‘Hacked?’ the woman in plaid repeated. ‘But that doesn’t make any sense. These vehicles areunhackable. That’s what we were told from the very start, isn’t it?’
‘It’s how you persuaded the public to place their trust in driverless cars,’ added the dark-haired man. ‘Cast-iron guarantees were made that because vehicles only communicate with the outside world when they have to, there’s no continuous line or cloud to be hacked. Are you telling us now they can be compromised?’
‘I’m sure this is nothing more than speculation and rumour,’ Jack replied, but his thin smile disappeared quickly and he struggled to mask his concern.
Suddenly, another of the twelve television screens became filled with an image: this time of an elderly man with a handful of medals pinned to the left breast of his jacket. His body language contrasted with that of the others – he appeared relaxed as he stared from the window of his moving vehicle.
‘That makes six of them,’ the male juror commented just as the sound feed to the TV news channel returned.
‘And we have just had Government confirmation that the people you are watching have had their cars taken over by a third party, but by whom and for what purpose, we do not yet know. All we can tell you is that they all appear to be travelling from different parts of the country to the same destination. Police have also admitted each Passenger has also been warned they may end up dead by the end of the morning.’
‘Dead?’ gasped the religious rep and turned to Jack. ‘You just this minute said it was only a possibility those cars had been hacked! These people are now, what?Hostages? Do you even know what is going on out there?’
Jack could no longer hold back his frustration. ‘Why am I hearing this from a news channel and not from any of you?’ he yelled at the nearest member of his team. ‘Ifcars on my roads are being hijacked then why am I the last to hear about it?’
‘We are trying to identify who is in each car and the makes and models being driven in the hope the manufacturers can find a way of bringing them to a halt remotely.’
‘In the hope?’ said Jack. ‘Don’t give me “hope”, give me results. And why has nobody from my own office called me back? Get me the Government Communications Headquarters online now.’ Jack pinched his eyes and shook his head as the assistant scurried away.
‘There’s number seven,’ the dark-haired man noted as another petrified face filled a screen, this time a woman of Asian origin.
‘When is it going to stop?’ asked the religious rep. ‘Who are these people? How are they being chosen? Why are they being targeted?’
‘Shouldn’t you be praying for them instead of asking so many bloody questions?’ snapped Jack and stared at the phone in his hand.
‘Number eight,’ the dark-haired man continued. A woman wearing a hijab appeared inside another screen. ‘How many more will there be?’
Libby spotted Jack’s hands curling into tight fists, his eyes burning with rage. ‘For God’s sake, I can see what is happening. I don’t need a running fucking commentary! I need you all to shut up so that I can think.’
‘Isn’t that Sofia Bradbury, the actress?’ asked the woman in plaid.
‘No, it can’t be,’ the religious rep replied. She perched on the end of her chair to get a closer look. Meanwhile the news channel focused on Sofia and compared it to stock footage of her in an acting role. ‘You’re right. Well, I’ll be …’
She was interrupted by the news anchor. ‘The footage we are about to broadcast has been taken from socialmedia sources. It contains the moment each of these people, who are now being referred to as the Passengers, was informed of what is happening to them.’
Each pair of eyes in the room was directed towards the largest of the screens as Claire Arden climbed into her car before it pulled away. Soon after, a voice informed her of her hijack. More Passengers’ stories followed, and all were similarly informed they were facing a death sentence. They reacted with a combination of disbelief, fear and confusion. Libby felt for all of them, but one more above the others.Him.
She absentmindedly twisted a silver ring around her finger over and over again until his clip finally began to play. The Hacker called him Jude, and when he replied, she listened intently to his voice. ‘Who is this and how did you get my number?’ he asked. It was the confirmation she needed and dreaded in equal measure.
It is you, she thought.
Chapter 14
Libby didn’t know how to react. She wanted to grin, cry, scream and bang her fists on the table yelling how unfair it was. But she knew she must keep a firm grip of her emotions. She had to process what she knew about Jude before she revealed her truth to a group of strangers she didn’t much care for.
Jude, she repeated to herself – he now had a name. It was like the Beatles song her brother Nicky played often. She couldn’t help but wonder if only she’d heard Jude’s name the night they’d met, perhaps she might have located him sooner. Then he might not be on the screen ahead of her, locked inside a car, threatened with death. Each Passenger’s name now appeared on their screens and suddenly they became people and not anonymous faces.
‘Updates, now!’ Libby jumped as Jack bellowed across the room.
‘The National Cyber Security Centre is trying to trace the servers where the live streaming is coming from,’ said one of his team. ‘But they could be located anywhere, re-routed through numerous countries. And even if they do find them, it’s unlikely they’d be in an enforceable jurisdiction.’
‘Well, order the news channels to pull the plug on their coverage. The public doesn’t need to know any moreabout what’s happening than what’s already been reported. It’ll only make things worse.’
‘We have no influence over them.’
‘We do when it’s an act of terror. Who do I need to talk to about an immediate news blackout?’
‘But it’s not just this channel, Mr Larsson; it’s every major news station on terrestrial, cable and satellite. Even if they’re all taken off air, people will be able to watch it online as everything is also being broadcast as it happens on social media. Facebook Live, its own TV channel, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube Live, Instagram Stories, Instagram TV and Vevo … and they’re only the major ones. There are countless other start-ups …’
