Chapter 83 Summary

Robert Jackson, feeling optimistic after a meaningful walk with Kathy the night before, decides it’s time to take action. He calls Oliver Franklin at the FBI to request legal assistance. Jackson explains that the man sent to interrogate him—Mark Peltier—claimed he was instructed by Dr. Alexandra Conner to extract information by any means necessary. Jackson believes this borders on intimidation and is no longer willing to sit back.

Franklin, shocked, contacts Conner directly. During a terse phone call, Conner denies sending Peltier with malicious intent and coldly asserts her knowledge of the law. She reveals the real cause of the Quest breach, absolving Jackson and the rest of the original Quest team of any wrongdoing. Franklin sees little hope of pressing charges against Conner given her position, and informs Jackson that he and his team have been completely exonerated.

Overwhelmed with relief, Jackson breaks down emotionally, releasing the pent-up stress of the past week and mourning the loss of his mentor, Joe Carter. Once composed, he calls Thomas Allen to share the news. Allen, equally relieved, suggests they celebrate with a weekend get-together, inviting Samir Patel as well.

Meanwhile, Ken Hookey and Alexandra Conner meet with Steven Rogers to update him on Quest. Ken confirms that the isolated gateway server and the restored Quest server farm are in place. The AI safeguards have been updated to block harmful machine learning models, ensuring no further data replication issues occur.

Conner adds that everything appears stable, and they’re ready to proceed with Quest’s reactivation. However, she cautiously advises Rogers to tell the President that Quest is in the early stages of restoration to avoid overpromising. Rogers warns both that any future delays will jeopardize their jobs and that the President expects results.

As they leave, the pressure of delivering a flawless reactivation of Quest looms large.