Chapter Twenty-Eight
Oliver
I awaken with a pounding headache and dry mouth. My vision blurs, and I struggle to make sense of where I am, but one thing is for certain, I’m not at Sloane’s.
“So the little bitch is awake.” Robbie’s voice emanates from the shadows.
And then it all comes rushing back.
Robbie’s texts, Sloane’s house—the sex—and the storm. The darkness and Robbie’s hand, and the knife and—
“Let me go,” I bite.
“See, if you’d have just listened to me…” Robbie nips. “You wouldn’t even be in this damn position right now, baby.”
“No.” I shake my head. “You are insane.”
Robbie laughs maniacally. Like a damn villain from a movie.
“Oh, Oliver, sweetheart, you are just figuring that out? Shit, I thought you were smarter than that. Maybe all that dick is rotting your fucking brain.”
“Let… me go!” I yell.
“See, if you just followed the plan, I would have got everything I needed from you and no one would have gotten hurt. But you had to go and get your fucking briefs in a twist and forget who you belong to.”
“What are you going to do?” I wriggle in my ropes, trying desperately to untie them. It’s no use, though, I can’t bend my fingers that way. “Kill me?”
Robbie rolls his eyes. “That’s up to Daddy Sloane.” He laughs. “But I wouldn’t get your hopes up. He’s a selfish prick. He’s not going to sacrifice his precious Veil for you.” He scoffs.
Panic laces through me, and Robbie smiles, the sight unsettling like a clown in a haunted house.
Headlights shine through the windows, and my heart stops.
“Ah.. there he is. Just on time. Gotta hand it to him, man’s punctual as shit. Predictable, too.”
“Sloane!” I scream. “Jabberwocky!” I scream at the top of my lungs.
Robbie smacks me hard in the jaw.
“Oliver, if you keep this up, I’m going to have to gag you, and I know how you hate that.”
A shiver runs through me as I pout, anger fueling me. I try my hardest to shift my weight, to break free but it is no use. The footsteps sound, and I scream again, and then they get louder.
“Fuck’s sakes, Oliver,” Robbie hisses and then I feel the harsh, rough fabric as he wraps it around my mouth, forcing it in my mouth and I try to wriggle free.
“I told you to be quiet. I don’t know when you got so fucking defiant.”
And then I see him. Sloane emerges from the shadows.
“Long time no see, Flynn,” Robbie says, his voice sing-song like a deranged psychopath.
I thought I knew him. But I didn’t. I didn’t know him at all…
“Master Computer Program.” Sloane’s smooth voice warms the air. “I think you have something that belongs to me.”
Robbie laughs, pulling out his knife from behind his back. I watch as he toys with the blade, his grin wide.
“Perhaps we can make a trade. I believe you have something that belongs to me.”
“Veil doesn’t belong to you,” Sloane says. “It never did. And neither does Oliver.”
Sloane’s voice drops to that dark, commanding tone I know so well. I watch the shift in his eyes and it’s like he’s someone else. Someone I know, but… don’t.
“Oh, but he does.” Robbie cocks his head to the side, his dark hair blowing in the breeze. “You see, Oliver and I have been together for eight months, isn’t that right, baby?”
Tears fill my eyes.
Sloane looks at me. “You’re lying.”
Robbie laughs. “Mmm, I wish. But, no. Alas, I can not tell a lie. Not like you.”
“Oliver, blink once if he’s lying, twice if he’s telling the truth.”
Tears spill down my cheeks, over the gag in my mouth.
“You see… Oliver here was the perfect glitch,” Robbie says proudly. “So pliable, so obedient.” He sighs. “A perfect program.”
Sloane circles us, his hands behind his back. His gaze dips to me for a flash, then looks away.
“And he was so good at his job…” Robbie huffs. “He even made you think he loved you.” Robbie laughs. My sobs echo in the air as my heart breaks. I try to wriggle free, try to scream, but I can’t.
“So, no… he’s not yours. Never was.”
“I don’t care,” Sloane says. “He’s a User, MCP. And I fight for the Users. You know that more than anyone.”
Robbie jumps towards Sloane, and it’s a flash of a moment. Sloane braces for the hit, and I use all my power to shift my entire body and chair into Robbie, knocking him and myself over.
“Fucking hell, Oliver, would you chill out!” Robbie screams.
It’s enough of a distraction that Sloane can grab him. They fight as Sloane hollers out in that commanding voice.
“End of line!”
Robbie screams as he stabs him in the side, and I scream through my gag.
“I will not surrender to a glitch!” Robbie yells and then I hear the shot of a gun and the lights go out.
“Give me the Veil!” Robbie cries, but I can’t see them. All I can do is listen to the gunshots, the breaths, the screams. “Give me my company and you can have the little whore!”
Sloane’s breath is labored as sirens blare in the distance.
“I told you to come alone!” Robbie hisses, and I hear the sound of metal crashing, and Sloane roars in retaliation.
“You do not command me!” Sloane says, his voice heavy and full of rage. “I will never submit to you!”
The lights flicker back on, and I watch as Sloane brings his gun to Robbie’s chin. The world stops, moving slow like the Matrix.
“You are done, MCP,” he hisses. “You will submit to me.”
Robbie presses his chin into the barrel.
“Go ahead, Flynn. Do it. I’ve got the place rigged with cameras. If you want to lose your precious Veil, shoot me. You’ll never see Oliver again because you’ll be behind fucking bars where you belong.”
“You think I won’t?” Sloane says, his voice cold. “You think I won’t put this bullet through your fucking brain right now? I’m going to give you two choices Robert,” he seethes.
“Let Oliver go, and I will let you live.”
“Mmm… not very appealing. What’s behind door two, Mr. Pierce?” Robbie touts.
“Defy my order, and I will pull this fucking trigger. Choice is yours.”
Robbie grins and then spits in his face just as the police push forth, brandishing their weapons and tackling Robbie. I watch as five men jump him, hold him down, and cuff him. He spews venom and obscenities, screaming about the Veil and the source code and that he won’t be derezzed.
Sloane drops to the floor by me and rights my chair, tears still streaming down my face.
“Shhh… you’re okay…” he says, pulling me into his arms. I bury my face in his chest and cry as he unties my gag. Chicora’s voice echoes.
“Oliver! My sweet boy! Oh my God, Oliver, are you alright?” I can’t speak as someone cuts my ropes. I wrap my arms around Sloane as tightly as I can, hoping it’s not a dream. My fingers dig into his side, hitting something warm and sticky and then I pull away, my hand shaking as I see the blood.
“Shit, sweetheart, you’re bleeding…” Chicora says.
Sloane twists his lips as he wipes his side.
“He stabbed me," he says apathetically.
“Who?” Chichora bites as she pulls me up from the chair into her large arms against her bosom like a mother hen. I hug her, sucking up the comfort. My body shakes, and I feel like I could pass out.
The police force Robbie out in cuffs, and I look up to see his face, that once attractive grin and dark gaze now full of things that I recognize for what they are.
Insanity.
I walk up to him and Sloane and Chicora call out to me, the police telling me to stay back.
“Miss me already, baby?” Robbie purrs. “I knew you’d be back.”
“Go to fucking hell, Robbie.”
Robbie’s eyes widen as he sneers and growls at me. “Just you wait, Oliver, he’ll fuck you over too. And when he does, don’t come crying to me, baby. Because I’m fucking done.”
I give him my back and head straight for Sloane and Chicora as the police move him out and Sloane wraps his arms around me tightly, kissing my head, my hair.
“I’m so sorry, Oliver,” he whispers. “I should have known. I should have been more vigilant, I—”
I grab him and pull his mouth to mine, effectively shutting him up. Tears stream down my face and I sink my fingernails into his neck.
Chicora clears her throat, and I remember we’re not alone.
Shit.
She gives me a knowing look, and Sloane clears his throat.
“Make up later, boys. Right now you both need some medical attention.”
Sloane laughs. Really laughs, and then I do, too.
Chicora huffs out a deep laugh of her own as she guides us out of the building and into the ambulance.
“So, that hard drive—you wiped it, right?” Sloane asks her as I lean on him. He holds his hand over his side, over his bleeding wound.
“Yes, I wiped it, but how the hell is he going to—”
“He’s not. Not anymore. But just in case… call it a contingency plan,” he says, clearing his throat. Sloane carefully grabs my sore wrist, his thumb pressing the button on the side of my watch.
“Activate Ghost Veil Phantom Protocol," he says smoothly, and my watch lights up like a damn light cycle straight out of Tron, and whirs like a clock.
“Ghost Veil Phantom Protocol initiating. Operative drives initiating for cloud transfer to Glitch Phantom Protocol in ten seconds.”
“Did you back up your entire life’s work on Oliver’s fucking watch?” Chicora asks, dumbfounded.
I watch Sloane’s sly grin.
“What? Like it’s that much of a stretch?” he says. “I built the Veil with my bare hands and my brains.” He looks at me with a softness that shouldn’t exist on his bruised, cut face.
“You think they’ll let us use this as evidence for a testimonial?” he asks, giving me a smirk. Tears flood my eyes again, and I nod.
“Fucking hope so.”
Chicora chuckles as we approach the ambulance.
“Alright, which one of you is first?” she asks.
Sloane pushes me towards the paramedic.
“No, you got stabbed. You’re bleeding, you—”
“Oliver…” His voice returns, firm and stern.
“I am not going first!” I say petulantly.
Sloane lets out a heavy breath. “You know the chicken nuggets are still up in the air.” He raises an eyebrow. “And the Pop-Tarts.”
“You are not threatening me with Pop-Tarts.”
Sloane shrugs. “You can either obey me or defy me.”
I cross my arms.
“The choice is yours.”
I roll my eyes as another paramedic walks by, and I call out for her. She jogs over to us.
“Do you need help?” she asks. I glare at Sloane.
“No, I’m fine, but my boyfriend got stabbed and he’s being a fucking asshole, so can you please make sure you go extra hard-on the antiseptic?”
Sloane gasps as Chicora laughs.
“Come on, hero,” the EMT says, guiding him away from me.
“You will be reprimanded for this!” Sloane yells, over his shoulder.
“That’s an extra suit!”
The other paramedic sits me down and starts to take my pulse. Chicora grins.
“Boyfriend, huh?”
I look up at her, my cheeks heating.
“Um, I hope that’s not breaking like… company policy.”
Chicora shakes her head.
“I don’t know…” She shrugs. “Sloane changes policy all the time," she says with a wink. “Guess this means you’re sticking around for a while?”
I nod. “Yes, Ma’am.”
She grins, and I hear Sloane yell something and she rolls her eyes.
“Alright, I’m going to check on his majesty, but I’ll be back, okay?”
I nod in response, watching as she walks away. I close my eyes for a moment and let out a deep breath, knowing the worst is over.
And the best is yet to come.