Page 53 of Jonas

“That’s why they were targeted,” Derrika voiced my opinion before I could.

“We were right.” I put in, remembering our conversation from yesterday. “The CIA is using Treasury as a proxy.”

“If the Chinese control Delcon, they get the information coming out of the Pentagon,” Derrika continued.

“Wouldn’t hacking Delcon be easier?” Smith asked.

“Hell no,” Kira said. “Delcon’s cybersecurity is better than the Agencies. I was actually looking forward to working there. Some of their protocols are insane. They have three different layers of protection. The everyday user that backups up their pictures, documents, videos, shit like that. Businesses that require a more secure environment to safeguard their client information. Then the big dogs who need extra security. That third tier would take someone better than me and Garrett combined to get in. Correction—me, Garrett, and Shepherd Drexel combined into one super-genius.”

Shepherd Drexel was a red hat hacker we used from time to time. He was also a wild card, no one that I knew of had ever met him in person. He was expensive, elusive, and worth every bit of hassle he made you go through to hire him.

“AI—”

Kira cut off Smith before he could finish.

“Fuck AI,” she spat. “A computer is only as intelligent as the data source that trained it. It cannot finesse a code the way a human can. It cannot pivot when it feels a door is a trap. There are nuances to hacking and a computer can only get you so far into a system before a human has to take over.”

“Tell us how you really feel,” Easton muttered.

“I just did,” she retorted. “Have none of you seen The Terminator? Or The Matrix? Spoiler alert, the machines take over. No thanks. I’ll do the hard work myself and not train the very thing that puts me in a pod while the machine sucks my brain for information.”

“And you all call me dramatic,” Zane snickered.

“Don’t come crying to me, Boss Daddy, when you’re living in a simulated reality. As cool as it would be, being a part of the resistance, I like Big Macs and iced coffee too much and I don’t think they’re available in the sim game that would be life. But just to say, I’d look shit hot in black leather pants.”

“I heard Sarah Connor’s really Neo’s mother,” Derrika added. “Or I should say, John Connor is really Neo.”

“Anyone else more concerned with the Chinese than the possibility of AI taking over the world?” Theo inquired.

“What if I told you there’s a connection between AI and the Chinese?” Lore smoothly queried.

“I’d say, I’m interested as long as you’re not about to tell me the Chinese have cyborgs ready to invade our streets.”

“No, there’s no T-1000s at the ready.” Lore smirked.

For no other reason other than intuition, I glanced over at Cash. His gaze was firmly planted on Lore, which wasn’t surprising—the woman was pretty but—it was the way he was staring at her that had my attention. The shocking part was, he was studying her not like he wanted to eat her, but like he was assessing. It was the what he was evaluating I couldn’t read.

I didn’t have a good feeling about this.

Cash was a self-proclaimed feral animal.

Lore was a wild card.

The two of them together…we wouldn’t have to worry about the Chinese. I had a feeling they’d go thermonuclear and destroy the planet.

“Have you heard of Three Mile Island?” Lore asked.

Jesus fuck.

There it was.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Cash was the first to speak but everyone around the table nodded.

“The nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania.”

“There are two reactors, but yes. Reactor two went into a partial meltdown during refueling in nineteen-seventy-nine.”