Robbie smacks me hard in the jaw.
“Oliver, if you keep this up, I’m going to have to gag you, and I know how you hate that.”
A shiver runs through me as I pout, anger fueling me. I try my hardest to shift my weight, to break free but it is no use. The footsteps sound, and I scream again, and then they get louder.
“Fuck’s sakes, Oliver,” Robbie hisses and then I feel the harsh, rough fabric as he wraps it around my mouth, forcing it in my mouth and I try to wriggle free.
“I told you to be quiet. I don’t know when you got so fucking defiant.”
And then I see him. Sloane emerges from the shadows.
“Long time no see, Flynn,” Robbie says, his voice sing-song like a deranged psychopath.
I thought I knew him. But I didn’t. I didn’t know him at all…
“Master Computer Program.” Sloane’s smooth voice warms the air. “I think you have something that belongs to me.”
Robbie laughs, pulling out his knife from behind his back. I watch as he toys with the blade, his grin wide.
“Perhaps we can make a trade. I believe you have something that belongs to me.”
“Veil doesn’t belong to you,” Sloane says. “It never did. And neither does Oliver.”
Sloane’s voice drops to that dark, commanding tone I know so well. I watch the shift in his eyes and it’s like he’s someone else. Someone I know, but… don’t.
“Oh, but he does.” Robbie cocks his head to the side, his dark hair blowing in the breeze. “You see, Oliver and I have been together for eight months, isn’t that right, baby?”
Tears fill my eyes.
Sloane looks at me. “You’re lying.”
Robbie laughs. “Mmm, I wish. But, no. Alas, I can not tell a lie. Not like you.”
“Oliver, blink once if he’s lying, twice if he’s telling the truth.”
Tears spill down my cheeks, over the gag in my mouth.
“You see… Oliver here was the perfect glitch,” Robbie says proudly. “So pliable, so obedient.” He sighs. “A perfect program.”
Sloane circles us, his hands behind his back. His gaze dips to me for a flash, then looks away.
“And he was so good at his job…” Robbie huffs. “He even made you think he loved you.” Robbie laughs. My sobs echo in the air as my heart breaks. I try to wriggle free, try to scream, but I can’t.
“So, no… he’s not yours. Never was.”
“I don’t care,” Sloane says. “He’s a User, MCP. And I fight for the Users. You know that more than anyone.”
Robbie jumps towards Sloane, and it’s a flash of a moment. Sloane braces for the hit, and I use all my power to shift my entire body and chair into Robbie, knocking him and myself over.
“Fucking hell, Oliver, would you chill out!” Robbie screams.
It’s enough of a distraction that Sloane can grab him. They fight as Sloane hollers out in that commanding voice.
“End of line!”
Robbie screams as he stabs him in the side, and I scream through my gag.
“I will not surrender to a glitch!” Robbie yells and then I hear the shot of a gun and the lights go out.
