Perception (27 page)

Her face stretched
out with fear. “You
removed
my chip?”

“It was a necessary
evil.”

“What are you talking
about?” she said, gripping the sofa with her good hand.

I sat beside her,
keeping to one end. She curled her legs up and pulled back as far away from me
as she could. I hated how frightened she was of me.

Her voice shook when
she said, “I need an explanation.”

“Okay,” I said, “but
it’s going to sound crazy. I had to take your chip out. Otherwise they would
have found us.”

“Who?”

“Your grandfather and
his men.”

“Of course they’d
want to find me. The question is why have you taken me?”

“You’re in danger.”

She looked at me like
I’d just stated the obvious, but I was the one she thought was the danger.

“Four weeks ago, your
brother died,” I said.

“Did you have
something to do with that?”

“No. No, I didn’t.
You wanted to know what happened to him. You asked me to help.”

“I asked you? Why
would I do that?”

“Because Liam had
been found in LA and the Sol City authorities weren’t answering your questions
to your satisfaction. You knew me; I helped my mother when she worked for your
family. I lived in LA, and you needed someone who knew his way around.”

She coddled her
injured hand on her lap. “I don’t remember this. Why wouldn’t I remember this?”

“They did something
to you; erased your memories. I’m hoping I can help you to remember.”

She glanced up at me.
“So, if this is true, what did we find?”

“Your grandfather had
funded an experiment, advanced cyborg studies, and Liam led it. They didn’t
want the university or federal authorities to know what they were doing because
they were breaking ethics codes. That’s why they needed a lab outside Sol
City.”

Zoe shook her head
then put her hands to her temples as if the movement caused her pain. “What are
you saying?” she said. “The experiment went wrong? I was told he got in with a
bad crowd and was killed by some kid.”

I grimaced. “He
wasn’t killed by a kid from LA. A member of his own team sabotaged the effort,
accidentally killing Liam in the process.”

“Who’d do that?”

“Mitchell Redding.”

“I don’t know that
name.”

I let out a
frustrated breath. “He and Jackson were helping with the experiment. Mitchell
was afraid it might actually work and killed the power.”

“Jackson? My
boyfriend?”

I scowled at that
description. “He’s not your boyfriend, I’m... nevermind. Forget it.”

“You’re what? Are you
saying
you’re
my boyfriend? I don’t even know you.”

She stared at me like
I was psychotic. “Do you want money?”

“What?”

“A ransom. Is that
why you kidnapped me? You must know my family is very wealthy. They will pay
whatever you want. Just don’t hurt me.”

Her words stabbed me.
“Zoe, I’d never hurt you.”

She lifted her bandaged
hand. “What do you call this?”

“Tough love. Now
let’s eat. I know you must be hungry.”

“Okay,” she said
cautiously, “but I need to use the bathroom first.”

I pointed to a room
at the back and followed her in case she got it in her head to rush out the back
door instead. She stepped into the bathroom and locked the door. Good thing the
room didn’t have a window. Just a shower, toilet and small sink. Nothing modern
or fancy.

I waited until she
opened the door again, walked calmly to the table and took a seat. Then I
picked up the plates and pushed the food back into the frying pan.

“I need to heat this
up. Would you like coffee?”

“Okay.”

I poured us both a
cup, putting milk and one sugar in hers.

“Not quite a
sweetened latte, but close.”

“You know how I take
my coffee?”

“I told you. You know
me.”

“What did you do with
my ComRing?”

“I chucked it into
the ocean.” I put the newly warmed eggs and bacon onto each of our plates.

“They’re going to
think I’ve drowned.”

“If you’re lucky.”

She played with her
food. “Actually, Jackson knew I wasn’t swimming. He’ll know something went
wrong.”

I dug in, responding
with a half full mouth. “If you weren’t going to swim, then why the swimsuit?”

She didn’t answer.
She took a bite and moaned a little. “This is really good.”

“Thanks. Eat up.
You’ll need your energy.”

“For what?”

“A road trip.”

Her expression went
flat. Why did I say that?

“Don’t bother trying
to get away. You don’t have a chip or a ComRing and you’ll get lost in the
forest. I know this is scary for you right now, Zoe, but trust me. You’re
better off with me than them.”

She took a sip of her
coffee. It was still hot. Steaming. She tossed it in my face and dashed for the
door.

Chapter 38

Springing back from
the burning heat, I lifted my t-shirt and wiped the coffee off my face. I
looked for Zoe, but she was already out the back door, leaving it swinging
wide.

“Zoe!” I sprinted
after her.

There was no way she
could’ve gotten far. I scanned the grounds, but except for the wind blowing the
higher branches of the trees, nothing moved.

She was out of sight.

“Zoe? There’s nowhere
to run. You’ll just get lost. You don’t want to run into a wild animal.”

I searched behind the
car. “I promise I won’t hurt you. Please don’t make this harder than it has to
be.”

I stepped as quietly
as possible to the wood pile. Nothing. This whole scenario made me feel sick.
Like I was a criminal.

Which technically I
was, but not the evil kind Zoe currently thought that I was.

A twig snapped.

Behind the tree with
the dartboard, a shadow moved.

“Zoe?”

She sprung from her
hiding place, through the woods, dodging branches and brush like a frightened
doe. I sprinted after her.

In her dress and
sandals, she was no match for me. I grabbed her arm, jerking her back.

“Let me go!” she
flailed wildly, kicking and swinging her free fist.

 I grabbed it before
it made contact with my face. She squirmed, her breaths quick, her eyes wide,
but I held her wrists tightly.

“Zoe, it’s okay.”

Her eyes locked with
mine—hers full of fear and loathing, mine full of sympathy and regret. I hadn’t
thought it all the way through when I’d decided to take her. I’d thought if I
just got her away from her family and Jackson and the pills, she would remember
me. I’d made a mistake, but it was too late to turn back now.

She grew still, a
lone tear trailing down her cheek. I pulled her into an embrace. What I really
wanted to do was kiss her hard on the lips. Instead I rested my chin on her
head. She stiffened in my arms.

“Don’t fight me, and
I promise you, if in a week’s time you still want to go home, I won’t stop you.
I’ll take you back myself.”

I could feel her
breath slow, matching mine, in and out in tandem.

“Okay,” she said
weakly.

I held her hand until
we exited the bush, then she pulled hers away.

“We just need to pack
some supplies,” I said. I couldn’t trust her to let her out of my sight. “Come
in, okay?”

I motioned for her to
go back inside and I followed her. Bits of leaf and twig were caught in her
hair, and I reached to pull them out. She stopped as I did it but didn’t turn
her head or thank me.

I felt a sudden
urgency to leave. We’d been here too long, and even an idiot like Grant would
find out about our family cabin eventually. I’d broken our deal, and I had no
doubt that he was sniffing out our trail.

I handed a bag to
Zoe. “Here are some clothes. My...” I didn’t know how this whole scene was
going to pan out and didn’t want to incriminate Skye. “My friend is about the
same size as you. She gave me some of her clothes. You’ll find a toothbrush,
too.”

Zoe took the bag and
went into the bathroom to change. I heard the shower turn on and while she was
occupied, I filled a box with all the food that remained in the kitchen along
with a can opener, a few dishes, pots, utensils and coffee.

I scooped up my own clothes
and stuffed them into a bag. In the bedroom, a packed-up tent and a couple
sleeping bags rested against the wall. I collected them and took them outside,
stuffing everything into the undersized trunk of the car.

When I went back
inside, the shower was quiet. I removed my backpack from the broom closet and
set it on the table with a soft clunk. I lifted out both guns and sat them on
the table. Earlier, I’d purchased the appropriate bullets and I loaded each
gun, one at a time.

I saw movement from
my peripheral vision.

Zoe stood, wide
jawed, staring at the gun in my hand.

“In case there’s
trouble,” I said, stuffing both weapons back into the backpack.

She wore a pair of
jeans that fit amazingly well, and a loose grey t-shirt. Her wet hair fell over
her shoulders, making dark, damp spots.

“Your friend had an
unopened pack of underwear? That was convenient.”

I felt a red blush
creep up my neck and looked away. “Yeah, I guess it was.” I swung the pack over
my shoulder. “You ready to go?”

“Looks like I travel
light.”

I took her by the
elbow and led her out to the car.

***

We were on Route
Five, going north. The highway was lined with windmills and eco “trees.”
Recharging stations popped up every twenty miles. My hands were stiff on the
wheel, my backpack on the floor under my legs. I glanced at Zoe who stared
zombie like out the window. She picked at her fingernails.

“Are you thirsty?” I
said. “There’s water in the back seat.”

“I’m fine.”

My plan was just to
talk to her, to tell her what really happened, over and over again, if
necessary, until her memory clicked in.

Hoping beyond hope it
would click in.

“You asked me to help
you find out what happened to Liam. We knew where his body was found, in the
eastern sector, so you and I went there.”

Zoe raised her
eyebrows and considered me. “I went there?”

“Yes, you were quite
stubborn about it, actually. And we found the lab where the experiment took
place.”

“What was there?”

I described the lab.
“We searched around in the dark, with just the light of our ComRings. They’d
left in a hurry, forgetting to turn the computers off. Mitchell Redding came
while we were there. We hid together in a closet so he wouldn’t find us.”

Her chin dropped, and
I thought that maybe I’d said too much.

“Are you okay?”I
asked.

She stared back at me
with an odd look on her face. “I had a dream that was like that.”

My heart jumped. “You
did? That means your subconscious is trying to remember!”

“In my dream I was
hiding in a small, dark place.”

“The closet, yes!”

“You had your arms
around me.”

I smirked. “It was a
small closet.”

“But then he found
us.”

“Actually, we thought
he’d left, but he was still there when we got out of the closet.”

“Did he have a gun?”

I nodded. “But you
distracted him, and I wrestled him down. You picked the gun up off the floor.
You pointed it to stop the fight. Then I knocked him out.”

“I had the gun? I
don’t remember that.”

“You actually looked
kind of hot, if you don’t mind my saying so.”

She eyed me like she
couldn’t tell if I was serious or not. “Well, you should see me at the firing
range. I’m a pretty good shot.” She flicked her hand to the pack by my door.
“So you took the gun?”

“Not then. I stuffed
it in a drawer. I went back for it later.”

“Why?”

“I had no choice.” I
told her about our attempted break and enter into the Maverick office.

“I don’t believe it.”

“It’s true. Your
grandfather was listed as one of the directors. It’s the thing that got you
thinking he was involved somehow.”

“Grandpa V? He
wouldn’t...”