The Chaos Code by Justin Richards Page A

‘He’s making sure we get involved.’
    â€˜But involved in what?’ Matt wondered.
    â€˜We may be embarking on a dangerous journey, against forces we do not yet know or understand,’ Venture said. ‘And we must tread carefully.’ He got up and went over to the window. He stood with his back to them, looking out across the lawn, watching the wind stirring the trees and playing with the fallen leaves. ‘I gather you’re pretty good with computers,’ he said without turning.
    It took Matt a moment to work out that Venture meant him. ‘Er, yes. I s’pose.’
    Venture turned, and Matt was surprised to see that he was grinning. He rubbed his hands together. ‘Then here’s how we proceed,’ he announced. ‘Matt will transfer the data from Harper’s discs to the main computer in the library. That’s a network server so we can access that data from any screen in the house.’ He paused for a moment, looking at Robin. ‘Silicon chips,’ he said quietly.
    â€˜Silicon is sand,’ she replied.
    Venture nodded. ‘Never mind. We’ll have to risk that. Everything’s made of something after all.’ Thismade no sense to Matt, but before he could ask what the man meant, Venture was talking again – fast and enthusiastic. ‘Once we have access to the data, Robin and I can take a look at how far Arnold got and see where his research takes us. Harper assumes he was close to a breakthrough and the timing of his abduction bears that out.’
    â€˜How do you know?’ Aunt Jane asked. Matt was surprised how businesslike she sounded now.
    Venture shrugged. ‘Why kidnap someone who’s nowhere near finding what you want? No, they’d wait as late as they dared. The less they have to discover under coercion, the better for the abductor.’
    â€˜So there is a time constraint,’ Robin said.
    â€˜We need more background,’ Venture decided. ‘And backup. Jane, I think you should call Mr Smith and ask him if he can spare us an hour or two.’
    She nodded, her face grave.
    â€˜Who’s he?’ Matt wanted to know.
    Aunt Jane looked to Venture, who took his time choosing his words. ‘Mephistopheles Smith,’ he said at last, ‘is a friend and former colleague of mine. He has a lot of influence in circles I choose not to move in. We go back a long way.’
    There were six DVDs to be copied. Matt created a folder for each inside a top-level folder called
St John
. The files on the DVDs were themselves divided into folders, and Matt was both pleased and saddened to recognisehis father’s mixture of shorthand and abbreviation in folder and file names. He wasn’t surprised that Harper had felt the need to provide an additional crib sheet explaining what each file was.
    It took a while to copy the data as the DVDs held far more than an ordinary CD-ROM – which was presumably why Harper had used them. So he’d need fewer discs. Matt spent the time between switching discs and browsing the Internet. He did a search on the Treasure of St John and found there was very little about it. He saved what links he did find in another folder. There might be something useful that Dad had missed.
    Lunch time came and went before he was done. Aunt Jane brought him a plate of sandwiches and a glass of Coke. It was mid-afternoon by the time he had finished setting up the folders, copying the files, and crosschecking them against Harper’s printed listing.
    There were notes against each of the files on the list – some of which were handwritten in a neat, feminine hand that was certainly not Dad’s and Matt was willing to bet wasn’t Harper’s either. Matt typed these into the properties window for each file. That would save Venture from having to check back on the list. He kept the files in date order, in case there was a progression of thinking through the research. Some of