Code of Vengeance: The Complete Collection, page 60
“There is no way of telling whether or not a virus was inserted? I’m not a technical expert, but that seems unusual.”
The supervisor shrugged. “There’s a chance that the code may be dormant, waiting for some specific trigger event. There’s a chance that the effects are so small that none of our systems or artificial intelligences have discovered it yet. It feels unlikely, but it is a possibility.”
Drake looked around the table at the men who expected him to help them in some way. “How can I help?”
The supervisor glanced around the table, but none of the other men, clearly soldiers, appeared to have much desire to speak. “We were hoping that you could provide us some insight into this woman’s personality, her motives, or even her goals. If so, we might be able to direct our resources more accurately instead of just casting a broad net to try and catch her work. Is there anything like that that may help us?”
Drake looked at the man who had been part of the retrieval team. “Does everyone at the table know the details of our previous arrangement?”
The man confirmed that they did.
“Very well. I am not sure how likely this is, but I believe the woman may be after the architecture of the robot who was captured.”
The supervisor scoffed. “If so, she didn’t even come close. That architecture is being held in a room as secure as the president in a nuclear bunker. It’s not even networked. What did she possibly hope to accomplish?”
Drake told the truth. “I genuinely have no idea. But I do know that this is a very intelligent, very cunning woman. It is safest to proceed under the assumption that whatever her goal was in visiting, she achieved it. That’s the way we need to think if we’re going to figure out what she did. My advice is to focus your energies in that direction first.”
The three Radius employees around the table looked skeptical. Drake had hoped they would offer more, but it appeared he was going to have to push the issue. “Where’s the architecture currently being held?”
The answer was terse. “In a secure vault.”
He felt like he was pulling teeth. “May I see it?”
There were questioning glances around the table, but Mr. Johnson nodded. He stood up and gestured for Drake to follow.
As they proceeded deeper into the building, Drake admitted he could see where the skepticism of the Radius employees came from. The security they had to pass became increasingly more intense. There was everything from biometric scanners to passcodes to ID badges and more. Breaking into the vault seemed nearly impossible. No matter how clever that girl might be, this break-in was beyond her.
Eventually, they led him to a room that held a clear box made of thick glass that Drake assumed was bulletproof. Inside the glass was a metallic object that looked like an oversized kidney bean. It was gleaming silver, with several ports that were open for different connections. From the outside, it seemed like such a small thing, but what was on the inside would change the future of humanity, either for better or for worse. Everything Drake fought against was represented in that one small object.
“This is the same one that was retrieved from Adair’s office?”
Mr. Johnson nodded.
Drake studied the object, as though by staring at it more closely he would be able to find out the secrets of what was happening. How could the robot have stopped the assassination attempt when its brain was right here? Had it somehow managed to duplicate itself? That was a thought that scared him as much as any. He didn’t want to fight an army of robots.
He looked to the supervisor. “Is there anything here that would be so valuable that our friend would take such a big risk to attempt its retrieval?”
The supervisor actually laughed. “Not unless you’re one of the best AI researchers in the field. The truth is, we’ve been studying this for months, and there’s very little that we’ve gotten out of it. Before it was retrieved, it appears that most of the architecture was completely wiped. All that was left was a very specific set of routines. But all things considered, this brain that you see here is actually pretty dumb. It’s not much smarter than a computer from the turn of the century. All it could do was obey orders. The study of it has been interesting for our researchers because of the way those orders were created and written, but if the rumors about this machine were true, we have no way of confirming or learning anything from it. I don’t see how anyone from the street would do any better.”
Drake couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He couldn’t put together a story that made sense and that explained all the different pieces of what he had experienced. The robot that he had seen dismantled in front of his eyes, the robot that had beaten him and then shown him mercy, was just following orders?
The deeper he went into this mystery, the less sense it made. But he knew one thing. Finding the girl was becoming absolutely crucial.
Drake left the meeting with assurances that he would do everything in his power to bring the woman to justice. It was an easy promise for him to make, because it was something that he would gladly do himself. They might have different ideas about what justice looked like, but when he was done, the hacker wouldn’t be a problem.
They walked out of the vault, shaking hands the entire time. “I’ll be in touch, Mr. Johnson. Now, my only question is, what’s the fastest way out of here?”
Mr. Johnson laughed. “At times, it does seem like we’re in a maze. But it’s not too hard to find a way out. The front door is actually just down the corridor and on the left. You can’t miss it, and you’ll be able to pick up a car there no problem at this time of day.”
Drake nodded his appreciation and worked his way out of the building.
His first indication that something was wrong was when he stepped into the large lobby. There were perhaps half a dozen people there, from the receptionist manning the desk to the visitors sitting in chairs. As soon as he walked in, at least two of the people there started, as though they recognized him from someplace, and the association wasn’t pleasant. His eyes narrowed, trying hard not to focus on any of the people, acting as though he was oblivious to the world around him.
One of the visitors in the lobby, a young woman wearing a business suit, pulled out her phone and made a call, staring at him the entire time.
Every sense of danger that he had developed over years of training screamed. What could be going on? How could these people, whom he was certain he had never seen before, suddenly recognize him? These were questions for another time. Immediately, his responsibility was to get out of the building and back to his safe house. From there, he could figure out what kind of assault he was under.
As promised, he had no problem getting a car. One pulled up only seconds after he stepped out of the doors, and he gave the vehicle an address several blocks away from his safe house. No matter what may be happening, there was no excuse to throw caution to the wind. Others might make mistakes under pressure, but not him.
As the car left the building, Drake settled back into the seat to relax, pushing aside his own worries to work on the problem of what had happened the day Nat visited the Radius plant. It was yet another mystery on top of all the others, but Drake felt like the more he uncovered, the closer he got to his ultimate goal. As a parting gift from Mr. Johnson, he’d received all the biometric information that the building security system had gathered on the woman when she’d been there. It wasn’t much, but added to what he already possessed it could allow him to track her better. If he found her, he was certain he could end this foolishness.
He was just beginning to relax when his phone rang. He frowned. There were only a handful of people in the world who had his number, and those who did never called without a prior arrangement. He didn’t recognize the number, but yet the call had made it past the phone’s filters. He answered.
The voice on the other end of the phone was familiar, even if the number was not. “You’re out, Drake.”
Drake’s frown deepened. “Sir, what do you mean? I think I just found the break in the case that will allow me to complete the mission.”
“Are you done?” The voice was harsh, harsher than it had ever been in their years of working together. “You’re out, Drake. There’s really no question about it.”
“Why, sir?” Drake knew the boss didn’t like being questioned, but this call out of the blue didn’t make any sense. A part of Drake was wondering if perhaps this was yet another elaborate trick. He was having a hard time discerning what was true and what was false anymore.
“You really don’t know, do you? Your face is everywhere. Not only do the police have an all-points bulletin out for you, linked to your actual biometric data, but they’ve been running a full ad campaign that’s showing up everywhere. They’re saying you’re a sexual predator. The phone lines have been ringing like crazy in the police stations. I’m surprised you aren’t already under arrest.”
Drake cursed to himself. So that was why he had gotten the looks, and why the woman had placed a phone call. He didn’t panic. Instead, his mind started shifting priorities, thinking about how he could evade law enforcement and still complete his mission.
“Sir. You know that I can still complete this. Give me another two or three days and everything will be done.”
“No more chances, Drake. You used to be my best, but you’re not anymore. You’re simply being beaten. Plus, we’ve got another resource already in place, inside Adair’s campaign. She’s young but she’s ambitious, and she’s good. Compile a file with all the information you’ve got and send it to me. She’ll have it shortly after.”
Drake stabbed the end call symbol on the phone. There was a very real chance that his life was now in danger, not just from the police and the robot, but from his employer. The man was too well placed to allow loose ends, which Drake certainly had become.
If they’d already put another person in Minneapolis, the situation was worse than he expected. They hadn’t trusted him, not from the very first day that he’d stepped foot in the Cities again. His mission had been a test, and from his boss’s perspective, it was a test he had failed miserably.
Drake cursed again. He couldn’t believe they would do this to him, not after everything he had done to bring them to where they were today. He had killed for this organization, and now he was being discarded like recycling at the end of the week. He deserved better than this. The organization had his full loyalty, but it had to be a two-way street.
He came to a decision then. He was going to finish the mission, regardless of his orders. Fuck the second agent. Fuck the robot, and fuck the cops. He would beat them all and leave the city with his head held high. Because even if the organization broke their word to him, if they betrayed him by putting another agent in place, he would show them that he was still a man of honor and that he would still uphold his word.
Drake was so angry that it took him a few minutes to realize the car had missed the exit it was supposed to take. Despite his instructions, it wasn’t taking him towards his safe house.
Drake almost cursed again, but got a hold of himself. Swearing would do him no good. The APB had reached the car services, and the car would take him straight to the police. Drake assumed that they were probably less than ten minutes away from the nearest station.
It wouldn’t stop him, though. Nothing could stop him. Taking a deep breath, Drake opened the door, momentarily surprised by how fast thirty miles an hour looked when he was staring at the bare pavement passing below him. Before the car could do anything, he leaped, keeping his body tight but relaxed, rolling over and over until he came to a stop. He got up gingerly, testing his limbs to make sure that everything still worked. Outside of dozens of scrapes and bruises, there was no permanent damage.
His eyes blazed with fire, and Drake started jogging towards the safe house. He was angry enough to kill.
Chapter Eighteen
Bryce wasn’t sure what it said about the state of crime when the mastermind behind an attack in a high-tech detention center lived in a fancy new apartment complex that catered to the young and rich. The apartment was located by Lake Calhoun, close to the line that divided Minneapolis from the first ring of suburbs. The building was tall, filled with windows, exactly the sort of place that wealthy, young corporate employees liked to hang out and flaunt their money.
Bryce had traced the money from the murderer to a young woman named Alexis Wu. As Bryce started investigating her background, peeling away her past like layers from an onion, it became apparent that even if her record was clean, she believed in the ideals of Sapiens First. Her social media posts were filled with hatred and vitriol towards artificial intelligence and applauded humans who stood up to the advanced technology in their lives.
Most of Ms. Wu’s background seemed rather bland to Bryce. She didn’t feel like the type of person he typically investigated, which was probably why she was such a perfect candidate to run the operation that had killed Felix Benham. Her educational record was outstanding, and since graduation she had held several jobs lobbying against the advance of artificial intelligence. It was her most recent employment that caught Bryce’s eye. That was the connection that would play on the evening news tonight.
Alexis Wu was one of the head campaign staffers for Brian Adair. For all the complexities of the case and the uniqueness of the murder, this was what was going to get the attention. Not that a man had been murdered by a computer virus in a detention center designed to keep him safe, but that the person who had ordered that death and paid for it worked for a gubernatorial candidate. It seemed petty.
Bryce had to fight to get the search warrant for Wu’s apartment. Even though the digital transaction record was as clear as day, Captain Johnson was rightly hesitant about any investigation that ended up interfering with politics. The difficulties were compounded by knowing how well-connected Mr. Adair was throughout the state’s legal system. They all suspected that almost as soon as the search warrant was issued, Adair would find out about it.
So they treaded carefully. Bryce put together all the evidence he had collected when he made his case, and Captain Johnson submitted the request for the warrant. Bryce and a few other plainclothes detectives were already sitting outside of the apartment building, waiting for confirmation. It was Thursday morning, and once this ball started rolling downhill, everything was going to happen very fast.
His phone buzzed, and Bryce looked at the file he just received. It was an official warrant for Wu’s apartment.
He looked at the other two detectives. “We’ve got our warrant. Let’s do this.”
As they stepped out of the car, Bryce felt his heart begin to race. Ms. Wu was currently at work, so they weren’t expecting much in the way of resistance. But this case was important, potentially changing the course of many lives. Justice couldn’t be escaped, and that thought excited him. Due to that importance, Bryce and the captain had debated bringing in a SWAT team or reinforcements, but ultimately decided it was better to go in fast and quiet.
The three detectives requested and received the help of the building manager as soon as they pushed through the front door. They stepped into an elevator and took it to the tenth floor, the manager leading them to a room that overlooked the lake. He opened the door for them and then scampered away at Bryce’s request. The three detectives split up through the apartment. Bryce’s first destination was to find the computer. He wanted to disconnect it from any network as quickly as possible to make sure that whatever evidence was within remained untampered. The other two detectives wandered off into other rooms, looking for any evidence that might indicate the staffer’s guilt.
Bryce found the computer, a shiny new laptop sitting on the kitchen table, and disconnected it from all networks within a few minutes. The task was easily completed with a flexible Faraday cage. He grabbed the unit and set it down next to the door for them to carry on their way out. He assumed they would only be here for a few more minutes. Even though they were sometimes surprised, Bryce generally believed through his years of experience that you found what you were looking for with a search warrant and little else. As convenient as it might’ve been to discover a cache of guns or drugs, he suspected that Alexis Wu led a pretty clean and legal life.
Bryce was just finishing up his search of the living areas when he heard the sound of the front door lock unlatching. Bryce spun around just as the door opened. He came face to face with Alexis Wu. She was a tall woman, with beautiful dark hair pulled back into a long ponytail. Their eyes met, and Bryce couldn’t help but look down at the computer system right next to her feet. Her eyes followed his, and Bryce immediately knew he was going to have a problem on his hands.
“Backup!” he yelled.
Everything happened fast, the space of a few heartbeats that stretched out into one eternal second after another.
Bryce saw Wu’s weight shift as she started to attempt to pick up her computer. Acting on instinct, Bryce lunged forward, knowing that his entire case most likely hinged on that small box. Alexis reacted more quickly than Bryce would’ve thought possible. Her hand darted to her hip, and when it came back again she held a wicked-looking knife.
The campaign staffer sliced at Bryce, causing him to stop and stumble backwards. He hadn’t expected her to resort to violence. From what little he knew of her background, he thought she would attempt to lawyer her way out of the situation.
His old combat reflexes came back, just like his old days as a patrolman. He took another step back to give himself space as his hand went to his belt, where his Taser was holstered. Wu looked at him and glanced at the box sitting next to her feet, torn as to which problem to handle first. She tried to go for Bryce, lunging towards him with her knife arm outstretched.
