The Genius Wars

  ‘I know.’

  ‘He must have told them where to park. So they would block the emergency exit. He had it all worked out.’

  ‘I know. Kale briefed me.’

  ‘I got scared. I mean, I got really scared.’ Only in hindsight did Cadel realise how scared he had been. At the time, he’d been too busy planning his next move to focus on the welling fear in his gut – which might very well have affected his ability to think things through. ‘Maybe I should have asked Fiona to buy the plane ticket,’ he allowed. ‘Maybe I panicked a bit too much. But I did have to come here. I couldn’t have stayed.’

  Saul muttered something inaudible. Before Cadel could ask him to repeat it, however, the detective said wearily, ‘At least you’ll be safe enough at an FBI field office.’

  ‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.’ No matter how feeble it might sound, Cadel knew that he had to apologise. For everything. ‘And I’m sorry about what happened. About your head, and …’ His voice trembled slightly. ‘And the house …’

  ‘That WASN’T YOUR FAULT.’

  ‘I should never have moved in with you. I should have known that Prosper would come after me one of these days –’

  ‘Okay, listen.’ Saul cut him off. ‘I didn’t call up to give you hell, or listen to a load of garbage about this being all down to you. I called because you’re in trouble.’ There was a brief silence, as if the detective was husbanding enough strength to proceed. At last he murmured, ‘I can’t help you, Cadel. I’m stuck here in bed, my arm’s useless, and I … I’m no good to you, right now. What you need is a lawyer.’

  ‘But –’

  ‘Kale’s a good guy. I trust him. I like him. And he likes you. Trouble is, he’s not in charge, over there.’ The sound of laboured breathing suggested that Saul was either close to tears or – more probably – trying to adjust an injured body part without hurting himself. ‘Fiona and I both think that you should have proper legal representation,’ he concluded, a little raggedly. ‘So we’re sorting it out with the FBI. Kale’s got no problem with that. He thinks it’s a good idea.’

  But Cadel didn’t. On the contrary, he was aghast. ‘I don’t want you paying for a lawyer!’ he yelped. ‘You’ll go bankrupt!’

  ‘Cadel –’

  ‘No way! No way!’

  ‘You’re a juvenile. Someone has to be there for you.’

  ‘No they don’t. Because I’m helping the FBI. I’m going to break this case wide open for them.’ Cadel hurried to back up this extravagant claim, knowing that Saul was probably sceptical. ‘When Kale talks to Raimo, we’re going to find out a whole lot more. We might even find out where Prosper’s living! Don’t you think they’ll go easy on me, if that happens?’

  The detective’s sigh came gusting down the line. ‘It won’t happen,’ he said.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Raimo’s not talking,’ Saul pointed out. ‘He’s lawyered up and accusing you of gaining unauthorised access to his computer. He wants you charged, Cadel.’

  ‘How – how do you know that?’

  ‘Because I talked to Kale. Before I talked to you. He told me what’s been going on.’

  Cadel felt slightly winded by this unexpected blow. He had to collect his scattered thoughts before speaking again. ‘You mean Raimo’s in custody?’ he asked. ‘You mean Kale got him while I was asleep?’

  ‘That’s right,’ a sharp voice interrupted. It was Kale himself, walking into the room with a couple of dark-suited colleagues. ‘We went straight over and picked your guy up for questioning,’ he said. ‘But I don’t know how long we can hold him. Not on one email pulled off Compton Daniels’s laptop.’ As Cadel opened his mouth, Kale anticipated his question. ‘Your dad had a warrant to confiscate that machine. Zapp’s files are another matter. We’re still working on the legalities.’

  ‘Who’s that?’ Saul buzzed into Cadel’s ear. ‘Is that Kale?’

  ‘Yes,’ Cadel replied. ‘Do you want to talk to him?’

  ‘Could I?’

  ‘Saul wants to talk to you.’ Handing over the phone, Cadel noticed that Kale’s companions had identical looks on their faces: calm, mild, unresponsive looks. He wondered if all FBI agents were trained to look like that when dealing with people they didn’t know.

  ‘Yeah. Oh, yeah. Uh-huh.’ Kale seemed to be answering Saul’s questions. ‘Yeah, about an hour ago. Nothing so far. Whole place is empty. What?’ A pause. ‘Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised. I’ll have to check it out myself. Yeah. Yeah.’ Kale glanced over at Cadel, then quickly averted his eyes again. ‘Yeah, I was thinking that. Now we’ve got an all-clear. Wouldn’t be any risk – I’d be going myself. Okay. Sure. Mmm-hmm.’

  Cadel sensed that he himself was being discussed, but couldn’t work out the context. What whole place was empty? Why did Kale need an all-clear?

  ‘No, I’ll do it now. Okay. Yeah. Don’t worry. Sure. It’s taken care of.’ Abruptly Kale broke the connection. ‘A nurse just came in to see your dad,’ he informed Cadel. ‘But he’ll call again later. You okay with that?’

  Cadel nodded.

  ‘Good.’ Kale surrendered the phone to one of his companions, who whisked it out of the room. ‘Meanwhile, there’s something you can help us with. It’s a long shot, but I think it’s worth a try. Since you know Prosper English better than anyone.’ He turned to his remaining colleague. ‘Have we heard from Gus yet?’

  ‘No, sir.’

  ‘Well, go and see what the trouble is, will you? I want to be out of here in ten minutes.’ Having dispatched his messenger, Kale leaned against the nearby desk, arms folded, ankles crossed. ‘I’m still not sure what you know,’ he said, fixing his hard, bright, speculative gaze on Cadel. ‘I guess someone must have told you we’ve been keeping a lookout for Rex Austin? He’s wanted in connection with the Genius Squad bust. But he’s a hard man to get a hold of.’

  ‘Yes. I heard about that,’ Cadel replied cautiously.

  ‘In fact he’s so damn hard to get a hold of that we’re starting to wonder,’ Kale confessed. ‘I mean, the guy’s always been paranoid. He’s always been security conscious, on account of all the dough he’s got. He was never one to fill his house with staff, or go anywhere on foot. When he wants to meet somebody, he does it by skyping or video conferencing. He’s a loner,’ Kale added. ‘Kinda guy who doesn’t trust people. Like me.’

  Cadel waited.

  ‘But there’s paranoid and paranoid,’ Kale went on. ‘And when a guy sacks the personal assistant he’s had for twenty years, you can’t help taking notice. Especially when he sacks his butler, too. And his accountant. Not in person, mind you. Just leaves a message.’

  ‘You’ve had him under surveillance?’

  ‘Not exactly. Like I said – no one’s laid eyes on him for months. But we’ve been monitoring his activities, and he’s been making some pretty big changes. In his business life as well as his personal life.’

  ‘You mean –’

  ‘Closing accounts. Selling companies. Firing staff.’ Kale cocked his head. ‘And now this body scan crops up. Sitting in Zapp’s computer, alongside a scan of Prosper English.’

  ‘So it could be one of two things.’ Cadel’s brain had been working furiously. ‘Either Rex wants to do what Prosper’s been doing, and make it look like he’s somewhere he’s not –’

  ‘So we won’t be searching in the right place. Yeah. That’s one explanation.’

  ‘– or Prosper’s impersonating Rex,’ Cadel finished. Although the first possibility had already occurred to him, the second was entirely new. It hadn’t even crossed his mind, owing to a dearth of background information. ‘Maybe Prosper’s trying to take over the whole Austin business empire,’ he posited. ‘Maybe the scan is for security footage. Or videophone messages. Maybe they’ve got some kind of voice transformation technology as well – so people will believe it’s Rex who’s ordering them around, instead of Prosper.’

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘Because that w
ould make sense, wouldn’t it?’ Cadel was thinking aloud. ‘If the police have been cracking down on Prosper’s bank accounts, then where’s he been getting his money from?’

  ‘Good question.’

  ‘He could have been stealing it off Rex. Or maybe the two of them are working together, and Rex has been giving Prosper the money.’ As far as Cadel could see, there were two acceptable scenarios: either Prosper had persuaded Rex to revamp Austin Enterprises – and elude the police with the help of fake CCTV footage – or Prosper had got rid of Rex, and needed a scan to take over the dead man’s property. ‘What do you think? Do you think Rex Austin is still alive?’

  Kale shrugged. ‘It’ll be hard to prove he isn’t, unless we find a body,’ was his oblique response. He hadn’t taken his eyes off Cadel. ‘That’s why we’ve raided his place at Laguna Beach.’

  Cadel blinked. The look on his face seemed to amuse Kale, who cracked a sour little smile.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Cadel demanded. He sensed that he was missing a very important piece of the puzzle. ‘When did that happen?’

  ‘Oh …’ Kale glanced at his watch. ‘About two hours ago.’

  ‘Two hours ago?’

  ‘We’ve got reason to believe that Prosper English might have moved in.’

  A sudden tapping at the door interrupted this exchange. As Cadel gaped like a fish, speechless with confusion, Kale turned to field whatever inquiry might be heading his way.

  But it wasn’t an inquiry. It was an announcement, delivered by the same agent who’d been sent to find out what the ‘trouble’ was. ‘We’re set to go,’ he reported, from the threshold. ‘I was just talking to Gus. He says the car’s ready, and it’s all clear at the other end.’

  ‘Okay. Thanks,’ said Kale. ‘You wanna round everyone up?’

  ‘Sure.’

  The obliging agent vanished again, so swiftly and silently that he might have been a genie disappearing in a puff of smoke. Kale turned back to Cadel.

  ‘A while ago, your dad sent us some interesting data,’ said Kale. ‘It was a set of applications designed to infiltrate all the Bluetooth appliances in a networked house. An American networked house.’

  ‘I know about that,’ Cadel interposed – then caught his breath. ‘God!’ he exclaimed. ‘Don’t tell me it was written for Rex Austin’s house?’ But it must have been. He could see that now. It made perfect sense.

  It also settled one particular matter, for good and all.

  ‘I don’t think Rex is alive,’ he declared. ‘Or if he is, he’s being held captive.’

  ‘Whoa. Hold on.’ Kale lifted a hand. Cadel, however, wouldn’t be silenced. He found himself babbling enthusiastically, as the complete picture began to take shape in his mind’s eye.

  ‘Someone as paranoid as Rex Austin would be hard to get at, unless you infiltrated the security system in his house. I mean, you could sabotage one of his appliances, so he’d call a repair man. And you could send your own repair man. And that would be the end of that. Especially if you shut down all his alarms at the same time.’ Cadel could imagine the whole sorry spectacle. He could practically see it playing out in front of him. ‘It must have been Vee who designed that program,’ he mused. ‘Somehow he must have got hold of the house specs. Do we know who the architect was? Or the electrician? They might be worth talking to.’

  ‘We haven’t found them yet,’ said Kale. ‘But I tracked down the insurance policy on that house, and every item listed there matches the applications in the program you dug up. When you told me about Austin’s scan, I put two and two together. I suddenly remembered his beach house – because I’ve been to that house. I went there months ago, to see if he’d talk about Genius Squad. It was some spread, I’ve gotta tell you.’

  ‘You went inside?’ Cadel exclaimed. Kale, however, shook his head.

  ‘Couldn’t get past the lobby,’ he admitted. ‘Your dad hadn’t sent me those applications, back then, so I didn’t have a case that would get me inside.’

  ‘But now you do?’

  ‘Since we saw the insurance policy. It’s a match, all right. Looks like Austin wanted a staff-free house. He wanted a fridge that would order his food, and a robot that would clean his floors, and heating that he could turn on before he got home.’ Kale snorted. ‘Like I said, he didn’t trust people. And the more staff you have, the riskier it gets.’

  ‘I guess so.’ All the same, Cadel couldn’t help wondering if computers were riskier than people, in the long run. ‘So when you dug up the insurance policy, and saw that everything matched the hack from Judith’s house –’

  ‘I sent a team down to Laguna Beach,’ Kale concluded.

  ‘Right.’

  ‘And now I want you to check out the place yourself.’ Upon receiving no answer, Kale frowned. ‘Cadel? Did you hear me?’

  ‘Mmm?’ Cadel was distracted by vague memories of what he’d read about voice cloning. Was speech-synthesis technology advanced enough, nowadays, for Prosper English to imitate Rex Austin on the phone? Or had Vee devised yet more breakthrough programming – perhaps with the aid of a rogue sound engineer, instead of a computer graphics expert like Raimo Zapp?

  ‘Earth to Cadel? Did you hear what I said?’

  ‘Huh?’ Cadel snapped out of his reverie. ‘Oh. Sorry. What?’

  ‘I said I want you to check out Rex Austin’s place,’ Kale repeated. ‘The one at Laguna.’

  ‘Me?’

  ‘I’ve got a team down there right now, with a search warrant. But they haven’t found anyone. There’s no sign of Austin – or English. That’s why I figure you could help.’ Cadel’s lack of response drew from Kale a more detailed explanation. ‘See, if we’ve missed something, you might pick up on it. Since you know Prosper English better than anybody.’

  Cadel grunted. Though he’d said much the same thing, on any number of occasions, the thought that it might be true suddenly seemed unbearably depressing. For one thing, it implied that he and Prosper were somehow alike.

  ‘I doubt I know Prosper better than you,’ Cadel mumbled. ‘You’re the one who’s been investigating him all this time. You must know him pretty well by now.’

  ‘Yeah, but you’ve had breakfast with the guy – and lived to tell the tale. None of us have done that. You’ve been up close and personal.’ Seeing Cadel’s vinegary expression, Kale tried to adopt a wheedling tone (without much success). ‘It’s perfectly safe, down there. We’ve made sure it’s not bugged or booby-trapped. The way we’ve got it staked out, it’s probably safer than the Pentagon.’

  Cadel said nothing. He was too busy swallowing the bitter taste in his mouth.

  ‘It’s up to you,’ Kale grudgingly had to concede. ‘If you don’t wanna go, you can bail out. Or we could put it off for a couple of days, while you make up your mind –’

  ‘I’ll go. You’re right. I should go.’ Cadel stood up. He had decided, abruptly, that there was no point fretting over the past. Not when the future seemed so uncertain. ‘When are we leaving? Now? Will I have time to go to the toilet?’

  ‘Uh … yeah. Sure.’ Though taken aback by this apparent change of heart, Kale clearly welcomed it. He clapped Cadel on the shoulder. ‘Do you wanna bite to eat, first?’

  ‘No, thanks.’

  ‘Did you bring a toothbrush? I can send Chuck out to buy one. And there’s a shower downstairs, if you feel like freshening up.’

  ‘I’m okay. Don’t worry about me,’ said Cadel, whereupon his companion pulled a wry face.

  ‘I have to worry about you, kid. You’re not sixteen yet.’ Kale began to nudge Cadel towards the door. ‘In fact I’ve fixed up a lawyer for you, but I guess she’ll have to meet us at Laguna Beach. Since we don’t wanna be waiting around for the whole afternoon –’

  ‘A lawyer?’ Cadel stopped in his tracks. ‘What lawyer?’

  ‘Don’t look so scared. She’s good. She specialises in juveniles.’

  ‘But –’

  ‘You’re not under arrest. Yo
u’re just under-age.’ Kale couldn’t stop a hint of impatience from creeping into his voice. ‘You need someone to take care of your interests. I’d do it myself, if I could.’

  ‘But a lawyer …’ Cadel protested. ‘Lawyers cost money! And I don’t have any money!’

  ‘We’ll work something out,’ said Kale. ‘There’s a reward posted, remember? Fifty thousand dollars, for information leading to the arrest of Prosper English. If we catch him, you’ll be eligible for that reward.’ He dredged up another acidic little smile, so lacking in mirth that it was more like a scowl. ‘Hell,’ he added, ‘fifty thou should buy you at least two days with a third-rate lawyer. And you’ll have enough change left to treat yourself to an ice-cream sundae!’

  If this was meant to be a joke, Cadel didn’t find it very amusing. Nor was he particularly reassured. In fact he began to wonder, on his way downstairs, whether Kale had told him everything he needed to know. The FBI wasn’t famous for its transparency. Cadel couldn’t help feeling that somewhere in the bureau’s archives, a big, fat file probably had his name on it.

  I just hope they understand where I fit into all this, he fretted. I hope they understand which side I’m on.

  Then he told himself to stop thinking like Prosper English, as the elevator doors slid open.

  THIRTY

  Cadel fell asleep in the car. When he woke up again, about forty minutes later, it was still moving.

  ‘Are we there yet?’ he drowsily inquired, peering out the window. A distant oil refinery was visible, ominous and imposing against a backdrop of dark clouds.

  ‘Not yet,’ said Kale, who was sitting beside him.

  ‘It’s funny seeing all these gum trees,’ Cadel observed. ‘It’s like we’re in Australia.’ Then he had second thoughts. ‘Except in Australia there aren’t so many oil derricks all over the place,’ he added.

  No one replied. The two FBI agents in the front seat – Chuck and Feliz – hadn’t yet opened their mouths. As for Kale, he was tapping out a text message on his mobile phone.