His Reboot Girl (Emerald City #3) Read online

If you see him, call the police immediately.

  Considered dangerous. Do NOT approach.

  If I hadn’t been sitting, I would have crumbled to the floor.

  Death toll now: eighteen.

  Vomit rose in my throat, and I jabbed at the screen to switch it off. The images continued to swirl through my head. I felt the sensation of heat again. Immense pressure constricting my lungs. A roaring wave of noise that swept through my head. That must have been the blast. I was a pretty fucking useless bomber, if I couldn’t even get clear of the blast zone. I dropped my face into my hands. The pictures were relentless. Broken bodies. Blood, smeared across the remains of a seat. Officials ripping away the broken plas-crete blocks with their bare hands, in hopes of finding a survivor.

  I’d done that. Dear God, who was I?

  Taking a deep breath, I lifted my head and stared at Adele. Did I know her? When I’d touched her hair, I remembered doing that another time, but no, that’d been a different girl. Another blonde. That one had been shy, always hiding behind her hair.

  The longer I sat here wallowing in emotion, the longer it would be before I had any answers, and right now, that was what I needed.

  I pushed at the bench, and used it to steady myself as I stood. My head protested at the movement, a wave of pain blind-siding me, but I stayed upright. One wobbly foot in front of the other, I lurched across the floor to Adele. “What are you looking for?” My voice was ludicrously faint, so I dug deeply, to find something stronger. “You said this would help get my memory back.”

  She tugged out a stool, and patted it with her hand. “Sit,” she murmured, her gaze fixed on the lines of code that scrolled off the inset screen.

  “I’m not a fucking dog.”

  This drew her attention. Wide eyes stared at me. “Baby, I just meant—”

  “And don’t call me ‘baby.’”

  Her mouth opened for a moment, then snapped shut. “I can see you’re upset.” She spoke slowly, carefully, as though to an imbecile. Or an invalid. “I think you should sit down, Scott, before you fall down.”

  I curled my fingers into the edge of the stool, tempted for a second to do as she said. Answers, I reminded myself. “Tell me what you’re doing. Why we’re here.” I glanced at Donny, but he ignored me, his focus on the screen and a datapad at his side.

  “Your optogenetics work.” Her smile looked genuine. “You were working on accessing parts of the brain—”

  “Using flashing lights to activate and deactivate specific neurons,” I finished for her, the brain-fog clearing for a second. “And that will help, how?”

  Adele sighed, and then reached out to touch my face. I steeled myself not to react to her cool fingers. “We don’t believe you set the bomb, but you might have seen who did. If we can get your memories back, you can prove your innocence.”

  It sounded plausible. Maybe. I nodded toward the screen. “What are you looking for?”

  “The vault with the right section of code.” Her smile was flawless, but I didn’t believe her for a second.

  “This is taking too long.” Donny joined the conversation. He lifted his head and scowled at Adele. “You need to hurry.”

  Irritation tugged her brows together, and her smile faltered. “Okay.” She spoke firmly to me. “You need to access your vault. We’re only in the shell data at the moment, and we need to be in the sub-structure before we can access the optogenetics records.” Her smile returned. “From there, we can find your triggers, and see if we can retrieve your memories.”

  Knowledge flooded in, riding the wave of her glib speech. I’d set different visual triggers for everyone taking part in the user testing. That rang true, but I knew with a bone-jarring certainty, that I’d never included myself as a test subject.

  “Scott”—Adele nudged my arm—“you’re going to log in now. It’s probably best if you don’t try to remember the authentication. Just let it flow naturally.”

  The authentication was multi-level. I knew that. I’d created the security protocols, after all. I needed to tread carefully, find out what they knew, and then figure out how to get out of here, and clear my name. As a plan, it sucked big time, mainly due to the gaping holes. I’d play for time first.

  I swayed on my feet, and grabbed at the bench as though for support. “I need to lie down,” I mumbled. “Don’t feel good.”

  The look that flashed between Adele and Donny was loaded. She leapt to her feet and took my arm. “Come on. Ten minutes might help, and we can carry on searching a little longer without you.”

  I let her lead me toward one of the beds, and accepted her help to lie down. My unsteadiness wasn’t completely faked. Every step sent a river of pain up my spine.

  How badly was I injured? I pushed that fear down, and tried to lock it away. Closing my eyes, I balled my hands into fists and pushed them into my temples. Christ, my head hurt. Think of the blonde girl. Her shy smile. A name glowed in the distance.

  Dorothy.

  Chapter Five

  I dozed off, lulled by the murmur of conversation in the background, and the faint hum from the computer systems surrounding me. For the first time since my leaving the hospital—since waking up—my head calmed a fraction. If I stayed absolutely still, I could hold the pain at bay.

  New images slid past me in the fractured mess that remained of my brain. Somebody making coffee for me, the way I liked it. Black and strong, with one and a half spoons of sugar. She pushed the cup along the counter to me, and then turned back to the chiller unit. She was naked underneath a white towel, her hair obscured by another, piled on top of her head.

  “You caught me by surprise.” Her voice was low and husky, as though she’d just woken. “What brings you here so early?”

  I know how to make it work. The words had been on the tip of my tongue, but I’d held back, my mouth dry at the sight of the freckles adorning her pale skin. I’d been excited, intent on something, but it could wait. Ignoring the coffee, I’d stepped up behind her, my hands itching to close around those slender hips. I could almost taste her skin. “I wanted to see you,” I’d whispered.

  A noise in the background pulled at my senses, and I cracked my eyes open, reluctant to leave my almost-dream. That must have been Dorothy.

  “What the hell? You said nobody would be here.” Donny’s fury dragged me fully conscious again, and I stared across the lab. What the fuck?

  “I forgot the cleaning crew.” Adele sounded flustered. “Shit.”

  A young woman stood in the open doorway, a utility cart stacked high with sprays and rags by her side. Her fingers clung to the cart handles, and her fear was tangible. What was she so scared of? “I won’t tell anyone.” She rattled out the words, her dark eyes wide and terrified.

  I froze, unease trickling through every nerve. Swallowing down a groan, I sat up, and waited for the world to stop spinning before I eased down from the bed.

  “Get in here. Now.” Donny grabbed her arm, and she cried out. I couldn’t tell if it was from fear or pain, or both. From this upright position, I could see Donny clearly. Holy. Fuck. He had a laser weapon pointed at the cleaning lady. “Are you alone?” He barked the question, and she trembled under the verbal blast.

  “Yes.”

  Adrenaline surged in my veins, and I forced myself to move. I tried to speak, but my throat was too dry to form any sounds.

  “Fuck it. Adele, lock her in the closet if you have to, but get her out of here.”

  I worked my way along the lab, leaning on one bench after another, while I found my balance. It was only a few yards, but it felt like miles.

  Donny spun around to face me, the weapon pointing briefly at my chest. “Stay back, Scott,” he said, a warning in his voice.

  The cleaner gasped. “Scott. Oh, my God!”

  It felt as though the ground shifted beneath me. Our gazes met, and I knew her. Really knew her.

  Everything happened in slow motion.

  Donny whirled back to the cleaner, h
is weapon swinging in a high arc.

  Her words sank in. She recognized me.

  “Shut up,” yelled Donny. She opened her mouth to speak again, just as Donny’s weapon hit the side of her head. “I said, shut the fuck up.”

  Her knees crumpled. Her eyes beseeched me, and she dropped to the floor.

  I dragged in a tight breath and sank to the bright white tiles, by the motionless woman that lay there. Please God, let her still be alive. I almost didn’t dare to look for her pulse, but my fingers slid to her neck without my conscious thought, and I located a strong heartbeat. Relief made me dizzy. There was no blood, but she was out cold.

  Adele caught my arm and pulled, but I shook her off. “Don’t touch me.” With care, as gently as I could, I guided the woman’s head to rest on my thigh. It would be softer than the floor.

  Chaos reigned, but I ignored it. Donny yelled at Adele. She shouted back. The unconscious woman continued to breathe.

  “Who are you,” I whispered. “How do you know me?”

  Her eyelids flickered and opened. For a brief moment, warm brown eyes gazed at me, but then she was gone again.

  The anger already simmering inside me was getting harder to suppress. I scowled at Donny. “What the fuck is going on?”

  Adele cleared her throat. “We’re trying to prove your innocence. You know that.”

  Yeah, right. “You’ve been lying from the minute you dragged me out of the hospital, haven’t you?”

  “No.” She looked stricken, one hand fluttering on her chest, her eyes innocent. “Donny just gets carried away.”

  “Try again, baby.”

  For some reason, I’d assumed that Adele had been in charge. When Donny twisted her arm behind her back, making her cry out in pain, I realized my mistake.

  Chapter Six

  Adele twisted and struggled, but Donny held her tight, yanked her arm, and pushed it against her shoulders.

  “Donny, stop. Please,” she said.

  He shook her like a cat shakes a mouse. “Stop your fucking whining. I told you he’d never buy it.”

  My instincts on that had been right. I allowed a second of satisfaction, before I blocked off my emotions. There’d be time later to be triumphant, once this danger had been neutralized. I had to somehow get the weapon from him.

  This entire charade, the supposed retrieve-memory-prove-my-innocence tale, had been for one reason only—to get them into this lab. I’d given them access this far, but they needed more. What about the bombing? The news report had been genuine; I’d no doubt about that.

  Thoughts flashed and spun inside my brain, in the time it took Donny to push Adele to her knees and snap a set of restraints on her wrists. She whimpered when he fastened them behind her back and looped them through a fixed leg on one of the benches.

  “Donny.” She sounded close to tears. “I helped you, I made this possible.”

  I stared at nothing and kept my face blank. One down, one to go.

  My attention diverted to the woman on the floor. Without even thinking about it, I smoothed a lock of stray hair away from her eyes. She hates getting her hair cut. How did I know that?

  Another memory swamped me. Yawning as I entered a darkened room. My bedroom. Tired from working late in my office, I’d dropped my clothes on the floor and headed for bed, only to find someone already there. “You must be frozen.” That husky, sleep-roughened voice again. “Let me warm you.”

  Donny’s voice was an unwelcome interruption. “Leave her, and get your ass over here.”

  I lifted my head slowly, and took a shallow breath, to work through the surge of pain from my head and neck. Was it getting worse? I glared at him. “Why would I do that?”

  The corners of his lips pulled up, and he smirked. “I’ll hurt your girlfriend if you don’t.”

  I nearly said her name—Dorothy—but I managed to keep my mouth shut.

  “I don’t know who you mean.”

  His eyebrows quirked. “Poor Adele, forgotten already?” Without taking his eyes off me, he dug into a pocket and tugged out a thin strip of shiny metal. “You won’t have any objections if I do this?” He snapped it tight around her throat, and the ends clicked together with tiny powerful magnets.

  “Scott?” Panic threaded Adele’s voice, but I didn’t move. He could be bluffing.

  “You know what this is, don’t you?” His voice made my skin crawl. “You should. You invented it.”

  I kept my blank, uninterested expression. “I don’t remember.”

  “Scott, you disappoint me. Your early wetware prototypes needed this reinforcement collar.”

  I remembered in a flash. The first subjects had worn the collar, connected wirelessly to the embedded chip. It was only later, when I’d developed the surface-mounted chip—applied via a micro-tattoo—that I’d dispensed with the collars.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “They’re really easy to adapt, you know. It doesn’t take much to align them to the pain receptors.” Donny pushed Adele’s head down, and pressed the back of the collar. I saw a flash of metal, heard a crunching noise and then she shrieked.

  “Donny! Oh my God, get it out of me.” Her words all ran together, high pitched and frightened. “Scott, please, please, make him stop.”

  “It’s hooked into her spinal cortex now.” Donny released her, but she stayed hunched over, sobbing. I knew she’d lied to me, tried to fool me for her own ends, but the sound of her tears made me cringe.

  “You sure you don’t remember how to access the systems?”

  Donny and I stared at each other, like the gunslingers of old. I refused to give in. “Go fuck yourself.”

  Slowly, as though he had all the time in the world, Donny fished his phone out of another pocket. He frowned as he stared at the screen, then swiped and tapped for a moment. Adele shuddered all over and moaned. Donny tapped some more, and this time, Adele lifted her head and screamed.

  “Sorry, Scott,” he said. “I can’t hear you over the noise.”

  Her cries tore through me, and he knew it, the fucker.

  Adele howled, her body trembling from head to foot. “Make him stop,” she begged me, tears pouring down her face. “Please, Scott.” Her makeup ran in black smears over her cheeks, and she began to twist violently. “I can’t… It’s going—” Her head thrashed from side to side.

  I’d seen enough. “Okay.”

  Donny just smirked some more. He tapped his phone again, and Adele’s wails ratcheted up a notch. “Can’t hear you.”

  “Fuckin’ stop. Okay?”

  He lowered the phone and gazed at Adele, then back at me. “You’ll log into the system?”

  Adele’s muffled sobs made me want to puke. I’d done this. “As far as I can, yes.”

  “Not good enough.” He lifted the phone once more. “I wonder how far up I can turn this?”

  No matter what she’d done, what her plans had been, I couldn’t watch him torture her.

  “I’ll get you in.”

  Chapter Seven

  My memory wasn’t returning fast enough. I remembered snippets about my optogenetics work—and now Donny spoke about it, the wetware prototypes—but the details were out of my grasp.

  I know how to make it work. I’d wanted to say that, but had held back. What had I been thinking of? Some breakthrough, definitely, but in which field? If I gave Donny only partial access to my vault, would he be smart enough to know?

  “Take the collar off her,” I said.

  “Not until you give me access.”

  The woman lying on me stirred, and I held my breath. Was she waking up? With a tenderness I didn’t know I possessed, I swept another strand of hair from her face.

  “I could collar her instead. Would that get you moving?” Donny sounded as though he would enjoy doing that.

  The air jammed in my lungs. No. I wouldn’t let that happen. “I’m coming.” Who was she? I knew she was important. Could this be Dorothy? No. I knew Dor
othy was blonde.

  Could I stumble and crash into Donny, and grab the phone and the gun? Or just the gun? Unlikely. What if I snatched up a piece of equipment and beat him over the head with it? I scanned the nearby surfaces, but there was nothing within reach.

  “I’m waiting, Scott,” he growled. My eyes were drawn to the pistol, as he tapped it against his thigh. I didn’t know how far I dared push him.

  As gently as I could, I eased the woman to the floor. She groaned, and my stomach tightened at the sound. I had to get her to safety. With a grunt, I pushed myself to a kneeling position, waited for the world to stop dancing before my eyes, and then slowly hauled myself upright, using the nearby counter as support.

  Donny stood there, gun in one hand, phone in the other. I couldn’t take him by force, so I’d have to be smart.

  I staggered over to the screen he’d been using earlier. A quick glance confirmed they’d been trying to break into my vault.

  This wasn’t my lab. I knew that. I’d been here, though. My best guess would be LindenCore was a subsidiary of CyGes, and they’d been subcontracted to do some of my testing. Their systems would be connected to the main data network, but with a smaller physical site, there’d be less in the way of on-site security. Especially in the middle of the night.

  The second I started to log in, it would register in the main datacenter, but that alone wouldn’t send up any red flags. If I fluffed the login, it’d lock me out of the core network, but what would Donny do then? That wasn’t a great idea.

  “What do you want access to?” I asked.

  “Your vault.” The words you moron were implied.

  “Which part? It’s segmented. There are different logins for each area.”

  “The wetware protocols.”

  Could I remember the authentication sequence? I hadn’t even remembered my own name until I heard it. I flattened my palm over the reader, and extended my hand so all four fingerprints were read at once. The login screen appeared immediately, a winking cursor awaiting instructions.

  Fuck. What was the format? I swallowed hard, and then gazed at the screen, hoping for inspiration. I hovered my fingers over the keypad, unsure what came first.