Artificial Absolutes (Jane Colt Book 1) (26 page)

Riley’s jaw dropped again. “
What
? No, it’s
not possible
that No Name’s working in the same building as me, and I didn’t catch on. Dude, Kron runs the entire Fragan facility! There’s no way in
hell
he’s involved in all this criminal shit. Besides, I’ve checked him out several times. If Kron was behind all this,
I would’ve known
.”

This is beyond crazy.
No Name’s online footprints had been too scattered to trace, but—

Riley recalled something else the Seer had told him. He snatched up his slate and buzzed through the Stargazer’s central computer, concentrating so intensely he forgot he had people watching him.

He found them: the files the Seer had put in the ship. One was an old video, but that wasn’t relevant. Riley brought up his findings on the viewscreen, and several orange lines of code replaced the AI files.

Hooooly shit.

The Seer had done the impossible: He’d traced one of No Name’s actions.

Riley couldn’t wipe the dumbfounded expression off his face. “I guess it takes one to know one.”

Devin knit his eyebrows. “What did you find?”

Right, not everyone reads computer-speak.
“You know how No Name’s been around for ages but was really quiet back in the day? Their first known hack was about ten years ago, when they stopped one of the Collective’s attempts to release a bunch of confidential BD Tech info.”

“What about it?”

“The Seer traced that hack. It originated right here on Fragan. Dude, you’re right. Kron’s gotta be with No Name.”

Riley collapsed against the wall behind him, wondering how he could have missed something so epic. He felt stupid.

Maybe he should aim that awesome security hack planned for Quasar at his own company instead.
Man, I always knew Kron was evil, but not actually…
evil
.
“I work for the freakin’ devil. I’ve gotta quit. I’ve gotta get outta here.”

Devin’s expression darkened. “Not yet. First thing tomorrow, we’re going to see him.”

Chapter 14

So Obvious

D
r. Revelin Kron masterminded all
things programmed at BD Tech: the new-fangled robots, the advanced programs, and then some. With his pale face, cropped gray hair, and weak chin, he didn’t
look
as important as the sleek businessmen at the corporate headquarters on Kydera Major, but without his brains, they wouldn’t have anything to sell. All the
key
work happened under his watch. Virtu-games were written, the ships were programmed—everything
important
happened on Fragan. That was why corporate let him get away with just about anything and gave him pretty much everything he asked for.

Like his office. He’d wanted it circular, so they’d built it special. He stretched, leaning away from his crescent-shaped desk. He almost never left his large chair because his awkward, round-shouldered build made him look as if he perpetually slouched when standing.

Kron swiped his monitor, which surrounded him in a semicircle, and opened a file on the entity known as No Name. When he wasn’t driving his underlings, he spent most of his time keeping an eye on that thing. He’d tracked its activities over the years, gleefully watching it grow into the monstrosity it had become.

Upon realizing what it was capable of, Kron had attempted to stop it before changing his mind. Shame to end something so brilliant. However, it remained a danger to him, so to keep it in check, he’d alerted the IC’s cyberpolice to its presence.

That had been a risky move. If the cyberpolice dug in the wrong direction, they could discover Kron’s involvement with the “unidentified cybercriminal.” Kron pulled up the most recent reports they’d sent him. Their incompetence seemed to keep them from figuring out what No Name really was, let alone what had gone down ten years before.

“Unidentified cybercriminal may have attacked a float near Travan.”

“Unidentified cybercriminal is believed to have been involved with the bombings on Viate-5.”

“Unidentified cybercriminal appears to be destroying information concerning artificial intelligence.”

Of course it is! If anyone else found out…

Kron wished he could anonymously data transfer information from his brain and upload it into the heads of the cyberpolice. He couldn’t tell the cretins what he knew
directly
. No, that would only get
him
in trouble!

He skimmed some more reports. They all told him the same thing:
We have no idea what’s going on.

How? It’s so obvious!

Kron checked a security monitor on one of the side screens. People called him paranoid because of all his cyber shields, but if they knew…

An error, scarcely perceptible, easy to miss for the average person. Before he had a chance to take a closer look, the door flew open.

A dark-haired young man stormed in, carrying a laser gun. “Game’s up, Kron. Time to come clean.”

“Devin!” A geeky little maintenance worker ran in after him. “This was
not
the plan! I said we’d get answers from the
computers
, not—”

“Sorry, Riley. This seemed more direct.”

I’ve seen that maniac somewhere…
More annoyed than afraid, Kron held up his hands with a sneer. “You want the company’s secrets? Take them. Take the whole damn computer if you think it’ll do you any good.”

Devin aimed the gun at Kron’s face. “I don’t care about the company,
Mastermind
.”

How the devil does he know about that?
No one
knows about that!
Kron feigned confusion. “Mastermind?”

“Don’t give me that bullshit.” Devin’s gaze bored into Kron’s. “Where’s Sarah? What have you done with her?”

Kron frowned, confused for real. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Devin reached into his pocket, pulled out a slate, and tossed it to Kron. “Open it.”

Kron tentatively unfolded the slate.

Oooooh shit.

The screen displayed a list of names and photos. Kron recognized it.
How did this deranged
whacko
get that?
He couldn’t know. Inconceivable. Kron was the
only
one who could
possibly
know. He snickered. “You’re out of your damn mind! Do you hear me? You’re completely
nuts
. I have no idea who these people are!”

Devin’s expression didn’t change. “Riley, I think you should go now.”

“Uh… Okay.” Riley sounded nervous. “But don’t forget—”

“I know.”

Riley left and shut the door behind him. Kron looked up at the internal defense guns.
Where the devil is my security team?

Devin followed his gaze. “Don’t bother. Your entire security system’s been shut down. No one’s coming to rescue you, so if you want to live, I suggest you tell me what I want to know.”

“Then
obviously
, you
won’t
kill me. There’s stuff in
here
,” —Kron pointed at his head— “that you’ll never find if you use
that
.” He pointed at the gun.

“Is it really worth dying for?”

Kron shook his head. “No, no. No, it’s not. I like to think I’m an accommodating guy. So, what is it that you want?”

“Tell me where Sarah is.”

“Who?”

“And while you’re at it, tell me why the
hell
you’re doing all this!”

“Doing what?”

Devin glowered.

Yikes. Better play nice.
Kron nodded rapidly. “Okay, okay. So you know I’m Mastermind. I admit it: I was the guy messing around with all those crime bosses twenty years back. But I
quit
! It wasn’t worth all that trouble for a hobby anymore!”

“Stop.” Devin’s voice was dangerously soft. “No Name originated
right here
and I want to know what you’ve done with Sarah.”

Kron gestured impatiently. “For the last time, who’s Sarah?”

“
Sarah DeHaven
.”

“The singer?” Kron realized where he’d seen Devin before. “Hey, you’re the guy from the news! The one who shot his bigwig father! Ooooo… I remember now. You’re Sarah’s fiancé! Damn, you are one
lucky
sonuvabitch! Every guy in the galaxy wants
her
.”

“I won’t ask again.”

Kron nodded. “Okay, okay. So you think I’m No Name. Ease up! I’ll tell you everything! I will!” Obviously, he wasn’t going to tell the lunatic
everything
, but when a madman on the rampage had a gun pointed at your face, you did what you could to please him.

Even if Devin did find, well, everything, he couldn’t do anything about it. No one would believe a fugitive.

With a flick of his hand, Kron beckoned. “Come on down. I have something to show you.”

Devin kept his gun aimed at Kron as he walked around the monitors.

Kron jerked his thumb at the cyberpolice reports. “Look! No Name’s been scaring
me
too! Why do you think I quit being Mastermind? I was the one who sent the cyberpolice after it, so obviously,
I’m not No Name
.”

He swiped the monitor, flipping through the reports to prove how long he’d tracked the entity. He slipped his other hand under the table, pressed a hidden security button, and glanced at the security monitor. Strange. The alarm had already been tripped—about ten thousand times. So had all other alarms in the building.

Kron realized what that glitch had been.

The most inane cries for help inundated the system. Emergencies from every corner of the facility bombarded the system with messages like “Oh, no! I’m wearing colors!” and “Oh, help! I have an opinion!” Kron recognized the Gag Warriors’ handiwork.

He tensed.
Shit. I thought they were targeting Quasar…

“Don’t try that again.” Devin’s gaze was fixed on him. He must have seen the attempt to call security.

Kron nervously put his hands up. “Sorry. But as you can see—” he pointed to himself— “
not
No Name.”

“Then who is?”

“How am
I
supposed to know?”

Devin pressed the gun into Kron’s temple.

“Okay, okay!” Kron said quickly. “Believe me, if I knew where this No Name was, I would’ve found it and gotten rid of it by now! But I’ve been tracking it, much better than the cyberpolice! And hey, you want Sarah DeHaven? I can
give
you Sarah DeHaven!”
The sooner I give him what he wants, the sooner he’ll leave.

Devin lowered the gun. Kron turned to his monitor and typed at top speed.
Why does he need
me
to find her?
It’s not as if she’s missing.

He glanced at the security monitor again. The shields he’d put in place… but the Gag Warriors couldn’t have been
that
thorough. Even if they took out the whole
company,
his
custom
ones couldn’t be breached by…

Kron brought up a real-time video from a security camera in a Kydera City apartment building, which Sarah had just entered. He pointed. “She’s right here!”

Devin raised the gun. “I want the
real
Sarah.”

“What do you mean? This is Sarah DeHaven!”

“She’s an AI, and you know it.”

“How did you know that?” Kron realized what Devin meant by “real” and laughed. “Ooh, so you think she’s a person who got
replaced
by an AI! Sorry to burst your bubble, but this is the only Sarah DeHaven there is!”

Devin’s face was still. “You’re lying.”

“I’m not! Why the devil would anyone replace people with robot copies? I mean, come
on
!”

Devin’s expression remained unreadable, but something about him scared Kron into solemnity. “Okay, okay. Like I said, I’ve tracked this No Name business for years. I don’t know how you found out about the AIs, but I’ve known about them for a while now, and
they’re not replacing people
. Hey, look, I can prove it!”

Kron typed a few commands. A folder, in which he’d stored everything he knew about the AIs, occupied the monitor. He opened the file for Sarah DeHaven. Several documents appeared side by side.

He waved at them. “
Everything
about her life before a year ago is fake! It’s
so obvious
once you look into it! That No Name’s put documentation in all the right places so people wouldn’t suspect anything, but”—he couldn’t help snickering—“you’re engaged to a one-year-old!”

Saying it aloud made it funnier. Kron threw his head back and guffawed.

It can’t be true
. Sarah, his Sarah, the one he’d fallen for—she must have been real.

Devin shoved the gun into the back of Kron’s head. “
The truth
.
Now
.”

“I just gave it to you!” Nasty mirth spread across Kron’s odd-looking face. “She’s not the only one! They’ve
all
been… How do I put it?
Inserted
into strategic places. But good for you, getting to date
that
! She’s a real beauty, isn’t she? Wish
I
had a toy like her!”

Devin shook his head. “People
are
being replaced. They kidnapped a student a few days ago. An intercepted transmission said he was ‘slated for replacement.’”

Kron’s grin faded. “That’s new. Hey, I don’t know about everything No Name does. I’m a little behind with the tracking, so maybe it’s started something I haven’t seen before. But I’m telling you, with all
these
AIs,” he jerked a thumb at the list of actives, “what you see is what you get. There’s only one Sarah DeHaven, and she’s right there.” He nodded at the security footage from Kydera City. “So now you know. You can stop worrying about some other version of her needing rescuing and go marry your robot love doll!”

Kron guffawed again.

It was the ugliest sound Devin knew, and it took all his self-control not to pull the trigger and be done with the horrible man. “I don’t believe you.”

Kron’s round blue eyes glinted with malicious amusement. “You want more proof? Look what I’ve got
here
!”

He scrolled down the folder on the monitor and pressed a deep blue icon. A hologram of Sarah from the neck up appeared before him. Voyeuristic stills of various women printed across the monitor.

Kron selected one of the pictures, which filled the screen with a video of a curly-haired young woman speaking. The camera was placed behind the shoulder of the man she flirted with, who asked why she’d approached him.

“I don’t know,” the young woman said. “It’s like something was telling me that I should get to know you.”

Kron tapped the monitor, and the video stopped.

Devin suppressed a shudder. He found something eerily familiar about not only the woman’s words, but her expressions—the nuances in her voice, the subtleties in her eyes.

The hologram of Sarah came to life.

“I don’t know.” She spoke with the same lilt. “It’s like something was telling me that I should get to know you.”

The image froze again.

It’s not possible.

Kron looked up at Devin. “See? It’s
so obvious
! Want more?”

He swiped at the video to fast-forward and played another section. The same young woman confessed the reason she’d agreed to go out with the man. Her career-driven life left her craving any kind of human connection outside her industry, and so she had chosen to take a chance on him.

Kron stopped the video again. The hologram of Sarah repeated the woman’s words, words Devin recalled all too well. He held every muscle still to keep from betraying the chaos in his head.

Kron seemed to take his silence for an invitation for even more. He played a second video.

A young woman with an auburn braid placed her hand on the cheek of a narrow-faced man. “Come on, baby. Don’t let your father bother you. He loves you, Arthur. He wouldn’t care so much if he didn’t.”

The hologram of Sarah repeated her words, “Come on, baby. Don’t let your father bother you. He loves you, Arthur. He wouldn’t care if he didn’t.”