Chapter 45
Electra
“Let go of my hair!” she screams, lashing out, trying to get her nails on any exposed piece of flesh. She makes contact with the man’s neck and digs her claws in. The man grunts, yanking her head back, and she cries out.
He drags her into a room and shoves her against a wall so hard the air whooshes out of her. She clutches her stomach, bending over as tears prick in her eyes.
“Stand up straight,” he commands.
A woman wearing an unnecessary full-face respirator enters.
Through the glass, she can make out her light brown skin and vibrant yellow eyes, which in her time would make her easy to identify, but now are a fairly common feature.
Her matching yellow hair is tied back with a black and white checked bandana.
She comes to stand next to the man. Her white lab coat and the medical scanner she holds remind her of Lextr. Is she a scientist too?
The man who brought her in rubs at the angry red scratch marks on his neck. “What makes you think he’ll give up his company’s information in exchange for this little hellcat?”
The woman’s eyes flash with irritation. “I told you we’ve been watching them. Hold her still while I run the scan.”
The man’s right, isn’t he? Res6 said he’s in love with her, but he won’t give up CHOICElover for her .
. . will he? She can’t think like that. Even if he comes for her, she needs to fight for herself.
Her gaze darts around the room trying to find anything she can use as a weapon.
There’s no way she can take on both of them, but every female character she’s ever written found a way to fight back. She has to do the same.
The room is mostly empty other than a small metal cabinet holding a handful of medical-looking containers and a set of packaged tools like at the dentist. The rounded toes of a black pair of shoes peek out from between the wall and the cabinet—just below a face staring straight at her.
The man’s distinctive orange afro is instantly recognizable. “Lextr?”
Shit. She’s distracted. The big man moves so fast, grabbing one hand and then the other, lifting them over her head, and pressing them into the wall. “Hurry up,” he grumbles.
The scientist lifts the scanner, and the blue line of light makes several passes over her body. He watches the screen for a moment before a light turns green. “Got it. Now we just need to get the tissue samples.”
Her stomach turns to lead. They are not getting tissue samples. She knees the man in the groin. Except her knee doesn’t land in his groin. It hits the meaty flesh of his thigh.
He grunts in mild irritation. “I’m going to need some help.”
“Get off me!” she screams, flailing. “Lextr, do something!”
“Lextr, come help me hold this wild animal down so we can get a sample.”
The scientist hisses as she kicks out and catches her in the shin. “Lextr, do as he says or I’ll recycle you,” she barks.
“Help!” She thrashes and wails, refusing to make it easy for them, but the big man spins her quickly, pressing her face first into the wall. Her cheek smashes into the cold surface and a shooting pain radiates over her face. She should have screamed before. She shouldn’t have let him take her.
“Wouldn’t it be easier if you drugged her?” Lextr offers. His clammy hands wrap around her wrists and press them into the small of her back.
“We wanted her awake for the ransom photo. Plus, too much of that drug in her system can contaminate the sample. If someone hadn’t compromised the blood sample they got, we might not need to do this.
But since we’ve got her for the ransom, we might as well take full tissue samples so you can use them to verify the CHOICElover data and complete our little project,” the woman explains.
Blood sample? The cut from Saturday Sirens suddenly pops into her head. Was it not an accident like she thought? Electra whimpers as the big man moves the hair off her neck. Cool air hits her skin, and she feels a sharp pinch. The area goes numb. There’s pressure, then tugging.
Oh God. They’ve cut out a piece of her, and all she can do is stand there and let it happen. Her chest convulses as a sob racks through her. Each breath is getting harder. She’s becoming lightheaded. Do not pass out. You can’t pass out.
The big man presses her head harder into the wall. Tears run down her cheeks and onto the smooth concrete her face is pressed against. “Please stop,” she begs.
“If we killed her, we could get a brain sample,” the big man suggests.
Her heart seizes. Res6 told her the sample that brought her back was from her brain. Lextr would know that too. She reaches to the edge of her vision, hoping her pleading looks are enough to keep him quiet.
The woman sighs. “He won’t want her back if she’s dead. We’re counting on that because we need his data. These samples will have to do.”
“You’re overestimating her value to him. You should just collect the samples and let her go,” Lextr suggests.
Momentary relief floods through her. At least until another needle pierces her skin.
Lextr continues, “I would make a better hostage, considering my knowledge—”
“Quiet,” the scientist barks. “We need you to interpret the data.”
Lextr doesn’t say another word. At least he tried, even though she’s pretty sure he hates her very existence.
The scientist repeats the procedure at several other points on her body.
By the time they’re finished, there are half a dozen precise cuts all over her.
Her clothes are streaked with blood, and she’s exhausted.
When they release her, she slumps onto the floor.
The stitches on her wrist are haphazard.
Didn’t Res6 say they had the technology to fix such minor cuts?
They probably didn’t want to waste energy on a hostage.
She glances up to see a device pointed at her. If Res6 is going to see this image for a ransom request, she wants to make sure he knows that she still has fight left in her. She glares at her captors.
The big man looks over the scientist’s shoulder at the screen. “What about the blood?”
“The AI will edit it out.” The scientist packages up the dirty tools. “Come. Time to make our next move.”
Before the door closes behind them, the big man turns, looking directly at her. “You better hope that man cares more about you than about his company.” His grin sends a chill down her spine. “Otherwise you’re dead.”
“He’ll never give up the proprietary company information they’re asking for. We’re screwed!” Lextr moans from his huddle on the opposite side of the room.
“He will,” she repeats. They’ve been going over this since the abductors left them alone for the first time.
“I’ve known the man for fifty years. He single-mindedly cares about CHOICElover.” He hesitates. “And his secret Jerme experiment.”
“And me,” she adds. “I know about that, by the way.”
He rolls his eyes. “You’re being optimistic. Things aren’t how they were during your time. People don’t form the type of attachments you’re envisioning anymore.”
She just shakes her head. I refuse to think that way!
Her voice is singsong in her mind. He loves me.
He’ll choose me. Tears well in her eyes for an entirely different reason.
She knows it’s true because she’s worth choosing.
She belongs here in this world with him and all the happy things that go along with that.
It’s too bad it took so much heartache and turmoil for her to realize that.
“Just think of the implications, Electra. If these men get caught with all CHOICElover’s experimental data, they’ll shut CHOICElover down. Then he won’t be able to resurrect his brother. You aren’t worth it to him.”
Her hands reflexively ball into fists as she absorbs his cutting words. Calmly, she places them in her lap, taking a deep breath.
He’s my twin—someone who feels like a missing half of my brain.
But I’ve discovered that she’s the other half of my heart.
Those are the words from his letter. She believes him, which means she can’t give up hope.
She turns to study Lextr. He’s sneering at her as if he resents her. “What’s your problem with me?”
He shrugs.
“Fine. I guess it will remain a mystery.”
Silence passes between them for a while when he finally speaks. “You’re my greatest achievement.”
Her head snaps up. “Huh?”
“I don’t believe GROW ever meant to resurrect people.
It was an accident. But what I did—Res6 gave me a challenge: prove CHOICElover could never make the same mistake GROW did.
He, as always, had an ulterior motive—to keep an edge on the competition.
All the companies are hunting for the next wave of LifeLike advancements.
Though maybe he was thinking about his brother the whole time.
We’ll never know. To me, the why wasn’t important.
The science fascinated me, so I threw everything I had at the problem.
I figured if I knew how to do it, I’d know how to prevent it from happening. Any advancement would be a bonus.
“I brought you back to life. It’s unprecedented.
Probably one of the biggest scientific breakthroughs the world has ever seen, and I can’t tell anyone about it.
Your existence is illegal. You should belong to me.
Instead, he kept you for himself. Then, to add to the insult, he barely acknowledged what I did.
” Lextr glances away. His jaw flexes as his stare bores a hole into the wall.
An annoying pang of empathy hits her in the chest. It sucks because everything he’s saying makes perfect sense. She can completely see Res6 overlooking the praise and approval that this man so clearly craves. “I didn’t know that. I’m sorry.”
On the other hand, he just confessed he thinks she should belong to him, which is insane.
“I even tried to help him bring back his brother. That’s why I felt justified in taking the specimens for my side project.
When he was parading around town with a reincarnate, who cared that I was renting manupartners out for events to make a little extra money?
It felt good to be the one getting attention for a fun new business for once—even if it was only through back channels.
I felt he owed me that. I didn’t think he would fire me. ”
“I think he fired you because you threw his brother in his face and called him a hypocrite,” she points out.
“We worked together for fifty years. He threw it away after I confronted him with a truth he didn’t want to hear. If that doesn’t give you a clue about his character, I don’t know what will.”
They both look away, letting silence fill the space between them.
Lextr’s words play on repeat in her mind.
Is there a chance she’s mistaken? That one small thing can go wrong, and he’ll just throw it all away.
She’s a dangerous variable in his world.
CHOICElover must be very attractive to him by comparison, considering he can control it.
But he’s changed. Or he is changing. He’s not the same man he was when she woke up in this world, or even when he fired Lextr.
She’s already making an impact, and it started with just one person.
The man she loves. The man she loves who doesn’t know it because she got so caught up in the moment, she missed saying it.
God, why did she do that? What if she doesn’t survive this, and she never told him how she feels?
After everything he said, after his bravery—the risk he took offering his heart to her—and she might die without ever letting him know that he’s on the right track. That he’s worthy of love too. She knows it’s true to the depths of her being because she loves him.
She’s processed so many emotions since she received his letter less than twenty-four hours ago, not to mention the trauma. Maybe she’ll just take a nap, and when she wakes up, he’ll be here to rescue her.
The tile is cool against her bruised cheek, offering momentary relief before the ache sets in.
He’s going to save her. He’s going to give them the information, and they’re going to release her.
Right as her vision is about to blur, she notices a long, taxicab-yellow hair right in front of her nose.
She picks it up, bringing it to eye level for inspection. She grins.
“He’s different now, Lextr. He’s going to save me.” Lextr glances up, and their eyes meet. He shakes his head, but she continues. “That’s what heroes do.”