Danny grunted. “And who might that be?”
“The bloke going around shooting people with an Albion murder-drone.” Olly watched Danny’s expression change from annoyance to confusion to interest. He looked at his sister.
“Holden,” he said, flatly.
She nodded. “Now we know why your boss killed him.”
“Shit.” Danny sat back, rubbing his mouth. “Faulkner knows. That’s why he had me looking into the death of your pal, Colin.”
Ro nodded. “Colin was the common thread. He’s the one who delivered everything. If anyone knew where this guy was, it was Colin.”
“Every vehicle these days has GPS,” Olly said, looking back and forth between them. “If it hasn’t been tampered with, it’ll have a record of every stop he made.”
“Including wherever he dropped off the drone. Shit.” Danny rubbed his chin. “So where’s the van?” He looked at Ro.
She shook her head. “The night Colin died, they took the van somewhere out of the way, stripped it and set the rest on fire. There’s no way we can get that information now.”
Olly ran his hands over his head, trying to think. There had to be a way. He wished he could call for help. But he knew better than to even try to contact Bagley or anyone else. When a member of DedSec got arrested, they were cut off.
“We know what he was delivering, at least.” He looked meaningfully towards the horizon, where dark smoke still rose in towering columns.
“He wouldn’t have done it knowingly,” Ro said. “Colin was a twat but he wasn’t a murderer.” She knotted her hands together. “Maybe he found out. Maybe that’s why they killed him.”
“I don’t think so,” Danny said. He looked out the window. “I’ve seen shit like this before. Not here, but overseas. Somebody is cleaning up all the loose ends.”
“That includes us now,” Olly said. Everyone fell silent, thinking about this.
Danny gestured. “Yeah. Albion just needed an excuse – an enemy. The best enemies are nebulous, innit?”
“Nebulous?” Ro asked.
“Word-a-day app on my Optik,” Danny said. “Anyway, DedSec can be anything – nobody knows shit about you, right? So if that tosspot Nigel bloody Cass says you lot are terrorists, who’s to say different?”
Olly nodded. “Go on.”
“An enemy is only as good as their actions – nobody cares about propaganda bombs, or street murals. But hacking drones to turn them into sniper devices…” Danny trailed off.
“And then you hire somebody to eliminate the witnesses, so nobody knows the truth.”
“Albion was behind all this?” Ro said, disbelief in her voice. She looked at Danny, but he could only shrug and look away.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I thought…” He trailed off and shook his head. “I was wrong though. What I’ve seen? Yeah, I could believe it.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Olly said. “We need to – wait.” A call-alert had popped up on his display. It was a number he didn’t recognise. He looked at the others, and then, warily, answered. “Hello?”
“Olly?” A young woman’s voice, audibly nervous.
Olly frowned. “Hannah?”
“You’re still alive. Thank goodness. Where are you?”
“I’d rather not say, love.”
“Are you still… in the city?”
Olly paused. Then, “Yes. Why?”
“I know who killed Liz, and. I know where they are.”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I’m sending it through now.”
Data flooded his display. A name, a face – and an address. His hands knotted into fists. “Coyle,” he murmured. “Hannah… thanks.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Albion know as well. You might not have time.” Hannah paused. “Good luck, Olly.” She ended the call.
Olly leaned back. “Bloo-dy hell,” he breathed.
“Who was that?” Danny asked, leaning forward.
Olly shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. I know where he is.”
“The assassin?” Danny asked.
“Yeah.”
“So what’s the problem? Let’s go get him.” Ro cracked her knuckles.
“Albion knows too.”
Danny paused. “That explains some things. I bet that’s what Faulkner was busy with today. Trying to mount an op to hit this guy. Ten to one, he’s heading there right now.”
“Then we need to get there first,” Olly said. “We catch this guy, maybe we can get him to talk. We could take down everyone involved in this, clear DedSec – hell, clear ourselves. And we stop him from killing any more people.”
“I’m in,” Danny said. He looked at his sister.
She sneered. “I was in like ten minutes ago. Keep up.”
Danny looked at Olly. “We’re in.”
“Well that’s a relief,” Olly said, laughing. He paused. “Only missing one thing.”
Ro looked at him. “What?”
“It’s just… in DedSec, we use these masks. Usually when it’s something big, you know?” He sat back. “We make our own. Rite of passage, innit?”
Danny reached into the gear he’d scavenged from the APV and tossed something to Olly. Olly caught it and looked at what he held. “A gas mask?”
“Practical and stylish.” Danny pulled out two more and tossed one to Ro. “May as well be prepared, right?” He began pulling things out of the bags – body armour, grenades, extra magazines for the ACR rifle and the Albion-issue P9 pistols.
Olly stared. “That’s a lot of iron.”
“Probably going to need it,” Ro said. She slid her P9 into the back of her waistband. “What’s the plan?” She and Danny looked at Olly.
“Why are you asking me?” he protested.
“Because I’m a grunt and she only knows how to hit things.” Danny checked the ACR. “You’re the one in DedSec. By default, that makes you in charge.”
Olly frowned. “Fine.” He looked at the mask in his hand. “Okay. I’m in charge.”
“Great. So what’s the plan?”
Olly pulled on the mask.
“We improvise.”
29: The Pinnacle
“The Pinnacle?” Ro said. “He’s in the fucking Pinnacle?” She sat in the back of a stolen transit van with Danny and Olly. Olly had hacked the van and they’d used it to navigate the increasingly blocked-off streets. It had still taken them longer than any of them liked, and they’d lost most of the day avoiding checkpoints.
“Makes sense,” Danny said. He checked his rifle over again, moving his hands over the weapon without looking at it. “One of the tallest buildings in London. And it’s at the heart of everything.
