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“Chase, please. You need help. And I can help you.”
“You’re right. You’re the only one who can help me,” said Weldon, moving out of striking range, but keeping his pistol level. “The price is now $200 million.”
“All this is about money?”
“No!” barked Weldon. He spoke slowly, enunciating every word, as if trying to make Milesunderstand. “It’s about saving what lives we still can. The Voice promised a digital apocalypse. Tomorrow.”
“Would you show me your phone, Chase? Maybe we can figure this out together.”
Chase laughed ruefully. “Smashed it. No more electronic leash.”
Gillen sighed. “Look around, Chase. There’s no apocalypse, digital or otherwise. I’m going to ask you a question. I need you to really think about it. Are you sure the Voice is real?”
Suddenly, Weldon strode toward Gillen, pistol raised.
Miles shrank back until he was pressed against the refrigerator, the muzzle an inch from his face. His hands floated up involuntarily.
He let out a breath. He wasn’t looking forward to this next part.
“I can’t.” Gillen sighed.
“Can’t?From one of the richest men in the world…”
Weldon cocked the hammer for emphasis.
“It’s a skill problem, not a will problem, I assure you.” Miles spoke quickly. “I can’t transfer that sum of money from here. As soon as I initiate the transaction, it will send an authentication code to a terminal in one of my Avalon towers. To prevent a scenario, well, like this. Remember your interview with Teague? He said you rattled off a few ideas to prove you knew what you were talking about. We listened. I’m still listening.”
“Then listen to this,” said Weldon. “If you try anything, I’ll put you in a permanent corpse pose. Let’s go.”
CHAPTER 20
LEAVING GILLEN’S ESTATE was easy. They slipped into his garage, selected a car—the CEO’s electric Aston Martin Rapide E—then roared through the gate.
They rode across the Key Bridge in silence, Avalon’s iridescent tower glowing in the distance.
My castle, thought Miles.
He felt the first stirrings of hope, but then the dragon beside him ground the barrel of the gun into his ribs. Miles wanted to wipe the beads of perspiration forming on his forehead, but he dared not move his hands from ten and two on the steering wheel.
They rolled into Avalon Headquarters unchallenged. It was after hours, and they parked in Miles’s underground spot, then rode his private elevator to the top floor, bypassing lobby security.
Everything was automated. After tonight, he would spend some of his deep work time rethinking basic protocols.
If he lived.
They emerged to an empty suite. Miles was on his own, but found himself actually enjoying the urgency. The present had never been so tantalizing.
Miles knew Weldon was deadly with a gun, but the CEO, in his own way, could be just as deadly with an electronic device. He just had to bide his time.
He led the way to his office suite, and Weldon motioned to the couch off to the side. “Shut up and sit down.”
The couch was isolated, save for the coffee table in front of it. Weldon settled himself behind Miles’s laptop, the seat of his power, his throne.
The CEO tried not to wince.
Miles was too far from any of his own devices. Weldon had already relieved him of his smart watch and phone, which he now removed from a pocket and set down on the desk next to his pistol.
“Password,” said Weldon, fingers hovering over the laptop.
