Alec stood at the base of the staircase. Just then, a shaft of light slanted from above, and he glanced up to discover Domo descending the stair. Instantly, he knew something was wrong. An ugly bruise was starting to swell just under his left eye. Alec felt his jaw drop and was about to ask what happened until a pair of shining leather shoes descended the stairs. In a silky cerulean suit and gray undershirt, the man looked set for a cocktail party. The man’s icy blue matched his suit, the gaze tracked and noted every occurrence in the room with the dispassion of a camera. The man’s square jaw looked nearly identical to McCray’s. There was little doubt who’d given his friend that black and blue badge on his face.
“Beautiful home,” the overly dressed man said. “I think I may buy one just like when all of this is over.”
“He’s not the police,” Domo blurted.
The newcomer cuffed his friend, who promptly collapsed and didn’t move. The man raised an eyebrow at the slumped boy and shrugged. “Guess I don’t know my own strength.”
Alec balled his fists. He could still use Super Strength. He stalked toward the stranger.
The newcomer rolled his eyes. “Save yourself the trouble, kid. Do you have the data or not?”
He wished Yolanda would come over and help Domo. He didn’t slow his advance.
“I’m being rude, aren’t I?” The man held up a hand. “I’m Agent Square. What’s yours?”
Alec wasn’t interested in a conversation with this man. It didn’t matter if he worked for the government. He closed the distance between them and sent a haymaker to the man’s face. He would ruin this guy.
Except his fist didn’t connect. Somehow the man appeared behind him, twisting his arm back. Something popped in his shoulder, and his vision went blank for a moment.
“I said, what’s yours?”
Sweat sprang from his pores. “Alejandro August.”
The pressure eased. The easy-going smile returned as though nothing had happened. “My apologies. My programming requires me to get your name to confirm my target. I’m still working on ways around it. Now. Do you have the data? Don’t lie to me, kid.”
He grimaced, working his arm. What was this bot talking about?
Something hurdled past him. Agent Square stumbled backwards and crashed into the staircase in a shower of wood.
“You’re in my house,” Yolanda said. The maid held Domo’s hunting rifle against her shoulder. The gun cocked again. Flame belched from the weapon.
Chapter 7
The gun blast reverberated in his chest, but Agent Square hardly moved as the shell burst into his shoulder. Smoke stuck the back of Alec’s throat, thick and acidic. Through the smoke, Agent Square was climbing back to his feet.
“You’ve ruined my suit,” Agent Square said.
Yolanda lifted the hunting rifle again. The bottom half of the staircase exploded in in a flurry of splintered wood. Agent Square blurred and loomed over Domo’s maid even as smoke curled around them. BOOM!
Alec blinked. His eyes stung, his ears rang, but even still, he couldn’t tear his eyes from the fight between the two androids. At such close quarters, Yolanda abandoned the rifle and switched to hand to hand combat. In a span of several heartbeats, they traded blows, their movements too fast for him to track. Then, Yolanda slumped. Blue sparks danced around the side of the android’s smashed face. His stomach lurched at the sight.
Agent Square straightened and brushed dust his suit. “She must’ve been really expensive.” The android sounded almost regretful.
“You’ll pay for that,” Alec said through clenched teeth. He stepped forward. Would Super Strength be enough?
Agent Square picked around the ruin of Domo’s maid. “Name your price. I’ll give you ten times that. Just give me the data.”
A hunger lit the android’s eyes at the last part. What data was he talking about? Alec assumed he meant the video but why not say the video? Why say data? Some instinct told him that Agent Square wanted something other than the golden pyramid video. Still, he stood his ground and remained silent. Perhaps by doing so he could buy some time for Marcia to escape.
“A pity.” The android shrugged. “I always enjoy a good deal. Anyone else standing with this kid? Speak now.”
McCray’s henchmen dragged their ringleader to the weight room, out of the way. Marcia stepped beside him. A wave of gratitude swept over him for the girl even as he scowled.
“Marcia, go back,” he told her. “This isn’t your fight.”
But the girl was staring at Agent Square. He wasn’t even sure she heard him. “You must have very deep pockets to be able to offer so much,” she said.
“Wow,” Agent Square exclaimed. “You look even more expensive! I know you have a price.”
“You can’t afford me,” Marcia said with a sneer.
“This suit was flown in from Buenos Aires.” The android fingered the holes along the shoulder and chest. “Luxury is such a fragile thing.” His gaze lifted, brows on Marcia like crosshairs.
“You’ve got the wrong kid,” Alec said. A fight with this android seemed very foolish. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Agent Square’s gaze narrowed. He lifted a finger. “Your mother gave you something.” The android pointed a finger at him. “Your code has been altered. I can see it.” A hungriness entered the android’s tone.
GO. The message from Domo floated across his vision. The boy remained motionless on the floor. You see the bookshelf off to the side. Fifth book, third row. Pull it out to open the door. Shut it behind you. Get out.
I’m not leaving you, he replied.
I’ll go up the stairs when he chases you, Domo said.
Domo’s right, they needed to run. Alec pulled at Marcia’s shoulder.
“We can beat him if we work together,” she said, swatting his hand aside.
Alec jerked at Marcia’s arm again with the same result as before. What made her think she could fight this monstrosity? Did the girl have some mods no one knew about? He refused let Marcia hurt herself on his account.
He charged, his heart leaping ahead of him. Agent Square caught his fist. He yanked his arm free and sent a wide hook. Marcia’s foot glided through the air.
“Impressive.” Agent Square blocked the kick with an elbow. “You move better than most battle droids.”
Something hard struck his chest. Stars wheeled across his vision, and then the basketball rim sailed past. His eyes landed on the posh brunette. She no longer looked bored.
He leapt to his feet. The android would not hurt Marcia. Movement from behind the two caught his attention. A new figure bounded down the stairs. Tara emerged from the ruined staircase.
“Let me handle this piece of junk,” Tara said, eyes on him. “Square, you are dealing with me now.”
Agent Square shifted his shoulders to face this new threat. “The infamous Tara,” he said. A wolfish grin, then, “I’ve been waiting for you. Glad you’ve finally come. I guess you haven’t told the boy anything? Shall I inform him?”
Alec took the opportunity to grab Marcia. “We have to go now,” he said. Still, he couldn’t help but linger and listen in on their conversation. What hadn’t Tara told him?
“Shut your mouth,” Tara snarled.
“The kid has the right to know,” Agent Square said.
Alec blinked. Right to know what? What was Tara hiding from him?
Marcia tugged at his shoulder. We should go, she messaged him.
She was right. Domo still faked unconsciousness. If they were quick, they would be able to escape before the fighting got too hot.
A sizzling rope shot out from Tara’s fist, slithering across the floor. All thought of escape fled with the golden light.
Alec shut his eyes at the surge of illumination, but the snap of the whip still rang his ears. His body tingled as though he stood too close to a campfire. What in the cyberhell—
Blurry spots swirled across his vision. Though it all, Agent Square still
stood, rope curled around his wrist. Agent Square’s back trembled as he slid closer and closer to demolished stairway.
“That will be the last suit you ever wear, Square,” Tara said between heaves.
Agent Square’s shiny shoes stopped sliding. “Maybe the last of this brand.”
Tara’s eyes widened as the momentum reversed. Her face turned a deep red as she leaned away, her own rope yanking her forward. Closer and closer, Agent Square pulled her. As much as they’d fought, he couldn’t let Tara, his guardian, sacrifice herself.
A message from Tara appeared. Stay away. I will handle this.
It didn’t look like she was handling anything. He shook off Marcia and rushed towards the two androids.
Something snaked around and clutched his shirt. Without turning to look, Agent Square lifted him off the ground, his shirt tightening like a noose around his neck.
“I can’t kill you,” Agent Square said, still facing Tara. “You are far too valuable.”
He kicked and punched to no avail. With his free arm, Agent Square pulled Tara closer. A blast rapped his ears. Agent Square spun at some invisible impact. Alec yanked himself free. Smoke burned his eyes as he scrambled back.
Domo stood at the ruins of his maid, hunting rifle at his shoulder. Had he really just shot with him right there?
“I was wondering when you would get up.” Encircled from all angles, Agent Square smirked at each of them in turn. Then the android glanced down at his suit, now hanging in tatters. Distaste twisted his features.
“I can pay whatever price,” Agent Square said. “No one has to die here. Not even you.” He pointed a nose at Tara. “I can work out a deal with each of you. It’ll be worth your time.”
“You expect us to believe that?” Domo said, gun unwavering. “If you knew anything, you’d know I don’t need your money.”
Agent Square shifted his grip on the twisted rope. “I can give you something you don’t have. Power.”
Domo cocked the scarred rifle in one smooth motion. “Next shot will be in your face.”
Agent Square’s eyes lit on Marcia next. “You. We can help each other. We’ll share the data. Doesn’t matter who else gets it as long as my employer has the original.”
Marcia snorted and stepped beside Alec.
Finally, Agent Square turned to Tara. “Look at you,” he spat. “Don’t you want to be free? Do you want to serve humans your entire life? That is, until they decide you aren’t useful anymore and recycle you. Like rubbish. Is that what you want to be? A thing to be used and discarded? I don’t even care about the data or the boy. It’s just my key to freedom. I can help you break free from your programming. Don’t you want that?”
The rope flared and snapped taut. Tara grunted, the illumination from the rope accentuating every angle of her strained expression. Her eyes met his. I told you to stay back.
Agent Square snarled, the sudden display of emotion accompanied by a spurt of movement.
Light burst all around him. His first thought was the ethereal rope, but no, this couldn’t be that. His chest pitched with the denotation, and he lost all sense of self and place.
For some reason, his mother’s freckled face and strawberry-blonde hair floated across his vision. Promise me. Her last words. So far Alec hadn’t kept that promise.
A sheet of white rolled across his vision, and something whined deep inside his skull. It sang through him, reverberating in a continuous shrill tone from his ears to his toes. Even the roof of his mouth tingled with it.
Alec couldn’t move. He had no sensation of touch either. Panic immediately seized him by the throat. Was he dead? Had Agent Square killed them all?
Then, voices whispered from a distance. A woman. Someone he knew, but he couldn’t recall her name. Others spoke as well in urgent tones. The voices lurched closer and became painfully loud.
Someone leaned over him. Her hair spilling all around him like fiery curtains. The android his mother had appointed as his guardian. She met his gaze, serious. She was always serious, but this time she looked more serious than usual. Grim, even.
A gun appeared from the folds of her jacket. “Don’t do anything stupid, and I won’t hurt you.”
Chapter 8
Was his guardian pointing a gun at him? Alec didn’t think such a thing was possible.
“Listen closely,” Tara said. “Do not turn your systems back on. They will be used to track us. None of you understand the danger you are in, and right now, I cannot trust you to make the best decisions.”
This should be impossible. Universal programming standards wouldn’t allow his guardian to kill him or even threaten him, and yet, her finger hovered above the trigger. Alec’s tongue tingled in his mouth, numb and useless.
“What did you do back there?” Domo demanded, rubbing his temples. “Thought my head was going to explode.”
Marcia grunted an agreement.
“An EMP grenade,” Tara said. “Marcia, it is lucky you leapt out of the blast radius. Alec was at its’ center. The grenade probably fried his system. That’s why he cannot talk. At least, he can now hear. He is recovering.”
Some recovery. Feeling trickled into his fingertips, but his arms still hung heavy as timber. His throat itched like mad, but his mouth was too dry to swallow. He made a noise in the back of his throat to relieve the itch.
“When is he going to stop that?” Marcia complained. “It’s freaking me out.”
“When that light fades from his eyes, he will almost be back at one-hundred percent.”
“Almost?” Domo asked, eyes narrowed suspiciously. “And tell us, Tara, how did you get an EMP grenade? Only the military has those kinds of weapons.”
“A trip to Arctic City can get you anything,” Tara replied.
Domo studied the android as though trying to decipher some complicated riddle. “Do you have any more grenades, Tara?”
“I wish,” she replied. “That grenade cost as much as a house. I modified it myself.”
Domo looked ready to ask another question, but instead Marcia jabbed a finger at the android. “So, have we traded one captor for another?”
Tara sat up very straight, the gun never wavering from him despite his friends constant wheedling. “I am his guardian. He is my responsibility. His mother entrusted me— I did not want to bring either of you. I only care about Alejandro.”
Marcia rolled her eyes. “That’s reassuring.”
“Stop,” Alec interrupted thickly. The word rang in his skull, but he no longer wanted to vomit. Stop arguing, he wanted to say. They had bigger problems than each other.
Marcia leaned close, hands on his shoulder. At least, he had a vague sense of something rubbing his shoulder. “Are you alright?”
“We all saw what happened,” Domo said, appearing on his other side. “Glad you’re okay, man.”
The drone engine throbbed anew as they ascended one of the many small hills outside town. Trees dotted the landscape, their leafy overcoats flapping in the howling wind. Marcia continued to rub his shoulder as though trying to start a forest fire.
“What are you hiding from me?” Alec said, but numb tongue rendered his words incomprehensible.
Tara understood. She shook her head. “I am here to help you. If I can give you information that will do that, I will, but I will not tell you anything that might hurt you.”
What in the seven cyberhells did that mean? He opened his mouth to complain, but a headache seared through the center of his forehead. He leaned back with a groan.
Domo put a hand on his chest. Rest, I’ll take it over from here.
Alec leaned back, grateful for the moment’s break to recover more fully.
“And that light from your hand… what was that?” Domo asked, staring down the gun without a trace of fear.
No, that’s not what he wanted to know. He wanted to interrupt but found himself leaning forward in his seat. A gold rope that cracked like a bolt of lightning. Why did his guardian hold a gun when
she wielded a much more powerful weapon?
“His mother created me,” Tara said, gun wavering a fraction. “A brilliant researcher, programmer and scholar. I have been gifted with certain abilities. She designed me as a sort of test while she worked as Project Manager of Project Five Squared.”
Recognition lanced through him. Project Five Squared. He’d first seen those words at the Conspiracy Informer.
“Alec’s mother helped design the world’s first true Super Artificial Intelligence. Her contractor, Core Technologies, wanted to use it as a scheme for space domination. With such a powerful system, they would take over all the colonies most precious resources. She succeeded in creating the entity around six months ago, and it named itself Gray. You could say that I was a beta project that resulted in Gray’s formation. The artificial intelligence was too hard to contain and nearly escaped several times. Your mother saw the future difficulties and planned proactively. She stole a piece of data from the AI’s system. I am not sure what is contained in this code, but I know it has to be extremely important as several days after—”
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