“So, how do we make them faster?”
“We don’t. We let computers themselves do it,” he said.
“And how do we do that?”
“The same way programming languages have evolved,” Nathan explained. “The ‘C’ language was used to create ‘C++’; that in turn was used to create ‘C-Sharp’.”
“I get it,” Emily said. “We build a computer programmed to design a better version of itself, which in turn will invent the next generation, and so on.”
“Exactly,” he said. “Technological Singularity is already on the horizon. It’s a scary thought.”
Uri suggested that they take the weekend and continue on Monday. He arranged transport to Las Vegas as well as a night at the exclusive Treasure Trove Hotel & Casino. Dreamland did things in style, Emily thought.
Uri was under instruction to offer the SkyTech team whatever extravagances seemed appropriate; within reason.
Obadiah had no interest in going to Vegas and asked if it would be permissible for him to check out Dreamland’s gunnery range. Uri organised with the officer in charge of ordnances that Obadiah could even try out a few high-tech assault and sniper rifles.
Las Vegas was an engineering marvel with its modern structures and water features. Emily had been here a number of years before and there was one noticeable difference from what she remembered◦– more lights, more artistic sculptures, more water fountains, and more people.
“Where does all this water come from?” she asked. “This is supposed to be the middle of the desert.”
Nathan looked at one particularly impressive fountain. “Until the early 1970s, most of it came from local groundwater, but it wasn’t enough, so they diverted part of the Colorado River to meet current demand.”
“Got to admire human resourcefulness,” she said.
“I’m not sure it was such a good idea,” he said. “Las Vegas consumes more water from the Colorado than what local farmers are using to irrigate crops. We’re at serious risk of the river drying up in the next few years. And for what? Eradicating a viable food supply so that we can dazzle people with artistic water features?”
Nathan had a point, Emily thought. Yet another side to his environmental concerns for the planet; one he felt strongly about. She squeezed his hand.
“Feel like wasting a bit of money?” he asked.
Emily looked up. Fabulous Angelo’s. She turned beetroot.
Nathan, taken aback, looked at her. “What?”
“I, er… I don’t do gambling joints,” she said, nervously.
In the last year, Emily and Nathan had shared most of their past lives with each other. Whether funny, sad, life’s memorable moments, what they liked and what they didn’t; they spoke about everything, and in complete honesty. They knew each other as intimately as any couple could. There was, however, one thing that Emily had not yet divulged, and it weighed heavily on her. She figured that he’d have to know sooner or later.
After dinner, they took in a show at the hotel’s immense auditorium◦– Cirque du Soleil, a Montreal based acrobat troop. The performance was spellbinding and what made it particularly outstanding for Nathan; they didn’t use animals.
After midnight, they were comfortably settled in their room.
“They’re all the same,” she said, getting undressed and looking around.
“What?”
“Hotel rooms. They’re all constructed from a single mould.”
“For regular people like us, sure,” Nathan agreed. “But not for those wealthy enough to afford the suites on the upper levels.”
“One thing that’s always amazed me though, is a hotel’s seemingly endless supply of hot water.”
“It’s called four hundred dollars a night,” Nathan said with grin.
“And you’d think that at these prices, they would provide something that quite a few people often forget to pack in their overnight bags.”
“And that would be?”
“A small tube of toothpaste,” she said. “They could even provide a disposable toothbrush or two.”
Emily made a good observation. With all the toiletries provided in hotel bathrooms, he had never seen toothpaste.
Lying under the sheets, Nathan had his arm around her while she rested her head on his shoulder.
“Why didn’t you want to go into that casino?” he asked.
Emily sat up straight. “Nathan…” oh, how could she put this? May as well come straight out with it, she thought. “Nathan, some years ago I got a little drunk after winning a bit of money at a casino. It was in Florida. I was on an all-girls vacation and after…”
“Well,” Nathan prompted.
“After, I got involved in group sex, and it was all about anal. Oh my God!” She turned bright red and covered her face with her hands.
“Emily,” he said, gently removing her hands and looking into her eyes with understanding. “What’s so bad about that?”
“I… I enjoyed it,” she blurted out.
“What, the group sex?”
“No, I was a little too tipsy to know what was actually going on around me. I enjoyed having anal sex.”
Wow, Nathan thought. It was normally men who were turned on by that, not women. “So, why are you embarrassed? It’s just a part of your past and nothing to do with our own relationship.”
“It’s just something I’ve never felt comfortable discussing with you.”
“I don’t see why? You have nothing to feel awkward about,” he said, reassuringly. Nathan knew all about Emily’s past. She had wasted far too many years of her life believing that she always needed everyone else’s approval on anything she wanted to do.
“Nathan.” Emily looked directly at him. “When I said I enjoyed it, I mean I really, really enjoyed it.”
“Oh… OH.” It took him a while. He looked back at her with a knowing smile as realisation sunk in.
Chapter Forty-One
She was truly between a rock and a hard place; two sinister choices, neither of which would work out well for Yvonne Baird.
That goddamn encrypted transmission.
Angelo had taken her twin girls from afternoon supervision. The caregiver had no problem releasing them, as they obviously recognised their daddy. Angelo had flown them directly from Maryland to Las Vegas on his private jet. That evening, he contacted Yvonne and told her to provide him with all the information on the Mojave operation. Yvonne had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. He was insistent. That is, if she ever wanted to see her girls again. Angelo was also adamant that she didn’t mention any of this to anyone. She had taken him seriously, having learned only recently that the father of her children was a double-dealing mobster; far removed from the suave, handsome Spaniard with whom she’d had a brief fling.
Now, she may not even have a job if she didn’t bend to the threats of her boss, Joseph Müller, that two-faced psychotic piece of shit. Had he really descended to such a low level of mean and petty vindictiveness? No, he hadn’t lowered himself at all. He was always at that level.
Yvonne occasionally took a handful of stir-sticks out the lunch room for her twins. They resembled miniature drinking straws, and her girls liked them. At a cost of a few pennies, Yvonne was hardly impacting the NSA’s budget.
Yet regardless of the inconsequential value, theft was theft and the NSA treated it very severely. Joseph Müller made the most of it. Yvonne was left with no choice. Working for the NSA and having theft on her record, guaranteed that no other department would touch her.
Under threat of losing her job, Joseph instructed Yvonne to plant a bug so that he could listen in on the meeting between Trish LaForgue and James Clark. As Müller was soon to discover, some very enlightening things had indeed been disclosed◦– regardless of how cagey LaForgue was. Müller also wanted to know Clark’s movements, so Yvonne had better be very creative as to exactly where she placed the bug. He also insisted that she get hold of the transmission once it was deciphered. How could she? Yvonne had been clearly removed from all parts of this clandestine investigation. Müller wasn’t interested. Do it, or lose her job. He made it clear that she kept her activities only between the two of them.