The Power of Two

2176 - Book 4

Author: Patti O'Shea

Captain Jake Tucker is a U.C.E. Special Forces officer. He grew up as part of a Sentonian cult where children are taught to use blades as soon as they can hold them, but when he was of legal age, he escaped and eventually joined the military. When he was selected for the Quandem project, he wasn't particularly thrilled, but he soon became used to his "anchor" being in his head. Having his anchor sending all the latest intel straight in to his brain via implant really gives his team an edge out in the field. After five years of working together he's come to rely on his anchor not just for intel in the field, but as a friend and confidant. He's not the sort of guy to open up to people so having a built-in partner and friend there to share his thoughts with and to just be there for him in though times is working pretty well for him. So what if his best friend is just a computer?

Captain Cai Randolph is a U.C.E. Special Forces officer.She's the genius child of two brilliant research doctors. When she was 13 her parents sent her to U.C.E. school and then disappeared. She believes they've been kidnapped by Elliot Marchand, a rich man who wants to use her parents' research in nanobiology for his own purposes, though no one seems to believe her. At 16 she was recruited by the military for the Quandem project because her brain wave patterns matched one of their field operatives. She was sent through Special Forces training and joined the project as an anchor. Five years later she and her "receptor" are the only Quandem left. Seems that when an achor overloads the brain implants there are varying levels of brain damage that occur and an anchor who's receptor died committed suicide. Now Cai believes she's found where her parents are being held and has maneuvered her way in to being sent out in to the field with her receptor and his team on a mission to her parents location. One small problem, her receptor thinks she's a computer and he will not be happy when he realizes that not only has she never told him otherwise, but that she's been in his head during some of his most private moments since she was just a girl.

I've read the whole 2176 series series before. It's a toss up between this book and The Legend of Banzai Maguire for which book in the series was my favorite. I liked the way the relationship developed between Jake and Cai. There was already a lot of history between them when they met face to face so they had a jump start, but it also created issues to be worked through. Jake was understandable angry that the computer he's been sharing his thoughts with for the last few years is actually a living person. He feels he's been lied to. Jake's also kind of embarrassed because for the first year or so he was not able to block Cai during certain moments and she was only 16. Then there's the fact that he's got to take her on this dangerous mission when she's never been in the field. Part of their cover is that they are lovers. This requires a lot of time spent in close quarters and he can't seem to keep from getting distracted by his attractive anchor. For her part, Cai doesn't want to lose Jake's friendship. Being a genius didn't win her any friends in school and since joining the Quandem project she spends most of her time on the computer or talking to Jake. She has no real friends other than Jake and she's afraid that he won't be able to forgive her for not telling him she was human or that now that he does know he just won't feel comfortable talking to her like he used to. She was attracted to Jake, but because of her negative self-image it never occurred to her that he might be attracted to her. She was so sure he couldn't be attracted to her that she failed to see the signs and so Jake thought she wanted things to be platonic. I thought it was funny that Cai was practically rolling her eyes at the lame over the top lines Jake was feeding a barmaid yet totally missed out on the fact that some of Jake's team mates were flirting with her pretty hard. I was kind of interested in Nicole and Tony, the Quandem pair that was working for Elliot Marchand. I would have liked to find out more about them and what happened to them after the everything.