“Professor McKinney, the United States is grateful for your service.”
She accepted his crushing grip.
“We might have reason to call on your expertise in the future. I hope you’ll be willing to help us.”
McKinney raised her eyebrows.
Odin stepped forward. “We can talk about that later, Colonel.” They moved away across the tarmac.
The colonel called after him. “Take your time, Master Sergeant. Take all the time you need.”
With that the colonel climbed into the jet, and a uniformed crewman pulled up the steps behind him, closing the door. The plane’s engines whined to life as McKinney and Odin walked to a nearby hangar and a waiting civilian passenger van. It all seemed surreal as she looked around her. So normal.
After a few minutes of travel in silence, the van stopped near a public terminal. They disembarked, and Odin led them through a restricted access door, where two customs officials in uniform with IDs on lanyards waited for them.
Both men were in their fifties. One was pear-shaped and balding, with an extra chin; the other was thin and fit with a clean-cut appearance, despite his graying hair. He smiled to them both.
“Welcome back to the United States, Mr. Shaw. Ms. McKinney.” He handed them both new, unstamped American passports. “You two have a nice day.”
McKinney opened the passport, relieved to see her familiar, terrible photo. To have her identity back.
The other man entered a code on a keypad that unlocked a nearby steel door. He opened it to reveal a stairwell that led up.
Odin nodded to them both, and he and McKinney headed upstairs to a push door marked with warning signs that it must remain locked at all times. They pushed through and found themselves on the other side of the customs station and in the public air terminal among aircraft gates. Travelers walked past them.
People crowded around the many flat-screen televisions bolted at intervals along the length of the terminal. Cable news was on, and as they walked past, McKinney could see video images of a massive, smoking wreck viewed from the air-a colossal ship burning on shoals in the South China Sea.
McKinney slowed and craned her neck to look up at the screen along with fellow passengers.
The news anchor narrated the video. “… felt the scope and sophistication of the plot presents a grave threat to UN member states. In the wake of the discovery both China and the U.S. have expressed support for an international robot arms control agreement to establish an international legal framework on the proliferation and use of lethally autonomous robots.”
McKinney turned to Odin. She knew he could feel her gaze on him. A smile creased her lips.
“It’s not over, you know.” He nodded at the screen. “We set them back a year, maybe two.”
“I’ll take it.” McKinney tugged at his arm and started them walking again. “It’ll buy us civilians some time to sort things out. To let the law catch up with technology.”
He shrugged. “We’ll see about that…”
Odin drove the rental car through suburban Shelbyville, past horse farms and orderly neighborhoods with lush trees and lawns. McKinney was deep in thought. “I guess this is the part where we try to figure out what’s going on between us.”
He grimaced. “You know how committed I am to my work. And I know how committed you are to yours.”
She nodded, filled with conflicting emotions. Then she noticed that he was pulling into a park not quite in her father’s neighborhood. “Where are we going? I thought we agreed you’re taking me straight to my father’s.”
He pulled in to a parking space and shut off the engine. Then he faced her. “I said I was taking you to your father.” He nodded through the windshield.
McKinney looked ahead to see her father sitting alone on a bench not far away, staring at ducks on a small pond. He stared expressionless, unmoving. “Oh, my God. Dad…”
She exited the car and walked across the grass behind him, feeling the tears on her face. But then she thought better of it, stopping to wipe them away as she collected herself.
Her father looked thinner. His bushy hair had become whiter.
After a moment she came up behind him. It took everything she had not to well up with emotion. “Dad…”
He turned on the bench, and the moment he saw her, the face she had so missed returned. His expression slowly turned to a tight smile, and he stood, walking toward her, accelerating as he came. “My little girl…” Then he wrapped his arms around her in a crushing embrace, and she began to cry along with him.
“I’d thought I lost you.” He started to shudder with sobs, holding her even tighter.
She hugged him back. “No. I’m right here. I’m right here.”
“What happened to you? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. The State Department helped me get back, but I can’t stay.”
He leaned back to look at her, puzzled. “But why? And why didn’t they contact us? Why didn’t you call from… I don’t understand.”
“I’ll explain later.” McKinney pivoted to see Odin watching from near the car. He nodded to her.
“Hey!” McKinney pulled away to look her father in the eye. “There’s someone I want you to meet.”
He held her chin, still smiling at her. “I can’t believe it’s really you. I can’t believe you’re here, safe.”
McKinney shouted and waved at Odin. “Get over here, you coward!”
Odin appeared to sigh impatiently, but he got out and approached them.
McKinney turned to her father. “Dad, this is the man who saved my life.”
Her father turned to face Odin and his extended hand, but her father’s expression changed, and he launched past it to hug Odin tightly. “My God, thank you. Thank you for bringing my girl back to us.”
McKinney could see the emotions coursing through Odin as her father gripped him.
Her father held tight, slapping Odin on the back. “Thank you.”
Odin nodded. “You’re welcome, Mr. McKinney.”
Her father pulled away to look Odin in the face. He extended his hand. “What’s your name, son?”
McKinney shook her head. “Dad, he can’t-”
Odin shook her father’s hand. “David Shaw, sir.”
McKinney gave him a stunned look.
“David. It’s an honor to meet you. I don’t know how I can ever thank you for bringing her back.”
“There’s no need, sir.”
“I have to hear all about it.” Her father motioned for them to start walking along the path, and he leaned toward Odin as he hooked his daughter’s elbow. “What on earth happened back in Africa? I hired investigators, and-”
“In a moment, Dad. I need you to do something for me first.”
“Anything, honey. Anything at all.” He was smiling.
“Can you loan me your phone for a second?”
“Oh, to call your brothers? Of course. My God, they’re going to be so, so happy…” He reached into his jacket pocket and passed her his phone.
McKinney took it, cocked her arm back, and threw it into the very center of the nearby pond, sending the ducks into flight.
Her father looked at her, and then to the pond, in utter confusion. “What on earth did you do that for?”
She looped her arms under her father’s and Odin’s elbows and started them along the path. “Let’s just call it a precaution.” McKinney grinned as her father still looked back, puzzled.
They passed under a tree branch on which two ravens perched. The birds fluffed up their feathers and let out a loud caw as they closely watched the humans below.
