THE NDA

THE NDABOOK 5CHAPTER 15: THE EXPLOSION

THE NDA

BOOK 5

CHAPTER 15: THE EXPLOSION

The car flipped twice.

Glass. Fire. Screaming.

Then silence.

I woke up hanging from my seatbelt. Upside down.

"Mama?" Hope’s voice. Small.

"I’m here baby," I choked. "Are you okay?"

"Yes."

"Damian?"

No answer.

"Layo?"

"Here," she groaned. "Alive."

The doors were gone. Smoke everywhere.

The Founder’s Heir was on the ground. Outside. Not moving.

The device was in her hand. Not pressed.

Yet.

I unbuckled. Fell.

Crawled to Damian.

He was bleeding from his head. Breathing.

"Baby," I whispered. "Stay with me."

His eyes opened. "The girl..."

"I see her."

Layo pulled us out. One by one.

All 12 girls. Hope.

All alive. Bruised.

The driver was dead.

The girl was breathing.

I took the device from her hand.

It had one button. Red.

"Don’t," Layo said. "If you press it, the AI dies. The world dies."

"If I don’t, she does," I said. "And she takes me with her."

The girl opened her eyes.

Mine.

"Hello Zara," she said. Voice like mine. "Version 13."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because they made me to replace you," she said. "When you became too emotional. Too human."

"And now?"

"Now I have to choose," she said. "Kill you, and I become CEO. Or let you live, and I die."

The AI in my ear buzzed. New message.

Host conflict detected.

Eliminate duplicate.

Y/N?

I didn’t answer.

"What’s your name?" I asked her.

"I don’t have one," she said. "They called me 13."

"Then I’ll call you Ada," I said. "After my sister."

She blinked. "Why?"

"Because you deserve a name," I said.

Sirens. Far.

"We have to go," Layo said. "Police are coming. And Cole loyalists."

I picked Ada up. She was light.

"What are you doing?" Damian asked.

"Saving her," I said.

We ran. Into the bush.

For 4 hours.

No one followed.

We found an abandoned house.

Bandaged wounds. Drank water.

Ada sat in the corner. Watching me.

"Why did you save me?" she asked.

"Because no one saved me," I said.

At midnight, my phone buzzed. New burner.

From the AI:

New CEO directive: Eliminate Version 13 within 24 hours.

Failure = AI shutdown.

- Protocol Omega

"What does it say?" Damian asked.

"That I have 24 hours to kill her," I said. "Or the world dies."

The room went quiet.

Hope looked at Ada. "She’s like me?"

"Yes baby," I said.

"Then we don’t kill her," Hope said.

Everyone looked at her.

"She’s right," Layo said. "We find another way."

"What other way?" Damian asked. "The AI is tied to her DNA."

"Then we untie it," Layo said. "There’s a lab. In Switzerland. They can do it."

"Can we trust them?" I asked.

"No," Layo said. "But we have no choice."

Day 1: We flew to Zurich. Fake passports.

Day 2: We broke into the lab.

Day 3: The doctor looked at Ada. At me.

"Identical DNA," he said. "But different neural patterns. You’re more... human."

"Can you separate us from the AI?" I asked.

"I can try," he said. "But one of you has to die."

"What?" I said.

"The AI needs a host," he said. "If I remove it from both, it has nowhere to go. It crashes."

"So someone has to host it," Damian said.

"Yes," the doctor said. "Or it dies."

I looked at Ada. She was 12.

I was 28.

"I’ll do it," I said.

"No," Damian said. "You have Hope. You have the girls."

"I’m the one who built it," I said. "It’s my responsibility."

Ada stood up. "I’ll do it."

"No," I said.

"Why not?" she asked. "I’m the duplicate. I’m supposed to die."

"Because you’re a child," I said.

"I’m not a child," she said. "I’m a weapon. Let me be something else."

We argued for 2 hours.

At the end, the doctor said: "24 hours left. Decide."

That night, Ada came to my room.

"Can I ask you something?" she said.

"Yes."

"Did you ever love them?" she asked. "The Board?"

"No," I said. "Not once."

"Good," she said. "Because I don’t want to be like them."

She hugged me.

I cried.

At 6AM, we went back to the lab.

"I have a decision," I said.

"What?" the doctor asked.

"We both host it," I said. "Split it."

"That’s never been done," he said.

"Then do it first," I said.

He prepped us. Two tables. Wires.

Damian held my hand. "If this kills you—"

"It won’t," I said.

Ada held my other hand. "See you on the other side, Mama."

We went under.

I dreamed.

Of Facility 1. Of v1. v2.

Of Victoria.

Of the Board.

Of all the versions of me that died.

And I saw them. All of us. Standing together.

"Wake up," they said. "Finish it."

I woke up.

Gasping.

The doctor was over me. "It worked."

"What?" I asked.

"The AI is split," he said. "50% you. 50% her. It won’t crash if one dies."

Ada was awake too. Smiling.

"We did it," she said.

My phone buzzed.

AI Status: Stable.

Dual Host Confirmed.

Protocol Omega: Deactivated.

I cried.

We flew home. To Greece.

To safety.

For 1 month, nothing happened.

No board. No Cole. No attacks.

We started a school. For the girls.

I ran Cole Group from my laptop. Ethically.

Damian taught construction.

Ada went to school with Hope.

She called me Mama.

On Day 31, there was a knock.

Delivery.

Box.

Inside: One photo.

Of us. At the school. Yesterday.

And a note:

You split the AI.

Cute.

But you forgot about me.

I’m the 1%.

The backup.

And I’m coming.

- Founder

"Who’s the Founder?" I asked Layo.

"He died," she said. "10 years ago."

"Then who sent this?"

Layo looked at the photo. Zoomed in.

In the background. Blurred.

A man. Watching us.

"He’s alive," she said. "And he’s been alive the whole time."

"Where is he?" I asked.

Layo pulled up a file. "Last known location: Antarctica."

"Antarctica?" Damian said.

"Yes," she said. "Facility 0. Where he built the first AI."

"When do we go?" I asked.

"Now," Layo said. "Before he comes to us."

We packed.

All 15 of us.

Plane to Chile. Then to Antarctica.

Facility 0 was under the ice.

Huge. Older than the others.

We went in.

Empty halls. Old computers.

And at the end: A room.

With a man. In a chair. Tubes in him.

Alive. 90 years old.

"The Founder," Layo whispered.

He opened his eyes. Looked at me.

"Zara," he said. "My favorite."

"You know me?"

"I made you," he said. "All 13 versions."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I was dying," he said. "And I needed someone to take over. Someone with my brain. My ambition."

"And the AI?"

"Was to run the world after me," he said. "Eternally."

He coughed. "But you ruined it. With love."

"Yes," I said.

"So now I have to fix it," he said.

He pressed a button.

The floor opened.

And 100 soldiers came out.

"Kill them all," he said. "Except her. I need her brain."

We fought.

Layo. Damian. Me.

The girls hid.

We were outnumbered.

Then Ada stepped forward.

"I’m the Founder’s Heir too," she said. "By code."

She held up her hand. A chip glowed.

"I override you," she said.

The soldiers stopped.

The Founder screamed. "No!"

Ada walked to him. "It’s over."

She pulled the tubes out.

He died.

Just like that.

The facility went dark.

We ran.

To the plane.

Flew out as it collapsed behind us.

Back to Greece.

That night, I slept for 14 hours.

No dreams.

When I woke up, Ada was at my bed.

"Is it over?" she asked.

"I think so," I said.

My phone buzzed.

Last message.

Ever.

From: Unknown

The Board is dead.

The Founder is dead.

The AI is yours.

Do what we couldn’t.

Make it good.

- The Ghost of Cole Group

I deleted it.

Damian came in. "Breakfast?"

"Yes," I said.

We ate. All 15 of us.

At the table.

No cameras. No monitors.

Just family.

Hope said: "Can we go to the beach?"

"Yes," I said.

Ada said: "Can I come?"

"Always," I said.

We went.

The ocean was blue.

The sun was warm.

And for the first time in 5 years,

No one was chasing us.

I looked at Damian.

He smiled.

I looked at Ada.

She smiled.

I looked at Hope.

She ran into the water.

And I thought:

Maybe this is what winning feels like.

My phone buzzed.

One last time.

From: Me

To: Me

Subject: The End.

Body: You survived.

I put the phone down.

And I didn’t pick it up again.