Free Chimera by David Wellington

all that for you. If you
need a map to your next target, I’ll send it straight to your phone. I guess, if
you really wanted to get on my bad side, you could call me your secretary. I’ll
keep you up to date, I’ll file your reports with the DIA, and I’ll make any
phone calls you don’t have time to make. But I can be so much more to you. I can
coordinate with law enforcement and the National Guard. I can make sure people
know you’re coming and stay out of your way. I can get into any computer system
and make it purr for you.”
    â€œAny computer? You’re a hacker?”
    â€œWhat an ugly little word that is. But yes. Any
computer, any microchip that’s hooked up to the Internet. For instance, I can do
this.”
    She went silent for a moment and Chapel wondered
what it was she thought she was doing—breaking into his bank account? Changing
his e-mail password?
    Then he saw his own hand come up in front of his
face. His left hand. The hand rotated to face him and then the fingers wiggled.
His hand was waving at him.
    Sweat broke out on his forehead. He hadn’t told the
arm to do that—he couldn’t even feel what it was doing. He grabbed the wrist of
his artificial arm and forced it down into his lap. It tried to fight him, to
break out of his grip, but he held on as hard as he could.
    Apparently this guardian angel could take control
of his arm. Any time she wanted. It had a wireless Internet connection built in,
he knew that—the microcomputer built into its circuitry had to get firmware
updates from time to time—but he had never considered for a moment before that
that might be a security flaw.
    If she could do it—anybody could.
    Adrenaline surged through his body, and he fought
down an urge to tear the arm off his shoulder and throw it out the helicopter’s
window.
    Slowly he fought to regain control of himself. He
glanced over at the pilot. The kid was looking at him out of the corner of his
eye. He was frowning. He must have seen the whole thing.
    The embarrassment helped Chapel slow his heart rate
and start breathing again.
    â€œAngel,” he said, because she still hadn’t told him
her name.
    â€œOoh, I like that,” she said. “From now on, that’s
what you’ll call me.”
    â€œAngel,” he said, almost growling, “don’t ever do
that again. Seriously.”
    â€œI know that was a little naughty of me—”
    â€œAngel!” he interrupted. “I’m an amputee. I lost a
part of myself once, do you understand? Can you understand why I would be a
little sensitive about losing it again?”
    She said nothing. Hopefully she was feeling
terribly guilty and was too embarrassed to say anything.
    â€œLet me show you what that was like,” he told her,
because he was very close to getting furious. Nobody messed with his arm. “I’m
not supposed to know anything about you. But I know you aren’t military. You’re
a civilian.”
    â€œThat’s—that’s strictly NTK,” she gasped. “Who told
you that?”
    â€œYou did.”
    She didn’t sound so playful anymore. “Damn it,
Captain. If I have a breach, I need to know about it right
now . This is national security tech I’m working with here—if it’s
been compromised—”
    â€œRelax,” he told her. “Nobody’s hacked your system.
I just used my amazing powers of deduction. You referred to our mutual boss as
Director Hollingshead. That’s probably his official job title. But anyone who’d
ever served in the armed forces would know better—they would call him Admiral Hollingshead.”
    That long, uneasy silence again. Maybe she was
thinking that if he could figure that out he was dangerous to her. Maybe she was
about to tell his arm to strangle him.
    When she came back on the line, though, her voice
was as sweet and sexy as it had ever been. “I