“No. That’s not it. That’s not it at all.”
“Then what? What’s the big deal?”
He sighed, then said, “Okay, I can’t give you a big class here, but artificial intelligence relies on two things: computing power and data. That’s it. We have the computing power to make stuff work. What it needs is data. There’s a computer program from IBM called Deep Blue, which was designed to play chess. The first time it played, it only had the rules, and was defeated by a human. A thousand times later, after playing game after game, it defeated the best grandmaster in the world. It needed data. That’s the threat.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Taiwanese want to tighten the circle for decision, so they asked us to develop AI that could ascertain what was happening throughout their unified field of sensors and develop a plan of attack. In essence, tell the master that something was happening that deserved attention faster than the master could do on his own. But we haven’t developed the data for that yet. It’s vulnerable to manipulation.”
I said, “So you think this system could be used to cloak an attack? The Chinese could manipulate it so that when they begin the big invasion, the Taiwanese won’t know it?”
“Yeah, maybe, in the future, but not today. It’s only a test system right now. It won’t be integrated into the actual defense for at least two more years. Even if China attacked, and Jake could trick the system into not alerting, the legacy stuff would see it.”
Brett said, “So why do we care? We’ve got two years to figure out what he did to the system. I don’t see the threat.”
Dunkin took a drink of water and said, “I didn’t either, but I’ve been thinking about it. Jake took that data for a reason, and I think it’s the opposite. Jake could give the Chinese the ability to manipulate the information so that in essence they could cause the Taiwanese to believe an attack is occurring when it’s not. It’s a whole different problem set—and one that could succeed, given our work with them.”
We sat there for a second, and Knuckles said, “You mean Jake could cause something like that movie War Games? From the eighties? Some dumbass computer projecting an attack when one isn’t happening?”
Dunkin lit up, saying, “Exactly! It’s like the WOPR! Remember when the computer played tic-tac-toe until it exploded? That’s a machine learning through data. That movie was really sort of prescient. But we haven’t refined the data, so it can’t learn what’s right or wrong. It’ll just say it’s bad stuff coming.”
Brett said, “Prescient. Great. I’d rather be fighting in the eighties than this crap. At least I could see the target.”
I said, “So you think Jake has some AI stuff that will affect the ability of Taiwan to defend itself? That’s what this is about?”
“Yes. I think Jake has data that will cause Taiwan to defend itself when there isn’t a threat. I think they’re going to manipulate that program to do what they want.”
Knuckles said, “Well, that sounds like the Chinese special agent shit I was looking for. So what’s the next step? Where’s this Jake Shu? Let’s go wring his ass out. I didn’t come here to surf.”
Dunkin looked at me, begging me with his eyes to tell them this wasn’t about Jake Shu but about Nicole, worried that he’d lost his ability to control his destiny because he’d given up what he knew. Worried that he would be tossed aside like the drunk in the bar last night in the name of great power competition.
I winked at him and turned to the team, saying, “Jake’s going to have to wait. We have a more immediate problem here.”
Knuckles rolled his eyes and said, “I knew it. Nothing is ever simple with you. What’s the ‘immediate problem’?”
Before I could answer, Dunkin’s phone rang. We stared at it for a beat, and then I picked it up, showing it to Dunkin.
He said, “That’s Nicole’s number.”
I signaled Brett to contact Jennifer, letting the Taskforce know we were in action, and then hit the button.
“Hello?”
Chapter 39
Chen heard someone answer the phone and said, “Is this Clifford Delmonty?”
“No. It’s a friend of his. Who is this?”
Chen smiled, glanced at Zhi, and said, “The friend from last night?”
“Yes. Is this the asshole from last night?”
Chen let that go, saying, “Let me speak to Clifford.”
“Let me speak to Nicole, asshole.”
Chen felt a spasm of rage at the arrogance, but bit it back, remembering the mission. He said, “If Clifford Delmonty is not on this phone in the next five seconds, I’ll have my friend cut her throat just like the man last night. This isn’t hard. Put him on the phone. We both want the same thing.”
“We do, I agree. It’s why I haven’t gone to the police and screamed about a kidnapping. It’s why we didn’t go back to the bar and tell everyone what we know about the assault there. Don’t toy with me. Clifford isn’t here. I’m sitting at a restaurant in The Rocks. But I’m sure you know that, because you haven’t tried to attack this phone location right now. So, what do you want? We want the girl. What do you want?”
Chen hesitated. This man wasn’t some old friend of Clifford’s. He was someone in the game. He hadn’t gone to the police because he didn’t want to become involved any more than Chen did, and he knew Chen would call. He knew Chen wanted something. And he knew Chen could track Clifford’s phone. He was not just an Army buddy. He was something else. Which explained the woman who could kill. It caused Chen to reevaluate his entire plan. In the span of seconds, he came up with a new one.
“I want the thumb drive Clifford has,” Chen said. “The one with the data from our company. The data he stole. I will tell you where the transfer will happen soon.”
“How are you going to do that? Launch a bat signal in the sky? Surely you don’t expect me to leave this phone operational and carry it around with me, do you? I’m not that stupid.”
Chen smiled in spite of himself. That’s exactly what he was hoping. He said, “Turn it back on at seven p.m. tonight. In the same place, if you want. I don’t care. I’ll give you instructions for the delivery of Clifford’s drive. It will be him, and him alone, bringing it. If I see any help, I will kill the girl. And as you know, I will have help. Do you understand?”
“Yes. Yes, I understand. I’ll tell him. Don’t hurt her. We’ll comply.”
“Good. Because I will hurt her.”
And then Chen heard something else come through the phone. Something from outside even the pain he understood he could inflict. A whisper pregnant with menace floated into his ear.
“Listen to me closely. Do not hurt her. You don’t want to do that. I promise. Leave her out of this, or I’ll make you pay in ways you can’t fathom.”
It wasn’t the words themselves. It was the tone . . . or the cadence . . . or something, like the man was reaching through the phone with his voice, imparting a vision that would come true.
Rattled, Chen said, “Just stand by that phone,” and hung up.