Edge Of Danger

by Cherry Adair

  “I understand that you were devastated by Dr. Kirchner’s death. But since you refuse to take any more time off, I want you to reconstruct your research on the Rx793 as quickly as possible. I don’t have to remind you that the government has a sizable contract with us. We’ve already been paid ten million dollars for the prototype. Just because the robot was stolen doesn’t mean we don’t have to give them what they paid for.”

  He held up his hand when she wanted to speak. “Hear me out, would you, please? We’ve gone over this a dozen times, Eden. You know damn well it’s a practical, and in the end,humane application of something you’ve already developed. A humanlike robot going into war zones to treat and retrieve wounded soldiers will save thousands of lives. A machine won’t cut it in this application. I don’t understand your reticence now, when you’ve already done most of the work already. I know you’ve experimented with a flexible silicone skin and can make it look human. A few more tweaks is all it would take. They’ve already paid us to produce a dozen adult-sized humanoid androids.”

  “Money isn’t the issue,” Eden told him, wishing that her damn ego hadn’t been so eager to invent something so potentially open to misuse. “We alreadyhave a model of motion perception utilizing the output of motion-sensitive spatiotemporal filters with Rex.”

  Jason frowned.

  “The power spectrum occupies a tilted plane in the spatiotemporal-frequency domain,” Eden explained, noting the glazed look in his eyes. She laid it on a little thicker. “The Rx uses 3-D Gabor filters to sample his power spectrum for a fixed 3-D rigid-body motion, depth values parameterize a line through image-velocity space…” He had that blank expression she was accustomed to seeing on people’s faces when she started expounding on her passion. Jason wasn’t a scientist, and she usually attempted to put what she was doing in layman’s terms for him. But not today.

  Her research had been directed at the electrical circuit domain, but she’d branched out.Way out. It was a damn good thing Jason didn’t understand one word in a dozen of what she was telling him.

  Artificial intelligence was a primordial soup of computer and cognitive sciences, psychology, mathematics, linguistics, and computer sciences. The field had been just waiting for that bolt of genius that would bring it all together in a new life-form.

  Eden, God help her, had made that life-form.

  “Never mind,” she told him, wishing he’d go away and stop insisting on something she had absolutely no intention of doing. Ever. “What I’m saying is we almost had what you want in Rex. Now Rex and all the notes and files aregone. To replicate what we had would take another six or seven years.”

  “And what I’m saying, Doctor,” Jason stated flatly, the lover gone, “is that you’ve done it once, and you can not only do it again, but this time make it bigger and better. My God, you got accolades for the mobile robot they’re using in Afghanistan to remotely explore caves and remove bombs. People said it couldn’t be done. Butyou did it. A machine that does reconnaissance and bomb retrieval. An amazing and brilliant feat.”

  The problem, Eden thought, was that she was damn proud of her accomplishments.Damn proud. The government had requested a versatile payload carrier. She’d added reconnaissance payloads with a pan/tilt head and night vision. Chem/gas/radiation payloads, and bomb disposal. That bot was doing good.

  Jason stepped into her space, forcing Eden to take a step back. “Doing this would save countless field medics from endangering themselves. An AI doctor, if you will,” he told her, sounding reasonable as he dangled the challenge like a carrot. “Think about it, Eden. This is exactly what you’ve been working toward foryears. ”

  “We’ve had this conversation ad nauseam,” Eden told him flatly. She’d already done what he was asking. With Rex. And fresh, exciting new ideas and solutions kept her awake at night.

  But in light of Theo’s murder, she was going to forget everything she knew, everything she’d learned. She had to.

  She’d known that proceeding, giving in to the curiosity, was going to get her into trouble. Hell, forging ahead had most likely gotten Theo killed. Damn, she just hadn’t expected anyone, least of allTheo, to pay the price for her intellectual curiosity.

  Artificial intelligence needed three things. Intelligence. Reasoning. And strategy. Strategy was the only element that had been missing. Eden was pretty damn sure she now had that one nailed as well.

  She gave Jason a level look. “As tempting as the idea is, I can’t do it. We just haven’t reached that level yet.” This was one lie she hated telling. But she was determined to tell it well, and often.

  She was going to an AI symposium in Berlin the following week as their featured speaker. According to statistics and her peers, she was now the leading expert in the field of AI.

  She was going to stand up there and flat out lie.

  Once machines became more intelligent than a human there would be no way to control them. So no matter how much she wanted to lead the AI revolution, she refused to cross that line. At least publicly.

  If an AI somehow gainedconsciousness, it could very well start making its own decisions. In theory, it could turn on its creators and the danger inthat was too horrible to contemplate.

  “You won’t do it.”

  “Same thing,” she said flatly. “You can always fire me and get someone else to try.”

  His mouth tightened, and his pale eyes hardened. “There is no one else. You’re the top of your field.”

  “True.” And that burden was giving her a hell of a headache.

  He sighed. “I’m sorry I annoyed you.” He touched her cheek with two fingers, his eyes softening. “Forgive me?” He removed an envelope from his inside pocket with beautifully manicured hands. “We’ll shelve this conversation for now. This should please you.” He handed it to her. “I’ve made a list of things already ordered to proceed with the robot. If there’s anything, anything at all, that you want or need, let me know.”

  Whatever else he was, Jason had charm in abundance. It had taken him more than a year to chip away at Eden’s firm resolve not to date the boss. He’d surprised her with his persistence. But what Eden, like droves of other women,really liked about Jason were his millions, and what his money could buy for her. Unlike other women, Eden didn’t want jewels or furs or cars or houses. Eden wanted carte blanche for her lab work. Easy access to the incredibly expensive equipment required for her work. She took a closely typed piece of paper out of the envelope and unfolded it to rapidly scan the list.

  Okay. She’d give him back a few of the demerits she’d subtracted. Her lab, and all the bells and whistles she could possibly want, were worth a little easing of her standards.

  “You’ve thought of everything.” And then some.

  “I believe so.” He shot his cuff to glance at his Rolex. “I don’t have time for breakfast now. I have a ten o’clock meeting. Would you like to go somewhere for lunch later? You should be done with your security interview by then, too.”

  “No thanks. I think I’ll go home and take a nap. It’s been a long day.”

  “It’s nine fifteen in the morning,” he pointed out.

  “Feels later.”

  He bent his head to brush his lips to hers. “I’ll call you.”

  Clutching the paper, Eden watched him leave. “I’m not going to sleep with you, Jason Verdine,” she said out loud after both doors had opened, closed, and locked automatically behind him. “No matter how many lovely new toys you offer me.”

  She shook her head, smiling ruefully. “I must have holes in my head for notwanting to, but there you go.” She turned back to her desk.

  Eden’s steps faltered, and then she stopped dead and froze.

  There, leaning against her desk, was a strange man.

  The blood drained out of her head, and her heart started racing painfully in her chest as she stared at him, mouth suddenly dry. The man’s hot blue gaze raked over her from head to toe, as possessive as if he were physically touchi
ng her.

  He radiated sex appeal. Not so much his looks, but something innate, primitive. Compelling. Just looking at him made Eden think of hot, sweaty skin and tangled sheets.

  God. He made her think about her early morning erotic dream. Heat scorched her cheeks, and her breath quickened in time with her rapid heartbeat.

  He was—big,was her first bewildered thought. No, not big, although he was at least six three, he gave the appearance of being bigger somehow. The man radiated danger. Who the hellwas he? And how had he managed to breach Verdine Industries’ tight security? Her heart thudded and she felt sweaty and hot despite the air conditioning in the lab.

  She also felt shaky and disoriented, as though she’d walked onstage without a script.

  It was almost as if he’d materialized out of nowhere.

  She should be running for her life, but her shoes seemed glued in place. And she would run, as soon as she could move, as soon as she could think coherently. Light-headed and dry-mouthed, she just stood there staring at him.

  She was a sensible woman. But, God. He wasgorgeous. Even if it was far from sensible to notice his hard, lean, muscled body, or the way he watched her with an intensity that was unnerving. Tightly leashed power hummed around him.

  He was an intruder. And by the look of him, a dangerous one at that. So why was her body drawing her toward him, instead of away?

  Dark blue eyes, mocking and enigmatic, watched her with the focus of an animal on its prey. His slightly shaggy, midnight dark hair was a little too long, hanging almost to his shoulders, and the angle of his head made the dark strands cast a sinister half shadow across his face.

  He was casually dressed in worn, nicely fitting—reallynicely fitting—faded blue jeans, and a navy T-shirt. The jeans loved his hips and long legs, the T-shirt showed off an impressive chest and the muscles in his tanned arms.

  Oddly, he was barefoot. He gave her the unnerving feeling that he was crowding her space, but he was a good fifteen feet away and hadn’t moved.

  Eden, all five feet seven sturdy inches of her, suddenly felt petite and morefemale than she’d ever felt in her life. Dear God, whowas he?

  For God’s sake, she gave herself a mental shake,one of them should say something. “Who are you?” she said, taking control of the situation. “Where did you come fr—”

  His silence, his uncanny stillness, was more unnerving than if he’d physically, or even verbally, threatened her.Fine, buddy. Go ahead and look your fill. Twenty seconds after I press the emergency buzzer, this lab will be filled with security people. I’ll stand right here staringback at you as long as it takes me to get to that buzzer. Then you’ll be toast.

  The lab seemed to fade away. Her entire focus and awareness were on this man watching her. She could hear her own pulse in her ears, feel the frantic rush of blood through her veins. She was ultra aware of her hair tickling her neck, and the press of her breasts against the inside of her bra. She even felt the brush of her eyelashes against her too-long bangs.

  She was shaken to the core by her own powerful, all-consuming reaction to this man. This stranger. It was as if she knew him on some deep primitive level she’d never experienced before. She was aware of danger. Of longing. Of need and of fear. Fear, not of him, which was insane, but of the power of her own reaction to him.

  She’d never felt such a visceral response to a man in her life. She wanted to run into his arms and bury her head against his broad chest.

  Involuntarily, she took a small backward step as he pushed himself off the edge of her desk and silently started walking toward her on large, bare feet. Feeling stalked, panic welled up inside her.

  Run, for God’s sake. Run!

  If she’d found his disconcerting stillness unsettling, she was even more panicky as he approached. Her heart thumped harder and harder. All the little hairs on her body stood to attention as if electrified.

  “Close your mouth, Dr. Cahill,” he said mildly enough, but his nostrils flared like a stallion scenting a mare as he came closer and closer. His voice resonated inside her like a tuning fork. Incapable of dragging her gaze from his mouth, she thought vaguely,I know that voice… Then she pulled herself up short.Get a grip here, Eden, she warned herself, forcing her attention away from his mouth. But seeing the strange intensity in his narrowed eyes was almost as unnerving.

  His gaze fell, drifting like a physical touch, over her shirt, down her jean-clad legs, lingering on her bare toes in the strappy red sandals, then just as slowly, meandered back to her face.

  Her eyes widened at the warmth suffusing her body. The sexual chemistry between them startled the hell out of her. It was so hot, so fast, so unexpected, it stole her breath.

  Horrified, she felt her nipples peak and her body throb as though she were being touched. Snapping her mouth shut, Eden narrowed her eyes right back at him. Tension stretched between them, heavy and thick.

  The only way he could possibly have come in was to have passed Jason as he exited. He hadn’t.

  “How thehell did you get in here?” And that was only one of many questions that demanded answers. Damn him. Was he performing some sort of hypnosis? She couldn’t figure out how, or why, she was suddenly feeling aroused. It was as inappropriate as it was unlikely. And the second time today.

  Stop that,she told her body.Just damn well stop that. The rise of her jeans caused a friction she didn’t need, and she wasn’t moving so much as an eyelash. Her heart rate was so elevated she was scared she’d pass out at any minute. Her core temperature seemed to rise the closer he came.

  She shot him a suspicious glare.

  His lips twitched. His predatory smile was that of a male intensely physically aware of a female. Or a jungle cat about to have lunch. “If you think that smile will allay my fears,” she told him coolly, “it doesn’t.”

  Over two thousand people worked in the building. The computer lab right next door held several hundred of them. Just a—soundproof, damn it—wall away. Not only that, but even after several weeks, the building was crawling with Jason’s security people, uniformed officers, detectives, FBI, and a fruit salad of other agencies.

  “How did I get in? Magic.” His gravelly baritone was ironic.

  That voice again. The one she’d heard in her erotic dream. The one that had haunted her since.

  Which was, of course, ridiculous. The room was flooded with sunlight, yet to Eden it felt as though it were filled with shadows. This man’s presence seemed larger than life. She could ponder his method of gaining entrance later. The fact that he was ten feet away from her, that she was alone with him behind three locked high-security doors, that somehow he was raising her body temperature and heartbeat without touching her, all bothered her a great deal.

  She had to lick her lips before she could push the words out. “You’re wasting your time.” Her voice was steady, but she stuffed her shaking fingers into the front pockets of her jeans so neither of them would know just how damn scared she really was. He didn’t move, but his heated gaze was on her mouth as she spoke. Slowly he lifted his eyes to meet hers. The nonphysical contact jolted Eden right to her bones.

  Oh, God. Shehad to get to that buzzer. Theo had been shot. Did this guy have a gun secreted somewhere on him? Probably.

  Her little gun was in her purse, which unfortunately was directly behind him in her desk drawer. Her only hope was hitting that silent alarm. And the odds of her doing that before he reached her were slim to none.

  “You’ll get no more from me than you got from Theo. How could you kill a defenseless, harmless old man?”

  “Who said I did?”

  Eden rolled her eyes. “Well, it defies logic to think more than one person has managed to break the Verdine security system in such a short window of time. It’s called deductive reasoning. If you’re here now, you must have killed Theo. But this stealthy little visit is a waste of your time.”

  “Why is that?” he asked softly.

  He stood between her and the emer
gency security button under her desk. But Theo’s desk was about five feet to her right. She held his gaze as she took a casual step closer to the desk. “Because you’ve already killed Dr. Kirchner and taken everything of value. Killingme would be—redundant.”

  “Is that right?”

  When she didn’t respond he asked softly, “Stupid or brave, Doctor?”

  She met his eyes. They weren’t black, but a dark, fathomless, deep blue. “If you’re referring to me not running like hell—neither.I’m paralyzed with terror.”

  His expression darkened. “Are you always this honest?”

  “No. Yes.”