I shook my head, too tired to argue. "It's all right. I just want to get home."
Cam nodded and looked at the older cop. "Captain?"
The man sighed and gestured. "The shop took a look at your truck, there's nothing that would keep you off the road. The tail light is cracked, but it'll get you home safely. You're going to want to need to have it replaced soon, though."
As we left, there was another man who stayed near the four of us, not saying anything. He looked like a professor type, but a professor of the sorts of things you didn't want to study by your own choice. There was just that sort of dark hardness about the man that gave me the willies. Cam ignored him, though, and the cops escorted us to his truck, which had been towed to the station's parking lot. Cam got it started after two cranks, and I got in.
"We'll talk when we get home," Cam said gently. "I know you have questions, but if this truck was in the cops' hands for this long, I can't trust that it wasn't bugged."
"What the hell are you involved in?" I asked, not in anger this time, but in wonder.
Cam gave me a smile and shook his head. "At home."
Chapter 22
Cam
It was nearly midnight when Melina and I got home, and I reached over to shake her awake when we pulled into the driveway. She sat up with a start, a short squeak coming out before she realized where she was. "It's okay," I said. "We're here."
We went inside and Melina sat down on the couch. "All right Cam. No more delays or bullshit. If you do, I'm out of here. I'll collect my little paycheck from Jay Winters, and then I'm gone. I can’t live with lies. I love you, but I won't be lied to."
I sighed and sat down in the chair across from her. "Okay. No lies, but there are things that I can’t tell you. There isn't much, just a few names, things like that. But I'll tell you the truth."
Looking up at the ceiling, I tried to put it all together in a way that didn't sound like the ramblings of a lunatic. "First off, while everything I told you about my parents is true, I didn't tell you much about my childhood. Melina, how old were you when you graduated high school?"
"Eighteen," she said. "Why, what’s that have to do with anything?”
"I finished my bachelor's degree at fourteen, and got my Master's at fifteen. Never went back for my PhD, there were a lot of other things that were more interesting to me."
"The rest of it is easier if you follow me."
We went into the bedroom I'd configured as my office. I opened the closet. "I noticed that you'd never asked me about this closet," I said as she looked inside, surprised at what she'd found. "I figured you just hadn't looked inside yet. I mean, not a lot of people keep a gun safe in their spare bedroom closet, even in this part of the country."
"No, I hadn't," she replied. "Kinda wish I had. That cannon you pulled out of the glove box scared me nearly as much the accident itself."
I nodded, placing my palm on the reader. "The lock is hand-print activated. Right now it’s keyed to only open to me."
The machine scanned, and the lock opened with a magnetic *chunk* that told me it was ready. I opened the door, revealing the contents inside. "It’s actually a gun safe as well," I said, taking out the three weapons inside, "but here's my diploma."
Melina took it with only a slight tremble to her fingers, then looked at the paper. “Cameron Dane Swagger, Master's in Applied Philosophy from the University of Georgetown. Granted . . . fourteen years ago."
I nodded, taking it back from her. "When I told you that I went to the University of Arizona at Flagstaff that wasn't a total lie. I did my undergrad work there, not because of my grades, but because my family lived in the area and they were willing to let a kid who wasn't even in puberty yet take classes. Georgetown was the same, but by then I was already being recruited, so it was more logical for me to go there."
Melina shook her head in amazement. "Recruited for what?"
"At first, I thought it was the CIA, later the NSA, later on . . .” I said, shaking my head. "Later on, it didn't really matter, as the names of the agencies are just part of another screen on the whole real situation anyway."
Melina sat down in my computer chair, her eyes spreading in wonder. "So when you said you went to cold places . . .”
"I spent most of my time in northern China," I said simply. "My official job was as an assistant to the ambassador to Mongolia if you could dig that. Unofficially, I made more than a few incursions into northern China and Siberia."
"So you speak Russian?" Melina asked.
I shook my head. "Not Russian, but I do speak Chinese," I said. "以道佐人主者，不以兵強天下。其事好還。師之所處，荊棘生焉。大軍之後，必有凶年。善有果而已，不敢以取強。果而勿矜，果而勿伐，果而勿驕。果而不得已，果而勿強。物壯則老，是謂不道，不道早已。"
Melina stared at me for a second, then threw her hands up. “I don’t even know how to respond . . .” She shook her head. “What other super powers do you have?"
I laughed and shook my head. "No super powers. I'm just a man, I just learn things quickly."
“This still doesn’t explain what today was about. I doubt foreign agencies come after you because you teach Shakespeare."
I shook my head and reached into the safe again, withdrawing my special laptop. "This. Have you ever wondered about someone and looked them up online?"
“Uh, sure," she said. "So?"
I set the laptop down and connected it to the hard line. "This computer does that and more. Imagine if you can a computer that can not only find every single electronic file about you in the entire world, but can then, at the push of a few buttons, totally erase you or modify whatever it is you want. You want to change your high school transcript? Three clicks, and it’s done. And nobody can tell that it was ever modified. That's the magic of Albertine."
"What the hell is an Albertine?”
"It was named by its creator after a science fiction story in which the entire world's memory was plastic. Like, through the use of a drug called Albertine, you could literally erase someone from history. They'd simply cease to exist if you wanted them to, in the real world as well. The creator of this computer, he was a fan of that story, and it motivated him to finish the computer itself."
I sighed and continued. "Albertine knows how to crack and find every piece of data on any computer connected to any sort of network in the world. The only way to not have something visible to Albertine is to have it on a computer that has never been online in any way. So in effect, everything is available to Albertine. And it's all traceless. The computer doesn't leave a single trace, in fact, the whole damn thing can change the fabric of the world if it wanted to."
Melina whistled. "Think it could take away my credit card bill?"
I nodded, and was at least a little happy that she could still have a sense of humor about it all. "Melina, not only could it take away your credit card bill, but it could make you the richest person in the world and there wouldn't be a single way anyone could prove otherwise."
“What about malicious intents,” Melina said softly. "What about the other way around? Can it ruin someone?"
I nodded, thinking of the little spanking I'd given Tiffany via Albertine at the resort. “It can do more than just ruin someone. It could make it that the person literally doesn't exist."
"You mean, it works on anyone?"
"One time, just for an experiment when I was trying to figure out what the hell Albertine could do, I fiddled with some information on a relatively minor issue, changing the name of the author of a physics paper. It got picked up, and the wrong man right now is walking around with a Nobel Prize in physics. The guy didn't even have a doctorate at the time."
"Did you go back and fix it?" she asked, looking a bit disappointed when I shook my head. "Why?"
“Because once I saw what could be done, I wanted to find out exactly what it was capable of before I touched it again. The creator of Albertine, he went more tha
n a little unhinged. He started to get to like the movie Fight Club more than what is perhaps healthy, and he wanted to implement the final plan of Project Mayhem. He was going to go in and totally eliminate the financial underpinnings of the world. The entire stock market, financial records for everyone and everything, totally deleted. While on the surface that sounds appealing, the immediate chaos that would have resulted would have torn the entire planet apart."
"Damn," Melina said in wonder. "So why not destroy the computer? I mean, if it is that dangerous, why not stop it?"
I sighed and hit the power button, letting it cycle up. "Two reasons. First, because the man who created Albertine created it as part of a worm that propagated through the entire network. Every mainframe, every home computer, every system on the planet has a copy of this worm on it. Hell, Microsoft unknowingly sent it out as part of a security update for Windows 7. One of the code pieces for that worm is that every six months, the primary Albertine computer, this computer, must be detected and networked with. If not, the creator's wish is enacted. This laptop serves as a deadman switch for the whole damn thing. The other thing is, Albertine is keeping me safe."
"What do you mean?" Melina asked.
"Who do you think created Albertine?" I replied. "The Chinese? Albertine was created here in the United States. Unfortunately, I didn't get a hold of it before the creator had uploaded the virus. You see, what we commonly think of as the US government isn't monolithic at all. Even the divisions you see every day, Republican and Democrat, different departments, all that, it's only a minor front on the real issues. The real issues are the dark matter."
"Now you've lost me. Dark matter? Minor fronts? You’re sounding like a crazy person here Cam.”
I sighed, trying to organize my thoughts. Hell, I had an IQ of one ninety-seven, and it twisted my head the first time I saw the whole thing. "Sorry, this is complicated, and I'm trying to condense what I learned over years into a single monolog. Dark matter is the term we used, it comes from physics. It's a type of matter that has no way to be detected, except that it has mass and it can affect gravity. We can't even prove it really exists, or if it’s just a mathematical ghost that scientists use to explain gaps in their ideas. But in any case, dark matter can affect the entire universe, yet we cannot see it.”
"The same can be applied to some of these groups, these individuals. I was — I am — one of them. They act as shadow puppet masters, pulling the strings on the groups we can see. What makes it difficult is that sometimes a puppet master will have strings that seemingly work at odds. I once had dinner with one of these men. He was the leader of a group that not only controls the NRA, but also one of the most anti-gun elements of the Democratic party. In any case, Albertine was created by one of these dark matter elements. If I didn't have Albertine, that group would try to kill me. I've kept them at bay for the past few years because of this."
Albertine beeped behind me, its startup completed. "Please identify."
I typed in my fifteen character password in, then turned. "I'm the only person who can access this computer. In addition to the password I just used, it has other security measures installed. In time, I'd like to teach them to you."
Melina looked at me as if I were crazy. “I don’t want anywhere near that thing!”
I nodded and started the verification program on the bitch goddess Albertine. It would only take five minutes, I was paying through the nose for a super-fast line that allowed Albertine to get its work done quickly. "Melina, after what you saw today, you see that there are still those in the world who would try to take Albertine from me. I took it away from the dark matter players because I know they can’t be trusted. They think that, if they have six months to poke around at this system, that they can crack it, or find a way to fake the worm, or maybe just unleash it themselves in such a way it only affects their enemies. They're all wrong, plain and simple. I thought after the last attempt on me they'd have backed off, but obviously not. I need someone I can trust, someone I know is on my side. I need you."
There, I'd said it. The thought that had been burning inside my head for days, ever since I knew that Melina was being tailed by someone. More than the fear of what Albertine could do, more than the fear for my own personal safety, I feared for her. I feared losing her.
Melina looked at Albertine, sitting so innocently on a side table of my office, then at me, then back at the computer, her dark eyes pondering. "I'm a pharmacy tech. I've graduated junior college. Now you're telling me about conspiracies, god-like computers connected to your home, and people who obviously have no problems trying to kill you, or me. And you want me to be part of this?"
I shook my head. "I never wanted anyone else to be part of it. The last time, before I met you, I thought they'd gotten the message. They try to tamper with the safe, the contents are incinerated. They try to tamper with Albertine itself, the computer has so many backups built into it, the worm is triggered. There's no way to defuse it, no way to change it. I've been trying to learn ways that maybe I can put a buffer into the system, another worm that works with Albertine in order to nullify it. In the meantime, I lived two lives. By day, I was a teacher and basketball coach. In my spare time, I studied programming and computer science. I went to the resort as part of my annual vacation because I needed a week and a half to not have Albertine be a gigantic part of my life."
Melina nodded, then put her chin in her hands, staring at the laptop. It beeped, telling me it was done with its checkup with the networks of the world, and I clicked for it to shut down. The system went black, and I unhooked it from the cable connection. Closing the laptop, I put it back in the safe and locked it, my knees popping when I stood up. I closed the closet door and turned around, not saying anything.
Melina sat there for another minute, then sighed. “As crazy as it is, I believe you. But I need to think, Cam."
“I’d be worried if you didn’t. Take all the time you need, I'm not trying to force anything on you."
"Thank you. But I think tonight, I'm going to need to sleep alone. Good night, Cam."
Melina stood up and left the office, leaving me there. I listened and a few seconds later the door to the guest bedroom closed, followed by a soft click as she locked the door.
Chapter 23
Melina
After I got in bed, I couldn't sleep. Part of it was the mind bomb that Cam had dropped on me. Shadowy agents, a computer with super powers that held the world hostage, and a double life? What the hell had I gotten myself into?
Well, you were the one complaining that things were boring, the little voice inside my head spoke up, always willing to state its opinion. Don't tell me that you weren't bored. Or are those new curtains in the living room just because you wanted to spend money on the house?
"Oh, shut the fuck up," I told myself quietly. I have this thing where I tend to think out loud. Someone who didn’t know any better might think I was crazy. “There's exciting, and then there's this. I was thinking a bit better shopping, maybe a decent movie theater or something, not whatever you call this!"
I'll admit, it's not what we were planning when we went on vacation, but you know as well as I do that your life needed to change. And admit it, you love him.
There was no arguing with that. Even as pissed off as I was at times that day, I never had any doubt about how I felt about Cam. "Sometimes, though, love isn't enough."
And sometimes, love can conquer the world.
I didn't have an answer to that. I didn't think I was ready to fall asleep, but at least the voice inside my head fell silent.
I was surprised the next morning when I woke up, not realizing that I'd fallen asleep at all. I checked, and the door to the bedroom was still locked, and I was still alone in the bed. I felt like crap, to be honest. I hadn't realized how quickly I could become used to having Cam's presence next to me when I went to sleep or woke up, and the fact that I couldn't smell his essence or hear his soft breathing if he was still asleep disturb
ed me more than the icky morning breath. I rolled out of bed, my feet recoiling as they touched the tile floor.
I found Cam in the living room, and he looked like hell too. He hadn't shaved that morning, his stubble standing out against his cheeks. His eyes were hollow, and he looked exhausted. "Did you sleep at all last night?"
"Not really,” he said quietly, shaking his head. "I was trying to find out who did this to us. And thinking, worrying."
"Worrying about what?" I asked. "About Albertine?"
Cam laughed derisively and shook his head. “About you. I was worrying about you."
"Why?" I asked. "Did you think I'd not be here in the morning?"
Cam snorted, then sighed, nodding. “Maybe? I dropped some pretty scary shit on you. Every time I started to drift off, I'd hear you tossing and turning or groaning in your sleep, and I'd jerk awake again. How’s your neck?”
It was my turn to shake my head, and I made my way over to the couch and sat down slowly. My back wasn't too bad, but I didn't want to turn my head in any way. Even nodding hurt like hell. "Not so much until this morning," I said, wincing again. "But I didn't sleep well. Too many questions and voices inside my head."
"This isn't a minor thing like finding out I had a drunk driving conviction in my past, so I can understand it being overwhelming. I really am sorry about all of this. I never expected to find someone like you in the world, someone who made me think that my duty to humanity isn't as important as one person. Since meeting you, Albertine has become, well, just not as important to me."
It's not every day that a woman is told she's more important than the fate of the entire world. It floors you, to say the least. I was stunned. "So I guess you kind of like me, huh?"
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