But as her heart continued to beat heavily, cold was the last thing she felt. She was starting to feel claustrophobic, wondering how she was going to get out of this. She turned slowly to face him.
“We’ve got all night,” she said. “Let’s take our time.”
“Anything you want,” he said. “Make yourself comfortable. Erica will assist with anything you need.”
“Wait. You’re leaving?” she asked, surprised.
“For a little while. I’ll be back later. When you want me here…” he said softly, then turned and left the room.
Salvi fought hard not to exhale with relief. She turned to face Erica, who stepped forward.
“Take a seat,” she motioned to both the bed and the chaise. Salvi opted for the chaise. “We’ll start by prepping the neural tech, then we’ll give you the kicker.”
“The kicker?”
“The drugs. You need both to take the full ride,” she grinned.
Salvi looked down at the two neural devices in the woman’s hands. Noble flashed into her mind and she knew she needed to get those things out of here and into his hands so he could work on tracing the tech to the supplier, and maybe even the designer.
“How do we do this?” Salvi asked, pushing the hair back from her face. Erica bent over her and brushed her skin with some kind of alcohol. The neural devices were attached to sticky pads and she watched as Erica peeled the backs off. Salvi couldn’t help but think of Myki and the patches on her skin. She sat still as Erica pressed the crescent-shaped device against her face, smoothing it back from beside her eye, down and behind her ear.
“May I?” she asked, taking the second one from Erica’s hand to study it. The crescent device was sealed in a hard, clear casing so she could see the components within. There were tiny microchips and wires, and small LED lights that gave it its glowing silver appearance. Erica took the second from her and placed it on the other side of her face.
“So what do these do exactly?” she asked Erica.
“They send small pulses of electricity into your brain to target the areas we want.”
“And those are?”
Erica gave a musical laugh. “Well, honey, they stimulate arousal, pleasure. All the things that make us happy.”
Salvi nodded as Erica smoothed down the second side.
“And the drugs?”
“The drugs take you over the edge. With them flowing through your veins and your brain stimulated to increase your arousal, you won’t ever want to go back to normal sex.”
Salvi gave a smile and nodded again, all the while thinking that if this was what the Flyte was going to do, she could easily understand just what Fyte did to people.
“Don’t be nervous,” Erica said. “Relax.” She turned back to her console. Salvi watched her carefully.
“Do you control the neural devices from there?”
“We record measurements, to keep an eye on things, but those patches are designed for a one-off use. There are different models with different lifespans. The shortest ride is about four hours. The ones I’ve given you will last about eight hours. They will take you up gently, build to a crescendo, then bring you down safely to land.”
“What’s the strongest model you have?”
“Twelve hours for the disposables. If you want something more permanent, you’re looking at neural implants. Then you can turn it off and on as many times as you want.”
Erica turned around again with a needle in her hand, filled with a red fluid.
“That’s the drug?” Salvi asked. “And how long does that last?”
“This will do you a good eight hours too. Where would you like it.”
“Er…” Salvi smiled nervously, standing. “Is there a ladies room around here? I need to pee first.”
Erica chuckled, smiled. “Don’t be nervous. I thought you wanted this?”
“Oh, I do, but you know, if I’m going under for eight hours, I might want to empty the bladder first, you know.” She grabbed her purse and turned for the door. “I’ll be right back!”
“Wait,” Erica said, moving after her. “Before you go!”
Salvi looked back at her. As she did, she felt the sting of the needle enter her opposite arm. “Hey! What are you doing?”
Erica quickly plunged then pulled the needle out, still smiling. “If I had a dollar for every time someone got cold feet.” She shook her head. “Trust me. In twenty minutes you’ll be thanking me. You’re about to take flight and it’s going to be a sweet, sweet, ride.”
Salvi’s body tightened in both anger and fear, but she forced a smile onto her face. “I’m sure.”
“Don’t be too long. You don’t want to keep Mr. Chaney waiting.”
“I’ll be right back,” she managed through her gritted teeth smile.
She slipped out the door and made her way quickly down the corridor. She had to get out of this building and back to the surface as soon as possible before the drugs and tech took over her body and she did God knows what.
Panic began to swell within her, but she stamped it back down again, knowing she had to stay focused right now. She had eight guards to pass. Eight guards to sneak the tech by. Myki flashed into her mind. Salvi pictured her sitting on the bed in her apartment, her hair all messed up and in her face, so that Salvi hadn’t noticed the markings at first. Salvi quickly flattened her bob cut to hide her temples, and tilted her head down a little so the hair fell forward more, covering it perfectly.
As she reached the lounge area again, she glanced over her shoulder to check if Erica was following. She wasn’t. She looked back around and slammed into someone. The man grabbed her, and she saw it was the ponytail guy from the Floor to Ceiling.
She shrugged out of his grasp and made her way to the club exit, patting her hair back down
