“Now that we are all friends, how are we going to solve our Delta problem?” Natasha said.

“What’s Delta?” Dahlia asked.

Natasha pointed at Melissa.

“Perhaps she can explain.”

Dahlia looked Melissa over for a long moment.

“Yes, I’m eager to learn of Delta,” Dahlia said.

Melissa explained how her father planned to transfer April’s consciousness to Delta so she could control Leviathan. Melissa didn’t trust Dahlia, Hunter, or Jony. There was something about Jony she hadn’t noticed while at the Shadow Dealers—something familiar. Had she met him before? The situation made her feel uncomfortable.

“This all sounds . . . unlikely. I thought you would give us some real intel,” Dahlia said.

Melissa didn’t offer any additional information.

“What do you think, Jony?” Dahlia asked.

Jony appeared restless, like he wanted to be anywhere else.

“I think the AI called Leviathan is plausible. I have seen prototypes at universities. I had the chance to see one at Big Blue Box Corp. The bloody thing beat several contestants on a game show!” Jony said.

A flash of memory hit Melissa. I’ve seen him before, at a party. All those years ago.

“I saw Leviathan in action while I was doing my recon at the Mason castle,” Hunter said.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“You were there? When?” Melissa asked.

“We also had a paper trail on your father. I went there to assess the situation. I overheard your squabble with Daddy,” Hunter said.

Melissa gave Hunter a murderous look. He didn’t seem to notice.

“Would it be possible for the AI to hack into servers?” Dahlia said.

“Not without extensive supervised learning, and even then, it’s unlikely,” Jony said.

Melissa examined Jony’s side profile. He was at the party, I’m certain of it. But his name was not Jony then.

“So, are you telling me that we need human hackers to teach the machine?” Dahlia said.

“Well . . . it’s more complicated, but it might be possible with a neural network interface that the AI could use,” Jony said.

“Like a cyborg?” Alexei asked.

“In theory, cyborgs would interface human tissue to an artificial neural network, but that’s impossible,” Jony said.

“You don’t know my father. He performs the impossible daily,” Melissa said.

“Did your father hire any elite hackers to aid him?” Dahlia asked.

Melissa noticed that Dahlia was giving her a glare.

“My father hires people all the time. I don’t know any of them,” Melissa said.

“Let me rephrase.” Dahlia rummaged for something in her pocket and produced a photo. “Did your father hire this man?”

Melissa looked at the photo for several seconds. That’s the drunken fool my father hired!

“I’ve seen him,” she said.

“Can you confirm his name?”

“Greg . . . Gregor, I think.”

Dahlia got up and stood next to Melissa, laying the photo in front of her. “Now, inspect the photo closer. Are you sure his name is Gregor?”

“Yes, err, I think—”

Dahlia backhanded Melissa hard enough to send her chair tumbling to the floor. Dahlia was on top of her in an instant.

“Look again!” Dahlia screamed.

“D—what’s the meaning—” Alexei tried to say, but Dahlia cut him off.

“This bitch is a traitor! She works with the Shadow Dealers, and she hired Gregor!” Dahlia hissed like an angry snake.

The room broke out into chaos. Alexei put himself between Melissa and Dahlia. Viktor tried restraining Dahlia. She slapped him for his trouble, but it didn’t seem to faze the man. Natasha grabbed Dahlia’s other hand. Hunter sat back and watched the show.

“Stop this at once!” Mr. Tage said.

Several of Mr. Tage’s men separated Dahlia from Melissa. Nigel escorted Melissa out of the room.