Page 8 of Maverick

“What about the SEALs? They’re not going to just let you wander off with some strange woman. They’ll want an explanation and mentioning the agency won’t earn you any favors from your commanders.”

“We’re so close to being out it may not matter to them,” said Saint. “I’ll give Dad a call and see if he can pull some strings for us. He can tell them it’s a family emergency, a death, something. If that doesn’t work, Mama Irene can make it happen.” The men all laughed, walking toward Mav’s apartment.

“Who is Mama Irene? Is she your grandmother?”

“She’s sort of everyone’s grandmother,” said Mav. “She and Matthew gave birth to the original Robicheaux Rangers. Nine men, six women, dozens of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. They claim everyone on the property as their children, and they have a capacity for love, generosity, and kindness, unlike anyone you will ever meet.”

“She sounds wonderful,” smiled Katelyn. “I guess that would be Montana’s mother-in-law and Ryan’s grandmother. Is that right? I never met my parents or grandparents.”

“That’s right. I’m sorry you didn’t know your parents or grandparents. You were an orphan?” asked Pax.

“I guess. I just never even knew their names, where they came from, what they did, nothing. I lived in a home for girls in Maine my whole life. When I was sixteen, I went to college to study electrical engineering, specializing in sound engineering. I wanted to create cool music,” she laughed. “It really never dawned on me that I couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket. I didn’t know good music from bad music. But the engineering side of everything made sense to me.”

“Is that when you started looking into AI?” asked Saint.

“No. I mean, sort of. I would find ways to mimic people’s voices.” They all stared at her as they entered Mav’s apartment, taking a seat around the room. “It sounds lame, but please don’t make fun of me. I used to record my own voice and play with different alterations of the sounds to try and figure out what my parents’ voices might have sounded like. You know, like, what would my voice sound like if it were male. Or if I aged my voice by ten years, is that what my mother would have sounded like.”

Their faces showed no sign of amusement. Only compassion.

“I’m sorry you had to do that,” said Mav. “I can’t imagine not knowing the sound of my parents’ voices. For that matter, my grandparents. My grandfather was a SEAL like my dad. They both have these deep, bass voices that make your chest shake.”

“Like you,” she whispered. He stared at her and gave a quick nod.

“Our father is the same,” said Pax. “Our grandfather was born in Russia but lived all over the world so he has these really cool inflections to his voice.”

“See,” she said. “Your faces light up when you talk about what they sound like. I don’t have that. I wouldn’t know if it was them or not if they called out my name on the street. If they even knew my name. Anyway, that’s how I got started in AI. During my master’s program, I recorded the voice of our professor for two weeks. When I presented my thesis, I presented the entire thing in his voice.”

“Holy shit,” muttered Saint.

“Yeah. Not surprising, they were not happy about it, but they were impressed. I was lucky that part of the thesis committee knew someone at G.R.I.P. They called them and said I should work for them before someone else got hold of me.”

“Why work remotely?” asked Brax.

“Well, I hate flying, so the idea of moving or living somewhere that I would have to fly to was a bit daunting for me. I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “Right now, I’m questioning my entire life and all the dumb decisions I’ve made. I thought staying here was what I should do. I moved here after college to be close to the beach. Stupid, right?”

“Not at all,” said Saint. “Maybe the water or the beach has some hidden secret or memory for you. It could be important to your makeup, to your DNA.”

“I never thought of that,” she smiled. “Maybe my parents were from this area. Thank you for saying that.”

“We have to call Montana, Ryan, Doug, or someone. They’re going to want to know what’s going on here, and we can’t wait,” said Mav.

“It’s 0400 there,” said Brax. “I’m going to bet that Doug won’t be happy about being woken. Ryan should be up participating in PT with the others. Should we wait until morning at a decent hour? It should be fine to wait another hour or two.”

“I don’t think we can wait. Those guys were determined to take her tonight for some reason, and when they failed, that will only make their superiors unhappy. The agency will send more men, and we’ll be caught in the middle. We need to get our release now and get the fuck out of here, and there’s only one way to do that.”

CHAPTER FIVE

“Listen to me, all of you,” said Doug. “No matter what, protect her with your life. I know you will even if I don’t say it, but what’s in her pretty little head could be used in weaponry, war, finance, you name it. We want to harness that technology and put it to good use, not bad. We have to have that here so that it doesn’t get in the wrong hands.”

“Doug, we know, brother. But we need someone to make a call and get us released from active duty now instead of two weeks from now, or we’re sitting ducks until you guys can get here,” said Saint.

“It’s already done,” said JT. “Dad and Nine called in some favors. We’ll take care of the paperwork at our end. You’ll do an exit interview virtually, and everything should be good. Katelyn? Whatever you need, honey, just tell the boys, and they’ll get it. Chipper is on his way to pick you all up.”

“What about the agency?” asked Mav. “Those bastards have bloodhounds usually following you everywhere. They won’t like that she got away.”

“I’m making some calls,” said Ivan. “So are Alec and Ani.”

“Thanks, Grandpa,” smiled Brax. He looked at Katelyn, her face filled with sadness and loss. “Hey? You okay?”

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