Chapter 16
Sasha
"We don’t know for sure it was them,” Dr. Cutchin said over the phone line.
“Does it matter? Regardless, if it was them or someone else who fit their description, the room footage shows two people were inside the booth when the laser was activated.” Activated, she wanted to remind her mentor, by their boss, Zack Massey.
When she got access to the footage earlier in the day, she had scanned it all while hoping, for once in her life, her gut was entirely wrong and she was simply being a Nervous Nelly.
It’s not as if the couple had been missing for weeks.
It had only been half a day at the most. People who weren’t prone to being Nervous Nellies, like Dr. Cutchin, reasoned that the vacationers were likely out having fun, taking a trip excursion, or doing an activity such as deep-sea fishing or scuba diving.
And yet, this didn’t make her feel any better.
It also didn’t make her feel good to bribe housekeeping in order to investigate their room.
Sasha didn’t find anything besides a regular hotel room with two beds and their luggage.
Sure, searching a room wasn’t the least bit ethical but when compared to non-consensual shrinkage, it fell pretty far down on the rungs of the ethics ladder.
The exact moment she saw the video footage of the couple stepping into the room, her stomach dropped.
Checking the timecode, it was clear it had happened during the same period Zack was informing them the operation was moving to Belize because the Mexican government wanted them out.
Zack’s unexplained interest in the security monitor, while he casually ate a banana, made a lot more sense.
The video footage showed the couple having an intense conversation, with the woman using a lot of expressive hand movements before they suddenly made out and—
And Zack had to have been watching the whole thing.
No. Nuh-uh. Noppppppppe. She wasn’t about to go there.
Sasha couldn’t go there because it would mean…
Well, it would mean he knew exactly what he was doing when he put out that silly poll and why he was so insistent on pushing the button.
He purposely chose chaos, and he didn’t care what or who was going to be affected by it.
Now this real-life couple was either lost or dead.
It was nothing more than a game to a rich, callous billionaire.
Zack Massey had to be thrilled for all the internet pandemonium created in the wake of this mysterious poll.
There were already rumors floating around about what the button represented, whether it was a literal button or a symbolic one or something else entirely that only a person who studied the art of 4D chess could understand.
Those who considered Zack somewhat of a god created theories surrounding the single push of an enigmatic button.
This action somehow had the power to cause the recent accidental death of a particular C-list celebrity.
Or opened up a secret vault somewhere in Palm Springs for someone to discover its riches.
Or it triggered a version of the Matrix, and everyone was red-pilled into a world simulation.
The whole thing was silly and disturbing and entirely created from the worst of human imagination.
There were only a few of them with the knowledge of what the button was for and what the actual consequences were for pushing it—not to mention all the lying and fraud surrounding the operation so Zack could push it and ruin people’s lives.
“That room shouldn’t have been unlocked,” Dr. Cutchin said on his end of the phone.
“I know that, but arguing about basic security protocols isn’t going to change the situation. The real question is, what is M2M going to do about it?”
There was a drawn-out sigh on the other end, followed by several moments of silence. Sasha bit on the corner of a nail, waiting in anticipation for some brilliant plan to already be in action so all of this could be on someone else’s shoulders and not hers.
“Okay, so this afternoon I ran a hypothetical scenario with the higher-ups about what actions the company should take if such an accidental event were to happen.”
“And?”
“I was basically brushed aside and told there was no point in discussing it because the whole situation was impossible. Why? Because the door is always locked, and, therefore, there’d be no unauthorized breach.
Officially, the company only wants to look forward, and unless there was some definitive proof—”
“We have the video evidence. That’s definitive proof right there.”
“No, you have one moment when they were in the booth and then they weren’t. They see that as camera trickery, and in the age of deepfake and AI, it’s not enough.”
“Are you kidding me? What kind of proof are they looking for? Am I supposed to produce a nano-size flip-flop as evidence? We couldn’t even find the chimp, Dr. Cutchin.
” It wasn’t as though she hadn’t tried. Sasha had stood at the threshold of the meeting room with a pair of binoculars retrieved from the resort’s lost-and-found box and didn’t see any evidence of the couple.
Maybe she should go down and look again.
She needed to do it soon because who knew how often the room was vacuumed.
“The reason they’re open to evidence is because they know proof is impossible at this point. We spent hours looking for the chimp test subject, and it was useless. He either scampered off, or maybe one of us stepped on him. I don’t know what else can be done at this point.”
“I just… I don’t feel good about this. I can’t leave. I’m the only one who knows that they’re out there, if they’re even alive. They’re tiny, so how far could they possibly get? They’re probably still inside the room.”
“You could lose your job over this.”
“I know.”
“And you’re still going to stay there?”
“Yes. You’re probably right that it’s pointless and impossible, but I have to try.” She’d never sleep again if she didn’t.
“Alright,” he relented. “I’ll cover for you.
I’ll say that you’re there to do final check-ins with all potential test subjects that we flew down to the resort and wrap everything up.
They’ll probably buy it, so this whole thing wasn’t a complete loss.
That should get you at least a couple of days, which isn’t a lot of time.
If you need anything, call me, and I’ll do my best.”
“Okay.” It wasn’t a lot, and she was on her own, but it was something at least. It gave her some peace of mind.
She did stop wondering about the one question that had been on her mind since almost the beginning. Sasha didn’t even have to ask Dr. Cutchin if they were the baddies. The answer couldn’t be clearer.