“Why are we going there?” she whispers.
“You’ll see,” is all I say.
When Geoff pulls up to the ornate structure of a hotel that takes up an entire city block, I step out of the vehicle and ask Sienna to remain where she is.
“I’ll be right back,” I reassure her.
A portly man holds open the glass door to the building, and I stride over to the polished wood of the check-in counter. A smartly dressed female with a headset gives me a smile.
“Can I help you?”
“I’d like to book a room—the nicest one you have—for a few nights.”
“Name, please?” She looks down at her computer, her fingers clicking against the keys.
“Zane Ryder.” As soon as I say my name, not surprisingly, she looks back up.
“Mr. Ryder, I’m sorry—I, uh, didn’t recognize you.” She gives me an apologetic smile.
My name carries a weight with it that I’ll probably never get used to. People may not know my face, because Harlow kept me sheltered for so long, but they definitely know my name. I sometimes wish I could go somewhere where no one has ever heard of me or the name Ryder. But that’s a lot to ask in a place like Pacifica.
I return her smile. “There’s no need to apologize.”
She glances back at her screen. “Well, let me just get a room pulled up for you.”
After a few moments, she hands me the key cards. When she asks if I need help with my bags, I graciously decline.
I can feel her eyes on my back as I leave the way I came and climb back into my waiting vehicle. Geoff tilts his head in my direction, waiting for instructions.
“Take us away from the city, toward Heathrow,” I tell him.
Geoff nods, pulling away from the curb and into the flow of traffic.
“Zane, where are we going?” Sienna asks, her eyes wide.
Gripping her hand in mine, I say, “I’ll explain everything once we get there.”
Satisfied for now with my answer, she settles back against her seat.
“Do you ever get used to it?” she asks suddenly.
“To what?”
“To having people wait on you. People opening your car doors and bringing your dinner.” She makes a face. “I don’t think I’d like it very much.”
I chuckle at her honesty. “I don’t think about it actually. It’s the way things have always been. Since I don’t know any different, I have nothing to compare it to.” I shrug. “But I don’t mind.”
“I can’t begin to imagine what your life has been like,” she mutters, her eyes trained out the window and the skyscrapers passing by.
I want to tell her that my life was boring and routine before I met her. That I didn’t realize how much I was missing. But instead, all I say is, “Nor I yours.”
She gives me a small smile before turning back to the window.
The scenery quickly changes from magnificent skyscrapers to neglected buildings. Lights flicker outside one particularly rundown structure that advertises Booze and Babes, but because the letter B is out in Booze, it reads: ooze and Babes. Disgusted, I turn away, especially because the parking lot is full.
When it doesn’t appear that our surroundings could possibly get any worse, I see what I’m looking for. A seedy motel that looks like it belongs in a horror flick. The sign barely hanging on out front indicates that it’s the Restful 8 Motel.
“Geoff, pull in here, please,” I instruct, ignoring the surprised look he gives me.
“Are you sure about this, Mr. Ryder?” he questions, his eyes flicking up and down the darkened street.
Sienna is doing her own survey of the surroundings. By the look on her face, I can tell she’s not pleased.
“What are you doing, Zane?” she hisses.
I pat her knee reassuringly. “You can drop us off at the office, Geoff,” I say. Once the car has stopped and the door lifts open, I slide out, waiting for Sienna to exit also.
Her eyes are fearful as she looks around, but she gingerly steps from the car. As Geoff gets out to retrieve our bags from the trunk, I stop him. “I’ll take it from here. Thank you.”
Sienna tries to grab her own bag, but I shoulder both of them.
“Do you need anything else, Mr. Ryder?” Goeff asks, his hands folded in front of him.
“No, Geoff. I’ll call when I require your services again.” I nod politely in his direction and lead Sienna to the door of the motel’s reception area.
A stout man with a protruding belly and squashed nose, probably from one too many beer brawls, is manning the front desk. When he sees us, he scoffs. “You lost?”
“No, sir. We’re looking for a motel for a few nights. Do you have any rooms available?”
The stunned man stares at us, his eyes swinging back and forth from me to Sienna and then back to me. “Look, buddy, I don’t want no trouble. I try to earn an honest living—if you’re shacking up with this girl and your wife finds out, I don’t wanna be the one responsible—”
My teeth grind against each other. I take a deep breath before I speak. “I would actually like two rooms.”
As soon as I say this, Sienna slips her arm through mine and tugs on it, forcing me down until my ear is level with her mouth. “I don’t want to be alone. Can we get one room?”
My stomach tightens. “Of course.” Straightening up, I say to the guy, “We’d like one room for a few nights. Do you have any available?”
The man grumbles under his breath. “I suppose. But if your wife shows up, you’ll pay for the damages? Right?”
I give him a tight smile. “That shouldn’t be a problem since I’m not married.”
The sigh the man heaves is enough to rattle the papers on the reception desk. “Well, why didn’t ya say so? Coulda saved me a lotta heartache, ya know?”
After he asks my name and I give him a fake one, the man hands me a brass key.
“What’s this?” I ask.
“The key to your room. Duh.” The man shakes his head, coming around the side of the counter. “Room sixteen is outside and down on the left. We used to have a comscreen in there, but it was stolen.” He winks at me. “You might enjoy Booze and Babes down the road instead. It’s half-price Tuesday.”
The dirty look Sienna gives the man does not go unnoticed by me. “Um, thanks… for the information.”
Sienna follows me outside and hurries to keep pace with my long strides. “What are we doing here, Zane? This is crazy!”
“No one will ever think to look for us here. You’ll be safe.” The numbers to room sixteen are hanging so that the six looks like it toppled over. “Here we are,” I say, inserting the key into the ancient lock. “I didn’t know they made keys like this anymore.”
“They probably don’t,” Sienna mutters. “I have a feeling this place was around during the Dark Ages.”
The smell when we enter the room is overpowering. It’s a mixture of stale air, old cigarette smoke, mildew, and sweaty feet.
Gagging, Sienna runs from the room, gulping huge breaths of outside air. I gingerly cross the room, looking for a good place to set our bags. The carpet is filthy and stained, and I try not to picture what might have made those stains. I finally decide to place our bags on the sagging wooden dresser. It might be the only thing it’s good for.
When Sienna enters the room, with her nose plugged, her eyes immediately go to the double bed in the middle of the small room.
“Oh,” she says, her hand dropping to her side.
“It’s okay,” I say. “I’ll sleep on the floor.” I cringe even as I say it.
She glances down at the disgusting floor and scoffs at the idea. “Of course not. You may contract a disease if you do.”
“Then I’ll sleep on the couch.” I point to the dilapidated couch in the corner with the equally sad coffee table in front. I think only half my body would fit, but I’m not about to mention that.
“Don’t be silly,” she says. “You can’t fit on that thing.”
/>
Chuckling, I make my way to the bathroom to check it out. “Okay, then. We’ll place pillows between us.”
Moldy upright shower, cracked pedestal sink, and one stained toilet—looks to be about what I expected.
Sienna gives me a teasing grin. “What are you worried about, Zane? That I may attack you in your sleep?”
I decide to ignore her comment. It would be wrong for me to encourage her when I know how she feels about Trey—if only she could remember.
As Sienna searches through her bag for something, I sink down on the edge of the bed. Now that Sienna is safe, I can focus on the next important thing—figuring out what they did to her in the AIG to alter her memories.
I watch as Sienna digs through her bag before triumphantly pulling out her toothbrush, the back of her hair still damp from the rain. “When we first walked into the room, I may have vomited in my mouth a little. Thought I’d—” She stops. “What?”
As I’m staring at the back of her head, I suddenly have a thought. It’s so obvious that I’m almost shocked I hadn’t thought of it before.
Standing, I walk over to her. “I think I figured it out,” I say. “May I?”
Before she can respond, I sweep the hair away from the base of her neck and peer at the spot where her hairline ends.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m looking for—there!” I see it now. A tiny incision. Barely visible unless you’re looking for it. “Just what I thought.” I turn her around to face me.
“What is it?”
My fingers work their way under her hair and press lightly on the base of her skull.
“Ow,” she says. “What did you do?”
“You have a tiny incision back here. And I think I know what it’s from.”
“Care to share?”
“I’d rather show you.” I send Geoff a message, asking him to pick us up in a few minutes.
Sienna gives me a questioning look, but she heads to the bathroom to brush her teeth. I wait impatiently by the door, nervously tapping my fingers on the door handle. I hope I’m right. I really do.
As soon as she exits the bathroom, I pull open the door and motion for her to follow me outside.
“Where are we going?” she asks.
“The Match 360 Headquarters.”
“Why?”
I make sure the door is locked behind us. “Because I think I figured out how your memories were altered and what we can do to get them back.”
19
SIENNA
The Match 360 Headquarters is an all-glass high-rise that looks like someone came through with a giant hand and twisted the structure, kind of like an oversized DNA helix. It’s a unique building, with grass and trees growing out of various levels.
Zane has yet to tell me why we’re here, but no matter; I’m just grateful to be away from that seedy motel room and its pungent smell of grossness.
Even in Rubex, Zane has a driver he uses, and as we exit the black vehicle, we thank Geoff, the portly gentleman who resembles a penguin in his chauffeur attire. Of course, I don’t tell him that.
Zane nods to the guards at the front of the building, who hurry to open the doors for him.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Ryder. We weren’t expecting you,” one guard fumbles.
“It’s okay, Solan,” Zane says smoothly. “It was a last-minute visit.”
Once we cross the threshold, I can’t stop myself from looking up, into an endless expanse that keeps climbing until it reaches the very top of the twenty-story building, all the way to the glass roof and the blue sky beyond. On either side of this open expanse are floors upon floors of balconies.
Zane hardly even notices.
“Should I let your brother know you are here?” the guard named Solan asks.
“That won’t be necessary,” Zane says. “I just need to get something from my father’s office, and then we’ll be on our way.”
Solan nods and takes a step back. “If you need anything while you’re here, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
Zane thanks him before taking my elbow and leading me to a set of elevators. The doors are made completely of frosted glass, with the Match 360 symbol etched onto it, so it’s easy to see the elevator coming and going. When it arrives, we take it to the twentieth floor, watching as the reception area drops below us.
Mr. Ryder’s office is heavily protected with fingerprint-activation technology and retina scans, but Zane punches in a bunch of numbers and bypasses it all. He gives me a wry smile. “Perks of being the director’s son.”
“And the future owner of the company,” I remind him.
He looks away. “Um, yeah, that too.” I can sense hesitancy in his voice, but I’m not sure why it’s there. He should be proud that he will someday inherit the company from his father.
The door opens with a click, and after fumbling around for a moment, Zane finds the switch. The room is immediately bathed in light. The walls are white, the floors are white, even the office furniture is white. Mr. Ryder’s sleek white desk appears to be suspended in mid-air, but upon closer inspection, I realize it’s hanging from the ceiling by invisible wires. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows is a balcony with a small lap pool. The turquoise water shimmers in the sunlight.
As I look around the office, Zane goes right to a cabinet on the far wall and pulls open a drawer, then another one, and then another. “I could have sworn he kept it here,” he mutters when the last drawer yields nothing.
“What are you looking for? I can help,” I offer.
“It’s a handheld x-ray device.” He uses his hands to indicate how big it will be.
My mind spins. Why would he need a handheld x-ray device? Unless…
“You think they put something inside me?” I ask, my fingertips reaching for the back of my head, grazing the spot Zane pressed on earlier. I can feel the puckered skin there, and I can’t believe I didn’t notice it before.
Zane stops his search long enough to look up. “Yes, I do.”
“You mean a tracker? You think they put a tracker in my head?” My throat closes at the thought.
“I’m not sure.” Zane gives me an encouraging smile. “Let’s find the x-ray device, and then we can figure everything out.”
I nod and start my search with Mr. Ryder’s desk, the movement making the desk swing a little on the cables. The end drawer is stuck so I give it a tug. The drawer comes tumbling out, its contents falling onto the ground with a clatter. A pen, a notepad, a keycard, as well as other items.
“Crap,” I mutter, bending down to gather everything back into the drawer. But when I pick up the drawer and try to wedge it back into place, it won’t go. Placing the drawer back on the ground, I peer into the empty space where the drawer should be.
Bingo. I see the problem. Something’s sticking out in the back. A piece of paper, maybe?
I feel along the backside of the desk with my hands, trying to extract whatever it is, but I can’t get a good grip. Then, something pops out of place, one of the slats. At first, I’m scared I just broke Mr. Ryder’s desk, but as I’m feeling around, I realize it isn’t a piece of paper at all, but something else.
I grab the item in my fist and slowly pull it out. It’s a protective sleeve with several computer chips inside. My first thought is that it must have fallen through a crack and slipped behind the drawer. But then I think of breaking into the Match 360 Legas facility with the hidden safe behind the painting of a Trojan horse. There’s only one reason why this sleeve of computer chips would be behind the drawer.
They were hidden.
Which means they contain something that Mr. Ryder doesn’t want anyone to know about.
“Um, Zane,” I say, rising slowly to my feet. “You might want to see this.”
He abandons his search on the other side of the room and walks over. “What is it?”
I hold up the protective sleeve. “I found it behind one of the desk drawers.”
Zane takes the sleeve
and studies it. He dumps the chips into his hand. Tipping his head back, he holds one of them up to the light. “What the hell?” he mutters.
“What is it?”
“These come from the lab. They’re the same kind we use for our DNA coding. See?” He points to the tiny symbol on the backside of the chip—an infinity sign made with side-lying triangles. The symbol for Match 360.
Zane takes a seat at the desk and inserts the chip in the backside of the computer. A screen pops up, denying access. “It’s password encrypted,” he says under his breath.
“Here, I can help with that.” I dial Chaz on my Lynk, and his grinning face pops up on the screen.
“Sienna! How’s the Capital? Does Trey remember you yet?”
My eyes narrow. How does Chaz know Trey? They must have met? I shake my head, frustrated I can’t remember anything that concerns Trey. “Um, no. There’s been a slight change in plans.”
“Change? What kind of change?” Chaz’s eyebrows pull together in confusion.
“Look, I’ll explain later.” I tilt the Lynk so Chaz can see Zane too. “I’m with Zane in his dad’s office, and we found something we need your help with.” I hold up a couple of the computer chips. “We want to know what’s on these.”
Chaz stares at Zane for a moment. “I can totally see the resemblance,” he says suddenly.
“Resemblance?” Zane repeats, glancing at me.
“You and Trey. You’re brothers, right?” Chaz grins. “Sienna told me.”
I did? Don’t remember that either.
“You’re the first person to say we look alike.” Zane clears his throat. “About Trey and me, I mean.”
“It’s the cheekbones and the jaw,” Chaz says.
“Can we get on with this?” I say impatiently.
Zane’s eyes widen as he turns to look at me.
“What?” I say, defensiveness prickling through.
“For a moment there, you sounded like…” He pauses. “Well, like yourself.”
I open my mouth to retort that I have no idea what he’s talking about when Chaz says, “Just upload them on your Lynk and send me the files. They shouldn’t be too hard to crack.”
Forgotten Page 11