Chapter 2

Tobias stepped out onto his porch and breathed in the cool December air. He popped his neck and put his gloves on as he surveyed his land. It was snowing and there was already about a half inch on the ground; the forecast called for up to six inches. Tobias smiled. It was becoming more and more unusual to see snow like this in this area this time of year. He always loved the sight of fresh snow on the forested hills of Brown County, Indiana.

He hoped down over the porch steps and stood for a moment letting the snow hit his bare face and hair, before finally he slicked his hair back, and then put his toboggan on. He turned and walked along the house until he reached its left side. A pile of cut and uncut logs sat around a large stump with an axe buried in it.

Tobias took hold of the axe and pulled it out of the stump. He already felt like finding an excuse to not cut any of the wood, but he knew it had to be done eventually. Better now than later. He put the first piece of wood down on the stump, and then raised the axe above his head. The axe came down swiftly and split the log straight down its middle. Tobias managed a prideful smile at his handiwork. He grabbed another piece and set it up.

This was the life. Tobias had no one around him. No neighbors. No noise. Of course, it had taken several million dollars to achieve this life he now had, but it was worth every penny.

As he raised the axe again, Tobias became aware of the sound of a car driving on the snow-covered gravel road that lead to his home. Tobias glanced back and saw the black SUV pulling up to the round-about in front of the house. He sighed, he had a guess as to who was most likely inside the vehicle. He brought the axe down again.

He heard the engine shut off as he picked another piece of wood, and then came the sound of the door closing. After a moment the sound of footsteps in the little bit of snow started to come from behind him. Tobias thrust the axe down and divided the latest piece of wood. He left the axe where hit in the stump again and turned around.

Tobias looked at the face of his old friend and boss Clark MacReady. The older man looked thinner than he remembered.

“Quite a set up you have here,” Clark said to him as he looked around at Tobias’ home.

Tobias shrugged but wore a prideful smile. “I like to think so,” he said as he turned back around and picked up the axe.

“Never thought I’d see you chopping fire wood.”

“Well, it has become a bit of a necessity. Not exactly easy at first, but I’ve become a bit of an expert, I think.” Tobias put another piece of wood on the stump and raised the axe. “It’s all in the swing,” he said as he brought the axe down.

Clark watched him cut and inspected Tobias’ work.

“So, what are you doing here?” Tobias asked.

“Visiting an old friend.”

Tobias rested the axe on the stump and leaned on it as he turned to face Clark. “After five years you just now decide to visit? No call? No letters, texts or emails?”

“Hey,” Clark said putting his hands up. “I have a very busy life. Not everyone is a millionaire like you.”

“Excuses, excuses. How are you, Clark?”

“Been better, that’s for sure.”

“You’ve certainly looked better,” Tobias commented, taking a jab at Clark’s appearance. “Still doing the usual? Fighting crime and stopping bad guys?”

Clark bellowed a laugh. “Nah, decided to take a nice teaching job at Quantico in my old age.”

Tobias didn’t hide his surprise. “You? Teaching?”

“Shocking, isn’t it?” Clark chuckled.

“I gotta say,” Tobias said with a shrug, “I never thought I’d see the day.”

“Me neither. But it’s only a part-time thing.”

“Well,” Tobias said putting the axe down on the stump, “I suppose we should get out of this cold if we’re to continue catching up. Come on, I’ll make us some coffee.”

The two left the wood pile and headed for the front door. Tobias didn’t speak as they walked, his mind was already guessing why MacReady was at his home. Clark was not the type to just come to someone’s home. He glanced back at the older man. Clark was keeping up with him, but his attention was focused on the house next to them.

The past five years didn’t seem to have been as kind to him as they had been to Tobias. Clark was a little over sixty, if Tobias remembered correctly, but even then, Clark had always taken care of himself. Now it seemed age was indeed catching up on him. Clark appeared much thinner than he probably should be. His normally bright blue eyes now appeared very dim, like a light losing its power, and the skin around them seemed to sag heavily. Tobias had a thought as to why the old FBI agent looked like he did: but he was going to wait for the old man to say something himself.

Tobias led him to the porch. “Big damn porch,” Clark commented as he stepped onto it. “How did you even find this place?”

Tobias opened the door and ushered MacReady into the foyer before following and shutting the door.

“I had this place built,” Tobias answered him. He walked past his friend and headed to the kitchen. “One hundred acres. Got a small lake a short distance from here and plenty of trails to hike on.” He went straight to the coffee maker started a small pot. “Anyway, I always wanted a cabin. My grandfather had a small one here in Brown County that I always loved to visit. Granted it was way smaller than this, but it left its impression.”

Tobias offered Clark a seat at the island table in the kitchen. “I had the outside made to look old and rustic. And, well, you see the inside. Two stories. An attic and full basement.”

Clark was nodding his head as he listened, but he was looking around the large kitchen and its ten foot windowed wall that looked out at a nice view of the now snow covered hills and forest. He whistled. “Dare I ask how much all of this cost?”

“You can ask, but I don’t think you really want to know that answer.”

Clark nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. I don’t want to know.” He took his hat off and rubbed his buzzed head.

Tobias quickly shook his head and took a step back from the island table. “Whoa! I hardly recognize you, Clark. What the hell happened to your hair?”

“I’m getting too old, Toby. My hair finally started to look the part, so I decided to nip it in the bud.”

“But you always took care of it. I had never seen a man spend so much time on his damn hair.”

Clark snickered. “Age and time gets to us all eventually.”

“I suppose it does.”

Tobias took a moment and stepped away from the counter and picked up an ashtray near the sink. He sat it in between himself and Clark, and then pulled a couple of cigars from his pocket and held one out for the older man.

“No thanks,” Clark said with a wave of his hand. “I quit smoking a few months ago.”

“You?” Tobias laughed heartily. “Mister five packs a day?”

“More like two and a half packs, but yeah. I’ve been trying to live a more healthy life.”

“God,” Tobias said shaking his head. “Five years and everything changes.”

“For the best.”

Tobias set his cigar down without lighting it. “Then, I’ll wait to smoke this,” he said to Clark, who nodded his thanks. Tobias then stepped away from the counter and went to the coffee pot. He poured a couple cups for himself and Clark before moving back to stand at the table.

Clark took the hot cup in his still gloved hand and blew on the top before taking a sip. “What is this?” he asked, almost spitting it out. “Folgers?”

Tobias sipped at his own cup. “Hey, just because I have money doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy the simpler things.”

“And here I had expected I’d get to try some of that cat-shit coffee that I’ve heard so much about.”

“Cat-shit coffee?” Tobias looked at his old friend quizzically. “Look, if that’s what you’re in to, then you can drink that nasty shit own your own time.”

The two men laugh at the same time, and then sip at their drinks.

Clark set his cup down and laid his hands on the table. “Well, Toby, I suppose I should get to why I am here.”

“Was it too much for me to have hoped that this was a friendly visit?” Tobias groaned.

Clark looked away from Tobias and out the windows. He tapped his finger on the counter a few times, before saying, “Look, before we get into it, you should know that this was not my idea.”

Tobias turned his head and popped his neck. “Go ahead and say it.”

“I need your help, Toby.”

“Clark, do I need to mention that I do not do that anymore?”

“No need for the dramatics, Toby. Like I said, it wasn’t my idea.”

“Whose was it? Donavan’s?”

Clark groaned. He took a sip of his coffee and set it back down. Before he could say anything else, he suddenly looked away from Tobias and started coughing. His entire body jerked and convulsed as the fit turned from just a couple light coughs, to it sounding like his lungs were about to come out of his mouth.

“Are you alright?” Tobias asked. Genuine concern coursed through him and he began to come around the table towards his old friend.

Clark held his hand up as he coughed, stopping Tobias. “I’m alright,” he managed to say after a few seconds more of coughing. He took a few moments to compose himself once the coughing settled. “I just got over a bad cold,” he said, raising himself back up to the counter.

Tobias grabbed a rag from the other counter and threw it to Clark.

“Thanks,” Clark said as he wiped his face. “Sorry about that. Where was I? Okay, I just want to clarify, the idea to come to you was mine, but the idea to look for someone like you was not.”

Tobias shook his head and looked down as he laid his hands flat on the counter. “Jesus, Clark, why?” Toby had the urge to tell his old friend to leave his home. “After five years, you just decide to come ask me to help you with something? What is it? A case?”

“Yes.”

“It’s not as though I was some sort of expert at anything I did.” Tobias finally looked up and stepped away from the counter and started pacing. “You have entire buildings of people you can ask to help you.”

Clark rubbed his buzzed head, his breath still coming quickly from the coughing fit. “It’s because I trust you, Toby.”

Tobias stopped pacing and rubbed his temples. He always knew that it was only a matter of time before Clark or someone else would come ask him for help. He’d hoped that it wouldn’t happen, but it was inevitable. And he knew he was going to agree.

Clark must have sensed it. “Have you ever heard of a man named Maxwell Kemp?” he asked him.

Tobias sighed heavily and looked over at the older man. “Should I have?”

“He’s a big deal in some circles. He’s an engineer. A robotics engineer to be exact. I think.”

Tobias shrugged and threw his arms up. He couldn’t quite keep his lack of caring from showing.

“So – what? This robotic engineer go crazy and start killing people? Otherwise, I don’t see why it’s relevant.”

“Well, he didn’t kill anyone. Actually, it was his – son.”

“His son?”

Clark took a sip of his coffee. Tobias saw a look on the old man’s face that he did not remember ever seeing before, fear. That made Tobias both curious and afraid. Clark was not the type of man to show his fear, if he even felt it. There had often been jokes when the two of them worked together that Clark had no fear, or that he was not even human. The older man reached inside of his coat and took out an envelope.

“Oh, an envelope,” Tobias exhaled, “this must be serious.”

Clark rolled his eyes. “Son is the term Kemp used when I met him yesterday. He requested the best person we had to help.”

“The best?” Tobias chuckled. “That’s not me, Clark. That was never me.”

“True, but I may have mentioned your name without thinking. After he looked you up he would not accept no.”

“Alright, so what about this son of his?”

Clark set the envelope down and rested his hand on it. He cleared his throat, and said, “Before I continue and hand you this envelope I need to know if you will do this. I cannot tell you anything else about this until you agree. If you agree. Yes or no? If not, I will leave and you will never see me again.”

Tobias sighed and looked at his old friend curiously. He hadn’t really expected to see Clark ever again, let alone have him come into his home and offer him something as unusual as this. Clark knew Toby was not the best at what he did. Hell, he was average. Clark did say he trusted him, and Tobias believed that. The old man did not just throw his trust out, and it had taken Tobias years to earn it.

“Alright, I’ll do it,” Tobias said shaking his head.

“Are you sure?” Clark asked looking directly into Tobias’ eyes.

“What the hell, you know.” Tobias threw his arms up. “I need a little more excitement in my life.”

“Okay,” Clark said, taking his hand off the envelope and sliding it over. “Here you go.”

Tobias stared at the envelope for a few heart beats thinking it over still. His mind raced with what he was about to see. Clark was never a secretive man, unless it was personal. He tapped his finger on it a couple times before picking it up. With one last look at his old friend, he opened it and took the picture inside out.

His eyes widened.

There was no way for him to truly describe what he was looking at. His brain told him it was some kind of special effect still from a movie. But reality kicked in and said what he saw was real.

“What—what exactly am I looking at here, MacReady?”

Clark sipped his coffee again. “That is Kemp’s son. Or rather, what he refers to as his son.”

Tobias could not look away from the picture he held in his hand.

“Is this legit? A robot?” A robot? Tobias could not believe he had just uttered that word.

“I only spent a limited time with Kemp. He was not very talkative and kept insisting that I find someone to help in the search for that.” Clark pointed at the picture. “He gave me that picture. Said it’ll convince you. But, to answer your question, yes. You are looking at a living breathing robot. Metaphorically speaking, of course.”

Tobias sat the picture down and closed his eyes. A fucking robot. He had agreed to help hunt a robot.

“You said that it killed some people?” he asked opening his eyes.

“Two people. That we know of.”

“Who?”

Clark leaned heavily on the table and looked out the kitchen window. “The first was Kemp’s assistant. Ripped her throat out.”

“Jesus!”

“The second was an as yet unidentified homeless man that it must have encountered on the train it fled on. Man had multiple broken bones. Dozens, actually. Nearest we can tell is that it must have beaten him with…something.”

Tobias picked the picture back up and looked at it again, and then he returned it to the envelope.

“When did all of this happen?” he asked sliding it back to MacReady.

“Three days ago is when the assistant was killed. The man was not long after that.”

“Where?”

“Oregon,” Clark said popping his knuckles and stretching his fingers.

“I suppose he would like me there ASAP?”

“Precisely.”

Tobias chuckled nervously and ran his hands through his hair. “Okay, I can probably be ready and get a flight by tonight.”

Clark waved his hand. “No need for that. I already have a plane on standby. Courtesy of Kemp.”

Tobias put his hands on the counter again and looked around the kitchen and the rest of the house.

“Well the, I guess I should go pack.”