Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (this book - Book 3)
The house was quiet as Roy Valik moved down the hall to his home office. Midday trips to his home were rare for Valik, but with his staff getting the Enigma Project lab ready for a new round of testing, he had time to kill. He took a seat at his large oak desk and typed at his laptop computer.
As the screen came to life, the creaking of a floorboard in the doorway alerted him to a visitor. He looked up to see his teenaged son, Calvin Valik, standing in the doorway. Calvin was his mirror image, except instead of a mess of grey hair, Calvin had a short mop of dark hair on his head.
"Cal, shouldn't you be at..." He paused, trying to remember where Cal was working for the summer.
Cal stared at him, not answering.
"Where do you have your summer internship?" the elder Valik asked. He saw Cal's shoulders sag, but didn't give it a thought.
"At Hill Laboratories, Dad, in the research and development department. Remember?"
"You're smarter than everyone at that place. I really wish WarTech didn't have such a strict policy against family working together. I could have used you this summer."
A glimmer of a smile crept onto Cal's face, but again Roy Valik didn't notice. His attention was on the screen in front of him, as text scrolled past.
"You're not there today, Cal?"
"No, Dad. I took the day off. Mom and I got home late last night from yesterday's college visits."
Roy Valik cringed inwardly, but said nothing. This was at least the third college trip he had forgotten about, going back to the summer. Where had this one been? Pennsylvania? Cal was early in his senior year, so there wouldn't be many more.
Cal broke a few moments of uncomfortable silence. "And why are you home, Dad?"
"Double checking to make sure something is working properly. Come over here, and I'll show you."
Cal walked around the desk and stood behind his father. Roy Valik slid open a drawer on his desk, revealing a square black box with blue lights on the front.
"That looks like a network attached storage device," Cal said.
"It is. 128 terabytes, to be exact. This is how I make sure I preserve my research at WarTech. The company keeps its own backups, at remote servers in Ohio and Texas. But I keep my own backups, too, which happen remotely from the headquarters to here. It happens automatically a few times a day."
"They let you do that?"
"Of course not. There are many protocols and security precautions in place, to make sure the company retains all the research. But, like you, I'm smarter than anyone there. It was fairly easy to figure out a way around it. It intercepts the legitimate backups after they leave the company servers, but before they reach the remote backups, and sends a copy here. The interception happens just outside the network, so it's almost impossible to detect. They encrypt them, of course, but I have the encryption keys."
"Aren't you worried you'll get caught?"
Roy Valik snickered. "No. They'll never find out. And if they do, it's set up in a way they can't trace it back to me. They'll think it was corporate espionage by a competitor."
Cal nodded, but said nothing.
"Cal, you're the one person smart enough to understand my research. If anything would ever happen to WarTech and me, you could keep the research alive. I keep the password to access these drives in the safe in the corner."
Roy Valik looked up and noticed for the first time the effect his praise had on his son. Cal was beaming from ear to ear. But then Cal's expression changed as his brow furrowed.
"If anything happened to you? What does that mean, Dad?"
"In WarTech's line of work, certain lines are crossed at times. It's the nature of the business. And people in high positions — higher than mine — can sometimes act out of desperation, to hide mistakes. I can't say more. I don't make the decisions at WarTech, but if the decision makers go down, they'd take me down with them."
"Dad, now you're scaring me."
"I'm sorry, Cal. No need to be scared. The chance of anything happening is one in a million."
He said the words, but after Sapphire Angel's visit to WarTech, he wasn't so sure he believed it. Devlin had told him she was trying to find a computer programmer who had worked for WarTech and disappeared, but there was probably more to it than that. Devlin wouldn't share more with him, though. And then there was Devlin himself. Valik was all but certain the CEO was inflating the company's stock price, by having his financial people doctor the company's books. Valik had no part in that — in fact, his inventions and advancements should have made the company a fortune — but regulators wouldn't see it that way. They'd take anyone down who had a leadership role.
Sapphire Angel was intriguing, that was for sure. He could only hope the scans from her visit would help him in his research. If so, any trouble caused by her visit would be well worth it.
Detective Will Cooper walked into the office of his counterpart, Detective Vernon Clark, who studied a stack of papers on his desk.
"What's up, Coop?" Clark growled, his eyes moving from the papers, to Cooper's expensive shoes, to the detective's young face.
"Vern," Cooper began in a confident voice. "Have you given any more thought to the guy that's gone missing? The one Sapphire Angel and the other girl were pestering us about?"
"I've been too busy, Coop. Sad story, though. I wish we could do something."
Cooper stuck his hands in his pockets and gave a slow nod.
"Damn shame," Cooper muttered. "Do you think we should make time for it?"
Clark sighed and sat back, resting his hands on his rotund stomach.
"There's lots of things we should make time for, Coop," Clark replied. "But there's politics around here, and we need to work on what we're told to work on. That's just the way it is. Why are you asking all of a sudden?"
Cooper shrugged. "I was talking to Jennings. That's all. It got me wondering if anybody else thought the way she thought."
Clark scowled. "Don't let her get your ear, boy. She'll cause you nothing but trouble. Just keep your head down and do your job."
Cooper pursed his lips, as if to speak, but remained silent.
"You got it, kid?" Clark asked. "You're not going to do something stupid, are you?"
"No, of course not," Cooper said, but as he turned and left the office, he wasn't so sure something stupid wouldn't be in his future.
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (this book - Book 3)
What a compIicated dynamic between Roy VaIik and his son CaIvin. Kinda humanizes him more and makes him more than just that creep scientist back at the institute. At Ieast Roy doesn't entireIy negIect his son, but at the same time, there does appear to be gaps in his memory regarding his son's Iife. But at any rate.....CaIvin couId potentiaIIy be a Ioose end. Even if Sapphire were to find out exactIy what's going on with DevIin, VaIik, and the rest of WarTech, there's aIways the possibiIity of CaIvin continuing everything, Iike Roy aIIuded to back there. Then again, weve ended the previous two noveIs with Ioose ends before (Azari, the siIver-eyed man, OIivia Lockheed, Raven Tristan, MacGregor Lockheed, etc.), so I wouldn't be surprised if CaIvin is aIso stiII standing after aII of this. It's so satisfying how just one visit from Sapphire is enough to make everyone at WarTech panic and start Iosing their minds. In their mind, they KNOW that they've done something wrong and now she's there to Iook into it. Just her being there is probabIy going to make them change their pIan of attack entireIy, Iike WheIdon and his crew before them. Then again, she is a superhero, so it's not Iike she's an average person to begin with.
It Iooks Iike Cooper's starting to come around to his senses, though, from what that ending section impIied. Maybe there ARE other officers besides Jennings who don't sit idIe and eat doughnuts aII day, but I guess we'II see about that Iater! CIark couId stiII be a probIem, though, I'd imagine. If Cooper decides to turn taiI and coIIaborate with Jennings, there's no doubt that CIark wouId be on his taiI in seconds. Hope he stays safe.....
Cooper, not CIark. That was cIear, right? As it stands right now, CIark can go hit himseIf with WheIdon's Iaser, for aII I care. It was made to breach the waIIs of a nucIear pIant, so I'd think it wouId be pretty powerfuI.
Let's see where Beth and Conner's investigation Ieads them now. Gavin definiteIy didn't heIp them at aII.....unIess Sapphire might be up to the task.....? CouId get messy, though.
Wonder where Mantis is. Maybe he's getting some Chick-FiI-A or something. I hear their biscuits are deIectabIe.