Tethered Twins

Chapter Nine

Chris Jacobs

Chris stared at the news report in disbelief.

“We have reports just in that an attempt has been made on the life of the highly regarded inventor Tobias Zen,” said the reporter. “Earlier today a recording of the Jonathan Lewis show was cut short when a terrorist group stormed the studio.”

“No, no, no,” shouted Chris at the crackly standard definition screen.

“In exclusive footage CTT News is able to reveal the events that occurred during the attack. We warn you that this is not for the faint hearted,” said the reporter.

Chris watched as the events of last night were distorted and spliced together in a way that made it very clear that The Deck were responsible.

He watched as Grace stood up and started throwing accusations at Tobias. Unsurprisingly the reference to him killing a billion people had been cut from the video. He saw the audience frozen by the blue light, which was quickly disabled by the orange eyed man – whose eyes had now been digitally altered to a brown colour.

In this version of events there was no gunshot on the man’s head. Another digital alteration.

The scene of Chris firing at the orange eyed man had been delayed to make it look as if Chris and the other team were shooting at the crowd. Even the old man whose head had been cut by fallen glass, now appeared to be injured by a stray gunshot instead.

The message in this video was clear. Tobias was a hero and they were the terrorists.

“Shocking scenes, I’m sure you will agree,” said the reporter. “The terrorist group in this video are known as The Deck and this is not the first time they have attacked Tobias.”

“However we can also reveal the identities of many members of The Deck and warrants have now been issued for their arrest,” the reporter motioned to a large screen of photos which flashed by across the screen.

“Oh no,” Chris watched as his face appeared on the screen. A crystal clear image, that seemed to have been taken from a social network or one of his online profiles, rather than from the night of the attack. It would be more than enough for him to be easily caught.

His face on the screen changed, showing another member of The Deck and another until over fifteen team members had been exposed to the world.

They were fugitives now. This made things difficult.

As the photos went by Chris noticed that one of the people from the night did not appear.

Gabe.

The footage of the attack failed to show Gabe at any point. He wasn’t shown being shot, issuing orders or being escorted away by Tobias and his guards.

It was as if he had never been there. As if Tobias wanted to keep the fact he had been taken a big secret.

 “Tobias Zen refused to comment on the attack but he has stated he will still be giving his press briefing today and that TethTech will be floated on the stock exchange as planned later today,” said the reporter.

“And now for something a little lighter. You’ve seen a human play the saxophone but have you ever seen a cat play one? You have now…” the reporter continued but Chris was in no mood for musical cats.

As he surveyed the concrete hub they called their base, he saw the worried faces of the remaining team. Many of them had now been revealed to the world, leaving a handful of people who could now travel outside safely. For everyone else it would only take a quick glimpse of a security camera for them to be spotted.

The remaining team would be enough to gather supplies but not enough to save Gabe or stop Tobias.

“Thank God Grace had worn a disguise. She is our best hope now,” said Chris.

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- Blagman