Dissolution

Chapter 12 - Lie to Me

Jake shook his head, like he was trying to shake something loose, or maybe shake something back into place. "But what happened?" he demanded. "Madeline, I'm pretty sure if I went into that river, I wouldn't be getting back out again."

I paused. "Um," I said. "You can see, right? Some of my skin came off. And my hair. And it hurt. A lot. But I . . . I got better?"

He stared at me with different eyes. I couldn't tell what was in them. Fear? My heart sank. He was looking at me as if I wasn't quite human. But before I could say anything, I suddenly heard low voices and quick steps. I'd almost forgotten about the suits. Jake hadn't lied. I could hear them coming down the hallway toward us, each strike echoing clearly through the thin walls. Terror seized me. "They're here."

And there was nowhere to hide. There wasn't even a window for me to escape out of. Inside, I started repeating a savage litany of curses at myself. Moron. Stupid. Idiot. I'd been so wrapped up in the feeling of safe once Jake's arms had come around mine that I'd forgotten that there wasn't a safe anymore, at least not yet. I hadn't even checked for exits when we'd entered. Now I was going to pay for that.

I tried to pull myself together. There was nothing but the desk, a cupboard, and a bookcase. "Jake," I hissed. "Help me. I can't just hide under the desk."

He shook himself from his stupor. He moved, wrenching open the door of the cupboard. "No," he said. "But you can hide in here."

The cupboard was thin, the size of a short man. I immediately saw why. A single suit hung in there, suspended by a rail. I looked at the size of the space dubiously. Just big enough to fit me, maybe, if I didn't mind being kept ramrod straight and squashed into a box about the size of a coffin.

I wished my mind hadn't leapt to that metaphor.

"What are you waiting for?" Jake hissed. "Get in."

The footsteps came closer. I chose. I squeezed in and took a deep breath, just as the door closed behind me and my world was confined to a small, thin box. And just as a sharp knock echoed through the office.

I inhaled shallowly through my nose. I closed my eyes and tried to pretend I wasn't trapped. I heard the door open. There was no introduction, no pleasantries, no pause. Just a voice, sharp as a whip. "Where is she?"

I knew that voice. It had lingered over my mother and father, it had held a box and a needle and told me to stop running. My heart stopped. His voice was like the muzzle of a gun. Snub and flat, with a hole inside it that spoke of dead things. I couldn't imagine looking that voice in the eye and lying. Jake was doomed. I was doomed. He was going to deny everything and stumble. He was going to lie and betray the both of us. He . . .

No. A sudden image flashed behind my eyes in the darkness of the closet, my brain firing impulses and scrambled images now that it didn't have a UConn feed to play with: Jake, face shadowed, looking at me as if I wasn't quite human.

He was going to sell me out.

"This is about Madeline, isn't it?" Jake said. I could hear the quiet shake in his voice, almost see the sweat on his lip. "I . . . I didn't hear from her last night and then I saw the news this morning. I don't . . ."

A step closer. Single. Deliberate. Sharp enough in the silence of the room to sound like someone flipping a safety catch, cocking a gun. "Where. Is. She?"

Jake sounded pleading. Real. "I don't know," he said. "Here, check my UConn—the last time we spoke was yesterday evening, I haven't heard a word from her since. Please. If I knew, I would tell you."

I blinked. I . . . I'd almost believed him. How did my boyfriend—my lovely, sweet boyfriend, who held me in his arms by the river and danced with me on Saturday nights and whispered words into my ear in the darkness of his bed—know how to lie so well?

There was a pause.

"Boy," said the man. Now his voice was as gentle as cold metal could be. "You know that her assets are frozen, don't you? She'll never be a citizen again. You won't see another credit out of her. If there's anything you can tell me, you'll be rewarded. Otherwise . . ."

It had to be a skill, to turn one word into a threat.

Jake seemed to cave. "Look, I'll tell you as soon as she contacts me. If she contacts me." He sounded tired, now, defeated. "But please, believe me. I-I don't need any of this. She was just a bit of extra cash. But I have my brother to worry about. My mother."

He sounded so convincing it was almost painful. I could hear the air pulse, alive. I tried not to move. Jake's suit hung on its hook, brushing my nose. I fought down the sudden, horrible urge to sneeze.

"Then we will need to have a line directly into your UConn feed," Mr. Sharp said. It was a statement, not a request. "We will know as soon as she contacts you."

A line! I shivered. I couldn't imagine someone on the other side of my eyes, seeing everything on my UConn that I saw, reading every message, monitoring every implant that fired. I should never have come here. I shouldn't have gotten Jake involved. Almost a century in his Auctioning, the best marks in his year, the Professor's research assistant, and now he was caught up in this mess. A mess I wasn't sure he'd be able to get out of.

"That's, uh, illegal without consent from my Corporation," Jake said. There was a pause. "But, you know, given the circumstances . . ."

He trailed off. I heard a rustle of fabric; he must have extended his arm. "Do it."

I squeezed my eyes shut so hard they pulsed red and yellow behind my lids. He sounded so reasonable. As if it didn't mean anything. But it did mean something. It meant a lot. He was on a leash now, and it was my fault.

There was a brief crackle as the line was put in. The air tensed for a moment, curdled. And then it was done, the footsteps were backing away, and Mr. Soft was speaking instead. He sounded tired, wrung out. Good. "Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Gaudron. We'll be watching."

The door closed.

I let out the breath I hadn't been holding, and it still felt like it went on for forever.

I heard Jake's footsteps go over to his desk, stay there for just long enough that anyone lingering in the hallway might get annoyed and leave, and then come over to the cupboard door.

"All right," he said in a low voice. "This is what we're going to do. You're going to stay in here, I'm going to look up your license, and we will figure this out. We will."

I pushed at the door and he moved back, startled. "I'm not staying in here," I rasped. "It's like a coffin." I unfolded myself and stepped out. The sight of him slapped me across the face. I was angry at him for giving in to the line, so pathetically grateful he hadn't turned me in, so in awe of the way he'd lied so flawlessly, and so suddenly mistrusting. It was a heady mix of emotions, a dangerous one. "I can't believe you let them have a line to you, Jake! They'll see everything you use your implants to see. That includes looking up those documents."

He stopped. "All right," he said. "All right, I didn't think of that." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well, at least stay in here. I'll go out and . . ."

Footsteps sounded in the hallway again, this time so quiet I only heard them as they got close. Too close for me to get back in. Too late. I froze.

"Jake?" a voice called, and then, before either of us could move, the door opened again.

A/N: How do I love you all? Let me count the ways... 1K views on my first Wattpad story! Thank you all so much! I'm so glad you're loving Dissolution. We're just over halfway now. I hope you enjoy the rest of the ride.