Harold stopped at a bookcase and slid to the left, revealing a door. He took the key out of his pocket and unlocked it; he looked at John then opened the door. Inside, the room was in darkness. There was some movement then silence. Harold thought back to the argument with Nathan.

It was a late evening in winter, Harold stood in Nathan's office. Both men looked so small compared to the great expanse of the room. White lino falls and glass walls on two sides and a desk in the middle, overlooking the city. Nathan sat at his desk, listening to everything Harold was saying.

'Labelling the building as a nuclear reactor is a good enough defence. It's not one of those places that you go snooping around Nathan. We have it built as a nuclear reactor then put the servers in ourselves. We employee a security force who are told that it is a nuclear reactor. The only people who will know different are you and I.'

'People will always find out, even nuclear reactors have to be demolished eventually, then what happens? If you and I die, what happens after? Someone will find it and when they do, the whole world we know what we have done and they will not be happy Harold.'

'What do you suppose then?'

'Hiding it in plain sight.'

'It is in a nuclear reactor Nathan!' Harold raised his voice.

'Not as much as this…' Nathan smiled. A thin dangerous smile that Harold feared.

Harold stepped into the dark room. 'Annie, it's me Harold. It's safe.' John looked at Harold. 'I'm going to turn the light on Annie.'

Harold reached over and turned on the lights. Half a meter in front of them was a large cage with a door. The floor of the cage was a mess, paper, clothes, pens, pencils and blankets. On the left, up against the wall was a bed and the right, was a desk with chair, papers, pens and pencils littered the desk. Crouched under it was a small figure. Harold and John could hear the figure panting.

'Come on out Annie, it's safe. This is John. He works with us.' Harold crouched down and rested his hands on the metal bars for balance. 'Annie.' He reached through the bars and picked up a hair brush. 'I'll brush your hair for you.'

Slowly, the figure crawled out from under the desk and stood up, keeping her head bowed. She was tiny, roughly 5"2, very skinny build, long brown hair and pale skin. Her clothes hung from her bones. She looked up at Harold and smiled, her hazel eyes shining. She looked so innocent but older than her years. John guessed her age about 15 or so. Annie sat on the floor. Harold opened the door and closed it behind him, he sat on the chair with Annie between his legs and started brushing her long hair. It was like silk in his fingers.

'John, Annie is the ultimate in computer security. The man I built the Machine with didn't think that putting the servers inside a nuclear reactor was secure enough. He wanted to hide it in plain sight; he was killed before he could start any work though.'

John touched the bars. 'This is the Machine?' Harold nodded. 'How do I know she's not your daughter or something?' Harold looked up, slightly offended.

'John Reese.' Said Annie, eyes locked on the floor. '380-00-0050 from Washington. U.S Army Special Forces Green Beret, and CIA Black Ops. Your father died shortly after returning from Vietnam when you were a child, you joined the army because you didn't want to go to prison for your part in a violent fight. You loved Jessica Arndt, but she died. Your real name is John…'

'Stop!' snapped John. 'Ok, I believe you.' He stormed out the room. Harold was shocked, he put Annie's hairbrush on the desk and left the cage locking the door and sliding the bookcase back into place.

Outside, John was stood at the large window in the kitchen. The light from outside picked up the wetness around his eyes. Harold walked closer and stood next to the taller man, he too looked out the window.

'I'm sorry John. I didn't know she would do that. She only speaks to give me numbers or commands. I didn't know she was capable of full sentences like that.'

John was silent. It was a lot for him to process, and he had to supress the memories. No one knew his real name, sometimes not even himself. 'How old is she?' he asked, trying to keep his voice steady.

'She doesn't have an age. She was built not born.' Harold considered what he was about to say carefully. 'I built the body then implanted the servers into her. The Machine was never turned off; as soon as the implants were completed and all her connections were working that was it. She sees and hears everything, every camera, every phone call, all GPS, every electronic transaction. She has every digital file in her memory. She knows everything about you John. I'm sorry.'

'Why did you build her Harold?'

'I hid the Machine inside a nuclear reactor because no-one would look there. The man I built the Machine with – Nathan – said that one day someone would find it, I didn't listen to him. I should have seen it earlier, the terrorists; the people the Machine was made to stop hide in plain sight, most of them live among us. Nathan followed the same logic as that, hide in plain sight. He wanted to hide the Machine amongst the population because no one would think to look. I built her a body because the nuclear reactor where the Machine was is near its termination date, this was the only chance I had of moving it, of moving her.'

Harold' forthcoming and honesty surprised John. Harold never gave up personal information willingly. 'Thank you.' John paused. 'What do you plan to do with her?'

'I don't know. I don't know how well she'll fit into society. I created an intelligence, not a life. Every night her memories are deleted and she starts again. She knows everything about everyone, that power and that knowledge is dangerous. She's watched human behaviour for years now, but I don't know what she's learnt from it.'

'Do you plan to release her?'

'You say that like she's some sort of animal.'

'She's in a cage.'

Harold sighed. 'I know she is. She knows what's right and what's wrong but her interaction with people is very limited. She only speaks to give numbers. I guess, if she tried to interact with people as well as seeing everything it would become too much and she'd just stop working. We can't afford that. She's saved hundreds of thousands of lives John; we need her to keep doing so. Breakfast?'

Harold walked to the stairs and took his coat off the coat stand and slipped it on. He stopped to look at John, still stood at the window. He felt sorry for him, there was no nice way of telling John about this but it could have gone better. He'd been in such a good mood when he walked in his morning, joking about the hair on his shoulder. He hoped John understood. John turned around and smiled.

'Breakfast sounds good.'

He walked towards Harold and let the smaller man walk down the stairs first. John pulled the metal gate across.