The System (20 page)

‘In Paris? You won’t last five minutes,’ Glen said then, his voice suddenly very serious. ‘Frankie, Thomas is looking for you and he will find you. Unless you want to live like I have, underground, always hiding, he’ll find you and when he does, he’ll kill you.’

Evie could see Frankie’s face twist uncomfortably and she tried not to derive pleasure from the fact that the party girl was crumbling under pressure. ‘You said you could get me a new identity somewhere. Australia or something. Why can’t I do that?’

‘Because it’s too late for that now,’ Glen said. ‘If we go back now, Infotec wins, and it will all have been for nothing. If what Raffy and Evie are telling us is true, if we can get proof and get it out there … It changes everything. Finally, we’ll have something to fight Infotec with.’

He walked over to Frankie and put his hands on her shoulders. ‘So, are you coming?’

Frankie looked at him reluctantly, then her eyes moved towards Evie. ‘How old are you anyway?’ she asked, her tone condescending. ‘You’re a baby. Is your friend Raffy a baby, too? Are we doing all of this because of some kids?’

‘We’re nineteen,’ Evie said, her eyes narrowing. ‘Same age as you,’ she added, enjoying for a moment the knowledge that came from following someone’s every move.

Frankie looked genuinely surprised. ‘Really?’ she said. ‘Like, seriously?’

Evie glared at her.

‘Seriously,’ she said, her voice low.

‘Huh,’ Frankie said. ‘Maybe it’s because you’re so thin.’ She exhaled slowly then stared into the middle distance; Evie guessed Frankie was messaging someone. Raffy. She watched as Frankie frowned, then rolled her eyes. Then, slowly, the corners of Frankie’s mouth edged upwards.

‘What did he say?’ Evie asked before she could stop herself. She didn’t care. Raffy could message Frankie all he liked. But she didn’t like the way Frankie was smiling, like there was some joke that Evie was excluded from.

Frankie raised an eyebrow. ‘That would be telling,’ she said. ‘But let’s get moving shall we? I’m cold.’

Evie rolled her eyes and started to walk again, Frankie and Glen at her side, two strangers who knew nothing about the world she’d come from, nothing about Linus, about the Settlement, about Raffy, about Lucas. And yet Frankie dared to smile like she and Raffy had their own little secrets, like she somehow knew more than Evie. When really, until recently she was just one of Thomas’s spokespeople, running around worrying about her clothes and make-up, like there was nothing else that mattered in the whole wide world.

‘Nearly there,’ flashed in front of her eyes. ‘I am going to make everything okay. You have to believe me, Evie. You have to believe that I didn’t mean any of this … I only ever wanted us to be happy … And I screwed everything up …’

Evie read the message thoughtfully. ‘Yeah, you did screw it up,’ she messaged back silently, and carried on walking.

Raffy read the message and wondered if he was imagining an element of thawing in Evie’s anger, in her utter hatred of him. Then he shook himself. Of course she wasn’t thawing.

‘You’re really nineteen? Kind of young to be ordering us all about aren’t you?’

The message from Frankie flashed up suddenly, making him laugh. She was way feistier than he’d thought she’d be, far cleverer, funnier than he’d given her credit for when he’d watched her on Cassandra as she made her way from one social event to another.

‘I have a God complex,’ he messaged back. ‘What you going to do about it?’

As soon as he sent the message he regretted it; she might not get the joke, might take offence, might change her mind and he couldn’t afford for that to happen. But within a second another message came back.

‘I’ve already dated a man with a God complex. Not so much. Maybe you should try a new angle?’

Raffy stared at the message. Was she … flirting? No. She couldn’t be. And anyway, he was doing this for Evie. To get Evie back.

But even so, he found himself smiling.

The room had no windows, no screens, no sofas. There was a camera in the corner, its red light flashing intermittently to show that it was recording; on the floor a poor cleaning job had failed to remove the blood-spatter stains from the room’s previous occupant. Probably on purpose, Raffy thought to himself.

Linus was smiling at Thomas, knowing how much it would irritate him, knowing how much Thomas still wanted him to appreciate his vision, to be impressed, to congratulate him. Like a child, Raffy thought to himself. Thomas was like a frustrated toddler.

He took a deep breath, forced himself to focus. He couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. Not now. He was pretty sure he was here as a witness, nothing more. Thomas wanted him to see how angry he was, wanted Raffy to understand what it meant to cross him. He glanced over at Linus, but Linus was refusing to meet his eyes and for that he was grateful.

‘You like the room?’ Thomas asked Linus.

Linus nodded. ‘It’s more honest,’ he said. ‘If I’m going to be in a prison, I’d rather that it looks like one.’

‘Well then you’ll really enjoy it here,’ Thomas said smoothly, walking over to where Linus and Raffy were sitting on hard chairs, their ankles shackled, their hands tied behind their backs.

Linus refused to let the smile leave his face. ‘Benjamin’s dead. Evie’s dead.’

Raffy swallowed the discomfort bubbling up inside him. Evie wasn’t dead, but it didn’t stop the words hurting. Because she wasn’t safe either. Not yet.

‘And now you want to torture us?’ Linus continued. ‘Was that part of your plan, Thomas? Or is it all falling apart? You must be devastated.’

Thomas reached out and hit Linus across the face. Linus looked him in the eye. ‘Feel better now? Make you feel like the big man, hitting a guy tied to a chair? Impressive, Thomas. Really impressive.’

Raffy could see the rage boiling up within Thomas, knew that it wouldn’t be long now before he lost control completely. Was that what Linus wanted? To what end? Things were going okay. They should just try and mollify him, surely? Then again, Linus and Thomas had history. Maybe Linus was enjoying this. Maybe this was the whole point.

So long as Thomas only took his anger out on Linus. So long as this didn’t go horribly wrong.

‘What is it exactly that you want from everyone anyway? Is it fear? Or do you have some twisted notion that people actually like you? That they respect you?’ Linus asked, not letting it go.

Raffy saw Thomas’s eyes change and Linus laughed. ‘That’s it, isn’t it. Respect. That’s what this is all about? You think that by controlling the world that somehow people respect you?’

He shook his head in amazement and Thomas hit him again. Linus was still smiling, even though blood was trickling down his face, around the crevices of his mouth. ‘Now that really felt good, didn’t it?’ he said quietly. ‘You should do that again. You won’t enjoy it as much as the last couple of times, but it’ll still give you great satisfaction, hitting me. The guy with the silver bullet, the guy who refuses to hand it over, the guy who promised so much and has delivered so little. I’ve been such a disappointment to you, Thomas, I see that now. You had such high hopes; you were so sure I saw the world like you did, that I could be manipulated just like everyone else. And look at me now, an old fool, sitting in a chair, refusing to give you the one thing you’ve wanted your whole life, making you look weak and stupid even here in the world you’ve built, a world whose primary aim is to make people respect you. I’d want to hit me if I were in your shoes. Hell, I’d want to do more than that. I’d want to kill me, right here, right now. Show me who’s boss. Show me who’s in charge here.’

‘Shut up! Shut up, will you,’ Thomas shrieked, hitting Linus across the face again and again. ‘You will stop talking now.’

Raffy wished he would. He was sweating. With fear, he supposed. He wanted to get out of here. He had to focus on Evie. Had to focus on the future. Had to keep telling himself that there was one.

‘Or what?’ Linus asked gently. ‘You’ll hit me again? Threaten me? It’s a bit late, Thomas. We’re kind of already there, aren’t we? But you’re right. I should stop talking now. I’ve done enough. Evie’s gone, and that’s vexing isn’t it? Two deaths. It isn’t a great record. And you’re losing leverage. You’re beginning to panic, I expect. And me talking like this is just making it worse, right?’

Thomas stared at him; Raffy could see a vein in his neck throbbing. He looked straight ahead, tried not to shake; Thomas was about to seriously lose it.

Then, suddenly, Thomas’s expression changed, became calmer, his eyes glinting almost with triumph. He leant down so that his face was just inches from Linus’s. ‘You want me to kill you so that the System will never be built,’ he said, his voice thin; it was evidently taking a great deal of effort to control it. ‘That’s your plan, isn’t it? But I won’t do it. You will build me the System, Linus. And if you don’t, Raffy will. He’s smarter than you, Linus. Less idealistic. Fewer scruples.’

He turned to Raffy, who offered him a nervous smile.

‘Raffy can’t build my System,’ Linus said immediately. ‘He’s trying to copy it, remember it. He doesn’t understand its lifeblood. I created the System, and only I can do it again. Only I never will. You know that, don’t you?’ He swivelled round to look at Raffy.

‘You’re a disappointment to me, Raffy,’ he said, his voice low. ‘But you’ve still got time to think again. Remember what Thomas did to you. He’s the reason Evie is dead. Don’t give him what he wants. For once in your life do the right thing.’ His voice was impassioned, his eyes imploring, but Raffy just glowered at him. It was time. He’d heard his cue.

‘I saw you whispering something to Evie,’ he growled angrily. ‘You made her jump. It was you, all you. Just to prove your point, just to make sure I didn’t build your precious System. Well it’s not going to work. You’re a murderer, Linus. You think you’re so good, but you’re no better than Thomas. You use people, just like he does. You used Evie. You used Lucas. But you’re not using me.’

Linus looked down wearily.

Thomas studied the two of them for a few seconds. ‘Hmmm,’ he said eventually, walking towards Raffy. ‘Is Linus right? Are you incapable of doing what I want you to? Are you?’

Raffy shook his head. ‘I can do anything Linus can do,’ he lied.

Thomas took a deep breath then exhaled slowly. ‘I want to believe you, Raffy, but I fear Linus is right. It’s his System. He created it. And I want the genuine article, not a copy, not a knock-off. Then again, Linus, you don’t have the work ethic I’m looking for. You’ve lost your humanity, lost your soul. And, quite frankly, I don’t trust you. So here’s what we’re going to do. You have one week. And after that, if you don’t deliver what I want, I will kill every single person in the UK. And make you watch. Watch them writhe in pain. Your brother, Lucas. Your friends Martha and Angel. Stern. Everyone you know and love. They will be told that you are the reason they are dying. And then of course I’ll kill you both.’

‘You can’t do that,’ Raffy seethed.

Thomas laughed. ‘Oh but I can,’ he said lightly. Then he turned to Linus. ‘Since you like it down here, you can stay. I’ll have everything you need brought down. Raffy, you will be shown back to the apartment in a few minutes. Good day, gentlemen.’

He swept out of the room; Raffy turned to Linus immediately, glancing as he did so at the walls, wondering where the cameras were hidden, what types they were.

‘This is all your fault,’ he said, his eyes flashing. ‘I hope you rot here.’

‘There seem to be no better alternatives open to me,’ Linus said, no trace of emotion in his voice.

‘Yes, there are,’ Raffy said passionately. ‘You can build the System, Linus. Can’t you see he’s won anyway? Build the System. Please, Linus. Please …’

Linus pulled a face. ‘I thought you can do it on your own with one hand tied behind your back?’

‘Maybe I can,’ Raffy said, stiffly.

‘You know they’ll test the System on the shadowframe first. Make sure it works before they let you leave. So don’t make any mistakes, if that’s what you want.’

Raffy caught his eye for a second, then shrugged. ‘I don’t make mistakes.’

‘I’m glad to hear it,’ Linus said, as two men walked into the room, carrying a hood, the same hood that had been shoved over his head roughly an hour before, when he’d been dragged from his desk. Raffy let them untie him and held his head forward for the hood to be pulled down over his face, but not before he’d exchanged one final glance with Linus, a glance that told him everything he needed to know.

He needed to get in touch with Glen, he realised, and he needed to do it quickly.

‘So what, we’re supposed to dig now? This is completely insane.’ Frankie was looking at the hard, cold ground and shaking her head in irritation. And Evie didn’t like to admit it, but she did have a point. They were standing exactly where Raffy had told them to go, on open, barren land, the wind whistling around them, a few derelict buildings dotted around. They’d walked all day; now it was evening but the dark sky was clear, and a full moon as well as an overhead light lit the area. But whilst they might be above the mystical tunnel, there was no sign of any way into it. None at all. ‘This isn’t a plan,’ Frankie sighed, ‘it’s a joke. Your friend Raffy is having a laugh.’ She shot a look in Evie’s direction; Evie ignored her. Her drama queen antics might have got her a zillion Watchers, but this was the real world now and Evie just wasn’t interested. She was, however, getting increasingly frustrated with Raffy, who hadn’t answered a single message in the past hour, who had brought them here and was now probably laughing at them from inside his stupid cubicle. Would Infotec Inforcers be here in a minute to round them up? Was this all some kind of game to him?

Glen kicked the ground with his heel and looked thoughtful. ‘The tunnel is going to be a long way down,’ he said. ‘If it’s been sealed up completely, then …’ He paced around a bit as though wanting to buy some time. ‘It doesn’t look great,’ he said eventually.

Evie took a deep breath. There was no way on earth she was giving up now. ‘If Raffy says we dig, we dig,’ she said, looking around for something to dig with. There was nothing. And actually Raffy hadn’t said anything about digging. But what else were they going to do? She certainly wasn’t going to walk away now. Not when she was so close. Not when she knew that underneath her was a tunnel that could take her to the City, to Lucas. She dropped to her knees and started to scrape at the ground with her fingers. It gave nothing; even as she ripped her fingers to shreds she knew it was pointless, knew that it would achieve nothing. But that didn’t matter, because admitting defeat was worse. And so she carried on until eventually Glen joined her, kicking at the ground with his feet. Frankie squatted down and looked at them as though they were mad, which Evie conceded they were, but she didn’t care; at least they were doing something.