Page 66 of Bit's Bliss
“What else, Trevino?”
He took a deep breath. “Next, he’s gonna come after you and maybe even your uncle, if he’s figured out he controls your trust fund.”
I should be lying on the floor in the fetal position, except instead, I felt oddly empowered. As though every word he’d said made me see things clearly.
“I’m in danger.”
“I’ll die before I let him get to you.”
I felt the air leave my lungs, and I clung to him, trying to catch my breath.
“Eberly? What’s wrong?”
“My dad said almost the same thing. ‘I’d sooner die than let you get your hands on it or her.’”
“And maybe that’s what happened. Maybe your dad went after him.”
“Do you think Tiernan will kill him?”
He opened his mouth to speak, then shut it.
“Say it!” I demanded.
Trevino’s eyes bored into mine. “If he hasn’t already.”
“But I just talked to him.”
“Did you? Are you certain?”
I let his words settle in. He was right. I wasn’t certain.
“Ashford’s calling,” he said when his cell rang.
“Go ahead.”
“Hey, Deck. Eberly and I are both here. You’re on speaker. Were you able to analyze the call?”
He cleared his throat. “I’ll hand it to you, young Avila; you’re gettin’ smarter and smarter the longer you work with me.”
“Cut to the chase, Deck.”
“You were right. No question it’s a deepfake.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“It’s more commonly used to describe videos that have been digitally altered by using deep-learning artificial intelligence,” Decker responded. “In essence, it’s used to make it appear like a person said or did things they never did. It’s imperceptible unless the video, or in this case audio, is closely analyzed. It was apparent almost immediately that your father’s side of the conversation was fake.”
“How?”
“You can duplicate a person’s voice but not their style, if you will. His voice lacked the inflection that would be inherent to what he was saying. In other words, it was too flat. Taking it a step further, it was easy to confirm by the number of imperfections in the audio signal. It’s a byproduct of the process.”
A few minutes ago, I felt empowered. Now, I started to shake. With every passing second, it got worse.
“Decker, I need to cut this short.” Trevino ended the call, gathered me in his arms, and carried me into the bedroom. “Fuck, I wish we were at the ranch,”he muttered, lying beside me after resting me on the mattress.
“Take me there.”
He angled his head so our eyes met. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea right now.”
