Project Venom Read online

  The three of them were gathered in a corner of the laboratory at Smith-Neutall, unaware that Widow was hidden behind a nearby glass beaker, monitoring their every word. Her pointed metal legs held her motionless. Microscopic sensors pulsed across her domed abdomen.

  She’d been following her orders. She had tracked Pablo Alva’s movements from the moment he’d arrived that morning.

  “I’m so glad nobody else knows,” said Emma. “I was worried we were all going to get arrested or something.”

  “We continue to run our tests on it,” said Dr Kirk, “and as soon as they’re done, we’ll destroy it and everything will be back to how it was. We’ve no reason to worry.”

  “I could hardly sleep last night,” said Alva, “just knowing that stuff is around. I keep getting this terrible feeling that I’m being watched.”

  “Me too,” said Barnes. “Guilty conscience, I guess.”

  “We’ve nothing to feel guilty about,” said the Head of Science. “It was an accident. Now, I suggest we all return to work. Those tests must be done as quickly as possible.”

  At that moment, a signal from SWARM headquarters registered in Widow’s circuits.

  Her transmitter silently replied, “Widow online.”

  “This is Queen Bee,” said the message. “Report.”

  “Alva arrived 8.22 a.m., went directly to lab. Made cup of coffee, talked with Lab Assistant Emma Barnes for six minutes and fourteen seconds. Do you want to hear the recording?”

  “Not unless it’s relevant to the mission,” said Queen Bee. “Just give me a one-sentence summary.”

  “He’s done nothing unusual today,” transmitted Widow.

  “Nothing at all?”

  “Only standard laboratory work. Nobody has accessed the basement store. The Venom has not been touched.”

  Pablo was busy at the lab’s desktop PC, entering figures into a spreadsheet. He paused and turned to Emma. “I feel better already, knowing that everything will be fine.”

  Suddenly, a loud klaxon sounded outside the building. Alva and Barnes flinched with fright. The voice of MI5 agent Drake barked through a loudspeaker.

  “This is an official announcement. The Smith-Neutall facility is surrounded by agents of Her Majesty’s government. All personnel must remain where they are. All communication in and out of this building is being monitored. Do not attempt to use phones, computers or other equipment. All personnel are under arrest.”

  “Widow, stick close to Alva!” cried Queen Bee. “Now he knows that the authorities are on to him, he may start to delete email logs or try to get his hands on the Venom.”

  “Logged, Queen Bee,” signalled Widow. “Further orders?”

  “Stand by for updates. The SWARM is on its way.”

  Outside, MI5 agents wearing plain clothes had ordered soldiers in body armour and helmets to form a cordon around the Smith-Neutall Bio Labs. All of them were armed with machine guns. Three army personnel carriers, their back doors wide open, blocked the entrance to the car park. Orders were shouted over the whipping sound of a helicopter positioned high above. A steady stream of soldiers and agents began to march into the building itself.

  On the other side of the road, hidden behind the blinds of a vacant office block, SWARM’s Agent J watched what was going on through binoculars. “We’re way ahead of you, Drake,” he muttered to himself.

  He tapped a key code into a small box sitting beside him. The box sprung open to reveal the SWARM micro-robots.

  Agent J spoke into his phone. “Hive 2 to SWARM.”

  “Acknowledged, Hive 2,” said Queen Bee. “The robots’ sensors show MI5’s raid is beginning.”

  “Confirmed,” said Agent J.

  “Release the SWARM,” said Queen Bee.

  Agent J hesitated. “Are we sure about this? MI5 and those soldiers are supposed to be on our side.”

  “They are on our side,” said Queen Bee, “but Drake has ruined any element of surprise. I don’t like the idea of working against MI5 any more than you do. However, Alva will know his cover’s blown. Everyone online?”

  “Affirmative, Queen Bee,” signalled the robots, including Widow in the laboratory.

  “Our plan of action must now be updated,” said Queen Bee. “To stay a step ahead of the situation, we must reverse our tactics and allow Alva to escape. Or rather, allow him to think he’s escaped. He’ll lead us to the terrorists. Logically, once he’s on the run, he’ll hook up with the EBLS in order for them to hide him.”

  “I can see an office window open on the second floor,” said Agent J, looking through his binoculars. “Chopper, Nero, Hercules, Sabre and Morph can enter through that. Sirena can stay by the window to track movement outside.”

  “Throughout this raid,” said Queen Bee, “those MI5 agents are to be hindered and held back, but mustn’t be allowed to realize we’re involved, and must not identify any robot. Is everyone clear on that?”

  “Logged, Queen Bee,” said the robots.

  The six robots rose and darted out through the blinds, those without wings being carried by those who could fly.

  “What’s going on?” trembled Alva. An internal alarm chimed along the corridors of Smith-Neutall, and a red warning light shone on the wall of the laboratory. Kirk entered, his face pale and sweating.

  “It’s MI5!” Pablo Alva cried. “They’re sealing off the basement!”

  “They must know about the poison,” said Barnes.

  Dr Kirk jittered with panic. “How can they possibly? I mean, how?”

  Alva spun on his heels, his eyes darting all around the lab. “They can’t. Unless they’ve got us under surveillance!”

  At that moment, Widow the spider leaped from a nearby workstation and clung to Alva’s back, so delicately he had no idea she was there. With lightning movements, she scuttled into his pocket in order to remain unseen. Alva began to hunt around, searching for hidden cameras and microphones.

  “Don’t be ridiculous!” cried Dr Kirk. “Why would anyone bug this place? It’s all over now… They know!”

  The other members of the SWARM signalled to Widow that they were inside the building.

  “Logged,” said Widow. “Mission update in effect. Alva must have access to all exits.”

  Meanwhile, MI5 agent Drake was in Smith-Neutall’s spacious reception area. He didn’t suspect for a moment that his raid was already being manipulated to suit SWARM’s plans. The company’s receptionist was under armed guard, frozen with fear and wondering what on earth was going on.

  “Is the basement storage facility secure?” asked Drake.

  “Yessir!” saluted a soldier, part of a small squad waiting for further orders.

  “Good, the poison’s not going anywhere. You two,” barked Drake, pointing to other soldiers. “Get the Chief Executive down here now! You, you and you, join B group on the first floor and arrest Alva. Alive! The rest of you are with me.”

  He marched towards the nearest office. The radio clipped to the lapel of his suit crackled into life. “C group reporting. Exits sealed, sir. Phones now hacked, broadband line hacked, all staff are being held at their current locations.”

  Drake tapped at the radio, turning his head towards it to answer. “Acknowledged, C group.”

  Ahead of him, a line of soldiers was storming up a stairway. The din of their boots concealed a faint buzzing sound in the air. Sabre the mosquito flew directly above the agent at the front of the line.

  “Activate plan for obstruction, allowing Alva to escape,” said Sabre. He deployed a tiny, needle-like point from his mechanical mouthparts, then dived and jabbed the first agent in the neck, injecting the needle into the narrow gap between helmet and collar.

  The agent suddenly jerked and let out a high-pitched yelp. He toppled backwards, sending all the soldiers behind him into an angry tangle of arms and legs.

  “Freezer sting delivered,” signalled Sabre calmly.

  “Take care,” said Chopper the dragonfly, co-ordinating dat
a while following Drake, “or they’ll realize something out of the ordinary is interfering with their operation. Hercules and Morph?”

  “I’m at the main junction box,” said Hercules the stag beetle. He was inside a little room, close to the reception area, where the building’s electricity supply was controlled.

  “Standing by,” said Morph the centipede. He’d squeezed into the circuit boards behind a maintenance hatch close to Hercules.

  “Nero?” signalled Chopper.

  “In position,” said Nero. He had crawled into the back of a PC in one of the offices upstairs. Fibre-optic probes built into his claws were tapping into the company’s complex computer system.

  “Go,” said Chopper.

  Hercules used his saw-like claw to cut through a series of cables. Sparks flew all around him. “Selected power systems disrupted,” reported Hercules.

  At the same moment, Morph short-circuited the board above him with his antennae. Lights switched off all over the building.

  “Back-up power systems disabled,” said Morph.

  “Hacking into controls,” signalled Nero. “I’m closing the blinds.”

  Window blinds shut all over the building. Most rooms and corridors were suddenly plunged into darkness. Soldiers and MI5 agents, unable to see where they were going, ploughed into walls and stumbled over each other.

  A voice crackled through Drake’s radio. “Power failure, sir! Someone’s mucking about with the building’s systems!”

  “Alva!” hissed Drake angrily.

  In the laboratory, Dr Kirk, the Head of Science was in a state of confused terror. “Where did the lights go? Where did the lights go?”

  “Let’s not panic,” said Alva. “It’s out of our control, we’ll just have to do as the authorities say.”

  “We only needed a couple of days!” cried Dr Kirk. “Then it would all have been dealt with! Where’s Barnes gone?”

  “I don’t know,” said Alva, looking around. He frowned. “She just ran out. She’s been a long time, I wonder what’s happened to her?”

  “I’m sure she’s fine. We’re all going to be rounded up, anyway… We’re going to prison!”

  “It was an accident,” said Alva. “Surely they’ll understand?”

  “I doubt it!” Dr Kirk said. He wavered for a moment, panic quickly overcoming his common sense. “We’ve got to get out of here! Maybe we can get away, before they catch us?”

  Before Alva could stop him, he hurried out of the lab. The internal alarm was still sounding. Alva paused for a moment, his face a storm of uncertainty. Should he go or stay? Taking a deep breath, he followed his boss out into the corridor.

  They didn’t get far before hearing the sound of heavy boots thundering towards them. They came to a sudden halt. Inside Alva’s pocket, Widow’s sensors could detect his heart pounding with fear.

  “What do we do?” whispered Alva.

  Widow scuttled from her hiding place, just as half a dozen heavily armed soldiers appeared at the far end of the corridor. Through the shadowy gloom, they raced towards the two scientists.

  “Stay where you are!”

  The robot spider, unnoticed by the humans, shot across the floor and fired a web-line at the opposite wall. It formed a tripwire, at ankle level. The soldiers ran into it at speed, tumbling headlong.

  Widow was about to race up the wall as the nearest soldier fell forward. His flailing arm caught her a hefty blow and she was knocked back, spinning in mid-air. Before she could recalibrate her sensors, she’d fallen beneath the soldier and the entire weight of the man and his body armour slammed down on top of her. His head bounced against the floor and, despite the helmet he was wearing, he was knocked out cold.

  Widow’s tough exoskeleton was undamaged, but three of her legs were registering as offline. She was trapped between the floor and the soldier’s chest. Instantly, she transmitted a distress signal to the other robots.

  “I read you, Widow,” said Chopper. “Nero, see what you can do.”

  “I’m live,” said Nero.

  Back in the lab corridor, most of the other soldiers were already clambering to their feet, yelling orders at Alva and Dr Kirk to stay still. The soldiers advanced on them, their weapons and armour making them look like huge monsters in the near-darkness.

  “Activating laser grid,” said Nero.

  There was a loud double-bleep in the corridor, and the security grid blinked into life. The soldier at the front of the group flashed out a hand, indicating for the others to halt. “Night-time defences have come on!”

  “There’s no way past that,” whispered Dr Kirk to Alva. “Those beams will cut through steel, I installed the system myself. Come on, back the way we came!”

  “You two!” shouted the nearest soldier. “Stay there!”

  They were already retreating back along the corridor.

  “Halt!” yelled the soldier.

  He unshouldered his machine gun. Quickly, he clicked off the safety catch and raised the weapon ready to fire. He aimed, not at the scientists, but at the thin rectangle of red light that ran along the floor, walls and ceiling, marking the edges of the laser grid.

  A burst of bullets tore into the walls and floor. The noise was deafening, and Alva and Dr Kirk immediately dropped to the floor and covered their heads.

  The laser grid spluttered and switched off.

  The soldier hoisted his gun on to his shoulder again, marched forward, and grabbed Alva by the front of his shirt. With an angry grunt, he hauled the scientist to his feet. The agent tore the Smith-Neutall ID badge from Alva’s top pocket and checked it.

  “Pablo Alva,” he growled, “I am arresting you under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005, on suspicion that you are concerned in the preparation of acts of terror against citizens of the United Kingdom.”

  The soldier spun Alva around as if he was a bag of potatoes, and hurled him into the arms of two MI5 agents standing nearby.

  The soldier who’d fallen on Widow was now staggering to his feet. Widow struggled to turn herself upright, but realized it would take her a minute or two to regain mobility. “Hive 2 to SWARM. Emergency,” she signalled. “Target apprehended.”

  There was a three-note hum on the SWARM communications network, and Queen Bee cut in: “Widow! Can you follow them?”

  “Negative, Queen Bee.”

  Suddenly, Widow’s sensors detected Hercules the stag beetle flying low to the ground beside her. He had responded to the spider’s first distress signal and rushed from the power room.

  “I’m at Alva’s location,” he transmitted. “Should I take Widow’s place?”

  “Widow’s data shows no suspicious activity on Alva’s part, but we still don’t know the truth about that email,” said Queen Bee. “Until we uncover further leads, we should continue to monitor Alva. Don’t conceal yourself in his clothes. MI5 will scan him and you might be found. Place a tracker egg.”

  “I’m live, Queen Bee,” confirmed Hercules.

  MI5 agents were hauling both Alva and Dr Kirk away. Dr Kirk jabbered non-stop in alarm. Alva simply looked terrified.

  Hercules, flying barely two centimetres from the floor, swiftly closed in on Alva. Adjusting his speed and direction, he landed on the back of Alva’s shoe. A tiny tube shot out from the robot’s thorax and stamped a microdot on to the shoe’s heel. This was a miniature transmitter and listening device, designed by Professor Miller back at SWARM headquarters to be totally undetectable. Even the high-tech scanners used by MI5 and the CIA would never know it was there.

  Hercules darted out of the way, and the agents dragged their prisoners out of sight. The beetle picked up Widow and carried her off. She hung awkwardly, her damaged legs twisted at odd angles.

  “That’s a nasty dent you’ve got there,” said Hercules.

  Widow didn’t reply.

  Half an hour later, SWARM’s Data Analyst Simon Turing and Alfred Berners, the Computer Programmer, were both tapping at keyboards. They were surrounded by
the scrolling displays and high-tech machinery that filled the SWARM laboratory.

  Professor Miller was sitting at a workstation in the corner, examining Widow’s damaged components and making repairs. He held both hands inside a 3D-sensor array. The movements of his fingers translated into the motions of miniature tools that worked on Widow’s circuits and mechanisms.

  Their boss, Queen Bee, entered the room. “Ready?” she asked, walking across to Simon and Alfred. “MI5 are going to talk to Alva right now.”

  “Perfect timing, Ms Maynard,” smiled Simon. “Alfred’s broken the encryption on MI5’s internal comms, so we can piggyback the signal from Hercules’s tracker egg on their own frequencies. They’ll never even suspect we’re monitoring them.”

  “Excellent,” said Queen Bee.

  “And is Mr Drake feeling pleased with himself?” asked Alfred, peering over the top of his spectacles.

  “I’ve heard from the top level of the SIA that he’s as smug as a cat with a mouse dipped in cream,” said Queen Bee. “The one thing he got right was to get the Venom tightly under lock and key. There were armed guards on that bio-storage vault within two minutes. Nobody’s been inside since, and the company’s computer logs show that there were no visits at all to the vault in the past two days, not since before our robots’ night-time visit.”

  “And he has no idea we’ve got Alva bugged?” said Alfred.

  “None,” said Queen Bee.

  Simon snorted with amusement. “I do love being one step ahead all the time,” he said. He tapped at his keyboard. A series of tones sounded, as the SWARM computer system plugged itself into MI5’s encrypted data streams. Moments later, they could hear footsteps echoing.

  “They’ll be taking Alva to the interrogation rooms at MI5,” said Queen Bee.

  “You’re right,” said Simon Turing, watching a nearby display. “The co-ordinates show he’s on their fifth floor, close to the holding cells.”