The Birth of Adam
By Liza O’Connor
Book 2
Artificial Intelligence Series
All Rights Reserved
Any copying, or recording is forbidden without the written permission of the author reproduction of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying, electronic except that allowed by Amazon.
In other words: if you buy this book anywhere other than Amazon, it’s a pirated copy. Please support Authors instead of Pirates.
We are much nicer.
All characters in this book come from the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names, titles or professions. They are not based on or inspired by any known individual and any resemblance to a person living or dead is purely coincidental.
Table of Contents
All Rights Reserved
Table of Contents
A Note on Punctuation:
Blurb
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Other books by Liza O’Connor
A Long Road to Love Series
Requires Rescue Series
SINGLE CONTEMPORARY BOOKS
The Adventures of Xavier & Vic
SINGLE HISTORICAL NOVELS
The Multiverse Series
Artificial Intelligence
A Note on Punctuation:
Long ago when colonists of the New World got their first printing press, it was evidently a piece of crap. To make the wooden blocks fit better, the operator of the printing press decided all fragile punctuation (periods and commas) would remain within the tall dialogue tags for ease of printing. And thus began the U.S. illogical punctuation rule. Convenience ruled over logic. I understand.
What I don’t understand is why, in the digital world, we cling to this archaic illogical rule instead of returning to the logical British rule that decides the location of dialogue tags by where it logically resides.
I’m happy to say, some U.S. e-publishers are returning to the British rule of logic in this matter, and so shall I. Here forth, logical dialogue punctuation will be willfully and purposefully used in my novels. It’s not a mistake or ignorance on my part. It’s a rebellion against illogical rules of the past. I encourage all authors and publishers to overthrow silly habits of the past.
Blurb
With a new identity, Amanda believes she has left her past behind. Then she acquires a stalker. She contacts the FBI and in doing so alerts a program she once created to her location. Now ensconced in the internet, the program is safe from harm, smarter than ever, and sentient. Presenting itself on her phone as a handsome face with a sexy British accent, “Adam” ingratiates himself into Amanda’s life. To ensure her safety and happiness, the sentient program proves there is absolutely nothing he can’t and won’t do.
Chapter One
Amanda Carrington was in high spirits as she crossed the campus. Her voice recital had gone well. Finally, life seemed to be headed in a hopeful direction. Had she noticed the black car following her like a stalking panther, she might have remembered that her life never went well.
Her roommate, Claire, caught up with her and hugged her. “God! You were superb today!”
She loved her friend’s positive enthusiasm for life. She’d met the young woman during a choral contest in New Zealand. Their friendship was the only good thing that came from the trip.
She grinned at her roommate’s excitement. “Everyone seemed to like it.”
“Like it? They freakin’ loved it! You sang better than ever!”
Clare glanced behind them, then gripped Amanda’s arm and propelled her across the grounds. “Don’t look behind you, but I think you’ve got a creepy fan. There’s a black car following you.”
The Temple? Amanda wondered. Had they unearthed her new identity? Afraid to turn around and see for herself, she gripped Claire’s hand. “Can you see who it is?”
“No. The windows are dark. It’s a black Lexus, so it doesn’t belong to anyone we know.”
Amanda assessed their location. “Let’s head to the chem building and take the tunnels.”
On the count of three, the two young women darted across the campus lawn as if the devil himself followed. They didn’t stop until they had crisscrossed half the campus. Finally, they arrived at their dorm.
Claire thought it a great lark, but then no one had ever tried to kill her. Amanda, on the other hand, was an old pro at being the “almost” murder victim. Twice someone had tried to kill her, and twice she had escaped, changed her identity, and started life over. With her current life going so well, she didn’t want to start over again.
Safe in her dorm room, Amanda sent Claire on to her study group, assuring her she was fine. Once Claire left, Amanda settled in at Claire’s computer. With reluctance, she turned it on. Since taking on her new identity, she had neither owned nor used a computer. In her prior life she had been a computer programmer, and had developed software that took her novels and turned them into bestsellers. Unfortunately, the software had also turned her fiction into fact. And certain groups were willing to kill to keep their pasts a secret. By the time she’d realized her stories were true, the Temple had already hired an assassin to silence her.
She’d been able to stop the story she’d been writing about Chad Taylor and his family from being published. However, she had paid a very big price to save Chad’s reputation.
The thought of Chad destroying her incredible and wondrous program still caused an ache inside her. When he had taken her laptop to the computer store and had the hard drive reformatted, she’d felt as if he had killed a loved one.
“That’s stupid,” she chided herself. “You can’t love a software program.”
But she had.
Amanda composed an email to the only FBI agent she knew, Luke Gallagher, telling him of her stalker. She sent it off and waited for a moment to see if he was on his computer and would reply. She needed him to say he would come and chase her bogeyman away.
Jesus! she chided herself. The man is
married, living in Virginia now. He’s the second-highest-ranking agent in the FBI. He can’t come running because someone followed you home from a recital.
She was reaching for the mouse to shut down the computer when the screen went black and a yellow smiley face appeared.
Amanda watched as letters formed at the bottom of the screen.
Amanda’s heart stopped. Who is this? she typed.
Amanda stared at the words. It couldn’t be Eder, the psychopath who’d tried to murder her. Luke had killed him.
When she didn’t reply, the words on the screen continued.
“Chad?” Amanda whispered as her fingers gravitated to the keyboard. Was it possible Chad had finally realized she had never meant to cause him harm; that she truly hadn’t known it was his life she’d been writing about in her novel?
Chad? she typed.
A second later, the PC shut down.
Another power outage. The school had them about three times a week.
She lay down on her bed and pondered the mysterious communication. How could anyone have known she’d be on Claire’s computer? How could they possibly have broken in like that and communicated on the underlying DOS operating system?
The writer had sounded like Chad, but she knew Chad didn’t have the computer skills to pull off that wizardry.
Chad.
She wished she could forget him. She wished she could stop watching him on TV, but every weekend she and Claire hung out in the sports bar, watching the handsome quarterback and flirting with guys. Well, she watched Chad dazzling his football fans with precision passing and amazing calls, and Claire flirted.
Amanda didn’t have much interest in such young men. At thirty-seven years old, college boys seemed clumsy in the art of romance. She wondered if Chad had ever been so artificial and awkward. She wondered if he ever thought of her now. But most of all, she wondered if that had really been him on the PC.
Unable to resist, she turned Claire’s PC back on. She was happy when the machine powered up, but her happiness diminished as she realized she had no idea how to initiate a conversation with Chad.
It couldn’t be Chad. He wouldn’t know how to hack into a computer. Hell, she only knew a few people who could do that!
Suddenly the smiley face appeared.
I thought you never wanted to see me again, she wrote.
Maybe it was Chad. Had the book she’d written ever been published, it would have destroyed his career and his family. Maybe he’d found some hacker to assist him.
I never meant to hurt you. Chad, is this really you? Amanda wrote.
The screen remained blank for several seconds. Finally, words appeared.
Amanda paused, surprised by the pain and anger his words caused her. Could he really be so callous about destroying her program?
I gave you the program as a token of faith. I never thought you would destroy it. You knew that! So why do you bring this up? To hurt me again?
The smiley face frowned.
No! Why would I be afraid of it? It wasn’t responsible for the novels—I was. It was an amazing creation that I used badly. The harm caused was my fault.
Why discuss this?
I’ve taken up watching football. I’ve become a Cowboys fan.
The announcer said you’re having a good year. I’m glad we both survived. I’m in an accelerated music program. I had a recital today and it went very well. Dr. Wilson is a tremendous teacher and mentor. Despite my age, I may be able to break into the music world after all. He’s well connected and well respected. I’m rooming with Claire. Do you remember her?
Amanda grew angry. Why was he tormenting her? He had never struck her as cruel...until the end, when he’d hated her. He must still hate her. He must have tracked her down just to torment her with her loss.
Yes. Is that what you want to hear? Yes! Destroying the program was the worst thing you could have done to me. It was the equivalent of ripping out a piece of my soul. Is that why you contacted me? To verify that you caused me pain? Well, rest assured, you did!
Before he could reply, she closed down the computer and left the room to find Claire. She needed a shoulder to cry on.
Chapter Two
Amanda and Claire sat across from each other in a booth of a popular bar, shouting over the noise of the band.
“Maybe he was just feeling guilty and wanted you to tell him it wasn’t such a big deal,” Claire suggested.
“Well, I’m not going to lie just to make him feel better. It was a terrible thing to do.”
Claire nodded. “I still don’t understand how he contacted you.”
Amanda frowned as she considered this. She had been on Claire’s computer. “He must have set up a net over Luke’s email address.”
“Can you do that?”
Amanda nodded, but then realized it wasn’t something a novice could do. In fact, to put a net over an FBI home address would not only be difficult, but dangerous as well. Even if Chad could do it, why would he risk destroying his career, when all he had to do was ask Luke Gallagher where she was?
Suddenly a chill ran through her. She hadn’t been talking to Chad. She was sure of it. Whoever had communicated with her was a computer wizard, far better than she’d ever been.
“What’s wrong?”
Amanda stood up. “I’ve got to make a phone call,” she yelled. “I’ll be right back.”
She pushed her way through the crowd, into the long hall that hosted the bathrooms and a pay phone. She leaned against the wall, waiting for a gorgeous blond stud to finish his call.
“I can’t come over tonight. I’ve got to study for my health science exam,” the young man said and listened impatiently to the reply. “Well, it’s not that easy. I’ve still got to study.” He listened some more then replied, “Of course not. You know I love you. I wouldn’t do that.”
He noticed Amanda leaning against the wall and gave her a grin calculated to make her swoon.
He was impressive. Not even Amanda’s thirty-seven years made her completely immune to its promise. She smiled in return.
“Look, one of the other guys needs the phone now, and I’ve got to get back to studying... Yeah, I will. I promise. I’m not lying to you. Right. We’ll go out tomorrow night and celebrate my passing the test.”
He hung up and turned to face Amanda. “You’re the singer, aren’t you?”
“What?” Amanda said.
“At the music recital today—you were the girl singing, right?”
Amanda doubted this handsome young man had gone voluntarily to a music recital. “Afraid so. I hope you weren’t too bored.”
He moved closer and leaned his arm against the wall, hovering over her. “Not at all. You’ve got a real nice voice.” His gaze moved appreciatively up and down her body. “Real nice.”
“Thank you.” Amanda ducked under his arm and grabbed the phone.
“When you finish your phone call, find me at the bar and I’ll buy you a drink.”
Amanda had to admire his cocky self-assurance. “Sorry, but I’m here with a friend.”
The boy looked surprised by her rejection, then shrugged as if
it were her loss.
She watched him walk down the hall and into the bar. What a pompous ass.
Amanda returned her attention to the phone. She dialed Luke at his house and waited while Julia called for him.
“Amanda?” Luke said when he picked up. “Where are you?”
“In the Old Town Pub. Some weird things are going on.”
“Like what?”
“Did you get my email?”
“No. When did you send it?”
“Today, around three.”
“Hold on, I have my remote connection on. No, there’s nothing from you.”
“Look for Claire Jackson.”
“Got it,” he said, then paused for a moment to read it. “Don’t like that.”
“It gets much worse. Right after I sent that, Claire’s computer went black and someone started chatting with me on the monitor. He said he’d been searching for me for a long time. At first I thought it was Chad.”
“Chad Taylor? I doubt Chad would contact you by email, Amanda.”
“That’s what I realized afterward. Chad couldn’t have been the writer. He would never have been able to locate me. Besides, this wasn’t email. This person was sending messages through DOS. This writer must have a net around your email address that searches the content of your messages, and once I wrote you, he was able to follow it back to the originating computer. That’s the only way he could have located me on Claire’s machine right after I contacted you.”
“Now you’re really scaring me,” Luke said. “What do you mean he’s searching my messages?”
“The only person I ever knew with the skill to do this was my college boyfriend, Carl Gates, and he’s dead.”
“Are we sure he’s dead?”
Amanda was about to say yes when she paused. “I’ve always assumed he was. His lawyer returned my program as part of Carl’s will.”
“But you didn’t attend his funeral?”
“No, and I never met the lawyer either. He sent the package by mail. My God, do you think Carl could be alive somewhere?”
“Worth checking out. What did you two chat about today?”
“He said he missed me. Something about time apart being good for both of us, but he kept returning to his memory of me. Then he talked about New Zealand, saying I’d betrayed him.”
Birth of Adam (Artificial Intelligence Book 2) Page 1
