by Peter Tylee
She eventually shuffled into the lounge room.
“…isn’t how I wanted to spend my weekend either,” Adrian was muttering.
“Why does Esteban have to work today anyway?” Junior asked, wincing as he poked at his dressing, but completely incapable of leaving it alone.
“Company emergency, remember? He’s on the reaction team.”
“Ha!” Junior stopped short of saying what he honestly thought. Serves him right for all the trouble he causes.He was first to see Jen. “Hello princess,” he snarled.
She remained silent.
“How’re you feeling?” Adrian asked more compassionately. He didn’t really need to ask, he could see the answer by looking in her eyes – they were bewildered and unfocussed.
Jen quivered. “Can you take my cuffs off?”
Adrian nodded. “Hang on a moment.” He strode from the room, presumably to get a key.
“You did some real fucking damage to my neck last night.” Junior didn’t know what else to say. He was furious with her, though no longer felt the need to cut off her feet.
She didn’t answer. She just sank into a chair, sitting uncomfortably upright to protect her wrists from unnecessary damage. The colours in the room looked muted and she wondered whether it was the lingering drugs or whether her outlook on life had changed. Will things always look less vibrant now? Is this how depressed people see things?It was as if somebody had taken a bucket of murky water and splashed it over the world to wash away the pleasure, the vigour, the life.
“Here.” Adrian was back, holding a small key triumphantly in the air. “Stand up.”
She stood and turned her back to him. There was quiet click, a clank, and the cuffs were off. She gently brushed fingers over her wrists, which were too sensitive for real rubbing.
“Are you okay?” Adrian asked. “They look painful.”
Jen shook her head. “I’ll be fine.” She wanted to leave. She couldn’t stand the thought of casually talking to men who might’ve raped her the previous night.
“I’ll get you some skin-healing cream,” Adrian offered. He was gone before Jen could protest and had returned before either Junior or Jen could think of anything to say.
“Here.” He offered her the tube. “It’ll help.”
Reluctance oozed from every pore of her skin, but she accepted. She didn’t want anything from these people, except her freedom. She eased herself back onto the couch, removing the weight from her wobbly legs to apply the cream. It felt cold and soothing when she dabbed it on her skin. According to the print on the tube, it was anti-inflammatory and had a mild anaesthetic to dull the pain. “Thanks,” she mumbled, wishing her upbringing hadn’t forced her to say that word. They have no right to my gratitude.Jen tossed the tube back. “Am I free to go?”
Adrian nodded and said, “As far as you can without a chip, yes.”
Jen kept her eyes trained on them while she stood. If she had the balance to accompany her presence of mind, she would’ve backed from the room. As it was, she used all her concentration to avoid having to crawl. Back in her room, she closed the door and removed her sweat-soaked shirt and bra. A sinking feeling weighed in her heart when she saw the bruises. Ugly black and blue welts, which were turning yellow at the fringes, neatly fit the shape of a human hand. Someone had taken advantage of her unconsciousness. The question is, how much?Badly bruised breasts was one thing, seamen dripping down her inner thighs was something else entirely. She removed her jeans and underpants to perform the examination.
Holding her breath, she checked, sick with the prospect of confirming her fear. But there appeared to be nothing amiss. Strange.She studied herself three times before daring to believe that nobody had raped her. Maybe they got interrupted?But a less savoury thought soon displaced her tentative euphoria. Maybe they’re waiting until I can fight back… maybe the sick bastards think that’s more fun.She dressed in silence, bathing in temporary relief. She knew they were close to forcing her into an unwanted sexual encounter; it was just a matter of time. I have to get out of here.
She still believed her original plan was the best. Borrow a microchip.Last time Edward, the pompous English arse, had caught her unprepared. But next time will be different. She considered everyone in the Guild a fair target. They were all guilty, or so she repeatedly tried to affirm in her mind.
She wished she could banish the final effects of whatever they’d injected her with, but dared not wait for it to clear. She suspected they’d inject her again before too long. And then the game’s all over.One more shot and she’d be addicted, of that, she was somehow convinced.
She wove toward Claire’s room on slightly steadier feet, growing anxious when she found it still vacant. Where are you?She checked the showers and toilets, smiling politely every time she saw another woman. The suspense was too much. “Excuse me.” She sounded like a child. “I’m looking for Claire, do you know where she is?”
The woman she’d apprehended looked sad and reached out to brush Jen’s shoulder. “She died.”
“What?” The strength drained from her legs and she couldn’t understand what stopped her from collapsing.
“They killed her last night.”
Jen’s lip quivered with shock. The other women were familiar with the Guild’s disregard for human life but it was Jen’s first taste. “Why?”
She had long dark hair and, like the others, unnaturally large breasts. They heaved when she shrugged. “Nobody knows. They dispose of us when we lose our appeal, but Claire was still young.”
“Younger than me,” Jen affirmed.
“Oh, youhave nothing to worry about.” She did her best to smile reassuringly. “You’re pretty enough to keep them attracted for ages yet.”
“Who?” Jen mouthed the word but not even a whisper escaped.
The dark haired woman understood her question anyway. “Frank. I think they call him Junior… not him, but his friends.” She saw the helpless fury brewing in Jen’s eyes. “Take some advice, don’t do anything stupid, okay? Don’t do anything at all.” She didn’t want to see Jen hurt.
Jen thanked her and shuffled back the way she’d come, beginning to understand how to navigate the bunker. Adrian and Junior were exactly where she’d left them, except now they were engrossed in magazines. She demanded to know whose microchip she should escape with, “Who killed her?”
Adrian peered over the latest issue of Fortune and adjusted his glasses before folding the pages together and depositing the magazine on the lamp table. “Who?”
“Claire Robinson.”
Adrian felt a smidgeon of shame that he’d never known her surname, but it quickly passed. “Esteban of course.”
Junior was still living in his sphere of silence. He wasn’t yet ready to forgive Jen for wounding him.
Jen paled and returned to her room, shuffling unsteadily down the corridor. She didn’t notice that Adrian was following. He reached her door just as she reached her bed. “Get away from me,” she shouted when she saw him standing there.
Adrian’s expression was always serious and Jen couldn’t remember seeing him smile. But now he did, or tried to. It didn’t come naturally to him and tended to make him look sinister rather than convey the intended reassurance. “I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.”
“Promises don’t mean shit if I can’t trust you to keep them.”
“That’s a good point,” Adrian conceded. “So I’ll have to earn your trust first.”
“How about letting me go? That’d be a good start.” Jen felt uncomfortable with him standing in the doorway. She looked desperately around for a weapon, but found none. And she certainly wasn’t strong enough to beat him away with fists alone.
Adrian entered her room and closed the door. But instead of approaching her bed, he sat on the table. “I’m just going to sit here.” He paused, but Jen didn’t accept the opportunity to speak. “I never knew Claire’s last name.”
You’re not doing yourself any favours.J
en maintained her disdainful stare.
“I never got the chance to talk to her much, but she seemed like a nice girl.” Adrian ran a hand through his neatly matted hair.
“What did she do wrong?”
“Nothing,” Adrian admitted with a shameful expression. “Esteban has a replacement.”
“Me.” Jen understood. “Did she really kill someone?” Her voice was barely more than a whisper.
Adrian nodded. “Her boyfriend, in self-defence.” But people on the outside perceive domestic altercations differently from people embroiled on the inside. Claire was the only one who truly knew whether it was self-defence or malicious murder, and now that she was gone, nobody could know the truth. But it felt wrong to dishonour the dead by speaking ill of them for crimes against which they could no longer defend themselves. It seemed fitting to give her the benefit of the doubt. Besides, she’d paid a thousand times for her mistakes.
Jen consumed the news in silence, wishing Adrian would leave her alone.
“I’m no saint, but I didn’t want her dead,” Adrian confessed. “I tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn’t listen.” She was giving him less feedback than a couch or a refrigerator, and he began to wonder whether he should leave. “Once he’s made up his mind, nothing can stop him… it’s scary.”
She suddenly snapped out of her trance and turned to face him. “Then why do you stay here? Why didn’t you shoot him?”
“Cross Esteban?” Adrian’s eyebrows shot up incredulously. “No way. That’d be a death sentence.” He grunted nervously. “I don’t know why I stay. I suppose because it’s easier than getting out.” His voice sounded dreamy, as if he were imagining things that could once have been. “I don’t even know how it happened. One thing led to another and before I knew it, I was in the crew. We were doing small things back then, shifting packets of drugs on campus and other minor stuff. Esteban was the tough and he intimidated anyone that stood in our way. Once, we were busted for selling amphetamines, but Esteban beat the crap out of the security guard and threatened to kill the man’s family if he didn’t turn around and walk away. The guard sensibly applied for a transfer the next day.” Junior frowned as he recounted the course of his life. “Pretty soon we were doing bigger things and got clear of the drug scene altogether. It only leads to one place, and it isn’t pretty. So we began moving people instead. It’s amazing what desperate people will pay to have someone smuggle them out of one country and into another. Anyway, corporations snapped us up after college and we used our new connections to join a people-smuggling cartel.” He shrugged with his hands. “Eventually Esteban was invited here and he took us with him.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” Jen didn’t really care to hear it.
“I just want you to understand where I come from,” Adrian replied. “It all started because I needed a little extra cash at college. My parents were rich, but that didn’t mean any of their money trickled down to me. From there I was just swept along.”
It didn’t vindicate anything as far as Jen was concerned. “So? You could’ve said no.”
He nodded, regarding her carefully. “I know.” Eventually he had to look away, unable to hold her gaze without feeling intense shame. “Better late than never though, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“You want to escape, so I’ll help you do it.”
“What about the others?” Jen asked, equally concerned for their wellbeing.
Adrian shook his head. “I wouldn’t know how to find chips for all of them.”
“How do you intend to find a chip for me?”
“I know where Esteban put that little device of yours.”
“It has six chips inside,” Jen said eagerly. “So that’s six people.”
“I can’t do anything for the others,” Adrian repeated unapologetically. He was already putting his neck on the line for Jen and, as far as he was concerned, that was enough. “And I want to do this without him finding out it was me.”
“How?”
“Don’t worry yourself about that, just don’t tell anyone. Deal?” He scoured her face for signs of betrayal. He wouldn’t help unless he decided to trust her.
“If I said anything I wouldn’t get out, would I?”
“Good point.” He shoved off the table and headed for the door. “I’ll be back within four hours. Wait for me here, okay?”
She kept nodding until he left the room. Now that’s bizarre.She didn’t trust him any further than she could spit, but she had to acknowledge that he represented her best chance of escape. For six of us. Then she made a vow that she intended to keep: And I’ll come back for the others.
*
Saturday, September 18, 2066
10:20 San Francisco, USA
Michele wore thick makeup to conceal her sleepless night and resultant baggy eyes. She’d deactivated the video component of the phone. “I’m telling you it was him.”
“Okay, careful Michele,” Esteban warned in a threatening voice. “Don’t say anything stupid on an open line.” Sometimes he wished he could smash her skull like a melon, or throttle some sense into her brain.
“I won’t,” she retorted, nearly hysterical. “Where are you?”
Esteban rolled his eyes. Oh Lord, you fucked up when you put this bitch together.“How stupid do you think I am, Michele? Look, calm down, everything’s going to be fine. I’m sure you just made a mistake. Maybe you dreamt it?”
Her tone was becoming whiny. “I wasn’t dreaming, okay? Why won’t you believe me?”
“Just meet me in the office.” He’d had enough.
“No. I’m not going back there. He said-”
“I’ll be there in a second,” Esteban said, cutting her off before she said something Echelon would archive, giving him the added hassle of having to delete records. “You’ll be safe with me there. I’m approaching the portals now. I’ll see you in a minute.” He hung up before she could protest.
Michele pouted and reluctantly replaced the receiver on the public phone. She was spooked enough to distrust her mobile because she didn’t understand what was and what was not possible in the mystical land of technology – she lived with the myths Hollywood fed her. She looked up at UniForce headquarters. She hadn’t gone far; she’d been too scared to go home. Does he know where I live? Does he expect me to leave the company? The city? The country?She kept trying to replay the conversation in her mind but fear had distorted her memory to the point of worthlessness.
She’d filled ‘a suden ilness’ into the necessary form as her reason for leaving the building – spelling wasn’t her strong point – and fled as soon as Dan had left. She knew of a hotel in Nevadathat had a 24-hour reception desk and she’d checked in there for what had remained of the night. The vibrating bed had been nice, but it wasn’t as enjoyable as she remembered – probably because she’d had the company of two adoring men on her last stay. I didn’t get much sleep then either,she thought with a childish giggle.
She did as Esteban bade and sought the nearest portal. A flash and a heartbeat later, she was standing in the foyer of her floor at UniForce headquarters. She marched to her office and found Esteban sitting on her desk.
“Close the door.”
She obediently complied.
“Now what’s this shit about Sutherland?”
“He was here last night,” Michele repeated for the fourth time. “He came right up here, past all the security, and threatened me.”
Oh yes, past all our ‘quality’ security.Esteban scoffed at the pitiful excuse UniForce headquarters had for security. The guard training programs were behind schedule so they’d outsourced all the quality guards to other companies. “I just checked his movements and as far as PortaNet’s concerned he hasn’t left Australia.” He shrugged sceptically. “So unless international airlines have reopened for business in the past few days, I don’t think it could possibly have been him. Maybe it just looked like him?”
Michele threw a tizz.
“No! You’re not listening to me. It was Dan Sutherland! I know what he looks like.”
He still thought she’d dreamt it, but let it rest for now. “Okay, I’ll go and check the parameters on my scan if it’ll make you happy.” But a hum of doubt had started tickling the back of his mind. He has been waiting an awful long time.Esteban had expected the legendary Dan Sutherland to be stalking him by now, but he was still messing around in Australia. He shrugged the feeling off by roaming his gaze over Michele’s body. Sure, she was built like a penguin, but she could work small miracles with her mouth. And since he wanted to wait with Jen, Michele was his only option. “But first… there’s something I need from you.”
She knew what he wanted but she wasn’t in the mood so she twisted away from him with an exasperated grunt.
“I won’t take long.” He unzipped his fly and pulled her closer, making her kneel in front of him.
Michele grudgingly started caressing his flesh, kissing him softly. Before long they were in the ecstatic throes of passion – or at least Esteban was, Michele was merely bored. She wanted to rest and was thinking about whether it’d be safe to sleep in her office when Esteban orgasmed. She spat into a tissue.
“I told you I’d be quick.” Esteban grinned at her, satisfied now that she’d slaked his desires. He could see from the look in her eyes that she hadn’t been expecting it. She’d nearly choked. Reducing the pressure on his explosive libido also gave him the opportunity to think more clearly about Sutherland. Hmm… what if he’s using someone else’s chip?It was a startling thought. Then he could be anywhere. He could still be in the building!Esteban zipped up his fly and reached for his gun, scanning the room with suspicion.
“What is it?” Michele’s eyes opened wide with a fresh onrush of fear.
“Nothing,” Esteban snapped. “Just stay here.”
“Where’re you going?” Michele asked, sounding desperate.
“To check on Sutherland.” Esteban approached every corner as if it might hide his enemy, wary now that he realised Dan could be hunting him while electronically cloaked. The confidence he’d derived from his hand-held monitor had evaporated now that he suspected Dan could traverse the portals without raising an alarm. He felt blind.