Chapter 13
Curse words flew from Nathan’s mouth as he scanned through Kat Langley’s code.
He saw how she patched the flaw in the suit’s design.
He even understood how her script worked for controlling the rest of the networked suits.
She had been a gem and had written detailed notes.
The problem? He was having a hell of a time writing a program that would control the other suits from his own.
Every time he thought he did something right, he’d break something else.
It was getting to the point where he worried that he’d do something so irreversibly wrong that his suit would stop working entirely.
If that happened, this whole mission was fucked.
The main problem was that, unlike Kat, who had used a personal laptop to give commands, he had to work around the suit’s AI.
He had lovingly nicknamed his AI “Sally” because its voice sounded like a sassy female.
It responded to the name since it adjusted to its user’s preferences.
The voice commands made operating the suit a lot easier.
Sally was also programmed to automatically adjust to the mission parameters.
On many missions, he had her voice turned off because of the nature of the op.
Of course, the AI the suits used was not real artificial intelligence.
It was more like an intricate set of voice commands and programmed algorithms that anticipated specific combat conditions.
Real AI (Artificial General Intelligence or AGI)—a socially intelligent machine that reasoned, problem-solved, planned, learned, and perceived—was still science fiction, despite the term being thrown around everywhere.
Looking over the code, Nate wondered if he needed to try to pull Kat into the mission as well, but he knew she was dating Jack Hunter, a man who was extremely loyal to Gray Tower. That was bound to backfire.
Then again, Alex was loyal to her employer, but she was helping him. He still wasn’t sure why, but he was glad. He hated walking away from her yesterday, but he didn’t want her involved more than necessary.
After two hours of work, Nate created a simple toggle for the suit’s helmet display.
He should be able to completely black out the vision of the other suits while keeping his okay.
The problem was that he couldn’t add another command without breaking another function.
He may have to leave it and work on it after his first mission.
The display toggle function was still damned amazing.
He’d have a huge advantage, but would it be enough?
Looking at the time, he sighed, detaching cables from his helmet.
It would have to do. He needed to start these missions.
There was a list of Conglomerate targets around the U.S.
Nate was starting with the smallest in Cleveland, Ohio, and would work from there.
He wasn’t looking forward to the drive, but being on the road sure beat wasting away in a psych ward.
He packed up his suit, guns, and supplies in his truck and caught a few hours of sleep. It was early morning when he was ready to haul ass to Ohio. Nate just hoped he was successful. And besides, he was looking forward to sending Alex that text.
? ? ?
“Alex, are you listening?” Miles Bryant’s voice cut sharply through the whirlwind of thoughts spinning around Alex’s mind.
“Uh, yeah,” she lied.
She hadn’t been listening. She had completely spaced out, which was uncharacteristic of her. This was an important meeting. She was supposed to be taking notes, and she wasn’t.
“Do we need to take a break?” Miles asked, his voice softer.
“N—no. I’m fine. Just tired.” She shook the empty mug of tea in front of her. “This caffeine is defective.”
The joke fell flat, but it did ease the tension in the conference room. Everyone was staring at her, and she didn’t want to be the center of attention.
“We only have one more thing to approve, but it needs immediate attention,” Miles said. “Jack, do you want to brief everyone?”
Besides Miles and Alex, the meeting consisted of Jack, Ryan, Mercer, and Logan, who had been pulled into key briefings to keep Keira apprised. Even though she was technically on maternity leave, she wanted to stay in the loop—her choice. Miles would never ask her.
“Sure,” Jack said, stretching back into his seat. “Jade Larsen picked up some chatter about a possible Conglomerate location in Cleveland. We don’t know much else. It could be another trafficking warehouse like the ones we destroyed earlier this year.”
“Could it be connected with the Sims Center mission?” Ryan asked. “I know we didn’t get much from that op, but we still have missing people out there.”
Alex gritted her teeth as everyone glanced at her. The data she had been able to retrieve had been minimal. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. Obviously, that wasn’t true, but they wouldn’t be able to get to the real records—at least, not yet.
“We learned more on that op than you’d think, Mr. Hale,” Miles told him. “Our mystery patient opened up many possibilities of what may be going on there.”
“True.”
A pit formed in Alex’s stomach as she was again reminded how much she was holding back from Miles and her colleagues. Still, she had to protect Nathan. Eventually, it would all come out.
“As for a connection with the Sims Center,” Miles continued, “I don’t know. I was concerned about some phrases in the intel Ms. Larsen discovered. This seems more important than Sims’ involvement.”
“Why is that?” Logan asked.
“The phrase Project X was used in one of the communications she found,” Miles said.
Alex had just sipped her tea when the name of Nathan’s super suit program spilled from Miles’ lips. She choked, coughing roughly. Everyone looked at her in concern, but she waved them away like she was fine.
“Wrong pipe,” she mouthed.
“Project X was the nickname for my super armor program,” Miles continued. “It could be a coincidence, but knowing that the Conglomerate has some of these suits…”
“You think there are some suits there?” Ryan asked.
“Or the factory to make them,” Miles told them. “It’s not far from the secret site where Summit Polymer Industries was making that special shielding component.”
Joel had found out that the person he put in charge of his company had been selling specialty components to the Conglomerate—components that made the shielding for the super suits.
“I’d like to send a scout to check out the site,” Miles concluded.
“Not a full team?” Mercer asked, eyebrow raised.
“Until we know more about what we’re dealing with, I don’t want to draw any attention,” Miles explained. “This is a one-man reconnaissance. Once we know what we’re dealing with, we’ll figure out our next steps.”
Alex felt sick to her stomach. She had no idea where Nathan was right now. He could be at that facility, taking out the super suits. What if he ran into a Gray Tower agent? He’d be able to recognize most of the elite ops team, right?
“Well,” Miles began, sucking in a breath, “I was thinking Joel could go. He’s the closest in Akron. He’s back there, working at his foundation and getting that new women’s center up and running.”
No. Not Joel. If Nathan were there, he’d have no idea who Joel was. They had recruited him while Nathan was locked away.
“Does he have the time to do this?” Alex asked, trying to figure out a way to get Joel out of going.
“Knowing Joel, he’ll make time,” Miles said. “He’s eager to do his first Gray Tower mission.”
“Not to sound like an ass, but is he stable enough to do this mission?” Jack asked.
There was silence as the group pondered Jack’s question.
As mean as it sounded, it was valid. Even Joel would agree it was a concern.
It was only a few months ago that Joel had almost committed suicide after having a swing from a manic to a depressive episode.
He had been completely unmedicated for bipolar disorder and had been on a path to self-destruction.
Luckily, Valerie had been there, and Gray Tower got him back on track with medication and therapy.
He was a different person now. Not cured, but different.
“I think so,” Miles finally said. “At least for this type of mission. It would only involve a few hours, so we wouldn’t worry about him missing medication.
He wouldn’t be engaging with the enemy if there is any, and…
” Miles looked pointedly at Jack. “…I believe that even when Joel was unmedicated, he could run circles around all of you.”
Alex, as worried as she was about Joel, tried not to laugh as Jack tried to control a look of utter disdain.
“Allegedly,” Jack retorted.
“You wish,” Logan said, chuckling. “Joel has the highest scores on the training facility now in…every category.”
“He got lucky,” Jack grumbled.
“He beat those scores on his first try,” Logan replied.
“Okay! Okay!” Miles cut in, raising a hand in the air.
“I think we’ve established he’s good. What I haven’t discussed is how much progress he’s made with his mental health.
He lucked out and got on a combination of meds that appears to be working with slight adjustments.
Not everyone with bipolar disorder is that lucky.
He’s been going to therapy as well. He’s as good as any one of you for this task. ”