Taylor nodded. “Ames seemed like an intelligent and passionate man. I’m sad he’s gone. And I’m sad what this place did to him.”
Brodie thought a moment. “Bucky doesn’t need the key. Lenny doesn’t need the key. If the Praetorian neural network is in all of them, we have to assume keyless ignition applies to all of them. That it’s an aspect of the code, some sort of software end run around a hardware fail-safe.”
“Eyes open,” said Taylor.
“What?”
“That’s the script that Klasky executed before leaving us in the lab. It’s what woke Lenny up.”
“And something about a python.”
Taylor laughed. “Python is a programming language.”
“How do you know that?”
“It’s common knowledge.”
“No, it isn’t.”
Taylor thought a moment. “Well, I might have dated a programmer briefly.”
“You don’t remember?”
“I don’t remember what he did. He was boring. Let’s move on.”
“Good idea.” He continued, “Major Klasky might have been more tech-savvy than he let on, but not enough to program and then encrypt a neural network.”
“Scott Brodie, until today you didn’t know what three words in your last sentence even meant. Actually, you still don’t.”
“I’m insulted.”
“And you’re a terrible liar.” She added, “We have no clue what Klasky was capable of, or what was asked of him. Remember how he dodged the question about who installed the D-17 software? Maybe it was him.”
Brodie shook his head. “You wouldn’t undertake something this big in a place this isolated without a highly trained computer scientist on your side. Lieutenant Lehner is a mechanical engineer, but I bet he knows enough about these systems to be able to install and conceal Praetorian. And then there’s Captain Spencer and Caroline Dixon. We must assume one of those three is involved in this Praetorian program and is the other member of the conspiracy that Klasky alluded to.”
“You know what happens when you assume.”
“Yeah,” said Brodie as he got up and headed for the door. “You get leads.”
CHAPTER 45
THE TWO RANGERS GUARDING DIXON’Shouse stood at attention as Brodie and Taylor approached.
Taylor said, “We are here to question Ms. Dixon.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said one of the Rangers, and they both stepped aside.
Brodie noticed that the wind had picked up. The sky above was blue and specked with white wisps, but to the south were dark storm clouds, and beneath the clouds was an impenetrable haze. He said, “That looks nasty.”
“Yes, sir. And it’s headed our way. General Morgan has ordered all personnel indoors by thirteen-hundred.”
Brodie checked his watch. That was in about two hours. “Thank you, soldier.”
They knocked on Dixon’s door, and after a minute she opened it. “You here to spring me?”
Taylor asked, “If we were, where would you go?”
Dixon ignored her question. “What did I miss?”
