Chapter 10

By the time Nancy returned to the hotel's front room with the tray of coffees, Frank was snoozing in his chair. She carefully deposited the cups onto the table and stood above him. One hand was on her hip and the other tapping a beat on her front teeth. She contemplating her next moves carefully. As much as she would have liked to let him sleep, she was too keen to know what-was-what so she reached down and gave his shoulder a little nudge.

It gave him such a fright that he sprang into the air like he'd been stung and stared wild-eyed at her. "What's wrong?" he blurted out.

She put her palms up. "Nothing, I was just waking you up. Have a coffee."

"You nearly gave me a coronary!"

"Sorry. Where have you been sleeping?" she asked.

"On the top floor of the building I was outside of when you picked me up. It never made for a comfortable night's rest."

"Your apartment got trashed, you know."

"I guessed as much. I tried to get there before those men to secure it and get some supplies, but I saw someone climbing up the outside of the building to get in so I went over to Joe's place instead. What did they get? Anything?"

"Your hard drive and some cds and discs."

Frank shrugged. "That's okay, they'll be wasting their time with those, I didn't store anything that will be useful to them."

"Oh, I forgot, they also took a pot-shot at your dad and Con as well."

"What? Jeeze, Nancy, I'd forgotten what a power you wield with words..."

"Why did you abandon Joe in his car like that for an hour?"

"…Can't you tread just a bit more softly?"

"It's the truth though, isn't it?"

"You really have been talking to my dad – no, I did not just abandon my brother!"

Frank sighed deeply and rubbed his face hard before returning Nancy's challenging gaze, his irritation made ten-fold by his mental exhaustion. "I was called away by Arthur Gray who texted me to say he was waiting outside my apartment building and wanted to speak to me urgently. We weren't situated that far away so I ran all the way there. By the time the runt explained what was happening, or likely to be happening, I sent Joe a warning message to get the hell out of there and was speeding back in my car. As I already said, Gray told me not to worry as Joe was being looked after." He suddenly rose out of his chair and loomed above his friend. "Do you really think I would have tossed my only brother out with the trash?"

"No, of course not. Calm down for goodness sake and drink your coffee. I'm just trying to get a handle on what's been going on, I'm not purposefully trying to rile you."

"Well you're doing a fine job of it!" he threw himself back into the chair. "For what it's worth, the next time I set eyes on Mr Arthur Gray, I'll be tearing him limb-from-limb."

Nancy harrumphed. "I think you'll be joining an ever growing queue," she remarked. "It's time to fess up, what is it that they're after from you?"

Frank pursed his lips, thinking hard, his face taking on a stubborn demeanour.

"Come on Frank," Nancy coaxed him, "it's not fair to drag me all the way from River Heights if you're not going to share."

"A key."

"Pandora's key?"

Frank looked sharply at her. "What do you know about it?"

"Only what Joe has told us, and that's not an awful lot considering he didn't have a clue what they were talking about. He thinks you're having a relationship with a girl called Pandora. What is the key?"

"It's a memory stick that holds the remainder of a computer program. One that requires a code to activate it."

"And you have those?"

"No, just the memory stick, the key. It was passed to me to hold in safekeeping until such time as The Network could acquire the code. And then afterwards, they were going to use it to deactivate the program. Gray felt that because Joe and me hadn't had any dealings with him for two years or more, that we would be the best people to conceal it. Gray contacted me initially, and once I found out more about it, I asked that Joe not be involved..."

Frank put his palm up as Nancy opened her mouth to speak, "…and don't ask me to tell you where it's hidden because I'm not saying. It's somewhere only I can access…well and Joe, if he knew, because it's in a place where we actually once did something illegal and very nearly came a cropper – we would have been grounded for like, well, for the rest of our lives!"

Nancy laughed. "Well, okay then I won't force the issue. But answer this: what exactly is Pandora?"

"Well, at the moment nothing more innocuous than a free downloadable computer game. Without the rest of the program that's stored on the memory stick she's harmless. But if these people get possession of the key it'll cause a whole heap of chaos like you wouldn't believe!"

"Try me."

"They have the code, and they will use it to start a whole chain of events that will culminate in the most ferocious computer virus ever being unleashed on the worldwide web. A living virus, learning as it goes, gaining intelligence until nothing will be able to stop it. It'll infiltrate governments, banks, defence systems – even having the ability to down satellites…and only one operator will be in control and be able to access and control those systems, and that'll be via the computer that has the key."

Nancy whistled. "Wow, this is serious stuff. Any rogue government would love that kind of technology. Just think what they could do with it! They could hold the world to ransom. They'd stop at nothing to get their hands on it."

Frank snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "Exactly, and now you see my dilemma – why I didn't want anyone other than me involved? On one hand, the less people who know about it the better, and on the other, the stuff I know puts me in great physical danger. I wasn't about to drag others in, and that included you Nancy. I seriously went against my better judgement when contacting you."

"Well, I'm glad you did."

"I'm not, and I need you to promise me something."

"What is it?"

"If I tell you to run, you go without looking back. You leave me and walk away. Do you understand?"

"Of course, but…"

"No buts, you just retreat. Promise me, Nan."

"Okay, I promise, but I don't understand why you don't just destroy the memory stick?"

"Because that would simply leave the virus lying dormant within Pandora and I don't want to take the risk of it being triggered accidentally. You know how hackers like to play; they wouldn't have a clue what they were messing with. I want to find the code and put a stop to her myself."

"How?"

Frank leaned forward. "Gray told me that the program can be completely destroyed at the point of entry when you've introduced the key. Once the code is then entered, Pandora asks if you want to continue, abort, or to go to self-destruct. I intend to kill her stone dead."

Nancy frowned. "Why would someone even invent something like that?"

"It wasn't invented with that use in mind. A guy called Professor Hope designed it as a tool to help control viruses. It was supposed to become self-aware in order to defend the Internet, rather than do any harm. But someone got wind of it and forced him to do the opposite. He managed to get the key to the network by swapping it for a dud and he was ultimately killed because of it."

"How did these people manage to get the code?"

"I'm not sure, maybe from Professor Hope himself, but if they can find it, I'm sure I can."

"We can." Nancy corrected.

Frank looked through hooded eyes at her, he face sombre. Eventually, he allowed himself a small smile. "I'd like that," he said, simply. "Two heads are better than one."

Nancy sat considering what her friend had told her for a while, and then uttered, philosophically: "Professor Hope – humanity's only salvation."

Frank laughed. "You've been reading up on Greek mythology I see?" he saluted her with his cup. "Clever Nancy."

"I thank you." She returned the gesture. "How did these people find out you'd got the key?"

"Mr Gray suspects there's a double agent working within The Network but no one knows who that agent actually works for – maybe to another government, or to the highest bidder."

"Could be anyone," Nancy agreed, and turned away to watch the flames dancing in the fireplace thoughtfully. Eventually she turned back to her friend, her brow deeply furrowed. "I've got just one more question. But you need to think very carefully before answering it – this is of a controversial nature." she warned, with a regretful tone to her voice.

Frank ran his fingers through his hair. "Then make it a gentle one, Nan, or you'll be destroying any hope of a beautiful friendship."

Nancy sat forward in her chair, conspiratorially, making him lean towards her automatically. "Why are you wearing two watches? Have you set one to London GMT and the other to New York time?"

Frank burst out laughing, feeling the tension immediately evaporating from the room. Sure enough, there was a round-faced watch on his right wrist and a square faced one the other. He held up his left arm. "This one is Joe's. I found it when I slipped climbing back up that darn hill to wave the ambulance down." He frowned, "Actually, that gives me a great idea – get your coat Nan, we're going out. Have you got a set of snow chains?"

"Yes, they're in the trunk."

He jumped up and grabbed her by the hand. "Come on."

By the time Fenton's bullet wound was being seen to in the emergency room, it was quite late into the evening. Con had returned to the office block to supervise his subordinates, leaving Fenton to it, secure in the knowledge that if anyone went after his friend again, they were unlikely to try it in a crowded hospital.

Vanessa had only discovered what had happened by drawing Joe's bodyguard into a conversation outside the room – she'd become concerned as to what was delaying Fenton and he couldn't be raised by phone. She came running to find him as soon as the police officer had informed her what had happened.

"Mr H – have you really been hurt?" she asked, bursting into the curtained off cubical where he was sitting on top of a gurney.

Fenton fought the urge to make her guess as his shirt was hanging from one shoulder, only covering half his chest, and a nurse was swabbing blood from around the wound. "Erm, yes Vanessa, honey, I'm injured…and half naked, but don't let that stop you!"

The nurse tittered.

To her credit, Vanessa did go red at that point and took to staring at the floor. "Sorry," she said. "I guess I freaked a bit when I was told you'd been shot."

"It's okay, I was only teasing. It's nothing serious, just a scratch," He winced as the swab caught a particularly tender area and the Nurse apologised. "How did you find out?" he asked Vanessa.

"The officer outside Joe's door told me."

"Well don't tell Joe. I don't want him stressing anymore than he already is."

"I won't."

A short while later he was bandaged and able to pull his shirt back on, although it wasn't the most practical garment now that the sleeve showed big patches of dried blood and a long gash. Fenton was now wondering how he was going to conceal it from Joe when he returned to his room.

Vanessa must have been reading his mind because she suddenly said: "Oh! Wait here," and darted off again.

"She's tall isn't she? And energetic," the nurse commented.

Fenton smiled. "Yes she is. As tall as me and my youngest son. She's good for him, he needed someone with a bit of zap."

Vanessa returned with a t-shirt and sweater over her arm. "Here you go. I brought these in for Joe for when he'd need them. You might as well have them for now."

He took his ruined shirt off and gladly swapped it for Joe's garments. Like Frank, they hung off him like curtains, but they were clean and warm and that was all that was important.

"There, all ship-shape again!" Vanessa said, throwing him a mock salute.

They walked back to Joe's room together. As they rounded the corner and approached the door, they saw a huge vase full of flowers just outside, at the feet of the police officer.

Fenton addressed the guard and tipped his thumb at the blooms. "Where did those come from?" he asked, instantly suspicious.

"A florist just delivered them, Sir. I told them that Mr Hardy was unavailable, so they left them outside the door."

"It seems Joe's got an admirer." Vanessa commented, crouching to caress and smell them, "Look at the size of that bunch!" she said in admiration, lifted them and shouldered her way into Joe's room, closely followed by Fenton who was favouring his arm still and glaring with distrust at the flowers.

Joe was breathing deeply, obviously still in a deep slumber, his heart monitor bleeping rhythmically next to him.

She placed the vase down on the bedside cabinet and took a closer look within the foliage. "There's a card with them..." she whispered and dug an envelope out. As she drew it forward, a small box came out with it, attached by a piece of ribbon. "What the Devil?"

"Step back," Fenton warned, pulling her away and taking the envelope and box from her. He felt the card wrapping over for any signs of wires, lumps and bumps, damp patches and finally sniffed it to see if it had any unnatural aroma. Unable to find anything of a sinister nature, he slid his fingernail along the flap, eased it open and pulled out the greeting card.

He turned it up the right way and read it out loud. "Get well soon, thinking of you. Seems innocuous enough!" he conceded. He passed it to Vanessa to see, who leaned it up against the vase and turned his attention to the box. Again he went through the same routine, but also shook it. Eventually, he cracked the lid open. Settled in amongst packing material was a wristwatch.

"That's Joe's watch, the one Frank gave him for his 21st," Vanessa said. "He told me he lost it when those men attacked him."

Fenton lifted it out to inspect it more closely turning it over.

"Do you think those thugs sent it to him?" she asked, "as some sort of sick threat?"

"HA!" Fenton suddenly burst out in delight. "No, it's from Frank."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Look…" he showed Vanessa the back panel of the watch. Now engraved in the stainless steel were the letters: 'NEG-B'.

"What does that mean?"

"It's a term of endearment Frank uses in reference to him and Joe. It's a shortened version of 'The Negative Brothers', because he says they are the polar opposite of one another – like a photograph and a negative. He used to say that one day he would get a license plate made up with that on it." He slid his arm about Vanessa's shoulders. "That means that Frank is okay, he's sent a message home to us – what a relief!" he breathed.

"Joe will be so pleased when he sees that in the morning." Vanessa said, smiling.

"Hang that! I'm not waiting till the morning, I don't care what the Doc says." Fenton leaned over his son's still form and gently shook him. "Joe, wake up," he said. "I've got something for you."

Joe's eyes opened a crack. "Where's the fire?" he asked, drowsily.

"Look." Fenton held the timepiece up to his son's face until his brain was able to process what he was being shown.

"Is that my watch?" he finally asked.

Fenton nodded and turned it over. "What do you make of that, sport?"

Joe focussed on the letters. "It's from Frank, isn't it?" he finally responded, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

"It would seem so."

"Thanks Dad," he said. "I never doubted he was okay," he lied and took the watch. He slowly closed his eyes again and then muttered. "Are you wearing my clothes, dude?"

"No Joe, you're dreaming." Fenton said.

"Thought so…" Joe agreed, only half awake. He gripped the watch until he went back into a deep slumber and then Vanessa took it from him and buckled it to his wrist.