Chapter Fifteen
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Olline had to go back to her office the next day. If she didn’t, the chances that Karter would think something suspicious was going on would go up exponentially. Casimir hadn’t liked it, but there was no help for it. At least it gave them the excuse to exchange wrist communicator information without it being awkward—or it didn’t feel as awkward to Olline. Casimir merely seemed amused by her stammering shyness.
The man had to know the effect he had on people. He had to. So why did it amuse him when she floundered around him, her blushes uncontrollable when he flirted with her? Though she suspected that was the way he showed his version of friendliness. Through flirting. She didn’t mind if that was the case. No matter how many times he called her darling, or his precious little caster. It didn’t mean anything, or shouldn’t.
“Ollie” was what tripped her up.
There was something about “Ollie” that felt different. It made her stomach tighten in a way the other names didn’t, and she couldn’t put her finger on why . It was merely another puzzle piece Olline was going to ignore.
Olline was still thinking about it when she entered the Police and Securities Department. She was early—she was a morning person and refused to be apologetic about it anymore—and Brayden was behind the desk like always.
He looked up at her with bleary eyes and she flashed her badge at him like always. His expression was blank, simply going through the motions, until his mind seemed to catch up with what, and who, he was seeing. His gaze narrowed, his puffy cheeks pulling down in a frown, and Olline had to swallow the dryness building in her throat. Her hands were clammy, even as she sent her ethereal fingers to coil around the piercings in her ears and brow, just in case.
Olline had never altered how she greeted Brayden, and she knew if she started now, it would most likely set off some alarm in his head. She wasn’t that forgettable. With a wiggle of her fingers in a wave, Olline strode down the hall, her heart hammering the entire way.
Once she got to room two-hundred and twenty-three with no issue, she sent a quick message to Casimir:
I’ll sneak out to you. Security guard is still weird.
The door to her office was still open, she had forgotten to close it in her haste to get in and message Casimir. Before she remembered, Briallea Jensen walked in. She was in a tailored purple jumpsuit so dark it looked nearly black. Her hands were in her pockets, her lips tilted in a friendly smile that made her diamond dimple piercings twinkle. “Hey, Olline,” she said, her voice light.
Olline jumped in surprise and Briallea swayed back, her warm brown eyes widening. “Oh, shit, sorry. Did I say that wrong? It is Olline, right?” Her smooth, black cheeks darkened with a blush of embarrassment.
Taking a deep breath, Olline shook her head. “No. I mean, sorry. Yes, that’s right. You just spooked me, that’s all.” Olline took a deep breath and hoped her smile wasn’t quivering. “Do you have another early meeting? Or are you a morning person too, Briallea?”
She winked and readjusted her obsidian septum ring. “Guilty. Say,” she said, leaning closer, “since we’re going to be neighbors for a bit, want to grab lunch today or something? There are too few of us breathing people down on this floor. Mostly bots and they’re no fun to talk to. Us organics need to stick together. You down?”
Her spirits lifted, the fear of who she worked for momentarily forgotten. It had been a long time since someone invited her to lunch. Someone who wanted to talk. Someone maybe a little lonely too, if Briallea’s quip about the bots was any indication.
“I’d like that!” Olline answered brightly, before she remembered her message to Casimir. Her shoulders dipped slightly. “Maybe not today, though. Tomorrow?”
Briallea bobbed her head in a nod. “It’s a date,” she said, a kind of relief making her usually bright smile even warmer. She fluffed up her short, tight black curls and looked about ready to say something else when something in the corner of Briallea’s eye caught her attention.
“Creepy fucking Karter,” she growled. Briallea turned her attention back to Olline, while already backing out of her office. “Gotta split. Karter’s coming and his stupid drone gives me the creeps. Later, Olline!”
She frowned, watching the shorter woman leave. With a shrug, she waved her hand, motioning for the door to close, but a drone zoomed in before she could. Karter was back, still as a holo-projection via a drone.
“Olline, good,” he said, though it sounded anything but. Karter seemed flustered, his scared cheeks flushed, even with the soft filter over the projection. “We want to make sure things are moving on schedule, so here.” He glanced away, and then Olline’s wrist-comm buzzed. Before she could ask, Karter explained, “We’ve got a quota system for you to adhere to for number of files moved. Just a way to measure success should they extend your contract.”
The hairs on Olline’s arms rose, staticky suspicion danced over her skin. The way he kept saying “we” and “they” without ever revealing who these people were reignited her paranoia.
“Who—” Olline began, only to be cut off.
“Log the number of files moved whenever you clock in and out. It’ll flag the system should you fall behind on the quota.” Karter barely paused for breath and when he did, his drone was already maneuvering out of the door. “Understood? Excellent. If you need help, ask Camirin. I’ve got another matter to attend to.”
Olline glanced at the quota, and her stomach fell. It was an absurd number of files and raw data to transfer, even if she wasn’t worried about a corrupt politician using chips to enslave people. Which gave her the sneaking suspicion that this mysterious “they”—though it was most likely someone in Etzel’s entourage—wanted to keep tabs on her. They wanted her where they could easily find her.
Her flight response had sweat collecting behind her knees. But she couldn’t run. If she did, and it tipped off Etzel, what would happen to Casimir? What would become of everyone else he enslaved?
So, Olline did the only thing she could: she got to work.
As she transferred data, she also put out digital feelers, looking for strange documents or hidden folders within the server that could be the “contingency plans” Casimir mentioned. He hadn’t said exactly what those plans were, so she didn’t know what to look for, but she hoped it would stand out in some capacity, like the folder containing the chip information had.
Three hours later, while hunched over a holo-tablet, her wrist-comm buzzed and startled Olline, nearly causing her to topple out of the chair she had been perched on. She glanced down and grinned, a flush warming her cheeks.
Sorry, dear. Had to make the rounds to avoid Straub getting suspicious and sending anyone looking for me. I’ll send you the location of a place to meet. I’ll bring coffee to apologize for my late reply. Lots of coffee.
Olline could practically hear Casimir’s slow, deep, sensual voice even through a holo-text. Almost like he had run a feather light finger down her spine. The message had her toes curling in her boots and her nipples hardening as if his breath brushed against the sensitive skin.
What was happening to her? She hadn’t even been this giggly around Achan when things had been, well, not great, but at least decent. Before things went to shit.
The buzz of her wrist-comm with the location notification brought her back to her senses. She had a few more search queries to run, and needed to finish moving over one more program, and then she was free to duck out for a bit. Hopefully, the security guard took breaks occasionally. That way she wouldn’t have to see him as she slunk past.
Olline wasn’t that fortunate.
There was, at least, a crowd heading out for lunch at the same time that she could hide in. Spotting Briallea, Olline nearly ran to catch up with her. The shorter woman grinned, but she narrowed her eyes. “I thought you couldn’t do lunch today?”
Olline angled her body to avoid Brayden seeing her face. She hated using Briallea as a cover, but desperate times and all that. She didn’t need the man tattling to anyone that she hadn’t clocked out when she left. “I can’t. Well, I mean, I am. But I’d already made plans. That’s why the raincheck.” Her voice was a shrill whisper as they walked past the desk, and Olline prayed Brayden hadn’t been told to explicitly monitor her.
Briallea gave her a funny look and then chuckled. “You’re kind of weird, aren’t you?” Olline didn’t have time to so much as blink before Briallea added, “Me too. I dig it.” She waved in farewell and said, “Enjoy your lunch, Olline.” And just like that, they had made it past security without a single alarm going off.
Stealthy as fuck.
She was proud of herself for only getting turned around twice as she attempted to find the coffee kiosk Casimir had picked. Even so, she was a few minutes later than she said she would be, but she thought that wasn’t too bad.
Olline nearly tripped over her feet when she saw him.
Casimir stood casually leaning against a pillar, holding two of the biggest cups of coffee she had ever seen. He wore a loose-fitting long-sleeved black silk shirt with gold trim, which he tucked into pants that hugged his muscular thighs and calves. His shirt was open to his sternum. The hard curve of his pectorals and smooth skin captured the entirety of Olline’s attention. Walking and breathing at the same time was a skill she suddenly struggled with. His dark holo-visor concealed his piercing gaze, so she had no idea if he saw the effect he had on her.
The man should come with a warning label of some kind. He really was unfairly beautiful. Surprising everyone, but mostly herself, Olline had not tripped over her feet and made it to Casimir without incident. Thank goodness for minor blessings.
She glanced over her casual attire and suddenly felt woefully underdressed as she approached him, reminding herself for the umpteenth time that they were only friends.
Olline gratefully took the coffee Casimir offered, even though it was late afternoon. The fact that he still needed coffee was kind of cute. Until she noticed he seemed to be waiting for her to take a sip first before he would bring the cup to his mouth. She stopped the coffee millimeters from her lips. “What is it now?”
Casimir startled slightly as if he wasn’t aware of his own immobility. “Nothing,” he blurted. “Take a sip. Tell me what you think.”
She scrunched her brow in confusion but did as asked. There was a warm, roasted explosion on her tongue that had her moaning involuntarily. “You found it,” she said, her words so full of bliss she wasn’t even embarrassed by it this time. “ Real coffee!” She wheeled toward the coffee kiosk, ready to ask a million questions about their supply and process, only to have Casimir catch her arm and draw her close.
The jolt that went through her from him simply touching her arm did more to electrify her senses than the coffee did. His feather light touch made her remember how her body reacted to simply reading his holo-message. She had to bite back a gasp as her nipples became painfully sensitive once more.
“Not here, Ollie. I know a place, and I wasn’t going to risk bringing you there if it turned out you actually hated their brew.” His fingers slowly uncurled from her arm, and his chin was tucked against his chest as if he were . . . bashful? No, that couldn’t be right. “You do like it though, don’t you? This is what you meant when you said you like real things, grown by hand?”
She blinked slowly. That—recently—all too familiar fluttery feeling returned to her stomach. “You remembered that?”
It was Casimir’s turn to look at her with confused surprise. “Of course. I remember everything that slips out of those lips of yours.” Her lips parted unconsciously at his words, and his nostrils flared, but he hid his face behind his own coffee cup before she could see whatever it was his expression was doing. “Your verdict?” he pressed.
Olline had almost forgotten what they were talking about when the delectable scent of coffee tickled her nose again. She couldn’t hide her delighted smile, even if she wanted to. “It’s perfect. You didn’t have to go through all this trouble for me, Cas.”
He shifted his weight slightly, before giving himself a little shake and taking a step back, gesturing for them to move away from the kiosk. “How long do you have before they notice you’re gone, Tav?” Casimir whispered in her ear, his breath tickling her earlobe, as he maneuvered them through the milling crowd toward an empty bench.
“I didn’t clock out. I don’t want Karter tracking me.” With a snort, she gave her head a slight shake. “I doubt anyone would even notice if I didn’t come back at all if it weren’t for the new quota system.” She meant the words to be teasing, but it was impossible to bury all the bitter baggage that came with self-depreciation.
Casimir stiffened, and he turned to look at her sharply. “Don’t do that, Olline. Someone would notice.” He lowered his head, his eyes twinkling like rubies over his visor with an honest sincerity as he reached out like he would take her hand before stopping himself. “ I would notice if you disappeared, my precious little caster.” She opened her mouth to remind him about calling her that, when he grinned and held up his hands in a peace offering. “Apologies. But what I said stands.” He moved to the bench, sitting down, and then patted the seat beside him. “How much time do we have, truly?”
She took a sip of the coffee to give herself something to focus on rather than how touched she was by his words or the electricity thrumming in the minuscule space between their thighs. “Let’s say an hour, hour and a half, tops. It’ll let me blend in with the crowd returning. Just to be safe.”
Casimir nodded and, with a last glance around to make sure no one was overly interested in them, rolled his hand in a gesture of ‘let’s get started’. Olline took out the portable drive she had put the next few files they needed the passcodes for on, and offered him the device. That left her free to savor the deep, roasted flavor that only came with hot coffee grown from real beans.
With fresh eyes, it didn’t take Casimir long to figure out the first two of the seven passwords—mercury and argon. Olline was hopeful they could get this batch done during her lunch break so she could sneak back in and keep Karter from flying his drone down to check on her.
“Casimir?”
Olline jerked her head up. “Where have you been hiding?” a gruff voice said a second before a shadow fell over them. Casimir became still as death beside her.
She blinked at the man who loomed above them. Casimir’s face was as smooth and emotionless as ancient stone as he subtly swiped the files off the holo-tablet they were looking at, and tilted his chin up at the newcomer.
“Bode,” he said, his voice far lighter and friendlier than Olline thought possible given how tense and motionless Casimir had gone. “What brings you crawling up from the depths of the city? Finally need a gulp of fresher air?”
“Charming as ever,” Bode said, a forced laugh making his voice grate against her ears.
The man was a humani like her, but that was where the similarities ended. He had so much visible biotech augmentation that most government classification forms would consider him a cyborg. One eye glinted silver as the iris twirled and twisted like the lens of a camera, a metal plate covered half of his bald head, one of his legs was completely robotic, as were his middle two fingers, and that was just the mods Olline could see. Who knew what other hardware and software made up the entirety of this man?
“Come now, Bode,” Casimir drawled. “You know I save my charms for those who’re truly interesting. And you, my friend, are far from worthy of that accolade.” The corners of Casimir’s eyes twitched, and he glanced at her so briefly that she wasn’t sure if he had actually looked at her at all behind his visor.
Bode didn’t miss the movement, however, whatever it truly was. The lens in his biotechnological eye whirled, focusing in on Casimir with such an intensity that Olline was eighty percent sure he had x-ray capabilities.
His real eye—a rich, deep brown a shade darker than his skin—settled on Olline. Bode’s thin lips curved into a mean smile that had her wanting to shrink in on herself. “Is this the one?”
Ice pumped through her veins at his words. Olline didn’t know how it was possible, but Casimir stilled even further. Fear tickled her nerves, and she reflexively reached out around her for the natural materials she could use should her magic require it.
The one? Was Casimir sent to get her? Or was he out on assignment when she disrupted his chip? That would make Bode one of Etzel’s thralls. The implications made her tremble, an action not missed by Bode’s electronic eye.
Casimir scoffed. “Don’t be so dramatic. ‘The one’? You know better than anyone that there is no one for me. That’s not the game, Bode.”
Bode raised a bushy black eyebrow, and his smile turned . . . charming? “Then I suppose you won’t mind me cutting in then, old friend .”
Olline blinked rapidly, certain it was a trick of the light but nope. Bode’s smile was so completely pleasant, it even created a little dimple in his cheek. Olline would have been completely taken with such an attractive grin if she hadn’t seen the vicious sneer.
Casimir shot her a quick glance. The opacity on his visor was clear now, though it didn’t help in her deciphering his look. His throat bobbed, and he grumbled, “Bode, don’t. Not here. She’s not part of that old bet. You know I already have you beat in the charm category. So why not let it go, hmm?”
Bode laughed, taking another step forward playing a game Olline didn’t know the rules to. Casimir leaned back on the bench and put his arm behind Olline’s shoulders. The move could have been friendly, except the tension in his muscles made his arm as hard as granite. “Have it your way,” Casimir said, his tone oddly light once again. “Olline, my dear, this here is Bode Collins. One of my coworkers I’ve told you so much about.”
The emphasis was light and totally unnecessary. Olline may be confused by the dick-measuring contest they seemed to be waging, but she already knew what Bode was. She knew the danger that accompanied his sudden appearance, even if it was coincidental—especially for Casimir.
She tuned out the men’s verbal barbs and let her eyes race over all his mods and what she knew of the control chips in him and Casimir. Which was still very little without access to the schematics. But she knew she had to stop this man from getting close, or closer rather. If Bode hadn’t already alerted Etzel that something was amiss, if he hadn’t actually been sent here to seize Casimir, then Olline had to make sure he didn’t report back to the Under Senator.
Casimir looked like he would happily murder the man. Even if they hadn’t been in a very public thoroughfare, Olline didn’t want blood on her conscience, let alone Casimir’s. But Bode had so much tech on him, and she had brought so little of hers . . .
She couldn’t keep her eyes from widening slightly as an idea struck her.
Thankfully, Bode was squinting at Casimir, as if trying to sus out what was different about him, perhaps wondering why their game wasn’t playing out like normal. She used the momentary distraction to let her fingers slide along her wrist-comm and attach it to the small holo-tablet and drive she had smuggled out of the sub-basement. By memory alone, she pulled up her decryption codes and the killware she was working on to shut the chips down once it was safe. It was nowhere near done; she didn’t even know if it would work—she hadn’t spent as much time on it as she had her cloning software.
Now is as good a time to test it as any.
Bode was swaying back on his heels, frowning at Casimir. Shit, she hadn’t heard a word they said to each other. Had one of them asked her a question? Whoops. At least Casimir would forgive her lapse in focus once she saved him. She kind of liked this white knight stuff. Outside of the ever-present threat of enslavement and death, that was.
Casimir’s muscles went taut as a metal wire pulled too tight, ready to snap. Olline saw the flash of something silver at Casimir’s side, the same glint of silver she remembered seeing when he first found her after work. She knew what that glint meant, even if she didn’t know what it was. Her heart raced as fast as her fingers as she sprinted through the wireless networks in their immediate area, looking for anomalies, made infinitely harder by trying to be both subtle and systematic.
Olline needed more time. There were too many networks! Too many people leeching from network to network, hiding their own activities all piled on top and below each other as Antal stretched down and above them. There were too many to go through, too many to narrow down, to make sure she didn’t waste her one shot.
“Something’s changed with you, Casimir.” Bode scrutinized him more intensely. When, without warning, he gave a sharp inhalation and jerked back. “What’ve you done?” Bode growled, and Casimir leaned slightly forward. Olline saw the flash of silver again as he palmed a blade in preparation.
Holy shit, this was going to end in murder in the middle of the walkway.
She couldn’t even use her magic to stop it without making the scene even worse. People got weird when there was a crime involving a caster. Their fear wasn’t unwarranted, but it was going to make the scene far more memorable than a simple brawl turned murder, as twisted as that was. Olline swallowed, but the distress wasn’t for her safety. It was for what would happen to Casimir if this played out to its inevitable end.
Her wrist-comm pinged.
Bode swung his head toward her, as if he could sense she was bearing down on his internal schematics. Olline wasted no more time and sent a silent prayer that this would work. She pushed her decryption and killware toward Bode.
The man froze, his body going stiff as his electronics and biomagitech cyber devices fizzled. His fingers splayed wide, his jaw clenched as he gritted his teeth, and his mechanical eye rolled uncontrollably in his head. It was painful to watch, and for a heartbeat, Olline thought she had killed him. A moment later, Bode’s body relaxed, his vitals stabilized, and his head lolled to his chest, even as he remained standing.
Casimir moved fast and deathly quiet as he got up and placed Bode on the bench instead. Olline scooted away from the man, her eyes wide as disbelief over what she had done washed over her.
“Explain what you did, Tav. I need to know if Bode sent anything back to Etzel,” Casimir hissed, tilting his head as if he were listening for security bots and drones to descend on them at any second.
Olline shook her head, pushing down her panic to latch on to the facts, the logic of what she had done. “I isolated the signal that connected all his,” she floundered for the correct term, “cyber-enhancements. I told it to go back to factory settings. His memory will be wiped in the process. I hope. Maybe.” She frowned, looking at Bode, who looked like he was sleeping. “I don’t know! I panicked. I may have wiped everything about him with how much hardware and software he was packing, but there definitely weren’t any outgoing messages in his queue when I shut it– him down.” She was hyperventilating, the weight of her potential consequences sitting on her chest and making it hard to get enough oxygen into her lungs. “Oh, fuck! What if I made him a vegetable?”
Casimir knelt in front of her, taking her clammy hands in his own. “You haven’t. Bode has survived worse, Olline, we both have,” he whispered. “I know that from experience.” His thumbs brushed over her knuckles, and instead of the thrill the action would normally give her, all she felt was a dull numbness.
“You did what you had to,” Casimir continued. His words washed over her, but barely reached her. “If he’d figured out what had happened to me, what we were doing, he’d have had no choice but to tell Etzel. Bode wouldn’t have even been thanked for the information. Worse would have been waiting for both of us when we returned.” When she still couldn’t tear her gaze from Bode’s unconscious form, he gave her hands a gentle squeeze, moving his face so it was directly in her line of sight. “You saved me again, Ollie. Thank you. You really are making quite the habit of it, you know. I’m going to have to start repaying the favor.” His voice had a kind of purr to it that finally focused Olline’s gaze, bringing her back to the present.
“In fact, let me start now,” Casimir said, pulling her to her feet. When she didn’t move, Casimir huffed and lifted her arm so he could access her wrist-communicator. “I’ll get Bode help, all right? I’ll use your wrist-comm,” he explained slowly, giving her time to process, “to anonymously summon biomagitech disaster services. They’ll be best equipped to help Bode, and there’ll be no chance for Etzel to trace it back to me if we use your device.” Olline watched him do exactly as he promised, and while the vice in her heart released slightly, she still couldn’t bring herself to move.
“Come, my precious little caster,” Casimir said, giving her a gentle tug that finally propelled her into motion. “We’ve only moments before others catch on to what happened here and realize our dear friend Bode isn’t, in fact, having a midafternoon nap. Let’s make the most of our escape, hmm?”