Using both hands, thumbs locked over the hilt, I plunged the dagger into his chest using all my strength.
He shook his head from side to side, silently mouthing no. I leaned into the hilt of the dagger with my chest, putting all my weight behind it, and twisted the handle.
“No, no, no.”
The final no came out gurgled and with a last-ditch effort his chest heaved upwards and he coughed blood over my face. The breath wheezed out of him in a groaned sigh. I sat back, my chest heaving as I sucked in air, my temples throbbing. I watched his eyes realize their death. He would never see again what had caused me to want to kill him.
Taking out my Devstick, I thumbed for Sir Thomas and sent the message that I had drafted earlier.
I need to transmit in confidence.
I waited. Looking at the dark grey screen of my Devstick, I could hear my own breathing. I avoided looking at Wigley.
Go ahead.
I sent the next pre-drafted message.
It’s done.
I held the camera of my Devstick pointed at the body of Wigley. His eyes wide open and his tongue hanging out of his mouth. The hilt of the dagger in his chest surrounded by a pool of blood spreading over the thick white cotton of the sleeper. The Devstick shook in my hand, the small digital Wigley in the shaking screen as dead as the real one on the sleeper. I cut the image and sent the next message.
I best hurry home. I expect Mariko will be waiting for me.
Yes. I expect she shall. See you soon.
I took small comfort from Sir Thomas’s reply. Mariko will be waiting for me. She must be OK. She must be. I closed my Devstick. Folded it and put in back in a pocket, noticing that it was smeared in blood from my gloves. I went back to Wigley, grabbed the dagger by the handle and pulled. It didn’t come out. I leaned over him and using both hands heaved up. A sucking noise and the blade came free. The smell hit me then. He had soiled himself.
I replaced the dagger in the coverall pocket and looked around. Have I forgotten anything? No. Calmer now, and feeling detached, I stopped and listened. I couldn’t hear anything, only the slight hum of the air-conditioning unit. I pulled off the bloodied gloves and put them in a side pocket and, taking out a fresh pair, crossed to the image hanging on the wall. The image swung free on a hinge. A small metal box, a keypad and a handle. I entered the code that I had read from his mind and opened the door to his safe.
Chapter 35
Jonah and Mariko’s Beach House, Sisik Beach, Malaysian Geographic
Saturday 15 February 2110, 1:04am +8 UTC
I stepped softly into the sand from the door of the Titan. The second floor of the house was lit, the light spilling out onto the beach in front. I stood on the edge of the light, trying to see in. All I could make out was the top half of the inside of the house, but I hadn’t left the lights on. I hoped it was Mariko but what if it was Sir Thomas, or worse, Cochran? I reached into my backpack and pulled out the gun that Maloo had bought in Bangkok. And then I slowly put it back in the backpack.
I stepped into the light and walked to the steps that led up to the deck. I climbed them with a steady tread, my eyes focused on the steps, waiting for the interior of the house to be revealed. And there she was. Mariko. A wave of blissful relief passed over me. Lying on the sleeper, her back to me. And then a wave of pure terror swept down my spine. Opening the sliding doors I crossed to the sleeper and sat down beside her. I held my emotions in check and put my hand against her neck. She was only sleeping.
Something wrenched free inside of me and I nearly lost it, but I held on. I didn’t want those watching to get anything from me. I put the backpack on the floor next to the sleeper and lay down beside her. I reached over to the Devstick and turned off the light.
I shut my eyes. And saw Wigley. I wondered if I would ever sleep again.
Gabriel shook his head softly, his fingers stroking the three day stubble on his chin. The Tag was being voted in. He looked at the time in the lower right hand corner of the Devscreen, 5:14am, and voting had started in Auckland at one sec past midnight — six hours ago with the time difference between the two places. Another eighteen hours to go before the poll would be closed. Midnight in Samoa. Already the vote in favor was ahead by more than eight percent.
As Gabriele Esposito, Gabriel voted no and went back to reviewing the code he had been working on for a week. It was perfect. The code that had already been planted in Sir Thomas’s base Dev by his messages would grab the code he was looking at and together form a Dev code virus that would find and scramble the list of serial numbers. At least that was the plan.
He sighed, thinking about what Mark had done, or perhaps more correctly for what he, Gabriel, had done to Mark. Sorry for the lost innocence. Sorry there was no choice. Looking out to sea, he saw that Maloo was back and getting the yacht ready for the trip. At this time of year, with the wind where it was, they could expect to average fifty kilos an hour on the trip back to New Singapore. Covering about seven thousand five hundred kiloms of ocean in about six and a half days.
Gabriel’s strategy was simple. Sail to New Singapore, make sure the Tag serial numbers get scrambled and kill Sir Thomas. The only part of the plan that he thought was at risk was scrambling the Tag serial numbers. He expected to kill Sir Thomas because the plan didn't allow either of them to survive. He wasn’t sure if Marty had worked this out yet, but Maloo had, and was furious with Gabriel for even thinking of it. Gabriel closed the code page and opened a document. His will. He smiled.
I woke up. She was staring at me, a small smile on her lips and the palm of her hand on my cheek. She stroked down my face with a single finger until she pressed it against my lips. I blinked my eyes, and her smile twitched up a fraction. I turned around and picking up the Devstick on the table next to the sleeper saw that it was 5:15am. I’d slept for four hours. I immediately flashed back to what I had done yesterday. Could she see it? Could she see that I had murdered a man? Could she see that I had done it for her? I hesitated to turn back to face her but I turned and looked again into her eyes.
I desperately wanted to talk to her, to explain, but I couldn’t. I assumed that we would be under intense scrutiny. That even the slightest whisper would be recorded and analyzed for its meaning. Gazing into her eyes, I had a thought. My thoughts belong to me. I reached out with my mind as gently as possible. “Mariko, Mariko, can you hear me? Please don’t be scared. It is me Mark.”
She smiled again and looked intensely into my eyes, bringing her face closer to mine.
“Mariko can you — ” she blinked and her mind shouted “YES” at me. I blinked and my head jerked back slightly as I was startled. Her answer was so clear and loud in my mind. She licked her upper lip and her forehead creased in a slight frown.
I thought.
“We can’t say anything in this room. I think it will have been bugged by Sir Thomas or Cochran.”
Her thoughts weren’t coherent to me. I was getting mixed-up in images of me and her emotion at seeing me. Her thoughts seemed to be in a constant flow of noise. I focused and reached out with my hand to cup her cheek.
Finally I caught it.
“Yes, I know. What day is it?”
“It’s Saturday the 15th of February. 5:15 in the morning.”
She smiled, her teeth showing white in the dark room. Her thoughts and emotion, hitting me in a blast of happy noise, overwhelmed my untrained mind. I shut my eyes and forced the threads to sort themselves out. “Pregnant. Baby. I am pregnant.” Another wave of happiness and I opened my eyes. I smiled back and sent back the wave of happiness that spread through me. A thought flashed. Killing Wigley was worth it. I quickly pushed it away but a frown crossed her face.