Lane had done this to him, had bent him this way, had turned him into a tool. The boy’s mind had been monstrous, terrifying. The memory of it sent shivers through him. And the President, the assassination… Panic was rising again, clawing at him, threatening to break loose.
He needed something. Relief from this horror. Holtzmann pulled up the neurotransmitter controls, dialed up a dose of his own opiates, just a little one, just enough so he could think. He pressed the mental button, waited for the sweet relief.
Nothing.
What?
He pressed the button again. Nothing happened.
He closed the controls, killed the process, relaunched it, dialed up an opiate dose again.
Nothing.
The panic was rising higher now. Higher every instant.
Lane. Lane must have done this.
He pulled up a diagnostic suite within Nexus OS, ran it to scan the system. Half the diagnostics failed, instantly. Error messages came back. ACCESS DENIED. ACCESS DENIED. ADMINISTRATOR PRIVILEGES REQUIRED. ACCESS DENIED. INSUFFICIENT PERMISSIONS. ACCESS DENIED.
Oh no. Oh God no.
Lane had taken away Holtzmann’s root access to his own Nexus OS. He’d taken away control of the software running on Holtzmann’s own brain.
He forced himself to think, forced himself to concentrate. There must be some way around this.
He reached out to his home network again. Success. He could still access the net. From there he linked to an anonymization service, and from there out to a Nexus code repository. There, a new version of Nexus OS, more recent than his own. He clicked the link to install it, to override his current Nexus OS.
ACCESS DENIED.
Damn it!
He could uninstall Nexus, remove it from his brain. Then find another dose, somehow, reinstall his apps… He launched the command to evict the Nexus nodes from inside his skull
[Nexus purge]
The system threw up a prompt:
[This command will erase Nexus OS and purge all Nexus nodes from your brain. All stored data and applications will be lost. Are you sure you want to continue? Y/N]
[Yes], he thought at it eagerly.
[ACCESS DENIED.]
Holtzmann nearly screamed in frustration. He tried a dozen more things, installing patches, changing permissions on files, editing raw bits that controlled access to resources, writing his own crude code to control his neurotransmitter levels.
[ACCESS DENIED.] [ACCESS DENIED.] [ACCESS DENIED.]
He was sweating now. He could see Rangan Shankari’s face. He could see the boy in captivity. His stomach was clenching. It was intolerable. He had to get the boy out of ERD custody. But he had another problem. A problem that would get in the way.
How long had it been? How long since his last opiate dose? Twelve hours? Something like that?
He was due. He was due to take more. He felt the need for it. Even if this added stress wasn’t here, he’d need another dose soon. And without another dose…
Martin Holtzmann was going to go into withdrawal.
49
CAGED
Sunday October 28th
“I hope the room is to your liking,” Shiva said.
Kade pushed himself to his feet.
“Where’s Feng?” he asked.
“We have feelers out,” Shiva replied. “Informants. We hope to know soon.”
“Let me go,” Kade said.
Shiva smiled slightly. “I want us to be friends, Kade. To work together.”
“You try to kill me,” Kade shouted, “get my friend killed or captured, and you want me to work with you?” Spittle flew from his lips.
Shiva’s face became stern. “I’ve never tried to kill you. I saved your life, and your friend’s.”
“Oh please.” Kade waved away Shiva’s claims.
“What did you think awaited you outside that club?” Shiva asked.
“We knew,” Kade went on. “We would have made it.”
“Oh?” Shiva asked. “Past the snipers on the rooftops?”
Kade’s confidence wavered.
“And if you had, what then? Run again? Where to?”
Kade stared at him, mute.
“And when you were caught, eventually, what then?” Shiva asked. “Do you want your back door in the hands of the Americans? The Chinese? How do you think those governments would use it?”
Kade’s face was hot. He said nothing.
“Can you blame me for what I did?” Shiva asked. “You were out there, irresponsibly, putting yourself at risk, putting more than a million other people at risk. Can you blame me for wanting you off the streets?”
“No one gets the back door,” Kade said. “No one.”
“No one but you,” Shiva replied. “Isn’t that what you mean?”
Are you wiser than humanity? Ilya’s whispered in his mind, echoing Ananda. Not even you should have that power.
“Here.” Shiva stepped closer, held out the slate to him. “I won’t let you touch my mind. But I’ve done the next best thing. I’ve recorded my thoughts, my plans, direct from my mind. They’re here for you to peruse. To see how much we could do together.”
Shiva stood before Kade, just feet from him, the slate in his outstretched hand. Kade knew what he needed to do. He closed his eyes, took a steadying breath, and went Inside.
[activate: bruce_lee mode: attack_and_capture]
Targeting circles appeared on the inside of his eyelids. Kade opened his eyes, clicked on Shiva, and Bruce Lee launched him at the man.
His body surged forward. His left fist snapped out, connected with Shiva’s jaw, rocked the man’s head to the side.
[Bruce_Lee: Attack Succeeded!]
His body moved in for a lock, to capture the older man.
Then Shiva’s left hand shot out, grabbed Kade by the neck, lifted him off his feet, and hurled him across the room.
Kade hit the far wall with a thud, the wind knocked out of him. A framed picture jumped off its hook, crashed to the floor a foot away, glass shattering all around it.
[Bruce_Lee: Block Failed L]
Shiva set the slate down on the writing desk, then turned and walked to the door. “I look forward to your thoughts,” he said. Then he was gone, the door closed behind him.
Kade sat there, reeling from the blow.
When, he wondered, has that app ever fucking worked?
He pulled himself slowly to his feet, one hand on the wall for balance.
The door opened, and one of Shiva’s men came in, something in his hand. He brought it up to Kade’s throat and Kade backed away haltingly, until he realized what it was. A key.
The man inserted it into the slot in the medallion around Kade’s neck, and it came loose, falling into the man’s hand.
Kade reached out, immediately, with Nexus, to feel whatever he could. But this man wore a static-producing jammer as well, and the slate was the only other thing in the room transmitting, advertising a set of files for Kade to consume.
The man nodded to Kade. “I’ll be outside if you need anything, sir.”
Then the guard turned and left, locking the door behind him, leaving Kade with the slate, with Shiva’s promised thoughts and plans.
Kade blinked and stood there a moment to regain his balance. Then he went Inside and turned off the Nexus OS file sharing in his own mind, blocking the tempting files out of his senses.
They brought him lunch later. Kade ate, meditated, took stock of the situation.
Rangan was still locked up. He’d set Holtzmann in motion, but the task was complicated. He needed to be out there to guide and assist.