Artificial Absolutes (Jane Colt Book 1) Page 27

  “I didn’t. I swear. I went to talk to him, and he lowered the shades in his office. Anything that was seen from the outside was a computer-generated video.” Colt lifted the corner of his mouth into a humorless smile. “They can make fakes very convincing these days.”

  How far will you go? “Your gun was found at the scene.”

  “Someone installed it in the internal defense system.”

  “The forensics report said the blast’s trajectory was consistent with being fired point-blank at Victor Colt’s forehead.”

  “It was forged.”

  You have an answer for everything, don’t you? Irate frustration chipped Commander Vega’s composure. The lies were as insulting as they were blatant. Yet that off feeling prevented her from being sure they were lies. For the first time since she’d been given command of the Granite Flame, she felt uncertain.

  She looked past Devin Colt at the screen showing the lie detectors’ results. According to his heart rate and eye movements, he told the truth, but again, the machines had been outwitted in the past.

  Stubborn bastard. Next topic, then. Commander Vega unclasped her hands and rested her back against her chair. “What about Dr. Kron? Why did you murder him?”

  Colt leaned toward her. “I haven’t murdered anyone. I’ve only killed when I had to.”

  Commander Vega stiffened. “I read your ISARK file. You hunted that man like an animal, and you killed him in cold blood.”

  “That’s not what I did.”

  She realized she digressed and returned to her intended subject. “You were seen in BD Tech’s Fragan facility carrying a weapon, the same weapon we confiscated upon your arrest. The security team was alerted to your presence by an anonymous tip and found you fleeing the scene of Dr. Kron’s murder. What were you doing there?”

  “I went to get answers. I wanted to know—” Colt broke off and examined her face, as though trying to read her. “Have you heard of an entity called No Name?”

  “I will be asking the questions,” Commander Vega snapped. “To what are you referring?”

  “The IC cyberpolice have been tracking them for years. Kron was tracking them too. They’re like phantoms in the Net. No one knows who they are or how much they’ve done, but they’re powerful.’”

  “How is this relevant?”

  “I thought Kron was behind No Name. I tried to make him tell me what he knew. He was about to tell me, and they shot him. Just like they shot my father.”

  Commander Vega bristled. “How dare you. Isn’t it bad enough your sister almost died because of what you’ve done? Why can’t you take responsibility instead of blaming a fantasy?”

  Colt didn’t blink. “It’s no fantasy. This is their way of getting rid of me because I found out what they’re doing. I know you won’t believe me, but you asked for the truth, and I’m giving it to you.”

  Commander Vega had much more to say, but she’d come with a purpose and couldn’t allow her personal irritation to get in the way. “Dr. Kron had ties to several amateur programmers ten years ago.” She kept her words objective. “They were talented hackers who had previously refused BD Tech’s attempts to recruit them, and they all died or vanished under mysterious circumstances. Do you know anything about that?”

  Colt nodded. “Some think they were working on artificial intelligence. The Collective believes No Name is involved in something similar.”

  “The murdered programmers were members of the Collective. They were also involved with a well-known cybercriminal with the alias ‘Mastermind.’”

  “That was Kron. That’s why I thought he was No Name.” Colt looked down and knit his dark eyebrows in thought. “He was using them for the Pandora Project… He was mining the Collective for talent.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Colt met Commander Vega’s gaze. “Right before he died, Kron mentioned something called the ‘Pandora Project.’ Someone tracked No Name’s origins to the BD Tech facility on Fragan. Kron may not have been No Name, but he must’ve been involved in its origins, and they killed him and those programmers to cover it up.”

  Commander Vega’s frustration grew to a dangerous level. “Your conspiracy theories will do you no good.”

  “I have no reason to lie.”

  “You have no reason to tell the truth either.”

  “Yes, I do.” Colt spoke intensely. “Whatever happens to me, I want No Name stopped. You should too. They’re the ones who sent those Barracudas to Viate-5.”

  “That’s enough!” Commander Vega stood. “Seventeen good men and women died that day because of you!”

  “How could I have been behind it? I was in that building too. My kid sister was in there!”

  Commander Vega scowled. “You didn’t care when you used her as a human shield and let her slowly die right in front of you.”

  Colt looked as though he’d been punched. He opened his mouth, then closed it, as though he had something he wanted to tell her, but couldn’t. “I didn’t send those Barracudas.”

  Commander Vega slammed her hands on the table. “You must have been involved. How else could you have escaped when my people were massacred?”

  “We barely made it. It was No Name, the same ones who have been behind everything. They were covering their tracks. Why else would they have attacked right when your troops went in? That building stood abandoned for five years!”

  Commander Vega glared at him. It made sense. A little too much sense.

  “And what about Travan Float?” he pressed. “Do you really think Madam Wrath would care enough about one person to kill her own thugs in an attempt to gun me down?”

  Commander Vega strode for the exit. “This is a waste of time. I will find the truth, with or without your cooperation.”

  The door closed behind her. Her mind filled with doubts that, try as she might, she couldn’t dismiss. Records and evidence told her that Devin Colt was a mentally unstable liar. The lie detectors’ results meant nothing. He had once spent almost a year living a deception, as part of an undercover operation.

  The intuition that had never failed her before told Commander Vega he’d been honest and that she was missing something. All the same, facts were facts. Disputing them was irrational.

  She made her way into the medical sector. Jane Colt lay unconscious on a hospital bed. The girl had been so desperate for her brother to escape. She must have gone with him willingly, volunteered to be his human shield on Viate-5. Foolish girl. Loyalty can be a fault.

  She could have had Jane Colt arrested for aiding and abetting a fugitive, but as far as she was concerned, the girl’s only crime was loving her brother. Commander Vega was prepared to argue vehemently against anyone who suggested she be considered an accomplice.

  Adam Palmer sat in a chair beside the hospital bed. He held the girl’s hand and watched over her as she slept. He seemed to glow with sweet innocence. Commander Vega approached. Even if her prisoner had thrown her intuition, the boy would be an easy read. “Palmer.”

  Palmer stood quickly. “Yes, Commander?”

  “What were you doing on that Stargazer with Jane Colt and her brother? When did you leave Dalarune?”

  “Commander, I was never on Dalarune. The last thing I remember before waking up on Travan Float is entering my dorm room at the seminary. That was almost a week ago. Jane and her brother found me, and I went with them because I wanted to know who took me and why.”

  He was telling the truth—she was certain of it. There was no more to say. Commander Vega started to leave.

  Palmer caught up to her. “Commander?”

  Commander Vega stopped. “Yes?”

  “Devin’s innocent.” Palmer’s gaze pleaded. “I know the evidence is against him, but… He didn’t murder anyone. He’s only here beca
use he wants Jane to be safe. He’s a good man, and he doesn’t deserve to die.”

  Ordinarily, Commander Vega would have responded by sharply telling him that he was a fool. Something felt different that time. She continued on her way without a word.

  An alarm blared. Her second-in-command shouted over the comm, “Commander! There is an unidentified spacecraft approaching the ship. It is armed, and I believe it is hostile. It has not responded to attempts to communicate. I have deployed Betta Unit S.”

  “Very good.” Commander Vega entered the elevator. A hostile in such a remote area was likely a lone mercenary or another lost fugitive.

  She pressed an icon on the elevator’s touchscreen. An external view appeared. The hostile was a small, triangular ship. It easily evaded the Bettas, heading straight toward the Granite Flame.

  The hostile crashed into the Stargazer docked at the warship’s side. A disproportionately large explosion ensued. By the end of it, nothing remained of either vehicle.

  Commander Vega entered the bridge and listened to the second-in-command’s brief report. Apparently, the sole purpose of the hostile had been to destroy the junker.

  The evidence was still indisputable. It was the word of a convicted murderer and a love-struck boy against solid facts and hard proof. Everything had once been so clear, but no longer. Commander Vega’s confidence was nothing more than a façade she presented to herself. She tried to stand by her certainty, to line up the proof of Devin Colt’s guilt with the strange circumstances that seemed to follow him.

  But the cracks began to show.

  Chapter 17

  Glares and Nightmares

  “Pony, aren’t you forgetting something?”

  Jane noticed a small open door that led to a room full of wires.

  That door was her chest; those wires, her insides.

  She closed her chest. Metal rods replaced her fingers, but she could still feel with them, still sense the smoothness of her mechanical body beneath the cold fingertips.

  Devin, whose body was also made of metal, stood before her. A pair of deep blue claws slowly tore him apart.

  “Stop!” Jane lunged toward him. A large window trapped her. She frantically tried to crash through it, but it seemed unbreakable.

  Sarah appeared beside Devin. She laughed as she watched his destruction. “Devin won’t go to heaven!”

  The claws ripped Devin’s body in half. “I’m just a machine, Pony. We’re all machines.”

  A wall of flames devoured what remained of him.

  “Devin!” Jane screamed and fought as hard as she could, but she couldn’t get to him… couldn’t save him…

  His face disappeared into the fire. “Why do you care? I’m not even real.”

  “You’re real! I don’t care if we’re made of metal and wires! We’re real! Devin! Devin!”

  “Jane, it’s all right. It’s just a dream.”

  Jane opened her eyes with a start. Adam hovered over her, looking down with concern.

  “Where’s Devin?” Several needles attached to opaque tubes stuck out of her hands and arms. She wanted to rip them out.

  Adam caught her hand. “Calm down. It’s okay. You’re safe.”

  “Where am I?” Jane looked around. She lay in a white bed with a metal rail, situated in a small room and surrounded by medical equipment.

  A memory and cold realization hit her.

  She bolted up. “Where’s Devin?”

  Adam hesitated. “We’re at the Central Hospital of Kydera City. You’re in one of the private rooms in the Colt Wing. Your father’s across the hall.”

  “Adam!”

  Adam drew back, his brow creased in an apologetic expression. “I couldn’t stop him, Jane. I had a feeling he was going to turn himself in, but it wasn’t my place to tell him what to do. And you were dying.”

  Dying?! “I was fine!”

  Adam shook his head. “You barely made it. You’ve been unconscious for more than three days.”

  “What?” It felt like a few hours, at most. Jane even had the kind of dull headache she always got when sleep-deprived.

  A cold line trickled down her back, as though someone threaded her spine with a string of ice. The execution has been scheduled for two weeks from today…

  The Republic of Kydera had no appeals court. There was no need. Thanks to the computers, their system was flawless, infallible, efficient. The science behind forensics methodologies, which had taken generations to develop, had proved indisputable time and time again. DNA didn’t lie, including the DNA of computers. Sophisticated scanning programs tracked all movements in the codes. If a dozen people saw Devin Colt shoot his father, and the computers showed no signs of having been tampered with, he must have done it. Or so the thinking of the almighty “they” must have went.

  Jane lay back in her bed and stared at the white ceiling panels. Due to the heinous nature of his crime, Devin Colt has been sentenced to death…

  “I’ve petitioned President Thean to commute your brother’s sentence.” Adam seemed to read her thoughts. “Riley and I are working on an online movement to gain support. I won’t let them execute him, Jane.”

  Jane’s lip quivered. “Where is he?”

  “The Kydera City Penitentiary. I tried to see him, but he’s not allowed visitors—not even you, I’m afraid. They said prisoners on death row are only allowed visitors the day before their scheduled executions.”

  Jane firmed her mouth. “It’s not going to happen.”

  “No, it’s not. Riley and I stirred up quite a storm over the whole case. We’ve pointed out all the problems they overlooked. For example, your father was known to lower his shades whenever he had a visitor unless it was something he wanted made public. He wouldn’t have allowed a private quarrel with his son to be seen. The justice system won’t overlook the facts.”

  Jane nodded. It would work. She’d find the evidence to prove her brother’s innocence. She’d bang on President Thean’s door demanding clemency, if she had to.

  Adam glanced at the digital clock on the wall. “I have to go soon. I have a meeting with some people helping with the petition.”

  Jane sat up. “I’m coming with you.” Her head felt light, and she drooped forward.

  Adam caught her shoulders. “Not today. You’re not strong enough yet.”

  “Yes, I am!” He’s right—I’m really not. She wanted to sink back into the bed after barely a few seconds of sitting up. But Devin was her brother, and she was the one who should be looking out for him.

  “Adam, I really appreciate everything you’ve done, but let me take it from here. You should go back to your life.” Jane smiled jokingly. “I’m sure you’ve got a lotta homework piled up. Better catch up before they stick you in a remedial class.”

  Adam sat down in the chair by her bed. “That’s not important. I’ll drop out if I have to.”

  “Please, you don’t have to do all this.” Jane paused. How do I say this? “I know you’re only doing it because… because of me. But this whole thing with Devin… It’s not your problem.”

  Adam took her hand. “Of course it is. You love him so much you hid your pain for days while your life drained away. I won’t let them take him from you. You know I… I would do anything for you.”

  “Damn, you’re such a sap.” Jane pulled her hand away with an inexplicable frustration. A hurt look crossed Adam’s face. She softened her expression.“You don’t have to do anything for me. I’m not… I’m not the one you should pin your hopes on. I know we… heh… went out a few times, but… I’m the wrong kind of girl, Adam. I’m not…”

  “I don’t expect you to be anything. I care about you, that’s all.”

  Despite her efforts not to read into it, Jane recognized the tenderness in Adam’s voice. Her
awkward frustration hung in the air. She looked away, wondering what she could say.

  “I’m sorry if I’ve made you uncomfortable.” Adam sounded calm. “I know this comes at an odd time for our… for lack of a better word, relationship. We were friends before, and I’m still your friend now. Friends don’t abandon each other, especially at a time like this. I just want you to know that I’m here for you, and, like I said, I don’t expect anything.”

  Jane looked at him and saw only honesty.

  Adam leaned back with a slight shrug. “Besides, I don’t want to see anything happen to Devin, either. Even if he were a complete stranger, I still wouldn’t want to see an innocent man executed. You know how I feel about capital punishment.” He smiled that infuriatingly adorable smile of his and extended a hand. “Friends?”

  Jane took it and smiled with relief, grateful for his understanding. “Friends.”

  Adam checked the time again. “I really should be going. I’ll visit again in a few hours. They told me you’d be able to go home soon after you regained consciousness, but you have to keep the needles in, okay? They’re giving you what you need to get better.”

  Jane sighed. “Yes, Doctor.”

  Adam left. Jane obeyed her body’s command to lie back down. She considered sleeping, but as soon as she shut her eyes, the image of Sarah from her nightmare swam across her vision. Devin won’t go to heaven!

  “Bitch.” Jane opened her eyes and glared at the ceiling. Dreams are nothing but random crap. She tried to forget her latest one.

  Her thoughts turned to her father across the hall. She pressed an icon on the touchscreen by her bed to call for assistance.

  An elderly nurse appeared at the door. “Yes, Miss Colt?”

  Jane pushed herself up with her elbows. “I want to see my father.”