I leaned back in my chair, rolling my unlit cigar between my fingers, while Mai and Frank traded jabs about my latest outburst.

  TAI sat motionless, like she was posing for a portrait, that same smug smirk still plastered on her face.

  The doors of the conference room opened up to admit Dr Johnson and his son.

  The Interceptors stood around the large room like statues. A security precaution we all hoped we never needed to use.

  A royal guard of sorts for the King at the least. A response team at worst.

  The energy in the room shifted. The jovial fun we had all benefited from having in the moment dropped into the ether, replaced by the serious face of Dr. Johnson, his presence changing the atmosphere in an instant. The casual conversation died immediately.

  Controlled. Professional. A man who had spent decades in rooms where decisions shaped nations. And today? He was ready to do it again.

  Behind him, Timmy followed. Nervous, but trying not to show it.

  AG leaned back in his seat, watching the father and son approach. Silent. Already assessing. Understanding the shift better than anyone.

  Johnson offered a respectful nod, and a slight knee drop, followed by his son mimicking his father.

  “Apologies for our lateness, Your Majesty.”

  I didn’t miss the way Timmy stuck close to his father, like a kid dragged to the principal’s office—unsure of the transgression, but certain of the punishment.

  Johnson didn’t sit.

  Instead, he adjusted his sleeves, took a controlled breath. And then, with the same ease one might use to comment on the weather, he spoke.

  “Before we begin, I want to make a blanket declaration.”

  The words hung in the air.

  “I've called you all here to discuss a Platinum security concern here.”

  My fingers stilled. Platinum?

  “I will also be acting as my son’s attorney for any official capacity actions.”

  Silence.

  “Having had a hand in the constitution, I think I’m qualified.”

  He looked directly at AG.

  AG said nothing.

  Everyone else? Not so quiet.

  Mai blinked. “Uh… what?”

  Frank raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment.

  I just stared. Something had just changed. I didn’t know what yet—but I knew a power play when I saw one.

  TAI tilted her head precisely 1.4 degrees—a movement so robotic, it might as well have been a calculation.

  “Clarification. Are you asserting legal protections prior to a disclosure?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m doing,” Johnson answered evenly.

  It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. A proclamation. A firewall.

  A move made before anyone could counter it.

  I glanced at AG.

  No reaction.

  The king of Tulanto didn’t need to understand the specifics. He trusted his people to make the right calls.

  And Johnson just made a call.

  “TAI, Kay, both Johnsons—my office. Now.”

  The three of us rose from our seats.

  Behind us, the Johnsons moved to follow—only for two Interceptors to shift in, flanking them on either side.

  Without a word, they closed ranks—one ahead, one behind—locking the father and son in a silent formation.

  A quiet escort.

  A contained inevitability.

  Custody, without the need for chains.

  The irony wasn’t lost on any of us—one of Tulanto’s architects, now contained by his own creation.

  The walk to AG’s office was silent—except for the heavy, rhythmic thud of robotic feet.

  Each step a reminder of their presence and possible future outcomes.

  Dr. Johnson kept his posture calm, collected. If he was affected by the Interceptors looming over them, he didn’t show it. Timmy? Not so much.

  I could hear the kid’s breathing pick up, the barely restrained nervous energy radiating off him. His heartbeat raising. The kind of tension that made people confess to things they hadn’t even done yet.

  Not that I needed a confession. And especially not from him.

  Timmy and I had history. Since the moment he could ride a bike, he’d been trailing me from case to case, tugging at my coat, pulling me aside to throw a ball, or fix a bike chain.

  Other kids on the island grew up, found their own circles, drifted away.

  Not Timmy.

  And now?

  Now, his fate—his father’s fate—was probably in my hands now as Head of Security.

  Irony’s a bitch.

  If this was just another story written by the gods, then the gods were dicks.

  We reached AG’s office. The doors slid open, and the Interceptors followed, positioning one outside and the other inside the door.

  Caged in without a single visible threat.

  Walking into AG’s office wasn’t stepping into a throne room.

  It was stepping into a mind at work.

  Every book, every tablet, every chair—all carefully placed, all with a purpose.

  There was no waste here.

  This wasn’t an office for appearances. It was an office for decisions.

  And when you sat at that six-person table?

  You weren’t sitting in front of a king.

  You were sitting in front of a man who built a nation and planned to keep it.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  AG sat down, motioning for the rest of us to do the same.

  Dr. Johnson didn’t.

  "Sit Gerald." AG said with a no nonsense tone.

  He sat, adjusting his sleeves, took a measured breath, and spoke first.

  "Now. What the hell is this about?" AG said with an exasperation of his age showing.

  "Of course Alistair, but first this is important. Before we go any further, I want to establish conditions.”

  AG raised his brow a bit but otherwise said nothing. Just watched.

  “Timmy is a teenager.” Johnson’s voice was steady. “Teenagers are stupid. Even genius teenagers. They are gullible.”

  Timmy flinched, but stayed silent.

  “I want full forgiveness for my son and by extension myself.”

  I barely stopped my eyebrow from lifting as well now. Straight to it, huh?

  “If you demand consequences, we can discuss eviction to Tuvalu.”

  Timmy turned, eyes wide. He hadn’t expected that.

  “But understand—I go where my son goes.”

  There it was.

  Not a request. A demand.

  A room full of high-level operatives, and Dr. Gerald Johnson had just walked in and thrown down a hand no one could counter.

  Silence stretched.

  I looked at AG.

  He hadn’t flinched.

  He never did.

  TAI, however, wasn’t one to let things go unchecked.

  “We don’t know what we’re agreeing to—”

  “Enough.”

  AG’s voice was calm, firm, absolute.

  He exhaled through his nose. The closest thing AG ever got to amusement. Or irritation. Maybe both.

  “I’ve known Gerald for more than 40 years.”

  He didn’t look at me. Didn’t look at TAI.

  He looked at Johnson.

  “There wouldn’t be a nation without him.”

  Pause.

  Weight.

  “Unless Kay objects… We,” he said, stressing the royal article, “agree.”

  The Interceptors stayed in place. A silent reminder—this wasn’t over yet.

  All eyes went to me.

  I wasn’t used to this position yet.

  This wasn’t a detective case where I pointed out the perp. This was bigger.

  A national-level incident.

  We knew something had happened. We just didn’t know what.

  Something about the kid. Not the dad.

  Not enough information.

  Except that AG knew Dr. Johnson better than anyone.

  And AG was okay with it.

  “Without knowing what this is about, I can only accept my King’s decision.”

  Johnson nodded once, slow, satisfied.

  The Interceptor blocking the door shifted, moving to the far corner of the room—becoming a statue once more.

  Timmy swallowed, staring at his father like he wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or even more terrified.

  I leaned back in my chair, rolling my unlit cigar between my fingers.

  AG exhaled, slow. Then, with the tiredness of a grandfather who had seen it all:

  “Now. Tell us about your son’s stupidity, Gerald.”

  Johnson adjusted his sleeves again—a deliberate motion, a reset.

  Timmy, still silent, stared at his hands.

  His father didn’t look at him. Didn’t need to. This was his move now.

  “It started,” Johnson began, voice measured, “as a personal project.”

  I exchanged a glance with TAI. That was a hell of an opening.

  “Define ‘personal project,’” I said.

  Johnson gave me a look. “An independent research endeavor, pursued in the privacy of our home, using the knowledge and 'resources' available to him.”

  “Translation—he built something with your tech that he wasn’t supposed to,” I muttered.

  Johnson gave a small nod and sigh.

  “Timothy is a prodigy, and, as his father, I ensured he had access to high-level AI architecture from an early age. I trained him myself. I didn’t just teach him coding—I taught him systems. How they work, how they interconnect. What he built… was a natural evolution of that education.”

  “Not only did he apprentice with me, but he also interned with Elliot on the mechanical side as well. My son is probably one of the only people—scientists—in this nation that understands Android technology from the ground up, from body to brain, Kay.

  He’s a national asset, Kay.

  And I’ll point out that Alistair gave his full blessing on this long ago.”

  I looked at AG receive a small nod.

  AG folded his hands, unimpressed. “Get to the part where it becomes my problem.”

  Johnson gave a resigned sigh.

  “He's a teenage genius who can build androids Alistair, what do you think he did?"

  AG’s eyes widened. He nearly choked on his tea.

  "He didn’t."

  He tried to suppress a laugh, but the grin slipped through anyway.

  "Yes. Yes he did." Gerald said finally letting go of the facade and wiping his face with his hand.

  I stopped rolling my cigar. Well.

  Mai would’ve choked on her coffee as well if she were here.

  AG blinked once. Just once.

  Timmy looked even smaller in his chair.

  “And not just any android,” Johnson continued. “A fully autonomous unit."

  "I'm sure it was" I said putting my two cents into it.

  "But what does this have to do with national security Dr. Johnson?"

  "A fully autonomous unit, utilizing my designs available in my home lab -- my high-clearance platinum-tier security designs Kay.”

  I let out a slow breath. That was a hell of a thing.

  TAI tilted her head, processing. “That level of AI infrastructure is restricted for a reason. Civilian-tier AI is intentionally throttled. This explains a lot actually.”

  “I am well aware,” Johnson said. “I designed the limitations.”

  “And your son used them to build...”

  Johnson’s jaw tightened. “A pleasure bot.”

  AG leaned back. “How bad is it?”

  Johnson didn’t answer immediately.

  That told me everything.

  I looked at Timmy. The kid still wasn’t speaking, but the way his fingers clenched at his pant leg told me he wanted to.

  “Timothy,” I said. “That’s not the whole story, is it?”

  A beat.

  Timmy finally looked up. Eyes darted toward his father, then to me, then back down.

  And in a voice barely above a whisper, he said:

  “I built her for me. But Kelsey took her from me.”

  Silence.

  I sighed, rubbing my temple. Oh. Of course.

  “Who’s Kelsey? And where did she take her?”

  Timmy’s fingers twitched against his pant leg. His breath was shaky now, his voice unsteady.

  “I… I don’t know. All I know is that she somehow found out about Audrey.

  Audrey.

  His girlfriend.

  “She told me she’d tell the world about it,” he continued, voice barely holding. “That the scandal would ruin my father’s reputation, get us exiled. She said… she said I had to do what she wanted or she’d make sure we lost everything.”

  His hands tightened into fists.

  “At first, it was just threats. Then she started demanding new models. She… she started taking orders, Kay.”

  I exhaled slow. That was a problem.

  “I even asked you for advice once.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “When?”

  “Weeks ago. You didn’t know it was about this—I just asked what to do when someone was blackmailing you.”

  I frowned. Vaguely remembering.

  “You told me to just deal with it.”

  Well. Shit.

  “Then my father said that Audrey was found dead. At the warehouse.”

  His voice hitched.

  “And I freaked out. I stopped answering her calls. I thought maybe she’d leave me alone.”

  He sucked in a breath, staring at the table.

  “She didn’t.”

  Silence.

  “She said if I didn’t finish this new batch for the auction… she’d have the Interceptors come after me.”

  His hands shook now.

  “I… I didn’t know what to do, Kay.”

  His hands were shaking now. His breathing uneven.

  “Then yesterday, my dad asked me if I’d made any androids.”

  A pause.

  “And I told him everything.”

  Timmy sat there, hands clenched in his lap, shoulders drawn in like he was bracing for a final blow. He’d just spilled everything. Audrey. Kelsey. The blackmail. The auction.

  And now, he was waiting.

  Waiting for punishment.

  Waiting for a sentence.

  Waiting for something worse than exile.

  I exhaled, rolling my unlit cigar between my fingers, watching him. I’d seen this look before.

  A kid who just realized they’re not a kid anymore.

  I leaned forward, elbows on the table. Made sure he was looking at me.

  “Listen to me, Timmy.”

  His eyes darted up. He looked ready to crumble.

  “You’re not getting exiled. You’re not going to prison. You’re fine.”

  He blinked, almost not processing it.

  “AG made the call. That’s the final word. This is done.”

  A pause.

  His fingers loosened—just barely. But he wasn’t breathing easier yet.

  Because he wasn’t stupid.

  He knew there was a ‘but’ coming.

  And I wasn’t going to lie to him.

  “But fine doesn’t mean free.”

  His fingers twitched.

  I tapped my cigar against the table. “You’re too smart for your own good, kid. And that’s dangerous.”

  He swallowed.

  “You built something you weren’t supposed to. Not just a bot—an impossible bot.”

  “And you got played. You got blackmailed. You got pulled into an international AI smuggling ring and didn’t even realize it until it was too late.”

  His throat bobbed.

  “And you think you’re the only one who’s noticed?”

  I let the question hang.

  Timmy’s eyes flicked toward his father, then back to me.

  He was getting it now.

  “You’re not a civilian anymore. Not really.”

  His breath hitched.

  I sighed, leaning back. “So here’s how this works.”

  I raised a finger. “One—you’re done playing in the shadows. No more ‘personal projects.’ No more building things in secret. No more unsanctioned R&D with tech that other countries would kill to get their hands on.”

  His lips pressed into a thin line.

  “Two—you’re not a free agent anymore. You’re getting placed. You work under your father. Or you work under Vance.”

  That got a reaction. His head snapped up.

  “Vance?”

  I nodded. “Your choice. You stay on the R&D side with your dad, or you learn how security and counterintelligence actually works with Vance’s team. Either way, you don’t get to just… exist outside the system anymore. That ship sailed the second you built Audrey.”

  Silence.

  His shoulders sank. Not in defeat. Just… realization.

  The kid was smart. He understood what I was saying.

  “And before you start thinking this is punishment?”

  I flicked my cigar between my fingers.

  “We’re not locking you up, Timmy.”

  I met his eyes.

  “We’re making sure no one else does.”

  I kept pressing Timmy for details on Kelsey’s operations. It took another hour before we finally let him and his father go.

  No need to babysit a co-founder of Tulanto—or a man too important to exile, too dangerous to imprison.

  Hell, exile would have been a death sentence anyway. Other nations would black-room them in a heartbeat.

  Turns out Kelsey Marlow was already on our radar.

  Frank had been looking into her before he got abducted.

  First-generation Tulanto-born. Import/export business—black-market smuggling with extra steps.

  She’d been flagged before—not high-priority, not big-time. But anyone running unauthorized AI modifications eventually crossed a line.

  And she just crossed it.

  This wasn’t just firmware hacking or gray-market patches.

  She was taking orders. Distributing. Scaling up.

  And now?

  She was in Germany. Running an android auction for the highest bidder.

  Life was looking pretty good for Kelsey Marlow.

  Until we bring it down on her.

  Another international trip. Because of course it was.