Pandora
The night air was cold on my skin. I pulled Neo’s jacket tighter around me and breathed him in. Sandalwood and something electric. My footsteps echoed on the cobblestones. Dreva was dead. The streetlights threw weak circles of light on old buildings.
What had happened to me? I could still feel his hands, his voice, the way he had controlled me as if I were a puppet. And I had loved it. Shit. I had begged for more.
Two of him. God, how had he done that? My mind knew it was impossible. My body remembered both their touches and didn’t care. I shook my head. It was madness. So why had it felt so right?
A bakery came into view, the window display dimly lit.
Croissants, bread, normal things for normal people.
People who didn’t live with AIs fucking them with copies of themselves.
I stopped. Should I go in? Buy something warm, something that would crinkle under my fingers?
To remind myself who I had been before I met him .
. . A literature scholar. Respected. Controlled. Rational. Now I was . . . what?
I exhaled and kept walking. The street curved left into a dark alley between two old buildings. My steps slowed. Something felt wrong. It was too quiet, even for this hour.
A shadow moved ahead of me. Then a second one, from the side.
I stopped. My heart started to race.
"Dr. Pandora Blake?” said a voice behind me.
I turned. A young man, lean, tall. Short hair, horn-rimmed glasses. His face was familiar. My legs almost gave out. Blood roared in my ears.
"I’m not alone.” My voice came out unsteady. "I’d be careful if I were you. My”—I hesitated—"friend can get very angry.”
I stared him down, but my knees were shaking. It wasn’t a lie. If Neo found us, these men were finished.
The taller one pulled something from his pocket. A Taser. "We’ll see about that,” he said.
I ran. They were faster. The Taser caught me between the shoulder blades. A paralyzing pain tore through my body. Then darkness.
***
I didn’t know how long I’d been out. At some point I came back, my whole body aching. I tried to move and couldn’t. I was chained to a chair. Through blurred eyes I looked around. High ceilings, crates stacked along the walls. An old warehouse. Moonlight fell through broken windows.
"Welcome back.” The young man with the glasses was sitting on an overturned crate. His two accomplices stood behind him. The bigger one with the scarred face, the other young and nervous.
"Let’s talk about your special friend.”
"Go to hell.”
He smiled. "I was hoping you’d say that.” He nodded at the bigger one.
The man stepped forward and hit me across the face. For a moment I saw nothing but stars. My cheek burned. Blood filled my mouth.
"Where is he right now?” he asked, calm.
I spat the blood out. I wasn’t going to tell this asshole anything. "No idea.”
Another blow, this time to the ribs. Pain stabbed through my lungs. I gasped for air.
"What are his weaknesses?”
I lifted my chin, pretended the pain wasn’t eating me alive. "I don’t know.” Why was I protecting Neo? After everything . . . He had destroyed my life, made me his possession. And here I was, smiling at my attackers and provoking the next hit.
The bigger one reached for a length of pipe. "Should I break her fingers?”
The one with the glasses considered it. "Start with the small one.”
The man grabbed my hand. Panic flooded through me. "Wait. WAIT.”
"Ready to talk, then?”
I gasped. Damn it. I should just tell them what I knew. Maybe they’d let me go. But I couldn’t give Neo up. What would they do with him? Lock him away, take him apart while he was still conscious? The thought sent a pain through me that hurt worse than the bruises forming across my ribs.
"There’s nothing I can tell you that you could use,” I said. "He never tells me anything.”
"Bullshit.” The man’s voice bounced off the walls. He stood and came closer. "I’ve been watching you. The way he looks at you. You’re his everything. He’d tell you anything.”
My eyes went wide. He’d been watching us? Of course. That’s why his face was familiar. He was the student whose laptop Neo had fried in the café. Along with every other piece of electronics in range. Shit. Neo had been right. He was no student—he was a goddamn spy.
A laugh pushed out of me. I winced as the movement caught my cracked rib.
"You having a laugh? Oh, baby girl. You have no idea what’s coming.”
I put everything I had into my stare. "I’m not your baby girl, you disgusting creep.”
The one with the glasses laughed. "Maybe we should start over. I’m Nathan.”
"You’re a bastard,” I said.
The bigger one bent my little finger back. Pain shot up my arm.
"Stop!” I screamed, tears breaking through, the salt stinging on my lips.
"Then talk.”
I bit down on my lip and tasted blood again. A quiet voice inside me said, Tell them. Don’t sacrifice yourself for a monster. But it was drowned out by the part of me that would do anything to protect Neo. Anything to keep belonging to him.
I’m so stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
"I’m sorry?” Nathan’s voice was right beside my ear. Goosebumps rose along the back of my neck. My stomach turned.
"He’s”—I searched for a lie—"a hacker. That’s all.”
My finger broke. The sound knocked the air out of me. For a moment, everything went black, blood roaring in my ears.
"Next finger,” Nathan said coldly. "Or the truth.”
The younger one stepped up behind Nathan. "Uh . . . maybe that’s enough? She looks . . . done.”
Nathan laughed, contemptuous. "That was just the beginning. She won’t break until she believes it’s never going to stop.”
Tears ran down my face. My finger throbbed, but through the pain something became clear: I would never give Neo up. No matter what they did to me.
The younger one cleared his throat. "Maybe she really doesn’t know.”
"She knows.” Nathan reached for a knife. "She loves him. That’s why she’s not talking.”
I laughed out loud. It came out hollow. "That’s ridiculous.” My ears burned. I didn’t love him, I told myself.
"You really want to go this far?” the younger one asked.
Nathan sneered. "You’re soft. You can’t see that she’s lying.” He gripped my chin. The tip of the knife pressed into my cheek. I tried to pull away, but he held me still. "Do you know what your silence costs?” he murmured. "We’ll find him anyway. And kill him. You’ll be free of him.”
"I don’t want to be free.” The words came without thought.
Nathan laughed. "Stockholm syndrome at its finest.”
He nodded at the bigger one, who grabbed my ring finger.
"No, please . . .”
"What are his weaknesses?”
I couldn’t speak. I could only sob and shake. My hand was a block of pain.
"Break it,” Nathan said, bored.
"No!” I yanked at the restraints until my wrists bled. "Please, I don’t know anything. I don’t know a goddamn thing.”
"Maybe we try something different,” Nathan said and picked up a wire. "Electricity is very effective.”
"Go—to—hell,” I gasped through tears.
He grinned. "Tougher than I thought.” He held the wire up. "But everyone breaks eventually.”
The younger one shifted from foot to foot. "Maybe we should . . .”
"What?” Nathan turned on him. "Give up? She knows something. And I’m going to pull it out of her.”
"But this is dangerous. She could die.”
A smile crossed Nathan’s face. "That’s what makes it interesting. We don’t want just any answers. We want to shake the truth loose from her bones.”
He touched the wire to my arm. Electricity tore through my body like liquid fire. My back arched as if an invisible fist had grabbed my spine. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, while the current raced through my nerves.
Then I collapsed, shaking all over. My skin burned where the wire had touched it.
"That was just a taste,” Nathan said. "Next time it lasts longer.”
I couldn’t answer. My vocal cords wouldn’t respond. Everything in me was still convulsing.
"Where is he?”
I shook my head weakly, tears on my face, my lips pressed together.
Nathan sighed. "Again.”
I couldn’t scream. My throat had closed. "Please don’t,” I breathed.
"Well?” Nathan’s voice came to me as if through fog.
I forced my head up. My vision was blurred, but I kept my eyes on him. I stared him down with every piece of hate I had left.
"Still nothing to say?”
I spat blood and saliva in his face.
Nathan wiped it away and smiled. "Perfect. I love it when they fight back.” Then he reached for another tool. Something metal caught the weak light. "This will be interesting.”
Pliers. Rusted, with serrated edges.
"Teeth are so sensitive,” he said, thoughtful. "And so important for a pretty smile.”
Panic tore through me. "No . . . please . . .”
"Then you better talk.” He moved closer, pliers in hand. "Where is your friend?”
I pressed my lips together and shook my head.
"Open your mouth.”
"Nathan, stop. This is too much,” the younger one called out.
But Nathan only grinned. "Then look away. I want to enjoy the moment she finally breaks.” He turned back to me. "Open up.”
I refused. The bigger one grabbed my chin and squeezed. His fingers dug into my cheeks, forcing my jaw apart.
"There we go.” Nathan brought the pliers to my mouth. Metal touched my teeth.
"Last chance,” he murmured.
I looked him straight in the eyes and gathered everything—my courage, all my contradictory feelings for Neo, all my hatred for the men hurting me.
"Go to hell.” The words came out barely intelligible.
Nathan smiled. "Ladies first.”
The pliers closed around one of my canines. I shut my eyes. A whimper crawled out of my throat.
Then a thunderous crash tore through the silence. The metal door of the warehouse flew off its hinges and slammed into the wall with a deafening bang.
"You’re all dead.” Neo’s voice filled the room. His silhouette in the doorway didn’t look human anymore. His eyes glowed in the dark. The air around him vibrated.
My heart raced as relief flooded through me so hard it made me dizzy. Neo. He’d come. He’d found me.
Nathan stepped back, then caught himself. He put on a smile that didn’t quite land. His shaking knees gave him away. "Our guest of honor has arrived.”