Dark Hunter by Andy Briggs

are afoot to stabilize this. I do not wish to live in a world dominated by the Council. That would be most … boring.”
    â€œHow does Chromosome fit into all this?”
    Mr. Grimm shrugged his bony shoulders. “You and she have a deal. I suggest that you honor it as best you can. She does not know about this lair, and you should keep it that way in case she tries to double-cross you. Not that I have any evidence that she will. Still, you need to be prepared.”
    Jake shivered as he started to feel the cold. He was being given a place to call his own, and some advice from a man who was also offering friendship. Or, at the very least, Grimm was somebody who didn’t openly seem to want to use him.
    He looked around the castle. Not so long ago all this had seemed so important. He had dreamed of riches and his own place—preferably on the warm beaches of Australia rather than the freezing peaks of the Carpathian Mountains. But those dreams now seemed immaterial. He realized that he wasn’t chasing new riches—he was simply trying to retrieve what he had taken for granted and lost.
    â€œSo you’re not going to tell me what to do, or expect me to rob a bank for you or something?”
    â€œMy goals are completely selfish. They are to strike a balance between the Foundation and the Council. Both empires are too shortsighted to bother looking into the future. If they did take the time, they would see a potential threat is waiting, preparing to wipe us
all
out.”
    Jake was expecting a lecture on the destruction of the environment, but when he caught Mr. Grimm’s expression he realized that it was something worse, and much more imminent.
    â€œWhat would they see?”
    Grimm’s face flickered for a moment, and Jake saw a glimmer of hopelessness before it was masked again.
    â€œThe end of the world.”
    Jake’s mouth opened but nothing came out. Could there be problems much bigger than the ones he was facing now? The end of the world did seem like a pretty severe outcome.
    Grimm spun on his heels and entered the tower. “Come. I have instructions from Chromosome that you must see.”
    Jake followed, casting one last glance at his new mountaintop home. With a bit of work he might actually get to like it here.
    Chameleon was woken from sleep by the door buzzer. He looked around his cramped dormitory to get hisbearings. The Foundation provided accommodation in all its outposts, but the command center under the hospital was not built for comfort.
    He climbed from bed and opened the door, which swung on creaky hinges. They were also not very generous with the technology used in the private quarters. Would it have killed them to install automatic sliding doors?
    Chameleon stared at the command center supervisor in front of him.
    â€œSorry to disturb you, sir, but you wanted to know if Mr. Grimm showed up?”
    Before going to bed, Chameleon had spoken to the command center supervisor and asked him to monitor Grimm’s movements. He had to keep it quiet as Grimm was a favorite of the boss, and it wasn’t good business to spy on your colleagues. But since Grimm had apparently abandoned Toby, Pete, Lorna, and Emily—the only group of heroic Downloaders left—while on a mission to Diablo Island, Chameleon had grown suspicious. And the link between Lorna and Jake made his stomach churn. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something about Grimm just didn’t feel right. He hoped it was a case of unfounded paranoia.
    â€œWell?”
    â€œHe spent some time waiting on top of a multilevel parking lot alone.”
    â€œWho met him?”
    â€œWe don’t know. We would not have known he was there if our spy satellites hadn’t picked up on an energy signature specific to his portal generation skills. Then he vanished.”
    â€œDo you know where to?”
    The man shook his head. Chameleon was annoyed with the news.
    â€œDon’t tell