Command (8 page)

“Not into this room. We wanted the best security available. I’ve set up the system so that my print must match, and it must be at normal body temperature.”

“Overkill?”

“I always hope. It’s doubtful anyone would get past my fence—”

“How hard can it be to go over? Or, even wiggle under?”

He grinned. “That’s not happening unless there’s a power outage and my generator fails.”

“It’s electric, also?”

“Among other things. As I was saying, the things I develop for Bonds in my workshop have practical applications for other businesses, governments, the military. So with this sensor factored in, I don’t have to worry about someone having a hand cut off and used on the scanner—at least theoretically.”

She wrinkled her nose.

“But some people in charge of security do. You know all that, though.”

She shook her head. “I may have the title of Director of Global Strategy, but my focus is on the consumer level. There’s a whole geek language I can’t speak.”

“Well, you can’t have everything. And after all, you are fluent in dessert.”

Aria smiled at him, and he was a goner. Her green eyes turned the color of molten jade, seducing him in a way that was beyond sex. He already liked her quick wit and her curiosity. It wouldn’t be long, he surmised, before the urge to live a little more dangerously called to her. When it did, he’d happily be the one to introduce her to its seductions.

He pressed his hand fully against the palm plate. “A lot of this never makes it out of testing. And some of it’s done on a proprietary level. Certain companies don’t want anyone to know what they’ve got.”

“You trust me with this?”

“Julien sent you here. That’s all the endorsement I need.” The scanner cleared him and the door slid open.

“That looks like something out of a science fiction movie.”

“It is.” He grinned. “When I was growing up, watching
Star Trek
, I dreamed of having a door like this. So the first chance I had, I installed one. At first, I would go in and out. Just because I could.”

“So why the keypad?”

“I thought it looked cool.”

“It’s nonfunctional?”

“You’ll get a jolt from it. Want to try?”

She curled her hands at her sides. “What is it with you and electricity?”

“It has sixty-three thousand different uses. Four of them are sensual.”

Her breath seemed to catch, and he watched the way she forced the air out of her lungs.

“After you.”

She seemed drawn to the middle of the room, and she slowly spun while he sealed the door closed.

“Part of it looks like an operating room,” she observed. “And the other…” She looked at the piles, the glass, the broken pieces, the half-finished prototypes, designs sketched directly on tables with marker.

“I call it Idea Heaven,” he said.

“It’s… Your workspace has an institutional feel to it. I mean with all the metal, the bare floors, no paintings or knick-knacks, mementos… You don’t even have plants. Do you spend a lot of time in here?”

“Most of my waking hours.”

“The view is incredible, but the surroundings seem a little sterile. Austere maybe.”

“Maybe at first glance. But it reflects my moods.” When he thought of it. Lately that hadn’t been often. More and more, he was seeing how right Julien was in his assessment. How long would he have been willing to go on that way? Work had become his life. And at some point, it had stopped being fun. “Molly, why don’t we show Aria the Caribbean.”

A wall shimmered as an image of white sand appeared. An island followed, taking shape, with palm trees and a hammock, a bird he couldn’t name. Then came the water, three different shades of blue, the color intensifying the farther it moved away from shore. Yellow fish darted beneath the surface. In the three-dimensional distance, a yacht drifted.

“Well. Wow.”

“Don’t worry. I can switch it to the arctic if you prefer.”

She wrapped her arms around her, warding off an invisible chill.

“Or San Francisco, if you’re homesick. Or my dungeon, if you’re brave.”

“Are you ever serious?”

“Almost always. You want to think I’m joking because it seems safer for you that way.”

“Ah…”

“You’re wondering. What it would be like if I kissed you. In fact, outside, in the hallway, you were hoping I’d lean in.”

“Dreamer.”

He shrugged.

“I bet in high school you were able to talk girls out of their panties.”

“I rarely tried.” He met her gaze.

She was frowning skeptically.

“Wasn’t till college, and I met Julien and our other friends that I got invited to parties. Before that, I didn’t mingle much with the opposite sex.”

“You were a fast learner.”

“Not really.”

“You went from not really dating to wanting to be in charge. Isn’t that a big leap?”

“No. There was a natural progression, like most things in life. Come here. Let’s get your palm print set up.”

“I’m not sure whether I trust you or not.”

“It won’t hurt a bit,” he promised. He pulled out a metal barstool and beckoned her forward. “Come here, little girl,” he said in his best mad-scientist voice.

“There’s something about you…” Then they spoke simultaneously.

“That you’re finding difficult to resist,” he said.

“That scares me a little,” she said.

He grinned. “Good.”

“Good?”

“A bit of fear or uncertainty is intriguing. It’s the elixir of arousal. I just don’t want to terrify you. Yet.”

He saw her shift her weight as she crossed her feet. What he’d said had had an impact on her. Unless he missed his guess—which wasn’t likely—she wanted to know more. It might take her a while, but she’d walk into the net he was creating with his words and actions. Aria would need to feel safe before she’d move forward, which meant he had to take it slow as well.

“Should I be scared of you?”

“Maybe,” he replied.

“That wasn’t reassuring.”

“It wasn’t meant to be.” He waited a few seconds before patting the top of the stool.

She licked her lower lip, betraying her confused emotions.

With the portrait and their ensuing discussions, he’d given her a hell of a lot to think about. So he decided to change her focus.

Once she took her seat, he moved in next to her. “Are you right-hand dominant?”

“Yes.” Aria’s body was rigid.

“One thing you need to know is that I won’t do anything you don’t ask for.”

She turned toward him. They were only inches apart.

“But I love it when a sub asks. It’s sexy. That’s not to say things don’t naturally evolve, but when you ask, even beg, that’s what I live for.”

It took her a minute to respond. “I think you have me confused with some other woman.”

“Perhaps I do,” he conceded. “Put your palm on the glass. When it has a good scan, the light will turn green. I want you to do it about a dozen times. Pick your hand up, put it back down with your fingers in different spots, more weight on the heel of your hand, then more on your fingertips, on your thumb. You won’t touch the palm plate in exactly the same place or in the same way every time, so I want to be sure we get good prints.” When he was satisfied, he lifted her hand back off the scanner. “Give me a minute.” He entered a few commands on a keyboard. The screen in front of them showed a series of whorls and lines and impact points, all in luminescent green.

“That’s quite impressive, Mr. Kingston.”

“Think of the potential to avoid fraud with this thing. But like you said, probably overkill for most applications—and way too expensive for the vast majority of firms.”

“But that doesn’t stop your eyes from lighting up.”

“Yeah. I love this shit.” The screen blanked then displayed a picture of her print. “Got it. Let’s test it. Try to leave the room.”

She slid from the stool and moved to the doorway. When he nodded, she put her palm on the plate.

Nothing happened.

With a frown, she turned back to face him. “Something wrong?”

He hit a key on the computer. The system turned green and the door whisked open.

“You did that on purpose.”

“Just making sure I can keep you hostage if I want.”

She shook her head and removed her hand. The door slid shut. “You’re right. It’s cool.”

Just then, music blasted from the speakers.

Obviously shocked, Aria spun back to face him. “What the hell is that? It sounds like something from a blockbuster movie.”

“Julien’s theme.”

“You’re kidding me.”

The words, “A genius is trying to reach you,” overlaid the music.

“You’re not kidding me.”

“Man likes to make an entrance, even when he’s not there physically.”

“Hence the hologram.”

He pointed at her. “Exactly.”

“Greetings, earthlings,” Julien said.

“You could have waited for me to answer,” Grant replied.

“But then you might not have.”

Grant considered that. “Probably true. Video on.”

Julien sat behind the desk in his office. An ugly-looking green concoction filled a glass in front of him. Probably spinach and kale and broccoli all whirred and blended.

“I see you made it safely, Aria.” Judging by the grin on his face, he was pleased with himself. “You’re staying with Grant, I take it. I noticed you bought groceries and a nice meal, but you didn’t put a hotel stay on my card.”

“Nothing gets past a genius,” she said. “By the way, is the team working on the project for the restaurant?”

“It is for Blanca, is it not?”

“Meaning it’s first on your priority list?”

“Above all things in the heavens. Radar shows a storm is brewing. So I won’t be shocked if I don’t hear from you for a few days. Take a little time to relax, get to know each other. Talk about what you’ve been working on, Grant. Can’t wait to see what you two cook up together.” He lifted his glass in salute. “Toodles.” Julien leaned forward, and Grant saw Julien hit the disconnect key.

“Did he really say toodles?”

“He has a way with words.” Grant shook his head.

For the next couple of hours as the wind whipped up and snow fell with fury, he showed Aria some of the things he was developing. She asked a number of astute questions that showed both a grasp of technology and the considerations for the market.

Finally, he instructed her how to interact with Molly from the console and from an app.

“But watch this.” He touched an icon on the screen. “This is where Molly makes your grocery list. She’ll even check expiration dates on your dairy products. I’m able to call up the shopping list if I’m arriving back in town after an extended absence. She can also turn on the dishwasher. In a different sort of way, this is the kind of thing you’re trying to do for Blanca at the restaurant. Taking separate elements and making them work together.”

Aria nodded. “I’d be impressed if Molly could do the shopping for you.”

“She can. She interfaces with the store’s computer and arranges to have me pick it up or she can enter my credit information and have it delivered.”

“I may need a Molly—or a Michael. I want to tell a guy what to do. Could I have a Michael?”

“Indeed. It could be whatever you want.”

“Celebrity voices?”

“Can’t see why not, beyond the logistics of getting them to agree.”

“Have we moved beyond research and development here?”

“No. At this point, I’m toying with it because I enjoy it and want my life to be easier.”

“There’s hundreds of thousands of people—millions even—who are stretched for time,” she reminded him.

“I agree with that. At the basic level, this technology has been around for years, but in terms of its potential, it’s still in its infancy. And here’s the challenge… The systems that do exist are proprietary, meaning if you bought a thermostat from a hardware store and an alarm from an installation company, you need to access different sites to view the settings or make changes. Molly’s level of integration is unique.”

She slid from her seat and paced in front of the window.

“Let’s go back to the shopping application,” he continued. “I don’t want to go online and click a box or select a picture matching the products I want. I want the refrigerator to tell Molly what it needs, then have Molly convey the information to the store. I’ve been working on this to make my life easier, but actual implementation is more complicated.”

He grabbed a stool and dragged it over, sitting on the opposite side of the metal lab table. It was good to talk this out. Aria had been with Bonds long enough that she knew the objections Julien would have to working with dozens of other companies. It would take time, energy, effort, and the expense would have to be well worth it. “If we could sell the required sensors and write all the code, Molly would be extraordinary and perform with fewer technical issues.”

“I get it,” she said. She stopped and folded her arms across her chest.

Part of him was tuned in professionally. Part of him couldn’t help but notice her against the view, fading light and gentle snow.

Aria continued, “If I record my favorite television show, that’s done through my cable or satellite subscription service.”

“And none of that factors in the human element.” With a nod, he refocused. “It needs to be easy to set up, intuitive to work with. For example, if you have six kids, being on the last gallon of milk could be an emergency. But if you’re single, a pint might be enough. Molly, or Michael, can’t know that.”

“Unless the system learns as it goes. You have to add your brand of artificial intelligence to it. Well, maybe not your offbeat humor, but the ability to adapt. If the computer is smart enough, it can learn that you typically arrive home at five o’clock every day and it can have the house at a perfect temperature when you arrive. Of course, you could override that. Maybe it sends out an alert to remind you if you’re not home by six. People who want to program the system can. Those who don’t can allow her to learn their habits. And there can always be an option to change anything at any point. People who start using it will fall in love and wonder how they managed without it.”