Page 75 of Fury
“The drones become . . . intelligent. Responsive. Intuit and resolve situations. I was looking for a way to eliminate underwater accidents from divers having to do dangerous grunt work around wreckages. Drones are expendable, people aren’t.”
Davis pointed to another file icon. “What about the others?”
Still rattled that the missing piece of code was here, hidden in her necklace, she had to haul her thoughts back in line. Clicked open the next icon.
A dozen documents populated the screen. She strained to identify them. “Emails . . . shared between two people calling themselvesOld LaceandCrossfire.” Finger to her lips, she read the emails. “Okay, the first one is dated a year ago and contains source code to my algorithm.” Which made no sense. Who had gotten hold of this? She hadn’t shared it with anyone except Daddy.
“Do you or your dad always share source code so easily?” Hale asked.
“No.” She balked. “In fact, that’sencryptedsource code that could have only been accessed by someoneinsidethe lab. No one else had access.”
Which made Hollyn sick to her stomach. Its implications were too terrible to fathom. No . . . it couldn’t be . . . a traitor . . . spy?
She shook off the daunting thoughts and checked the other emails. The one called Crossfire said they were getting close to figuring out the missing piece in the AI program and the deal could close soon.
“Unbelievable . . . ” She drew the word out as she kept reading. “These are negotiations to sell my program.”
How dare whoever this was try to steal her work!
Hale whistled low. “Nice chunk of change, there.” He indicated a number with enough zeros to give coding a run for its money.
Hollyn clicked through the rest of the emails. “‘We’ll be ready for the demonstration soon . . . There are a few chess pieces to eliminate from the board.’” She sucked in a breath and glanced at Davis, whose expression went grim. So that did mean what she thought it meant. She swallowed and returned to the message. “‘Stick to the plan. Any attempt to double-cross me will end poorly for them.’” Her stomach twisted. “I can’t believe this . . . my parents! My parents were thechess pieces.This—thisis who killed them!” Tears pricked her eyes, and she gulped down the lump in her throat. Glanced over her shoulder to Davis. “What demonstration?”
“Don’t know,” he replied. “But we need to find out.”
In another folder, a note from Dad waited.
Sparrow,
For some time I’ve suspected that our lab had a mole, but until these emails were intercepted, I didn’t have proof. Unfortunately, I’m still unable to determine who’s behind this. As a precaution, I held off uploading the last section of your algorithm so the lab files were rendered unusable. As you’ve probably figured out, they’re on this chip. You know how meticulous we were about protecting your launch. These prove that someone from the lab has betrayed us. I pray I find out who and what they planned to do with the program before you ever see this. However, if I don’t, as I said in my letter, trust no one but Davis.
Hollyn rested her elbows on the desk and braced her mouth against her fisted hands for a moment, struggling to process this revelation, to understand that her dad had known someone was betraying them. “Someone from the lab is behind this.” She said it more to solidify the truth than as a repetition of the email’s contents. Her heart was so heavy. Someone she’d worked with—maybe evendaily—was to blame, and she hadn’t suspected a thing.
“Archie,” Davis said dryly.
Hollyn turned. As much as she wanted to argue, she couldn’t empirically say he was wrong. And that hurt. A lot. “We should talk to him.”
Surprise flashed over his face.
“No,wewill talk to him,” Chapel countered.
She gathered every ounce of courage she could muster. “All due respect?—”
He scoffed. “Which just means up y?—”
“This is my code and my lab.” For once in her life, she was taking a stand. “Like it or not, I’m part of this, and I know Archie better than any of you.” She resented that everyone had already decided to blame Archie.
“Which is part of the problem—he means something to you. Can you do what’s necessary if he’s guilty?”
His challenge rattled her. But she realized something. “If he’s guilty, then that means he killed my parents.” The thought of that struck a powerful chord. “I’m done being a peacemaker. We need truth, not just a head to hang.”Shewanted truth. Whatever it may be. If he was the one behind this, she’d find a way to accept it. But if he wasn’t, they were wasting valuable time going after the wrong person.
Chapel stared her down.
Was it her imagination, or had Davis and Hale just collectively leaned away? As the seconds ticked by, Hollyn understood this man had more experience in this arena. A more attuned sense to liars and terrorists. Maybe she should let him handle it. Admittedly, that’d be so much easier than?—
“Good.” Chapel gave a sharp nod. “Let’s go.”
She didn’t give him time to second-guess his decision. Just stood to follow him. Sidestepping Fury, she took in a steadying breath.