Forget It (ONC 2024)

Chapter 3 - Everything We Know Is a Lie

Easy for them to say.

"Should I hide?"

"Yes."

The handle rattled again. Was it better to keep the door locked or let them open it and try to blend in? Then they might move on to continue searching elsewhere instead of suspecting someone inside locked the door and overriding the lock code. After modifying my clothes to a completely black suit, including a full face mask that also concealed my hair, and tucking myself behind the tiny secondary shielded area, which most people overlooked, I unlocked the door remotely.

"Selene?" Arch's voice trembled slightly.

My nails dug into my palms as I fought my urge to bolt over and tear that traitor to shreds.

"It doesn't look like she's in here either," a deep voice spoke.

That wasn't our boss, though its low cadence sounded vaguely familiar. Were they part of the danger? Did Ash have access to a live feed, or was it a coincidence that they'd told me to hide? They'd asked where I was like they hadn't known.

I took a quiet breath to calm myself, but my veins thrummed like a transformer. My paranoia was fully powered tonight.

"But Gina said she came to the lab minutes ago."

Damn it, I should have lied about wanting to surprise Arch, so she didn't tell him my whereabouts. She was a romantic, and he and I were that cute office couple people loved. Even before we'd gotten together, everyone picked up on how he'd jump at the chance to work side-by-side and stick around past his work hours when I was working terrible shifts.

He'd even surprised me each year on my birthday since we met with handmade, thoughtful gifts usually with an inventor's twist. The best one had been the sensor for my wrist device to sense my mood and pick one of my favourite songs that would best suit my emotions to play through my comm, like a personal soundtrack. The first time we'd kissed, he'd shyly pulled away and asked which song was playing. When I'd played my absolute favourite song for him, he'd lit up like a kid exploring a Jurrasic holoworld for the first time. And being at the center of Arch's world had been a sensation like no other.

A couple's lie would have worked because even I had trouble believing our entire relationship was a deception. As much as I hated him, I still wanted our connection to be real.

"We don't have time to do a building sweep to find a woman who doesn't want to be located. The investors are waiting."

"There are still twenty more presentations, including Selene's."

He was awfully fixated on me for someone who'd tossed me in front of a mag-bus to get ahead. The investors wouldn't consider my adaptable shoe idea when Arch had already poached my far better one.

"The investors will only stay for the first five. They've pre-selected the proposals they will develop."

My stomach sank. So their opening speech and the entire premise of the event was a lie? My mom's friends from her MS support group would be so disappointed. Working with a team would iron out more problems, but at least my mom still wore her mostly functional pair. They'd probably be the only ones I made unless I developed them independently, but if they ever malfunctioned and hurt someone, I'd not only feel terrible but could lose everything to a lawsuit.

"That's not right. Won't people notice the investor's absence?"

I gritted my teeth. Now the man grew a conscience?

"We use hologram stand-ins." The person's tone conveyed indifference.

"This project doesn't happen without Selene. It's in the contract."