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The three of them had hitched up with Jackson and a few other hackers shortly after they arrived in London. A couple of guys in the group were Parkour fanatics and hunted down good places to freerun. Word of mouth led them to this abandoned hotel project, where they discovered they could log into wifi sources in the surrounding streets and find hotspots. Wiring had been installed in certain areas for the builder’s use, which meant they were able to activate power for brief periods of time. They kept a calendar, staggering the days they used each site on their circuit. As long as they kept their heads down and no lights were visible from outside, they had a good base for a hub, a place where they could share ideas and pool resources. It’d been kind of fun, for a while. As yet, the cyber crime division hadn’t tracked the on-off location down. It wouldn’t be long before they did though.
The steady, upbeat thump of drum and bass music met Rory’s ears as he made his way. The gateway to the hub was up ahead, a couple of big slabs of board bolted together and pushed across the opening. They took their life in their hands every time they opened the bloody thing. Rory shoved the lump of wood to one side and climbed through the narrow gap he’d made.
Dino was there, Jackson’s main man. He hunched over a laptop set up on a makeshift table, but a glance at his screen revealed Dino was busy with a multiple player online game. A quick look around informed Rory there was six others at work. Three didn’t even lift their heads, but he recognized Jackson’s cronies. There were two girls huddled together over one laptop he didn’t recognize. People came and went here though, teens attracted to the community. Most of them went back to family homes after they’d had their adventure and trodden dangerous paths. The core people were always the same.
“Well, well…look what the cat dragged in.” Dino pushed back his battered office chair—a salvaged item from a dumpster—and spun it to face Rory. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?” he added, sarcastically.
Rory scanned the place again, making sure he hadn’t missed anything. “Jackson around?”
“Otherwise engaged.” Dino looked him up and down expectantly. “Thinking of coming back to the fold?”
Rory shook his head. “Nope. I’m happy fixing bikes.”
Dino shook his head and gave an exaggerated laugh. “Your loss. But you’re being sensible and you’ve brought your kit as a parting gift, right?”
Rory noticed the others in the room had sat up and were paying attention. “If you were any good as a hacker, Jackson wouldn’t even need my kit,” he replied, avoiding the question. “If you stopped gaming,” he gestured at the laptop, “and tried harder, then maybe Jackson wouldn’t miss me so badly.”
Dino narrowed his eyes. “Don’t flatter yourself. He doesn’t really need you, he just wants potential competition off the market.”
Rory let that pass. Dino aspired to be as good as Rory on a computer, they all did, but Rory had a knack. Computers had intrigued him since he was a little kid. His first PC was an abandoned Mac his uncle had chucked out into the back garden. Rory rescued it and took it apart, learning how the thing was put together. When he rebuilt it, it started working again. That was the
start of it for him. Everything from then on was self taught, and passed on to Sean. He spent hours on the net learning about computers and repair and development. The next step was to learn how the software was designed, and that’s when he got really into it “Are you expecting him back soon?”
Dino shrugged, and reluctantly pushed a notepad Rory’s way. “Wanna leave a message?”
“Just tell him I was here and I’ll be back.”
One of the two new girls was on her feet and wandered over. “You’re the Rory I keep hearing about?”
“Yes, and if you’ve got any sense you’ll do as I did and get the hell out of this.” Her eyes rounded. She looked as if she were taking him seriously, so he added a bit more fuel. “Don’t get suckered in by Jackson, he claims he wants to make a community here. He just wants to make cash for his own pockets.”
With that he turned on his heel and left.
Leaving the building, unease crept up his back. He wished it’d been done. As he came out from behind the hoarding panel he glanced up and down the street, checking to see if anyone watched. That’s when he saw a slight figure standing in the doorway opposite, hands shoved in pockets, peeping out from the steps leading up to the door.
What the hell? Rory stepped back against the hoarding. It took a moment before he believed what he was seeing. Passing car headlights illuminated the watcher, assuring him he was seeing right. It was Sky standing there, collar up against the night, peeping around the corner at him as he emerged from the hoardings.
Quickly, he strode over to her, dodging the traffic as he went. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you. I, um, followed you.”
“Obviously.” He glanced down the street in the direction of the tube station. That was the direction Jackson would come from if he returned “What the hell for?”
“I wanted to know where you were going.”
Furious at her for taking such a risk, he found himself raising his voice. “Not clever, Sky, not clever at all!”
She shrugged, like it was nothing.
“For fuck’s sake, what the hell were you thinking of?”
“You.” She nodded her head over at the building site. “So…what’s in there? It looks deserted.”
Irritated, he moved to block her view of the site. “Nothing you need to know about.”
“Those computer guys from the tube train?”
She was like a dog with a bone. “Yeah.”
