Kill Decision

by Daniel Suarez

  He shrugged. “We’ll see about that. . . .”

  * * *

  Odin drove the rental car through suburban Shelbyville, past horse farms and orderly neighborhoods with lush trees and lawns. McKinney was deep in thought. “I guess this is the part where we try to figure out what’s going on between us.”

  He grimaced. “You know how committed I am to my work. And I know how committed you are to yours.”

  She nodded, filled with conflicting emotions. Then she noticed that he was pulling into a park not quite in her father’s neighborhood. “Where are we going? I thought we agreed you’re taking me straight to my father’s.”

  He pulled in to a parking space and shut off the engine. Then he faced her. “I said I was taking you to your father.” He nodded through the windshield.

  McKinney looked ahead to see her father sitting alone on a bench not far away, staring at ducks on a small pond. He stared expressionless, unmoving. “Oh, my God. Dad . . .”

  She exited the car and walked across the grass behind him, feeling the tears on her face. But then she thought better of it, stopping to wipe them away as she collected herself.

  Her father looked thinner. His bushy hair had become whiter.

  After a moment she came up behind him. It took everything she had not to well up with emotion. “Dad . . .”

  He turned on the bench, and the moment he saw her, the face she had so missed returned. His expression slowly turned to a tight smile, and he stood, walking toward her, accelerating as he came. “My little girl . . .” Then he wrapped his arms around her in a crushing embrace, and she began to cry along with him.

  “I’d thought I lost you.” He started to shudder with sobs, holding her even tighter.

  She hugged him back. “No. I’m right here. I’m right here.”

  “What happened to you? Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. The State Department helped me get back, but I can’t stay.”

  He leaned back to look at her, puzzled. “But why? And why didn’t they contact us? Why didn’t you call from . . . I don’t understand.”

  “I’ll explain later.” McKinney pivoted to see Odin watching from near the car. He nodded to her.

  “Hey!” McKinney pulled away to look her father in the eye. “There’s someone I want you to meet.”

  He held her chin, still smiling at her. “I can’t believe it’s really you. I can’t believe you’re here, safe.”

  McKinney shouted and waved at Odin. “Get over here, you coward!”

  Odin appeared to sigh impatiently, but he got out and approached them.

  McKinney turned to her father. “Dad, this is the man who saved my life.”

  Her father turned to face Odin and his extended hand, but her father’s expression changed, and he launched past it to hug Odin tightly. “My God, thank you. Thank you for bringing my girl back to us.”

  McKinney could see the emotions coursing through Odin as her father gripped him.

  Her father held tight, slapping Odin on the back. “Thank you.”

  Odin nodded. “You’re welcome, Mr. McKinney.”

  Her father pulled away to look Odin in the face. He extended his hand. “What’s your name, son?”

  McKinney shook her head. “Dad, he can’t—”

  Odin shook her father’s hand. “David Shaw, sir.”

  McKinney gave him a stunned look.

  “David. It’s an honor to meet you. I don’t know how I can ever thank you for bringing her back.”

  “There’s no need, sir.”

  “I have to hear all about it.” Her father motioned for them to start walking along the path, and he leaned toward Odin as he hooked his daughter’s elbow. “What on earth happened back in Africa? I hired investigators, and—”

  “In a moment, Dad. I need you to do something for me first.”

  “Anything, honey. Anything at all.” He was smiling.

  “Can you loan me your phone for a second?”

  “Oh, to call your brothers? Of course. My God, they’re going to be so, so happy. . . .” He reached into his jacket pocket and passed her his phone.

  McKinney took it, cocked her arm back, and threw it into the very center of the nearby pond, sending the ducks into flight.

  Her father looked at her, and then to the pond, in utter confusion. “What on earth did you do that for?”

  She looped her arms under her father’s and Odin’s elbows and started them along the path. “Let’s just call it a precaution.” McKinney grinned as her father still looked back, puzzled.

  They passed under a tree branch on which two ravens perched. The birds fluffed up their feathers and let out a loud caw as they closely watched the humans below.

  Further Reading

  You can learn more about the technologies and themes explored in Kill Decision by visiting www.daniel-suarez.com or through the following books:

  Adventures Among Ants by Mark W. Moffett (University of California Press)

  Ant Colony Optimization and Swarm Intelligence by Marco Dorigo, Luca Maria Gambardella, Mauro Birattari, Christian Blum, et al. (Springer-Verlag)

  Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon’s Secret World by Trevor Paglen (Dutton)

  Inside Delta Force by Eric L. Haney (Delacorte Press)

  Killer Elite by Michael Smith (St. Martin’s Griffin)

  The Master Switch by Tim Wu (Knopf)

  Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces by Linda Robinson (PublicAffairs)

  Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich (Ecco)

  On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman (Little, Brown)

  Roughneck Nine-One by Frank Antenori and Hans Halberstadt (St. Martin’s Griffin)

  The Super-Organism by Bert Hölldobler and E. O. Wilson (W.W. Norton)

  Swarm Intelligence by James Kennedy and Russell C. Eberhart (Morgan Kaufmann)

  Tactics of the Crescent Moon by H. John Poole (Posterity Press)

  Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State by Dana Priest and William M. Arkin (Little, Brown)

  The Watchers: The Rise of America’s Surveillance State by Shane Harris (Penguin Press)

  What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly (Viking)

  Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century by P. W. Singer (Penguin Press)

  The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan by Bing West (Random House)

  Acknowledgments

  It would have been impossible to complete this book without the gracious assistance of many people. Thanks to John Robb at Global Guerrillas for sharing his extensive knowledge of all things military and otherwise. Thanks also to Chris Paget for providing an up-close view of what was possible in a DIY airborne-hacking platform. Thanks as well to rock-climbing (and atomic clock) expert Eric Burt for helping me learn the ropes. Likewise, my continued gratitude to Christopher Pearson.

  Sincere thanks to Frank Antenori, William M. Arkin, Mauro Birattari, Christian Blum, Marco Dorigo, Russell C. Eberhart, Dalton Fury, Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, Hans Halberstadt, Eric L. Haney, Bernd Heinrich, Bert Hölldobler, Kevin Kelly, James Kennedy, Mark W. Moffett, Trevor Paglen, H. John Poole, Dana Priest, Linda Robinson, P. W. Singer, Michael Smith, Bing West, E. O. Wilson, and Tim Wu—scholars all, whose published works greatly enriched this story.

  I’d also like to thank Viviana Pendrill, Trenton Broughton, and Christoffer Kuja-Halkola for assistance with Spanish, Mandarin, and Swedish dialogue (respectively).

  As always, my thanks to Adam Winston and Don Lamoreaux for last-minute notes. Likewise to my literary agent, Rafe Sagalyn, and the entire team at Sagalyn Literary. Also a huge thanks to my editor, Ben Sevier, at Dutton for seeing the potential in this topic and this story.

  And most importantly: heartfelt thanks to my wife, Michelle, for her counsel, friendship, and affection. This journey would be no fun without her.

  About t
he Author

  DANIEL SUAREZ is the author of the national bestseller Daemon and FreedomTM, and is an independent systems consultant to Fortune 1000 companies. He has designed and developed software for the defense, finance, and entertainment industries. He has also been an invited speaker at the headquarters of Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and The Long Now Foundation. Suarez lives in Los Angeles.

  ALSO BY DANIEL SUAREZ

  Daemon

  Freedom™

  Table of Contents

  Also by Daniel Suarez

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Contents

  Epigraph

  Boomerang

  Warning Order

  Raconteur

  Intrusion Detection

  Omen

  Wake-up Call

  The Activity

  Lost in Action

  Influence Operations

  Deconfliction

  Eye in the Sky

  Underground Drive

  Close Hold

  Insomnia

  Closed Loop

  Damage Control

  Safari-One-Six

  Firestorm

  Hot Wash

  Oscar Mike

  War Mask

  Sanctuary

  Collateral Damage

  Myrmidons

  Personae Management

  The Puppet Master

  Proof-of-Concept

  Brood Chamber

  Improvise

  The Swarm

  Reap the Whirlwind

  Prodigal Son

  Further Reading

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author