Project Maigo(36)

“They’re carrying out his desires,” I say. “His new soldiers.”

“Exactly,” Endo says. “And for the most part, those desires are compelling the young to eat and grow. If they grow at the same rate Maigo did, we will have four 300-foot Kaiju to deal with, inside of a few days. And with Gordon here...it is likely the young will follow. Scrion was just the first.”

“The question is, why is Gordon here?” I say.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Endo says.

I hate this man.

He doesn’t wait to hear my theory. “Gordon is here for you.”

“I know that,” I say, “but why?”

“Gordon is a military man. He is responding to a threat.” Endo leans forward, like it will help me hear him, but he could lean back and I’d hear him the same. “Imagine that Gordon is part of a special ops team. He is in hostile territory, but he can’t act until he gets orders. Now imagine that the enemy has put up a tower that blocks communications. What do you suppose becomes his primary target?”

“I’m the tower,” I say.

“I wasn’t sure until Maigo saved you today. While you lack the deeper connection that Gordon had, I believe the potential for that connection exists.”

“With your mind-control doohickey.”

“It is a neural implant,” Endo says. “It allows us basic, thoughtless, control of the target through electrical impulses to various parts of the brain. We can render the target immobile, as you experienced, or we can put them in a rampage. But there is a second option. A pathway into the target’s mind that allows for a deeper connection, which would facilitate complete control and transmission of detailed instructions.”

“Like telling someone to sit,” I say. I’m facing forward, watching Beverly Farms pass by beneath us in a blur. Endo can’t see my face. My clenched jaw. But the anger in my voice is impossible to disguise. “Devine’s security isn’t flawed, you stole the access codes from my fucking mind.”

I can’t look at the man. If I see even a hint of a smile, I’m going to jump back there and throttle him.

“Isn’t that kind of dangerous?” Collins asks. “What if the target’s mind is more powerful?”

It’s a good question, but I wish she wouldn’t have asked it. Because if the answer is that Endo’s mind is more powerful, my ego is going to be flushed down the toilet.

“The electrical impulses guarantee that the conversation is one way. The target won’t even be aware of the intrusion.”

He’s right about that. I had no idea he was in my head, which begs the question, what else did he learn about me? I draw my pistol, lean around the seat and level it at his head. “If you ever use that thing on me again, I will kill you, without warning, without mercy. Understood?”

For the first time I’ve ever seen, Endo looks a little unsettled. He’s a smart guy. He sees my finger around the trigger. The safety off. The look in my eyes. I’m one smart remark from putting a hole in his head. He does the only thing he can. He nods. Lucky bastard.

I face forward again, holstering my weapon. “You took a peek inside my head. Should have seen that coming.”

It takes a lot to get me angry. But man, Endo gets under my skin. And the fact that he violated the privacy of my mind... If I’m ever able to control Nemesis, that guy is getting an atomic wedgie the likes of which has never been seen in the history of the universe.

“We’re over Rockport, now,” Woodstock reports quietly after a few minutes spent in silence. “ETA, two minutes.”

I close my eyes for thirty seconds of those two minutes, focusing my thoughts, erasing all trace of my feelings for Endo. He’s working with us for now, and having an antagonistic relationship with the man is going to end up getting someone killed. Besides, I don’t think he’ll be pushing me again anytime soon. When I open my eyes again, I can see the quarry ahead. “Endo, how sure are you that your neural implant is going to work?”

“Gordon, at the core, is human,” he says. “It will work on him the same way it worked on yo—our test subjects. The challenge is punching through his thick skin. If the hole I began hasn’t healed yet, it will take just a second.”

“Going to be one hell of a bronco ride,” I say.

He laughs lightly “Second one today.”

“Any chance Zoomb is working on a projectile alternative?”

“For the Kaiju,” he says. “The prototype is nearly complete.”

“So Gordon is kind of a beta test then?”

“How do you mean?”