Unknown
Jack awoke groggily, opening his eyes in the dim lighting of his holding cell. He was on a hard-backed bed with almost no padding. His head hurt, and he felt as though he’d been decked in the temple.
He was in a rundown holding cell; less than a ten-by-ten cube without windows. Dust covered everything, and it looked as though it hadn’t been used in many years.
A flickering fluorescent light glowed above him and the only furniture was a toilet in the corner and the bed he was residing on. The toilet was also made out of steel. There was, at least, running water.
He thought back to the night before, piecing together the details of his capture. He tried to figure out what they might want from him. First, he remembered being in the casino, then he was approached by a young woman who had taken him captive.
But, the question he couldn’t answer was: why him? Why kidnap him? What did he know that they would need?
He remembered her mentioning Beck, which made him even more certain that this wasn’t a random happenstance. They knew what they were doing.
But…what were they doing?
2
More importantly, what had happened to Beck? They walked into this trap together but was Beck all right? Jack hoped they hadn’t done anything to his friend.
Jack stood and walked to the bars.
“Hello?” he asked. “Is anyone there?”
There was no reply. He waited at the door for a few minutes and walked back to the bed.
His headache only got worse as he sat there, worrying and frantic. They had snuck out while on active duty after Beck hacked the system, and now he was sitting in a jail cell that hadn’t been used in a long time. He couldn’t imagine things being any worse.
He was sitting on the lumpy bed when the door opened. The young woman from the night before walked in, smiling and calm.
“Hi, Jack, glad to see you finally awake.”
He didn’t reply right away, trying to get his raging emotions under control. He felt anger at her for what she had done to him, but it was masked behind several layers of fear and confusion. She was out of the skimpy dress now, wearing simple and loose fitting clothes. Her hair was disheveled, and she had bags under her eyes.
“What do you want?”
“I heard you were a fantastic chef, and we were hoping to steal your recipe for chocolate truffles,” she replied. She waited for a second and then laughed. “No, not even a chuckle? I thought the reason was obvious.”
“I’m a drone pilot,” he said.
“Bingo,” she replied, pointing her finger at him like a gun. “You’re a lot smarter when you aren’t drunk.”
He hesitated. “I’m an Air Force pilot, and they will be looking for me. You don’t…”
He trailed off when she started laughing.
“You are a drone pilot. They probably won’t even notice you are missing for a few weeks. Worse, you left of your own accord, so even if they were looking for you, it’s to charge you with a crime and then discharge you.”
Jack couldn’t think of a good reply to that.
She bowed. “My name really is Helen. I wasn’t lying to you.”
“What do you want?”
“What does anyone want?”
“I’m not interested in idle chit-chat,” Jack said. “So tell me what the hell you want or get out.”
“Touchy,” she said, making a tsk sound at him. “I see you don’t want to be friends, so I suppose I’ll get down to business. You helped hack the satellite relay that runs your drone software, and we need you to do it again.”
Jack was about to tell her that he had no idea what she was talking about, then realized he did. He started laughing, and she turned crimson.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
“You think I hacked something? I can barely turn my computer on. I can’t help you.”
“Bullshit,” Helen replied, narrowing her eyes. “Your login was used to bypass the security systems. You and Beck hacked into the security network.”
“Beck used my login,” he said. “But I sure as hell didn’t hack anything.”
3
Helen was annoyed.
The office they were in was an old police station. JanCorp used it as a safe house for various operations. Most city plans actually assumed it was demolished or decayed, but it was maintained throughout the years and gradually forgotten.
“We didn’t need both.”
“I thought we would,” Victor replied with a shrug.
“You had me dress up like a doll to trick this asshole, and he isn’t even useful to us.”
Victor tapped his chin. “You did look pretty nice in that dress.”
“Screw off.”
Victor ignored her, tapping his chin.
“So what do we do with Jack now?” she asked. “Let him go?”
“Not yet,” Victor said. “Not until after we’re done with Beck.”
“It’s just an extra mouth to feed.”
“Then don’t feed him.”
Helen was silent for a second, trying to decide if that was a joke or not.
“Why do you think Beck used his login?”
“What?”
“Was he using Jack as a patsy?”
Helen shrugged. “I don’t think so. My guess is if Beck was a good enough hacker he might think people are watching him and his logins. They wouldn’t be watching Jack, so using that login would have been a simple security decision.”
“So you don’t think he was intending to betray Jack?”
“I doubt it,” Helen said.
“Good,” Victor said, standing up, “then Jack might have some use still yet.”
