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“Maybe he just disappeared, Sam? Or got himself killed. The dude’s been making some pretty risky moves and, from what I understand, hanging out with some unsavory characters. Maybe one of his own men did him in. Or he drowned in the ocean? I mean, he’s been hurrying around in speedboats and he is in the body of an old man.”

“Hard to know,” I say to Allie. “But does it feel like he’s dead to you?”

“No, not really.”

“Is that the psychic in you?” I ask.

“I get the occasional flashes of him, the briefest glimpses of him.”

“The bathroom?”

“It’s usually just him wrapping up things in there. No showers. If he showered, I would definitely find him.”

“You’re pretty cool, you know that?” I say.

“Wow, a compliment coming from Samantha Moon—the coolest gal I know.”

I grin at that. “He’ll either make a mistake soon, get seen, or captured on camera, and then, we’ll have him.”

“Do we tell the FBI when we do?”

“No time,” I say. “We snatch him, and deposit him at Neural-link’s surgical room as fast as possible. I’m told the doctors there will be ready at a moment’s notice, despite one of their surgeons having gone missing recently.”

“How weird is that?” says Allison.

“Could be really weird or...” I say.

Allison gets a peek at my thoughts. “You’re thinking what I’m thinking, aren’t you, Sam?”

“That Norm might have just made a big mistake?” I say.

“Exactly.”

“Is there a picture of the missing surgeon?”

“Yeah, hold on. I just read the article earlier today...” She pauses, swiping through her oversized phone. “Here he is. Good-looking guy.”

“Can you get a read on him , Allie?”

“Trying now, hold on...”

I sip my wine, acutely aware that it doesn’t do anything for me, and if I’m being honest, I don’t love the taste of it. So, why do I bother? It’s a social thing. Allie loves it, and it most definitely does something to her. That’s enough for me to share a bottle with her.

“Sorry, Sam. Nothing.”

I shake my head, impressed by the cyborg. “He really did think of everything.”

“You’re thinking he covered him up in a silver suit, too?”

“Yeah,” I say. “What other conclusion can I draw?”

“They could have killed him.”

“I highly doubt Norm would kill one of the few people who truly understands this procedure.”

“On the off chance he might be needed again?”

“Exactly,” I say.

“Bummer,” says Allie, sitting back in her chair and holding her glass of wine with both hands. “I really thought we had something there.”

“Same,” I say.

We sit like that for another ten minutes, quiet and contemplative, while a cyborg is out there plotting the demise of the human race—or, at least, the destruction of Southern California.

“Hold up, Sam... something just popped through.” She sits up, sets her wine glass down on the table. Some of it sloshes over the rim, spills. “It’s coming in flashes.” She shakes her head a little, as if trying to get a clear signal.

“What are you seeing?”

“Not sure, but it’s coming in stronger. Let me zoom out a little. I have no clue what’s going on...”

I’m tempted to take a peek into her mind, but if she doesn’t know what’s going on, I probably won’t either.

She next covers her mouth. “Sam, someone is doing surgery on Norm—brain surgery, I think. A small section of his head is exposed. That’s what I’m getting a read on, a tiny fragment of Norm—Sam, I can see part of his brain! So gross!”

“Can you see where he’s at ?”

“Hold on, let me pull back some more. There got it. Wanna take a peek?”

I do just that. Whoa, it’s a log cabin, surrounded by trees. It appears to be in the mountains somewhere. Unfortunately for Norm, I get a lock on the home, having seen enough to make the jump.

“Wait, Sam. He’s undergoing some type of surgery. There are wires attached to his head. Oh, shit.”

“Oh, shit, what?”

“The wires are going to some kind of computer. Sam, I think he’s downloading himself into a computer!”

“Seems like a very Norm thing to do.”

“Sam, hold on! He’s surrounded by people. Men and women.”

“Not hooded goons?”

“I’m getting a bad feeling. I think these are vampires and werewolves. Like a dozen or more.”

“Where the hell did he get all those?” I ask. “I don’t even know that many vampires and weres.”

“I don’t know, Sam, but something is going on.”

I scan her thoughts, noting the larger-than-normal men standing around the room, looking bored. I note the women, too. Most of whom are standing there with their hands behind their backs or looking down at their nails. I guess a man having live brain surgery before them is ho-hum.

I see Norm on a dining room table, wires running from an open spot in his head to a large computer sitting on the floor. I pull back out of her mind and consider what to do. It’s very obvious that Norm is trying to download himself—either memories, knowledge, or an entire consciousness, into the computer. I suspect the AI is trying to preserve itself, should it be physically removed from Norman’s brain. Well, I can only imagine the damage that Norm could do to the worldwide net should it be free to roam. Talk about a virus! Well, the longer I sit here thinking about it, the more of Norm gets downloaded into that computer.

I nod. “Okay, I’m going there and yanking out those cords.”

“What if it kills Norman?” asks Allison.

“Then I’m going to yank them out of that computer—and then, Norman is coming with me.”

“Okay. Do you want to bring me along? Shield you from his immortal sentries—and any silver snipers he might have lurking around?”

“I didn’t see any snipers...”

“Remember, me seeing into the room is shaky at best. Did you see the doctor?”

“No.”

“That’s because he’s wearing a silver-lined uniform. His snipers might be wearing something similar, and thus invisible to me.”

“Good point. Yeah, can you cover me?”

“When we arrive in the room, I’m going to surround us in an energy shield. They can’t come in, and we can’t get out.”

“Only us, Norm, and the computer will be in it?”

“Yes.”

“Sounds good. You ready?”

“Almost, just getting the spell straight in my head.”

I smile at my powerful friend. “Okay, give me your hand when you’ve done that.”

Five seconds later, she holds out her hand. “Ready.”

I take hold of it and summon the single flame, and see within it the strange visual of the surgery going on atop the dining room table—and we make the jump.