Chapter 31
“Viktor!” Roman Voss came storming into Viktor Garris’s office.
Viktor took a calming breath before looking up from his screen. “Yes?” he asked as if he were speaking to a petulant child.
Roman annoyed him more than ever today. Viktor had been preoccupied with searching for the rebels who stole his personal car—his most prized possession. Minutes spent with Roman was time the rebels could use to slip farther away.
“One of my tethers was just cut,” Roman said.
Viktor frowned. “So? They were probably killed in a mugging. Dreswick isn’t exactly known for its safety.”
“She wasn’t killed. Her amp just returned to normal online status.” Roman was furious, his fists clenched.
“Normal? You mean the control chip failed?” Viktor asked.
“The control chip won’t fail! They were designed with an eight sigma success rate.” He wagged his finger. “I know what it was—it was the resistance using Dr. Katz’s amp… the one you let slip away.”
Viktor clenched his jaw. He’d been busy shooting down twenty security drones trying to kill him at the time. “And how would they have done that exactly?”
Roman waved his hands. “I don’t know! It was just the one, so they must’ve developed a device along the line of the EMPs I designed for you.”
“So they had to be there in person,” Viktor said. “Where was this?”
“I don’t know. Here, I’ll send you her geo-tag history.
” He blinked a couple of times as he spoke to his amp, and then the data appeared on Viktor’s screen.
“I need you to make sure they can’t make more of these devices.
If the board saw that our tether technology could be hacked, they’ll want someone’s head. ”
Your head, Viktor thought, and he activated his own amp to analyze threats.
The geo-tag placed the event in the center of the fish market.
In drone surveillance feed of the market, his amp put halos over all potential threats.
He tapped the screen to pause the video and then he zoomed in on a pair of men keeping pace behind her.
When she screamed, everyone in the area was startled…
except them. He twisted the feed. He couldn’t get an identification on either, which wasn’t uncommon in Dreswick.
But ignoring their faces, he recognized their forms and the way they moved.
He leaned back and steepled his fingers.
“I’ll personally follow the trail and see it through to the end.
I will destroy the remnants of the so-called resistance and that prototype.
No more sending me in with one hand tied behind my back.
If you want the resistance headache gone forever, then I need carte blanche.
The prototype amp, and any other resource of theirs, will be destroyed with prejudice. Do you understand me?”
Roman wanted the amp more than anything, but Viktor was about to learn if Roman wanted it more than his job. Finally, Roman scrunched his features and blurted, “Fine. You’ve got my signature on whatever you do.”
Viktor grinned and clapped his hands together. “It’s about time. It’s what you should’ve done from the beginning.”