Going Dark — Linda Nagata

In the third book in The Red Trilogy, former Army Lt. James Shelley becomes a black ops sniper working for the Red -- a suspected rogue artificial intelligence that is ripped from today's headlines.

James Shelley has left his lover, Delphi, and his companion-in-arms, Jayne Vasquez, with a fortune acquired from a fallen oligarch. They believe him to be dead, and he doesn't try to set the record straight. His long-running question has been answered: There are other soldiers like him who have served the purposes of the Red -- and he has accepted his place among them. As a soldier of the Red he pursues covert missions designed to nudge history away from existential threats -- but that doesn't mean the world is growing more orderly. It's only in the froth of a “managed chaos” that human potential can grow and thrive. Shelley's missions eventually take him into orbit -- and into conflict with those he loves -- Delphi and Jaynie -- who are determined to escape the influence of the Red.