Chapter Thirty-Six
Creighton
IT Lead: Call me asap. Got your man.
I read the text earlier, but I’d been with Blake. Getting inside my vehicle, and once my driver took off, I called.
“Yo.” The head of my IT department was named Gustav. He was a big Swede, always snacking on something, and I could hear the crinkle of whatever snack he was eating at that time.
“Gus.”
“Hmm?” He tossed the food in his mouth and was speaking around it.
“Spit out the food.”
He went quiet. “Hmm?” But I heard a spitting sound, and when he spoke next, he was clearer. “Sorry, Boss.”
It was a common battle between us. He ate. Constantly. I asked him to wait while he talked to me, especially on the phone. “If you weren’t the best hacker I knew, I probably would’ve shot you by now.”
“Yeah . . . Sorry, Boss.”
Gustav didn’t think I meant it. He thought I was a “sweetie,” thinking my obsession with Blake was a melting point for him. He also swore that I’d never hurt Levi and Lassiter as well, and by extension him.
I meant it.
Gustav had hacked his way into government departments, banks, and other countries for me. I wasn’t altogether surprised when he already had the information for me a few hours later.
“What’d you find out?”
My phone beeped.
“I just sent you his picture and a file on him, but he’s the guy in charge of the AI drone program.”
The AI drone program that Lassiter told me was going to be launched in this city as a guinea pig sort of program before even being approved by the Senate and House. Because this was something that would most definitely need to be approved, or it would be automatically deemed a violation of this country’s Constitution. They were already up in arms about so many other AI programs. Surveillance in drones would have people protesting on the streets.
Gustav was still speaking, “I went down the rabbit hole, and it looks like they’re going to target certain territories in this city as a way to prove how effective they are.”
Walden had met with the guy who was in charge of this program.
They were going to target my territories. Gustav didn’t need to tell me. It made sense. Point to West and Walden on this one.
“I’m going to need you to corrupt the program.”
“Boss?” He laughed, not believing me.
“Can you do that?”
He got quiet for a moment until he began speaking in a rush, his voice going up a notch, “I mean, yeah, but this isn’t a program that’s going to go away. This will happen. It’s better if we—” He hesitated. “I don’t know, do something else. But this is AI generated. It’ll find me sooner than later. When that happens, we’re all fucked.”
“Gus.”
He quieted, a hiccup coming from him. “Yeah, Boss?”
“Corrupt it. Keep an eye on it. I’m aware change is coming. I’m aware that we’ll have to progress along with it, but you’re giving me time. That’s all. When they launch again, let me know.”
“Oh.” He laughed, weakly. “Got it. I can do that. I’ll load in a virus so when they launch it, it’ll eat its own data. That shit is a bitch to fix. It’ll be down for weeks.”
“Don’t get cocky, Gus.”
