Project Venom by Simon Cheshire

Author:Simon Cheshire [Simon Cheshire]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781847155351
Publisher: Stripes Publishing
Published: 2014-09-21T16:00:00+00:00

Seede suddenly swatted at his left arm and frowned at the butterfly that had brushed past him.

“I’ve been seen!” transmitted Sirena. “Withdrawing to safe distance!”

“Send a full report to SWARM headquarters,” said Nero. “Morph and I will stay with him.”

At that moment, a female voice echoed through the airport concourse. “Last call for Flight AW91 Air Weihan to Shaghai, boarding at Gate 12. Last call for Flight AW91.”

Peter Seede walked calmly but quickly over to the security checkpoint. A sour-faced guard ran an electronic wand around him, then ushered him into the arched X-ray detector. No alarms were triggered and the guard motioned for Seede to continue on to the gate.

Nero and Morph followed, scuttling along the corridor. Morph kept to the thinly carpeted floor, while Nero moved along the high ceiling, the two of them staying apart in case one of them was spotted as Sirena had been.

“Once Seede is on the aircraft,” said Nero, “SWARM headquarters should be able to stop it leaving by raising an official alert. Seede will be trapped and the police can arrest him. Until then, we must keep track of his movements.”

They shadowed Seede into the departure lounge. It was almost empty, as most of the passengers had already boarded the flight. The Air Weihan jet, a huge Boeing 767-300, could be seen through the enormous windows that formed one wall of the lounge. A steward was stationed at the metal tunnel which led out to the plane, hurrying the last few passengers through and collecting up their boarding passes with a weary smile. He beckoned to Seede.

“Should we follow him on to the aircraft?” said Morph.

“It shouldn’t be necessary,” said Nero. “He won’t be able to escape once he’s aboard.”

“I’ll signal headquarters,” said Morph.

Moments later, Queen Bee cut in on the robots’ communications network. “Nero! Morph! How long before that flight takes off?”

“Eight minutes until the plane proceeds to the runway for take-off,” transmitted Nero.

Queen Bee muttered something under her breath, then said, “We can’t get the plane grounded quickly enough. There are too many phone calls to be made. We can’t use Sirena’s scans without… Anyway, it’s complicated. The only agents who can act in time are you two. You must stop that aircraft from taking off.”

“The airport authorities would respond instantly to a bomb threat,” said Nero. “Could SWARM pretend that—?”

“Absolutely not,” interrupted Queen Bee. “We do not resort to such irresponsible tactics. It’s our duty to protect this country!”

“Apologies, Queen Bee,” said Nero. “I was considering the problem logically.”

“As you’re programmed to do, it’s fine. Our actions against MI5 during their raid on Smith-Neutall broke the rules, but we must draw the line at actions that are morally wrong.”

“Understood,” said Nero.

“I have been computing alternatives,” said Morph. “The only way for Nero and I to prevent the aeroplane taking off is to damage its systems, or at least trigger alerts in the cockpit that would cause the pilots to delay the flight.”

“We’ll have to sneak on board after all,” said Nero.

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