Page 105 of The Dis-Graced

“Are you sure?” Jim asks.

“Yes. Grace and Devon had set a trap for Stephanie—”

“Wait, what the hell!” A strong urge to protect courses through me. I’m infuriated that Grace may have been put in harm’s way.

“They are fine. After Stephanie’s capture, she alerted us to Luke’s involvement.”

“But Frances is Elliot’s cousin.”

“You are correct, but Frances hates his family. Luke was able to befriend him several years ago, and that’s when they began formulating the plan.”

“How is that even possible?”

“Frances indicated that their planning started shortly after you showed Luke my original code, which was sometime after your father died. You were very confident you could develop AI, and he knew how much it would be worth. He had Frances couple with Grace because he knew that when he was ready to make the sale, he’d need you distracted, and he was fairly confident that if he ever asked you to secure Grace work, you would.”

“He was right. There was nothing I would deny him.”

“He is about to get on a private jet headed for the sale. I’m sending you the location of the airfield right now.”

Jim looks at the location and brings the radio receiver to his mouth and cleared his throat. “All available units, head southbound to HP Hovel’s Airstrip immediately. Repeat. All available units, head southbound to HP Hovel’s Airstrip immediately.”

“Drake?” ALAN asks.

“Yeah?”

“Could you grant me access to Luke’s phone? Seeing as how it is a work phone issued by Dallanger Corporation, I think it’s within your ability. It could be disguised as a software update and pushed without his approval since you are the admin.”

Giving ALAN access to Luke’s phone is risky. I only put him on Grace’s and my own because I was able to put heavy restrictions on where he could and could not go. Luke, however, doesn’t have those restrictions put into place. I like ALAN, but he’s proven to have some tendencies I’m not altogether comfortable with. If he can help the situation, though, it’s a risk I have to take.

“I’m sending you on over.”

Chapter 35

Grace

I grab hold of the seat, holding on for dear life as Bruiser whips around another corner.

Somehow I had thought that after capturing Stephanie, my day would get better, but I was wrong. Not only did I have to come face to face with my wayward fiancé and have my joke of a relationship thrown in my face, but I’ve just found out that my brother is a criminal mastermind.

The level of What the Fuck I’ve reached should be enough to at least get me a top-level prize.

The car comes to a screeching halt as we come upon traffic.

I look over at Irene, thin-lipped, ever stoic.

“I bet you’re loving this,” I say.

She casts me a caustic look. “You think I like having Dallanger’s IP stolen and sold on the black market. You think I like the potential downfall of humanity resting on my family’s shoulders?”

“No, but I think you love the fact that you were right about me and Luke all along.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

“Really, because I’m pretty sure you treated us like scum of the earth.”

“I was actually wrong on both accounts. I thought Lucas was an upstanding young man, and I was happy to have played a role in his successes. And I thought you were trash. As it turns out, Lucas was the trash, and you are quite admirable.”

“You hated Luke!”