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  CODE RED

  CHAPTER 1

  “I'm going to do this with or without you,” Dustin says into his phone. His voice is filled with disappointment, he'd just assumed that they were on the same page, that they wanted this too but it turns out he was wrong. He stabs at the end call button and flings the phone across the room, it doesn't actually make him feel any better but he needs to let his anger out on something.

  Dustin's flat is a small place, just big enough for one, but it's filled with endless boxes and files crammed with important information. Since he graduated Dustin's been working as a freelance software designer and it's enough to pay the bills. But he's started working on something else lately, something that's completely taken over his life. It's got to the point that there's no room in his life for anyone or anything else with all the hours spent working on this new project.

  All night he's frantically typing away, eyes bloodshot from staring at the screen for so long, an endless stream of coffee keeping him awake. As the sun comes up he drags a couple of files onto a flash drive before secreting it in a hidden pocket inside his jacket. Dustin's dressed in the uniform of a well-known courier company and he's got a couple of parcels tucked under his arm. He pats his pocket, checking that he's definitely got the flash drive, before heading out of the door with a look of grim determination.

  ***

  Oscar groans loudly, his alarm is blaring and he doesn't want to go to work. It was just meant to be a temporary job for a few months while he got a graduate job lined up but that was nearly a year ago now. Working in a restaurant isn't a bad job but it's just not what he wants to be doing. He's got a degree in electrical engineering but there's so few jobs in his field that he's become accustomed to the rejection letters.

  He gropes about on the bedside table for his glasses, he loathes having to wear them but without them he's useless. As he puts them on and the world comes into focus for him he surveys his tiny flat, tidy but devoid of any personal touches, this too was meant to be a temporary place but it's slowly become home. It's nothing like what he had imagined for his life. He's not one that needs expensive things to prove that he's better than other people but he would like a place to live that he's not ashamed of when his parents come to visit and hopefully someone special to share it with.

  As he puts on his red and yellow uniform Oscar almost laughs at his reflection, before he started working for Burgerino's he adored having his weekly treat of burgers and chips wrapped in that glorious paper bag that used to make his mouth water and his stomach growl just from the sight of it. However nearly six hundred burgers and chips later the appeal has somehow gone from this once treat. But at least work feed him during the shifts, they don't pay him enough to afford anything other than toast at home.

  Thankfully the walk to work is short and he'll be too busy on shift for his mind to torture him with all the things that are wrong with his life. He longs for an adventure, something different, something that will challenge him, but for now this is all he has.

  ***

  Dustin's chaining up his bicycle in an alley behind FC bank, he needs to make sure that it'll still be here once he's done. It may not be the most glamorous of getaway vehicles but it's the most practical in a large city where there's constant monitoring of car license plates. He's strolling into the building and he doesn't look out of place at all in the busy lobby.

  Once he's past security and the completely rude receptionist on duty he heads for the lift. He keeps his head down and his cap tilted to block his face from the cameras, not that he needs to bother, he's just a delivery guy, a nobody. The lift pings and he heads out onto the sixth floor but he heads in the opposite direction to the rest of the crowd exiting and ducks into the toilets.

  Dustin's in a tiny cubicle stripping off his uniform and opening up the parcels to reveal clothing and other items that he'll need for the next phase of his plan. He puts on some jeans and geeky t-shirt.

  He's also got a pair of glasses with plain lenses. Dustin's lucky enough to have perfect vision but for some reason people just expect the IT guy (and they always assume it'll be a man) to have glasses. It somehow reassures them that he's a genuine geek who knows what he's doing. There's also hair gel for him to change his hair from scruffy student look to the perfectly sculpted boy band look. This is more for disguise than anything else, it's strange how changing your hairstyle changes the way your face looks, even though it's exactly the same.

  Finally he's pulling out a laminated pass, with his photo on, with the logo for Devs IT. A very well known secure IT support company and the people who provide help with all the computers at FC Bank. Dustin stuffs all the unwanted clothing and supplies back into the boxes before carefully placing them in the bin and hiding them under a mountain of soggy paper towels. All he needs is an hour, tops, and he'll be out of here, all that matters is that they're not discovered before then.

  He winks at his reflection in the mirror before patting his pocket to check that he's still got the flash drive. It's the one thing he needs to pull this off; everything else is just to make doing it easier. Dustin strides into the main office area and looks down at his phone before surveying the workers.

  There's a girl sitting bored at her desk, browsing through her dashboard, the perfect target for his scam. She'll not mind getting a guilt free break from work while the IT guy 'fixes' her machine. It's a pity it'll all trace back to her but this has to be done now, everything else can be sorted out later.

  As the girl scurries off Dustin quickly gets to work. The flash drive is plugged in and he's clicking away like a maniac before letting the specially written programs do their job; which is stealing a large amount of data about financial transactions. Although Dustin doesn't like to think of it as theft on his part, it's more like exposing FC Bank's various crimes that they were hoping no-one would notice. Really, if anything, he's the good guy in this situation, Dustin thinks.

  A small pop up appears on the screen, indicating that the programs have done their work and that all the data has been transferred onto the flash drive, which means that it's time for Dustin to leave. He gets as far as the lift and he's already starting to smile about a job well done when all the alarms go off. Dustin heads for the emergency exit while the other people look confused about what's actually going on. Hopefully he'll be away before anyone figures out what the alarm's for.

  Dustin's glad he memorized the building layout, he's scurrying along a corridor aiming for an exit that comes out on the alley behind the building. There's no security camera in the alley so he'll be able to get away and disappear into the busy crowds.

  ***

  Oscar's on his break reluctantly stuffing a Big Burger into his mouth; he's only eating it because he's hungry and not because he gets any joy from them anymore. If you'd told his younger self that one day he'd get to eat Burgerino's for nearly every meal he'd have thought it was amazing. It's a shame I had to grow up Oscar thinks sadly.

  “Oscar, can you put the rubbish out please?” The manager asks nicely, although Oscar knows that even if it sounds like a question it's actually an order. Oscar doesn't sigh as he stands up but his hunched demeanor says everything about how he's feeling right now. He gathers up the wrappers from his lunch and puts them in the bin before going round collecting up all the bags of rubbish to take to the outdoor bins. Little does he know that a more interesting life is about to catch up with him, whether he wants it to or not.

  ***

  Dustin bursts through the door, relief washing over him as he steps out into the alley but as he exits he notices a police car blocking the end of the alley. He turns to head back into the building just as the door clicks closed, being a fire escape there's no handle on the outside, there's no way back now.

  He's wonde
ring how he's going to get out of this as two police officers creep towards him, unsure if he's a threat or not. Dustin's not interested in hurting anyone, he's unarmed but he doesn't want to be arrested, not yet anyway. He needs to put all the data together, have definitive proof of FC Bank's crimes. Also he's not sure which police officers can be trusted, bribery is just one of the many offences the bank's guilty of.

  Dustin considers jumping on one of the large bins and onto the flat roof to make his escape when a door opens and a tall blond man comes out carrying several bags of rubbish. The police officers are now only a few meters away and Dustin takes his chance, tackling the tall man so that he ends up with his arm around his throat, which is not easy given his own height.

  He yells to the police, “I've got a gun and I'm not afraid to use it!” Dustin could almost cringe at how clichéd it sounds but he's hoping it's convincing enough. Thankfully for him his hostage seems quite scared even though Dustin's sure if he wanted to he could probably beat Dustin in a fight.

  Dustin's dragging his hostage through the door as one of the police officers radio for their armed response unit. He's lucky the police aren't armed here, in America they'd have shot and killed him already.

  “Is there any way out of here apart from the front door?” Dustin asks his hostage. He's surprised how calm his voice sounds, his heart is racing and he's not sure how he's going to get out of this without adding any more crimes to his already quite long list of offences.

  “Oh, yeah, follow me,” the hostage says quietly. He ducks out of Dustin's hold easily and when he actually looks at him he's relieved at how ordinary he looks, how young he appears and that contrary to what he told the police there doesn't seem to be any sign of a weapon. He adjusts his glasses where they've been knocked by Dustin and as he's leading him down the corridor to the underground delivery garage Oscar wonders why he's actually helping this guy. He could have run away many times and given the height difference he could probably fight him if he had to.

  Once they're near the exit Oscar considers just going back into work, pretending nothing happened but before he can stop himself he's asking, “there is an abandoned building near my flat, we could hide out there, if you want?”

  Dustin hadn't expected this. Can someone get Stockholm syndrome this quickly? But he'd be a fool to turn down this offer. He knows that he can't go home and there's no-one left for him to turn to here.

  “Sure, lead the way,” Dustin beams and it feels like he's picking this guy up in a bar not using him to escape from the police.

  Oscar throws off his work uniform, leaving him in just a t-shirt and black trousers. He almost looks young enough to still be in high school but there's something in his eyes that looks jaded and tired of the world. Dustin removes the glasses and zips up his jacket before running his fingers through his hair to let it flop down around his face.

  They slip out of the garage and straight into the busy street, just two average looking guys wandering about town on their lunch break.

  CHAPTER 2

  “Warner!”

  “Yes Gerald,” Jonas replies quickly. It's never a good sign when someone's shouting for him.

  “You're needed on the FC Bank investigation. It's one of your hacker friends,” Gerald smirks. Jonas is sick of being treated this way because his specialty is cyber crimes. He's got a degree in computer science so it only makes sense that he puts it to good use and he has done all the same police training as everyone else on the force. But yet the general consensus is that cyber crimes aren't 'real' crimes. Just because he spends more time in the office than on the street doesn't mean the work he does is any less valuable. If anything he's stopped more predators and thieves than most of the Officers who walk the street, the only difference is he's never been attacked by a criminal while working.

  Jonas scurries along to the meeting room and braces himself for the 'jokes' that his fellow officers will make at his expense. After the usual mutterings about him being nothing more than a typist the room is calm and Sergeant Coving, speaks.

  “We're looking for a white male, average height, average build, blond hair, blue eyes, last seen wearing this.” A picture of Dustin flashes up on the screen with what he was wearing after he'd got into the office. “We believe him to be the hacker known as Dusty-Day,” they continue, “but this is the first time he's done something criminal”.

  Jonas is well aware of their work, mainly crashing servers that host child porn and spamming the spammers. None of its technically illegal and law enforcement everywhere is happy that someone's doing it, since they're all so hopelessly understaffed when it comes to these kinds of crime. Sometimes Jonas wishes that he had a bit more power himself but that's not the way the law works.

  “Warner, we need you to go to the crime scene. Talk to the bank's security about what's been stolen and see if our hacker left anything that we can use to catch him.” The word hacker is practically spat out but there are no other officers that really understand these things. Jonas wanders back to his office to grab his laptop and his stab-proof vest, hopefully overkill for visiting the bank but protocol dictates that it's worn when they're on duty outside the station, before getting a lift to the bank with Torrance.

  ***

  The abandoned house looks a little run-down, they don't build houses like it anymore, but it's not what Dustin had in mind. There's a large scruffy hedge blocking the view and the overgrown garden with a mixture of sharp and stinging plants that will stop all but the most determined visitors. Once they've snuck round the side and got in through an unlocked door (well, it was unlocked by the time Dustin had finished with it), they end up rooting around the kitchen looking for something to eat.

  “The old guy who used to live here died and the family sold it to a company who are going to tear it down so that they can build flats here,” Oscar explains absently. He's just slumped on the floor in a heap; the adrenaline has given way to exhaustion. It somehow feels odd to be in the empty house now; he'd never been in when the owner was alive. Oscar didn't really know him that well but he used to see him walking his dog when he was on his way to and from work. They used to chat about nothing in particular, just passing the time of day.

  Dustin makes an 'mm' noise while Oscar's talking, just enough to show he's listening, as he's hunting about for food. He is genuinely interested in what Oscar's saying but he's also quite hungry.

  Oscar's wondering what he's doing here. Is he that desperate for some excitement that he's happy to be involved in something criminal? But there's something about this guy that he's envious of, they're confident, happy to make split-second decisions and they're not on the verge of having a panic attack. Oscar takes off his glasses to rub his eyes while he thinks about what he's going to do next. Is he just going to follow this guy until the police catch up with them? Oscar doesn't even know his name, although it might be better if he doesn't know, and yet it seems he might be willing to go to jail for him.

  “Dinner is served, m'lord!” Dustin says mockingly before handing Oscar a can of baked beans and a spoon. Oscar smiles and quickly puts his glasses back on, almost poking out an eye in the process. Dustin helps Oscar to his feet and leads him to the sofa, there's no electricity but there's more sunlight coming in to the front of the house.

  They quietly eat the beans, the occasional sound of spoon scraping against can the only noises. Once they're finished eating Dustin clears everything away before returning with a couple of beers, it's either that or water since there's no power to make coffee.

  Oscar downs his beer in one, he was just going to take a sip but with all the craziness today maybe letting the alcohol take the edge off isn't a bad thing. When he finishes it Dustin hands him another beer with a cheeky grin.

  “So…” Oscar asks. He's not really sure how to phrase the question he wants to ask. Oscar's acutely aware that he might be in actual danger; although Dustin seems nice, he's got no idea why the police are after him. Luckily Dustin appears to have the gi
ft of mind-reading.

  “Why are the police after me?” Dustin says calmly. Like he's talking about what he had for breakfast. Oscar makes a soft noise in agreement, willing Dustin to carry on talking. Dustin knows he's got a captive audience, figuratively and literally, so he's going to take his time. He takes a slow sip from his beer and Oscar watches his lips with fascination, they look just perfect wrapped around the bottle, until Dustin speaks and jolts him out of his daydream.

  “My Mum, she worked for a bank. It was a good job, well paid, lots of bonuses. She was there for many years until suddenly everyone was made redundant, but she thought it would be okay because she had the house and some savings,” Dustin says shaking his head in disbelief, “but all her savings were linked to the bank and her house was worth the same as the mortgage so she ended up with nothing.”

  “The little bank she worked for was a subsidiary of FC Bank, they deliberately manipulated the figures so that their executives could line their pockets and the little people would get nothing,” Dustin spits. Oscar can see the anger in his eyes, the desire for revenge.

  Oscar wants to ask about his Mum but he doesn't want to interrupt Dustin. He does feel sorry for him but he's still not sure how this justifies committing a crime.

  “I've always been good with computers,” Dustin continues, “and then I studied computer science at university.” Dustin pauses and Oscar motions for him to carry on, even though he's not sure where this story is going, but he's fascinated nonetheless.

  “Then one day a gift of a project fell into my lap,” Dustin says as a smile creeps onto his face, “a secure data encryption program for FC Bank - which gave me an opportunity to leave myself back door access to their files; not remotely, that would be noticed, but from their head office directly. I thought I'd be in and out without anyone noticing but then the alarms went off and you know the rest…” Dustin trails off, lost in his thoughts.