hell?’
‘Look at me,’ he said, which immediately tripled my annoyance because when I was in my ADHD period Mum and Dad were forever taking my face in their hands to make sure I was listening.
‘It’s no big deal. It’s just typing,’ I said, still flat on the floor, which is a bad position if you’re trying to defend yourself.
‘Tell me you didn’t hack a drone, Dan!’
‘Can you lay off the high and mighty, Joe? And get your foot off.’ I pushed him off and sat up.
‘You need to get rid of it, the code or whatever it is.’
‘
OK!
’ I said, keen for him to calm down. ‘Can we carry on now?’
He didn’t answer so I lay back down and carried on shooting but with eagle eyes staring at me with no intention of playing, it was no fun. It took him a few minutes but when he finally spoke he’d thought of some tricky questions.
‘Whose bet was it?’
‘Someone I know.’
‘What have you done with it?’
‘What?’ Pretend innocence.
‘The code. Did you give it to someone?’
If I’d used the tactic I employ with Dad I’d have carried on denying any guilt, and waited for him to get over himself, but he wasn’t my dad. He was
meant
to be my friend. And I didn’t like the way he was looking at me.
‘What if I did?’
Ballistic – that’s the word. He got up and pulled the plug out of the wall. Turned on the light. Shut the door. And stood in front of it, arms folded. The climbing had changed the shape of him – he looked strong, dark brown biceps bulging out of the sleeves of his white T-shirt.
He shouted, ‘You gave someone you don’t know —’
‘I know Angel —’
‘You gave someone you couldn’t recognise in the street the controls of a US drone. A lethal weapon that could strike anyone … anywhere …’
‘You can make it sound that way if you want, but it was just an initiation. A test. And no one’s going to bomb anything, because it was a
sur-veill-ance
drone.’
‘You’ve been played, Dan.’
17
Ten minutes after Joe gave his verdict on my spectacular hack, I was on my way home. There was no telling how long it would take him to calm down.
I let myself in. The rest of them were back from the pub, but I shot straight upstairs and went online to try and find Angel. There was no sign of him. It didn’t mean anything. He
was
allowed another life away from the keyboard.
I tried on and off all through the rest of the day. There’d been whole days, and longer, between meets before. It didn’t mean anything. But in the back of my head (and quite often right in the front) there was doubt. Doubt wasn’t something I’d had a lot of experience of – and I didn’t like it. Apart from anything else, it made me have conversations with myself, which was pointless – and mad.
Dan:
It was a random decision to ask me to hack a drone, because we were talking about spying.
Dan:
I agree, it was a challenge based on the fact that I’d already hacked the spy satellite.
Dan:
Unless Angel saw an opportunity in between the chat to slide it in?
Dan:
Or did Angel get the idea there and then?
Dan:
Is Angel a kid, or an adult?
Dan:
He talked like a kid, no punctuation.
Dan:
Surely this whole thing can’t hang on full stops.
Dan:
Obviously not.
Dan:
Stop stressing about it.
Dan:
I will, as soon as Angel’s back online.
Dan:
Joe could have a point – I have no idea who Angel really is, he could be a psycho.
Dan:
If you want to fly a drone it’s a bit random to roam around the internet, stumbling upon people that you hope might help.
Dan:
Angel could do it himself – he’s elite in his own right.
Dan:
Exactly.
That shut all the Dans up for a bit.
But no matter how much I wanted to dismiss Joe’s fears, I was spooked. So spooked I didn’t even go and meet Ruby off the bus which I intended to do. If she saw my face, I was sure she’d know I’d lied. I wanted to eat Victoria sponge
‘Look at me,’ he said, which immediately tripled my annoyance because when I was in my ADHD period Mum and Dad were forever taking my face in their hands to make sure I was listening.
‘It’s no big deal. It’s just typing,’ I said, still flat on the floor, which is a bad position if you’re trying to defend yourself.
‘Tell me you didn’t hack a drone, Dan!’
‘Can you lay off the high and mighty, Joe? And get your foot off.’ I pushed him off and sat up.
‘You need to get rid of it, the code or whatever it is.’
‘
OK!
’ I said, keen for him to calm down. ‘Can we carry on now?’
He didn’t answer so I lay back down and carried on shooting but with eagle eyes staring at me with no intention of playing, it was no fun. It took him a few minutes but when he finally spoke he’d thought of some tricky questions.
‘Whose bet was it?’
‘Someone I know.’
‘What have you done with it?’
‘What?’ Pretend innocence.
‘The code. Did you give it to someone?’
If I’d used the tactic I employ with Dad I’d have carried on denying any guilt, and waited for him to get over himself, but he wasn’t my dad. He was
meant
to be my friend. And I didn’t like the way he was looking at me.
‘What if I did?’
Ballistic – that’s the word. He got up and pulled the plug out of the wall. Turned on the light. Shut the door. And stood in front of it, arms folded. The climbing had changed the shape of him – he looked strong, dark brown biceps bulging out of the sleeves of his white T-shirt.
He shouted, ‘You gave someone you don’t know —’
‘I know Angel —’
‘You gave someone you couldn’t recognise in the street the controls of a US drone. A lethal weapon that could strike anyone … anywhere …’
‘You can make it sound that way if you want, but it was just an initiation. A test. And no one’s going to bomb anything, because it was a
sur-veill-ance
drone.’
‘You’ve been played, Dan.’
17
Ten minutes after Joe gave his verdict on my spectacular hack, I was on my way home. There was no telling how long it would take him to calm down.
I let myself in. The rest of them were back from the pub, but I shot straight upstairs and went online to try and find Angel. There was no sign of him. It didn’t mean anything. He
was
allowed another life away from the keyboard.
I tried on and off all through the rest of the day. There’d been whole days, and longer, between meets before. It didn’t mean anything. But in the back of my head (and quite often right in the front) there was doubt. Doubt wasn’t something I’d had a lot of experience of – and I didn’t like it. Apart from anything else, it made me have conversations with myself, which was pointless – and mad.
Dan:
It was a random decision to ask me to hack a drone, because we were talking about spying.
Dan:
I agree, it was a challenge based on the fact that I’d already hacked the spy satellite.
Dan:
Unless Angel saw an opportunity in between the chat to slide it in?
Dan:
Or did Angel get the idea there and then?
Dan:
Is Angel a kid, or an adult?
Dan:
He talked like a kid, no punctuation.
Dan:
Surely this whole thing can’t hang on full stops.
Dan:
Obviously not.
Dan:
Stop stressing about it.
Dan:
I will, as soon as Angel’s back online.
Dan:
Joe could have a point – I have no idea who Angel really is, he could be a psycho.
Dan:
If you want to fly a drone it’s a bit random to roam around the internet, stumbling upon people that you hope might help.
Dan:
Angel could do it himself – he’s elite in his own right.
Dan:
Exactly.
That shut all the Dans up for a bit.
But no matter how much I wanted to dismiss Joe’s fears, I was spooked. So spooked I didn’t even go and meet Ruby off the bus which I intended to do. If she saw my face, I was sure she’d know I’d lied. I wanted to eat Victoria sponge
Similar Books
