54
Moro felt sick again. Why was all this necessary? He looked over at the wife, with the gun pressed to her head. She’d gone mute, her face completely slack.
Gould struggled to his feet. “No! Stop it! Leave her alone, you bastard!”
“Sit. Down. Or. She. Dies.” Lansing enunciated every word in a low voice.
Gould sat down. “God no, please, please don’t hurt her…”
“Fifty seconds.”
“I don’t know where it could be, I swear, I don’t know!”
“Didn’t you keep track of your UUID numbers?” Moro asked Gould, trying to help him. He couldn’t stand to see these people killed.
“No, no!”
“Invoices? Sales slips?” Moro pleaded.
“Forty seconds.”
“Those records … are in my computer … There’s no power … Put the gun down!”
“Thirty seconds,” Lansing said.
“Hey,” said Moro, turning to Lansing, “will you give him a moment? He can’t think with a gun to his wife’s head.”
“On the contrary, it’s focusing his mind wonderfully.” Lansing seemed completely unmoved. “Twenty seconds.”
God, he really was a psycho. For the first time, Moro realized that this man was crazy.
“Wait! It’s Charlie!” Gould cried. “It must be the Charlie prototype!”
“Charlie?” said Moro.
“Charlie’s a robot … but Charlie’s not here.”
“Ten seconds.”
“Where’s Charlie!” Moro practically screamed. “Can’t you see he’s going to kill her?”
“Up the road! Wait, don’t do it! I’ll tell you, but only if you lower that gun!”
“Time’s up.” Lansing didn’t lower the gun. But he didn’t shoot.
“Listen,” said Gould, babbling, “I know where it is. I’ll go get it. It’s a ten-minute drive. I’ll be right back. I promise.”
“Give me the location,” said Lansing. “I’ll get it.”
Gould stared at him, a defiance in his eyes. But it was his wife who spoke: “For God’s sakes, Dan, don’t tell him where Charlie is!”
Lansing raised the gun and stepped back, his finger tightening on the trigger. “Then you die.”
“Wait,” said Gould, his voice suddenly calm. “Listen. Here’s how it’s going to happen: I will get Charlie. Not you. And if that isn’t acceptable, then go ahead and kill both of us.”
Moro stared. What was wrong with these people? But the sudden, inexplicable show of determination from both of them did seem to give Lansing pause.
The grandfather clock struck one.
“You are a foolish man, Mr. Gould.” Lansing pressed the gun against the wife’s head.
“Let me explain so you understand,” Gould said. “Our son has the robot. That’s who we’re protecting. You’ve got no leverage with us when it comes to our son. You’ll kill both of us and never get the robot.”
Lansing considered this. “I won’t hurt your son. All we want is the robot. Tell me where he is, and I’ll get it.”
“No,” said Gould, strangely calm. “Here’s how we’re going to do this. I’m going to call him, tell him to get out of the house he’s in and leave the robot behind. Then I’ll go get the robot.”
“Who else is in the house?”
“Nobody.”
Lansing considered this. He said, “I’ll make the call. Where’s your cell phone?”
One of the Kyrgyz brothers, who had evidently confiscated it, handed it over. Lansing began scrolling through.
“This is your son, Jacob?”
After a hesitation, the man nodded. Lansing dialed the number. A moment later Moro heard a faint answer, a girl’s voice.
“May I speak to Jacob?”
A moment passed.
“Are you Jacob Gould?… Do you have a robot with you named Charlie?… Good. Your father wants to talk to you.”
Lansing handed the phone to Gould.
“Jacob, it’s Dad. Listen, I know, please listen. It’s an emergency. There are some people here. They want Charlie. They’ve got guns. I know this sounds really scary. But everything will be all right if you do exactly what I say.”
A pause.
“Here’s what you have to do. Leave the robot and get out of the house. Just go into the hills. Leave Charlie and go. Do it now. Go far into the hills and hide. Then I’ll come get Charlie—”
Lansing snatched the phone from Gould and said, “Tell me your address or I’ll kill both your parents right now.”
“No!” the wife screamed. “Don’t tell them! Jacob, get out of the house!”
Lansing smiled, switched the phone off, and tossed it away. “Forty-four eighty Digges Canyon Road.”
“You son of a bitch!”
Lansing turned to Moro. “Pack up your equipment.” He turned to the Kyrgyz brothers. “Bring her. We may need her to get the kid to cooperate.”
The Kyrgyz brother began cutting the wife free.
“No!” Gould shouted, jumping up. “You can’t have her! That wasn’t part of the deal!”
Ignoring him, the Kyrgyz brothers yanked her to her feet and shoved her toward the door.
“I said no, leave her alone!” Gould lunged at the man to tackle him, but the man neatly stepped aside and shot Gould twice in the chest.