Beth looked away. She felt her face grow red with shame.
You let him get to you, she thought to herself. That’s what he wanted. To shock you.
She turned back and Tarov’s grin seemed to confirm her theories.
“Disgusting, isn’t it?” the digital man — program — whatever, said. “You’re going to listen to the mad ravings of that degenerate? He’s not only a sadistic piece of shit, but a traitor to his own people — my people. You’re going to believe him? Why?”
“Because he showed me,” Beth replied. “He showed me everything. Every conversation you had together, every plan, every diagram, everything!”
She couldn’t help but seethe a little as she screamed at him. She was letting her emotions get the better of her, and she knew it was wrong, but the release was so intense that she shook a little.
“That kind of data can be manufactured,” Tarov replied. He seemed a little diminished by the woman’s rage.
Beth shook her head. “No, not this kind, Tarov. Not this kind. He’s shown me so much data that I couldn’t list your crimes in one sitting. It’s going to take a team of people to wade through this evidence, but only because there’s so damn much. And after we pin you for everything you’ve done, you know what we’re going to do? We’re going to show the world. They’ll all know that the most infamous I.I.-supremist in the whole world is, in fact, an artificial intelligence. A computer program that someone somewhere made and conditioned. You think your little resistance is going to survive that? You think the Liberators will be anything more than a laughingstock?”
She breathed heavily after she spat her words at him. She could feel the saliva coming off her lips, and she couldn’t help but wonder if it was only simulated spittle or if she was practically foaming at the mouth in the real world.
Tarov seemed to size her up for a moment, gazing down at her from his full height. His eyes burned like dark coals as he considered her threat.
“I see,” he replied. “Then it seems you’ve made your choice.”
Beth nodded. “That’s right.”
“You know, that data is secured with one of our top privacy measures,” the militia leader started to explain. “If you try to transmit it to your partner or anyone else through the Internet, it will delete itself. It was designed to avoid replication.”
Damn, Beth thought. That would have been the easy way about this.
“Then it seems I’ll have to make a hard copy,” the detective hissed. “And I’ll share that, too.”
Tarov took in a deep breath and stepped away from the woman. He seemed like he was going towards the door, as if he was about to make an exit. He turned back to her.
“I tried to warn you,” he said. “I tried to give you every chance to back out of this while you could. Still, you push on. Next time we see each other, don’t expect me to be so friendly.”
Then he vanished.
The Mall
Marcus agreed to meet Beth at the Grand Unity Mall, even though she wouldn’t say what kind of bombshell she had. He could tell she was nervous by the voicemail she left him, but she kept it intentionally vague, as if just to annoy him. Despite the spontaneity of the request, Marcus trusted his partner. He wouldn’t leave her hanging, even if he didn’t know what it was about.
Beth scowled at the stores as she walked past them. There was something about them that combined the worst parts of filth and cleanliness into a corporate glob designed to entice the consumer. She passed by a gun store that looked like it could have been a computer store. There were neon lights along the gun shelves, placid white walls without a shred of personality. There was something so corporate about everything. No real mom-and-pop stores anymore.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She knew it was just her nerves bleeding pessimism on everything. You need to get a grip of yourself and take control of the situation, she reminded herself.
Ever since she was given the sensitive data on everything the Liberators were working on, she felt a tightness in her chest. A constant worry that she would be targeted for what she knew — for the evidence she carried with her. Tarov’s explanation of the security he’d put on the files only worsened the situation. Once she was able to offload the data to Marcus and the rest of her department, she could breathe easy. She wouldn’t be a high-value target anymore; Tarov would have no reason to go after her.
You’re just being paranoid, she thought. No one is out to get you. Marcus will show up, you’ll give him the information, and everything will be said and done.
Or will it? She couldn’t help but wonder how much digging she’d have to go through all that data to find the vital nuggets. How much of it was time sensitive? Were there attacks outlined in the information that would happen too soon to warn anyone? Would it put the rest of her department at risk? At what lengths would Tarov and the Liberators go to follow through on their plan?
They want to go to war, she reminded herself.
She had to lean against a wall for a moment to catch her breath. The constant change of emotion was giving her a panic attack. Once she calmed down, she realized there was no point in thinking terrifying thoughts over and over. She may as well distract herself while she waited for Marcus.
Looking across the aisle, she noticed a happy looking pet store
