Page 43 of Code Name: Outlaw

He would’ve liked her to sleep. The lack of rest—even for very good reasons like sinking into her soft body and driving them both crazy—wasn’t helping either of their focus or energy. But Jenna was near buzzing with the need to help this newest robot, so Mark didn’t press her to rest.

He knew what it was to push exhaustion to the side to complete a mission. He wouldn’t rob her of that.

The hospital had already sent initial blood work from the robot for her to look at. She wouldn’t be able to do full and true diagnostics until they arrived and she had the lab equipment she needed, but she was attempting to narrow down the effects of the tail based on what she’d learned from losing Brett Cochran.

“I need to focus on compounds that affect memory,” Jenna said.

“Why do you think that?”

“It’s what I would do if I were Joaquin. If you’re going to leave a tail that affects a robot’s health, might as well kill two birds with one stone by making it something that affects memory. That way, if a robot does survive, he or she won’t remember anything.”

“Smart. The robots couldn’t provide any info about computers or let law enforcement know what was really happening.”

“It’s next level plausible deniability. They wouldn’t be lying, they genuinely would have no memory of anything. They wouldn’t be able to recall it even if someone put them into a hypnotic state.”

He squeezed the steering wheel. “So the tail might serve multiple purposes: erasing the robots’ memories and eliminating them altogether if they’re caught. It would also keep the robots coming back to him for theirfix.”

“Maybe these are tests,” Jenna said. “We only know about a few robots, but there are probably dozens. If some of the robots are able to get in and out of their location without detection, maybe he’ll escalate to trying to do something that isn’t masked by a break-in.”

Mark could think of a thousand ways Joaquin could escalate his use of robots, and none of them was good.

Jenna fell quiet, and he heard the telltale sounds of her focusing and typing, following the leads from their discussion.

Thankfully, there wasn’t any traffic on the way to Durango, so they’d made good time. Callum was on top of the logistics, for which Mark was grateful. Jenna needed to focus on saving the next victim’s life, and Mark wanted his only focus to be on her.

He shifted, feeling a tingle in his leg.

Not now, he begged his body. He couldn’t have a flare-up now. Jenna needed him to be in top form, end of story. That was what needed to happen. Not this bullshit he couldn’t control.

Grinding his teeth, he focused on the road and getting to the hospital once they reached Durango. This was a much smaller town than Albuquerque.

“We’re definitely on the right track about Joaquin accessing computers. Callum just sent me the info about the latest robot’s break-in. Bookstore this robot robbed is right next to a backup for the Department of Transportation.”

Mark made a face. “Transportation. Why would he want access to that?”

“I’m not sure. None of these servers holds high-level data,” Jenna said. “Maybe he’s trying to gather information that might give him leverage for what he’s really after. It’s impossible to know.”

Mark made a turn. “The DOT is in charge of all federal transportation projects and the safety regulations. If he wanted to cause havoc, that would certainly be one way to do it.”

“True.”

He could sabotage the construction of a bridge or cause problems in air traffic control safety. Mark didn’t love the idea of even these lower-level agencies being breached, given the things they could affect.

Joaquin was cunning enough to realize that he didn’t need to have his hands on a nuclear bomb to wreak havoc. Little bits of power collected over time could do plenty of damage as a whole.

Joaquin had to be stopped, and not just because of the people whose lives he was stealing then leaving for dead. He had to be stopped before he could complete whatever his bigger plan was.

“We’re almost there,” Mark told Jenna.

“Good.” She sounded confident. “We’re starting in a much better place this time.”

Pulling up to the doors of the hospital, he was surprised to find Callum waiting there in the flesh.

“Callum is here.”

“What?”

“He’s standing outside. I don’t know why. He didn’t tell me he would be here.”

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