CHAPTER SEVENTEEN—TWO-FACED

Blinking, May realized she was sitting in a chair in a dark room, John and Kyle lying down on the carpet in front of her.

Also in front of her was Mr. Thalaway and his dog Koss De Brossier, with a smug smile on his face. Thalaway looked to May like he was pretty pleased with himself as well.

Fuuuuck!

“Ah,” Thalaway said. “Finally conscious enough to speak. Good.”

Kyle snarled an epithet and John said, “If you touch her—we’ll kill you.”

Thalaway laughed as he turned to glance at the other two Anarchos. “I don’t think either of you two thugs are in a position to threaten me.” He said the last word with an air of feigned amusment.

De Brossier kicked Kyle in the ribs, causing him to grunt loudly.

“Hey! Fuck off!” May snapped.

“You know,” Thalaway said, “You three have caused Invera-Tech quite some trouble.”

“Glad we could help,” Kyle said through gritted teeth, the sound of his words not of anger, but if him still holding back the pain from getting kicked. But it seemed his leg wound had been bandaged.

Probably for no other reason than that they want him to live long enough to torture him.

Dammit.

May wouldn’t be surprised if a few of his ribs had been cracked from that vicious kick. She needed to make sure De Brossier’s attention stayed on her.

Thalaway snapped his finger. “If that one talks again, make sure you deal with him.”

De Brossier smiled.

What a douche.

“Leave him alone,” John said. “None of this would have happened if it weren’t for you. We would have bought what we came here for and left as happy customers.”

“Mmm,” Thalaway noised thoughtfully. “To be sure.” He looked at his tablet. “Quite an interesting statement, Mr. Sherro.”

John grunted against the constraints keeping his arms behind his back. “What do you mean?”

Thalaway turned back to them all as a group. “What I mean, is that it’s quite interesting the very same people holding our corp’s proprietary AI…” He paused. “Lexa! Just so happens to wander in here looking for an android body.”

“What the fuck?” Kyle muttered.

“What are you talking about?” John asked.

“Shit,” May said quietly.

This is really bad. Worse than I thought.

“She belongs to them,” she said. “Interesting. But what was she doing on the Chylaxium?”

Thalaway smiled at her. “Do you know how expensive it is to construct a sentient AI? They’re one of a kind. There’s no system. It’s not like copying a memory drive. She was on the Chylaxium!—as an alpha test subject!”

“You fuckers,” May said.

“Excuse me?”

“Whatever you greasy corpos are up to—you won’t get away with it.”

He stepped up to her and took her chin in his hands. “I would hit you”—he dragged his hand down her neck and over her shirt—“but you’re just too yummy.”

Thalaway cupped her breast through her shirt with his lizardy hand.

Yanking against her constraints on the arms of the chair, May threw her head forward and gnashed at him with her teeth. With a very fast reflexive pull of his hand, he laughed. “Quick. But not quick enough!”

Then suddenly he clapped both sides of her face with his hands, his grip like steel that belied his soft-bodied corporate exterior they had seen earlier. These contrasting differences about him only proved to May what a coward he really was.

“You will tell me everything about how you stole Lexa… or I’m going to kill your friends, hm?”

De Brossier chuckled quietly as the other BDU-clad Invera-Tech goons stood with their legs wide, guns slung over their fronts and held at rest. They grinned like pirates under their goggles.

“Hmm,” Thalaway hummed lasciviously. “I might have to take you home with me.”

“You fuckin’ weirdo!” Kyle snapped. “Get off her!”

“Shut up!” De Brossier ordered, and kicked Kyle again, causing him to grunt and wheeze.

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“You should kick me too,” John said. “Because when we get free, we’re taking you down.”

Then Kyle laughed, but May could tell he was doing it through the pain. “For a wampy-pampy PR guy, your dog’s got some bite.”

Another kick.

“Gah!”

“Leave off!” May cried. Then to Kyle she said, “Shut up, Wagger!”

Kyle coughed. “But why? Don’t you like seeing how far we can push these pencil pushing pussies?”

De Brossier glanced at Thalaway, a silent ask for permission to kick Kyle again—but if he kept doing this, he would be in an ICU bed later, not an interrogation chair.

Instead of giving him the go ahead, Thalaway turned back to May and shook his head as he clicked his tong. “Such naughty words in front of a beautiful woman like you. Where did you find these thugs?” He sighed. “If they won’t listen for their own sake…”

He backhanded her, her cheek flared like fire as her eyes flashed with white specks. She made no noise indicating pain, but godsdamn this motherfucker!

“I’m going to have you clinically immobilized and transported to my apartment.”

“If you want to talk to us!” John bellowed. “Then you talk to me, you parasite!”

I’m going to kill this guy.

A firearm was discharged and May—along with everyone else in the room, swiveled their heads.

No one moved for a moment.

“Well?” Thalaway snapped. “What are you waiting for, you idiots?” He thrust his outstretched arm in the direction of the gun shot. “Go find out what the fuck is happening. Fuck—I knew I should have put mages on the security team!”

De Brossier jerked his head and said, “Let’s go, boys.”

“What’s the matter?” Kyle asked. “Too cheap to hire the right guys for the job?”

“Leave June alone,” John breathed heavily. “We’ll tell you what you want to know.”

More shots echoed through the halls and Thalaway visibly tensed.

What the hells is going on out there?

May glanced at John, but his eyes seemed to tell her he had no idea what was happening either. It wasn’t very comforting.

“Fuck,” Thalaway said softly as he glanced back curiously. Then he pointed to John. “Hold that thought.”

He left them there, completely unguarded.

May smiled. Idiot.

They all started grunting as they struggled against their restraints. “Any way out of this?” John asked.

“I’m tied up tight as a hog,” Kyle said. “And my leg hurts like a sonofabitch!”

“What?” May asked incredulously, not quite sure what Kyle was saying.”

“Oh, forget it—I can’t get out of this shit. And thanks for asking about my leg.”

“How’s your leg?”

“Fuck off.”

“I can’t get free either,” John added as she writhed and struggled over the carpet.

“My—hngh—my restraints are pretty tight too,” May said. “Come on—hurry! We don’t have much time.” She rocked the chair side to side, but since it had wheels, that only succeeded in making the chair roll about the floor. “Dammit!” she snarled though her teeth in frustration.

“You know…” Kyle said musingly. “Thalaway’s right about one thing.”

“What’s that?” May asked as she chafed her own wrists.

“You are pretty hot.”

“Really?” John asked as he shook his head, but May actually snorted with amusement.

“Now it’s your turn to fuck off, Kyle,” she said.

They all struggled for a few moments more. Another shot went off, followed by automatic weapons fire.

“Is that May?” Kyle finally asked.

“Part of me is hoping it’s not,” John said.

“Why not?” May asked. “Don’t think she can take them?”

“We couldn’t take them,” Kyle said. “And there’s something up about this Thalaway PR guy.”

“Ya think?!” May snapped.

“No,” Kyle said, grunting still as he squirmed. “He’s supposed to be an upper mid-level corpo douche—so why’s he calling all the shots?”

“You’re right,” John said.

“Go! Go! Move!” someone shouted at the door.

May glanced up as Thalaway sprinted back into the office and made a quick bee line for his holo-display.

Men stamped back into the darkened office. One of them fired his rifle out the door. “She’s coming! SHE’S COMING!”

“Hold her off!” Thalaway snapped.

He got into his drawer and thumped a huge pistol down on the desk. “Shit!” he snarled. “Where the fuck’s the rest of the security?”

“In the bathroom,” May said. Thalaway looked at her, but said nothing.

Another soldier backed his way into the room as he fired out of the office in a fully automatic burst of deadly fire. The lasers he put down sounded wrong—like they were getting deflected off an energy shield.

De Brossier ran into the room, his pistol at his side. “We need to leave.”

“What?!” Thalaway said, his eyes widening.

May watched the exchange as her apprehension and breathing rate increased.

What in the hells is going on here?

That’s not Lexa—right?

The BDU-clad Invera-Tech response soldier at the door fired his weapon at a figure lunging into the room. There were bright flashes as his energy rounds deflected off of the barrier surrounding the woman.

Squinting against the light and the deflecting rounds, May flinched from the deadly action as some punk-ass-looking bitch with a sword and a spherical energy shield cut the soldier down.

As he went down in a spray of blood De Brossier instantly opened fire but the woman rushed forward and put a slash across his body from shoulder to hip and he went down in a half scream, dead on the carpet.

Thalaway made to grab his gun, but froze when the woman spoke.

“If your men couldn’t take me down, what makes you think you can?”

“Holy shit!” Kyle croaked.

May glanced down at him, then to John, both of them with their attentions rapt upon the moment Thalaway turned around and chuckled nervously. “Lexa!”

May’s eyes bulged.

“Lexa?!” Kyle yelled. “It’s you!”

She glanced down at John and Kyle, then to May and smiled. “Yes,” she said cheerily. “It’s me.”

“I can’t believe it,” John breathed. His eyes were wide. “You look…”

“Real?” Kyle asked.

“Yeah,” John said.

“Long story,” Lexa said. “I’ll tell you as soon as we get out of here. She reached forward and grabbed Thalaway’s pistol. He jerked back like he might contract a deadly disease.”

She tossed the weapon away, then grabbed May’s right restraint and broke it off like it was made of straw.

“Wow,” May said, surprised. She rubbed her wrists.

Then Lexa broke the other one. “Don’t mention it.”

“I’ll get the guys.”

Lexa nodded. “Mm.”

Once Kyle and John were free, they grabbed guns off the floor and were ready to roll. “We should get out of here.”

“The police will be outside,” Thalaway said. “I am certain they’re sending special response teams in as we speak.”

Kyle stepped forward with a noticeable limp and Thalaway cringed, just like he had before.

What a total coward.

But Kyle didn’t hit him. Instead he actually pinched the man’s fucking cheek! “Aren’t you adorable?” Kyle said.

John chuckled. “What are you doing?”

Then Kyle snarled. “Letting our resident douche know he can’t trick us. If he’s got a secret-fucking-door leading out of his office, then he’s got one leading out of the complex. Let’s go, sweet cheeks.”

Lexa raised an eyebrow and snorted. “Oh!” she said, a confused look on her face as she put a hand over her mouth and nose. “That’s… so strange.”

John smiled. “First time?”

She nodded.

“All right,” May said. “Let’s stop wasting time here.”

“Move it!” Kyle snapped and whacked Thalaway across the chest with the massive pistol in his hand. “Let’s go!”

Thalaway led the way with Kyle using both his shoulders for support.