Hack.A.I. (The Hack. series Book 1), page 27
“Why, why would he do that to us, to me?”
“Look at the time stamp,” Cassie said.
Everyone’s eyes shot up to the corner timestamp.
“It was right after the argument,” she continued.
Bic scoffed. He swivelled on the spot, his hand scratching the top of his head with force.
“I can’t believe it. That rat fuck.” Bic said. “He was like my brother. We always said you don’t turn your back on family, man.”
“His ego mattered more to him.” Cassie said.
“Did he…” Bic turned to face them again and stopped in his tracks. “Who the fuck is that?” he said, staring past Nate’s shoulder at the CCTV footage behind him.
“SQAI, stop there, camera three.”
On the screen, three burly men stormed into Check’s flat.
“They didn’t come back out that way.”
“Change camera to behind the flat SQAI,”
“Working.”
Within a second, she switched to the camera behind the flat.
The timestamp appeared before the break in footage, reading 21:51:53.
“There.” Cassie pointed out.
Check scaled his second-story flat window and landed on the car park floor below. A drop of ten feet. Followed by the three men.
“Oh no, no, no, not Check,” Cassie said, her voice fearful, her lips trembling.
“SQAI, follow his path.” Nate said as Check ran out of shot.
SQAI switched cameras right away, seamlessly, like a TV drama.
This time, black and white footage, with the street lamps like large spotlights highlighting Checks’ path.
Check ran down the car park road towards a busy main road, glancing back every few seconds.
His fear was visible through the camera.
Horror overwhelmed him.
SQAI switched cameras again.
A high traffic camera shot of Check jumping over a barrier to a dual carriageway, cutting across the busy night time traffic.
Three men were still in hot pursuit.
“When was this?” Bic asked.
“A few days ago, pretty much right after they nabbed you.”
“They came to my house too, looking for us,” Cassie said.
“Who did, these guys?” Bic asked.
“No, police, supposedly.” Nate answered.
Unharmed, Check made it to the other side while cars stopped behind.
Also, allowing the pursuers time to catch up.
Check quickly hopped over the tall gate to enter the empty park.
“No, not in there,” Bic said aloud.
Using this camera, SQAI captured the three men helping each other over the fence.
It remained fixed on this shot until the men were no longer visible.
“Is it broken?”
“SQAI, have you got another camera angle?”
“No, Nate, this is the last footage of Charlie Millstone.”
“What about the men?”
The monitor changed to an older camera shot that takes photos every ten seconds instead of recording video.
“I hate these fucking cameras.”
“They are for cheap assholes.” Bic replied.
The first two shots are of a street light overlooking an industrial garage door.
The third shot: a pixelated image of two burly men carrying a hooded figure in each arm.
“That’s Check!”
Cassie, horrified, threw a hand over her mouth, and she welled up.
The next shot, a car came into view.
And the next showed a third burly man holding a door open for their captive.
Next, the opener prepared to return to the driver’s seat.
“You can’t even tell what car it is.” Bic stated.
“SQAI, can you clean up the image?”
“De-pixelating.”
The car became clearer, yet still too dim to discern the model.
“SQAI, what car is that?”
“Due to the low quality image, I cannot identify the specific car. I can follow its path to find better footage.”
“Do it.”
The screens started working feverishly.
“There are three possibilities, based on the shape and colour.”
“Show us?”
Three images of dark cars appeared on speed cameras a little down the road.
“Okay, triangulate the area of the park. Search for mobile phones active in the park during the chase.”
“Working.”
The monitor pinged five different numbers to the park.
“Were any of them pinged on the path of these three cars?”
“Yes, three numbers.”
“Show me that car.”
On all the screens displayed an old black Mercedes with blacked-out windows.
“Follow its path.”
The car took various turns and headed away from the city. It turned down a country path and SQAI informed them they didn’t appear on any traffic cameras or any internet enabled cameras along the road they took.
“Can you follow the GPS?”
“The phones have encryption. Decryption will take a few minutes.”
“What about the path of the telephone pings?” Nate asked.
“Tracing.”
On the screen, multiple triangles appeared on a map following the country road until they came to a stop above a lake.
“Where is that?” Bic asked.
“Chew valley lake. Out by the airport.” Cassie replied.
“A lake? Why are they at a lake?” Bic asked, panic setting in his voice.
Nate zoomed in and searched the land. Searching for a needle.
“SQAI, any data on the phones?”
“Call logs dating back two days.”
“Just two days?” Cassie asked.
“Burner phones.” Nate answered without a glance. “SQAI, who did they call?”
“One number.” She replied over the speaker.
“Can you track that number?”
“Working.”
A few seconds passed by and nothing happened on the screen.
“SQAI, anything?” Nate asked.
“The location the call was made from is displayed on the monitor.”
Their attention shifted from the laptop to the monitors when they saw the blue dot on the map they were focused on.
There was nothing there. Some waterside land, but nothing.
“SQAI, is this live imagery?”
“No, this is stock maps, accessing the live feed.”
Dead centre of the triangulation was a large busy building site. Sky high cranes and excavators moving about.
“SQAI, find me the owner of that site?”
On the top corner screen, a government website popped up for land ownership and was being worked through at lightning speed. In a second, the landowner appeared on screen.
The room was filled with a sudden silence, broken only by the sound of gasps escaping their parted lips.
On the screen, in black and white, Benny Dochlan.
forty-seven
“You can’t go by yourself, Bic. They will kill you,” Cassie pleaded.
“My son is there. I’m going to get him.”
Bic marched towards the container, Nate and Cassie chasing behind.
“At least let me help you. I have got…” Nate said.
“You’ve done enough.” Came an unfriendly response.
Cassie and Nate exchanged a glance.
“I just want to help make it right.” Nate implored.
Bic halted in his stride.
He turned and angrily approached Nate, who had also halted.
Face to face, Bic stopped.
“I’m going to kill Benny Dochlan and anyone else in my way. I’m going to go to that house and kill every single person who gets between me and my son. Are you prepared to kill, kid? For family?”
Nate couldn’t look Bic in the eye, even though Nate naturally stood a little taller.
“Answer me? Are you prepared to kill Nate? Or is it unnecessary too?”
No answer came.
“That’s what I thought. Like I said, you’ve done enough. And right now, I don’t know who to trust, anyway.”
“No, Bic, you can’t. What if they kill you and Check, I can't,” Cassie cried, her voice filled with desperation.
Bic’s face softened, and he glanced at her.
He closed his eyes, and his head dropped to the ground.
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean that but they have my boy, Cass. What do you expect me to do?”
“Just wait, try and talk to them. Speak to the police. People that can deal with this situation without anyone dying.”
“We are on our own, Cass. Hasn’t anything you’ve seen the last few weeks shown you that. Money is all that matters to these people.”
“This isn’t a game or a film, Bic, you don’t come back from this. Even if you survive, it won’t be the end of it and you know it,” Cassie bawled, slapping Bic’s chest.
Without lifting his gaze, Bic stated as a fact. “He is all I have left.”
“You got us,”
Bic scoffed, “You kids got each other, Check only has me.”
Bic turned away and ran towards the container, climbed over, jumped down, and drove away in the rental car.
“What are we gonna do?” Cassie said, turning to Nate, teary-eyed.
“I can’t be there while he kills people, Cass. And he doesn’t want my help.”
“I don’t care. Do it for me, Nate, please? I can’t lose them.” She pleaded.
Nate nodded. His voice broke as he uttered, "Okay."
He pulled glasses out of his pocket and put them on.
“SQAI, I want you to add admin allowances for Cassie Jacobs.”
“Are you sure, Nate? This cannot be undone?” SQAI replied.
Nate locked his gaze on Cassie's eyes, wiping the tears away.
“I’d trust her with my life.”
He placed the glasses on her face.
Silence filled the air as Cassie’s face flushed with colour.
“Admin access confirmed.”
“I’m going to make this right. With no one else dying. And I need you to help me.”
She nodded and smiled. “Okay.”
“Let me go inside and grab some stuff that will help us.”
Nate's nimble movements caught Cassie's attention as he effortlessly scaled the drainpipe and disappeared through the hatch. Only then did she reach for her phone.
“Yes?” a gruff man’s voice said on the other end.
“I have complete admin access.”
“Excellent! Bring it to me.”
“I can’t. Bic is in trouble, and we are going to stop him from doing something stupid.”
“May I remind you of our deal?”
“I will get it to you. Just not yet.”
“Fuck me over, girl, and you will see exactly what I’m capable of.”
“I won’t. You will have it.”
“You better.”
The line cut dead.
Cassie saw Nate step from the hatch dressed in all black with black sunglasses and a large backpack on.
“What the hell is in there?” She said as he reached her.
“A few little surprises, to help us. SQAI, where is Bic now?”
A map appeared on both of their lenses, guiding them through the city as they travelled.
“Slow him down.”
“Yes, Nate. Traffic disruption measures activated.”
“Find us two cars?”
“I can order two rentals sent out.”
“No time. We need them now. Quick ones if you can.”
“Yes, Nate, searching.”
Two cars appeared on the map close by.
They ran to a house down the street and discovered a Porsche 911 and a Porsche Taycan parked on a driveway.
“Bugsy the two-door.” Cassie said.
“Fair, you are a better driver than me.”
Pulling his phone out of his pocket, Nate connected an antenna to it from his bag. And then sauntered up to the cars.
“What’s that?”
“It acts as an immobiliser, allowing me access to the cars without the key. SQAI already has all the frequency codes, so it opens immediately.”
Nate tapped his phone and the first car unlocked, followed by the second.
They got into the respective driver’s seats and hit the push button to hear the engine’s roar.
The owner opened his front door to see Cassie and Nate smiling back at him.
Jerking the gear stick into reverse, Cassie’s wheels spun, and she shot backwards out the drive and onto the housing estate road.
Nate followed suit, yanking the middle-aged owner forward a little after the man tried the car’s door handle.
“SQAI, reimburse him. And kill the police calls.”
“Yes, Nate.”
The owner, with his phone in his hand, 999 already dialled, saw the notification of ‘money in’ with the reference “Thanks for the cars.”
“What did you reimburse him with?” Cassie asked, upon hearing his conversation with SQAI through their closed loop communication.
“Double what the cars are worth.” Nate replied.
“Damn, how can you get so unlucky and lucky in one day?”
“In one minute, more like.” Nate replied.
They took off into the setting October sun down the dual carriageway.
Cassie manoeuvred the car around corners with the agility of a go kart, while Nate trailed behind, less ferocious.
“I want you to chase Bic down, try talking to him, to stop him from doing anything stupid. No one needs to die today.”
“What are you going to do, babe?”
“I’m going to get Check out of there.”
“You are a good man, Nate. Far too good,” Cassie said, the upset creeping out of her voice like a slipping mask. “I’m sorry for crying. Like, that’s all I do. I’m never normally like this.”
“It’s been a stressful time, Cass. I’m sorry for bringing it all to your door.”
“You didn’t, Nate, it…”
“But I did. If I hadn’t got myself caught up in this shit, none of you would have. Now we are being framed by a violent criminal who kidnapped two members of the group, chased by army soldiers for wrecking a plane and got so much police on our tail that we can’t sneeze without one of them popping up.” Nate interrupted.
“When you put it like that, it sounds horrifying.” Cassie replied.
“It has been. I’ve put you guys through hell for weeks.”
“It’s not all bad, I hope. I can think of a few memorable moments.”
Nate smirked as he cast a glance at himself in the mirror.
“No, not all bad,”
It sounded like Nate was about to say more but he hesitated.
“Uh, I was gonna say after we get Check and Bic together, I think we should travel somewhere. Lie low for a little while. My treat.”
Cassie hesitated in replying.
“Cass?”
“That would be amazing.” She replied.
Nate picked up on her melancholy tone.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine,”
Nate knew Cass well enough not to press further. He wouldn’t get anything from her if he tried.
Given all the green lights that SQAI provided them and all the alternative routes, Nate arrived at the country road they had tracked the car to earlier. Darkness enshrouded the country lane, with towering hedges and treacherous potholes scattered every few hundred yards.
“SQAI, where’s Bic?”
“Benjamin Cross is at his registered address. CCTV imagery shows him loading several weapons into the rental car.”
“Jesus,”
“He is going to get himself killed,” Cassie said. “I’m close by. I hope I get to him in time.”
“Just got to the site, Cass. We need to go radio silent for now, but I’ll be wearing my glasses. So, SQAI will keep you updated.”
“Okay, I’m at Bic’s place. Nate, I want you to promise me you won’t let anything happen to Bic or Check?”
“I won’t.”
“Promise me?”
“I promise.”
“Thank you, Nate.”
“Oh, and Cass?”
“Yeah?”
“I want to say sorry for what I said earlier…”
“I’ve got to go.” Cassie interrupted.
The line went dead.
A car appeared behind Nate and turned onto the lane. Nate silenced the radio, and patiently awaited the car's progress.
Then he started on the recommended route to the site that SQAI provided.
Cassie, waiting in the Porsche outside Bic’s house, thumped the steering wheel with her fist several times as tears poured down her cheeks.
After she regained her composure, she asked SQAI.
“SQAI, do you tell Nate everything?”
“Not if you request me not to, Cassie. As admin, you have full authority over me.”
“Okay, I need your help…”
forty-eight
A high wall ran the lane’s length, with a reinforced wooden gate at the bottom that creaked open for the black Mercedes waiting at its front.
Two guards approached the car, checked the driver and passengers and waved them through.
Nate bided his time, opting for the night’s cloak of darkness to ensure he remained unseen.
As he released several mini drones into the sky, their propellers whirred and their lights blinked in synchronised patterns.
They captured every guard walking around the compound, monitoring their routes, and after a few minutes, placed a tag above their heads for Nate to see through his lenses.
Contractors had built a several story building to the gate’s left, but the remaining compound was still a construction site. Cranes and excavators scattered throughout the grounds.
“SQAI, find out where Check is, and also Benny?” Nate whispered.
“Yes, Nate.”
“How many guards on site?”
“Given the telephone and radio signals, I estimate eleven.”
“What is this place? It looks like a building site for a skyscraper.”
“Planning permissions show it is a four-storey residential property.”
“Benny’s new house?”
“There is also an application to Airbnb for the property to be listed when completed.”
