Lock In (Lock In, #1)(85)

“I’m not understanding anything you’re telling me,” Bell said. “What is an interpolator?”

Tony looked over to me. “He’s really committed to this,” he said.

“What choice does he have?” I said. “If he drops out now, the real Nicholas Bell surfaces and spills everything.”

“Which reminds me,” Tony said, and turned back to Bell. “I’m sure you of all people are aware that patches to neural networks can be general or they can be tailored to be very, very specific. As in, a patch for one single neural network.”

Bell looked back at him, blankly.

“Okay, since you’re pretending not to understand any of this, I’ll make it really simple,” Tony said. “In addition to coding a very general patch last night, I also coded a very specific patch, for the neural network here.” Tony tapped the top of Bell’s head, lightly. “It does two things. One of them deals with control of the data stream.”

“Pay attention,” Vann said, to Bell. “This is good.”

“Usually during integration either the Integrator or the client is able to stop the data flow—if the client is done with the session or the Integrator’s had enough of the client,” Tony said. “Right now you’ve managed to disable Bell’s ability to kick you out of his head.”

“That doesn’t seem fair,” Vann said.

“Right,” Tony said. “So the patch I just had automatically downloaded into Bell’s network removes your ability to cut the data stream. You’ve got Bell trapped in his own head. And now I’ve got you trapped in the same place. Go ahead, try to cut it.”

“Oh, he’s not going to do that,” Vann said. “You’re bluffing to try to get him to leave Bell’s head.”

“Huh,” Tony said. “I hadn’t thought about that. Fair call.”

“He’ll find out soon enough,” I said. “He had Nicholas Bell trying to kill his sister.” I tapped my head. “I have it right here. When the door of that six-by-nine cell slams shut, he’ll be in there with Bell.”

“So that’s the first thing about the patch,” Tony said. “The second thing is something I think you’re going to really like.”

“Hold that thought,” Vann said. Tony silenced himself. Vann turned to Bell. “Anything to say yet, Mr. Hubbard?”

“I honestly don’t know what you are going on about,” Bell said, pleadingly. “I’m very confused.”

“Let’s aim for some clarity,” Vann said, and nodded to me. “Our next guests, please.”

Another minute, and May and Janis Sani came into the room. Vann got up to give May her seat. Janis stood behind her grandmother, hand lightly on her shoulder.

“This is him?” May asked, looking at Vann.

“It is,” Vann said. “On the inside at least.”

“I don’t know these two ladies,” Bell said.

“And that’s the first true thing you’ve said all afternoon,” Vann said.

“Lucas Hubbard, May and Janis Sani,” I said. “Their last name may sound familiar because you used Johnny Sani, their grandson and brother.”

“This is insane,” Bell said.

“I think we’ve done enough of the preliminaries,” Vann said. “And I’m getting tired of the bullshit. So let’s get right to it.” She put her foot on Bell’s chair and spun it back and out from the table.

“We lied to you about Schwartz,” she said, to Bell. “We’ve got him on murder and conspiracy, but he’s cut a deal with us. He’s told us the whole story of your play to dominate the Haden market. His version of the story doesn’t look good for you at all. We’re ready to hit Accelerant with a battalion of forensics geeks. I’ve got twenty more at your house waiting for me to tell them to go in. We have almost more warrants on you and your companies than we have people to serve them. Almost.”

Vann kicked Bell’s chair, lightly. It jumped a fraction of an inch, and Bell with it.

“But you are still here playing your idiotic game of ‘I’m not Hubbard.’ It’s time to stop playing that game,” Vann said. “So here’s what we’re doing now. You stop pretending to be Bell.” She pointed to May and Janis Sani. “You can start by telling the two of them what really happened to Johnny Sani. They deserve to know.

“Or, you can keep pretending to be Bell, in which case, here’s Tony to tell you what happens next.” She looked over to Tony. “Tell him about the other thing your patch does,” she said.

“It flips the script,” Tony said.

“A little more technical, please,” Vann said, looking at Bell. “I think he can keep up.”

“When a client uses an Integrator, the Integrator steps back and lets the client’s consciousness drive the body,” Tony said. “The Integrator assists but is supposed to hold back.” He gestured at Bell. “With your variation of it, the Integrator’s consciousness is pushed back entirely. It’s disconnected from any control of the body at all. The patch I’ve introduced into Bell’s body reverses that. It gives the Integrator complete physical control while relegating the client to the background, unable to do anything but watch.”