Simulated, p.12
Simulated, page 12
No. My head is spinning. It is much worse than we thought. But all of this could be a lie too. He’s a hacker, for crying out loud! I don’t know him. He could be manipulating me into helping him. For all I know he’s the “Successor” leading this Loyalist group.
“If the Loyalists don’t have the Blacklist yet, why don’t you just stop Montego?” I ask, playing along, studying him.
“Two reasons. Kai’s life depends on Montego showing up with the Blacklist and vouching for him. I assume you care about that. Second, there’s no other way to stop the Successor and get the master-file, which includes older PSS tech, like Still-Night. With Kai on the inside, we can help him get both the Blacklist and the master-file. But first we have to communicate with Kai and there’s only one place he checks in regularly.”
The expression on his face explains it all.
“The tampering with my stocks. That was you.” So. Nothing is private in my life with this hacker around.
“If there was any other way, I would’ve done that. And yes. I unsuccessfully tried to tip off Kai so he wouldn’t get killed. But even a genius can’t crack a code between two people in love.” Noble sarcastically narrows his eyes.
My head whips left like I’ve been hit with cold water in the face. Two people in love. The subject of love still makes me uncomfortable. Kai’s always been patient. But saying those words is like tearing out a piece of my soul that can never be put back in. I don’t say them lightly, which is why I haven’t said them to Kai yet.
I look at Noble. He’s making things sound simple but there’s some information that doesn’t match up. “Look, I’m not just going to believe you. If you want to help Kai, call his agency.”
“I can’t. I’ve calculated that possibility and it doesn’t work out. The only equation where the Loyalists are stopped, the Blacklist is retrieved, and Kai stays alive is the one where you’re involved.”
Our eyes meet with the frequency between us like a wall of water, like a mirror. He’s asking me to trust him and his calculations, which he can’t prove. I’ve been there, asking people to trust my numbers. Now I realize how hard it is to put your faith in something you can’t see. How far-fetched I must have appeared to Chan.
“All right. You said the Loyalists are a network of criminals. And they’re planning a succession of power. So who is their former leader? Whose master-file are we dealing with?” I ask.
A shadow passes across his eyes. “Who else is cunning enough to steal and sell a Blacklist tech made by prodigies?” His expression fades to sympathy.
I sink back against the wall, breathless. Her icy voice swirling like a storm in my head. I’ve watched PSS for a very long time. She told me that years ago. I should have known, should have understood.
He won’t say her name, so I do. For the first time in months, it slips over my lips tasting like bitter betrayal—to myself, my father, to the team. In this light, the lion’s den has a whole new meaning. “Madame.”
Chapter 23
WARMTH IS RIPPED from my chest. It’s followed by an onslaught of numbers coming from different directions. Mixed with the height of the roof and the pulsating measurements of a boy’s voice, vertigo threatens to claim me.
I slide down, back against the wall to stop the spinning. “Don’t tell me she’s out of prison.”
He sits too. His hand rests inches from mine on the cement. I flinch at his proximity. “No.” He shakes his head adamantly. “She’s locked up. No chance of escape. I would have never asked you to come if she was anywhere near this place.”
The protective tone in his voice sends shivers over my skin. Why is this boy so concerned about me?
“How is this possible?” I ask, but I can’t claim ignorance. Madame was in my sims. Clues were all around me. The numbers locked away in my subconscious are still trying to create connections and come to conclusions—to much more than my gift.
Noble pushes his back against the wall. “Madame collected and used PSS secrets long before she met you—some of those are on the master-file. When you opened the door for me to break into PSS during your sims, it also allowed Montego, her former lackey, access. He must have been watching and waiting for an opportunity. I tried to stop him, but I was distracted and then it was too late.”
This is all my fault. I sneak a glance at him before he looks away. The helicopter. I distracted him with my foolishness during the sims. When I convinced Harrison and Pens to open the firewall at PSS, I let them both in.
But his eyes don’t condemn me. They’re dark, round, and candid, but also deep and unsearchable. Everyone thinks he stole the file and anyone who has done research on me knows about Madame. If he’s a genius, he’d calculate a cunning way to make me believe him. Which is why I’m here to outsmart him—even though something about it feels wrong.
“If anyone gets control of PSS tech,” I say, reaching to my ear, slipping an earring out, “the power they’ll have will be even more destructive than Madame’s.” I rub a bit of smartdust between my fingers. Just enough. Now all I need is to get it on his tech somehow, and the Bluetooth nano-tech can hack in. “How is this deal going down without her?”
“When Madame let you go at the Expo it was because she had already set up a new Successor. With the master-file, the Successor could build a new empire with her network.”
“But we exposed Madame’s network,” I say.
“Madame was too smart for that. She knew the authorities would be able to dismantle her empire, so she deliberately exposed only three-quarters of her contacts. That way, a smaller part of her network could remain hidden and eventually rebuild.”
It dawns on me with a frightening feeling that I was her first choice as a Successor. That plan didn’t work out because she “killed” me. I wince. “Who is her Successor now?”
“No one knows. Not me. Not even the Loyalists,” he says, opening a leather satchel. “Only Montego has information on who the Successor is. That’s why he’s our key to taking down the Successor, stopping the Loyalists and ending the radicals tampering with the election in Tunis.”
“How is Montego the key?”
Noble hands me a small, black holographic thumb drive—a holothumb. “We switch his holothumb with this one—it’s an identical holothumb to the one that Montego has with the PSS Blacklist, only this one is encrypted with a program I call, SMOKE to trace all of the files.” I gasp. Noble better have good explanation for having our tech.
“Tomorrow Montego plans to sell another item from the Blacklist to the radical’s leader, Amir Ben Slimane, thirty minutes from here in Sidi Bou Saïd. Then he will head to the desert where the Loyalist transaction will happen on Friday. If we can switch the holothumbs, when the Successor merges the master-file with the Blacklist files, SMOKE will infect them both. Kai is safe, and the last of Madame’s network is exposed.” He pauses. “I’ve been watching him. He’s terrified of Madame’s reputation. He protected her secrets for months. But he’s greedy. After he hacked the FBI private watch on Madame and was sure she couldn’t escape and come after him, he started selling older Blacklist tech, like Veil to the radicals. Now we have the perfect opportunity to stop this.”
“We?” I ask. “You keep saying “we”, but I haven’t agreed to anything yet. You haven’t even given me proof that Kai is ok. I won’t be a puppet.”
He keeps his back against the wall in the shadow. “Last time I checked, Kai was fine. I dare say, even enjoying himself.”
My eyebrows furrow. Kai has always had a quick mind and quick feet. I’m not at all surprised he convinced a group of terrorists that he belongs. But enjoying it? I doubt that. I’m worried for him. I’ve seen him after a mission before. “So you have eyes on him?”
“I do.”
“Prove it.”
“Believe me, you don’t want to see.” Noble’s voice is so absolute; I can’t imagine what Kai’s been through. But I need to make him show me. It’s true I’m desperate to see Kai, and somehow, I know the hacker will buy it. But that is not the only reason I demand it.
“Yes. I. Do,” I say, strongly, my adrenaline rising. “Show me Kai right now, or I walk.” My gift starts flashing like a strobe light and I have to close my eyes to make it stop. Why are my numbers so out of control?
“All right.” He sighs, and brings up his phone, taps in a code and pulls up a screen. He swallows hard. “This is live and he’s undercover. You might see things you don’t like.”
“I don’t care.” I snatch his phone into my hand. The Bluetooth smartdust from my earrings is now on his phone. He doesn’t know it, but we’re one up on him.
I watch the live video stream of Kai and all thoughts of smartdust fade.
My heart surges once he is in full view. Yes, that is Kai. He is alive…and…my head swirls and bounces to every inch of the screen, taking in every bit of the scenario. I’d been envisioning him with black eyes, starved and sickly, tied to a chair like in the movies, but he’s not.
He’s sitting at an expensive table in a luxurious house eating and laughing with well-dressed men and women. And lots of girls. Kai is acting completely normal, relaxed. I’m shocked because he really does look like he’s having fun.
My face blanches white as Noble, who is beside me, watches along too. Noble’s words about him being attracted to danger surface. All his time with the Sang brothers apparently paid off—not to mention following me, his first “case”. But he’s undercover, I remind myself. He’s good at what he does.
I take another look and pay attention to what I see. The rowdier men are drinking, the more refined businessmen are discussing something I can’t hear. The girls, all dressed a bit scantily, are parading around the room.
A girl with long black hair, definitely a former X girl judging by the way she moves, sits at the table a bit too close to Kai. She’s far too pretty for my liking. Her mouth is moving, like she’s telling him something funny, and—she’s touching his arm. He’s not stopping her. My stomach tightens. Equations flicker around her movements. She’s twirling a lock of her hair, slowly pulling it forward, over her bare collarbone. Noble was right. I don’t like what I see. But I need a few more minutes to make sure the smartdust connects so I glue my eyes to the screen and pretend not to care.
“Do we have audio?” I ask, irritated at the jealously in my voice.
He raises his eyebrows as if to ask are you sure you want to do that? My stern face gives him his answer. “Right there.”
I un-mute the video to hear a smooth, feminine voice. “Can I get you another drink?” the girl with long black hair asks Kai. I cringe. I’ve watched this scene before. The elite X girls were trained to please, to charm, but always with an ulterior motive, usually getting answers for Madame. She uncrosses her legs. “I’ll get it for you. You don’t have to move a muscle.”
“Thank you, but I should be serving you,” Kai says with a wink. “You’re the lady.”
To her surprise, he stands and fills her glass. Kai—always the gentleman. He hated how Madame could turn a girl into a pawn, hated the way they were treated. It doesn’t shock me that he’s trying to instill some dignity in this girl, but I don’t like it. He shouldn’t be giving her so much attention.
She lowers her eyes, fluttering her eyelashes at him. “Speaking of ladies, do you have a girl somewhere waiting for you?” She sips her drink in an absurdly sexy way and it makes my insides boil. My hand grips the phone a bit tighter, waiting for Kai’s response. In fact, Noble even leans in to hear too.
Kai throws his head back with a laugh. The crooked grin I adore curls up on his face, and he sets his glass down. “Whenever I think of girls, all I think of is trouble.”
My body goes stiff, and my cheeks catch fire as Noble, to my right, clears his throat. It’s just like Kai to do something like that. If anything, he’s cocky but he’s always ready with the right answer. Kai is thinking of me, even if Noble’s accusations still linger. I know they’re not true. Embarrassed but satisfied that Kai’s alive, I quickly hand back the phone, sure the smartdust has had time to establish a connection.
“Thanks,” I say, sighing with relief. “All right. Tell me the rest of your plan.”
Chapter 24
HIS PLAN IS outrageous. I’d be stupid to agree. My dad would hate it and I will probably be banned from PSS forever. But I think it’ll work.
Now I just have to find a way to get PSS to help. Or, like Kai, I will have to go rogue with this hacker.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask.
He looks away. “I have my reasons.”
“Tell me one.”
He draws in a large breath. “When I needed it most, this country, these people took care of me. They’re good people. They’ve worked hard to build their nation, lay a new foundation. They don’t deserve the chaos these radicals are planning. And the Successor will destroy this whole region–and possibly the rest of the world – with those lists. Someone’s got to stop all of them.”
I stare at him, holding back a hundred more questions we don’t have time for and clear my throat. “That was four reasons.”
He smirks. “Maybe I’m not as good with numbers as I think.”
My lips tug up. Math nerds are always the same. “All right. Count me in.”
Noble fidgets and looks everywhere but my face. “With your gift you should be able to do this.”
My gift. “You act like I still have it. But we can’t count on my gift unless you tell me how to get it working again, right now,” I say.
“Time’s up,” he says, pointing to my watch.
A second later my alarm goes off. Dang it. His internal clock is like mine. Jealousy rises in me. I used to be able to do that. I want to ask more but he’s right, I’m already out of time.
“You have to call your dad.” His eyes soften like he’s apologetic for knowing my business. “Better not miss that.” Before we head downstairs, he picks up a fallen leaf resting on the roof and runs his fingers over the veins then puts it into my hands.
Each step down I’m consumed and frustrated by how he knows so much about me. Even the phone call with my dad. “How long have you been watching me?” I ask when we reach the bottom stair.
He sighs, running his hand through his shiny hair. “Believe me. If your boyfriend hadn’t stumbled into a situation where PSS and Madame were involved, I wouldn’t have contacted you at all. And helping you get your numbers back is the least I can do.” He moves away from me, back into the shadows like he’s hiding something more.
“Next time try calling like a normal person instead of hacking into my sims,” I say, a bit judgmentally.
“When has normal ever been easy for kids like us?” The frequency of our voices tingles under my skin every time he speaks. He looks away. It’s affecting him too, like it stings to be around me. Honestly, it does for me too and I need to figure out why. He looks embarrassed about how much he knows.
I’m about to leave when I turn, finding his dark brown eyes. “Thank you for helping Kai.”
He flinches before backing away. “You’re welcome, although I don’t think you’ll thank me later. I warned you once. He’s not who you think he is.” Noble bolts back up the stairs and out of sight.
I push the door open, my head swimming with what Noble just said about Kai. It’s dark now but a slight breeze blows off the salty ocean clearing my head long enough to see a shadowy figure come at me from out of nowhere. Before I know it, large hands clutch my arm.
“Finally,” the man growls.
Chapter 25
I'M COMMANDING K2 to shock my assailant when the large hands let me go and the man snaps, “It’s me. The one you so kindly tased back in the van.”
I stop struggling. “How are you awake? That taser should have knocked you out for over an hour.”
“I’m a big guy. Next time use a higher setting. In fact, next time just poison me,” he says smugly, dropping my arm. “I told you my goal would be your goal. I’m on your side.”
“I had to go alone. I’m sorry.”
“Oh, you’re not the one I’m mad at right now. My employer warned me that this might be a tough job. But I didn’t expect to be tased. It stings like a…” He glances at me and bites his tongue. “Ah, forget it. At least you’re not dead. Did you find what you were looking for?” Goliath asks, his large feet tread surprisingly light on the ground as we head to the van.
“Yes, sort of. Are you going to tell Ms. T?”
“Not if you don’t. I’d prefer to finish this job without rumors spreading of me getting tased by a teenage girl.” He waits for a scooter to pass us, then leads us across the street.
“Deal.”
He walks me to the car like a sentinel. His usual stiff posture is calm, completely in the dark about what just happened. It makes me proud for a moment. He’s a trained bodyguard, yet I bested him like Phoenix would have. He has no clue that I just met a dangerous hacker inside the museum. Hmm. The best security in the Middle East indeed.
“Let’s get back,” I say, a bit skeptical of him as we reach the van. He grunts in reply and opens the van door for me.
After we drive off, I pull out my phone, which is working again. “Excuse me, I have to call my father.”
My dad picks up on the first ring. “Hey, Dad.”
“Jo,” he says, like he’s been holding the phone a bit too tight. “Right on time. How’s Tunis, honey?”
I look out the window hoping the new sights will make my gift spark like inside the Bardo but it’s quiet. “It’s great. Just finished my first museum tour…” Goliath rolls his eyes at me through the rearview mirror. I tell Dad about the National Bardo Museum, and he’s pleased to know I’m spending time with 3000-year-old mosaics instead of criminals. If he only knew.
