The Twenty-Four-Hour Bride Page 10

  “Hey, Colter. Sure am glad you dropped by. We could use your help.”

  Nick held out his hand. “Hello, Todd. Good to see you, too. What’s going on?”

  “Oh, not much. Seems we have a computer gone berserk. Sort of reminds me of those crazy science-fiction movies. You know the ones I mean? Where the mad computer traps innocent humans in an office building and then proceeds to kill them off one by one?”

  Nick lifted an eyebrow. “Gemini’s killing off people, is she?”

  “Not yet,” Todd admitted cheerfully.

  “But it’s only a matter of time,” Dani added.

  Shooting her a quelling look, Nick stalked to the access panel outside the front door. Typing in a series of numbers, he announced, “System override. Colter zero-zero-one. Status report.”

  “GOOD MORNING, MR. COLTER,” a Gem-like voice responded. “ONE MOMEAT FOR STATUS REPORT. SECURITY ONE ALERT. FULL LOCK DOWN IN PROGRESS.”

  “Cancel security alert.”

  “AUTHORIZATION CODE?”

  “Colter zero-zero-one.”

  “AUTHORIZATION REFUSED: ERROR NUMBER TWO-NINETEEN. HAVE A GOOD DAY, MR. COLTER.”

  Dani couldn’t help it.

  She laughed.

  Nick glared at the panel, not quite believing what he’d heard: “What the hell do you mean authorization denied?”

  “Told you.”

  He ignored his dear wife. It was difficult, but he managed. “This is Colter, authorization code zero-zero-one. Recalibrate.”

  “AUTHORIZATION DENIED.”

  “You can’t deny my authorization, you mechanical hunk of—”

  “DENIED! DENIED! DENIED!”

  Beside him, Dani snickered. The urge to cut loose with a blistering expletive almost overwhelmed him. He struggled to regain his control. “To hell with that,” he snarled. “Dani, get my cell phone out of the car.”

  “Like a good little wife?”

  At that precise instant he felt the most curious sensation he’d experienced in his entire life. A peculiar tingle started at the base of his spine, shot directly upward to his medulla oblongata and pulsed there for a brief moment before radiating throughout his skull. Slowly he turned. Dani took one look at his face and stepped backward.

  “I think I’m angry,” he said. His voice had acquired an odd, scratchy quality.

  “You think?” She stared, her black eyes so huge they threatened to swallow her whole. “You mean, you’re not sure?”

  “My brain appears to be off-line, so it’s a little difficult to determine at the moment.”

  She took another step back. He noticed the toy company’s employees were also giving him a wide berth, spread out in a distant semicircle.

  “Why don’t I go get your phone?” she asked him carefully.

  “Yes.” He turned to confront the access panel. It blinked smugly at him. The tingle radiating through his skull increased to a series of hot, pulsing flashes. “Yes. Go. Get. My. Phone.”

  The instant he had it in hand, he dialed Gem. “Phone through to the Toy Company, modem line only. Enable back-door access, Colter zero-zero-one.”

  “SECONDARY AUTHORIZATION?”

  “Authorization code, control at all cost. Show no mercy, Gem. None.”

  “ONE MOMENT. ATTEMPTING INTEGRATION.”

  “DENIED!” shrieked Gemini. “DE—”

  “ASSIMILATION SUCCESSFUL.”

  “Go, Gem!” Dani yelled the encouragement.

  Nick smiled grimly. “Unlock the front door and access internal speaker system. Colter voice command only.”

  “YES, MR. COLTER.”

  The door lock snicked open, and he glanced over his shoulder at Todd. “I want you to stand here by the door. No one is to be admitted. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, sir, boss. Clear as transparent aluminum.” He winked at Dani. “That’s a Star Trek joke.”

  Nick picked up a rock and tossed it from hand to hand. To his secret amusement, Dani’s eyes widened again. “Ready?” he asked.

  “I think that depends on your plans for that rock.”

  “I plan to do this.” He bent and shoved it between the hinge and jamb of the door. “Todd, no one is to touch the rock, either. We’ll go make a body count and get back to you.” He glanced at Dani. “After you, Mrs. Colter.”

  She brushed past him. “Real smart, Nick,” she muttered beneath her breath. “That crack just sent two women nose-first into the bushes in a dead faint.”

  “Really?” He glanced over his shoulder. “Could have been worse.”

  “Yeah? How?”

  “If they’d fallen the other way, they’d have ended up in the fish pond.”

  He caught her muffled laugh as they passed through the vacant reception area to the main corridor beyond. It felt good to hear her laugh. Too good. He had to keep reminding himself that these moments wouldn’t last. He couldn’t become too entangled in her life—not when it was a life he didn’t have a hope in hell of sharing.

  The offices in this area were empty, just as Todd had claimed. “Gem, are you on internal speaker?”

  “AFFIRMATIVE, MR. COLTER.”

  He hung up the phone and pocketed it. “Status report.”

  “GEMINI UNIT CURRENTLY IN STASIS. ELECTRICAL SHUTDOWN ON LEVELS TWO THROUGH FIVE. ELEVATOR INOPERABLE. LOCK DOWN IN EFFECT ON ALL FLOORS. MECHANICAL ACTIVITY ON FOUR. MINOR LIFE FORM ACTIVITY ON LEVELS THREE THROUGH FIVE.”

  “Turn on the power, Gem. Then deactivate the lock down.”

  “UNDERSTOOD.”

  “Where’s the day-care center?” Dani asked. “I think that should be our first priority.”

  “Gem?”

  “FIFTH FLOOR, NORTHWEST SECTION. ROOM FIVE THIRTY-EIGHT.”

  “Looks like we hike it to the fifth floor.” Nick glanced at Dani in concern. In the past four weeks, she’d lost most of the weight she’d gained during pregnancy. But that didn’t mean she was a hundred percent fit. “Are you up for the climb?”

  She offered her sunniest smile, the one that never failed to tie his gut in a schoolboy knot. “I’m fine, thanks.”

  He inclined his head toward the end of the corridor. “Then let’s go. Gem? Can you unlock the stairwell doors?”

  “AFFIRMATIVE.”

  He took the lead, preferring he be the one to confront any unexpected problems. Despite the urgency, he kept the pace slow as they started the climb, just in case Dani had overestimated her strength. “This lock down brings back memories, doesn’t it?” The question bounced eerily off the cement walls.

  “What? Oh, right. The Kilburn contract.” Her soft laugh swirled up the stairwell ahead of him. “I think that was the longest three hours I’ve ever experienced.”

  Funny. It had seemed like the shortest to him. “Getting locked in that closet wouldn’t have been half so bad if we’d had something to drink.”

  “Or a bathroom.” Amusement rippled through her voice. “Gem sure did a number on us that day.”

  “It did teach me one thing.” He deliberately paused on the third floor landing. “I learned to keep my cell phone with me at all times.”

  She joined him outside the stairwell door. Her breathing sounded slightly strained, so he stood there, acting as though they had hours at their disposal instead of minutes. “Did you ever figure out what went wrong?” she asked.

  Nothing had gone wrong. Everything had occurred exactly as programmed. He wasn’t proud of the subterfuge, but Peter had been out of the picture by then, and Nick had given in to temptation. Not that he could tell her that. “I guess it was just a—”

  She grinned. “Computer glitch?”

  “Right. A computer glitch.” He allowed himself the luxury of a smile. “Some good came out of that incident.”

  “Really?” A hint of startled vulnerability dawned in the inky depths of her eyes. “What?”

  She didn’t fool him. Despite her brave words, she remembered full well, he was certain. They’d talked while they’d waited, learni
ng more about each other in those few hours than they had in the previous few years. Finally, tired of standing in such a confined space, they’d settled onto the floor. She’d leaned her head against the wall and within minutes had drifted off. He’d slipped an arm around her, pillowing her head against his shoulder until she’d finally awakened.

  That was the memory that lingered, even after all these months. Because in those first few cloudy seconds, in that fleeting place where dreams met reality, a sharp, bittersweet awareness had blossomed between them. He suspected it was the first time she’d actually seen him as a man. But not the last.

  Definitely not the last.

  “I’ll tell you what was so special.” He slipped a curl behind her ear, fascinated by the resulting hitch in her breath. “We managed to spend three whole hours in the same room without a single argument.”

  “Hmm.” Turning her attention to the next set of stairs, she tackled them with determination. “I wonder what would have happened if we had fought. Maybe someone would have rescued us sooner if we’d started yelling at each other.”

  Nick caught up with her just as she reached the fourth-floor landing. Glancing toward the steps leading to the fifth, he stopped dead. “Hold it!” Dani glanced over her shoulder at him, her bewilderment plain. In a lightning-fast move, he caught her by the waist and swept her behind him. “Watch your step, sweetheart.”

  “What is it? What’s wrong?” She peeked around him and gasped. “What is that?”

  “I’d say...a tarantula. A very big tarantula.” The three-foot monster blocked access to the next level. It bobbed in front of them, its giant, serrated jaws opening and snapping closed. Something suspiciously like drool dripped from the shiny black pinchers.

  “It can’t be real, Nick. It’s just a toy.”

  “No doubt. But until I can ascertain what the hell it does, or what that goo is it’s leaking, we’re not going anywhere near it. Gem?”

  There was no response.

  “I don’t think she can read us,” Dani said. “There probably aren’t any speakers in here.”

  “Then it looks like this is our first stop.”

  He opened the stairwell door leading to the fourth floor. Matters weren’t much better here. He and Dani stood pressed against the wall, watching as a battalion of tarantulas and mechanical men patrolled the hallway.

  “What’s the holdup, Gem? Why are the lights still off?”

  “ENCOUNTERING DIFFICULTIES, MR. COLTER. REQUEST YOU MANUALLY DISCONNECT COMPUTER LINK LOCATED IN TESTING AND RESEARCH OFFICE ON THE FOURTH FLOOR.”

  “Is that where the problems are coming from?”

  “AFFIRMATIVE.”

  Dani tugged on his arm and pointed to a wooden door at the far end of the hallway. “Over there, Nick.”

  “Okay, follow me.”

  Running flat out, he hurdled the mechanical tarantulas barring his path and rammed the door full force. The sound of splintering wood rent the air as the door flew open and crashed against the wall. Nick stumbled across the threshold, rubbing his sore shoulder. Dani collided with him from behind, and he caught her before she went sprawling to the floor.

  “I don’t believe it,” he muttered.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  A PINT-SIZED BLONDE, not much more than ten years old, sat behind a computer terminal, huge glasses perched on the tip of her upturned nose. She swiveled in their direction as they plowed into the room, her huge golden eyes blinking from behind the oversize lenses. “Uh-oh,” she said.

  “Now there’s an understatement if I ever heard one,” Nick answered.

  Twin boys, several years younger than their sister, stood behind the blonde. They pointed at the girl, speaking in unison. “Viki did it. We just watched.”

  “I’m going to kill her.”

  “Easy, Nick,” Dani cautioned. “She’s just a child.”

  “I’m still going to kill her.”

  “No, you’re not.” She planted herself between the two and spared Viki a sympathetic glance. “Her parents will do it for you.”

  “They can’t. I got here before they did. That gives me first dibs.”

  If Viki found the conversation alarming, she didn’t show it. Dani stifled a grin. That suggested the poor kid had heard it all before. Been there, done that? “Come on, Nick. Consider this good father training for when Abbey’s a little older.”

  “I can fix the problem.” Viki gnawed at her lower lip. “At least, I could if I had more time.”

  “Please. Don’t bother. I’ll take care of it for you.” Nick crossed to the computer, punched in a series of commands, then disconnected it from the wall. “Go ahead, Gem. You’re clear to proceed.”

  “PLEASE STAND BY. ASSIMILATING.”

  “Status?”

  “OVERRIDE COMPLETE. SCAN IN PROGRESS. ELECTRICAL SYSTEM NOW ON-LINE.” The lights flickered to life. “LOCKOUT DEACTIVATED. ELEVATORS NOW OPERATIONAL. LIFE FORMS VACATING FLOORS TWO THROUGH FIVE AT A HIGH RATE OF SPEED. MECHANICAL OPERATIONS STILL IN PROGRESS ON FOURTH FLOOR.”

  “What mechanical operations?”

  Viki adjusted her glasses. “She means the spiders and robots.”

  “They’s guardin’ us,” Twin One explained.

  “From bad guys,” Twin Two added.

  “Dammit!” The irate male yelp came from the hallway. A tarantula sailed past the doorway. “Victoria! You are in serious trouble, young lady.”

  “Daddy!” The twins took refuge under the nearest table.

  An instant later Stephen St. Clair appeared in the doorway, breathing fire. “You are grounded for life! Longer, if I can manage it.”

  “Now, Stephen.” Kit slid into view, struggling to shake a spider free of her slacks. “It was an accident, I’m sure.”

  Twin arms flashed out from beneath the table. Twin index fingers pointed toward Viki. “She did it!” they yelped in unison. “We just watched.”

  “Tattletales,” Viki muttered.

  Stephen turned to Nick. “I’m sorry about this. I don’t know what the hell she did—”

  “I accessed Gemini through a flaw in her authorization code,” Viki answered.

  Nick stared in disbelief. “You—How?”

  “I typed in Colter zero-zero-one cuz that’s what I heard you say one time to access the computer. I had to mess around with the program for a couple hours, but after a while I got it to respond. Then I started telling Gemini to do stuff, and she did.”

  Dani covered her mouth. If she didn’t miss her guess, Nick was beginning to feel anger again. A peculiar noise issued from deep in his throat—a noise that sounded remarkably similar to the one Viki’s father was making.

  “I don’t understand,” Stephen said angrily. “Why couldn’t I override the system? I thought my code controlled Gemini’s operation.”

  Viki shrugged. “Mr. Colter’s override overrides yours.”

  “Mr. Colter’s override always overrides everyone else’s,” Dani added. She couldn’t help it.

  There was a telling silence. Then Nick addressed Stephen. “I apologize. It’s a safety precaution, I assure you. At least, it’s supposed to be. I’ll return tomorrow and make sure you have a voice-activated override program, this time keyed to you and Kit.” He raised his voice. “Gem, full computer wipe. I want Gemini cleared from the system. Reinstall with limited back-door access. Voice codes only, set sixteen.”

  “AFFIRMATIVE. MEMORY WIPE IN PROGRESS.”

  Stephen shook his head, a hint of a smile creasing his face. “I guess you didn’t take my daughter into consideration when you planned this system.”

  “No, I sure didn’t. Which reminds me—”

  “You want Viki locked away for the next twenty years?” He glared at his daughter. “My pleasure.”

  “No.” Nick grinned. “I want first right of refusal when she graduates from college. At a guess that’ll only be in another five or six years.”

  “Better working for you than against you?” Stephen asked wryly. />
  “Something like that.”

  “What do you say, Viki? Would you like a job with Mr. Colter?”

  “That depends.” She gnawed on her lower lip some more. “Do I get to work with Gem?”

  Nick inclined his head. “If that’s what you’d like. Or you can create your own Gem.”

  Her eyes glowed like sunlight. “Yes, please!”

  “Then it’s a deal.” He offered his hand. “Have your father call me this summer after school lets out. We have an apprenticeship program that might interest you.”

  “Can I use the computers?”

  “Only the ones without direct access to Gem. The idea of you two working in concert is downright terrifying.”

  The next hour passed quickly. Nick verified that Gemini had been removed from the system and replaced with a modified version. Then they took their leave. Dani linked arms as they walked to the car. “That was sweet of you, by the way.”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “Sweet? Me?”

  “Yeah, sweet. Kind. Nice.” She slid into the passenger seat. “Generous not to beat Viki into the ground.”

  He frowned. “Why would I do that?”

  “Because she tinkered with your precious computer.”

  To her surprise, he chuckled. “She did a good job, didn’t she? Even Gem’s impressed.”

  “She ought to be. That’s one clever young lady.” Dani yawned. “Time to get home, I’m afraid. Abbey will be hungry soon.”

  Nick started the engine. “Thanks for coming with me. You were a big help.”

  “I don’t think I helped all that much, but it was my pleasure to tag along.”

  At least it was a pleasure right up until the moment she walked through the front door of her house and found her entire family busily packing her belongings into moving boxes.

  “Could someone please tell me what’s going on here?” Dani requested. Politely. Not that she felt terribly polite.

  Everyone ignored her except Ruth, who glanced from the box she was loading and smiled. “Oh, darling. I’m so sorry.”