This question caught him off guard. He started to answer, stopped, then said, “I’m not sure. I guess part of me wants to know what happened to Gomez. What kind of shit are you into that got him killed?”
“I don’t see a point to tell you anything if you aren’t still in. It just wouldn’t be a smart move,” Jacob said.
Slade looked Jacob up and down. “I guess you’re not as stupid as you look,” he said.
“We’re done here, Kat. This is a waste of time,” Jacob said, gesturing in Slade’s direction.
“Hold on,” Kat said, putting her hand on Jacob’s shoulder. “Look, Slade, I know we don’t mean shit to you. I get it. Gomez saved your ass more than once, and you were going to be a part of this as a favor to him. You still can. I know he’s dead, but you can help us to honor his memory. You can do that.”
Slade looked out the window. Kat and Jacob said nothing. Finally, he turned back to them and said, “I can’t. I have too much to lose. And now that I know Gomez got killed working on whatever you’ve got going, I know there’s no way in hell I want to get mixed up in it. Not when I’ve got a kid to take care of. If anyone other than Gomez had asked me in the first place, I would have told them to go fuck themselves. I’m going to be nice and not tell you to go fuck yourselves, but I’m sure you get the point.”
“Yeah, we get the point,” Jacob said. He stood and started for the door. “Come on Kat, we’ve got things to get done.”
“It was good to see you again. Take care of that kid,” Kat said.
Chapter 41
“I guess I don’t blame him,” Jacob said.
“No, I don’t either,” Kat said.
For the first time since the East Texas fires started, the sky was clear. The dispute between the two CEOs had finally ended, and the companies banded together to employ fire suppression and smoke dispersion nanotech. Shortly afterward, the companies ran a huge PR campaign praising the firefighting efforts of the joint venture, painting them as the saviors of the Piney Woods of East Texas. The public loved the campaign and seemed to forget how the fires started in the first place, and the stock of both companies went through the roof. Jacob didn’t care, either way, he was just glad to see the sun again and to have a reason other than facial recognition surveillance to wear his sunglasses.
“Have you noticed anyone tailing you lately?” Kat asked.
Jacob shook his head. “None. As soon as I told Johnson we were still doing the job, the tails disappeared. Maybe they just wanted to send a message.”
“Maybe Slade was right. This is some deep shit we’ve walked into. If it is NirvanaWare we’re working for, this job could be seen as an act of corporate war.”
“Corporate espionage, at least.”
“Which could lead to war. How long has it been since the last one? Ten, fifteen years?”
“Something like that.”
“If we screw up, we could start another one.”
Jacob hadn’t thought about that. If it was NirvanaWare behind Johnson, and Jacob felt sure about that, and they got caught, Your Better Life would go to war. A war between two of the largest corporations in the world would have far-reaching repercussions. The last corporate war caused a global recession, and that was a fight over dominance in the sportswear industry. Two large pharma-tech companies with investments across all market sectors facing off could start a global economic meltdown.
“We won’t screw up,” Jacob said.
“We need a solid plan first. It seems like we keep getting bugs. If I was superstitious, I’d be worried.”
“I think we have a solid plan and a solid team. We just have to time it right. Now we don’t have to worry about Slade being on duty, only Xia, so him bailing on us makes it simpler, in a way.”
Kat laughed. “When did you become so damn optimistic?”
“I finally watched both National Treasure movies.”
Kat acted stunned. “You did?”
“Yeah. Sandy’s been after me to watch them forever. So we did a few days ago. I don’t know why I never watched them before. You know, everything works out. Isn’t that why you guys have the Twelve Stations in every church? Those movies are the most uplifting, optimistic films ever made.”
“Well, I think so. I also get the feeling you’re bullshitting me.”
Chapter 42
Over the next few days, Jacob fleshed out details of the plan and ran them by the others. Time was running out because Xia’s research team would be conducting the Q-Chip tests on the following Wednesday. Each element of the plan looked to be in place, except one. Two-Step still hadn’t fully tested the modified flippers. In theory, they would slow down the quantum processor running the closed network at Your Better Life. That was the theory. Two-Step tested one on a standard computer, his program forcing the computer to send data through the phone. It worked, and the speed of the computer slowed to a crawl, but the speed of a quantum processor may be able to compensate, or even overload the phone. They just didn’t know.
“If we don’t slow down that closed network, I may not be able to crack it in time. I just don’t want to go in hoping it’ll work and it doesn’t,” Jacob said for what felt like the tenth time that day.
“Well, we don’t have a computer to test it on. Are you sure you won’t be able to get past it without slowing it down?”
“I just don’t know, I’ve never gone up against something that fast by myself. I’m sure I could, but I have no idea how long it would take.”
“Without slowing it down, it might be impossible in the amount of time we’ll have. Or you’ll have. I’ll be doing something else,” Two-Step said.
Jacob rubbed the back of his
