Cyber Dawn (A Ben Raine Novel) (19 page)

Sarah laughed. “Up until about three hours ago, that would’ve been pretty funny.”

“Kinda still is,” I said.

“So you believe Megan now?”

I shrugged, and said, “I don’t want to. But the dates on that email . . .” I sat back in the chair and took a deep breath, “. . . something isn’t right. And somehow CyberLife is involved.”

“I agree,” she said as we finished eating. “Let’s sleep on it. We’ll figure more out tomorrow.”

I helped her put the dishes away and then followed her back into the family room. I looked down at the couch, and said, “Your mom won’t come home and freak out when she sees me, will she?”

“Nah, she’s working a double. Besides, she’s used to me bringing home strange boys.”

I laughed.

Dead tired and still enough energy to crack jokes.
Or, at least, I hoped it was a joke.

“The bathroom is right there if you need to clean up,” she said, pointing at a door in the apartment’s only hallway. “I think you’ll find a spare toothbrush under the counter. I’m going to put on some dry clothes.”

I sat on the couch and pulled off my wet shoes.

“Sorry I don’t have any for you,” Sarah said. “Pretty sure my sweat pants won’t fit though.”

“No problem,” I replied, too tired to care.

I walked to the bathroom and cleaned up as well as I could. After I finished, I returned to the couch, and for the first time in what seemed like days, laid my head back and closed my eyes.

Just as I started to doze off, I heard a noise in the hallway. Sarah walked into the living room, a blanket and pillow in her hands. Her brown hair was down and rested neatly on her shoulders. She had changed into a pair of pajama pants and a tight-fitting tank top that revealed an inch of skin along her waistline.

Okay, now I’m staring,
I thought.

It was impossible not to.

I sat up and reached out to take the blanket and pillow. “Thanks,” I said.

Instead of handing them to me, she placed the pillow on my lap and lay down. She turned to face me, her head resting on the pillow. We stared at each other.

She smiled.

All of the exhaustion I felt not two minutes before vanished. With a confidence I didn’t feel, I rested my hand on her stomach, bent down, and placed my lips onto hers.

“Took you long enough,” she said as we kissed.

I laughed and kissed her harder. Our kissing was slow and lazy, each of us too exhausted to go any faster. How long we kissed, I don’t know. Eventually we pulled apart, locked eyes for a brief moment, then shared a smile.

Without saying anything, Sarah curled up and pulled the blanket over her legs. I stared at the top of her head in disbelief. I was exhausted and mentally drained, but my heart was about to leap through my chest.

Say something, Ben, anything!

Before I could get any words out, she said, “I said don’t be weird about it. We’re just sleeping.”

Who am I to protest?

I gently placed my arm over her back and closed my eyes.

After a few moments of silence, she whispered, “You get it now?”

I smiled.

“Yeah, I get it now.”

29

After eating a quick breakfast, we took a short bus ride to the Starbucks near our school to get my Jeep. I thought of Sofia and was glad she’d left for the weekend. Not only because I didn’t want her home if CyberLife was lurking around, but also because I hadn’t been home since Friday morning. Not the easiest thing to explain. Having not seen or heard from her since then, I fired off a quick text message.

Hey Sofia, all is good here. See you soon. —B

After getting two giant cups of coffee, we were back on the highway headed south to Boulder. A light snow continued to fall. Typical for an early November storm, it was wet and not collecting on the roads.

Ten minutes into the drive, and despite the giant cup of coffee we each bought, Sarah was already curled up in the seat. Her eyes were closed and her head rested against the Jeep’s padded roll bar. I pulled a spare jacket out from behind my seat and placed it over her legs.

As I drove, my mind swirled with conflicting emotions. Between how much Megan’s death still hurt and how excited I felt about Sarah, who made my heart skip a beat every time I looked at her. Throw in the growing sense that we were getting in way over our heads, and that overwhelmed feeling I’d had all week only grew worse and worse.

You’re putting her in danger, Ben. After Carter, it’s time to get her out.

Thirty minutes later, we entered the outskirts of Boulder. I reached over and gently touched Sarah on the shoulder. She stirred, but kept her eyes shut.

“We’re almost there,” I whispered.

“Leave me alone, I’m tired,” she replied, a slight smile on her face.

A minute later she opened her eyes and sat up straight. “Where are we?”

“A mile from Carter’s house.”

“I was out that long? Sorry.”

“No problem. I’m glad one of us got some more rest. If I fall asleep on Carter’s couch, give me a nudge.”

“Sure,” she replied. “Assuming he’s home. And that he lets us in.”

Carter’s neighborhood sat along the hillside overlooking north Boulder. I parked in front of his house, which had a funky modern look to it. Brown siding and large, floor to ceiling windows. The shades were drawn and the front door was closed. I noticed the mailbox and pointed. Written in white-stenciled letters was the name Carter.

“Okay, I guess this is it,” I said. “What next?”

“Just follow my lead. I have a plan.”

“Plan?”

Sarah grinned. “Yep. Walk up to the door and knock.”

We climbed out of my Jeep and walked the driveway to the front door. I rang the doorbell and could hear movement and voices inside.

After a few moments, a man cracked open the door. I knew right away it was Dr. Carter. He looked a few years older than the picture we found on the CPH network. But, even without the beard, it was definitely the man I had seen dozens of times during my stay at the hospital. He was tall and had brown hair mixed with strands of gray. He wore a pair of reading glasses, khaki pants and a long sleeved, button-down shirt.

Before either Sarah or I could speak, he said, “Not interested in buying your cookies, your coupon cards, or anything else.”

He promptly shut the door.

I glanced sideways at Sarah. She turned and gave me a tense smile. Oddly, seeing her nervous helped calm my nerves.

I knocked again.

The door opened quicker this time. Before Carter could repeat his demand, I said, “Dr. Carter, we’re not selling anything. We’d like to talk with you about CyberLife.”

Carter tried to hide his surprise, but I saw through it. Dropping the CyberLife name had grabbed his attention.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said sharply. He tried to slam the door shut, but I slipped my foot in between the door and the jamb. Carter shoved against my foot several times, but titanium-alloy trumped wood every time.

“Now listen here, young man,” he said. “You need to leave, or I’m calling the police.”

“Dr. Carter, please,” I said.

“Allen, who’s at the door?” called a woman’s voice.

“Just a couple of kids selling something, dear,” Carter growled. “I’m handling it.”

I peered inside at the woman, who I assumed was Carter’s wife. She was tall, thin, and had shoulder-length blonde hair. Like Carter, she wore a pair of reading glasses.

When she caught sight of Sarah and me, she narrowed her eyes and scowled at her husband. “Allen, let those two kids in,” she said. “It’s freezing out. I’ll get my checkbook.”

“We’re not interested,” Dr. Carter said over his shoulder, again trying to push the door closed.

Sarah grabbed my arm. “Ben, maybe we should . . .”

I nodded and pulled my foot out.

The door slammed shut.

“It was worth a try,” Sarah said.

“Yeah,” I replied. “He definitely doesn’t want to talk about Cyber—”

The door suddenly opened

“Your name is Ben?” Carter asked. He pushed his reading glasses up to his eyes and squinted at me.

I gulped, and said, “Yeah. Ben Raine.”

The doctor’s eyes flashed wide. He shook his head rapidly. “That’s not possible.”

“Why is that?” I asked.

“Because Ben Raine is dead. He died six years ago.”

30

Dr. Carter didn’t laugh. His eyes bored into me.

I glanced sideways at Sarah. Her face was pale.

“Allen, let those two kids in,” the woman called.

Carter sighed and, without another word, stepped aside and motioned for us to enter. As we passed, his eyes stayed glued to my face.

We followed him into the living room and sat next to each other on the couch. Carter sat in a leather club chair across from us. Mrs. Carter walked into the room and gave Sarah and me a warm smile.

“Can I get either of you something?” she asked. “Hot chocolate? Tea? Coffee?”

“Coffee,” we answered in unison.

Mrs. Carter smiled again and then turned to face her husband. “You behave. Don’t be stingy.”

Dr. Carter frowned.

After his wife left the room, I asked, “Dead?”

“All of the Alphas died,” Carter replied, nodding his head. “It’s why Merrick shut the program down.”

I thought back to the medical records Sarah and I pored through earlier. Each had been labeled Alpha one through seven.

“Alphas?” Sarah asked.

“Yes, the original seven prototypes for the Titan program. Ben here was one of them—Alpha 7 if I recall.”

“There were six others?” I asked, shocked. The entire time on campus and I’d never seen another . . . well, me.

“Yes.”

“All kids?”

“Yes,” he repeated, before continuing. “Titan was the official name for the program. But most of us just called it Alpha. It was CyberLife’s first experimental cybernetics initiative. The Alphas were the seven test subjects. All were kids, about your age at the time. The first came to CyberLife six months before you. He . . . died a few weeks after surgery.”

I swallowed hard. The obvious next question was
they all died?
But I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. Not yet anyway. Instead, I asked, “Did you say the program was shut down?”

Again, Carter nodded. “She came to us one day in a staff meeting,” he said quietly. “Told us the Alpha Seven prototype—you—had died, and that she was shutting the program down. Years of research, over just like that. Security walked each of us to our desks, packed everything into plastic containers, and walked us out. I was with CyberLife for almost twenty years, so they simply retired me. Some of the younger team members just got let go.”

“She?” Sarah asked.

“Maya Sage, one of Merrick’s executives,” Carter answered. His eyes flashed with anger. “He didn’t have the guts to tell us himself.”

“Why did they tell you I was dead?” I asked.

“You know Merrick. He was, and probably still is, crazy about secrets,” Carter answered. “Now that I see you’re alive, I’m guessing he just turned Alpha over to another team. Probably wanted to compartmentalize the program to reduce the risk of leaks. Or maybe he needed a team with higher security clearance than the one I was on. Who knows? I haven’t been in contact with CyberLife in years. The NDA scares everyone. Myself included.”

“So there were just the seven of us? Seven Alphas?”

Carter hesitated. His eyes welled up.

“Seven that I know of,” he finally said. “There were rumors of another. But whether she was Alpha 8 or part of the newer Beta program, I don’t know. I was retired before I had the chance to meet her or confirm she even existed.”

“How did they die?” Sarah asked.

I braced myself.

“A variety of things I guess,” Carter said, shrugging. “Mostly system failure. You have to understand, these kids were sick to begin with—
very sick
. All had just survived a battle with cancer. And we were trying to interface their still-recovering bodies with an experimental cybernetic system.”

Carter paused and wiped his eyes.

“It was . . . more complicated than we expected. Their bodies treated the cybernetic augments as infections, ultimately overwhelming and shutting down the immune system.”

“How did I survive?” I asked.

Carter slowly shook his head. “I have no idea, Benjamin. Until ten minutes ago, I didn’t know you were alive. Can you tell me what happened?”

I described the major events that took place while I lived on the CyberLife campus. Dr. Carter hung onto every word. He alternated between shaking his head and nodding. When I got to the part about my neural implant, his eyes brightened and he threw his hands up in the air.

“Remarkable!” he exclaimed. “He did it. That bastard did it!”

Just then, Mrs. Carter stepped into the room.

“You seem awfully excited,” she said.