High Treason (Noah Wolf Book 18)

by David Archer

  “My only worry,” JC said, “is those two security guards. Did you see how quickly they moved on that guy?”

  “Yeah, but he came at her all of a sudden, outside the building. Inside, with a cup of coffee in my hand, I’m not going to look like a potential threat. I’ll also make a point of not trying to approach her until she responds. That should keep both of them relaxed, don’t you think?”

  “Maybe,” said the Frenchman. “Just tell me this, what happens if one of them grabs your hand? Even if he lets go a moment later, will you still have enough on your hand to do the job?”

  “I don’t know for sure,” Ralph said, “but it’s some kind of oily stuff according to Wally, and it takes just a tiny bit to get the job done. Of course, then they’re both going to have heart attacks, and that might look strange.”

  “More fuel for the conspiracy theorists,” Diana said. “They’re going to be insisting that the government had her killed, anyway, so who cares?”

  “It’s the best shot I can think of,” Ralph said. “Let’s get out of here and find something relaxing to do for the day. We can probably get this done tomorrow and maybe be headed back to the new Neverland by tomorrow night.”

  “That sounds good to me,” Diana said. “I’m ready to kick back and relax in the English countryside.”

  * * *

  The Gulfstream landed at Heathrow at just after eight o’clock the following morning, and Neil was there with the van to pick Team Cinderella up. He had parked as close to the private flight area as he could, and Marco had no trouble spotting the van. He, Renée, Cody and Esmeralda came walking across to the vehicle less than fifteen minutes after the plane touched down.

  “Good to see you, Neil,” Marco said. “How’s everything going back here?”

  “It’s going good,” Neil replied. “It’s all starting to come together at the factory, and Molly is all set to start showing you guys how to be salespeople. That’s your cover, you know, but you have to actually do some sales work, as well.”

  “I won’t have any trouble,” Renée said. “I worked my way through college selling magazines door-to-door. Selling supersmart appliances is going to be a breeze compared to that.”

  “I don’t know about this,” Cody said. “I never was much of a salesman. Can’t they just let me drive a truck or something?”

  “You take that up with Wally and Molly,” Neil said. “Esmeralda, Wally is waiting for you to get some software written for some new parts he came up with.”

  “Really? That should be fun. I actually enjoy writing software, it gives me some insight into my own programming.”

  They got all their bags loaded in the back and then climbed in and took their seats. Neil waited until everyone was buckled in, then put the van in gear and drove out of the parking area.

  “You guys hungry?” he asked.

  “I think we’re good,” Marco said. “They just fed us a little bit ago, breakfast. More than anything else, I’m just a bit tired. I think I only got about five hours of sleep on the plane.”

  “I slept like a baby,” Renée said. “And speaking of babies, I cannot wait to see Nora. That’s her name, right?”

  “Yep,” Neil said. “Only Sarah put an H on the end of it, so it’s a combination of Noah and Sarah.” He broke into a smile. “She’s about the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen, I can tell you that. And she already loves her Uncle Neil.”

  “That’s just because she hasn’t met Uncle Marco,” Marco said. “I’ll make her forget all about you, you just wait and see.”

  “I’m looking forward to seeing her,” Esmeralda said. “I’ve never seen a baby up close. I studied everything I can access about them, though.”

  “Well, that’s like trying to learn to drive by reading a book about racing,” Renée said. “You’ll find that everything you know from what you’ve read will seem completely useless when you’re faced with actually having to change a diaper or burp a baby.”

  Esmeralda looked at her. “Do you think they would let me do those things? I know that all of you have been treating me like a person, but it’s occasionally obvious that you have some reservations. After all, I’m not human like you—I’m a machine.”

  “Hey,” Cody said, “that doesn’t mean you’re not a person, okay? In a lot of ways, I think you’re more human than most of the people I’ve known in my life.”

  “Why, thank you, Cody,” Esmeralda said. “Incidentally, are you still planning to take me on a date?”

  Cody suddenly blushed bright red. “Well, I—I, yeah, I guess so. If you want to, I mean.”

  “I would like that very much. I’m curious to see what it’s like to go on a date with a man. Again, I’ve studied a lot of material about dating, but I’m sure that’s going to be another case of personal experience taking precedence over abstract knowledge. Will you be planning to seduce me?”

  Neil burst out laughing, and Cody look like he was going to either choke or jump out of the van while it was moving.

  “Esmeralda,” Renée said, “that’s not the kind of question you ask a man. If it was anybody but Cody, somebody who knows your actual nature, you would naturally assume that any man you go out with hopes to do just that, but if you ask, it’s guaranteed to make things awkward.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” Esmeralda said. “Cody, I did not mean to cause awkwardness. It’s just that I’m hoping to experience what an actual date would be like. If it’s going to make you uncomfortable, I’ll understand if you don’t want to go through with it.”

  Cody managed to get himself under control and looked at her. His face was still red, but he kept his expression straight.

  “I’m actually looking forward to our date,” he said. “But one thing you need to know is that what happens on a date should stay between the two people, and you shouldn’t talk about it. You shouldn’t tell anyone else, I mean.”

  “Ha!” Neil said. “You dog! You are planning to try to get into her pants, aren’t you?”

  “Shut up, Neil,” Cody said. “I’m just trying to teach her about dating, that’s all. I’m just trying to give her the benefit of my experience.”

  Renée looked over at Esmeralda. “Just relax and enjoy yourself,” she said. “Don’t worry about these guys, they’re just picking on each other. If you go out with Cody and have some fun, whatever it is should stay between the two of you, like he said.” She glanced at Cody, then turned back to Esmeralda. “And you know, Cody’s a pretty good-looking guy. He probably has been on a lot of dates, so you can probably learn a lot from him.”

  “A lot of positions, maybe,” Neil said.

  “Okay, Neil, that’s enough,” Marco said. “You need to let them be.”

  Neil chuckled but dropped the subject. They talked a bit more about the things that were going on at the factory, then Marco drifted off to sleep. Cody did likewise, but Renée and Esmeralda were both awake and watching the scenery pass by.

  Because they had just come in off an overnight flight, Neil took them back to Feeney Manor so they could unpack and get freshened up. Of course, the first thing they did when they arrived was to rush into the dining room, where Sarah and Rachel were visiting with Caroline, Beatrice and the kitchen girls. Little Norah was in a bouncy seat sitting on the table, contentedly sleeping and allowing her court to admire her properly.

  “Oh, she’s beautiful,” Renée said. “Sarah, she is a doll. I wish she was awake.”

  “Give it a half hour,” Rachel said. “She’ll be getting hungry again about then.” The young woman grinned at Sarah. “I think your mates are looking forward to taking their turns with the little poppet.”

  “Of course we are,” Renée said. “She’s going to be the most spoiled child, I swear.”

  “She already is,” Sarah said. “We need to add on an extra room just for all the presents she’s gotten already.”

  “Oh, it’s not that bad,” Neil said. “She’s just the star at the moment—all the excitement will wear o
ff shortly. I remember when my little sister was born, everybody was so excited for the first couple of weeks, and then it was just like, ‘meh.’ Everybody got used to her, and then she wasn’t all that special anymore.”

  “Well, Norah is always going to be special,” Sarah said. “And you’d just better get used to the idea, Uncle Neil.”

  Esmeralda had held back a bit, but at Renée’s urging she moved forward to get a good look at the baby.

  “She looks unfinished,” she said after a moment. “Is that normal?”

  Sarah laughed. “Yes, it’s normal. She’s only a few days old, Esmeralda—it takes a little time for her to grow into her skin. A couple of months from now, she’ll be all filled out and more beautiful than ever.”

  “I didn’t mean that she didn’t look beautiful. I think the very fact that she exists makes her beautiful. This is a living human being that came into existence by taking a part of you and a part of Noah and blending them together, then letting them grow inside your body. What could be more beautiful than that?”

  They all looked at Esmeralda for a moment, and then everyone turned to look at the baby again.

  “She’s right,” Rachel said. “What could be more beautiful?”

  “All right,” Marco said. “Let’s go ahead and get our stuff put away, then we probably need to get out to the factory. The way this thing has been going, I’m sure there have been changes we need to be caught up on.”

  “You’re right,” Neil said as they went up the stairs. “Quite a few changes, actually. You know that Allison is here now, right?”

  “Of course,” Renée said. “We were the ones who had to pick her up after she wrecked her car and take her out to catch her flight.”

  “Oh yeah, that’s right,” Neil said, grinning. “Sorry, so much is going on I can’t keep track. Anyway, we’ve got some new designs out of Wally, which is why he’s throwing a fit to get Esmeralda back out there. She has to write the programming for these new gadgets of his.”

  Marco, Renée, Cody and Esmeralda carried their bags into their rooms, and all four took the opportunity to get a quick shower and change clothing. Forty minutes later, they were all back in the van and headed toward the factory.

  “Wow,” Marco said as they made the turn into the factory grounds. The overgrown grass had been mowed and cleaned up, the bushes had been trimmed and a new sign out front proclaimed it as the home of Home Robotics, LTD. “A lot of changes, sure enough.”

  “You ain’t seen nothing yet,” Neil said. “One of Wally’s people moved some stuff in one of the storage areas and found a trapdoor in the floor. When they went exploring, they found a secret basement that isn’t even listed on the original blueprints. Wally commandeered it for his new R&D lab.”

  “Really?” Renée said. “I can’t wait to see that. And nobody knows it’s there?”

  “As near as I can tell, no. It looks like the basement was actually part of the old building that was here before this one, and I guess it was sturdy enough that the builders just decided to ignore it. They laid a concrete floor right over it but they left the trapdoor uncovered, and since it wasn’t on the blueprints they were working from, it’s been long forgotten.”

  He parked the van in the executive parking lot and led them all inside. Jenny, who was temporarily posing as the receptionist for the building, looked up with a big smile.

  “About time you guys got back here,” she said. “Everyone’s in Noah’s office—come on and I’ll show you the way.”

  She got up and led them down a hallway, stopping to knock on a partially open door. “Noah? They’re back.”

  Jenny stood aside and let the rest of them enter, and they found Molly and Allison in the office as well.

  “Welcome back,” Molly said. “It’s good timing, because we’re just getting all the little bugs ironed out of the company table of organization. All of the team members, of course, are in the marketing department so that we can cover when they have to travel, so we’re working on setting up a marketing office that keeps each team together. When you are not out on a mission, you will be working on actual marketing duties.”

  “I’m not too sure I’ll be any good at that,” Cody said. “I never have been much good at selling stuff.”

  “Maybe not,” Molly said, “but you know how to find the best route from one place to another, right? Believe it or not, that’s part of marketing. When we have to make a commitment to get products delivered regularly and on time, knowing the best routing is critical. That’ll probably be where you fit in, along with some of the other transportation officers.”

  Cody blinked. “Yeah, okay, I can probably handle that, I guess.”

  Allison looked at Esmeralda. “Esmeralda,” she said, “we didn’t get a lot of time to talk the other night. How are you doing?”

  “I believe that I’m doing rather well,” Esmeralda said. “I have discovered that I am capable of modifying my own programming, which indicates to me that I have in fact become sentient. If I am to be honest, which I prefer to do, this actually frightens me to some degree.”

  “Why should it frighten you?” Noah asked. “Every person has to modify their programming, their thinking, from time to time.”

  “It frightens me because my programming is what originally put limits on what I was capable of doing. If I can modify the programming, then I can also modify those limits. I have to believe that any such limits were put on me with good reason, such as the prohibition against killing any human being without orders to do so or the absolute necessity due to many different factors of the situation. I discovered that it would be possible for me to remove that prohibition completely, and so I created a program that will warn me against any such removal should I ever try. I also created a secondary program that will cause me to enter a feedback loop if I decide to complete that removal, which will make it very difficult for me to do so.” She blinked. “I believe it would be much like the feelings of guilt a human would incur when contemplating something that is outside his or her own morality.”

  Allison grinned at her. “Just the fact that you’re willing to create those safeguards tells me you can be trusted with the ability to modify your own programming, Esmeralda. Don’t be afraid of your own developing personality. We all go through that as we grow up. You just got shoved through some of it before you were ready.”

  “Thank you,” Esmeralda said. “I should probably go and find Wally. I understand he needs me to work on the software.”

  “Yes,” Noah said. “You’ll find him in the appliance development lab. Neil, would you show her where that is?”

  “You got it, Boss.” Neil motioned for her to follow him and the two of them left the room.

  “I wonder if anyone realizes just what a leap in science she actually represents,” Allison said. “She’s a sentient computer in a human form. There’s almost no limit to what she could achieve, especially since she can literally have new skills and knowledge installed in a matter of minutes.”

  “She’s already got quite a lot stuffed into that head,” Noah said. “She can outdrive any human, she can fly any aircraft, and she knows every form of martial arts there is. If we had ten like her, we wouldn’t need any of the teams.”

  “Hey!” Jenny said. “Let’s not talk that way. Remember what’s supposed to happen to us, if we’re no longer needed?”

  “Relax, Jenny,” Allison said. “The old rules don’t apply anymore. Each of you has earned your new lives, over and over.” She turned to Noah. “Esmeralda is special, I admit, but I’m not sure the world could handle ten like her. I understand why you sent her out on this mission, but I personally prefer to use her as a team member or backup.”

  Noah simply looked at her. “It’s your call,” he said. “And if I haven’t said it before, I’m glad to have you back in charge.”

  SIXTEEN

  Ralph sat in the Mustang he had rented the evening before, watching the parking lot entrance of the coffee shop. When the li
mousine appeared, he opened the door of the car and got out, walking directly inside without even glancing at the senator’s car. The limo pulled up and parked where it always did, and the senator with her two bodyguards got out and followed him into the shop.

  There had been a small line when Ralph entered, and he had taken his place at the back of it. Senator Mitchell ended up right behind him, and he carefully ignored her as the two people ahead of him placed their orders and received them. When it was his turn, he stepped up to the counter and ordered his favorite latte, with his right hand in his pocket. He crushed the capsule on his palm with his thumb, then swirled it around the best he could with his fingertips. He paid for his coffee with his left hand, picked it up in that hand and then turned as he pulled his right hand out of his pocket.

  He pretended to only glance at the person behind him, then did a double take. “Senator Mitchell?” he asked, his voice pitched high with excitement. He plastered a big smile across his face as he extended his hand. “Ma’am, you probably don’t remember me, but I’m Joey Schwartz. I worked on your last campaign at your headquarters. It’s a pleasure to see you again.”

  The senator looked at him, and confusion was evident in her features for a split second before she broke out in a matching smile. “Joey, of course,” she said. “I do remember. I’m sorry we didn’t get to spend a lot of time together back then, but things were so hectic.” She grasped his hand firmly and shook it, then glanced at it as she let go. The oily drug was not visible, but apparently she had felt it.

  “Sorry,” Ralph said, “sweaty palms. I think it’s normal to the politics game. Anyway, it was great to see you again. You keep giving ’em hell, okay?”

  The senator shot him another smile and a thumbs up. “You know I will,” she said, and then she turned toward the barista.

  Ralph hurried back to the Mustang and started it up, then backed out of his space and pulled out onto the street. He picked up the walkie-talkie that was lying on the console and spoke into it.

  “Bird-dog, this is Fox,” he said. “Done deal. I’m getting out of sight, so it’s up to you to follow and see what happens.”