Light of the Last

by Chuck Black

  Ben glared at Drew. “I’m serious, you’re going to have to wait ’cause I’m not going to.”

  Drew’s mouth hung open as he stumbled across the low threshold of NexTech’s gleaming entry. Inside, Drew gawked at the sterile glass-and-silver interior.

  “You actually do work here?” Drew asked.

  “What’s wrong with you, man? I told you, we own the place.”

  Though still skeptical, Drew decided to let the next few minutes unfold without opening his mouth and potentially making a bigger fool of himself.

  Ben took Drew up a wide staircase and through a couple of hallways lined with offices. One large room was filled with cubicles and open-area work centers. Off to the side was a large office with a beautiful view of the city.

  “Are we still safe?” Ben asked.

  Drew scanned and took a moment to scan outside too. He nodded. Ben swiped his card again, entered the key code, and the office door clicked open.

  “It’s impossible to have too much security,” Ben whispered. Drew stayed silent.

  Inside, the office was the largest and nicest he had seen in the building. Drew got nervous. It reminded him of the night they entered Dr. Waseem’s lab.

  Ben made sure to close the door and listen for the lock to engage. He walked over to his desk.

  “This is your office…really?” Drew asked.

  Ben looked disgusted. “This? You’re impressed with this?”

  Drew quit scanning the office and looked at his friend.

  “Wait till you see this!”

  Ben slid out a drawer, lifted a fake bottom, and placed his hand on a scanner. A white light rolled up and down the glass plate. Then Drew nearly fell over. Just to his left, a four-foot section of the wall slid away, revealing an entire room filled with the highest tech gadgetry money could buy.

  “You have got to be kidding me!” Drew said. “You…you…” He didn’t know how to respond. He was shocked and thrilled. “Ben, look what you’ve done! This is incredible!” He grabbed Ben and gave him a bear hug, lifting him up and setting him down. “You actually own NexTech? Really?”

  “No, idiot. We own NexTech. You were the one who invested the money.”

  “Ha! This is amazing!”

  Drew went into the lab, and there on the bench was the most beautiful sight he had seen in years. A gleaming new version of Dr. Waseem’s LASOK. Drew ran to it and feasted his eyes on its beauty. He glanced up at Ben and saw his friend beaming.

  “Does it work?”

  Ben’s smiled faded some. “Not yet. I’m still searching for Waseem’s last equation, and I have a couple more pieces of equipment to install. But we’re close, Drew. Really, really close.”

  18

  NEXTECH CORPORATION

  Drew and Ben spent most of the night catching up and exchanging stories, and Drew was delighted to find out that Ben had a fully stocked freezer of frozen pizzas. He learned that Ben and the team he assembled had created a new operating system for mobile devices that a major cell phone company picked up and leased from them, which skyrocketed them to the successful tech company they were. Ben dubbed his creation Leeloo.

  Drew pulled out his cell. “Wait, you’re the creator of Leeloo?”

  Ben grabbed Drew’s phone and accessed menus that Drew didn’t know existed. He tapped in access codes and made updates, then handed it back. “There, now it’s twice as fast and twice as powerful. They forced us to add limitations so they could program upgrades into their marketing plan. Yours are all unlocked.”

  Drew just smiled in wonder. Who knew that his genius friend also had a gift for business?

  “Leeloo is a scaled-down version of our real masterpiece. A program I call Near Artificial Intelligence. Her name is Alice.”

  “Is that who found me when I searched for you and who you were talking to in the cab?” Drew asked.

  Ben nodded. “She was monitoring local GPS receivers and surveillance cameras to verify we weren’t being followed.”

  Drew raised an eyebrow. “Are you telling me your Alice hacks secure systems to gather information?”

  Ben fidgeted. “Only when absolutely necessary. Alice is smart, Drew. You’re going to love her.” He whipped out a tablet and held it up to Drew’s face. “Alice, look at this man. This is Drew Carter. You will respond to his commands and provide any information he requests.”

  “Yes, Ben,” the tablet replied. “Should I have a record of his handprint and retina scan on file for classified access?”

  “Yes,” Ben replied and then lowered the tablet in front of Drew. “Put your hand on the tablet.”

  Drew obeyed.

  “Your handprint has been captured, Drew,” Alice said. “Please look into the camera, and don’t blink.”

  Drew looked at Ben and smiled. He looked into the camera, and a gentle light turned on.

  “Retina scan captured.”

  The more Drew learned about Ben and his last three years, the more impressed he was. The guy was a tireless machine of ideas. If the LASOK ever had a chance of working, Ben was the man to bring it alive. He learned that Ben had been able to keep the LASOK a secret from everyone else at NexTech, working on it only at night. Although he had an apartment, he had a comfortable place to sleep in the LASOK lab for his many late-night work sessions.

  Drew couldn’t quite bring himself to tell Ben about his insight into the alien invader theory. It would be too painful and too embarrassing for both of them. For now, if it provided motivation to complete the LASOK, what could it hurt?

  At four in the morning, Drew and Ben were ready to call it a night.

  “Hey, this is awesome, Drew. Things are finally looking up. So the big question is…”

  Drew knew what was coming.

  “What’s up with you and Sydney?”

  Drew shook his head. “Nothing.”

  Ben just nodded. “Okay…that’s probably good. But why?”

  Drew shrugged. “She deserves better than me. My life is always in a state of chaos, and she deserves normal.”

  Ben smirked. “Boring people deserve normal. You and Sydney are anything but. So where is she?”

  “I’m not sure,” Drew said, trying to sound disinterested.

  “Yeah, right! I don’t believe that for a minute. You’re telling me that with all the super spy stuff you know, you haven’t looked her up and aren’t tracking her right now?”

  Who was he kidding? He couldn’t even fool his geek friend who had never had a girlfriend in his life.

  Ben continued. “She’s got to be done with college. Is she back in Kansas? Surely you’ve seen her.”

  Drew huffed. “The University of Pennsylvania offered her a scholarship to get a graduate degree in microbiology, so she’s not in Kansas. And no, I haven’t seen her because my life is still crazy dangerous, which she doesn’t need.”

  Ben waited, eyes wide in anticipation of a better excuse, which Drew had but wasn’t going to say. It would mean confessing to his full-blown schizophrenia and then having to admit that the invaders Ben believed in were all just a figment of his subconscious.

  “When’s the last time you saw her?”

  Ben’s question triggered a multitude of painful memories. He replayed the events of the Chicago bombing and the precious time he’d spent with her in the hotel, saying good-bye and…making a promise, a promise he’d forgotten. He resolved to make good on it soon.

  “It’s just not in the cards, Ben. She’s probably seeing someone by now anyway.”

  Ben just grunted and left it at that.

  —

  With Jake’s permission, Drew took a few days to check in on Fortress East in York, Pennsylvania. The Fortress employees all knew that Drew was Jake’s stepson, and at first there was the typical mild disdain from some who suspected nepotism, but Drew quickly dispensed with any such notion by showing respect to everyone he met and by setting the high scores for each of their range drills. By the end of his three days at Fortress East, he had
won the respect of everyone there.

  Drew especially hit it off with one particular East Division team leader named Gus when he discovered the man had a fascination and an amazing talent for understanding and wielding ancient weapons. Whether real or imaginary, Validus and his warriors had initiated a curiosity for such things in Drew that could not be satisfied merely by reading a book. Drew decided that if ever he had an opportunity to work with Gus in the future, he would tap into the man’s knowledge and abilities to expand his own weaponry skill set.

  During his time at Fortress East, Drew also found time to fulfill his promise to Sydney. He read through the Bible once more, but this time with a heart to discover Truth, if it was there. With each page he read, he came to realize something was different now, and he knew it probably had to do with the fact that he no longer believed in the alien theory. The words of the Bible seemed to penetrate and stir his soul like never before. However, there were still things he didn’t understand, and if he ever had the chance, he would ask Sydney or Reverend Branson what they meant.

  When Drew left Fortress East, he drove back to New York City and checked in on Ben the evening before he was scheduled to fly back to Rivercrest. Ben arranged to meet him at NexTech at eight.

  “Ben, having worked in certain capacities for the government and now working for Jake, I find myself in need of some tech that I can no longer get my hands on.”

  Ben looked up from the LASOK and smiled. He set the soldering iron back in its holder, flipped off the switch, and crossed his arms as he leaned up against the lab bench.

  “This sounds interesting. What kind of tech? Micro bugs and cameras, GPS trackers, document scanners, cell phone listeners and jammers?” Ben offered. “No sense reinventing the wheel, because that tech is all available off the shelf.”

  “Right. No, I was thinking a little more sophisticated than that.”

  “I’m listening,” Ben said enthusiastically.

  “I still have to wear sunglasses to keep my headaches away, so why not make them useful? How about glasses that give the full gamut of GPS capabilities, Internet access, facial recognition, infrared scanning, voice command interface, and anything else you can throw in?”

  Drew could see Ben’s mind already turning. “You don’t ask for much, do you?” he said with a sly grin.

  “Well, we do specialize in mobile applications, don’t we? Can’t think of anything more mobile than an awesome pair of sunglasses. Oh…and yeah, they’ve got to look cool. Nothing geeky.”

  Ben smirked. “Anything else, commander?”

  “Yeah, actually. You know how we can get 360-degree images off the Internet because they outfitted a vehicle to drive roads and record it? I need the same thing, except in video and without a bulky vehicle. I need it around me.” Ben let out a low whistle. “What are my restrictions?”

  “It’s got to look natural to everyone around me.”

  Ben started pacing as he thought. “You can’t count on Wi-Fi, and that much data would be impossible at current bandwidths. You’d have to store data until download. How much time do you need?”

  Drew thought. “A minimum of two hours.”

  Ben stopped and looked at Drew.

  “And,” Drew continued, “it can’t be detected by a bug detector or visual inspection.”

  “Wow…I have a few ideas, but this is going to take some time. I’ll have to get my whole team on it in-between other projects.” Then a thought hit him. “Maybe the CIA will be our next customer.”

  Drew raised an eyebrow. “Maybe.”

  “Just curious, why do you need this tech, Drew?”

  Drew didn’t like being forced into his position as a NOC. Not only was he unsupported, but he still had suspicions about Ross and his motives.

  “I can’t say much, Ben, but there are situations I face where no one is watching my back, and a device like this would be very useful to me.”

  Ben nodded. “Okay. I’d like you to come by tomorrow morning as a client and have my tech team do some brainstorming. I should be able to have a project request and a meeting set up with the CEO by then. His name is Nate Allen. Tell him you’re here for Mr. Belvedere and that you want to work directly with the tech team to ensure that the specs are clearly outlined. I’ll arrange the terms so that seventy percent will be paid up front and the rest on project completion. He should like that, and then we can give the project priority without any hassles.”

  “You got it. My plane doesn’t leave until late afternoon,” Drew said. “I’ve wanted to meet our CEO anyway…You know, see if I like him.”

  “Like has nothing to do with it, Drew. Allen is a tech-business guru. We pay him well, but he’s worth it. Oh, and by the way, here my name is Chider Stevens.”

  —

  The next day, Drew met with the CEO, who then passed him off to Ben for an office tour.

  “Wow, Allen’s good. I can see why we’re doing so well.”

  “He’s one of the best, and I’m sure we’ll lose him soon. Talent like his doesn’t stay in one place long,” Ben said.

  “He might if NexTech keeps growing. It’s already quite a feather in his corporate hat,” Drew added.

  Ben gave Drew the full NexTech tour—finance, human resources, and sales, saving the IT and design department for last.

  In the advertising and marketing offices, Drew met a smug, smooth-talking wisecracker he didn’t like the moment they walked into the office. Drew noticed that Ben tried to avoid the guy, but he wouldn’t have it.

  “Who’s your friend, Chide-man?” The guy had tight curly hair, a mouth large enough for the entire office to hear everything he said, and eyes that looked through Drew like he wasn’t there.

  Ben hesitated. “Drew, Glen. Glen, Drew.”

  Glen grabbed Drew’s hand and held on to keep Ben from dragging him away. “Any friend of Chider’s is a friend of ours,” he said, his tone dripping with condescension. “Good to meet ya, Drew.”

  “Same.” Drew loosened his grip to let go and move on.

  “Yep, Chider and the geek team give us good stuff to market,” Glen said, slapping Ben on the back like he was a dorky little brother. It was almost like replaying a scene from high school with Cameron O’Brian. Drew wanted to smack him. He couldn’t believe that Ben had actually hired this creep.

  “Hey,” Glen said as he eyed Drew carefully, “you’re not one of those tech monkeys too, are you?”

  “He’s a client, Glen,” Ben snapped. “On a major project that Mr. Allen just approved.”

  That set Glen back on his heels. Drew could tell he didn’t like being rebuked by Ben, and he was sure the guy would attempt to get back at him later.

  “Good…good,” Glen said with a forced smile. “Let us know if we can do anything to help out.”

  Drew nodded and turned to join Ben, happy to be moving on. When they were out of earshot, he turned to Ben. “Good grief! Why don’t you fire that guy?”

  “Are you kidding? Glen doesn’t know it, but he’s my perfect cover. No one would suspect that I own this place with him making snide comments every time I walk by.” Ben laughed. “The other techs tell me I should complain. It’s awesome!”

  “Just make sure I’m here when you do fire him,” Drew said. “I want to see his face.”

  Drew had already seen the IT department but not the people in it. He expected eight more Benjamin Bergs, bustling about in frenzied, driven activity, but that was not the case at all. The atmosphere was relaxed, and yet there was a sense of genius at every work station.

  “I’ve scheduled us for a meeting with the senior design team right about now,” Ben said, escorting Drew to a glass-walled conference room with ample room for all of the tech inside. He opened the thick glass door.

  “Team, this is Drew Carter,” Ben said as they entered what he had earlier heard Ben call the Blue Room, even though nothing in it was blue except for a bowl of blue M&M’s sitting on a ten-foot-long, interactive glass-topped graphic table in the
center of the room. When Drew had asked him why he called it the Blue Room, Ben replied, “It’s a reminder for us to see beyond what normal people see. We all take the blue pill here.” Also inside the room were four seventy-inch monitors, electronic whiteboards, comfortable chairs, a deluxe Keurig Brewer, and a well-stocked refrigerator.

  “Drew is a friend and our next client,” Ben continued.

  Drew offered his hand to each member of Ben’s tech design team as they were introduced.

  “This is Crypt, that’s Piper, he’s Ridge, and this is Jester. These guys are the brains behind NexTech.”

  Drew couldn’t help his smile. “Really? Don’t you guys have real names?”

  The one called Ridge shrugged. “Yeah, but they’re boring…except for Piper. Her’s is cool enough as is.” Ridge was charming, friendly, blunt, and Indian.

  Piper shot Drew a crooked smile, then pushed her glasses to the top of her nose. She was cute in a genius sort of way, plain brown hair in braids, round face, glasses, and just enough makeup to make it look like she tried. “Don’t let Chider fool you,” she said. “We’re just his minions. All the cool ideas come from him.”

  “Hey,” Crypt piped up. “I’ve had a couple of great ideas.” Crypt was the unwilling poster child for the geeks—thick, black, uncombed hair, narrow chin, and eyebrows a little heavier than his slender face should have.

  “Oh yeah, like the programmable whoopee cushion that gives different sounds based on the weight of the person sitting on it?” Jester cocked his head and smirked. “That was a real winner.” Jester’s slightly chubby form was atypical for what Drew would have expected from a brilliant Asian computer genius.

  “Or the mobile app that rates girls you talk to by monitoring your heart rate,” Ridge added. He looked at Drew. “It gave you a ‘dateability’ scale.”

  “Hey.” Crypt pointed his finger at Ridge. “That one had potential, and you know it.”

  “Except that your heart rate was 160 beats a minute for every girl you met,” Jester jabbed.

  “Wasn’t for Piper,” Crypt rebutted.