We run south but keep glancing over our shoulders. Soon, it's apparent that the bots aren't following us. We slow to a jog, and then to a walk.
They probably don't bother because of the red AR emblem that's stitched into Elizabeth's black hoodie. I wouldn't be surprised if Chris had specifically asked for that bit of programming to be included in their algorithms.
We turn onto King Street and head west.
"Where are we going?" I ask her.
"Where I know we'll be safe."
I stop in my tracks. I can't believe I didn't figure it out yet. I was panicked about Austin, I was afraid of the bots. I wasn't thinking straight.
"I'm not going there," I say. "Elizabeth, you know I can't go there."
"Come on, Andrea. It's our best bet. Do you really think that Austin would just run off like that? Without you? Where do you think he's gone?"
I haven't thought about it. What if what she's implying is true? What if Chris took Austin from the square and told my husband what happened between us?
Worse yet, what if he tells Austin some lie? I suddenly feel as though I can't breathe.
"And besides," Elizabeth says. "At least if we go to the old Protest Group office, I can keep you safe."
"Safe?" I exclaim as my breath comes in quick, panicked spurts. "You really think you or anyone can keep me safe? Maybe you can keep me off the streets, maybe you can shelter and feed me — you might even be able to keep me safe from the patrol bots. But you can't keep me safe from him."
But I've already made up my mind. If there's a chance that Austin is with Chris, I have to go there. I step past Elizabeth and walk up the street as fast as I can.
"Andrea, what are you —"
"Let's go."
I don't say anything else to her the rest of the walk. I can't believe what she's become. She was my friend but now, I'm not sure.
When we get to the ancient brick building with its familiar markings of "A.R. Williams" on the peak, there's a group of Anti-Robotists standing around just outside. Even though the heat of the sun reflects off the grey sidewalk, they all wear black pants and black hoodies.
They have red bandannas like Elizabeth, but unlike her, they wear theirs around their necks. I see their faces as they smile at each other, talk and laugh.
But when they see me the light of joy and camaraderie goes from their eyes. They throw the bandannas up over their mouths and noses.
"What's this?" One of them calls to Elizabeth. He's a young man with a pale, bald head that glints in the sunlight.
"Something for Chris." I start and look at her with surprise.
"Oh, yeah. What, for fun? From you? Get her out of here."
"You'll want to talk to him about this first. Trust me, he'll be pissed if I let her go."
He shifts from foot to foot.
"Just tell him that Anderson is here. It's something he's been waiting to hear."
The bald man jerks his head towards a skinny kid, no older than 18, with long, matted brown hair. She enters the building through the main doors. Those French doors used to be of glass, but are now boarded up with plywood.
The bald Anti-Robotist turns away from us and goes back to talking, as if we aren't here at all.
"I can't believe you," I whisper angrily to Elizabeth.
"What? You want to see if Austin's in there, don't you?"
"What happened to keeping me safe?"
The door opens and the kid comes out and nods. The bald man looks at us.
"Seems you were right, recruit," he says to Elizabeth. We slip around him and through the door that is held open for us by the young girl.
I'm as jumpy as a spooked horse as I exit the elevator behind the kid and Elizabeth. The expansive loft is the same as the last time I saw it, but the people inside are so different. The Honest Ed's sign is still propped in the corner, the ancient analog machines line the walls. The desks have been rearranged, but they're still as decrepit as when I used them.
But there are no FlexScreens resting on those desks. No one's in business casual, trying to figure out what to do the glut of time they have now that their skills are obsolete. Instead, young people with the red AR symbol stitched into black clothes, carved into hair or tattooed onto arms stand around the desks, examining a map of the city. Some of them glance our way when the elevator door rolls back. Then they do a double take.
It's no wonder. I wear a pair of tattered denim shorts, a white cotton t-shirt and my backpack: the same outfit that I put on when Austin and I left our motel room yesterday morning. I stand out in this sea of black.
But I'm not interested in their stares, nor in their exclamations when they see me. Elizabeth and I follow the girl who brought us here and I know where we are headed.
I glance up at the attic, knowing Chris will be there. I see the top of his blond head over the half-wall as he stands behind the old conference table. But there's someone else sitting at the other end. I know who it is even before I register the sight of his red hair.
"Austin," I breathe his name like a sigh.
I rush towards him.
"Whoa!" I hear the shout on my right side, but I don't care.
I duck under a pair of arms that are trying to catch me. I'm not going to let them separate us, not again. I run up the thin metal steps, each one creaking under my foot. I hear the pounding of running feet on concrete as they follow me.
But it's too late. Whatever they want to stop, it's too late. I'm up in the conference room. I have my arms around him.
"Austin! Are you okay? I thought I'd lost you."
My bottom lip trembles as he hugs me back.
"Andrea, I'm fine. I'm okay."
"It's fine, leave them alone," Chris says to the person who is trying to pull me away from my husband. "That was faster than I thought it would be," he says to me.
I straighten up, unwilling to face him. That's when I notice that Austin has an ugly black eye, the purple puffiness spreading out along his left cheek.
He glances up at me with a look of disappointment. Then his gaze falls to the floor.
I turn on Chris. "What did you do to him?"
"Calm down, Anderson. It's nothing that won't heal." Chris' eyes flash with a bright blue that I've seen before. He's angry.
I wish Austin would look at me with that anger, rather than with disappointment. My mind races: just how much does my husband know? How much did Chris tell him?
"You look well," he says in mock-politeness.
"I'm here now." I cross my arms. "Now you can let my husband go."
He stares at me for a long time, as if trying to make a decision. Then he looks towards the Anti-Robotist who tried to separate Austin and I a moment ago.
The man grabs Austin roughly and starts bundling him down the stairs.
"Hey!" I try to follow but I'm blocked. Elizabeth stops me from following Austin downstairs. I don't take my eyes off my husband. "Where's he going?"
"I should commend you," Chris says. "You brought me a marvelous prize, Elizabeth."
I look up from Austin's progress. I look into Elizabeth's dark eyes. She doesn't look remorseful. She doesn't look sad, she doesn't look triumphant. It's as if she feels nothing at all.
"No need to thank me," she says at last. But although she talks to him, she looks at me.
I whip around to face Chris, wrenching myself from my former friend's grasp.
"What did you tell him?"
"Enough."
"What did you tell him?"
"It's not like it wouldn't come out eventually."
"No." I walk around the table towards him. "No, you didn't tell him anything, did you? Because if you told him everything, then you'd have nothing against me. Your guarantee that I won't give your secret away would be gone. And you can't afford that, can you?"
"You're wrong about that, Anderson," he says quietly. "I do have something on you. I have your husband."
He turns and walks away from me.
"What are you talking about?"
"As long as I have him, you're not a threat to me. And now that I have him and you, there's nothing stopping us."
"Stopping you from what? Betraying the city?"
"Still on that, are you? Look, Anderson, I know that misunderstanding is a sport for you, so let me make this crystal clear. Yes, I was working with RoboNomics but no, it's not what you think. They've been contracted to protect Toronto, yes? Now I'm a subcontractor. They've lost a lot of product to these...street riots —"
"You mean the ones that you started?"
"And their clients don't live here anymore."
"What are you talking about?"
"Oh, what, like you haven't noticed? There are some office headquarters still downtown, sure, but don't tell me you haven't noticed that no one comes down here for work anymore?"
I hadn't noticed. I've been too busy trying to survive.
"Doesn't it seem strange to you that the suits have all left town? Well, they have. Anyone with the money to leave has left."
"But I don't understand. Why would they —"
"Would you want to live here if you didn't have to? Open your eyes, Anderson. Toronto's become one giant slum. Wouldn't you leave if you have the funds to?"
"Where did they go?"
"Outside the city, to a different city — what does it matter? They're gone. And in time, the bots are going with them."
"What? Why?"
"Because they see that I have things under control. Toronto is mine now, Anderson."
"So this is what you wanted all along?"
"Of course not. But don't you see? Now we can make a new life for the citizens. Now we can get things back to the way they should be — back to the way they always were. Without RoboNomics, without iTronics, without the bots — you can be a teacher again. Isn't that what you want more than anything?"
His eyes are bright.
"Right now I just want my husband back."
The light in his eye fades and his smile falls.
"Fine. You can have him. Oz!"
I see red. As I rush towards him, unsure of what I'll do when I reach him. Elizabeth grabs my arms from behind and holds me tight.
"Let go!" I struggle against her. I want to scream, I want to cry.
"Yeah." It's Oz.
"Take her to see her husband."
"What are you going to do with them?" Elizabeth asks as I continue to fight her.
"Keep them here."
"Until?"
"Until I decide that she won't fuck everything up."
(Continued in Chapter 51...)
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What do you think? Have I jumped the shark? There's something about the tone of this chapter that's I feel is different from the rest of the story. But I can't quite put my finger on it...
If you know, tell me in the COMMENTS! And if you think everything's just A-OK, please to give this chapter a VOTE? 😊