The Genius Wars by Catherine Jinks Read Free Book Online Page A

the trigger.
I’m not going to shoot you
, he’d once said.
I couldn’t bring myself to do anything of the sort. But I’ll happily shoot Sonja if you give me the least bit of trouble. You understand that, don’t you?
    Cadel could almost hear the smooth, precise drawl ringing in his ears. He could almost see the piercing gaze and wolfish grin – despite the fact that they were both completely absent from Saul’s CCTV footage. Prosper wasn’t smiling at the camera in any of these shots. If he was even aware of being filmed, it certainly wasn’t obvious. His sunglasses concealed any telltale sidelong glances.
    He simply walked from one side of the frame to the other, his pace brisk, his hands empty, his expression unreadable.
    Defeated, Cadel turned his attention to the other people in the foyer shot. There were five of them: two women and three men. All were dressed in business suits. One was carrying a takeaway coffee cup, while the rest were toting either handbags or briefcases. The smaller woman was talking into her mobile phone; she didn’t seem to register Prosper’s presence at all when he overtook her. Everyone was moving in the same direction, towards the elevators, past an enormous piece of modern sculpture that comprised three giant silver balls hanging from steel wires. Cadel could see one end of a dark leather couch. The floor was pale and glossy; the only visible bit of wall was covered in wood veneer; the front entrance wasn’t anywhere in sight …
    And then, suddenly, it hit him.
    The silver ball.
    There
was
a pattern – but it didn’t have anything to do with timing or movement. Hastily he skipped to the next file, in which Prosper was walking through a car park. Sure enough, this scene contained a convex traffic mirror. And in the next scene, at a suburban shopping mall, there was a window display featuring strings of large, chrome-covered balls like overblown Christmas-tree decorations. And at the railway station, a newsstand was hung with shiny, metallic mylar balloons. And in the harbourside hotel lobby, another convexmirror was sitting in a gilded Venetian frame, above an elaborate console table.
    Not a single shot was without some gleaming little half-sphere, its surface a complex web of wraparound reflections.
    ‘Hey, kid,’ said Angus, from the other side of the room. ‘Your parents have arrived.’
    Cadel blinked. Spinning around in his chair, he saw that Angus was pointing at one of the security monitors.
    Even from a distance, Cadel could recognise Saul’s car as it glided across the screen.
    ‘They’re not my parents,’ Cadel observed, absentmindedly. ‘Not yet, anyway.’ Then he asked the question that was uppermost in his mind. ‘Does your CCTV network have an IP address?’
    Angus’s response was a blank, uncomprehending stare. So Cadel tried again.
    ‘Is it connected to the Internet? Is there a central monitoring station?’
    ‘
This
is the central monitoring station,’ said Angus.
    ‘Yeah, but what if no one’s around? Is there remote access surveillance when the place is empty?’ Seeing Angus frown, Cadel gave up. ‘Never mind. I’ll check it myself.’
    ‘No, you won’t.’ The security guard was adamant. ‘Sorry, mate. You’re not cleared to touch any of this equipment.’
    ‘But –’
    ‘Work it out with your dad. He might be able to help.’
    Saul’s car was now parked near the front steps; Cadel could see it quite clearly, on the screen behind Angus. As for Saul and Fiona, they were already inside, being filmed by the camera in the vestibule.
    Hastily Cadel scanned the office ceiling.
    ‘This room doesn’t have any cameras, does it?’ he demanded. ‘I can’t see one.’
    ‘Nup,’ Angus replied.
    ‘Then I’ll wait here. They’ll find me.’
    And they did. Saul, in fact, headed straight for the office, without even pausing at the foot of the staircase. Fiona followedhim, looking flustered. Her thick, reddish hair was beginning to escape from