The next fifteen minutes were hard on Ivan. Inga cried and moaned in pain the entire time, tears streaming from her eyes as the amazed doctor closed the wounds in her scalp and back with sutures that he applied deftly with a needle and thread. When he was done stitching and began bandaging the wounds, she immediately stopped crying.
“Interesting,” the doctor said. “Her pain is immediate and real, but only lasts as long as the actual infliction. It doesn’t linger. I wonder if this is by design or just something they haven’t quite worked out.”
“Development of PhysSens – patent pending – ceased when the artificial intelligence industry administration board outlawed the software. The software installed in me is a beta version and may differ in functionality from future versions.”
“I see,” said Dr. Vlad. “That’s a very comprehensive answer, thank you.”
“You couldn’t help us with her programming?” Ivan asked hopefully.
“No, Ivan. I’m not a technician. Frankly, I don’t know anyone in our… circle of friends who would be advanced enough to help. If it makes you feel better, though, the bullet in the back bounced off the chassis. The head too, although it left quite a dent. More than likely that is where the damage to her circuitry occurred.”
“Thanks, Doc. How much do I owe you?”
“Five hundred ought to do it.”
Ivan and Inga left after he handed the money over, then got back in the Hyundai to make the return trip to Mateo Babic’s restaurant.
25
Andre’s phone rang approximately three minutes after he made the call to his contact.
“Da?”
Molenski didn’t turn away from his window but listened carefully.
“Where?” Andre asked the caller and listened for a moment before hitting the intercom. “Quickly, head to Little Italy, we got a lucky break.”
He squeezed Molenski’s leg excitedly, the old man’s piss stain forgotten. Molenski nodded.
“Keep him on the line until we have a visual.”
“Stay on the line with me.”
Barely five minutes after they left the doctor’s, Ivan spotted a vehicle following them. It was a kick in the guts. He hadn’t expected that Molenski, even with all his resources and contacts, would be capable of finding them so quickly.
Ivan thought furiously. There was no way to escape the pursuing vehicle without perhaps causing more complications like police involvement. He wasn’t sure how Molenski had handled the cops arriving on his doorstep, but he knew the Russian was adaptable, and depending on how much he had told the CPD, there might already be an APB out for him… not to mention the killer robot sitting beside him.
The vehicle tailing them appeared to be content just to follow for the moment, so he forced himself to relax. He sighed when they just missed a green light that would have given them a little more breathing space and perhaps the opportunity to ditch the pursuers.
“Are you well, Myfriend?” Inga asked him.
“Da… yes everything is okay.”
She smiled.
“I like you, Myfriend.”
Despite the gravity of their situation, he laughed in surprise.
“I like you too, Inga.”
“Do you like me because I am fuckable, Myfriend?”
“What? No!” he said, blushing.
“You do not find me highly desirable as a sexual partner?”
“No, that’s not what I meant. What I meant is… there is more than one way to like someone. I like you, but not only because I want to – not only because you are sexy.”
A horn sounded behind them. The lights were green. He put his foot on the gas and glanced in the rearview mirror; the headlights of his tail were still three cars back.
“Sexy – sexually appealing, attractive, or exciting.”
“Yes. You should say sexy instead of fuckable. It’s much nicer.”
“Yes, Myfriend,” she said, and put her hand on his thigh, just above the knee. “I like you too, and not just because you are sexy.”
Ivan glanced at her pretty and very sincere face by the glow of the dashboard. His stomach did a somersault. Grappling with the unfamiliar feelings he’d been experiencing since he first met Inga, he turned his attention back to the road and their tail.
He hadn’t had time to analyze fully why he had risked everything to rescue her and take her away from Molenski, but her display of affection somehow validated his decision. Made him more determined than ever to escape his former boss’s clutches.
Ivan smiled grimly as he weaved through the traffic. The best way to lose this particular tail was to cut it off completely. Time for a trip to the shore and a final confrontation with the Russian. A few minutes later the nondescript Hyundai exited the 290 and headed onto West Congress Parkway. His hands were steady on the wheel. Since the shooting, he didn’t suffer any of the adrenaline-charged nerves that used to occur before a confrontation.
In fact, now that he was resigned to it happening, he was quite clinical about the coming clash. He knew that in ten minutes, he or Molenski would be dead. He was determined to ensure it wasn’t him… if it was, the fate that awaited Inga didn’t bear thinking about.
Finally, in the distance, he saw street open onto a green space and beyond, the blue water of Monroe Harbor. As luck would have it, the final set of lights leading into the road system of the park switched to amber and then red as they approached. Ivan floored the gas pedal and ran the red light, glancing in the mirror to see the tail blocked as they attempted to change lanes.
He sped through the empty network of roads that crisscrossed the whole precinct, then swung hard into the parking lot of Grant Park and parked in the darkest corner he could find. Being late Fall, there was virtually nobody around, and that was just the way he wanted it. If things escalated into a gunfight, the fewer witnesses and innocents in the area, the better.
“Come, Inga.”
Seeming to understand Ivan’s urgency, the robot stepped out of the car quickly and rushed to keep up with him as he ran down a path. The big man checked the clip in his pistol as he ran, before making sure the two spare clips were still in his pants pocket.
“Why are you checking your weapon, Myfriend?” Inga asked, as he put it back in the shoulder holster.
Perhaps he should have lied, remembering her reaction to his handling of Danny Garcia, but he decided not to. Obviously, something had changed after she had been shot, but it was best to know now if her robotics law programming was going to be a problem when the Russian arrived.
“There may be trouble,” he said, glancing over his shoulder. “I may have to shoot some people.”
She nodded, seemingly comfortable with the prospect of human on human violence. They had just passed through the opening of a large hedge when Ivan spotted a pair of headlights coming from the direction they had just drove from. He grasped Inga’s arm and directed her to behind the hedge.
“Wait here until I call you out.”
“Yes, Myfriend.”
He turned to go and then, realizing that he may never get the chance again, he took Inga by her slender shoulders and kissed her on the lips.
“I love you, Inga.”
Before she could respond he was on the move, darting back through the opening in the hedge and turning immediately to the right. He would circle around to the back of the parking lot so he could come upon them from behind.
What the fuck? Did I just say ‘I love you’ to a robot?
He laughed harshly under his breath. Perhaps Molenski was right; maybe he was losing it.
Ivan slowed as he approached the parking lot from the west. There was a dark SUV parked near the Hyundai and he could only see one figure from his vantage point, someone leaning over and looking into the car by the light of a phone. Ivan didn’t recognize the man by his build, but of more concern was the fact that there was no one else present. That meant they were already hunting for he and Inga. He would have to make this quick. A broken neck would do it.