Page 87 of Shielding Instinct

“Shit.”

“Exactly. We don’t have the laws. We didn’t know we’d need the laws. Here’s another one that’s shown up. Imagine a porn of you and your boss's wife. Someone sends it to you. They don’t ask you for anything. You just see the images. What do you do? Are you in fear of losing your job? Your reputation? Yourpersonal relationships? It’s not illegal to make those images. It’s not illegal to show them to you. It’s only illegal if there’s an ask or a threat. But, you may already know the ask, and you obviously understand the threat. That information exists in your brain. Is there a law that protects you from this kind of weapon?”

“That makes me feel oddly vulnerable. At Iniquus, for example, reputation and integrity are paramount. They hire people with those characteristics, so it’s an intrinsic drive rather than an external fear. Yeah, this isn’t a sensation I’m particularly used to.”

“Confidence comes from a sense of safety. You present as confident,” Petra said as she scrutinized his face. “I bet women like that because when they’re with you, you represent safety.”

“That’s a sidestep, Petra. I’m going to have to go back and think about that later, think about my female friends, and if my presence makes them feel safe. My size and fighting skills are meaningless when up against an electronics crime. So, I’m going to put us back on AI manipulation. How does one protect oneself?”

“That’s what I want to figure out. What makes people vulnerable, and how can it best be countered? I told you that I spent some time in Finland and Estonia. And that because they abut Russia, their populace needed to be inoculated through education. They need to make sure their citizenry isn’t going to fall prey to Russian psyops games meant to destabilize their countries. It was interesting to learn about and take some of their findings into my own study of cults.”

“Alien Doomsday Cults.”

“Exactly. I like to study alien doomsday cults because UFOs are particularly useful for gaining power and manipulation. Since UFOs are such an unknown quality, they represent an existential threat. When it comes to UFOs, folks are more likely to trust the leader with his special channel of information and dowhat they’re told to do. Fear plus obligation plus guilt, and you have the tools you need to manipulate another human being.”

“That’s a narcissist’s tool kit.”

She canted her head, “That’s right. How do you know that?”

“I’ve seen a friend date a narcissist. It’s frustrating as hell to watch.”

“You wanted to save the other person from something you saw plain as day. It’s the same with families who see their loved ones getting sucked into cults.” Petra laughed. “When all their loved one wants is to be sucked up by a spaceship.”

The smile fell off Hawkeye’s face. “But Rowan, he’s coming down here.”

“Yup.”

“And you don’t know why.” Hawkeye didn’t like this at all.

“I do know why. Rowan’s coming down here because I saw something. I don’t know why what I saw was so significant that he’d jump on a plane. Ithoughtit would be a phone call to a random analyst in the basement somewhere.” With a frown she reached out to rub her hand over Copper’s soft fur. “I guess I’m about to find out.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Petra

Petra woke up to find that she had weaved her limbs with Hawkeye’s.

He smiled at her. “Good morning.” He dropped a kiss into her hair then started to untangle himself. “Hey, I need to get up and take Cooper out. Would you like me to bring breakfast up like yesterday?”

She nodded not wanting to talk until she’d had a chance to brush her teeth.

So she waited until Cooper and Hawkeye were out the door before going to pee.

It was nice to have some solitude to get dressed.

Once she was ready for the day, Petra had gone down to the desk with a sob story about the Johnson family she had met and befriended at the tidepool. When she’d checked in per the hotel’s request last night, the Johnsons hadn’t yet come in. “They have three small children,” Petra continued. “When I came in from the hospital, it was late. I just want to make sure my friends are safe. Or if there’s anything I could do to help.”

“Johnson?” the staffer asked.

“Herb and Jenny Johnson? Room six-forty-two? I think I’m remembering that correctly.”

“They didn’t check in with the front desk. But that doesn’t mean that they’re in danger. Checking in was voluntary. And it was already late in the day when we started collecting the information.”

“Okay. Yes, well, hopefully they’re okay, thank you.” Petra left the desk and found a bench away from the traffic flow.

When Petra dialed Rowan, he picked up on the first ring. “Where are you?” she asked.

“Miami. We’ll be there in a few hours.”

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