Page 26 of Jude

Jude looked over. “That’s the big boss, Danni Hannigan. She runs this place.”

Octavia watched as Danni collected a coffee. Her gaze drifted around the room before settling on Jude. She stared carefully at Octavia before walking over.

“I take it you’re Octavia?” Danni held a hand out.

Octavia shook it. “That’s right.”

“It’s nice to meet you in person.” Danni settled into the seat opposite her. “The squads enjoy listening to your music when they’re out on missions. They tell me it gets them pumped up and ready for a fight.”

Octavia liked the confident tone in Danni’s voice. She could see why people would follow her. “I’m glad it helps. Most of the time I play that kind of music because it stops me from falling asleep.”

Danni nodded. “That must be important when you’re out there on your own.”

“She’s not on her own anymore,” said Jude. “Octavia’s staying here.”

A warm glow filled Octavia when he said those words. It sounded like Jude wanted her to stay. That was fine by her.

“You’ll be an asset to our team,” said Danni. “I’ll be interested in learning how you’ve acquired so much information about the State. And also about us.”

Octavia sensed a note of hardness in Danni’s voice. “If the methods I’ve used to get through the State comms system can be of any use to you, you’re welcome to them.”

“I appreciate that,” said Danni. “What are your thoughts about the signals you’ve picked up from the State?”

Jude cleared his throat. “Danni, if it’s okay, Octavia’s only just got here. She needs a break.”

Octavia waved away his concern. “I’m fine. Honestly, I can run on only a few hours’ sleep. I’m awake until the early hours of the morning, anyway. This is normal for me.”

Danni sipped her coffee and waited for Octavia to continue.

“I’d detected a sub-channel system a while ago,” said Octavia. “It operates like the dark web. Individuals use it to send messages covertly. Unless you’re aware the sub-channel is there, you wouldn’t be looking for it. I have a program that operates on an old-style public switched radio system. It frequency hops every thirty seconds and scans whatever it has hopped onto for chatter. I was playing with it one evening when I first picked up on this strange language.”

“We believe it’s Dinnorm language,” said Danni.

“So Jude’s been telling me,” said Octavia. “I’m still surprised they even exist.”

“So were we,” said Jude.

“Anyway, they don’t use the same channel,” said Octavia. “They frequency hop like I do to avoid detection. I’m still working out the pattern they use so I don’t have a break in their messaging.”

Danni leaned forward, setting her mug down. “You have more recordings of their communications?”

“I’ve got eighty percent of a single communication,” said Octavia. “They’re clever. They change their pattern of frequency hopping every seven days. I thought I’d had it figured out, then had to start from scratch.”

Danni let out a sigh. “Which suggests they’re keen on avoiding detection. Normally, they use basic encryption. They’ve never been this difficult to hack into.”

“I can show you the program I use to keep up with the messages,” said Octavia. “It might help.”

“That would be great,” said Jude. “It’s not so much a language problem, but we’re missing letters, which means we struggle to get a complete sentence.”

Octavia grinned at him. “We’ll figure it out. Frequency hopping is my speciality. We just need to keep up with them.”

“Between the two of us, we can do that.”

Jude’s warm smile made her feel fuller than the food she’d eaten. With him by her side, she felt like she could achieve anything.