“Want to give me hand?” he says, motioning me to follow him.
“No, not really.”
He sets his items down, goes back into the rucksack, and removes a thick, black-handled knife with at least an eighteen-inch serrated blade. I haven’t moved from the entryway and I still stand my ground as he approaches me with the knife positioned in front of him.
He grabs me by the throat and slams me into the lift door. “Weren’t you instructed on what you have to do, Max?”
“What are you going to do, Lok? Slit my throat? That won’t do you any good. You all will be trapped in this building. The Patrician can’t get in to rescue you. They can barely transmit images into our heads. I know, they’ve tried.”
He squeezes my throat while banging my head again on the lift door.
“Go ahead, Lok, kill me. I really don’t care anymore,” I squeak out.
He lets me go and I fall to the floor. My fingers rub the bruises forming around my neck as he goes back to his equipment. I stand and follow him towards one of the banks of computers. He kneels down, removes a panel from the back, and begins examining wires.
“How did you know what was on this floor?” I ask.
“There’s a directory in the lobby,” he answers after cutting a wire.
He removes the plastic covering from both ends of the wire, turns the hand-held device over, and removes a tiny transmitter from a storage area on the back. He secures the wires to electrodes on the back of the transmitter, turns on the display, and begins adjusting a small dial until a picture of the exterior portion of the front entrance appears on his screen. I look up at the monitor behind me to see the same image. He works for the next half-hour, linking wires together so he can control the security cameras. He places everything, including the knife, back into the rucksack, and I loop us back into the lift.
“Let’s get Troy before we go to the other floor,” Garrett says, turning off the emergency button so we can ascend.
Troy is exiting from one of the bathrooms when we reach the housing floor. He quickly dresses and we re-enter the lift heading down to the twelfth floor. The doors slide open, revealing a thick metal walkway that extends out from the platform we’re standing on, towards another platform in the center of the room. The walkway expands from the other side of the center platform towards the opposite wall, then wraps around towards two extensions in the corners of the room. Each pathway is lined with low rails that barely come up to my calves. We walk cautiously down the expanse. I lean my head over to see where the opening goes, and it’s at least several stories before a floor appears. The entire pathway is lit up by tiny lights embedded in the rails. It’s the only light on the floor. I glance down again to the floors below and notice a similar setup.
I’m made to walk in the middle of the group, with Garrett gripping my arm. Probably a way to make sure I don’t loop away from them. The center platform barely has enough room for the four of us and the massive workstation that sits in the middle. Lok sits in the lone chair, turns on the display, and begins typing away at the keyboard just underneath. The image on the screen changes every few seconds, almost like it’s resetting itself. Lok grumbles at every alteration. After a half-hour, Lok slams his fists on the counter.
“I thought you could crack this?” Garrett asks, still holding onto me.
“The programming isn’t like anything I’ve ever seen before. It keeps modifying its configuration. Whenever I get close, it changes and I have to start all over again.”
“What are you looking for?” I ask.
“Their research files,” he responds as he starts typing again. “I need to locate what they developed, so the Patrician can gain access to it.”
I have to bite my lip to keep from smirking.
“You three might as well head back upstairs. This is going to take me a while,” Lok says as he rummages through his rucksack he dropped on the floor earlier.
We go back to the lift and head to the top floor. The sun is setting, so Garrett makes dinner. Troy takes a plate down to Lok while I clean up the dirty dishes. Garrett wants to retire for the night, but when I tell him I’m not tired, it doesn’t go over well.
“I need you rested, Max. Who knows how long it’ll take Lok to get into their systems, and when he does you have to be ready to go.”
“Go where, Garrett?” I ask as he shoves me off the lift and into the hallway of the forty-ninth floor.
“Home.” He takes my hand and pulls me over towards his room.
I yank my hand away. “I am home.”
“Don’t do this, Max,” he says, almost pleading. “The Patrician will have no option but to terminate your existence if you violate their directives.” He steps up to me, wraps his arms around my waist, and pulls me in close. “You don’t want to do that, now do you?” he asks, sweetness dripping from his tongue.
I think back to what the Dracken said to me. I’m a Patrician leader now and should use it to my advantage. If I can get Garrett to trust me, I can manipulate him. One way to get his trust is by letting him believe I stand with him and the rest of the Patrician. I’m going to hate myself for what I’m about to do, but I need him to know he can rely on me. I take my hand and run it through his hair, pushing his head slightly backwards.
“You’re right, Garrett,” I say, aligning my body against his. “That’s not what I want.”
I kiss him hard on the
