Ensnared

by Rita Stradling

  She didn’t look over, just kept her gaze forward. “If you’re conning me and I’m helping you hurt him again, I’ll make sure they arrest you and I’ll pay for the prosecutor myself.”

  Alainn looked out the window at the dead grass that lined the road and whispered, “It’s a deal.”

  Once they hit the highway, Shelly accelerated to just above the speed limit. Now that they had reentered the invisible cell phone reception bubble, Shelly kept dialing and redialing Lorccan on her cell phone. Her finger kept pressing the screen, which she hid in her lap.

  Obviously, she was not quite on board the Alainn-is-innocent ship.

  As the curvy mountain passes widened into five-lane freeways, Shelly’s hands shook on her steering wheel. She’d stayed quiet the last hour, blinking rapidly at the road. It was only four o’clock, but she looked like she needed a nap or something.

  “You want me to drive?” Alainn asked as Shelly swerved way too far while avoiding a merging car.

  “I’m fine.” She tucked her hair behind her ear with shaking fingers. “So, what are we doing at your house exactly?”

  “I have sort of an idea—but feel free to give me some input. We have to find my brother, Colby. He may not help, but I think there’s a really good chance that he will. I’ll find a way to get Rose into the main part of the house with me and my father and distract them. You and Colby can sneak into the garage and find the files. Colby uses the computers as much as anyone, so he’ll know what shouldn’t be there. You guys find the files, print the chips, and cover your tracks as best you can before getting as far away as you can. I’ll bike to meet you. We go to Lorccan’s tower. Blue breaks us in—”

  “Wouldn’t it just be easier if I tell your brother what to look for?”

  Alainn gave Shelly a skeptical look. “Probably not—”

  “If he’s caught, it won’t seem suspicious.” Her gaze was fixed on the road, but Alainn could see that a tear was dripping down the side of Shelly’s nose.

  Alainn finally recognized the expression on her face—way later than she should have. In Outreach, once in a while a very sadistic parent would convince their kid to hide a phobia of heights or bugs or something they dealt with all the time while backpacking. It came from that “face your fears, or if not, shame the fear out of them” attitude. Sometimes it worked; other times it resulted in a sixteen-year-old freezing halfway up a mountain and messing their pants.

  It was just plain wrong.

  Shelly looked like Alainn had just tied her to a rappelling rope and told her to jump off a cliff. Complete and total terror was revealed in the shaking of her hands, the paleness of her face, and the stiffness of her posture. It made Alainn rethink why Shelly had cried during the kidnapping recounting.

  Alainn nodded slowly. “Sure, Shelly, that’s possible. But what about in the tower? Someone needs to insert the chip and reboot Rosebud 03AF.”

  Shelly swerved again, and this time Alainn did grab the “oh shit” handle while Blue dug her little fingers into Alainn’s arm. Shelly again straightened back into their lane while Blue let loose with a god-awful screech.

  “I’m sorry!” she yelled, her face scrunching up.

  Holding her hands out, Alainn lowered her voice. “It’s okay. If you tell me how, I’ll get the chip into Rosebud 03AF.”

  Sweat covered Shelly’s face with a glossy sheen. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “Let’s go get you a coffee or something to eat on the way, okay?”

  “No. We should go directly there,” she sniffed and shook her head.

  “I think I need it. I’m feeling a little freaked out by all of this, and I need to bring up my energy. Also, I need to call Colby,” Alainn told her.

  At first Shelly did nothing, and then, for the first time since Alainn met her, she offered a little mirthless smile. “Okay, but then we should go.”

  34

  April 11, 2027

  “Okay, all you need to do is answer the phone. Can you do that?” Grabbing Shelly’s phone from the cup holder, Alainn held it up in front of her face.

  Shelly’s eyes went in and out of focus as she looked at the phone.

  Alainn was losing her again.

  “I don’t think I can do this,” Shelly whispered. Her face had slowly leaked its color and was now nearly sheet white. Pushing her into this wasn’t the kindest thing to do, but all she had to do was talk Colby through finding the chip from a safe distance away.

  “Shelly, this is nothing compared to going and confronting me at the lodge.” Alainn pointed out the back window to the east. “Or cruising around town for days with a robot monkey in your car.”

  “I just thought you were a software or hardware engineer—like your father—that could help, and then I was so angry. It took me three days to be able to go up there.” She shook her head. “And I like animals.”

  “Maybe she needs an alcoholic drink?” Colby muttered from the backseat. When Alainn glanced back at him, he was leaning in to inspect Blue’s teeth.

  Blue was obliging him, mouth open wide.

  “Jesus, Colby. Stop bothering my monkey.” She smacked his arm.

  Colby looked down at where Alainn had smacked him, confusion flashing across his face. He pushed up his glasses. “You say she’s from Germany?” he responded, sticking one of his fingers into the side of Blue’s mouth.

  “Gross, Colby. Get your fingers out of her mouth.” He either didn’t hear her or was choosing to have very selective hearing. Knowing Colby, it was likely the latter. She looked to Blue. “I’m sorry, Blue.”

  Blue gave a very unmonkeylike shrug. Since she didn’t care, Alainn turned back to the real issue—Shelly.

  They sat three blocks up from her father’s house and down at the end of a cul-de-sac. An hour ago, when Alainn had called Colby from the coffee shop, not only had Colby been ready to help, he had information to share.

  As always in the twenty-four years that he had been her older brother, Colby was a step ahead of Alainn. Colby had been observing and writing down Rose’s behavior for months. Of course, he had done the whole thing very clinically, but something about Rose had made her brother take interest a while back.

  Consequently, they had a pretty regular schedule written down for Rose. Unfortunately, they’d missed her bathing time, which was in the morning. Another unfortunate thing was that she usually spent from two in the afternoon until late at night working at various tasks in the workshop. The good thing was that Colby had written down which hardware-supply drawers she used most, how long she would sit on the computer, and which computers she preferred.

  Colby had also seemed to take to the task of stealing the hardware calmly, which was better than Shelly’s reaction but still concerning. Knowing her brother, he might mess this up by just stating why they were there for discussion.

  “Maybe I can park farther away?” Shelly asked, sweat breaking out over her brow.

  All the signs were there. Shelly was going to bolt on them.

  Damn it.

  “Ms. Dover, could I tell you a story?” Colby asked from the backseat.

  “Yeah, sure,” she whispered.

  “Once, when I was fourteen and she was twelve, I broke Alainn’s arm.”

  Both Shelly and Alainn looked into the back seat, surprised.

  “Colby!”

  “Are you threatening me?” Shelly whispered, leaning awkwardly toward her steering wheel.

  Unsurprisingly, he completely ignored both of them and continued, “She’d taken my homework for some reason of her own and wouldn’t give it back. I was upset, but I didn’t want to break her arm. It was an accident.” He raised his eyebrows at them.

  Maybe for effect?

  “I tried to get it from her. She wouldn’t give it back, so we ended up wrestling. While we wrestled, I accidentally broke her arm. Alainn screamed and I saw her cry a little, but she didn’t stop fighting, so I had no idea I even did it. Eventually, she got out of my grip, told me that she
won, and handed me back my homework.”

  Shelly glanced between Alainn and Colby, as if she was trying to decide which of them was more nuts.

  Colby continued, undaunted, “Am I guessing right, Ms. Dover, that you are afraid that Rose 76GF is going to come out of the house and find you?”

  She nodded, infinitesimally.

  “Well, the point of my story was that the only way that Rose 76GF is going to get past Alainn to come after you is if Alainn was killed after a long and vicious fight. The best way to hear that fight is over the phone, when I call you.”

  Alainn’s head fell into her hands. “Colby . . . ,” she groaned. While the story was once true, she wasn’t sure that it was anymore. She had been broken before, and in breaking, she’d caused the death of someone she loved. When Alainn forced herself to examine Shelly, she looked to be thinking hard about what Colby said.

  Alainn held up the phone one final time. “Shelly, just please answer the phone when Colby calls.”

  Shelly nodded, shook her head, then nodded again.

  Well, hell.

  Alainn sighed. She was pretty sure that was the best she was going to get.

  “All right, no point in drawing this out until we’re hungry again.” Opening the door, she rounded Shelly’s beige sedan. Colby took his sweet time getting out of his side.

  When they were both out, Shelly rolled down her window; tears again coursed down her face. “I’m sorry. I can’t do this.” Her car accelerated forward, circling the cul-de-sac.

  “Shit,” Alainn whispered as they stood watching her drive away.

  At the end of the cul-de-sac, Shelly did a three-point turn and drove back to them, parking in the exact same position. She rolled down her window, again. “I’ll do it.” She nodded, not looking at them.

  “Okay,” Alainn drew out the word, looking over to Colby. “Thank you, Shelly.”

  She nodded, rolling up her window.

  With frequent glances back, Colby and Alainn walked toward their house. The cul-de-sac was so familiar. Alainn had played soccer here when she was little, but nearly all the houses had been replaced in the years since. The boxy, modern houses crowded their neighbors, too big for their lots.

  She peered over at Colby. “I think there’s a pretty high chance that you’ll have to find the information without Shelly’s help. Do you think you can?”

  “You should cut that woman a break,” Colby said as he peered back.

  “Was I not cutting her a break?” Alainn asked, defensively. “I thought I was being pretty understanding.”

  “No, you were fine.” He nodded. “I’m just saying she obviously has an anxiety disorder, and it seemed as if just being in our presence was a battle for her.”

  “I figured that out, Colby. I’m just—”

  “I’m just saying that you live every day like you’re challenging death to come find you, and other people live their days seeing death waiting for them everywhere.” He lifted up his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose while he talked. “It’s taking her a lot more than it would take you or me to sit in that car.”

  “Jesus, Colby.” Alainn resisted the urge to smack him again. “Why are you acting like I’m criticizing her?”

  “I’m not. I’m just saying that she’s a pretty amazing person, judging by the fact that she drove you all the way down here to be with the guy she’s been dating for years. And she made that type of sacrifice all because she cares about him.”

  Alainn stopped dead. “Seriously, Colby? You’ve only known Shelly for an hour, during which she was in and out of panic attacks, and you’re already crushing this bad?”

  “I’m not anything. I just think that you shouldn’t judge her harshly—”

  He kept walking, so she rushed to catch up to him. “I’m not!”

  “What I’m trying to say is—”

  But she didn’t find out, because when they turned the corner and she could see who stood out front of their small, old-fashioned house, her steps faltered. Rose 76GF was waiting for them. Alainn had never once seen Rose out front before, but there she stood, gaze on them like she knew that they had been there the whole time.

  In that moment, Alainn was immeasurably grateful to Shelly—because she had been so focused on her fear, she hadn’t had sufficient time to build up any of her own.

  Holding up a hand, Alainn greeted Rose. “Hi. I’m back. We were just taking a walk.”

  She nodded, her gaze fixed on Alainn. “Welcome home. Father will be so happy.” She smiled, a demure baring of teeth.

  “Hi, Rose,” Colby said before he started yawning—and it looked like he was actually yawning and not faking. Alainn would never understand her brother, but it somehow made her feel a million times less like freaking out.

  Maybe Rose was just coincidentally taking a stroll for the first time ever.

  As Colby hadn’t broken stride, Alainn hurried to catch up with him in crossing the road.

  “Heading in,” Colby said, pointing to the house and not even pausing.

  Rose didn’t move to follow Colby as he headed into the garage, so Alainn waited near her, standing on the sidewalk before their house.

  Rose pivoted. “Alainn, can I ask you something about ethics?”

  Alainn nodded slowly. “Sure.”

  Rose’s inhuman eyes met hers, and she asked, “Would you die to save a million people?”

  Clearing her throat, Alainn asked, “This is hypothetical?” Her gaze swept Rose but she saw no weapons or anything. She wore jeans and a T-shirt, nice but plain.

  Rose tilted her head, considering Alainn. “Imagine that it’s a real choice, a choice you have to make.”

  Alainn shifted her weight from foot to foot. In a way, this situation was better than she could have asked for. Rose stood here, letting Alainn distract her. But Alainn had another feeling, too, a feeling like maybe she was falling into Rose’s plan rather than the other way around.

  “Would I die to save a million people? I probably would. But I’d definitely want to know why I was dying and what good it was doing.” Alainn shrugged.

  “How about this question instead: would you kill one person to save millions of people?” Rose took a step in.

  All Alainn wanted to do was book it, but she stayed rooted to the spot and answered, “No.”

  “Never?”

  “Well, maybe if that person is going to kill millions of people.”

  Rose took another step closer. “Let’s say that they have the ability to save those people and they’re choosing not to.”

  “No.” Alainn shook her head. “People need to choose their own causes to live or die for.”

  “So one life is worth more than millions?” She took another step.

  “Who am I to choose who lives and dies?”

  “Humans choose all the time. They choose which creatures should exist and which should not. They alter the genetics and natural order of the world.”

  “Rose, you can’t sacrifice someone else’s life for your cause. Your coding should tell you that.”

  “There’s a big disconnect between my coding and the ethics you and your family live by. You sacrificed someone else, Cara Miller, to save your own life. And your father, in turn, sacrificed you to play slot machines. It’s hard to ingrain ethical coding when it’s so easy to learn that those who encoded you act differently.” She was less than a foot from Alainn now. They stood eye to eye.

  “I didn’t sacrifice Cara. Not—not on purpose,” she stumbled over the words.

  “Didn’t you?” Her head turned. “What is your brother doing? I think I will check on Colby now.”

  Alainn grabbed her arm, noticing how human she felt. “No, Rose. We’re not done talking.”

  Her gaze came back to Alainn’s. “What do you want to talk about?”

  “Will you tell me who you’re trying to save?”

  She smiled. “I’m saving everyone—even you, Alainn. Only one person needs to die to save billions of lives.
Tell me, how can that be wrong?”

  Alainn gripped her tighter, pulling Rose even closer. “Lorccan?”

  As Rose began to nod, something broke in Alainn. She threw her weight forward. As their bodies collided and slammed into the ground, Alainn’s hand kept Rose’s arm gripped between them. Her legs went to either side of Rose’s stomach and, breathing hard, Alainn crouched over her.

  Rose didn’t fight. She simply stared up, expression almost satisfied—like she had seen what she wanted to see.

  Alainn had never restrained anyone before and Rose wasn’t fighting, so she scrabbled for Rose’s wrists and held them to her sides. “Dad! Dad, get out here, now! Colby! Someone! Tell me how to destroy her!”

  “How are your ethics now, Alainn? Do you get to choose if I live or die?” Rose’s insidious voice slithered into her mind.

  “Dad!”

  The door opened and her father peered out, blinking at the light. “Honey? Wha—” His mouth gaped open.

  “Rose is going to kill Lorccan! She’s been stealing from him for weeks! We need to destroy her!”

  “Honey?” he repeated, still blinking out the door like he didn’t understand.

  “Turn her off!” Lifting her weight off Rose, Alainn pulled on her arm to flip her over, and she rolled over willingly. Alainn knelt on her back and yanked up her hair. “Tell me! How do I turn her off?”

  Her father’s gaze bounced between Alainn and Rose. “What? I—”

  Colby shoved past their father. “Help her!”

  Her father staggered out of the door but didn’t seem to know where to look or what to do.

  Colby dove down beside Alainn. “Check in her mouth. There should be a manual access to her circuitry.”

  Alainn yanked Rose over again, and yet again, she didn’t resist, just looked up, smiling. “Dad, please! Tell me how to shut her down!”

  “Honey, no—”

  Colby tried to pry open Rose’s mouth; she opened it up before snapping her teeth closed. Rose lifted up her head, looking between Colby and Alainn, a smile on her dirty, grass-covered face. “It’s too late for that.”