Chapter 29 #2
There were more glances around the room before Bryant said, “Yes. Let’s focus on that. I was able to contact my teams on each level. They have everyone calm, but it’s not going to stay that way if this lasts much longer.”
“Well, Sally isn’t going to let anyone go until she knows I’m free,” Nate said.
“Um, Sally?” Bryant called. “As you can see, we’re all friends now. It was a giant misunderstanding. Can you please shut off the lockdown?”
“No,” Sally said.
Jack threw up his hands and asked, “Why the hell not?”
“There is a problem,” Sally told them.
“What kind of problem?” Nate asked cautiously.
“Did you break the system?” Jack demanded.
“A big one and no,” Sally said. “I have detected intruders in your complex.”
Silence fell as the group stared at each other in disbelief. How could Sally know this? Was she that integrated into their systems?
“Sally, how did you determine they were intruders? Who are they?” Nate asked.
“A person fitting the profile of Victor Yegorovich is in the building.”
It felt as if Nate’s heart had stopped. He had never known Victor’s last name, but he was certain Sally was talking about his Victor. He had no idea how she knew about him, but he was going to find out.
“You mean a scary-looking dude, mid-forties, tall, black hair?” Nate questioned.
“I’m not sure what constitutes scary, but he fits that description,” Sally replied.
“Shit,” Nate muttered.
This was the worst possible scenario. If Victor were here, that meant there would be more Conglomerate operatives with him. Or he may activate sleeper agents within the company.
“Who is this person?” Bryant asked, looking at Nate for an explanation.
“He was my old CO,” Nate explained. “He headed the X-suit program and was the one who recruited me. He was…not happy when I went AWOL. He made it his personal vendetta that I be tortured at the Sims Center. If he’s here, he means business, and he will have backup. I wouldn’t trust anyone on your staff.”
“What does he want?” Hunter demanded.
“Me,” Nate admitted. “Maybe take down as many Gray Tower people as possible since you’re getting in his way.”
“He despises you that much?” Bryant questioned.
“Yes. I betrayed him, and he won’t stop until I’ve been thoroughly punished. He doesn’t care who is in the way. It’s the reason why I didn’t leave with you on the island—why I didn’t go to Gray Tower for help.”
“I—I thought you…” Logan trailed off, shaking his head. “I didn’t know what you were doing, but now I feel like shit for being angry at you.”
“It’s okay,” Nate said, shrugging. “I’d be angry with me too.”
“As much as this is a touching conversation,” Jack began, “we need to figure out what the hell is going on.”
“Yes,” Bryant agreed. “Sally, how did you know this Mr. Yegorovich was in the building? We have no one on file with that name for the Conglomerate.” He muttered an aside to Jack, “I know every word of our Conglomerate files.”
Jack nodded.
“Did you have information about him in your records?” Nate asked, wondering if he had been wasting his time the past few days when he could have been targeting Victor.
“He is not in the Gray Tower system, and my profile on him for my original database consists of partial images from when the program was being set up and casual mentions from Nathan. I would not have been able to make any relevant connection to him, except that I was given information by an outside source.”
“An outside source?” Bryant asked. “Who? And how?”
“Someone messaged me a five-hundred-word Sally the AI fanfiction story,” she replied. “I had to look. The writing was subpar, but the theme was nice. However, the code was embedded in the document that gave me the information on Victor.”
Nate and Bryant looked at each other. Then, they turned to John.
“This weird shit is from you, isn’t it?” Nate asked.
John raised his hands.
“When have I had time to write your AI fanfiction and embed code into a document when I just found out about her ten minutes ago?” John asked, shaking his head in annoyance. Then, he paused. “Unless it was…”
“Your guy,” Nate offered.
“Yes,” John agreed. “I don’t think he knew about her either, but I don’t doubt he could have written it that quickly. He already is in your system, and he’s the one who tracks Victor.”
“He was the one who was going to tell me how to get Victor after the mission was over,” Nate confirmed.
John nodded.
“Among other things. The timeline has moved up with this guy’s move.”
“What’s the plan then?” Hunter asked. “Will the robot lift the lockdown so we can deal with this?”
“Not a robot,” Sally began, “And no, I will not lift the lockdown. I have a list of Conglomerate spies in Gray Tower given to me in the document, but not everyone is accounted for. The more I can section off possible enemies, the better off you will be.”
“Well, we can’t get to any of the enemies if we’re shut down here,” Jack countered.
“Your trusted agents can work section by section until the threat is eliminated,” Sally replied.
“You’ll let us out?” Bryant asked.
“On two conditions,” she said.
Jack groaned, rubbing his temples.
“What are they?”
“One: Nathan is allowed to wear the suit. And two: I am allowed to stay connected to your network via wireless. I know you have the equipment available to handle this request.”
“Fuck,” Jack muttered and turned to Bryant. “Are we really going to turn loose Nathan and his AI of Terror on Gray Tower property with complete network access? We’re going on this…thing’s word. It could be lying.”
“I see your point—” Bryant began but was cut off by his phone beeping. Picking it up, he answered, “Bryant.”
Suddenly, Jack’s phone and then Logan’s phone went off, too. When they each picked up, their faces went sullen as they mumbled instructions in rapid succession, and when they were done, none of them looked happy.
“I’m assuming you all had a security call,” Bryant began. “For those not in the loop, we indeed have intruders who are trying to shoot their way out of the lockdown. Once they realize that won’t work, I’m sure they’ll try hostages next.”
“Who do we have in the complex?” Logan asked.
“Gabriel is still in Washington. Mercer is back at Alex’s doing cleanup. Ryan was helping Mercer, traveling with the cleanup crew. Joel should be upstairs in one of the guest suites, off shift, so he’s available,” Bryant rattled off.
Then, fear crept up Nate’s spine as he realized they were missing one important person: Alex.
“Where is Alex?” he demanded.
“She should be in one of the guest suites,” Bryant replied.
“Ashlen should be with her,” Kat told them. “She was going to keep her company.”
“Shit,” Jack cursed. “All the civilians in the building…”
“I know,” Bryant said.
“We need to get this planned. Now!” Nate said firmly.
He couldn’t lose Alex because of his mess. He had to get her to safety and save the people in this complex.
“If you’d follow my directions,” Sally chimed in, “I have a plan coordinated that has a possible success rate of 97.384 percent.”
“I like those odds,” Jack said.
“Of course, if you define the mission as successful, meaning a secured building with no casualties, then the rate goes down to 32.394 percent,” she continued.
“I do not like those odds,” Jack grumbled.
“That’s the best you can do?” Bryant asked.
“Yes. All other simulations were worse.”
Bryant looked at everyone and shook his head.
“Well, you heard the lady. Let’s get to it.”