“Yes. She’s deaf.”
“Did you use it to tell her to attack?”
“Yes.”
“Could you teach it to us?”
“Teach it to you? I guess so, but why? You’re not deaf.”
“Communicating over distance without sound could be valuable.”
“It is. As two dead Peaks could tell you.”
“Make you a deal. You teach us this sign language, and you’re welcome to join us.”
“That’s both of us.”
Roald smiled. “Some of my men might have a problem, but I am the boss.”
Darius nodded and signed to Ilona. She scowled as if having been deprived of an opportunity. She released the man and tossed his knife onto the floor. He signed, “We’re in.” She signed back, “Whoopee,” her face a mask of anger.
28
THE COMING OF THE PEAKS
Todd Baxter gaped at the computer terminal, his heart racing, his palms moist. The screen showed the list of subversives with open files. He, Ellen, and Ross were back on it. How? He’d marked their status as complete. As far as the system was concerned, they were dead. Terminated.
He forced his fear into the background. It took him no more than a couple of minutes to get his answers. Warren Fraleigh had their status changed back to pending. But why? On a hunch, Baxter checked for Bert Tallman. His status was also pending. But Bert was dead. Baxter had to conclude that Fraleigh had spotted one of them.
Baxter thought of just resetting the status, but there was a risk Fraleigh would be checking up. If mysterious changes were being made to files, Baxter would be in the crosshairs. He had to end this threat, and there was just one way he could think of, even though the idea made him want to retch.
His fingers shaking, he brought up the file of subversives. Using a fictitious name as the informer, he added Warren Fraleigh with a disposition of terminate. A wave of nausea engorged him. Had he come to this? Was he willing to endanger, even kill someone? Had the country come to this? Was it necessary to kill in order to survive? His stomach heaved. He raced for the toilet. A few minutes later, he returned to his computer and pulled up the next bug report.
Five days later, he examined the file on Warren Fraleigh. The status was complete. He started to save that same status for him and his friends, but something niggled at the edges of his mind. On a hunch, he brought up a list of new features that the developers had added. They had tied their subversives list into the systems used by Border Services. If anyone on that list tried to leave the country, border guards anywhere in the world would be alerted. If he or any of his friends tried to cross when the system reported they were dead, they would be in trouble.
They would also be in trouble just being on the list. But now, with Fraleigh gone, Todd could change their identifications so their names wouldn’t trigger an alert. With his special tool, he replaced their names with fictitious ones. For now, they were safe.
“WE HAVE BREAKING news. Four demonstrators have been killed in a confrontation with the new National Peacekeeping Force. Andy Foster is standing by in Halifax. Andy?”
The camera focused on a man standing in a downtown street. A car burned in the background, store windows were smashed, but the street was empty except for a small group of men armed with automatic weapons, their faces obscured by dark visors. “Joanne, I’m in downtown Halifax where the National Peacekeeping Force has been deployed against a demonstration for the first time. The demonstrators were protesting the government’s move to impose martial law and were demanding that the Insurrection Control Act be withdrawn. The protest was peaceful until the NPF arrived. When someone threw rocks at the officers, they opened fire with rubber bullets, but that just seemed to inflame the crowd. When they charged the officers, the NPF responded with live ammunition, killing four of the demonstrators and injuring several others. We have an interview with one of the demonstrators.”
The camera backed away revealing a man, his clothes torn, his face obscured. The interviewer said, “We’re honouring this man’s request not to be identified.” He turned to the man. “Tell us what happened here.”
The man’s voice was shaky but carried the volume of anger. “We were just protesting these damn actions by the government. They didn’t have to do that.”
“Was this supposed to be a peaceful demonstration?”
“Hell, yes. We just wanted to let the government know we hate what they did. Sure, there have been demonstrations before. I was in them. But they were peaceful. There’s no need for this kind of brutality. And [beep] the Peaks. They caused this.”
“Peaks? What do you mean?”
“The so-called Peacekeepers. Peaks. If they hadn’t come along, we’d have demonstrated and gone home. But they murdered four people and sent a bunch more to hospital.”
“What do you think will happen now?”
“This is just starting. They want a fight? Next time we’ll be ready.”
The camera shook. Two uniformed men strode into the picture and took hold of the man. “We’re agents with the NPF. You’re under arrest for sedition.”
The interviewer said, “Hold on. I was just interviewing this man. He has a right to report what he saw.”
One of the agents said, “And we got the right to toss his ass in jail. We got laws against sedition.”
“But expressing an opinion isn’t sedition.”
The agent pushed up against the interviewer. “Sedition is whatever the hell I say it is. And this asshole is under arrest. You got a problem? Maybe we should haul you downtown, too.”
The interviewer backed off. “No, I don’t have a problem.”
The agent grabbed the camera. “We’re seizing this as evidence. Now get out of here.”
The announcer at the anchor desk, her face in shock, said, “We have lost contact with Andy and the cameraman. We were able to bring that report to you because the feed was live. We’ll let you know how they are once we have further information. In the meantime, I have an interview with a special guest. Josie Draper is a professor of psychology dealing with mob dynamics. Ms. Draper, what’s your reaction to what we just saw?”
A middle-aged woman sat, her face drawn. “I’m stunned, but sadly, not surprised.”
“Why not surprised?”
“Large demonstrations are exercises in balance. Most times, they dissipate and little or no damage is done. But sometimes even a tiny event can trigger violence. Let me give you an example. A couple of years ago, you may remember the riots in Phoenix after one of their teams won a championship. Why was there a riot? After all, they’d won. Well, crowds filled the downtown area to celebrate, but there was a huge crush of people. Someone, whether on purpose or by accident we don’t know, banged into a store plate glass window and shattered it. Almost instantly, some people in the crowd ran into the store and began looting. Within minutes, people were smashing other windows, and what had been a joyful, peaceful gathering turned ugly. The same thing seems to have happened here. The catalyst was the appearance of a paramilitary force firing rubber bullets. It enraged the crowd, turning them into a mob.”
“Could this violence have been prevented?”
“Of course. Just let the protestors protest. They weren’t looking for a fight. After an hour or so of speeches, they’d have gone home.”
“So you’re saying that the NPF caused this violence?”
“Caused? I’m saying they enabled it. Unless they back off, it will get worse.”
“One of the protestors said next time they’d be ready. What’s your reaction to that?”