“No point in doing it down here; the door’s secured from the entrance of the house. But if you think that it’s necessary I would post him on the second floor.” He turned his attention to Finley. “Remember that staircase when you came in?”

“Yes.”

“Take that to the second floor and then make your first right. The office has a perfect view of the frontage road. You’ll be able to see any contacts long before they see you.”

The young Marine looked at Overton, who gave the command. “Get it done.”

“Yes, sir,” he replied, taking off back the way they’d come.

“Anything else, Sergeant?” Luke asked.

“No. Carry on,” he said, watching the man sit down at one of the computer terminals.

“So, as I was about to say, when I was a younger man I founded a tech startup. My business was in magnets.” He paused to glance quickly at Sophie before continuing. “Long story short, I sold the company five years ago for a sum just shy of a billion dollars. I spent a few years traveling the world and then settled here on this modest property,” he said pointing to the low ceilings of the cave. “I did so because I wanted a place to further my research, and the granite caves provided me the perfect opportunity.”

Luke spun in his chair and swiped one of the monitors with his fingers. A hologram shot out of a console next to Overton. Hovering over the module was a single blue image. At first glance, it reminded Sophie of the old communication satellites that had speckled Earth’s orbit before the solar storms wiped them all out. But, as the image enhanced, she could tell it was something different—something much more sophisticated.

“Meet Starbuck,” Luke said, smiling proudly. “She’s the most advanced magnet ever designed. I built her to help mitigate the effect of solar storms.”

Sophie nearly gasped, finally realizing what had made her so uneasy about Luke. She had met him before, in a meeting years ago with NTC. They were the ones who had bought his technology, but Dr. Hoffman had later scrapped the project for confidential reasons. It all made sense. That was why he had access to the encrypted NTC emergency channel.

“Yes, that’s right, Dr. Winston. I’m Luke Williard, the former CEO of Solar Mitigation Technologies,” he said, studying the look on her face.

Overton wasn’t the brightest Marine in his squad, but he was smart enough to recognize what was going on immediately. Luke didn’t need them to rescue him—he needed Sophie. He needed NTC. But why?

Fuck.

The Marine didn’t like what was unfolding. He slowly removed his cigarette and stuffed it back into his breast pocket. He didn’t want any distractions if he had to take Luke out.