
chip
? In that instant I realized I was not my own man, not anymore. I had been a weapon of Officium, a living, breathing one worth more dollars than any surface to air missile or nuclear armament. Now, I was a slave to Seraph. A grateful, willing one. A servant of UNITY too.

I felt
deeply troubled to hear I was chipped. It meant they had known where I was, every step of the way. They had let us go on the run, hoping the journey would see us fall in love. It had certainly worked. I tried to shake off my despair. I knew now, I had to trust in myself. I had to block out everything else to think straight and complete this mission. A little improvisation never hurt, so I let him wax on while my mind worked.

The director continued, ‘Yes, we had one
implanted in you. All this time and you never knew… We’ve monitored your movements all this time. Why didn’t we kill you then and there? Because she obviously hadn’t yet fallen for your charms by that point… and because of the sensitive information she has and the danger of that being released. If New York society crumbled, so could our entire business empire, from the stock market downwards. It could take years to rebuild the damage. We knew she was probably the type to die rather than give up the information so easily. We knew you would be instrumental in freeing us of her once and for all. If you don’t do this, we’ll just have to deal with her ourselves, however we see fit. It would be much easier on everybody if you just take her and go.’

‘I’ll never accept your terms.’

The director rose from his chair slowly and moved around the desk, his brittle legs looking as though they might buckle at any moment beneath his massive bulk. He moved toward me to look me directly in the eye and I saw the look of devilry staring back, of absolute and unwavering faith in his own shameful beliefs, morals and codes.

‘I thought you might need some extra convincing, which is why I came prepared.’

I gritted my teeth and almost broke a molar with the fury I felt. I could feel my face getting redder underneath the balaclava so I pulled the headwear off to avoid becoming even more agitated, throwing it to the ground to stare at the director.

‘Throw whatever you’ve got at me. We’ll see where it gets you.’

The director smiled almost innocently, before retrieving a remote control from his pocket. The top of one of the oak cupboards across the room flipped over to reveal a holo-stream pad. Within seconds, a full-size image sprang up.

My heart thundered in my chest
and each beat felt like it was popping my skull with the sound. Blood seemed to shoot to my head and I had to battle the fury within. My hand shook with the gun in it and this time, my arm fell by my side. I breathed heavily and almost collapsed with the feeling of light-headedness. I fell to my knees and hung my head.

There was a man blindfolded, bound and
gagged in the image, alone in an empty room somewhere. Grey hair. Same hulking physique as me.

My
father, Nathaniel.

With my head still bowed, I
muttered, ‘Where is he?’

‘In the basement. If you don’t do as we say, he will be dealt with.’

‘If I do carry out your demands, how do I know he won’t still die?’

‘You don’t. But you will still have five million and that little temptress to keep you amused.’

I faced the floor and knew resistance was the key. ‘Do your worst. Kill us both. I’m ready. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect her. My death will ensure her safety, you know that. She’ll keep going until she nails you.’

The director turned
beetroot-red and lost some of his cool, struggling as he ranted on. ‘You stupid, little boy. You think that this world is black and white, good and evil, rich and poor? You ignorant little fool! We never meant for the virus to escape, but it was such a force of nature, we saw that it was somehow meant to be. I have tried to protect millions of people from themselves. They all thought they could keep procreating without any consequences. This world is small Hardy, and it’s going to keep getting technologically and geographically smaller and smaller. Soon, it will be so small, only the fittest and strongest will be able to survive, just as in 2023.’

I lifted my
head to stare into the distance, calmly responding, ‘You’re wrong. People are better than you think, you just haven’t got the capacity to see that. This world can change of its own free will. There are those out there who can lead better than this, better than you. People can evolve and adapt to the new world on their own, without bastards like you trying to tell them how.’

‘Delusion seems to be your tragic flaw, son.’

I eyed the murderous villain across the room and sneered, ‘I will never give in. Just kill me now.’

‘Just leave
, Hardy. Take the girl and the money and we will release your father. We can all just carry on as before, but you will be slightly richer for it.’

I remained
knelt on the floor, trying to appear as if I wasn’t working out a plan in my head. In actual fact, my brain was working on maximum output. I knew deep down what needed to be done. I was seeking a solution, a way of accomplishing all the things I needed to. I sought a path through the maze and turned to look at the director, whose tremulous breathing had given him away.

‘Why do you imagine the
Operator
was a man?’ I said, staring him in the eye without one iota of emotion. ‘How do you know he or she is even really dead?’

‘I have my reasoning,’ he said, his voice calm. ‘
It went viral and the
Operator’s
online presence dropped off the grid. Could be no other reason for that other than death. The
Operator
had us over a barrel for years. This was our chance to right all
his
meddling.’

What an absolute misogynist. He couldn’t believe it.

‘The
Operator
was a woman, I assure you. I can verify that without question.’

‘It isn’t possible, it simply isn’t. The skills the
Operator
possessed were only gifted to one… a man… a former employee of ours who disappeared decades ago. He had no reason to leave our employment but he did… to work freelance. To fleece us of millions of dollars for his skills. The
Operator
was no woman, no, it isn’t possible. He was too merciless to be.’

The plot thickened
. Who knew what people were capable of until pushed…

I laughed, covering my mouth. He was cornered.

‘Seraph’s aunt, Eve Maddon, was the
Operator
. Maybe this man of yours helped her. All I know is that she was married to Tom Bradbury, but he didn’t die in 2023. He took a new identity and became Stephan Dulwich. She wanted your blood because of that. You ruined his life. You killed him, too. So, there you have it. Silly fool. What have all your years on this planet gotten you? The wool pulled over your eyes, that is what!’

I stood, having regained my
self, and moved toward the director. I pushed Crispin back so that he fell in his desk chair with a thud. I hovered above the frail old man and eyed him with a cold glare. I threatened him with a massive clenched fist held in front of him, reinforcing my own belief in myself.

‘Al
l this time, you’ve had a woman running rings around you, you absolute cretin. Look at
you
old man, thinking you can rule the world with your iron fist! You’re a madman. You have absolutely no idea what people are capable of when they turn their minds to it. She sacrificed her whole life to protect him. She loved him that much! You sit there and you listen to me, before I throttle the living daylights out of you. She isn’t dead. She’s alive… and she’s coming for you. I saw her myself. She will get you when you least expect it and you’ll finally pay. She won’t stop until you’re done for. She’ll keep going until you finally get what you deserve.

‘
It doesn’t matter how much money or technology you have, or what vile threats you make, you will never get her. And why? Because she has the love and loyalty of followers all over the world. People who believe unwaveringly in her. Look at you, what do you have? Those dogs you call your police force, who would realize if they weren’t so pumped full of drugs, what you really are. I’m giving you a chance now,
director
, to leave and never return. Leave and hide, otherwise she will get you, I can guarantee you that. Even I don’t know where she’s waiting for you, but she will keep waiting, until the time is right to finally thwart you once and for all. She will bide her time until she can send the
Principal
to blast the brains out of your skull bit by bit.’

I felt sure the director was in defeat
and took several deep breaths to calm myself after that speech. The elder man sat in absolute shock, unable to move or make a response. I picked up the pile of documents and began pulling pages out on top of a sideboard nearby.

The director watched me
as if he had become disabled. His eyes bulged from the revelations; he knew there was no lie in my eye. I found evidence of research into the Indonesian flu strain; memos, emails, employee records and various other documents. I scanned every paper, one after another, and took out my xGen to download the information, before tagging it on to a new message. Restricting the sender info, I sent it on to generic addresses including Americanpress, pressuk, worldpress and NYChronicle. It would surely get picked up by one of them.

I
noticed the man’s face had turned purple. He was going into cardiac arrest, breathing hoarsely, his body falling limp. I had no sympathy.

I frantically double checked I
had done what I needed to do and headed to the doors of the office, preparing for the next onslaught. I breathed deeply and recovered, readying myself. I remembered her face and what we had and knew what needed to be done for that to remain untarnished.

I looked at my watch and saw I had three minutes
before the roof was blown skyward. I needed to get out. I shot at the AK holding the door shut across the room, knocking it out of its resting place.