Simon Royle - Tag

“So the key is the list of Tag serial numbers and to get it I have to kill someone. There’s no getting around that is there?”

“No. Unfortunately not.” Gabriel looked straight at me and spread his hands.

Leaning forward in her seat, Marty spoke softly. “I know who you can kill.”

I looked at her, struggling to match the beautiful woman with the words. She continued in the same soft tone. “His name is Jonathan Wigley. We called him ‘Wriggly Wigley’ because we couldn’t get any evidence on him even though he practically boasted about his crimes in a few online forums. He lives in Bangkok and on the surface is a — ”

“I know him. He was lead counsel for Bauer.”

“Yes. That’s why he’s perfect, because you do know him. And you had some serious arguments with him too, right? We got that tracing some of his communications with his people back in Bangkok.”

“Yes, that’s right. During the settlement negotiations he was obstructive without being constructive. He was just wasting time, I suspected, so that he could charge more for his contribution. Finally I accused him directly in a meeting and the Bauer team replaced him with David Chalmers. After that we reached settlement quickly.”

Marty nodded. “Mr Wigley spends his cred and self-time getting young boys and girls from all around Asia and having sex with them. They’re always under ten years of age. We haven’t been able to get a witness or evidence to point the finger at him but we know he’s doing it. It is only a matter of time before he slips up and we get him, but who knows how many more young lives will be corrupted by his touch before then.”

Gabriel leaned close to me. “I can do this if you want. We’ll rig it to make it look like you did but I’ll actually take care of it.”

“No. I will take care of it. As much as I hate the thought, it’s possible that the deception would be found out and then all this would be for nothing. I’ll kill him unless we can figure out a way to get that list before the 14th.”

“So you want to leave it until the final day?”

“I know it’s risky, but yes.”

“All right. I think you should stay with me until then. What do you think?”

“Won’t that raise all kinds of alarm bells?”

“We’ll come up with a good reason for your absence. I think it will also unsettle him and Cochran.”

“Cochran?”

“Sure Cochran. She’s in deep with this thing.”

“I should go back the day after tomorrow when Annika leaves. Being here is nice and I feel safe. A part of me, a big part, wants to stay here, but I’ve got to get back into it.”

Gabriel nodded and smiled at me. “I’ve got to provide you with some protection against any mind probes or truth treatments. We can’t take the chance of those being successful, for all our sakes, and we need at least twelve hours to do that. It isn’t a pleasant process either and at the end of it you’ll be too messed up to trav. So I think that you will need to stay until Sunday morning.”

“Annika?”

“Yes, Gabriel.”

“I need you to continue your affair with Jonah through till Sunday morning. Can you do that?”

“I think it’ll probably make my popularity ratings increase,” Annika said with a smile and blew a kiss at me.

UNPOL Headquarters, Directors Office, 244th floor

Sunday 9 Feburary 2110, 2:00am +8 UTC

Cochran stared intently at the image of Jonah standing on the platform waiting for the Bangkok Lev. The platform was virtually deserted. She panned the camera down its length and zoomed on each of the people, picking up the PUIs broadcast from their Devsticks. She switched back to Jonah. He looked relaxed and tanned. But there was something different about him. She couldn’t put her finger on what and so she stared intently at his image on the screen.

“Contact Sir Thomas,” she said in a curt tone to the Dev she was sitting in front of. The Devscreen in front of her popped up a box showing Sir Thomas’s image. 'Available' was on and the image changed to Sir Thomas sitting at his desk in a room in his penthouse. He was dressed in what looked like a civilian version of an UNPOL uniform, except that instead of light blue, it was all black. She thought it looked good and her mind immediately flashed to herself in a black UNPOL uniform with that distinctive ‘Oche’ edge.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, Sir Thomas, but I wanted you to know that Jonah has surfaced.”

“You did well, Sharon. Thank you. And where is Jonah now?”

“He’s still in Melbourne. I’ll patch you in, Sir Thomas.”

He smiled at her in his tight-lipped manner and then resumed a blank expression while he waited. Secs later he was watching Jonah on the Lev platform in Melbourne.

“Where is he headed?”

“He’s on the Bangkok line but that might mean he is headed to his Env in Sisik.”

“What did the Hilton say?”

“Same as before. That Jonah was in the room with Annika Bardsdale for three days.”

“Did we get trace from the room?”

“Unfortunately we didn’t. The room was sanitized before we got a chance to get in. In itself that would be suspicious but it is standard policy at all Hiltons — I checked.”

“I see.” Sir Thomas’s expression made Cochran feel uneasy. It hadn’t changed but with the abrupt comment she felt she had done wrong.

Sir Thomas caught the doubt that had crept into her face. The pink scar that she had as a result of the bombing turning a slightly darker shade as he waited for her to say more.

“The feeds are full of the affair between Jonah and Bardsdale.”

“Yes. I know. Quite out of character for Jonah, wouldn’t you say?”

“Not if my meeting with him was anything to judge by, Sir Thomas. He is an attractive man and in my meeting with him I got the distinct impression that he wanted to have sex with me.”

“Yes, well be that is it may. I feel something is not quite right. Have you made any progress on tracing the source of the letter?”

“No, sir. We can trace it to the Sydney stock exchange but we cannot home in on its origin.”

“I see. Well, keep an eye on our boy and let me know if he does anything out of the ordinary.”

“Yes, sir.”

She cut the connection. It burned her that even now as the youngest Director and with more power than any of her predecessors, she still felt like a little insecure girl in front of him. She returned to the image of Jonah standing on the platform. There was something wrong but she couldn’t place it. She stared harder at him. It was something to do with how he looked but she saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Shrugging it off with a frown, she said, “Turn all lights off between here and the Lev.” The room went black.

Marty checked the time on the Devstick laying on the table next to the Devscreen. 5:15am. Gabriel was in another room. They had quickly decided that they worked best when they worked alone. They had also decided that they played best when together. Marty was working. She sat in one of Gabriel’s Devcockpits and was hacking the account files of ‘Utopia’. Utopia was regarded as what the world might become, a virtual reality where Stanislav spent large amounts of his self-time. She needed the Gang of Four and Stanislav was the best way to get in touch.

She took another glance at Mark on the platform just getting into the Lev. Some space in the bottom of her stomach felt heavy at seeing him alone, going into the Lev. She thought of Mariah, his mother. She refocused — no time to think about that now — and Gabriel was watching over him. Maloo had left to take up station in Bangkok in advance of Jonah’s trip to ‘get eyes’ on Mr Wigley.