Under the Knife(66)

“Does anyone have any medical implants, perhaps?” Montgomery asked.

Murmurs, shaking heads, and more shrugs.

Implants. Spencer’s right hand stole to his right ear. The portable EEG lead was still measuring his brain waves and beaming an electromagnetic signal back to the server in Raj’s lab. Its signal had been powerful enough to screw up his satellite car radio. Could that be it?

Spencer reached up underneath his scrub cap and behind his ear, as if scratching it. Probing with his fingers, he located the electrode, and ran his finger along its flat, smooth surface until he located the small knob on its border. Using his fingernail, he slid the knob from one side to the other, shutting off its transmitter.

The red light on the robot stopped blinking.

“Wireless connection reestablished,” Delores intoned. “Operative systems online.”

Well, what do you know? He’d have to tell Raj about that. More bugs to fix.

Montgomery rubbed his hands together with relish. “All right, then! Thank you, everyone, for your cooperation. Please continue, Dr. Wu.”

“Delores, initiate laparoscopic cholecystectomy protocol for Swiss Army number two,” Rita said.

“Of course,” Delores said. “Initiating laparoscopic cholecystectomy protocol for Swiss Army number two.” The gears of number two signaled their approval.





SEBASTIAN


Like a radar dish searching for a target, Sebastian shifted his gaze from one end of the crowd to the other, hunting for anything, anyone, looking suspicious.

Proximity. Whatever it was, it must be near both Wu and the robot: That’s why it was interfering with the robot, and their connection with Wu, but not their connection with each other.

There was this one guy.

Standing near the robot. Sebastian’s eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to him because he towered over everyone else. A big motherfucker who had been scratching behind his right ear. Flirting with middle age, maybe a shade shy of forty but in good shape. The guy folded his arms, and his biceps looked as if about to rip right through the short sleeves of his XXL scrubs. Something about him made Sebastian twitchy.

He started to inch toward him.

But then a man standing next to the big guy pulled out his phone, which was supposed to be turned off, and furtively snapped a picture of the robot, which they’d been instructed repeatedly not to do.

Then he saw another dude, also near the robot, texting on his phone. Jesus, couldn’t people pull their heads out of their electronic asses for just one second?

Goddamn hopeless.

No way to tell for certain where that interference had come from, or whether it might come back: too many people, too many possibilities.

He was turning his attention back to the screen on the wall when Finney spoke up.





FINNEY


Ah. There we go. Much better.

The signal on his tablet had returned to its proper pattern. The implant was working again.

Finney unclenched his hands.

“Sebastian. I’m back online. What did you do?”

“Nothing, boss,” Sebastian whispered. “Must have been interference from an electronic device in the room. The signal returned as soon as Montgomery had everyone power their devices down.”

“Intentional?”

A pause. “No. I don’t think so.”

“Good. Let’s continue then.”

Finney reopened his audio to Dr. Wu.





RITA


She knew, even before he’d said a single word.

He was back.

She could sense it.

Her heart sank.

“So. Dr. Wu. I’m very interested to see how Delores performs.” Finney was picking up where he’d left off, acting as if nothing had happened. But she was sure, absolutely certain, that he’d been gone, if only temporarily.

She bit at her lower lip. Was he unaware of what had happened? Or covering up a mistake? She suspected the latter and was struck by the realization that his absence had coincided with Delores’s shutdown.

Coincidence?

She didn’t think so. She had no idea what it meant but made a mental note of it anyway.

Situational awareness.

“Having some expertise in this particular field, I’ve availed myself of the opportunity to add some of my own ideas to Delores’s design and development,” Finney said.

His own ideas?

“Rita?” Chase said. “You may continue.”

“Yes. Of course.” Rita wrapped her trembling hands around the third Swiss Army.

“Surprised to hear we’ve been working as a team, you and I?” Finney said. “Don’t be. You and I have much the same goals. You can’t imagine my delight upon discovering you were working with the company manufacturing Delores’s prototype. And how fortuitous for me that, at the time, its founders needed a major cash infusion.”

She didn’t like the way this was headed.

But I need to operate on Mrs. Sanchez.

“The idea of replacing flawed human surgeons with exacting machines is admirable. Your views align with my own on this. In fact, my opinion is that machines would make far better—and safer—surgeons than humans. Wouldn’t you agree?”

What does he mean?

Rita froze.