Chapter 11
I’m a fucking genius. Or maybe Lex is, for creating Iris and making her as clever as she is. But using her as an assistant was inspired, so I deserve some credit.
Two weeks. It takes me two weeks to prepare the hit.
And all that is thanks to Iris’s calculating power.
I still wrote everything myself, but I used her to help me polish the scripts and make them look like Lex wrote them, or I ran scenarios through them, simulations …
Sometimes, I’d let her work the whole night on an issue and wake up to a solution.
Of those two weeks, a couple of days were spent feeding her the Nammota scripts and giving her access to the dark side of the web.
Most of that time was spent writing new limits to her code, making sure she can’t go rogue on me or the world.
I’ve seen enough apocalyptic movies about some AI gone bad to risk it.
“How the hell did you pull it off?” Oli lets out, stunned.
I asked him to come and see my work, to make sure it isn’t all in my head, and I actually did it.
“I used Iris’s processing power,” I explain. “I fed her all of Lex’s old scripts as well as whatever I could find online. I wrote the scripts and gave them to her, so she could run simulations and help me improve them. That’s why they look so flawlessly like Lex’s work.”
“It’s impressive … I can’t believe you managed to do all this in so little time. Now, we need to run it to see if it works.”
“I already did,” I excitedly confess.
“What?!”
“I took ten thousand dollars from an account that’s barely in use, practically dormant, shuffled it, and gave it to a Palestinian aid charity.”
“And it worked?”
“Flawlessly.”
He looks flabbergasted, eyes wide and jaw loose. Nothing but blinks for a few seconds, then he turns to me. “Jesus Christ, Andy … Two weeks … You pulled it off in two fucking weeks.”
“I know! I can’t believe I’ll be able to get Lex out so soon.”
“When do you think you’ll do it?”
“I’m not sure. I was thinking maybe tomorrow?”
Tomorrow is Sunday, which means that the cyber team at Imperium won’t be as on top of things as on a weekday. Pulling off the whole heist should take somewhere between eighteen and twenty-three minutes, and while I doubt they’d manage to stop it once it has started, one can never be too sure.
“No, you need to be clever about it. Since you taught Iris all of this, I imagine she can use your work to handle the hits herself, right?”
“I’d probably have to program a few things for it to run smoothly, but yeah, I guess so.”
“Then you need to train her to do the heist and be somewhere very public when it happens.”
“Oh, so I can’t be a suspect.”
“Exactly.”
Already, my brain races with code and scripts I need to come up with for it to happen. Iris is up to date on what I’m doing and how it all works, but I need to be certain she can execute it all without a hiccup. If she encounters an unexpected obstacle, she needs to be able to think around it.
It shouldn’t take me too long. Not since she can help me program herself. Which means that sometime this week, I’ll set the hit into motion, making the world believe Nammota is still out there, ever the cyber vigilante.
“When are you coming back to work?” Oli wonders.
I originally had a month of leave. And I asked for an extra week, which Kev was quick to approve.
Technically, I could come back as early as Monday—the day after tomorrow.
That leaves me the rest of today and Sunday to work on refining Iris’s script.
Then, if I need to, I can use a few evenings to polish everything.
Returning to Kelex before it all unfolds would be a good cover and make me look less suspicious. That’s why I decide, “I’m returning on Monday.”
The guys welcome me back to the Lair like I’m the Messiah or something. To be fair, with Steven and me gone, their workload got a bit out of hand. Of course, they all ask how my leave was and if it helped.
“I’m doing better, guys,” I promise. “I just want to work to take my mind off it. There’s nothing anyone can do until the trial, so let’s just cross our fingers and pray for the best, shall we?”
Just as I finish, Mason enters the room. The moment he spots me, he lets out a yelp and rushes to take me in his arms. “My curly little baby girl, I missed you so much,” he coos, squishing me harder. “Are you okay? Do you want tea? Food? To talk?”
I giggle, practically smothered by his tight hold.
“As I was telling everyone before you got in, I’m doing better. I don’t want to talk about it, I just want to work.”
He pushes me away to offer me a sassy pout, but at least he doesn’t argue. “If you wanna talk, I’m here, boo.” I nod, meaning it, and he releases me so we can head to our desks.
Since I’ve been living and breathing Nammota lately, it’s odd to hop back into regular scripts.
This app, which used to be my baby, my pride and joy, feels estranged.
But any issue that arises also seems far easier than it did before my five weeks of illegal deeds.
Now, I understand why Lex is such a skilled coder.
Hacking requires a whole new set of skills that are now in my possession.
Iris is almost there, but not quite. I’ve been running scenarios by her the whole weekend, making adjustments, giving her more knowledge …
She feels like a real person now, and although I know she’s a machine, a succession of ones and zeros, I can’t help but consider her a friend. A very helpful, very powerful friend.
After an entire morning of catching up and reacclimating myself to the Kelex world, the guys suggest we play a game of Counter-Strike, for old time’s sake. Because there isn’t much I can do to work on the heist from here, I agree.
A couple of rounds in, though, my phone rings.
Northwest Oregon … Could it be Lex? He hasn’t called since the visit where I let him know my plan.
I guess he didn’t want to risk it, aware that we can’t say much during the recorded calls.
But I miss his voice. So much so that I almost drove down to Sheridan last week before reconsidering.
I’m pretty sure he would have spent the little time we’d have pouting and scowling.
I pick up, my heart racing a little faster, hoping it’s him.
“Is this Miss Andrea Walker?” a woman asks on the other side of the line. Fuck, it’s not the usual robot asking if I want to take the call.
My heartbeat hastens with worry this time. What if Lex got into trouble again? What if he’s in the infirmary and they’re calling to give me the bad news?
“Yes, it’s me,” I answer, containing my anguish.
“I’m Special Agent Lewis.” Fuck, that can’t be good.
I do my best to keep my composure as I get up and walk out of the office.
I can’t be surrounded by the guys right now.
“My partner and I are in charge of the investigation regarding Alexander Coleman,” the woman continues.
“It has come to our attention that you were never properly interrogated, nor did you give a deposition. Would you mind coming to meet us, so we can ask you a few questions?”
Oh … Is that it? No bad news, no telling me Lex got beat up again and is fighting for his life? I’m so reassured that I don’t realize this isn’t exactly great news either.
“I didn’t think I’d be asked to come in. It’s been so long,” I reply.
“Well, my partner and I have just been assigned the case, and I couldn’t help but notice you were never brought in. The team before us didn’t think it was necessary, apparently, but I’d love to have a talk with you. Would Thursday afternoon be okay with you? At two-thirty?”
I’m not sure I actually could say no. She’s a federal agent, so she probably has the means to force me to come. And it would look weird if I didn’t. Regardless of that, Special Agent Lewis is giving me a golden opportunity, one I won’t have again.
“Hm, sure,” I agree. “Two-thirty on Thursday.”
“Great. We’re in Portland. I’ll send you the details.”
We exchange a few more words before hanging up, and I remain standing there for a moment, thinking intently. Like Oli said, I need to be somewhere when the heist happens. An undeniable alibi, something rock solid that’ll exonerate me from suspicions.
What better alibi than being in the FBI’s offices in Portland, being interrogated by two agents the whole time? They’ll never even suspect me.
I’ll have a couple of stops to make before I go there, though. Just in case.
“Okay, Iris. I’m heading out now.”
“Good luck, Andrea,” the AI answers.
This is it. We’re ready. I’ve worked my ass off to make sure it’ll all go well, and now, I’m driving down to Oregon, my home state, to bring it to the finish line.
“Wait for my signal,” I remind her.
“Will do. Say hi to Alexander for me.”
I nod and exit the apartment. Nervousness has my bowels in knots, but I ignore it. I’ve been working on this for over five weeks now. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be—and Oli agrees. There’s no point in delaying any further. Lex needs to get out. Now.
During the entire drive to Sheridan, I replay everything in my head, making sure every variable and parameter is considered. I don’t see how this could go wrong, but it’s my first heist, so what do I know?
That’s why I’m going to see him. If I messed up somehow, they’ll come after me to lock me up, too.
And if that happens, then I’ll never get to see Lex ever again.
Now might be my last chance to see his gorgeous face, to hear his beautiful voice.
I’m sure he’s still pissed at me, and he’ll probably try to stop me once more.
But skipping the visits and dedicating my entire life to this crazy endeavor has paid off. I’m ready, with months to spare. And I’m getting him out as early as I possibly can.