The Hunting (26 page)

Reverend Schneider stopped and paused a moment. His phone was ringing again.

‘Schneider.’

‘Where? Does she have a shaved head? Check for a Fortransco symbol on the back of her neck. We branded her. Only way to know.’

He was turning again. ‘I’m coming back up. Be there in five minutes. Do not let her get away. You hear me?’

He swiftly moved towards the elevator.

Genie watched him go and suddenly exhaled, unaware till now that she’d been holding her breath. Branded? She’d been branded? She stood up, wondering what to do next when someone touched her on the shoulder and she screamed.

The old woman was there, the one who’d been in the doorway next to McDonald’s.

‘You can’t escape. You can’t win. They’re looking for you.’

Genie stared at her with growing horror. Why did this woman haunt her? How did she know where to find her?

The woman smiled, revealing stained yellow teeth.

‘There’s a hole growing where no hole ought to be. When it comes, it’s the end.’

Genie didn’t understand. Couldn’t understand. She backed up further towards the wall and suddenly felt quite warm. She leaned her face against the rock and it was very warm on her skin.

‘My space,’ the old woman informed her, settling back with a rug into a crevice in the wall.

Genie suddenly understood how she survived. This was a cosy recess, well hidden, warmed by the natural thermals in the rock. The old woman might be crazy but she knew how to keep warm.

‘Shadow-stealers are back. Stay well hidden,’ she told Genie.

Car tyres squealed on an upper floor and Genie looked away, wondering what and where she should go. She was confused now. Was she ‘travelling’ or was this real?

There was a strange noise coming from behind her and she turned to discover the old woman was gone. No rug, no nothing. She’d completely disappeared.

‘What’s going on?’ Genie wailed. ‘What’s happening to me?’

‘Hey, keep it quiet, don’t let them know we’re here.’

She was suddenly staring at Cary. She was in the Fortress. They were in a control booth beside the platform. Cary looked pleased to see her.

‘I was kinda hoping you’d turn up. I’ve figured it out.’

Genie was dizzy, hardly able to keep up with this moving around. She needed to sit and found a stool to grip on to.

‘Do I have a tattoo on my neck?’ she asked.

‘You mean, like this?’ Cary turned and showed her his neck.

The Fortress logo was right there at the base of the neck.

‘Yours is tiny. I saw it before. Denis thinks they are using them to track us, but if so, they aren’t doing such a good job.’

Genie wasn’t so sure.

‘Marshall’s ready,’ she told him, trying to recover her wits.

Cary sighed. ‘Julia passed away at noon. There was a power failure. Denis is hanging on.’

Genie looked away fighting tears. Poor Julia – why couldn’t she have hung on.

‘And you?’ Genie asked quietly.

Cary shrugged. ‘I don’t want to think about it. This idea is crazy enough. Come on, I have to show you what to do.’

‘Can I touch stuff? I mean, am I here, for real?’

He thumped her arm. Genie mouthed, ‘Ouch!’ But he’d made his point.

‘Just don’t ask me to explain it. That’s all.’

Genie took a deep breath. This was exactly where she was supposed to be. She needed to pull herself back together.

‘Schneider’s in the hotel above Radspan. He ran off to see a girl someone thinks is me. We need to know where he is. If we ever get out of this, I don’t want him on our backs any more.’

Cary nodded. ‘I’ll tell Denis. He doesn’t have much strength but he hates Schneider enough to keep tabs on him.’

‘That’s the other thing. I’m worried about Denis. He’s so small. How’s he going to survive on his own? He can’t go home. He can’t go to the farm. We haven’t discussed any of this … stuff.’

‘I’ll be back. Stay put and quiet.’

Genie blinked and Cary was gone. She did as she was bid and sat there, silent, scared, confused and going slightly mad.

Cary was back as suddenly as he had left.

‘Denis has gone to track Schneider.’

‘Thanks.’

‘About what happens next – can I ask you something?’

‘Sure.’ Genie had no idea what he’d say.

Cary looked unsure of himself momentarily. If it wasn’t about computers, he tended to get confused.

‘It’s about Renée.’

Genie looked at him, then slowly smiled.

‘I told you, she likes you. She
still
likes you.’

Cary looked very relieved. ‘Enough to go with me?’

‘We all have to disappear. She’ll go with you, Cary. I know it. We need to get this show on the road.’

Cary put his finger to his lips. A technician was walking into the transmission chamber. He did a spot check, ticked a chart on the wall and killed the lights, the whoosh of the electric doors closing behind him as he departed.

Genie and Cary were sitting in the control room, lit only by the glow of instruments on the panel.

‘I collected all of us who teleported to the farm. I’ve got bad news about Miho though. I really do think she committed suicide.’

‘No, it was a Mosquito attack,’ Genie insisted.

‘Her mother died before she got to the hospital and her father was flying to get her to take her to Japan and—’

‘Oh my God.’ Genie felt terrible. ‘She hated her father.’

‘I know. But she took her own life before he got there. I know it’s true because the technicians were talking about it. Everyone is scared they’re going to lose their jobs if they don’t figure out how to make the Fortress work. They keep going over the video and transmission data, want to know what was so different about it.’

Genie shrugged. ‘I hope they don’t find out.’

‘So,’ Cary asked, ‘I need to know. Do we bring Miho back? I’m not good at playing God.’

Genie looked at him and, for the first time she could remember in a very long time, she felt completely overwhelmed, and sobbed. Poor Miho. She’d been so desperate to talk to her mother. She must have felt so alone. To kill herself, after all she had been through. It wasn’t right, wasn’t right at all.

Cary watched, alarmed. Genie was the strong one. He realized he shouldn’t have told her. He was being insensitive and stupid.

Genie looked up suddenly. ‘Is she still on the database? Is she still here? Can we save her?

Cary nodded. ‘The moment all the servers are in synch, I’m pushing the button.’

‘Talk to her. Tell her Genie needs to know if she wants another chance.’

Cary realized she was right. Only her body was dead, right? She still existed, just like the rest of them, as long as they were on the servers.

‘This is what Reverend Schneider was going on about, isn’t it? Eternal Life. No one dies. I hadn’t really thought about it. No one ever dies, they just renew themselves as things wear out. Jesus, no one will ever need kids again. That is so radical.’

Genie felt dizzy again with the enormity of it.

‘Talk to Miho, Cary. I know you can. Maybe she won’t have a memory of dying. Just ask her if she wants another chance to live. Tell her that her mother is gone, but she’s with us now. She’s not alone. That’s important. She’s not alone.’

Cary vanished. Genie felt sick, but it was just nerves. That, and being back in the Fortress again. She stared at all the computer hardware around her and so wished she could blow it all up. The worst of it all was Cary was right. This was the future. Everyone who could afford it would want a back-up of themselves on the servers. No one would ever need to die again. Or get old.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and waited. If she were Miho, what would she choose? Life? She took a deep breath. Some birthday this was turning out to be.

R
everend Schneider was annoyed. The girl wasn’t even close. She was about thirty, for starters. Didn’t these people read the memos? They were looking for a fifteen-year-old kid with a shaved head, with a dog. The other question, why? Why was she here? Where was she going and with whom?

He drove back towards the hotel. His phone beeped. He answered it using his hands-free.

‘Schneider.’

‘Strindberg. Meet me in the penthouse suite. I’m flying in.’

That was it. The phone disconnected. He’d been summoned.

He overtook a tourist bus and took a right towards the hotel. He didn’t like being summoned to see Strindberg. He was close to finding Genie. He knew it. They’d blown it last night. God knows who shot at the chopper, but they weren’t going to find out and now the cops were curious as to what Fortransco was doing there without authorization.

All he knew was that God had to be really interested in Genie Magee because she lived a charmed life. He certainly didn’t want to make it easy.

Schneider drove down the ramp to the hotel. He slowed at the first sharp bend. Didn’t see the pale, barely visible image of Denis Malone jump into the back seat. Didn’t notice anything.

Denis smiled. He was there and he wasn’t going to let this monster out of his sight now – even if this was the last thing he ever did.

He rode up in the elevator with Reverend Schneider. This was a good game. He felt stronger, realized that some more of the servers had come back online. He’d learned so much since going back into the Fortress machines. He’d been learning to blend, for example. He didn’t need to stand next to Reverend Schneider and risk being noticed. He could blend with the elevator. It was a lot like smearing himself over the surface like butter. He liked this idea. He could be anything, anywhere. He didn’t have to be Denis, the small kid. He could be the TV you watch, part of the building you live in. This was a good game.

Schneider went all the way up to the thirty-first floor. He was met by a gruff pony-tailed security man called Henry, who closely inspected his pass before letting him off the elevator.

Denis was already inside, staring with wonder at all the TV screens in Strindberg’s penthouse suite. He was watching everything: the Fortress, Synchro, Spurlake main street and, Denis quickly realized, he had software hunting for Genie. It was scanning the streets of Whistler, every face, in every shop, or car, or elevator, or washroom, every place that had a CCTV camera – the system was searching for her.

Strindberg came out of another room with a coffee in his hands.

‘Where is she, Schneider? This has gone on long enough.’

‘She’s still here. Somewhere. I got a good description of her at McDonald’s this morning. She was there with a dog, talking to some homeless woman.’

Strindberg nodded. ‘We have new investors coming onboard. I want her out of the picture before that happens. You have no idea how big this deal is now. She
has
to be found.’

Schneider looked pensive. ‘I know this is crazy, but I swear she’s been to this building.’

Strindberg immediately frowned.

‘I’ll put more security on.’

‘I’m not sure that will help. Is there any reason she’d come here? I mean, I don’t get it. Why Whistler? What’s here for her? Why isn’t she running away?’

Strindberg looked out across the resort and contemplated that thought.

‘She wants me. The moment she arrived at my house it became clear to me that she wants to kill me. If she’s been here, it’s to scope it out.’

‘She’s just a girl.’

‘She’s just a girl who has evaded us on a continuous basis. She’s like a loaded gun, Reverend. I want her gone. By any means necessary.’

‘The chopper …’

‘Someone shot at our chopper last night. Did you know that? They discovered the fuel lines had been shot away. You still think she’s an innocent little girl?’

‘She didn’t shoot it down.’

‘Someone did. Someone’s helping her.’

‘Someone?’

‘I’ve made enemies. No one rich can evade that. She’s found someone who wants me dead and the Fortress discredited. That’s all I can think of.’ He had an idea and took out his cell, speed-dialling his PA.

‘Jenny, go through all our ex-employees and find a connection to Whistler. Doesn’t matter what. Someone is helping Genie Magee and they are sheltering her here.’

He disconnected and looked at Reverend Schneider.

‘And you are waiting for what?’

Reverend Schneider wasn’t listening. He was watching the TV. It was flashing
Suspect Identified
.

Strindberg noticed it too. ‘Horstman Trading Company, Blackcomb Way. She’s shopping? Get on it.’

Schneider turned around and headed for the elevator.

‘Take Henry with you and be discreet,’ Strindberg added.

Reverend Schneider got into the elevator with the security guard, who made ready his weapons. He didn’t say a word, didn’t even look him. He had a job to do.

The elevator door closed and Strindberg went back into the other room.

Immediately another screen flashed
Suspect Identified
and another, and another. Genie’s face peered out of all the screens. She was everywhere.

Denis smiled and walked towards the elevator. It had been simple to trick the software. It would see only Genie now. Every young girl it ever looked at would seem to be her. She’d be everywhere and nowhere, and they’d never figure out how to fix it.

Denis was beginning to realize that he quite enjoyed technology. The elevator doors opened and he stepped in.

This was going to be fun.

G
enie was sitting on the floor of the control room, staring at the banks of servers and operating systems. She was wondering how her real body was doing back in Radspan. So weird to be in two places at once again. She wondered if Grandma Munby had always lived with that as well, if it hadn’t made her a little bit crazy.

Cary was back. He looked flustered and he looked for her.

‘What did Miho say?’

‘She’s conflicted, but I’m going to try anyway. We have to do it now.’

‘Now?’

‘I just got word on internal emails that they’re going to do another test. They’ll be here soon.’

Genie stood up. ‘What do I do?’

Cary looked at her and realized that what he had set up was actually quite difficult to manage.