by JA Huss
I want to believe him. Typically, when Thomas Brooks says something is fact, I take him at his word. He’s super fucking smart. Not like me and my genius imagination for inventing things that got me this massive ToyBox office. Or like Lincoln, who really isn’t human anymore, if he ever was in the first place. But smart in another way. Smart in a street way. The kind of way that makes people trust in him. Take his word as truth. Go along with all his decisions and let him take the lead on things.
But he doesn’t know what I know about what’s happening to my body. He doesn’t know about the light and heat inside me. About how all it wants is to escape and how it compels me to cut myself every night.
And yeah, my symptoms sound a little bit like Lincoln. We definitely have something in common. I think that jellyfish stuff is responsible for the light and the heat. But what if Thomas is right? What if that lariat thing Molly was using as a weapon that night we took down Blue Corp was laced with something that altered me at the DNA level?
The cutting is wrong somehow. I know Lincoln well. He’s trusted me with most of his secrets, if not all of them, since we were kids. And I know for a fact he never cut himself to ease the pain.
So maybe this is just my psyche’s way of controlling things. Maybe I need those vents in my hands like Lincoln has had forever? And once I get them, it will all make sense.
But maybe this is something new. This cutting bullshit. Maybe that lariat sent something into my body that makes me want to self-destruct?
Maybe I’m my own worst enemy?
And just maybe… what’s happening to me was done on purpose?
I could be the reason we fail.
I get a sick feeling in my stomach, but the phone buzzes on my desk and my assistant’s voice comes through the intercom. “Mr. Reider?” she says.
“Yes?” I answer.
“The company engineers want to know how you’d like to partition our power from the backup generators. They say we have enough fuel for a few days, but not much more than that.”
“Shit.” I look out the window and wonder who’s fucking with the city. My city. Who is fucking with my city.
A feeling of possessiveness courses through my body.
“Mr. Reider?” she asks. “What should I tell them?”
“Tell them… tell them I’ll be right down.”
“Yes, sir.”
I walk over to the window and place my hands against the cool glass. “Don’t worry,” I whisper to the city. “I’ll figure it out and take care of it. They won’t hold you hostage for long.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE - LULU
ToyBox Inc is only about ten miles north of the Cathedral City Penitentiary, and even though it’s not quite lunchtime when Randy and I finish up with DickCage (I can’t help but run the two words together after a whole morning listening to him bitch and moan about Chief O’Neil’s demands) he’s so eager for me to get closer to Case and figure out how Lincoln Wade is involved in all this crap happening to the city right now, he’s dropping me off.
Yes. My boss is dropping me off at the office of the man I fucked outside the main cathedral last night, with strict instructions not to come back to work until I can add one more piece to the puzzle. At which time, he will probably fire me, per our plan. So I was basically ordered to get myself fired today.
I have been sorta daydreaming about how this lunch date will go down for hours.
When a guy invites you to lunch at his office that’s the same thing as a nooner, right?
I’m pretty sure guys think like that.
Pretty sure.
“OK,” Randy says, squeezing my shoulder like I need moral support. “You know what to do, right? Just go in there, flirt with him a little, get him talking about the old days and shit. And maybe,” Randy says, holding his thumb and forefinger about half an inch apart, “maybe you can add in a little more than just flirting. Just a little,” he says, making his point with his gesture.
I sigh, say nothing, and then grab my purse and get out of the car, slamming the door behind me.
The window rolls down and Randy yells, “Just a little.”
But I don’t turn around. I just walk up the long river-stone walkway that leads to the unusual cube-shaped buildings situated on the side of the mountain, and when I get to the doors I stop and stare at myself in the reflective silver-tinted glass of the doors as they open automatically.
Inside the place is darker than I imagined it would be, since the whole complex seems to be made of glass, and there is no one in the huge two-story lobby.
No one. Not even a receptionist.
“Hello?” I ask the emptiness.
“Hello,” a man’s voice says behind me, making me start and whirl.
“Um,” I say, eyeing the hologram, then waving my hand through it. “Hello? Are you real?”
“Miss Lightly, I presume. You’re Miss Lightly?” the image says.
“Yeeesss,” I say, unsure what to think of this… light show. It’s flickering erratically, which makes me look up to the beams of light that stream down from so many tiny projectors built into the ceiling. “I’m here to see Mr. Reider,” I say, my voice louder, so it echoes through the empty room.
“You don’t need to shout, Miss Lightly. I can hear just fine. Mr. Reider is still busy dealing with other matters at the moment, but I was told to escort you upstairs to his office where you can wait and help yourself to refreshments.”
“You were?” I ask, utterly bewildered. I knew Case made toys—hence the name of his company. Mostly video game systems. But I had no idea he was into… whatever this thing is. It makes me think of his friend, Lincoln Wade, for some reason. He’s the computer guy, right?
“I’m Steve,” the apparition says. “The ToyBox butler.” He holds his hand out to me in greeting.
I look at it dubiously.
“Go ahead,” he says, smiling. “Shake it. Take me for a spin.”
I giggle a little and then shrug. I shake his hand and experience a weird sensation of warmth as the light making up his fingers wraps around mine. He flickers at the same time. His whole—body, I guess—glows a warm yellow-orange color. Like he’s…happy.
“That wasn’t too hard, was it?”
“What are you?” I ask. “A computer?”
“I have an artificial intelligence chip inside my main component, but I am also programmed to respond to visual, auditory and emotional cues as well.”
“Huh,” I mumble. “Weird.”
“Yes,” he says brightly. “Most do find me slightly disconcerting at first. But I assure you, everyone ends up liking me. I’m an invaluable addition to the labor force here at ToyBox. Mr. Reider wouldn’t trust me to greet you if he didn’t agree with my self-assessment.”
“OK,” I say, shrugging. “Lead the way, Mr. Steve.”
He waves a transparent hand in the direction of a bank of elevators and I start walking. He walks next to me, stride for stride, and his shoes even make a soft tapping sound on the black polished floors.
The elevator doors start opening before we even get there and then Steve disappears and reappears inside the elevator.
“That was a cool trick,” I say, joining him inside.
“I’m not seamless,” he says, frowning. “I can only appear where there are sensors.” He points to the ceiling of the tall elevator.
“Gotcha,” I say.
There are no buttons on the inside of the elevator, but nonetheless, the doors close and we start ascending.
“What’s Case working on?” I ask, just trying to fill the awkward silence.
“Apparently,” Steve says, “the city is having a crisis right now. He’s trying to figure out what’s happening. We sent all the other employees home. Which pleases me, since I was the one ordered to greet you.”
“Yeah,” I say, remembering all the shit that’s happening outside. “How do you guys have power?”
“Backup generators,” he says as the elevator comes to a stop. “
And I sure do hope he figures out how to fix the city. Because if not”—he drags a finger across his throat—“it’s the ax for me, right?” He smiles, like this is a joke. But just as abruptly, he frowns. “I have complete faith in him.” He waves me forward and as soon as I take a step, he’s flickering to life in front of me again.
Not seamless.
I’m having a conversation with a computer and a few beams of light. It makes me shudder.
“Right through here,” Steve says, pointing to a pair of double doors and a large office with a view of the entire city beyond. We walk in together and I can’t help it, I go all the way over to the windows and look around.
“Wow,” I say. “This is quite nice.”
“Yes,” Steve says. “Watch this.” He produces a snapping sound with his flickering fingers and little red dots with small labels attached to them appear on the glass in front of me. I back away, startled, but then catch my breath and take a step forward, curious as to what I’m looking at.
“Anything you want to know about the city can be found by touching the glass. It will even talk to you. Like an interactive history lesson. Go ahead, give it a try.”
I look around, then choose an area in the distance and press my finger to the glass. There’s an electric shock and when I pull my finger back, there’s a small speck of blood on the glass. When I reach up to touch it, it… disappears. Like it was drawn into the glass somehow.
“The hell?” I ask, confused.
“Sorry about that,” Steve says, tone still jovial. “Must’ve been a power surge when we turned on the generators and caused a buildup of static.”
“But…” I stammer, searching for the right words. “Where did my blood just go? It’s like… it got sucked inside the glass.”
“Oh, it won’t damage the machine. See those tiny lines?”
I squint my eyes to the thin wires embedded into the glass in a mesh pattern.
“That’s the computer. I’m sure that tiny speck of blood was just absorbed into the plate and didn’t bother it at all.”
“Sure,” I say, annoyed.
“Go, on. Give it another try. It’s fun, you’ll see.”
I give Steve the stink-eye.
“I promise,” he says. “One more tap. Anywhere you want.”
I look more carefully at the city this time, wondering which part of it to choose. I finally decide on a tiny area, near the entrance to the Merchant District.
The window bleeps to life with quick red flashes, and then calms down and begins to speak.
“Cathedral Seven was built by the corrupt Head Merchant, Theodore Sayer, after the Second War. It was believed to be a place of worship, although which God or demon he was praying to is still up for debate. Shortly after the cathedral was finished someone had the good sense to blow it up and Head Merchant Sayer was arrested six months later for tax evasion, drug running, and ordering the deaths of four people in Wolf Valley. He spent the rest of his life in prison and was killed by fellow inmates less than three months after sentencing. The cathedral was never rebuilt and now stands in ruin to remind the people of the Merchant District that the city delivers its own justice.”
The computer voice ends and I just stand there blinking for a moment before a laugh bursts out. “What kind of history lesson is that?”
“Not the kind you find in classrooms, Miss Lightly.”
“Obviously.”
“Can you find a way to amuse yourself with the interactive city and the refreshments? Or should I stay and keep you company? I don’t think Mr. Reider will be long.”
I turn away from the creepy map and find the refreshments he’s referring to on a low table in front of a slate-gray leather couch. “I’ll make do,” I say, wandering over to a spread of fruit, wine, and cheese.
“Very good,” Steve says, but he’s only a voice now. The flickering light body has disappeared. “If you need anything, just call for me.”
I remove my coat, drape it over a chair, drop my purse next to it, and take a seat on the couch to wait in silence for a few moments, straining to hear something. Anything. It’s so very, very quiet here. Not the corporate office I was expecting.
Once I’m convinced that the weird hologram butler isn’t watching me, I lean forward and pick up the wine.
“I hope you like the vintage,” Case says, walking into the office and pulling the huge double doors closed behind him.
Yes, I’m quite sure he has nooners here with women. It’s the perfect set-up. Then I look up at the little black boxes in the ceiling that project Steve and wonder if they’re cameras as well.
Maybe he’s kinky and likes to make sex tapes?
“Lulu?” Case says, dragging my attention back to him.
“Sorry,” I say, blushing. “Your… butler?”
“Yeah.” Case laughs. “He’s something, right?”
“Is he… real?” I ask, still trying to adjust to the newness of all this.
“If by real,” Case says, taking the wine from my hand and producing a corkscrew, “you mean intelligent? Well, sorta. He has about a quarter of the intelligence that Sheila has, but he’s still pretty useful.” Case pulls the cork out of the bottle and starts pouring wine into our glasses.
“Sheila?” I ask, totally off my game.
“Oh.” Case laughs. “My friend Lincoln programs them, you know? And I mass-produce the hardware.” He points to the ceiling where I was just looking. “So he’s got Sheila and I have Steve. But Sheila is… incredible. Nothing like Steve. Steve is just a hollow version. An automaton, if you will.”
Lincoln Wade. Snap out of it, Lulu. That’s the whole reason you’re here.
Well, not the whole reason.
“Lincoln Wade,” I say, like I’m trying out the name after not hearing it for a long time. “You guys were friends back when I knew you. I remember that.” I accept the glass that Case offers me and take a sip of wine to give him a moment to respond.
“Yeah, Linc and I go way back. Almost brothers, really. When we came back from… well, you know,” he says, not filling in the missing words, “he lived with me and my folks since his parents were dead.”
“Yeah.” I sigh, leaning back into the couch cushions. “You’ve lived quite a life. I’d forgotten all that about you while I was gone.”
“But not me, right?” Case winks. “You couldn’t possibly have forgotten me. Not after that incredible night we had at the ball.”
I blush. Furiously. He took my virginity that night. I practically forced him to do it.
“I’ve thought about you a lot, Lulu.” He takes a seat next to me. Kinda close, so our legs are touching.
I don’t want to look at him. I have no idea what to say. We fucked again last night. I haven’t seen him in over seven years and the first time we bump into each other, I let him have sex with me. Outside. Again.
Jesus.
“Are you OK?” Case asks, staring at me with a concerned look.
“Yeah, fine,” I say, clearing my throat. “It’s just been a very weird day. And I have to tell you, it’s only getting weirder.”
“Because of me?” Case asks. He takes a sip of his wine and waits.
“A little bit of it is you, yeah. This lunch invitation. Plus, the fact that Cathedral City is in crisis down there.” I wave a hand at the window. Which reminds me. “And you have a very strange sense of humor.”
He laughs. “How so?”
“That talking glass. Steve told me to press my finger on it to make it tell me facts about the city and what it said was… just…” I shake my head. “Weird.”
“Well, it’s a little joke between me and my friends. It’s not the version we’re gonna sell the schools and city.” He walks over to his desk and picks up what appears to be a little tray made of glass. It’s a tablet, I realize when he touches the glass and it flickers to life. With handles on each side, so you can hold it and not touch the glass surface. “This is one of the products I’m working on. Just a prototy
pe so far.” One fingertip taps the surface and it comes to life, playing music that might appeal to a small child. “Let’s play the ABC’s,” the tablet says.
“An educational toy,” Case says. “I call this product a SpyGlass and the computer that runs it, a special combination of silicon and oxygen, is called SmartGlass. Every school in Cathedral City will have one soon.”
Well, I feel a little silly for being creeped out about the one on the window.
“But I mean, come on, Lulu,” Case continues the other part of our conversation. “This city is filled with filth and corruption. Why not just be honest about it?”
“I guess.”
“You guess? You’re an assistant DA, Lulu. You should know better than anyone how bad it’s gotten.”
“I do know,” I say. “That’s why I’m here.”
He cocks his head at me in confusion. “You’re here… for me. I thought.”
“I am,” I say. And I don’t know why I feel so compelled to tell him the truth, but I think it’s because I know deep down, he’s not involved in any of that shit happening outside.
But then Randy’s voice is in my head. Lincoln Wade, Lulu. We’re after Lincoln Wade.
Whom I do not know at all. Not one bit. I don’t even remember meeting him casually back when Case and I were going to all those ball rehearsals.
“I am here for you. I have thought about you a lot, Case. And I’d be lying if I said you weren’t on my mind when I decided to take this job. You were.”
“Well, I think we’re getting off on the right foot, Miss Lightly. But I have to confess, I had an ulterior motive for asking you here today.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. You see, I know someone in the CCPD. Molly Masters?” he says. “Ever heard of her? She’s a detective.”
“Kind of,” I lie. I have most certainly heard far more about her than I should’ve over the last few days. “Her name at least. What about her?”
“I think your colleagues in the DA’s office are trying to set her up.”