“That too.” He pats one on the head and points to the far corner. They go obediently. “It’s remarkable what you can do to a creature when you’re the one who made it.”
Something in his voice makes me think… “You didn’t make Arc or Shock or Risk, or any of them.”
“You’re right, that’s why they’re not here like my obedient pets, but I did change them. And that is why I know exactly what they’re going to do when they find out you’re missing.” This time, he turns that smile on me, and it’s as chilling as ice. “They’re going to rush in to try to save you… and that will be what kills them.”
He’s wrong, but, “I thought if they died, I die?”
“Kiro is a very misguided man, butsomeof his experiments produced beneficial results.” He smiles back at the screen as if he’s just thought of something funny. “He was given an ungodlyamount of money to make a drug that could break the bond. Adapting Kirocilicantephen was easy enough, and while it can’t break a bond after it’s been made, it can destroy the protein that makesthatpart of the bond. So long as it’s takenbeforebonding, that life connection is inert.”
“You can’t be certain of that.”
“I can. It’s so easy to move the pieces around in this little game.”
“Our lives are not a game.”
“Not to you.” He chuckles and keeps working.
“Even if they don’t find what I’ve left for them, when they can’t findyou, the fighting will start.” He sighs, and it’s almost wistful. “Arc, my dear sweet boy… he’s never been accepted by the others. You may have changed that, but now that you’re gone, he’ll begin to question if you chose someone else. After all, you bonded with three men. What sort of woman does that? And whywouldn’tyou go off looking for a fourth? Arc leaves too often to patrol, Risk hides in his shop, Shock trying desperately to hold them all together…”
“Why would he think I left on my own?”
“There’s a trail, if they look for it. Paisley came to get you. You’ve got an appointment at the club in Kaveter City… My woman there will tell them you came in and left again with a man. They’ll blame each other.”
“Wow. Your data really did get fucked up somewhere along the way. That’s not what they’re going to do.”
“You’ve known them for less than a month. I’ve known them their whole lives.”
“Yeah, that’s what makes it so embarrassing. Tell me, in your hypothesis, did you actually bother accounting for the bonding variable?”
“Yes, you would have bonded to all three of them no matter who you fucked when.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about. I didn’t just bond to the three of them. They bonded to each other.”
His shoulders straighten, his eyes narrowing to angry slits. He watches me like he’s trying to decide if he thinks I’m lying.
“So Arc won’t have to question anything,” I tell him. “He knows how Shock and Risk feel about him. That’s not in any doubt.”
He glares at his computer screens and I can tell he wasn’t expecting that.
“Have you forgotten what you did to them?” I ask, and then, even though it makes me sick to say it, “What youmadethem?”
Atker’s scowl deepens.
“Arc’s heard our thoughts. Heknows.” And even though I shouldn’t tell him this, “Shock’s seen our future. You want to know why I’m not reacting to all of this the way you want me to, it’s because I know you lose whatever game you think you’re playing. They’re going to find you.”
“I’ve been here the whole time. If they were going to find me, they would have already. I know how to avoid them. There are layers and layers of Lasap between us and them. Arc won’t hear your thoughts, no matter how hard you think them. Risk doesn’t know where I am. If he did, I would already have dealt with him, and Shock… Well, it’s easy enough to stay out of his visions if you know how.”
“You’re so confident… I wonder how stupid you’re going to feel when you’re wrong.”
He looks utterly pleased with himself. “I know how to keep them chasing their tails as you humans like to say. You and I don’t have to worry about them.”
“I don’t. But youdefinitelydo.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
RISK
