Page 7 of Maverick

CHAPTER FOUR

“We weren’t lying to you, Katelyn,” said Saint. “Our families own and operate G.R.I.P. and other businesses.”

“Voodoo Guardians,” she whispered. “Shit. Your family owns VG. I should have known when I saw you that you were connected to them. There was something different about all of you. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. It was this weird vibe like I knew, but I didn’t know you. You guys put out some sort of magic.”

“You’ll have to tell us later what that vibe or magic was so we can be sure and hide it.” She laughed, shaking her head.

“I don’t think you can hide that,” she said, waving her hands up and down.

“What are you working on?” asked Mav. She stared at him for a few minutes, not happy with his demanding tone. But the only way to fix this was to get some help.

“You guys already have some mediocre forms of artificial intelligence that you use in voice reconstruction and some in imaging.” They nodded for her to go on. “In the last five years, AI has gone from a crazy, futuristic thought to being used in everyday life when people aren’t even aware of it. It’s become so good that even an AI image of your face could now open your phone, laptop, or banking information.”

“No fucking way,” said Pax.

“Fair enough,” said Katelyn. “It will be that good when I’m done with it, and G.R.I.P. will be the only company with access to it. Those men that tried to take me were with the agency.”

“Fuck me raw,” groaned Brax.

“You’re not my type,” she said with a serious expression. Maverick gave a smirk to his friend, shaking his head.

“Wow, that’s hurtful,” said Brax. “I help to save you, and you toss me aside like a used sock.” She shook her head.

“Are you guys ever serious about anything?”

“We were serious about helping you,” said Mav. “What does the agency want with you?”

“They want the technology, and the only way to get it is to get me. I didn’t write anything down. I don’t put anything on hard drives, slip drives, the cloud, nothing. It’s all up here,” she said, tapping her head.

“You have all the schematics, plans, and engineering for a revolutionary AI device in your head?” asked Mav.

“Yep. I’m a beautiful mind,” she laughed. “It sucks. Believe me, I’ve tried to rid myself of this beautiful mind on more than one occasion. It’s no fun.”

“I can imagine it does suck, but it’s also pretty cool. If you know G.R.I.P., you know that we have a lot of beautiful minds working with us. You should feel right at home.”

She shook her head and slid down the wall onto the floor. She stared at something and then up at the men.

“Wh-what is that?”

Saint knelt and lowered his head to the floor.

“Fuuucck. We got a bomb. Go!”

Mav grabbed Katelyn beneath her arms, tossing her over his shoulder, and took off running as the others followed behind. Just as they reached the street, the explosion made a terrible sucking noise as if trying to pull the entire city inside. Then, a whoosh, fire, and debris lighting up the sky.

“Shit,” said Katelyn, holding onto Mav’s neck. She looked at him, and he stared into her big green eyes. “Uh, umm, you can put me down now.”

Her body slid down along his length. It felt like ten minutes before her feet actually touched the ground, Mav still holding onto her waist.

“What now?” she asked.

“Now, we get you to Belle Fleur and G.R.I.P. There, you’ll be protected and safe,” said Brax.

“I could use some clothes,” she said, staring at the burning building, “otherwise, I’m going to be running around in someone’s t-shirt.”

The men all coughed behind their hands, shaking their heads. She said it like it would be a hardship. It was obvious to all of them the hardship would be for Mav, and it would involve him being hard all the time. He hadn’t taken his eyes off the woman.

“We’ll get you there and get you some clothes,” Mav finally said.

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