Senpai looked at me as if he was aware for the first time of my presence. "Well, I can at least see how you two get along so well," he finally said, then turned his attention back to Cam, dismissing me completely. My fingers tightened on the grip of my shotgun, but Cam shook his head subtly, and I fought back my frustration. It’s not like I’d have shot him, but I sure would’ve loved to bop him upside the head.
“Cam, you know what the others are thinking. They've given you a lot of slack, but it seems like you're ready to hang yourself and a lot of them with it. That's not going to fly any longer."
"I see," Cam nodded. He shrugged, then picked up the laptop. "All right then, but I'm not going to let any of them get their hands on this."
"They’re not going to let you keep it any longer," Senpai said. "I came out here as a final warning, and to deliver an ultimatum. We’ll take that off your hands and assume the responsibility for it. We know the risks, we can keep the system safe."
Cam shook his head and tossed the laptop onto the dirt, leveling his M-16 at it. "No, you won't," he said. "You and the people you work with won't be able to resist the temptation. You'll bankrupt corporations that piss you off, and make those who support you rich and powerful."
"We do that already," Senpai replied. "What does Albertine change in that regard? Now give me the laptop so that I can get the fucking thing fixed. My God Cam, you know what breaking that laptop does to the world!"
Cam shrugged, and flicked off the safety on his rifle, the two metallic clicks somehow impossibly loud in the night. Senpai reached for his waistband, and I brought my shotgun up. "Don't."
The man looked over at me, blanching. Sure, I may be a total amateur holding a gun far too big for my body and leaning against the frame of a Dodge pickup truck. I probably couldn't hit anything more than ten yards away without an act of God. That being said, I was ten feet away with a shotgun. It'd be very hard to miss. "You wouldn't have the guts."
"You’re threatening to shoot the man I want to spend the rest of my life with," I said evenly. “Are you willing to bet on that?”
He looked me in the eyes, and for the first time, I think he really saw me as a person rather than just some sort of set decoration in this whole little charade. He nodded once and let his hand fall from his waist. "You know at that range, you'd probably hit him too.”
“Maybe,” I conceded, "but one thing’s for sure, you’d be blown away.”
Senpai turned his attention back to Cam. "Cam, come on. You took Albertine because you're idealistic. I knew that from the moment I first met you. It's your greatest weakness. Are you really going to throw it all away, and let the whole damn world come crashing down around us because of it?”
“The world will survive," Cam said simply. Before Senpai could say anything else, Cam pulled the trigger on his rifle, and three bullets shattered through the laptop and buried themselves in the desert sand below. "Now go. Our business is done."
"You just took away your only protection. You do realize that, right?”
"I think everyone should be more concerned with trying to save their asses before the six-month deadline comes," Cam said softly. "Think your friends can get enough programmers on the system to find out how to stop Albertine in that amount of time? Minutes count in this game, so tick tock, tick tock."
The man looked like he was going to say something, then shook his head to himself and walked backward to his SUV. Starting it up, he reversed to a point in the desert where he could turn around, then took off down the road. We waited until his tail lights were barely blips in the distance before Cam picked up the ruined remains of the laptop and tossed it carelessly into the back of the truck. "Come on, let's go home."
I made sure to put the shotgun on safety and then unloaded all the shells from it before getting in the truck. I waited for Cam to start up the engine and drive off before speaking again. "You think he bought it?"
"No chance in hell, but he can't be sure one way or another," Cam said with a laugh. "Thank you again for your idea. Using the backup to clone Albertine and then shoot it? Genius."
It was the root of our plan and one that I'd come up with just two days before. The real Albertine and its backup systems were still at our house. It would keep the data systems of the world safe, and as long as we were left alone, we wouldn't have to worry about using the power of Albertine for anything again.
"Thank you. I do have my moments."
Epilogue
Melina - Two Years Later
The frigid late winter wind howled outside the windows, but I was covered in a fine sheen of sweat. Lying on the bed, I shivered as Cam trailed kisses down my neck, clutching me to him. "God I missed this."