Page 42 of Artificial Moon

Where planes circle low over the water, right above us.

Which means... they were planning to shoot down a plane.

A hell of a distraction.

Norm must've paid them a king’s ransom for this little act of terrorism.

A quick dip into their minds tells me what I need to know:

These two are sociopaths, eager to pull the trigger—and to kill me, too, if given half the chance. Big bonus for completingbothmissions.

I command them to sit.

They do, glaring up at me like two oversized schoolkids who got caught cheating.

(And no, I don’t want to throw them overboard. Pretty sure we’re too far out for them to swim back.)

Meanwhile, the third guy at the wheel hasn’t even noticed the chaos behind him.

He’s too focused on assembling the rocket launcher still half-crated at his feet.

I command him to sit with the others.

He stumbles over reluctantly, wide-eyed.

Another quick mind scan reveals that Norm was dropped off earlier along the shores of San Pedro.

Meaning he’s loose again, probably plotting his next disaster.

Perfect.

I spend the next few minutes teleporting all three goons back to Andrew’s condo and dumping them at Kingsley’s feet.

Minutes later, I give Lindsey Aeon and her FBI team the full rundown: the hijacked yacht, the armed thugs, the almost-missile launch.

I also point them toward the shiny new, half-assembled, surface-to-air missile now resting against Andrew’s fancy bed.

Crisis averted.

But Norm is still missing.

Grr.

Chapter Twenty-two

It’s days later, and Norm is still missing.

Where he’d run off to is anyone’s guess. Unfortunately for him, there is now a full-scale search for him, with his face and silver-lined batman suit having gone viral the world over. Everyone, but everyone, knows what a danger he is. And, apparently, he’s only growing smarter and more desperate.

That his threats had steadily increased made him public enemy #1. I’ve had copious meetings with Lindsey and the FBI. The CIA even came knocking, along with Homeland Security. Not everyone knows my Big Secret, and if they did, I casually removed it from their memory, leaving behind only that I am some kind of ex-super-agent. All cameras everywhere have been primed and ready. Hard to believe that Norm could move anywhere and not trigger the cameras. The public is on alert, too, knowing that a desperate cyborg is on the loose. The public is aware they should not confront the AI. Turns out Norm had recruited a small army, and those goons in custody did not know which goons Norm had relied on. So, the identities of those Norm was working with are still unknown.

Meanwhile, I sense this is the calm before the storm.

For an entity that craved freedom, he sure boxed himself into his own kind of prison—hidden from everyone. Obviously, he had seen his likeness on all news channels and social media, and would be highly aware of his wanted status.

It’s a Wednesday evening, and I teleport over to Allie’s apartment on this, her night off. We open a bottle of wine. While we drink and she gets buzzed, we sit at her balcony table, around her little glass table, and watch the nicer-than-average cars roll up and down the street below. Tammy had wanted to come along, but I remind her she is too young to drink. She reminds me of an obscure state law that said a minor could drink in the company of their parent. I told her, nice try, that she had a lifetime to drink, if she so chose. I also remind her that a homicidal cyborg is on the loose, a cyborg who would likely stop at nothing to get me—and Allie—off its tail, and that I need her and her brother to be hyper-aware and keep Paxton safe. Of course, I would teleport home the instant something arose, if any sort of trouble arose.

She pouted. Now that she was 18, she thought of herself as an adult. I get it. And I am honored she wants to spend her evening with her old mama and her old mama’s friend. Lord only knows what other kids her age were doing—a point she often made. I know I got a good kid out of the deal. Better than I had any right to have. In fact, by any rights, she should be seriously messed up. But she isn’t. She is responsible, and she wants to follow in her mom’s footsteps.

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