Page 68 of Undercover Shadow
My mind worked through the details even as the drug still made my thoughts sluggish. Why did he seem so bloody familiar?
“You’re wondering who I am.” He stopped in front of me and read me as easily as I’d read countless targets. “Whether you’ve seen me before.” His expression turned knowing. “You’ll figure it out soon enough. Your rescuer certainly will. If he gets this far.” He paused, savoring the moment. “He knows me quite well. In fact, since he was eight years old.”
Tag knew him? Since he was eight—that meant this was someone from his childhood, someone who’d been part of his life for decades.
“What do you want?”
Being direct was my only option since there was no point in games now.
“The answer is quite simple. I want to change the world.”
He paced like a lecturer in a classroom, warming to his subject. “AIWS isn’t just a weapon, Agent Nassar. It represents the great equalizer. For centuries, power has belonged to those born to it. Titles. Land. Inheritance passed down through bloodlines as if accident of birth made someone worthy.” Bitterness crept into the cultured tone. “But AIWS gives power to those who earn it, who build it, who control it.”
“You mean those who steal it,” I countered.
“Steal?” He laughed. “From whom? From governments that use technology to oppress? From aristocrats who hoard wealth while others starve? No, my dear. We’re not thieves. We’re revolutionaries.”
His words belied old wounds and old anger at a system that had wronged him. He’d dressed revenge up as revolution, convincing himself that destruction was justice.
Understanding dawned about MacLeod’s involvement. He’d warned us away from certain areas beneath Renegade’s family’s estate not because they were compromised, but because they were part of Labyrinth’s network. MacLeod had been working for them all along, using his position to provide access to multiple estates.
The door opened behind him.
“Ah. Perfect timing.”
Someone else entered, but I couldn’t see past Janus. The footsteps that followed were hesitant, uneven.
He stepped aside, and I recognized the woman who stood in the doorway as Dr. Evelyn McLaren.
My breath caught. She was alive but looked nothing like the woman from the files I’d studied or the poised academic who’d created MI6’s AI Ethics division. Her clothes hung loose on a frame that had lost too much weight too quickly, and the shadows under her eyes looked like bruises. Her hair hungunwashed around a face that had aged beyond her years. Her left hand trembled with what looked like neurological damage.
“Doctor, I believe you know of Agent Nassar.” Satisfaction colored Janus’ tone. “Her work has been…inconvenient for us.”
The woman’s lips pressed together, and her chin quivered. She forced herself to meet my eyes. When she did, I saw her trying to communicate something—her gaze flicked to the computer, then back to me, then to the computer again.
“We’ve never met.” The words came out hoarse, as if she hadn’t used her voice in days or had screamed herself raw. “But I know of her work.”
I understood then. She was the Architect, but not by choice. She was a prisoner being forced to work on AIWS, to rebuild what she’d tried to destroy at the facility in Inverness.
Janus’ hand settled on her shoulder—possessive, controlling, the casual touch of someone who owned another person. She went rigid, and her breathing quickened, but she didn’t pull away.
“Dr. McLaren has been invaluable to our project.” She recoiled with each word. “She understands our work better than anyone. Neural interface technology. EMP integration. Recursive learning algorithms.” His fingers tightened on her shoulder, and she winced. “All her expertise, finally being used as it should.”
She stared at me with dilated pupils and a clenched jaw, then mouthed a single word when Janus looked away. “Codes.”
“Together, we’re going to change everything.” He released her shoulder. “AIWS will launch within days, and those with whom I share it will become the world’s new superpowers. Russia, China, certain Middle Eastern interests—they’ve all paid handsomely for the privilege.”
He turned back to McLaren. “Isn’t that right, Doctor?”
“Yes.” Her voice was barely audible.
But she found my eyes again in that moment, and I saw past the terror to the determination. The woman she’d been still existed somewhere beneath the broken shell he’d created. Her fingers moved slightly at her side—she was writing something against her leg. I recognized the first three, then figured out the rest. D-A-M-A-S-C-U-S.
“Now then, Agent Nassar.” His attention returned to me. “We’ll wait for your handler to arrive. I do hope he hurries.” His expression made me shudder. “I’m quite looking forward to our reunion. It’s been far too long since I’ve seen young Niall. I have so much to tell him about his family’s role in all of this.”
Tag knew this man, had history with him, and was coming here not just to rescue me but to walk into a trap. I was the bait, and I couldn’t warn him.
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