Paroxysm Effect
Page 22
“Showing you the paper probably jogged your memory.” Gemi froze; her heart beat in her throat. “The paper!” She jumped from the bed despite his attempts to stop her and crossed to the bathroom in two bounds. Her clothes were there where she had left them, but the pocket was empty, the paper gone.
Gemi fell against the wall as a wave of nausea hit her.
“What’s wrong?” Jaxton asked standing in the doorway.
“She must have found the paper. Doctor Dagmar must know by now. Shit!”
“Know what?”
“Know that I know.”
“My head hurts.” Jaxton said as he pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyes.
“Look, they tried to erase our memories because we found out they were secretly upping the chip levels and hiding it. We were going to blow the whistle, so they threw us in their twisted mental torture house as a guise of a testing. They hopped that our brains would be so overwhelmed that either we would die or never be able to sort out real life from fake. Them knowing I have that paper is going to let them know I haven’t trusted them since I woke up. Which means they will know that I remember things, things they don’t want me to and it puts all of us in danger.”
“Why not just kill us?”
“Because offing four people on the division including the head of outside research and the head of programming would look a little odd.”
“What now?”
“What time is it?”
“A little after seven.” He glanced at a watch around his wrist and back to her, his eyes showing fear and confusion. It was an odd feeling to be the only one who knew what was going on and who they were. Even odder to be the stronger of the two.
“Let me see your watch.”
He took it off without hesitating and handed it to her.
“Ok, everyone should be finishing dinner and heading to bed. If what I remember is correct, Doctor Dagmar and Jade will go to their respective offices to finish nightly paperwork. They won’t come for me until they are sure that everyone is asleep, it would rouse too much suspicion. I’ll just move up the timeline a few hours is all.”
“What timeline?”
“If I asked you to do something would you do it, no questions?” Gemi asked ignoring his question.
“No,” he said flatly.
“My life kind of depends on you saying yes here.”
“Only if you tell me what the hell is going on.”
“I’m going to turn off all the chips with a bug I put into the system.”
“Have you lost your damn mind?” He staggered back a few paces into the hospital room, his hands raised like she had some contagious disease.
“It was the plan the night they took us. They would have long shredded the paper evidence we had, but I had it stored on an encrypted file on the server. It will parse it out to all news and government agencies, but only if the chip levels rise above seventy-five and shut off. It was a failsafe.”
“You saw what happened when the chips were off.”
“No, we saw what they wanted us to see with the chips off. It was a scare tactic.”
“Then explain what happened to Adaline?”
Gemi froze.
“Yes, it was one of the first dreams I had. I knew that one was real because she looked so damn much like you it hurt.”
“We have to do it,” Gemi bit her lip hard. She was seconds away from giving in.
“I can’t be a part of this.”
Jaxton moved to sit back on the bed. His shoulders hunched forward, he looked broken, his whole image of her split into two very different pieces.
“It’s the only way…”
“You’re willing to risk lives for this?”
“Their lives are already fucked. They are a few percentages away from being lobotomized, drooling sheep. What’s to stop the corrupt few from doing whatever they want once no one has the will to fight back? Look, I can try to put a measure in there that will switch them back on after the information goes out, but I won't have much time.”
Jaxton sat on the bed wordlessly, everything he had to say already said. Gemi was running out of time, she had to be on the move soon if she had any chance of pulling this off.
“They’re going to kill me,” she whispered. He brought his gorgeous pained eyes to meet hers. “They will,” she said again.
“I can’t… I’m so sorry, but I can’t go through what we just did all over again. Please stay here. Please don’t do this. We can leave, run. I don’t think I can handle loosing you again.” He got up and moved to the door, hovering in the doorway with his back to her for a few beats before exiting and shutting the door behind him.
He didn’t believe her now, maybe one day when he remembered he would thank her. That was if she lived through the night. At eight she would make her move, she just hoped it was enough time.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
At eight on the dot Gemi moved from the room into the hallway. The doors were once again closed tightly, either the occupants had moved to the sleeping quarters or they were preparing for bed.
Gemi crept down the hall trying her best not to make any noise, but every footstep seemed to echo off the walls making her cringe.
Jade’s door was shut a faint light cascading out from the crack. Gemi stepped to the door and placed an ear on it. Inside she could hear the faint movement of papers and the soft clicking on the keyboard. Satisfied she pushed away and walked to the elevator.
The tenth floor where the main computer was housed was deserted. Miraculously Gemi remembered exactly where it was. She pulled up and chair and was surprised at how her fingers and mind remembered exactly what to do.
There on the mainframe she located her Trojan, nested within the main loop. The first packet was the lie, what they wanted the public to know. The next was the truth that had gotten them to this point. Lastly were records and statistics that helped provide the cover for her virus. They hadn’t found it. Hadn’t thought to look there.
“Step away from the computer!” a voice boomed behind her. She didn’t need to turn around to know it was Doctor Dagmar.
“A little late to the party eh?”
“I said step away now!” The hammer clicking back on a gun bounced off the walls.
Gemi pushed away from the computer and put her hands in the air. Slowly she turned around to face him.
“Not a tranq gun this time I see.”
“I should’ve done this the first time.” He waved the gun at her motioning to step farther away from the computer.
“You can’t blow my brains out all over this room. It would be a little dramatic and point a few guilty fingers at you.”
“Would it? Seems to me that a very depressed girl can’t decipher the difference between the real world and a fake one. You have been acting weird all week, seizures, braking into people’s offices, fights with comrades. Who’s to say you didn’t just gave up and decided to end it all where it began? I mean anyone can attest to your obsession with the chip project after your sister’s tragic death.”
“You’re going to get caught.”
“Everyone will find out, blah blah. I feel like we have had this conversation already, and you saw how that ended.”
“It’s not too late to change this.”
Doctor Dagmar laughed a loud roaring laugh. “Are you kidding? Do you know how much they pay me? A little tweak to the numbers here and there and a few indecencies in our department are forgiven. You would have to be out of your mind to give up that power. Our last programmer was more than willing to play along. That’s all you had to do and we wouldn’t be in this position.”
“If things went south do you really believe that anyone but you would take the blame? I mean honestly you’re just the scapegoat.”
“Shut up! I’m sick of your shit. Let’s just get this over with.”
The clicking of another gun made both of them freeze. Gemi breathed a sigh of relief when Jaxton stepped out of the shadows and placed
the barrel of the gun to Doctor Dagmar’s head.
“Drop the gun,” Jaxton said. “We both know that I would kill you before you had the chance to even pull the trigger.”
Doctor Dagmar did as he said.
“Now kick it towards Gemi.”
Once again he obliged.
“You’re insane if you think you will get away with this. Jade will be here any minute. Two doctors against two deranged military workers, who is the world going to believe?”
“Oh Jade is quite indisposed at the moment. That needle that was meant for me ended up in her neck and well, she will be out for a bit.”
“Will she be ok?” Gemi asked her gun now pointed at the doctor as well.
“A little headache probably, who knows I’m not a doctor.” He grabbed Dagmar by the back of the neck and forced him into a chair. He produced a pair of ropes from a side bag she hadn’t seen him wearing at first and secured him tightly.
“I thought you didn’t…” Gemi started to say.
“I didn’t, but then I remembered something and it changed everything.” Jaxton turned his attention back to the secured Doctor “Why don’t you tell Gemi about the strike you put out on my families’ town that took the lives of my parents and all of my siblings. Or better yet why don’t you explain what happened to the baby Gemi was carrying?”
“What?” Gemi took a staggering step back, her hand falling to her stomach.
“There are rules here!” Dagmar spit at him. “I let you get away with that whole marriage stunt because I needed her manning the computer, but there was no way in hell I was going to let a little brat run around here.”
“What did you do?” Gemi swung the gun hard at his face, pistol-whipping him with all the strength she had.
He turned back to her laughing, blood trailing out of his nose and the split in his lip. He spit blood at her and smiled, his teeth shining red in the light.
“I took care of it.” He sneered at her.
Gemi forced the barrel of the gun inside is mouth and leaned close to his face. “You’re not really in the position to be acting so smug.” She pulled the hammer back and placed her finger on the trigger. “You made us pawns in your sick little game. You tried to make me weak, make me forget the ones I loved. Was it fun? Did you enjoy watching me die over and over at the hands of people who were the only family I had left? I bet you didn’t realize how resilient the human brain could be, that it’s not that easy to make memories disappear. That despite everything we will remember. I took a few things away from it all though. I learned to kill in lots of very colorful ways. Should I demonstrate that for you now?” She shoved the barrel of the gun deeper into his mouth making him gag.
“Gemi stop.” Jaxton’s hand was on her shoulder pulling her gently away.
Doctor Dagmar rolled his head from side to side stretching out the muscles in his neck, never taking his eyes off of her.
Gemi placed the gun down next to her on the desk and leaned back, her arms crossed over her chest.
“You couldn’t possibly have thought that you could make us forget each other,” Jaxton said, his gun pointed again at Dagmar.
“Tell me that after you remember the many times you killed each other in cold blood.”
“You forced those thoughts on us.”
“Did I?” Doctor Dagmar raised an eyebrow at Jaxton whose face darkened in response.
“Well as fun as this is, I’m still waiting on what this big master plan is.” Dagmar said, still wearing the same shit-eating he had since he entered the room.
“Oh, well the plan is already I motion, I am just killing time now.”
The smile faded from Dagmar’s face. “What are you talking about?”
“Well I am thinking right about now that every news outlet will be getting a file that contains not only all the research I did, but also is tied to the real data you had hidden.”
“What?” Dagmar jumped in his seat lifting the chair off the ground in bursts.
“And the chips?” Jaxton asked.
“All shut off.”
“Have you lost your damn mind?” Dagmar asked still thrashing in his chair. “Do you have any idea what you have done? You lived through a hundred lives of madness and you thought it was a good idea to shoot for one o’ one?”
Gemi smiled down at him, “I guess we will see what happens. Maybe you can be part of the research team this time.”
EPILOGUE
Breaking news
“The DBMA Chips are back up and running now after what is being called a momentary glitch in the system. Contradicting reports are coming in stating otherwise…”
“Arrests have been made in the tampering with the DBMA mainframe…”
“Doctors Malic Dagmar and Jade Hailstrom have been detained after incriminating evidence surfaced indicating them at the center of …”
“A surge of anti-chipping activity has been noted in towns after the wake of the incarceration of Doctor Dagmar and his accomplice Doctor Hailstrom…”
“Former military worker and head of the DBMA Chip Maintenance and Programming Division Gemini Granger has stepped up to fulfill the vacancy left behind from Doctor Dagmar’s absence…”
“A large crowd of anti-chippers have taken to the streets leaving destruction in their wake…”
“… city overrun… to stay inside… headed to local military division…”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ashleigh Reynolds was born and raised in Northern California where she was surrounded by fantasy novels, horror films, and role playing games. Since then she has moved multiple times and currently lives in Seattle Washington with her husband Mark and their dog Willard. Paroxysm Effect is Ashleigh's first published novel.
Table of Contents
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
EPILOGUE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Table of Contents
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
EPILOGUE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR