Death in the Cloud

It's been two years since Alex Nicholas was gunned down in a Queens restaurant, only to turn up again in his brother Michael's laptop in AI form. In that time, straight-arrow corporate CEO Michael has been handling Alex's crime syndicate - and the threats to life and limb that come with the territory.But now there's a whole new threat, on a scale Michael never imagined.Monsignor Kurt Schlegelberger, a corrupt, fascistic priest who was killed while trying to eliminate both the real and...
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It's been two years since Alex Nicholas was gunned down in a Queens restaurant, only to turn up again in his brother Michael's laptop in AI form. In that time, straight-arrow corporate CEO Michael has been handling Alex's crime syndicate - and the threats to life and limb that come with the territory.But now there's a whole new threat, on a scale Michael never imagined.Monsignor Kurt Schlegelberger, a corrupt, fascistic priest who was killed while trying to eliminate both the real and virtual Nicholas brothers, managed to acquire Alex's AI technology before his death. Now he's as powerful as Alex, and he has grand plans for a neo-Nazi world order with himself at the center - a plan that begins with hijacking a Russian airliner and aiming it at the White House. Though the plane is shot down before it can reach its target, while investigating the attack the CIA learns about the possible existence of Monsignor Schlegelberger, and Alex Nicholas. Michael is called in to "demo" his brother to the president and intelligence staff, who are impressed by Alex's seeming realness, but not yet convinced he's truly been transformed into AI.Yet when Schlegelberger hacks the missile systems of both the US and Russia, making each nation think it's being attacked by the other, the government has only fifteen minutes to uncover the truth and prevent a nuclear holocaust. Alex Nicholas is their best bet. The only problem is that saving the world will destroy Alex. After all he's gone through to preserve his consciousness after death, will he be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice?