“You’ll be back soon,” he murmured, giving the lid another pat.
Then he left the room, sending the tech back in to care for her. It was time he appoint a new chief of security, one who was just as cunning and ruthless as Dirk Mosely. One who could ferret out the illicit recordings Nadia Lake was hiding. And one who would not hesitate to do whatever was necessary for the good of Paxco.
He predicted it would take approximately one month.
About one week to get Thea up and running again. Another week or so for Thea to scour the net to find the data and destroy it, assuming the new chief of security hadn’t already found it by then. And one more week to find the perfect opportunity to make both Nadia and Nate disappear. The Chairman would watch with pleasure as Thea took them apart one by one. Then he would have her animate another Replica of Nate, one that knew nothing about all that had happened. One who was once again a ne’er-do-well playboy who would stay out of his father’s business.
Everything was going to go back to normal. It was only a matter of time.
Acknowledgments
First of all, I’d like to thank my editor, Melissa Frain, for helping me make this a better book. Your excellent editorial feedback is almost enough to make me forgive the little prank you pulled on me when we first sat down in person to talk about the book. Thank you also for being such a great champion. I am grateful to have you in my court. My thanks, as always, to my fabulous agent, Miriam Kriss, who, based on her ability to encourage me when I’m at my lowest and her ability to remain cool under fire, must have been a hostage negotiator in a past life. And last but not least, my thanks to my husband, Dan, who has been the first reader and first editor for every single book I’ve published. Don’t think I don’t know how lucky I am to have you!
About the Author
JENNA BLACK is your typical writer. Which means she’s an “experience junkie.” She got her B.A. in physical anthropology and French from Duke University. Once upon a time, she dreamed she would be the next Jane Goodall, camping in the bush, making fabulous discoveries about primate behavior. Then, during her senior year at Duke, she did some actual research in the field and made this shocking discovery: primates spend something like 80 percent of their time doing such exciting things as sleeping and eating. Concluding that this discovery was her life’s work in the field of primatology, she then moved on to such varied pastimes as grooming dogs and writing technical documentation. She is now a full-time writer and lives in North Carolina with her husband.