Chapter 68 Summary

Special Agent Oliver Franklin, after his conversation with Robert Jackson and Samir Patel, urgently calls Alexandra Conner to stress a vital possibility: Quest may have become sentient. Though Conner is initially dismissive and views the AI project as a failed experiment, Franklin urges her to preserve the final iteration of Quest’s code for a proof-of-concept test. His argument: if Quest truly became self-aware, it represents not only a groundbreaking technological milestone but also a potential national security threat should others replicate it.

Franklin lays out the idea he and Jackson developed. Conner is reluctant but agrees to check with her team. Later, Janet Faber, confirms they still have the last iteration on file, and Conner instructs her to preserve it.

Uncertain of how to proceed, Conner visits George Ramsey, head of the CIA’s Special Activities Center, to request a change in the Green Beret’s assignment. She floats a controversial plan: instead of surveillance, she wants Mark Peltier to abduct and psychologically pressure Jackson into admitting whether he sabotaged Quest. Ramsey warns her about the risks—legal, ethical, and personal. But Conner is desperate, believing coercion might be faster and cheaper than conducting the full proof-of-concept. He gives a cautious, noncommittal go-ahead, warning that if anything goes wrong, he was never involved.

Conner returns to her office and immediately calls Captain Mark Peltier, delivering the new orders. Though he has a dark past as an enforcer, he no longer operates that way. He tries to refuse. But Conner pulls rank, threatening consequences for disobeying what she claims is a lawful order. Despite his growing moral unease, Mark sees no way out—pressured into a mission that echoes the very violence he left behind.