Chapter 23: The Bet
Timeline: 20:30, Monday
Location: Unit 3
Surprising no one, I didn't make it for the sunset hike. By the time I left The Barn, it was fully dark. My brain felt like mush. We had spent six hours refining the algorithm for the passive mesh, and Julian had been relentless. He didn't yell; he just stared at me until I fixed the math, like he knew I could do it better if he just applied enough pressure.
I walked into Unit 3, dropped my bag, and face-planted onto the bean bag chair. Nephy climbed onto my back and began to knead my shoulder blades.
"You're the only 'man' I need," I mumbled into the fabric.
My phone buzzed.
[Dan] We're watching "The Thing." Popcorn is ready if you are.
I groaned. I want to go. I really do.
But the thought of moving, of socializing, of pretending I wasn't exhausted… it was too much.
Then, a knock at the door.
Not the text notification. A physical knock.
I rolled off the bean bag and looked at Nephy, who was annoyed at being displaced. "If that's Julian coming to tell me I forgot a decimal point, I'm going to bite him."
I opened the door.
It was Alex.
He held a bottle of wine in one hand and a large brown bag in the other.
But I didn't look at the food. I looked at his chest. Alex Greyson, the billionaire CEO of GIG, was wearing a t-shirt under a casual blazer.
The t-shirt was black. In bright white letters, it read:
I'M A CIVIL ENGINEER.
I BUILD TARGETS.
I stared at it. I blinked. I stared again.
"You did it," I whispered.
Alex smiled, looking slightly sheepish but undeniably charming.
"A bet is a bet," Alex said. "You convinced me to pivot to the fleet. The fleet worked. I lost."
He gestured to the shirt. "Dave picked it out. He assured me it as funny."
That tracks.
I started to laugh. I couldn't help it. The tension of the day, the friction with Dan, the pressure from Julian—it all released.
"It's an aerospace joke," I managed to say. "Civil engineers build targets for aerospace engineers to blow up. It's… it's perfect."
"I'm glad my humiliation brings you joy," Alex grinned. "May I come in? I brought a bribe to ensure no photos end up on the internet."
"Is that…?" I sniffed the air.
"Pad See Ew and spring rolls," Alex said. "Because I recall a very specific embargo on pizza."
I smiled. He remembered. Of course he remembered.
"Come in," I said, stepping back. "You'll be safe from the paparazzi here."
I tilted my head slightly and looked at his shirt again. "You know, I might have gone with 'Structural Engineers Help Take a Load Off.'"
Alex nodded. "That is… truly awful," he chuckled. "Although, Dave was trying to convince me to get 'Impedance is Futile'."
I gasped. "Let me buy that for you!"
"I'll consider it," he said with a grin.
He walked in with perfect posture and still somehow seemed to just fit. He didn't dominate the space like Julian. He didn't fill it like Dan and Marcus. He placed the food on the island and poured two glasses of wine.
"You look tired, Lonna," Alex said gently, handing me a glass.
Not a compliment! But accurate.
"It's been a long day," I admitted. "Julian is… pushing."
"Julian runs hot," Alex said. "He forgets that people aren't engines. You can't just redline them forever."
He leaned against the counter, sipping his wine. He looked ridiculous in the t-shirt and blazer, but he wore it with such effortless confidence that it somehow worked.
I could only think of one word to describe it: Kawaii.
"And your friends?" Alex asked. "The twins?"
"They're good," I said. "Dan thinks Julian is a supervillain. Ellie thinks I'm spiraling."
"And what do you think?"
I could see it.
I looked at Alex. He was safe. He was the ground.
"I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if he turned around in his desk chair and had a white cat on his lap."
Alex laughed softly.
"Have you ever felt like you're trying to solve a multi-variable equation where none of the variables want to be in the same room?" I asked.
"People aren't math, Lonna. You can't solve them. You just have to… balance the equation." He reached out and clinked his glass against mine. "To variables," he said.
"To targets," I corrected, pointing at his shirt.
We sat on the floor in the living room and ate Thai food while chatting about books and music. I even gave him some anime recommendations after I explained how isekai spurred my interest in spatial theory.
For two hours, I was just Lonna. So when Alex stood up to leave, I was genuinely sad to see him go.
He paused at the door. "Lonna," he said.
"Yeah?"
"I know Julian pushes you. And I know Dan and Marcus protect you."
He looked me in the eyes.
"But I want you to know… I see you. Not the data. Not the results. You."
He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. It was soft, brief, and respectful.
"Goodnight, Lonna." Then he walked out into the night. And I stood there for a moment, touching my cheek.
I looked through the window. Across the Commons, the lights in the Guest Suites were flickering—the TV was on. Dan was probably asleep on the couch. Marcus's Unit 4 was pitch black because he was probably watching the last of the movie at Dan's as the only one still awake. Next door, the lights in Unit 2 were blazing. Julian was probably still awake, working, burning.
And walking away toward Unit 1 was Alex, wearing a stupid t-shirt because he lost a bet to me.
Alex is like water over a stone, slowly smoothing all of its edges.
Marcus is like the sun warming the stone.
Dan is like soft grass that cradles the stone.
And Julian is a frickin' jackhammer.
I grabbed a glass of water and stared at nothing.
Alex and Ellie are right. The equation is getting complicated.
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Timeline: 23:00, Monday
Location: The Roof of Unit 3
I can't sleep.
Alex's wine had relaxed me, but my brain was still active from thinking up new engineering puns that would let me stare at Alex's chest for a few more hours.
This weird place is a virtual candy store—where a piece cost a billion dollars.
But I was also feeling guilty for missing time with my friends again. I needed to do something to make up for it. And… I needed to clear my head.
I grabbed a blanket, climbed out my bedroom window, and pulled myself up onto the flat roof of the rowhouse. I had always wanted to be a rooftop philosopher and (thanks to Marcus showing me how) I only recently learned how to get up there.
I sat with my knees pulled to my chest, looking at the stars. The fog hadn't rolled in yet, and the sky was clear.
I heard a throat clearing one rooftop over. I hung my head.
At least he wasn't in my kitchen.
Julian was sitting on the roof of Unit 2, separated from me by a five-foot gap of empty air. He held a tablet in his lap, the blue light illuminating his sharp features.
"Do you ever sleep?" I asked.
"Sleep is boring," Julian said. "I'd rather win." He set the tablet down and turned to face me.
"I saw Alex leaving," Julian said. "Did he wear the shirt?"
"He did."
"Good," Julian smirked. "Humility suits him. He's too perfect."
"He's nice. He's comforting. He's observant," I defended. "He brings me food I actually like. He listens…"
"I listen," Julian countered. "I just filter out the irrelevant things."
He stood up. He walked to the edge of his roof, looking across the gap at me. He looked dangerous in the moonlight, like a gargoyle in designer slacks.
"He's safe, Lonna. Alex is safe. Marcus is safe. Your doctor friend is safe."
"Huh." I said flatly. "Then what are you?"
"I'm fun," Julian said.
He crouched down at the edge, balancing effortlessly on the balls of his feet.
Hah. You wish. That's false advertising, buddy.
"When are you fun? When you're manipulating people into doing what you want? Or ordering to fetch you coffee just to horn-in on their time with someone else?"
"They look at you and they see someone to protect. They see a girl who needs a break, or a hike, or a glass of wine. They want to wrap you in cotton and keep the world away."
He leaned forward over the gap.
"I look at you, and I see the person who figured out how to map a hole in reality from a moving car."
"That's not who I am. It's what I do," I protested. "But none of that is relevant for you, so why should I even bother?"
"Jump," Julian dared me. "Come over here. I have the schematics for the capacitor bank. I want to show you the discharge curve."
He's completely lost it. He's finally gone crazy.
I looked at his hand, extended across the five-foot gap. I looked at the drop between the buildings. It was an easy jump physically. But metaphorically, it was a surrender. It was me running to him because he beckoned. It was me accepting that his orbit was the only one that mattered.
I stood up. I picked up my blanket. "No."
Julian blinked, his hand still extended. He looked genuinely surprised.
"No?" he repeated. "You want to see the data. I know you do."
"I do," I admitted. "But I'm not a dog performing tricks for a treat, Julian. And I'm not jumping across a roof at midnight just because you snapped your fingers."
I dropped to my open window and swung one leg over the sill. "If you want to show me the schematics," I said, looking back at him, "you know where I sit in The Barn. You can bring them to me tomorrow. During work hours."
"You're walking away from the solution," Julian called out, his voice tight with frustration.
Good. He can be frustrated for a change. Did Alex give me courage?
"I'm walking away from you," I corrected. "If you want to catch what you're hunting, Julian… you're going to have to actually hunt. Why not try using those methods of seduction for something other than work."
I slipped inside and slid the window shut. I locked it. I saw his shadow standing on the edge of the roof for a long moment, staring at my closed window.
Then, he turned away.
I let out a breath and collapsed onto my bed. My heart was racing, not from fear, but from the thrill of finally drawing a line in the sand. I didn't know if he would cross it. But for the first time, I made him move his feet instead of mine.
Oh crap. I think I just dared him to do something.
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Timeline: 05:30, Tuesday
Location: Agonwood Perimeter Trail
My lungs burned. It was a good burn—the kind that reminded you that you were a biological organism, not just a brain in a jar solving physics problems. I ran along the ridge line behind the staff housing. The fog was still heavy, clinging to the redwoods like wet wool. I couldn't see the ocean Dan had mentioned, but I could smell the salt in the air.
If you want to catch what you're hunting, Julian… you're going to have to actually hunt. The words from last night echoed in my head with every footfall.
I had looked at the man who treated the world like his personal chessboard and told him I wasn't a pawn. I didn't know if he would respect it, or if I'd walk to The Barn this morning only to find my badge deactivated.
I picked up the pace, sprinting the last quarter mile until my legs felt like jelly. I stopped at the crest of the hill, overlooking the campus.
Below, the R&D center looked peaceful. The Barn looked empty. The Guest Suites were quiet.
I thought about Alex. Water over stone. He smoothed the edges. He made me feel valuable.
I thought about Julian. The jackhammer. He looked for the cracks and tried to pry them open.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead.
I jogged back up to Unit 3. I showered, scrubbing the sweat and the doubt away. I tied my hair back tight; I drank my coffee; and I walked to work to see if the hunter had changed the bait.
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Timeline: 08:00
Location: The Barn
The heavy doors of The Barn slid open. I braced myself. I expected Julian to be at the main console, ignoring me. Or perhaps standing with his back turned, making me work to get his attention.
Instead, he was perched on the edge of my workstation, scrolling through a tablet. He looked up as I approached. His expression was unreadable behind that mask of professional boredom, but his eyes were sharp.
He spun the tablet around on the desk surface and slid it toward me. "The discharge schematics," Julian said, his voice smooth and low. "Delivered to your workstation. During business hours."
Wait. What? He…listened?
I stopped. I looked at the tablet, then at him.
"Thank you," I said, keeping my voice steady, though my pulse jumped.
"I reviewed the thermal load," Julian said, standing up. He moved into my personal space, not aggressively, but with intent. "You were right about the duty cycle. A pulse should be enough if we can manage the heat."
"And the power?" I asked, holding my ground.
"That's the problem," Julian said. "And that's why Alex is currently trying to keep Marcus from welding a wrench to a car battery."
He gestured toward the loading bay.
"Shall we?" Julian asked. He stepped aside, gesturing for me to lead the way.
I walked past him, feeling the heat of his gaze on my back.
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Timeline: 09:00
Location: The Barn (Loading Bay)
Alex and Marcus were huddled around the heavy aluminum prototype of the Active Emitter. It sat on a workbench next to a white security Rover with its hood popped.
"We have a problem," Alex said as we approached. He looked sharp in his suit, though he had discarded the jacket to roll up his sleeves, revealing forearms that were surprisingly defined for a CEO. "The passive mesh works for the fleet, but it relies on ambient RF signals. If we want to scan the textile factory—or any secure facility—we're going into a dead zone. No signal means no filter."
"We need the Active Emitter. We figured this would be the next version to validate the mesh," I said, looking at the block of aluminum.
"Exactly," Alex said. "But we can't plug this thing into a wall outlet in the field. We need a mobile power source."
"So, Alex is letting us use the Rover," Marcus said, patting the fender of the white SUV. "It has a heavy-duty alternator and dual batteries for the tactical gear. It should be able to handle a two-second pulse."
Alex walked over to the device, inspecting the leads. He picked up the heavy copper cable, checking the insulation rating. "A two-second pulse at this impedance?" Alex asked, doing the mental math. "You're asking for 200 amps, direct draw. That's welding current."
"Can the Rover handle it?" Julian asked, leaning against a tool chest.
"The battery has 800 cold cranking amps," Alex said, his engineer brain taking over. "It can deliver the spike. The question is whether the wiring harness will act as a fuse and melt before the pulse finishes."
"Only one way to find out," Marcus said.
Alex nodded. "Hook it up. But bypass the fuse box. Go straight to the terminals. I don't want to blow the ECU."
Marcus ran two thick cables from the engine block to the workbench. "The clamps are secure," Marcus said, stepping back and wiping grease from his hands. "Should be a direct connection."
"I'm monitoring voltage at the source," Alex said, holding a multimeter to the leads. "Standing by at 13.8 volts."
"I can monitor the signal output," I said, standing safely behind a newly installed blast shield with my tablet.
How did he install one of my safety suggestions that fast?
"So, if the voltage sags, the entropy signal will degrade into noise. It needs a clean wave to work."
"Ready?" Julian asked. He stood by the device, his hand hovering near the activation switch. He wore safety glasses, which somehow made him look even more intense.
"We're clear here," Alex said.
Julian flipped the switch. The device hummed. The fans spun up.
"Seems the capacitors charging," Alex called out, watching the meter. "The draw is 50 amps... 100 amps..."
"It doesn't like it. The alternator is maxing out," Marcus warned, listening to the engine whine.
"Let's try the device," Julian said as he pressed the trigger.
THUMP.
"Was that the car?" I asked right before a massive blue spark erupted from the Rover's engine. The heavy cables jumped on the concrete floor like angry snakes. Thick, acrid, black smoke billowed out from under the hood.
"Kill it!" Alex shouted.
Julian hit the kill switch. Marcus ran forward, ripping the clamps off the battery terminals, sparks showering his gloves.
"I have the extinguisher!" Dave shouted, running over with a red canister. He doused the engine in white foam. The smoke turned grey, then stopped.
"Well," Alex said, stepping forward to inspect his now-ruined security vehicle. He poked at a charred bundle of wires with a pen. "That was unfortunate."
"The wiring harness melted," Marcus said, coughing as he waved the smoke away.
"And the voltage sagged instantly," Alex said, looking at the multimeter he had saved. "The car battery couldn't sustain the peak, so the pulse fizzled before it even left the emitter."
"So we can't use the car," Julian said, stripping off his safety glasses. He didn't look defeated; he looked annoyed.
"Not directly," Alex explained. "We can't pull that kind of power from a 12-volt system in real-time. We need a buffer."
"Or a container," Marcus added. "We need to store the energy slowly, then dump it quickly."
"Capacitors," Alex said. "Big ones. We build a bank. We hook it up to the car to charge—slowly, safely—and then the device draws from the bank, not the car."
"A trunk unit could work," Julian realized. "We fill the trunk of the car with a capacitor bank."
It's cute how they are finishing each other's thoughts. They've gone all hive mind. Mush them all together and they are kinda the perfect man.
I cleared my throat thereby clearing the inappropriate thoughts of my inner monologue.
"That might solve the weight issue for the handheld," I added. "But it means the device is tethered. Wouldn't it require a cable running from the trunk to the unit?"
"Fifty feet is enough to check a basement," Alex said. "If we can park close enough." He looked at the foamed-over engine of the Rover. "Build the trunk unit," Alex ordered. "Use the SUV. It has more cargo space."
Alex already found another pinhole in a basement?
"And the backpack idea?" Julian asked me.
"One step at a time," I said. "First, let's build something that doesn't set the getaway car on fire."
Julian looked at me. A slow smile spread across his face. "Agreed," he said. "Get to work, Dr. Patricks."
We spent the rest of the day taking measurements, roughing out a diagram, and making a list of materials. It would take a few days to get everything. While it was an arduous and exhausting endeavor, there was a palpable air of excitement.