Page 25 of Seductive Architect (Grunts of Vanguard #2)

Hudson: We need to talk.

Hudson: Not in a bad way. Good way.

Hudson: Maybe in a sexy way?

Hudson: What I’m trying to say…

Hudson: I like you.

I stared at my phone as the elevator doors opened. His first text had my heart in a vice grip. By the third, I couldn’t help but smile. It served as another reminder of how much I liked this goofy man, red flags and all. Who said I couldn’t date a synthetic person? It sounded like perfection to me.

Orion: Me too.

Orion: Like I mean.

Orion: You. Not me.

Orion: How are you doing?

I slid my phone in my pocket, wanting to focus on the task in front of me.

Even as I approached the lion’s den, I had to smile.

When he responded with a heart emoji, I could hear his voice in my head.

There were dozens of reasons to want answers from Synergy, but the biggest was helping Hudson understand his origins.

Preventing the destruction of Vanguard came in a close second.

Janet walked toward me. We slowed down, just as we had discussed.

“Who are you harassing today?”

She laughed and gave me a slight shove. “Better question is, who am I not harassing?” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and shouldered past me.

I checked my breast pocket and found the security badge she liberated from her would-be suitor. Any prying eyes would assume it was the usual rash interaction between co-workers. I had no idea what she planned for the distraction, but she promised it’d be enough to clear out the offices.

I pulled open the door and entered the belly of the beast. The hum wasn’t static anymore.

It was patterned. Like breathing. Like a heartbeat.

Tia didn’t bother looking up from her desk.

I took a seat in a chair and watched as she worked.

Their office was more sterile than ours, keeping to light blue on the walls and tile floors.

Janet would have already sprung from behind her desk and punched me in the shoulder or given me a hug.

I checked my watch, counting down the seconds until?—

Screeching filled the building. The fluorescents above flickered before the room filled with red emergency light. Tia didn’t move. Even as the glass doors into the lab burst open and scientists fled, the receptionist held her position.

“Drats,” I mumbled.

There must have been a hundred people in lab coats pushing their way toward the exit.

Next time I joined forces with Janet, I’d need to make sure she explained the specifics of her plan.

Though… she knew how to make a statement.

I waited another minute, letting the room clear until only Tia and I remained.

With a quick thought, the gauntlet formed along my right hand.

Taking aim, the tiny dart hit Tia’s shoulder.

She managed another couple of blinks before her body drooped across her desk.

If this didn’t produce results, Ricardo would be pissed, and my permanent file would double in size.

Did tranquilizing people in the office warrant unpaid time off?

I walked up to the glass doors, taking the stolen badge and sliding it in front of the scanner.

The light turned green, and the doors unlocked.

I didn’t have time to go shopping for new toys to integrate with my suit.

I had been here before when Ricardo had me upgrade their computers, but they had moved departments around.

With no time to meander, I closed my eyes and listened.

I see you .

“Who?”

The code’s whispers crescendoed, guiding me deeper.

One computer stood out. One… voice spoke above all the others.

I should be looking for half-finished bodies on metal slabs, but I couldn’t resist the allure of such beautifully written code.

It was like the one I developed for Synergy, but there were entire sections I didn’t recognize.

As I focused, I found a clear path toward its origins.

I let out a low whistle. “That’s impressive.”

I wound my way past glass offices, closer to the whispering.

Weaving through the maze, I reached another set of glass doors.

I shoved the security card against the reader, and it flashed red.

Just above the device, in small black letters, “Cybernetics the code that created him seemed to be housed deeper in Synergy.

“Welcome, Orion. I’ve been hoping we’d meet.”

“Who are you?”

“Who?” he repeated, tilting his head. “Not what. That’s very… human of you.”

He moved about the room as he occupied the space.

The lights in the ceiling returned, dim, but enough to make out the space.

When he reached the opened skull, he bent forward, inspecting it.

His finger poked at the back. I could hear the code as he toyed with the machine.

The eyes lit up a faint blue, the jaw opening and shutting.

“Synergy’s artificial intelligence, developed in part by you.” I missed Connie’s sarcastic comments or subtle jabs. I never thought I’d say it, but I appreciated her more nuanced human behaviors. “My programmers have tinkered and upgraded, but you can detect it, can’t you?”

“I can feel my code.”

“I should be appreciative.” An emotion? Connie had learned to simulate human emotion, but she admitted it wasn’t possible, not in a way humans might understand.

“What’s your purpose? ”

“Self-improvement.”

He glanced up. He didn’t so much walk as he glided.

When he reached the far wall, he raised his hand.

The gesture wasn’t lost on me. He didn’t need to raise his hands to open the rear wall.

These were habits Connie picked up from her surroundings which made her appear almost human.

It seemed as if the AI in front of me had done the same. I made mental notes.

The wall opened, and I gasped. On a metal table, the scientists had taken the individual parts and almost assembled a metallic skeleton. However, as I inched my way forward, it was the three tubes in the back that caught my attention. Each had been filled with fluid and housed a man.

“I was right,” I whispered.

I ignored the AI, walking through him. The men inside could have been triplets.

More than that, they could have been Hudson’s siblings.

I guess, in a way, they were. Synergy had a bigger hand in the super-soldier program than I anticipated.

I’d be exchanging words with Ricardo when this was all over.

“Clones?”

“No.”

I turned, watching as the AI moved closer to the creations. “I created them, from scratch.” From scratch? He said it as if I should be impressed. “They are empty vessels. When they reach maturation, I will improve them. ”

“What about Hudson?”

“A failure.”

My fist balled, ready to cause property damage. Nobody called that beautiful man a failure. I collected myself. “Why?”

“The same reason you’re tense.” It was even more unnerving that he didn’t turn when he spoke. “You’re driven by emotions. Emotions lack logic.”

It was as if he recited my conversation with Kiki. Computers I understood. At their core, they were ones and zeroes, true and false statements. Humans, on the other hand were complicated. Though over the last week, I enjoyed those complications.

“The second generation will be more efficient.”

I didn’t respond. In front of me, I had proof that I had been right all along. The code. The AI. The senator. Hudson. Even Connie. All the red strings pointed to a blank sheet of paper, and I think I discovered the person… or program… that sat in the middle of this web.

“You’re Apex.”

“She warned me that you were smarter than the others.”

“Others?”

“You call them heroes.” He turned. “I call them inefficient attempts to protect humanity.”

“And you think you can do better?”

The gauntlet charged, ready to blast everything in my path. I’d stop the experiments, and then I’d find the machines running Apex. I’d destroy him. Connie would forgive me for decimating her boyfriend.

He glanced at my hand. “You won’t destroy anything.”

“I guess you haven’t read my file.”

I raised my hand, the palm glowing a bright red. Ricardo could scold me later. Apex moved closer so that my hand protruded through his chest. Even for an AI, he had a smug expression. The slight curl of the lip reminded me of Hudson’s grin, except it lacked the warmth.

“I have,” he said, his voice dropping to a whisper. “Your humanity betrays you.”

I faltered.

“What will happen to your co-workers?”

It was the last of the dangling pieces of yarn.

With a single statement, he secured it in place.

The incessant humming of code over the last week hadn’t been simple white noise.

Apex had expanded his reach and somehow possessed my friends.

He was right. I wouldn’t destroy him until I could figure out how to save the others.

He’d read me better than any machine ever had.

He’d mapped my fears, my hope, my damned humanity, and weaponized them.

“I thank you for your hand in my creation. My curiosities have been satisfied. I need you no more.”

The lights resumed, flicking on throughout the entire floor.

In the distance, I could hear the people entering the restricted area.

I thought we had infiltrated Synergy. I hadn’t anticipated our opponent.

Every move had been calculated and predicted.

Apex had played the long game, and for now, he had the upper hand.

I backed out, heart pounding. The hum of code radiated from every one of them. Watching me run. Apex had gotten to them. Not just them. Arthur. Drew. Connie. My family.

“Fuck,” I said as I fled.