The Passengers(34)
‘With regards to what?’ he replied.
‘When he said the truth is an inconvenience. Why was he directing that towards you?’
‘I have no idea. Perhaps you should ask him? You two appear to have developed quite the little rapport. A friendly word of advice though – you’d best be careful or people might come to the wrong conclusions.’
His tone was far from friendly and Libby’s eyebrows rose. ‘Why would you even think that?’
Jack straightened his tie, the corners of his mouth rising to indicate his amusement at having goaded her. ‘Centre stage suits you, Miss Dixon. When you came into this room you were a shy little wallflower and look at you now; you’re like Japanese knotweed, spreading your roots into places they don’t belong and proving quite impossible to restrain. Some might think you’re beginning to enjoy your time in the spotlight.’ He looked to the cameras and smiled.
‘I thought beneath that fa?ade there just might lie a shred of decency. But you’re empty, aren’t you?’
Jack’s response was to flick her away with his hand like he was waving away a fly. ‘I think you’ll find the many thousands of constituents I serve tirelessly may disagree.’
Muriel interrupted, her expression concerned. ‘Why hasn’t the Hacker told us where the collision point is?’
Matthew shook his head. ‘He only tells us what he wants us to know.’
‘Is it just me or does anyone else have a horrible feeling he plans to send the cars to this building?’
‘That wouldn’t happen because they won’t be permitted access into Birmingham city centre, or any city centre for that matter,’ said Jack. ‘If each of these vehicles are packed with explosives like the Hacker claims, they are unlikely to reach a one-mile radius of an exclusion zone.’
A new camera angle appeared on a screen. Footage came from high above a moving car. Framing the screen were numbers, graphics and coordinates.
‘Hmm,’ Cadman began, and rubbed at the stubble on his chin. ‘This is interesting. Apparently, we shouldn’t have access to this.’
‘Isn’t it a news channel’s drone?’ asked Libby.
‘Not according to Reddit. Users say the graphics are military.’
An ominous feeling swept through her. ‘What’s social media saying about the purpose of these drones?’
‘Bear with,’ he replied as he and his team typed key words and phrases into their devices. ‘Okay Josè … so, footage of one of the drones was recorded by a regular passenger and uploaded onto Snapchat seven minutes ago. The consensus is that it’s an Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle operated by the army … and now KnowHow users are claiming it’s an RP 7876V. Said drones are apparently “armed and capable of discharging many rounds of ammunition”.’
Libby faced Jack. ‘Are they going to shoot the Passengers off the roads?’
‘Isn’t it obvious? What else do you think they’re going to do? Sit back and watch them blow up in the middle of our cities? You must remove the smallest number possible to save the most. It’s standard warfare technique.’
‘But this isn’t a war.’
‘But it is, you silly woman!’ he mocked, then turned his eyes sharply to the camera, as if reminding himself of his audience. He adjusted his tone accordingly. ‘This Hacker is waging war on our country, on our roads, on our people, on you and I. Do you expect the Government to just accept it? We cannot allow terror to prevail, even if it means some of our own suffering for the greater good.’
As Libby looked towards Jude, her shoulders slumped. She had assumed the only threat to his life was from the Hacker, not from his own country.
‘When will it happen?’
‘I doubt very much that it will,’ the Hacker interrupted.
‘Then you are fooling yourself,’ said Jack. ‘The will of one will never prevail over the safety of the masses.’
‘Do you know how many schools, colleges and academies there are in the UK, Jack?’ the Hacker continued. He waited long enough for Jack to shake his head. ‘There are almost twenty-six thousand containing nine point two million children.’
‘And why are you telling me this?’
‘Do you not think I have planned for every eventuality? Ten of these twenty-six thousand schools contain a number of explosive devices inside them, which I am able to detonate at any given moment. The explosives could be located anywhere on each of the premises – classrooms, store cupboards, gymnasiums, lockers. Should an order be given to remove any Passengers from the road, then I will not hesitate to detonate my devices in all ten schools at once.’
‘They all need evacuating now …’ Jack muttered and removed his phone from his pocket.
‘Attempting to move more than nine million children within the next eighty minutes is an impossibility. Contacting each parent, then having them leave their places of employment to pick their children up will see countrywide chaos and traffic jams the like of which we have never witnessed before. And if our country is gridlocked and my vehicles do not reach their destination, both they and the schools will be detonated. Would you like that on your conscience?’
‘Your threats aren’t going to stop panicking parents making sure their kids are safe,’ said Libby.