Chapter 5

The rig containing the computer graphics cards clicked back into its secure position along with the other racks of server equipment. High-end graphic cards were not only popular among the gaming community but also extremely valuable to the miners of cryptocurrency and deep-learning artificial intelligence systems. Both the popularity and requirement of these components typically left commercial availability short-stocked and paved the way for scalpers to charge almost anything they wanted for them. Andrew ultimately did not pay the manufactures suggested retail price for them.

Andrew had spent the past few days tirelessly training Avery. He felt that he had been making significant progress. With the addition of more vantage points and even archival security camera footage, Avery could provide a detailed analysis of various incidents in excess of ninety-eight percentile accuracy. The results would also give comprehensive solutions on how to avoid the tragedies. The emotional effects were still lacking by a fair margin for Avery to comprehend. Andrew sympathized, though it’s difficult to understand something as internal and complex as human emotion if you haven’t personally experienced it yourself.

The brain is a factory of emotion. A person can often sympathize with another but may not always exhibit the same emotion. Very few people will watch the news and instantly break down into tears while a murder is being reported among street gangs. Even the cut to interview with a sibling of the victim who’s in a highly emotional state may not trigger much of a response. When there’s no intimate link between the victim, it’s a very difficult concept to understand. Most people will usually try to rationalize it or simply agree that it’s tragic, accept it and move on with their daily lives.

This notion did cause concern for Andrew, but he still had plenty of time to figure out a more effective way of presenting it to Avery. It was Thursday, and after almost four full days of training, his mind was starting to feel the fatigue. Throughout the week, he did, however, notice some very odd behavior on the readout that reported the health of the body system. The graphic cards responsible for augmenting deep learning and rationalization were getting extremely hot. Not only that, but several spikes in power had occurred throughout the week. The components normally ran about eighty degrees Celsius or one hundred seventy-six degrees Fahrenheit. But when they steadily read ninety-seven degrees Celsius earlier that morning, he knew that the situation required further attention.

He paused his training session with Avery and powered down the deep-learning models to investigate. He simply couldn’t risk a catastrophic event that could lead to Avery being powered off. The integrity of data and the hardware responsible for the artificial intelligence could become vulnerable and unpredictable. His first order of business after pulling the rig housing the graphics cards was to test the performance of the fans responsible for cooling and airflow. He systematically tested each of the ten components with a multimeter and a handheld electronic anemometer, designed to test wind speed. Everything seemed to be working fine on the cards, at least.

The next step was to test the airflow from the intake on the front of the rig and the exhaust on the rear. The ten two-hundred-forty-millimeter fans responsible for pushing cool air into the rig were all averaging around seventy-four point eight-one cubic feet per minute. The ten rear exhaust fans responsible for pulling the hot air out of the rig averaged around seventy-two point nine-two cubic feet per minute. A little more heat was being built up within the rig than was being pulled out. A minor issue, which doesn’t completely explain why the components were getting so hot, Andrew thought to himself. Still, Andrew decided to switch some fans around to even out the airflow. He secured the rig and took a glance at his wristwatch. “Five thirty, oh shit!”

Even with the week’s successes and failures, Andrew always knew when it was time to take a break. It was getting close to the weekly Counter-Strike session with his friend Edward. Their usual bout didn’t start until around seven at night, but he needed a bite to eat and a quick wash to further relieve his stress. After nearly a week of turkey sandwiches and coffee, he felt it would be nice to have a decent meal for a change. He opened the food delivery app on his phone and placed an order from his favorite local steakhouse. A ribeye steak cooked medium, four pieces of jumbo fried shrimp, and a baked potato with sour cream, cheese, butter, and chives. The addition of the garlic bread was complimentary. Andrew was already salivating.

Andrew had not seen the individual who dropped the order at his doorstep, but he always gave a very generous tip through the app. He plated the food and poured a tall glass of unsweetened iced tea. He sat on the barstool at the kitchen island and cut a sizable piece of the well-marbled meat. He sunk into his chest in bliss as he savored every bite of his meal. He finished the entire plate and rubbed his belly to soothe the delightful pain and embrace the pure satisfaction from the dinner. Andrews’ phone chirped.

“How are you doing, Champ?” the message from Edward displayed.

“Doing great. How are you? Are we still on for tonight?”

“Absolutely. Doing fine as well. Joyce is busy in her crafts room, so I’m guessing that I have roughly an hour to beat you in the game.”

“LOL. Don’t be so confident, spaghetti boy.”

“It’s SpagEddie! And I’ll start up a lobby when you’re ready.”

“Sounds good!” Andrew chuckled and set the phone back down.

They were almost two hours into their gaming session. Nearly sixteen matches between them across multiple maps had resulted in Edwards’ reigning victory. They traded some friendly, colorful exchanges between the matches. Now it was time for the grand finale, the final match of the night. The dust map always felt like the perfect place to conclude their fun. Minutes into the match, several exchanges of weapons fire took place, along with careful movement to try and outflank one another. Edward chose the terrorist faction as per tradition. I’ve got you now, Andrew thought to himself. Edward was too far away from the bomb site and was seemingly out of rifle ammo. The pop shots from his sidearm felt like moments of panic from someone who had been outsmarted.

Andrew knew exactly where Edward was hiding. The corridor between the shops gave only two avenues of approach. This time Andrew was prepared. He had equipped flashbang grenades along with body armor. Andrew tossed the flashbang toward the north side of the tunnel. When the detonation occurred, he quickly flanked around to the south side. Andrew took a few rounds to the body armor, but a well-placed shot from his rifle struck Edward directly in the head. ‘Counter-Terrorists Win’ audibly played. Andrew chose this time to immediately gloat about his success in the games’ chat. But the last sound Andrew truly heard was a single footstep immediately behind him.

The suppressed nine-millimeter round had entered the right side of his occipital lobe and exited out of the left side of his frontal lobe. Blood and brain matter coated and streaked down the front of the gaming monitor. Andrew’s lifeless body slumped forward, his head impacting the keyboard, allowing a pool of blood to accumulate within the crevices of the keys.

The chat read “SpagEddie: GG finally.”

An arm moved out of the darkness toward Andrew’s body and pulled it back into the chair. The black glove and long-sleeved shirt revealed nothing about the mysterious assassin. The assassin reached down to the keyboard with his index finger extended and entered “GG” into the chat window before pulling the power to the computer.