Page 59 of The Lazarus Protocol

“The nation that surrenders decision-making to computation will never regain it,” she quoted.

“Something Voss wrote?”

She nodded. “I saw a page once. He predicted automated warfare, UAVs, and drones that act independently. Orbital oversight. The guy was obsessed with satellites. He dreamed of a worldwide network that was the ultimate in control over people’s lives, but his version was effectively a weapons platform and a way to control the airwaves. And then after all that, he actually argues why it’s a bad idea. Why that kind of control isn’t something we want.”

“Now we have the internet, and free society.”

“You can change what people believe without them even realizing. How free are we really?” Steph shook her head. “The book could be used as the basis for a worldwide satellite network. Most people don’t believe anyone is crazy enough to do it, though. It would be a massive undertaking. And then Voss turns out to be against the whole thing, which was probably why they shipped him off to Poland and told everyone he was crackpot.”

“I’m sure someone out there is nuts enough to want to try, despite his warnings. What about Vesper?”

“She wants to prove it’s a bad idea and then destroy the book. She’s about the ideology and enforcing her belief that we should all be sent back to the Dark Ages. Which isn’t much different than trying to control what people see, what they hear, what they know, and what they believe.”

“I’d rather think for myself.”

“Any belief system is an ideology that, if you really believe it’s truth, should govern your life. But it has to be something you choose for yourself, not something forced on you.”

Steph, of all people, knew what it was like to live every day in a situation she hadn’t chosen, but which had been put on her. She’d done her best, but it had been years and she was tired. Would he understand?

“Anything else I need to know?”

Steph nodded. “There are rumors online that the book explains a theoretical weakness in the system. So it’s not just an argument about why control is bad, even though Voss was the one who thought of it. The book might also tell us how to disrupt the network if someone has managed to construct it.”

Adam tapped his index finger on the steering wheel, easing off the gas to join the line of traffic. “Drones, rocket launches. Artificial intelligence. Who knows. You think the CIA wants the book?”

“Everyone in the world should be concerned about an AI program evolving beyond its original programming. If someone has achieved this already, or they’re close to control? The CIA will want it, or they’ll want to destroy it.”

Soon enough he pulled over outside a four-story building that had likely been standing on this street for over a hundred years.

“Johannsen’s place is on the fourth floor.”

Steph unbuckled her seatbelt and got out. When Adam, Ice, and Kai huddled up to make a plan, she slipped away in the split second their backs were turned, disappearing into the sea of passersby on the sidewalk.

She ducked between a couple and an older man, brushed past a lady with a stroller, and hurried around the corner of the building. Down an alley. On the back side was a promenade that stretched the length of the river.

A short distance down from Johannsen’s building, she hid in an alcove. With her back to the wall, she pulled the device free of her necklace and stuck it in her ear, well aware that she looked like Uhura in the old Star Trek TV series, even if this was more like a tiny cylindrical vial. It always took a second to boot up, but the tradeoff was that it otherwise appeared to be inert and never transmitted.

When she had grabbed it in Germany, at the point she’d realized she was being kidnapped, it had sent a distress signal. A ping of her location that was transmitted to the one person in the world who actually cared what was happening to her. The only person, and the one who could get the CIA to send someone to rescue her.

She listened to the ringing sound over the connection. As soon as the call connected, someone at the CIA would know where to find her—and Adam’s team. Whatever had stopped her from exposing the location of their castle didn’t factor here in public. But there was probably a limited time before someone from the agency showed up.

The call connected.

“This is your last opportunity to use this device,” a man said. “When this call ends, the service will be suspended.”

Service? Steph curled her hands into fists by her sides. “Who are you?”

“The agreement you had was predicated upon your employment with the CIA. Since that is no longer the case⁠—”

She cut him off. “I did nothing to merit being burned. I kept my end of the deal. Now put my father on the phone.”

The man on the other end of the line chuckled for a second. “The only person speaking with him will be me, and you’re in no position to make demands. I’m certain we will have many chats over the coming weeks. Months. However long I feel it necessary to keep him alive. After I’ve exhausted all the knowledge he possesses, I’ll tell you where to find his body.”

Steph could search the world, but she would never find where they had him. She knew, because she’d tried many times.

“I can get you the Voss ledger.” The words spilled from her mouth.

“Are you in possession of the book?”