Coded the connection sag.., p.28
CODED (The Connection Saga Book 1), page 28
“Try it on,” Raelyn says, saving me from my inner thoughts.
I slowly lift it to my face, and I get a strong whiff of fresh metal. The silver lines of the black edges are the culprit. The mask seals around my face like a second skin. It’s no longer hard or cold as I run my hands across my face. My vision is clearer and everyone in front of me highlights green, the aura glowing around them.
“It takes a moment to get used to,” Mason says, “but it’s incredible.”
“Thanks, everyone,” I say.
As the words come out, I no longer hear my voice. It’s distorted and unrecognizable, like white noise and static recorded underneath.
“Oh, one more thing,” Zane says. “I heard about your altercation at the estate and what you lost. Another gift from us.”
He tosses a drone toward me, and I can’t believe my eyes. It looks exactly like the one my parents left me, except for the color. Instead, it’s white, absent of any color. Blue light flickers across it, creating a connection to Amity and Iris. It hovers out of my hands and my reflection stares back. I smile uncontrollably beneath the mask as tears begin to form.
Before I can be awed by anymore specs, Dahlia spins in her holochair, a devilish smirk written across her face.
“It’s time,” she says.
Everyone disperses and finds a seat with a hologram, holoboards loading in front of them.
“Nexia,” Claire says, “stand here.”
She guides me to a circular device embedded into the black stone floor. It’s barely visible, with only the low blinking light along its edge.
“When it glows completely blue, you’ll be broadcasting, and the entire Area will see you on every monitor or screen.”
“Okay.” I nod.
“Remember,” Dahlia says, “one minute, not a second longer.”
My heart rate starts to increase its pace as the moment draws nearer. I thought I wouldn’t be nervous, but now, the bile in my stomach rises.
“You got this.” Claire smiles, stepping away and finding her own device.
“Amity, this is it,” I say.
“Indeed, Ms. Young.”
“You got my back?”
“Always.”
I take in deep breaths, slow and steady to get my anxious nerves in order. Since I can’t stop them, I refocus the energy into my speech. With it, my words will have the conviction I need them to have if our point is going to be taken seriously.
As my breathing becomes calm, I think about my parents and what they died for.
The truth.
Today, everyone will know it.
“Five,” Dahlia says, making everyone move to their positions.
“Four.”
The light flickers multiple colors beneath my feet, loading the software.
“Three.”
This is for you. I think of my mother’s soft eyes and my dad’s unforgettable smile.
“Two.”
One minute to change the world.
“One.”
49
A bright light flashes from Dahlia’s hologram into my mask. An aura surrounds me, and I emerge on every hologram in the room. Beneath my feet, the pad glows blue, giving me my cue.
“Good Afternoon citizens of Area 1,” I say, still not used to my distorted voice.
“This is an emergency broadcast to inform you of the truth. The Enlightenment is not who they say they are.”
I pause momentarily to let the statement sink in.
“They are murderers and thieves. People who claimed to protect the nation have done nothing but control you.”
“Forty-five seconds,” Dahlia updates.
“This is footage found from their archives.”
Dahlia displays a clip of the lab playback showing Octavio’s node creation.
“They created this device—the node, as you know it—to control you. To make you nothing but a pawn for them to use.”
“Fifteen seconds.”
As I prepare the last line to complete my speech, the power shuts off. Leaving the entire room in black.
“I thought you said fifteen seconds!” Claire shouts.
“I didn’t end it,” Dahlia says.
Dammit. The one video won’t be enough to change anything. We needed those last few seconds to show more, to give the citizens a reason to believe us. As my chest swells, the power returns and where my face was displayed on every hologram, another takes its place.
Ezra Coleman.
His face makes me want to explode. The arrogant arc of his brows and lips makes my blood boil.
“Excuse that broadcast, dear citizens. Something is going on that we will take care of momentarily. Rest assured, everything is fine. Have an enlightened day.”
We all watch in disbelief. Trading silent glances with one another.
“Systems detect an activated node,” Amity says.
My heart sinks.
“You’re in danger, Ms. Young.”
MALWARE
50
Red flashes through the dark room. Light and power finally return as everyone looks around for an answer to what’s happening. An active node in Black Web? When I first got here there were none, everyone appeared as node-free to Amity and me.
“What’s going on?” Thaddeus says frantically.
“No idea,” replies Dahlia.
“Phoenix,” Claire calls, “have you tried bringing the network back online?”
“I have, but I can’t get in,” Ayster says.
“Amity, where is the node located?” I ask.
“Moving toward the main level.”
The holograms and boards glow with red lines falling like rain, indicating a system failure.
“Encryptions remain steady,” Raelyn announces.
Which means…
“It’s an internal malfunction,” Mason reads my mind.
“Ms. Young, more nodes have registered as hostile, and they’ve been updated to Iris.”
Dozens of red dots paint the screen on my wrist, making me shudder. This many nodes are active in a matter of seconds. How?
“Can you determine who they belong to?” I ask.
“It appears they are agents, Ms. Young.”
Bile rises in my throat, forcing me to choke it back. How did they get here? This facility doesn’t reveal itself to people who are not among it. I turn my gaze and try to calm myself, but I only see the red lines again. My eyes move from one hologram to the next, and it finally comes to me.
“It’s a virus,” I say.
Dahlia’s silver gaze finds me. I quickly remember a lesson from my father. The sudden crash of a network. Signaling of red going through a system and displayed as we see here always meant there was a virus present. Feeding on the internetwork. Once triggered, it has the potential to bring down entire frameworks from the inside. Undetectable until it’s too late.
A Trojan horse.
“How could a virus have been placed without anyone knowing?” Eliza asks.
I don’t have an answer as I scan the area. This type of virus would have had to have been placed a while ago. With an encryption disguising it, making it hidden. It would have to be someone who has access.
The plant.
Mason and Raelyn are together at a hologram when I start my approach.
“If it’s a virus,” Mason says, “Viro can reverse it.”
His voice instantly stops my forward movement. Viro, Zane’s code name. I think back to his introduction the day at the apex.
‘I specialize in viruses, new girl.’
‘Specifically, hidden viruses people never see coming.’
As my mind quickly rolls over the thoughts, I’m stunned I didn’t see it sooner.
“Where’s Zane!?” I ask urgently.
Everyone looks around as they realize he isn’t in the room.
He must have found a way to exit while we were all distracted, similar to what he did in Encryption. Vanishing in the dark without saying a word. His obsession with me being in Eliza’s room. The vagueness in Claire’s debrief a week ago. And the way he smirked after I helped decode their findings. He must have supplied the information to Ezra back in Millennia, which means he’s the one who can emit fire from nothing.
It all begins to make sense.
“Ms. Young,” Amity interrupts my thoughts, “the agents are moving. This is indeed a raid.”
“There’s been a breach,” Dahlia says.
“It’s the Enlightenment,” I say.
“How do you—” Ayster starts.
“Never mind that,” Claire interjects. “We must defend Black Web. Everyone, in groups of two, defend each thread and make sure we take care of every intruder. Protect any younger members you find in their rooms or wandering the halls. I don’t want them to panic.”
Claire rapidly assigns the threads to the web, making them move.
Eliza and I break away and head to our thread: the main entrance of Black Web. As we head upward, I think to myself about how I want to end Zane’s life. The traitor asshole has been working against us. Working with those who caused my pain.
This time, I will not hesitate.
51
“Zane!” Eliza snaps. “Should have fucking known.”
We storm away from the center, where the elevator docks. At the entrance, two EAs stand at his shoulder. The mask sends all but pleasant memories of my extraction mission. The fiery trail from a simple hand gesture.
Behind Zane, there’s no forced entry, implying he’s been able to go in and out whenever he wanted too, allowing anyone to invade Black Web at will. There could be EAs everywhere in the facility by now. The thought seeps poison into me and makes me think about all the people here who don’t fight or aren’t ready. They’ll be slaughtered if the rest of the web and silks don’t reach them in time.
I draw my staff, not willing to exchange words or waste any precious time. The tungsten vibrates in my hand, the energy matching my raging blood; I desperately want to unleash. A wispy sound of air escapes through the space and breaks the silence. My eyes follow the trajectory of the sound to the main door. It slowly opens, daylight rushing inside like it needs a place to hide.
“Well, well,” a voice says.
We’re quickly outnumbered as four more figures stalk inside. I ignore the stall in my breath.
One of them is an EA, joining the others at Zane’s side. The mask remains on his face but reveals no expressions. I try to make out who the other three are, but the sun’s vengeful glare conceals them as heels clamp against the floor. The pace is slow, exact and eerie, with the shade of the sun dimmed by the dark atmosphere of Black Web. The main door closes, suffocating the light, finally revealing them.
Ezra Coleman claps as he takes a relaxed stance with Zane by his side. My eyes turn to the mask wearer from the estate, with the ability to produce fire. I thought it was Zane, but clearly it isn’t.
Eliza looks at me with the same question in her eyes. The last person by Ezra’s side stands idle. A hood conceals their full identity. Silver hair falls beneath the hood, highlighted against the black they wear.
“It is a pleasure to finally meet you,” Ezra says in a smooth cadence.
He looks between Eliza and me with a stare both calm and dangerous. Blonde hair lying flat magnifies the sharp edges of his face. He’s younger than I imagined as I glance past his smug smile. The insignia—a golden eye with the globe behind it glistens and against the deep blue of his suit, reminds me of the Central Square incident. It winks from Black Web’s glow, making me tense.
“I bet you’re wondering who this is.” He gestures to the fire maker and person we thought was Zane.
Their mask retracts into a device on their head, unlike how we take ours off. As it disappears, my blood freezes.
Trace.
“What. The. Hell,” Eliza whispers.
“What?” Zane says, the sarcasm seeping through his venomous voice. “You act like you’ve never seen a clone before.”
He chuckles beneath his breath.
“Why?” Eliza asks bitterly.
“Oh, you can do better than that,” he taunts. “Why not is the better question. Black Web has always limited our potential and forward movement. The Enlightenment doesn’t.”
The Enlightenment cloned Trace. But why? How? As my thoughts roar inside my head, I remember the recent debrief from Zane’s mission. They found Trace’s blood at the Panoramic Diner, and it was swabbed.
His death replays in my head, and my heart aches.
Everything about him is the same. His dark locs fall to his shoulders. My eyes follow the lines of the guy who saved my life, and I remember the times I had with him, but the warmth his eyes and smile once gave is gone. Now he stands and barely looks like he’s breathing. But of course, he isn’t. The video showed us clones are androids beneath the skin of their copies. Tears threaten to rise, but I hold them back, channeling hate and forcing myself to remember it’s not the Trace I knew.
Ezra steps forward, making Zane and the silver-haired person go back.
“There’s been a lot of mistakes in the past few weeks, threatening my hold over Area 1. The Enlightenment has made it apparent this must be fixed because everything we’ve worked to achieve hangs in the balance.”
He paces and rolls his head, looking at the facility, but I can’t stop staring at Trace. He doesn’t move a muscle, and I tense when I meet his gaze. It finally forces me to look away.
“Don’t worry about him,” Ezra’s gaze lands on me. “He hasn’t been perfected yet, so he can’t speak.”
I inhale a sharp breath as his eyes narrow. He examines me and smiles.
“I don’t believe we’ve met, but you do share a lot of similarities with a former colleague of mine. Hmmm.”
A former colleague? When my mother was alive and we’d go places together, I’d always get people saying we looked exactly alike. If he means my mother, it would mean she worked with him. I can’t bring myself to believe she was involved with them in any way.
“Got it!” He snaps. “Adalina was her name. Gentle and kind, yet tenacious and unyielding. What a love—”
“Don’t ever mention her name again,” I snarl.
It can’t be.
His eyes light up with intensity.
“Are you related to her? How? Given the resemblance, I’m inclined to guess daughter, perhaps. But we captured her daughter, and she was imprisoned years ago. Unless…” His pacing stops and his eyes dip as the corners of his mouth arch. “You were the escapee from the Mirror’s Edge.”
The Mirror’s Edge? The name of the place we found earlier, where they clone humans. I never knew the name of the prison I was in. Having a name doesn’t make the memories of my time there any better—in fact, now there’s a heavy weight placed on my chest. What if they cloned me?
There’s no way. I would know.
Ezra’s gaze sharpens as he formulates his thoughts. Eliza and I are severely outnumbered, but it doesn’t stop the want to end his life. The way he speaks so calmly when he took everything…
“Another mistake I made… Nonetheless, Jericho will prevail. So will the Enlightenment.”
Eliza draws her spheres with a swift rotation of her wrist. They fall in between her fingers and the look on her face says what her voice doesn’t need to.
“Done talking already? Eliza, your parents will be very disappointed in you.”
He snaps his fingers, mimicking Jericho from the playback, signaling the EAs. The four of them raise their rifles and aim. Instead of red beams streaming from the ends like I’m used to seeing, they burn a bright purple.
“Well, looks like duty calls. I’ll be addressing the nation about this barbaric act. That’ll keep their trust from wavering,” Ezra says, backtracking to the exit. “It certainly was a pleasure meeting the daughter of such a lovely woman.” He finds Zane and Trace. “Finish it. And remember what we talked about.”
“The Enlightenment is the future,” Zane says.
He leaves with the mystery person, and Eliza doesn’t hesitate.
She sends two orbs at Ezra, but they knock two EAs to the ground instead.
Ezra’s eyes bulge as he scurries through the front door, looking over his shoulder for another orb.
“Amity,” I say, triggering the new drone.
It darts in the air as Eliza and I dodge an incoming pulse wave from a rifle. Another piece of technology I have never seen, only heard about. Heat engulfs the square base, intensifying as the purple beam trails along the ground toward me. It melts the marble, disengaging the protective layer, signaling an alarm. It blares and screams, echoing through the facility.
The familiar sound of the drone’s weapons stops the death ray. Two EAs fall to the ground, their guns clattering beside them. Eliza rises and sprints toward Zane and Trace. Trace’s mask falls down his face as fire flashes in his hands.
“Liz!” I shout.
She dashes to the side as a blazing streak of fire passes her. I get to my feet and dash toward Zane. He turns, not fazed by my approach. With a quick move of his hand, he aims a pulse hand cannon. That weapon I know. Slow to fire but causes severe damage to anything it manages to hit. However, to shoot, it requires biotechnology—a fingerprint or eye scan.
I move fast and from a side pocket on my thigh, I’m able to quickly find an EMP pad. I throw it toward him as the wind-up of his shot echoes. The EMP ignites, and the shot doesn’t register. Frustration grows in his eyes as he continuously pulls the trigger. A sound of clicks gives me the urgency to pursue him.
“Ms. Young, to your right,” Amity warns.
Fire comes from the clone. A ball of heat, the size of a burning wheel, barrels its way toward me with immense speed. I spin, trying to get around it as it rushes past me, but the flame is too fast. It catches my arm and melts the sleeve. The explosion knocks me off my feet as I roll to the ground. It takes a moment for my nerves to acknowledge the agonizing pain. Excruciating heat travels through my arm as I hold my screams, fighting the urge, so I don’t give these assholes any satisfaction.
