Big Data: A Startup Thriller Novel

Chapter 82

         

Doug couldn't believe they had the audacity to run. They couldn't have gotten far, though. One entrance. One exit. The chances of finding it in this fog were slim. First, the girl and the old man. Then the fat one realized what was going on and scurried off into the mist. Doug let out a long low growl from the bottom of his throat. How could they be so disobedient? Their time was up. It was over.

Fortunately, Doug knew the area well. He had spent weeks here, watching and waiting for Gaia to kill someone. When he got bored, he would watch the trains, the cargo being loaded. The order of the system that on the surface looked like so much chaos felt reassuring.

He remembered watching Gaia kill that man months ago and smiled. He'd been waiting so long that he'd almost given up. He thought maybe it would never happen. And then he saw it. The accident with the crane.

At first, he wasn't sure if it was just an ordinary work accident. After all, that's what they were claiming it was. But he checked with Thor, and his development team said it was a confirmed kill. It was such a rush knowing he had watched Gaia kill that man.

Now he had to finish what he'd started. He had to track down the bitch and her friends. They were all going to die today, one way or another. He preferred Gaia's Wrath—it was the meeker solution, after all—but he wasn't about to let that preference get in the way of what needed to be done.

When lions hunt, they instinctively go for the weakest, most vulnerable animal of the pack. Knowing this, Doug ran after Phillip.

The pier was only a maze the first few times one walked around it. Doug knew that there were well-beaten paths, and like a college lawn, the most heavily frequented places were obvious. Just by the direction Phillip ran, Doug knew where he would find him.