C’mon, c’mon . . .
With so much at stake, Monk paced the room. He checked his watch every third step.
Finally, Jason spun around. “Something’s happening.”
Monk rushed over.
Carly straightened from where she huddled with Mara at the other station.
“Tell me you got good news,” he said.
Simon pointed to a window that filled the entire screen. “Here’s the feed from Nogent. Looks like their systems are coming back online, one after the other.”
Various gauges and meters—labeled with arcane terminology like FEEDWATER CONTROL, FATIGUE MONITORING SYSTEM, CONTAINMENT VESSEL LEAK RATE—were either an angry crimson or a cool green. As Monk watched, another reading marked COOLANT PUMP DIAGNOSTICS switched to green.
Jason tapped the screen. “The core temperature is steadily dropping. It’s down forty-five percent. Pressure even more than that.”
More meters flashed green.
“She did it.” Simon placed his hands atop his head. “Eve did it.”
Jason nodded. “With this much control returned, Nogent should be able to pull back from the brink.” He wore a huge relieved grin. “We just avoided a major meltdown.”
“By a hair,” Simon reminded them all.
“Still, we should be sure before celebrating.” Jason handed an e-tablet to Monk. “Found this a few minutes ago. It’s wirelessly connected to a VoIP router. We should be able to use it to call out. We can have Painter confirm everything is truly okay at the plant before clearing out of here.”
Monk took the tablet, but he held off calling the director. There was still another concern. One vital to him, to the world.
He turned to Mara.
“What about Eve?”
3:01 A.M.
Mara returned her attention to the screen, both relieved and worried. A nuclear disaster had been avoided, but the garden on her laptop remained empty.
Eve had not yet returned.
“Could she have fled?” Carly asked.
“I don’t think so.” Mara motioned to the Xénese device. “For the moment, that’s still Eve’s true home. In fact, most of her is still in there. With the current state of technology in the world at large, her consciousness cannot survive anywhere else. There’s nothing sophisticated enough out there to house her unique programming. But over time, she’ll outgrow this need.”
“Like a baby bird leaving its nest.”
Mara nodded.
“Then where is she?” Monk asked as he joined them.
“I don’t—”
On the screen, a familiar avatar reappeared. Eve dropped back in her garden, forcefully enough to drop to a knee. She then slowly regained her feet. Her face looked strained.
“Is she fully back?” Carly asked.
“I believe so. Her avatar should only reconstitute on the screen if she’s fully present.” Still, Mara brought up a diagnostic window and scanned through it. She searched for any red flags, then nodded. “She’s back.”
But for how long?
Jason called over from his station. “So, it’s okay to disconnect her access to the network.”
“Yes. You’d better.”
Jason tapped at his station, while Simon unhooked her Xénese device from the servers.
As the connection was cut, Eve glanced over a shoulder, clearly noting the change as her world sealed around her once again. She faced back forward, her expression forlorn and easy to read.
Why?
Even Carly understood that look. “She’s had a taste of something greater. She knows there’s more than her garden. Shouldn’t you explain what’s going on?”
In other words, pull aside the veil and reveal the true face of her creator.
Mara knew doing so was a jarring but necessary lesson and admitted as much. “That’s normally the next step in her evolution, but we’ve contaminated this process by using her in this way. So, before I open that dialogue, I want to run some further diagnostics. Just to be safe.”
“Speaking of safe—” Monk lifted the e-tablet in his hand. “—let’s make sure the Nogent plant is fully locked down so we can get the hell out of here.”
As he stepped away, Mara stared at Eve.
Her mother’s face glowed on the screen, searching the heavens for some answer, her question clear.
Why? Why have you forsaken me?
3:12 A.M.
Monk was back to pacing the room.
“I’ve been monitoring events at the nuclear plant,” Painter assured him. “A slew of engineers and safety teams are slowly shutting everything down as we speak. Cooling the core, venting gases. Barring anything unexpected, the threat to the plant should be over.”
He was relieved, though it had taken far too long to reach Sigma. He kept an eye on the clock glowing on the tablet as Painter finished—or almost finished.
“And I have more news,” Painter said.
“What?”
“Forty minutes ago, a call came into Philadelphia PD, of a little girl found stranded at a rest stop. She was bundled in a coat, a thermos of hot chocolate in hand, and wearing pajamas with dancing reindeers.”
“Penny . . .”
“We’ve confirmed it’s your daughter.”
“Is . . . is she—”
“She’s unharmed. Scared, shook up, but otherwise, healthy.”
Monk sagged, turning his back on the others.
Thank God . . .
“I’m not sure why Penny was released,” Painter continued. “But I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on Valya. She still holds the other hostages. Maybe it’s a sign of good faith.”
No . . .
Monk closed his eyes, knowing the director was mistaken.
It’s proof that bitch could keep her word.
To save his other girl, Monk would have to do the same.
He had made a promise to Valya.
And, more important, to Kat.
He turned back around, the SIG Sauer in his hand. He pointed it at Jason. Before the kid could respond with more than a confused expression, he fired.
Jason crashed to the floor.
3:15 A.M.
What the hell just happened?
Her ears ringing from the pistol blast, Carly stepped in front of Mara. To her right, Jason sprawled on his back across the floor, blood seeping through his pant leg.
Monk kept the pistol pointed at his teammate. “Simon, take his weapon. Easy. Two fingers. Slide it over.”
“Oui, oui . . .” The Frenchman held his palms up, crossed over, and did as instructed.
Jason pushed to a seat. His expression agonized—though seemingly more from the betrayal than the pain of the bullet wound. He gasped out, “Monk, what . . . what are you doing?”
His question was ignored. Monk turned toward Carly, his eyes cold and frighteningly calm. “Carly, you’re going to have to keep pressure on his wound. Simon, I need you to unhook all of Mara’s equipment. Then you’re going to help me carry it out of here.”
Simon nodded rapidly and turned to obey.
“Mara, you help him,” Monk ordered.
Carly reached back and stopped her. “We’re not doing anything.”
“Then Jason will bleed out.” Monk shifted his weapon toward them. “And I don’t want to have to shoot anyone else.”
But he would.
Carly read the seriousness of this threat.
Mara pushed her from behind. “Help Jason.”
She stumbled toward the wounded man. She searched around, then shrugged out of her jacket. She knelt down and set about wrapping a sleeve around his thigh, intending to use it as a pressure wrap.
Jason assisted her, while glaring at his partner. He seemed to have come to some conclusion, some explanation for all of this. “If you give Valya what she wants, she’ll still never follow through. She’ll keep Harriet and Seichan. Those two are too valuable.”
“Maybe, but she forced me to pick which of my two girls to be freed. You can’t know that particular hell. And if Harriet dies . . . if my choice kills her . . .” He waved the gun as if driving off this thought. “Then there’s Seichan, her unborn child.”
Jason pressed on. “Even if Valya lets them all go, Gray will never forgive you.”
Monk shrugged. “As long as Harriet, Seichan, and his baby survive, I can live with that.”
Jason looked like he was going to say more, but Carly tightened her makeshift tourniquet. He moaned and fell back to his elbows.
“Sorry . . .” she whispered.
Simon snapped closed the titanium valise that held the hard drives and stood up with it. “We . . . we’re done here.” He stepped over to where Mara had secured her Xénese device into its specially designed cushioned case and picked that up, too. He struggled under the weight of both.
Mara folded her laptop into a leather messenger bag.
Monk held out his hand for the satchel, but Mara pulled it over her own shoulder.
“I’m coming with you.”
Monk kept his arm out. “No, you’re not.”
Carly agreed. “Mara, what are you doing?”
She answered them both. “Where Eve goes, I go. And if you’re taking my device to some other buyer, they’re going to want proof it works. For that, you’ll need my expertise.”
Monk paused for a breath, then lowered his arm, clearly conceding the point. He stepped over and relieved Simon of the larger of the two cases. He kept his pistol pointed at Jason, at her.
“Once we’re out, I’ll send Simon for help. He can lead rescuers down to you.”