Code of Silence

Code of Silence - Chapter 24

Alex and I were in Khan's office waiting for the backup to complete so we could delete the coding from Khan's PC. Theo hadn't been able to update the encryption on Khan's desktop, as he'd done with his devices at home, and in his absence we weren't certain if there was anything crucial on there, so the backup made sense. It was past lunchtime now, and Theo had been gone for several hours and we hadn't a clue where he was. What we'd seen on the GPS app had confused us, but we hoped he'd just hitched a lift with someone and headed off campus to grab some food. The alternative – that it had something to do with the black car – seemed too far-fetched. No one would be mad enough to snatch him in broad daylight in the middle of the university campus, and it was the AI coding they wanted anyway, not Theo. I was restless, got up and left Khan's office and started checking my phone but there was still nothing from Theo, or from Khan.

I was wondering at what stage you class a person as missing and go to the police. My phone buzzed while I was trying to refresh the GPS app. It was a message from Theo. I opened it: Hostage get out dragovich coming

My heart leapt as I read it again. I was breathing heavily, a combination of the shock and adrenalin. "Alex, take a look," I said, moving as fast as I could back towards Khan's office. Alex stood from behind the desk, took my phone and gasped while reading the message.

I started to panic, and quickly stuffed my things into my rucksack. Alex had already unplugged the hard drive with the backup just completed. Pulling Khan's door shut we left his office as we'd found it. We grabbed the rest of our stuff and ran towards the lab door. I paused to pick up Theo's laptop bag and jacket. There was no point in leaving them, I thought. We might need them for proof of our connection or ID if the police became involved. We nearly collided with the elderly cleaner as he guided the floor-polishing machine along the wooden corridor, and ran towards the stairwell, hurtling down it several steps at a time.

When we got to the main corridor that led past the café we slowed a little, not wanting to draw attention to ourselves, and to avoid running straight into trouble. Carefully checking for unwelcome faces as we passed each hallway that branched off the corridor, we made our way to the main entrance, pausing to scan the car park before we left the building. It looked clear. I pushed through the door with Alex following right behind. We continued across to Alex's car, still running but not at a pace that would turn heads. Alex clicked the key fob and had a quick look around the exterior. The big black car that had been parked beside Alex's had gone. I climbed in and tumbled the bags and jackets onto the rear seat.

Alex got in, and after a panicked fumbling with the keys got the engine started.

"Okay, okay, take it easy!" I said, as we reversed rapidly, picking up a little too much speed in the car park. But Alex wasn't planning on slowing down.

"Theo's been taken and I'm not hanging around if the bloody mafia are coming back here!" said Alex, grimacing as the gears whined and crunched. "Let's get some distance behind us, and then we can figure out what to do."

Each traffic light we came to in town seemed to take forever to change. I scanned the traffic, looking for Dragovich's car. Alex was checking in the rear-view mirror for anyone that might be following. Paranoia had taken over. "Where are you going?" I said, noticing that Alex was ignoring the road signs that we'd normally have followed into town.

"I'm just making sure no one's with us." I wasn't in a position to argue.

It wasn't long before we were on the outskirts of town and heading towards the motorway. Alex took the turning onto the slip road and we headed south; traffic was heavy, but it would ensure we were heading away from any potential trouble and would buy us some time to think things through.