Chapter 36

Setting McGowan’s guards’ car on fire was, above and beyond a criminal act, a threatening statement. It said, as McGowan rightly concluded, that just as McGowan could hurt them, Stone and Danders were capable of hurting him. McGowan did not contact his police chief brother to have them arrested.

It also was a message Stone wanted to send that might drive McGowan to a different location. If he could accomplish that, then Stone might be able to separate the scientists McGowan was employing from him, delay McGowan’s rollout, and give Danders and him more time to distribute their version of it.

The extraction had to be done at McGowan’s estate, since Stone and Danders had no idea where McGowan was heading. They couldn’t risk doing it in an unfamiliar location, where god knows who would be watching.

Once they had left and gotten a safe distance from McGowan’s, they contacted Murphy and Summa who, after they recovered from the shock of getting Stone’s call and were promised large payments, agreed to create a diversion.

Stone tried to contact Lewis to have him participate, but the call went into voicemail. He didn’t leave a message.

Within minutes Murphy and Summa showed up. When Stone gave a signal, they were to drive up to McGowan’s front door, get out of their car, and start yelling at McGowan. McGowan, having threatened them with bodily harm if they ever showed their faces, would take the time to deal with their appearance. This would give Stone and Danders the opportunity to spirit the scientists away.

And so it was. Once McGowan and the scientists came out of the house, Stone gave the signal to Summa, and the events unfolded as planned. Stone and Danders escorted the scientists to Stone’s truck and drove away hearing a lot of McGowan shouting but no sign of resistance, while Summa and Murphy ran back to Summa’s car, and drove nonchalantly past the smoldering guardhouse, and headed to Stone’s office.

McGowan had taken precautions to guard against the smallest chance that Chen and Lis would try to escape or be taken before they completed their work. He gave them each a pair of wireless noise-canceling ear buds to use when they needed quiet. Without mentioning it, he included, free of charge, an additional tiny transmitter in each, allowing him to know their location. He congratulated himself for his foresight, while chastising himself for having such a lousy organization that needed saving by a precaution.

Stone and Danders knew both of the scientists they had extracted. Alphonse Chen and Mona Lis began their careers in information technology working for Stone. Brilliant both, they left to start their own company several years later. While not specifically working on the development of thought-reading, they were familiar with what was being done in that regard, making them ideally suited for McGowan’s needs. When Stone explained what McGowan was going to use their talents for, they were grateful to have been extracted and pledged to help in any way possible. They knew that McGowan would try to get them back; Stone asked if McGowan gave them anything. The ear buds were left in a trashcan outside a restaurant a mile from McGowan’s estate.

Stone drove them to the only safe place he had, his office. There they met with Summa and Murphy. Stone and Danders wanted Chen and Lis to be as safe as possible. Together, the six of them came up with a plan where Stone and Murphy would travel to Maryland to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to bring them a copy of the invention, and Danders and Summa would head to the Department of Defense in Washington to do the same. While at McGowan’s estate, Stone and Danders had done their best to convince him that they were stepping away from the invention. But they knew that he would not take stock in that for long. Now, having lost Chen and Lis, he had to be in a full court press mode, searching everywhere for them. The six of them needed to fall below McGowan’s radar and get to their destinations.

Stone, Danders, Summa, Murphy, Chen, and Lis went out the back of the office building, through the woods, and up the trail until they reached the garage owned by Stone’s friend. Seeing no one in the vicinity, they got into the blue truck parked in the garage and drove to White Plains, New York, where two of Stone’s service buddies waited in the train station. Their job was to take Chen, Lis, and their families, to a safe place and protect them until McGowan’s need for them was over. Chen and Lis were given wigs, facial hair, and changes of clothing to disguise them. When they left, Chen left from one exit with one of Stone’s friends, and Lis left from another exit a few minutes later with the other. Traveling in separate cars, it was hoped that McGowan’s people would not be able to track them. Fifteen minutes later Stone, Danders, Summa, and Murphy left the station in the truck.

Led by the GPS signal from the ear buds, McGowan, wearing the eyeglasses, was in the restaurant, looking for Chen and Lis. They weren’t seated anywhere.

“Check the rest rooms,” he told Straight.

A frightened woman in the ladies' room yelled at Straight, and told him to get out, accusing him of being a pervert. She was going to speak to the owner and have him arrested, she said. Straight showed her the gun he was carrying and advised her to say nothing. Her eyes grew wide and her voice went quiet. She nodded meekly and ran from the restroom. McGowan saw what happened by seeing the woman’s thoughts about the gun as she ran past. His concern for Straight’s state of mind was validated. He was clearly losing his composure.

“They’re not here,” Straight told McGowan after checking out the men’s room. “What do you want to do?”

“Check around the building and the parking lot. I’m still getting a signal.”

A few minutes later, once they determined that Chen and Lis were not in the parking lot, McGowan’s suspicions were confirmed: the pods were found when Straight dumped an outside trashcan onto the sidewalk.

McGowan revised his plans and ordered everyone back to his estate. Losing Chen and Lis to Stone was going to slow the speed of the implementation of the invention. McGowan was ready to take Stone out. Straight seemed nuts enough to give it a try, but he and McGowan had no idea where Stone was.

“Goddamn it!” he shouted into the phone. “The truck didn’t disappear. Check every camera within a twenty-mile radius of my house and see where it went. And do it fast,” McGowan told his brother Bert.

Bert had some information when he called back.

“The truck is in the lot at Stone’s building. You’ll never guess whose car is there, too.”

“A hearse for you? Listen you stupid bastard. I have no time for your inanities.”

“Summa’s.”

“What? I put the fear of god in him.”

“Obviously.”

“Who got out of the car?”

“Summa and Murphy. They look like they are scared shitless.”

“I see their smiles, jackass.”

“So the car and the red truck haven’t moved?”

“No.”

“We’ve tried and failed before to get into that building. But I don’t think Stone would stay there. Any other action in that area over the past hour?”

“Couple of kids playing basketball.”

“When I rule the world, and it won’t be long from now, there won’t be a place in it for you. Any cars or trucks in the last hour?”

“Looks like there were two cars and a blue truck, all from the street behind Stone’s building. It looks like the cars belong to people who live in the neighborhood. Same thing with the truck...wait, I saw six people getting into it a while ago. I see Stone, Danders…”

“Get me the make and license.”

Got ya now, Stone.

From White Plains, the quartet traveled south and west and eventually picked up I-95. Two miles from Newark, New Jersey, Stone drove into a self-serve car wash. The blue truck they rode in with was white when they left, the blue having come off with the soap and water. Only being exposed to a heavy rain for an extended period of time would have otherwise removed the blue coloring. In Newark, he and Danders rented cars from different companies, using aliases, and the four split up. With all these precautionary steps taken, McGowan was going to have a hard time tracking the people he most needed. Stone planned all along to distract McGowan from using the invention before he could give it away; the short amount of time he had with McGowan led him to believe that he lacked the discipline to track down a guy who had a good plan. He had to be better at finding Stone than Stone was at hiding from him. So far McGowan was losing; he wasted so much time chasing after Stone that by the time Stone and Murphy were on their way to Maryland, he was only then learning about the blue truck.

Stone and Danders were wearing the newly developed contact lenses, which Murphy and Summa knew nothing about. As soon as she and Summa got the unexpected call from Stone, Murphy began planning to ingratiate herself with Stone. She wanted as big a piece of the invention pie as she could get, and would use sex to accomplish this, not solely because it might make it easier, but because it would be satisfying. From the beginning of time, all animals have used sex to get something, and used something to get sex. It is a primordial-based continuum that will never be important to our Artificial Intelligence replacements.

She knew that having sex with Stone was unlikely, given his seeming obsession with delivering the invention to the people in Maryland. Still, she tried. She adamantly refused separate rooms or separate beds when they found a place to stay in Baltimore. They were thirty miles from Bethesda, Maryland and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Stone had connections to get into the building after hours, but he decided that McGowan wasn’t going to find them. He, like Murphy, had decided to try.

Murphy told Stone that she forgot to pack her nightgown when she came out of the shower wearing a towel. Her black hair was still wet, she wore no makeup, nail polish, or jewelry; Stone had never seen her look as beautiful. He saw what she was thinking, which was what he was thinking; he told her it was his turn to get cleaned up. Brushing by her as he headed for the shower, he tugged on her towel. She let it fall to the floor. Without looking back, he continued on and closed the door behind him. He took out the contact lens. She waited until she heard the shower and went in.

It was good. Exhaustion was disregarded; ecstasy was regarded. They fell asleep without having spoken about the invention.

The next morning, they wanted nothing else to do but stay in bed. Their mission was more important than whatever their feelings towards each other now were; they compromised and spent one hour more together.

Finally, after some breakfast and a shower, they were back on the road. Stone mentioned how much they had been paid for the invention—whether it was a typical short-term infatuation he and Murphy were experiencing or not, she deserved to know. Two trillion is a number thought of when thinking about grains of sand at a beach, or objects in the sky, not dollars. Murphy forced herself to try. She gave up in delirious defeat.

She agreed wholeheartedly, however, that others besides McGowan must have the invention, especially after Stone let her use the contact lens and she saw first-hand how advanced it was. Keeping an eye on the cars they passed, she saw what people were thinking. She found it difficult to keep her eyes looking for anyone working for McGowan who might be keeping an eye on them, as fascinated as she was with what she was seeing.

Danders’ and Summa’s trip aroused no similar feelings. They had separate rooms at their motel; Danders didn’t show Summa the contact lens; and they spoke little. They both carried guns, and Summa was especially vigilant looking for anyone who might be looking for them.

Danders called Stone and they kept the line open in the event that something happened to either of them. Stone had called a friend in the Department of Defense, and she was waiting for their arrival. He had not told her specifically what the meeting was about, but did say that it involved a matter of national security. She knew him well enough to know that it was.

Other scientists could work with McGowan, but none as experienced and capable as Chen and Lis. McGowan had to scramble to find two and get transportation to bring them to his estate. He acknowledged that Stone had done such a good job remaining undetected that he was envious; proving again how insecure the most powerful person in the world was. Many people consider the President of the United States to be the most powerful person in the world. They are fooling themselves. The person who benefits the most from disorder is the most powerful. That is Evan McGowan, a man who is unafraid to create chaos, which he is doing by being unafraid to control the world.

While current President Strump loves to create disorder, his insecurities paralyze him and he’s incapable of bold action.

Five hours later, McGowan had the replacement scientists working with him. By then, Stone and Murphy were in the parking lot outside the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, and Danders and Summa were approaching the Department of Defense.

McGowan wasn’t conceding anything. Because Stone and Danders were traveling towards Washington, D.C., he had to assume that they were going to alert the feds about the sale of the invention. He incorrectly believed that his version was the preeminent one, but if Stone and Danders lent the wrong people in government their expertise, they might quickly have one equal to his, or better. So he advised his employees at sites to where Stone and Danders might head to watch for them. Two sites in Washington were the Pentagon and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, another the Central Intelligence Agency in Virginia. The Department of Defense alone has over three million employees, counting civilians, and while he had hundreds of employees there and the other two agencies, what were the odds that Stone and Danders would be seen? McGowan never considered the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, one of the few places that he didn’t have an employee.

Two-star Army General Rod Steele was set to meet with Stone and Danders. Steele had access to the Secretary of Defense, and was not on McGowan’s payroll. Knowing that McGowan was using his assets to find and intercept them, they did their best to be inconspicuous. Two blocks before reaching a garage on Army Navy Drive, Summa got out of the car and began the ten-minute walk to the Pentagon. Danders drove on to the garage, parked, and began his walk. They walked apart from each other until they reached the security checkpoint.

General Steele surprised not only a large crowd waiting to take a tour, but the guards at the checkpoint as well, by showing up to escort Danders and Summa inside. Danders and Stone had served under the general in Iraq; Danders recognized the general immediately. Upstairs, pleasantries were kept short; the general was pumped. Thought-reading was something akin to military nirvana.

The Pentagon was a player in the thought-reading development race; once Danders showed General Steele how advanced their system was, Steele ordered all computer engineers and scientists working on the Department of Defense project to sign on through their secure network in one hour to see Stone’s and Danders’ version and to ask questions. The Secretary of Defense was going to be given a demonstration during that hour. McGowan’s employees included two of the engineers and scientists contacted by Steele’s order; they were powerless to stop the demonstration, but they were going to see for themselves the most important invention the world has ever seen.

The Secretary of Defense was somewhat apprehensive about putting the contact lens in his eye, but when Steele assured him that it was safe, he couldn’t help but be excited by what he saw. Danders and Summa gave the Secretary the hardware and software; he in turn, apprised the president, who, over the Secretary of Defense’s objections, wanted his own demonstration. Danders and Summa were whisked away to the White House before they could respond to any of the many questions the computer people had submitted, leaving many of them with dropped jaws and renewed interest in the possibilities the project offered.

As they rode, Danders mentioned that an older version of the invention was sold to McGowan, and, with all due respect, the secretary and general should keep an eye on the computer people McGowan had working in the Department of Defense. Some of his people had undoubtedly seen the current version and would try to get it. Danders hoped that Steele was the same person that he and Stone knew in the service—honest, courageous, and patriotic. From what he saw as he read his thoughts, he seemed to be. In other words, he could be trusted to use the invention only to protect the country.