Thirty-Two

Trip stands closest to the buttons, and his finger reaches toward the one that’ll force the doors closed. Not that it could happen fast enough, but what else is there to do? Before he’s able to hit it, one of the WALTERs steps forward and points his weapon squarely at Trip.

“Everyone out,” he commands. Seconds pass, and still none of us move. Probably because they’re all as stunned as I am. “Now!” he yells.

We have no other choice but to do what he told us. One by one, we file out of the elevator and stand shoulder to shoulder in a straight line on a floor that looks to be under construction—meaning no one is here to witness what’s going on. Beyond the elevator landing is nothing but scaffolding, buckets, and tinted glass that frames the building next door. There’s no chance anyone could see in even if they were twenty-seven stories up and tried to peek inside. Any chance of escaping this fades away as the doors slide closed, sending an empty compartment to the top floor.

Laughter comes from behind the mass of metal, one that I’ve heard over and over in my head. One I could never forget. Sebastian, Trip’s twin brother, steps out of the line of WALTERs guarding us. “Bravo. I can’t believe you made it this far.”

“I should’ve known you were involved in all this shit. Always were one to kiss Dad’s ass,” Trip sneers.

Sebastian rips the gun out of one of the WALTER’s hands and presses it into Trip’s neck. “I’d watch your tone if I were you.”

Trip’s brows meet together in a fine line, but he doesn’t say another word.

“Smart of you to go to the house first, but I’ll be taking that thing in your pocket.” Sebastian stops in front of Seph.

I want to ask how he knows, but it’s the obvious move to someone who has all the information on where every secret is buried. When I saw his picture hanging in that office, I should’ve thought this could happen. That he’d find a way to be one step ahead of us, but I let the idea of freedom cloud my judgment. How could I let that happen?

Seph slowly pulls the stick from his pocket.

Sebastian snatches it from him and slides it in his own. “Now with that settled, on to the next. Where is it?”

From the corner of my eye, I glance at the rest of the group but they all seem to have the same questioning look on their faces that I feel on my own.

“The WALTER,” he snaps. “Where is it?”

“She.” Clara’s voice comes out stronger than I’ve ever heard before. “Her name is Ruthie.”

Sebastian laughs like it’s the funniest thing in the entire world. It’s hard to believe how much I’m actually starting to appreciate Trip right now. “They’ll never be equal to us, but you can call it whatever you want. You should’ve seen your faces when you found it in that room. ‘Oh, you poor thing.’” He makes his voice sound higher. “‘We’ll help you get out, too.’ Classic.”

I grit my teeth. It was all a set up. They purposely put her in our path to find her. That’s why she didn’t have a bracelet. That’s why she was programmed to question everything we did and pretend to be on our side—most likely why she seemed to hate Trip so much—it’s all so they could test their latest creation. They probably never expected us to get as far as we did. That’s where they went wrong. Never underestimate someone with sheer determination. Except look where that determination got us. Captured with no hope of getting out of this mess.

Sebastian jerks upright. “Now where did you put it?” he growls.

“You should know exactly what we did,” Vaughn says. “We fixed her. Sent her off somewhere safe.”

Sebastian steps in front of her. “Bullshit. There wasn’t enough time.”

“Yeah? Well then, why is there fear in your eyes?” She holds his gaze, and I couldn’t be more proud of her.

He glances at me, and I just grin back. As long as he believes we succeeded, we have the upper hand.

“But…” Vaughn’s voice softens in a seductive kind of way. “Maybe we can make a deal.” She licks her lips.

His attention is back on her. “Oh yeah. And what is it that you want?”

Sebastian is so focused on Vaughn’s mouth he doesn’t realize until it’s much too late that her arm is cocked back, and she smashes her fist into his face. Blood sprays from his broken nose, and before he can recover, she slams her knee into his groin. He falls to the floor and curls into a ball.

“Dad doesn’t give a shit about you,” Trip says. “He’s using you just like he tried to do to me.”

Doesn’t he know never to insult the person holding the gun? (Even if he is on the floor, writhing in pain.)

“No, he used you. He knew you wouldn’t be able to go through with it. That you’d turn on him at the first chance. That’s why he left you there to rot.” Sebastian slowly gets up. “But we won’t have to worry about any of you anymore.” He hands his weapon back to the WALTER he took it from. “Take them to the thirteenth floor. Use deadly force if you need to.”

In unison, the WALTERs cock their guns. Just like the AIRS back at the prison; they’re all glitched, acting like they don’t have any free will. Like they aren’t capable of making their own decisions. What kind of person cocks and readies their gun at an unarmed teenager? Or takes orders from an obvious asshole? Fredrick has glitched his own machines to make the government look bad, in hopes to gain control of his own creations (by controlling them—ironic—I think not). He thinks they’ve been stealing money from him. And I guess I could see that. I get why he’s pissed. But what about all the shit he’s done? All the Core Principles he’s broken? It still doesn’t make it right. And what’s his end game? How does he think he’s going to get away with it?

Dad.

Is he missing because he didn’t want to be involved with this? Or is he hiding because he’s ashamed of what he’s done? There are so many questions I’ll never get the answer to.

I glance at Vaughn. We’ve broken a few Core Principles, too. But is it the same when you are doing the wrong thing for the right reason? I wish I knew. I wish we could go back and change that night. Never meet Sebastian. Never take that one last load. We were going to blow the whistle on all of this, but once again, we’re going to fail.

Sebastian smiles. “I won’t be seeing you later.” He doesn’t even look at any of us as he waves his hand and slinks through the crowd of WALTERs.

The one closest to Vaughn jerks his gun. “Let’s go.”