Looking at the cold, domineering man standing over me, I knew nothing good would come from him learning I was some sort of unwilling spy planted here by a faceless corporate terrorist.
“Of course we do, he signed the employee contract. Get on with it,” Luke snapped, and my mouth parted in surprise as the neurotech pressed the device to my temple.
I jumped as the screens to my left suddenly burst to life and filled with what I was assuming wereNeuroGlyphs,the language Jay and his father had created to decipher human thoughts into something a memory therapy technician could read and understand.
As the symbols whirled and whizzed across the white screen, I bit the inside of my cheek and held my breath.
Jeeze. I’d been here for less than twenty minutes, and I was already about to get busted.
I was officially the worst spy on the planet.
“What do you mean you can’t get a clear read!?” Luke was snarling at the memory therapy tech as he passed a NeuroExtractor over my temple.
“I-I’m not sure… Do you know if he’s had an MRI or something recently? The only thing I can think of is if he’s been injected with SPIONs or something. You know we usually can’t treat patients exposed to MRI contrast for a few weeks until the iron-oxide dissolves…”
Abruptly, Sebastian was standing in front of me, running a gorgeous hand through his thick, golden hair.
“You haven’t had an MRI recently, have you, Milo?” Sebastian asked, and I bit my lip, shaking my head no.
The last MRI I’d had was after my dad’s car accident, nearly two years ago. The contrast wouldn’t have stayed in my body that long.
Sebastian frowned, then his gaze dropped to the side of my neck, which was still sore from where The Forgotten had plunged a needle into me the night before.
“Fuck,”Luke hissed, coming to stand next to his son. His ice-blue eyes snagged on where I was now sure a bruisewas forming on my neck from the injection. “I bet that fuckingassholeadded contrast into the sedative…” Luke growled. “Whoever this is knows how our tech works… Did he say anything to you, Mr. Murphy? Do you know who he is? It would be in your best interest totell usif you do. Hemurderedmy COO, and I won’tstand for it!”
“Wh-what!? No! I don’t know who he is! He attacked me! I’m just as upset about Melanie as you. She was my…She was my best friend!”
My eyes welled with tears, and I flinched away from Luke, trying to cling to Sebastian’s warm, comforting gaze instead. His blue eyes searched my face, and he was frowning, looking torn between a state of apprehension and tender concern.
“Milo… I’m really sorry, but I need you to think really hard about the events between when you were attacked and I came to pick you up. We just need to see if our tech can piece together the neuroglyphs even with the contrast in your system… Can you do that for me? We need to clear you for security before I can let you get to work.”
“Yeah… okay.” I sniffed, panicking slightly.What would they do if they found out about the war drive that was still tucked away in my pocket?
I screwed up my face, doing my best to kick up enough brain activity that the screens would signal I was thinking extra hard, but without actually bringing up the war drive to the front of my mind.
Instead, I focused on Sebastian’s face. The clean lines of his jaw, the concerned furrow of his brow.
He was beautiful.
Beautiful but… somehow so achingly sad.
I couldn’t put my finger onwhy,but he just seemed so…broken.He was all fake, practiced smiles that I instinctively knew were hiding something much deeper.
The way he kept reaching out to touch me, then stopping at the last minute… like I was some sort of lifeline he was desperate to reach for but didn’t think he deserved to grab onto.
“Well?” Sebastian asked, glancing up at the technician as the symbols representing my thoughts whipped and whirled across the screens.
“I can’t read them, sir. I’m sorry. It’s like trying to read a sentence with all the consonants removed. I only have vowels to work with, and it’s gibberish.”
“Jay would have fucking been able to figure it out!” Luke spat, and Sebastian subtly flinched away from his father’s angry outburst, though he looked more annoyed with his father’s ebullition than anything.
“With all due respect, sir, I’m not Jay Reynolds,” the technician replied, sounding frustrated that he even needed to point that out.
“Forget it,” Luke snapped, and he whirled on his son, barely containing fury and blame painted plainly across his features.
If I hadn’t been blackmailed into this role by The Forgotten, I would have seriously considered quitting and leaving campus after this experience.
This man scared me, and I didn’t like the way Sebastian kept flinching every time he made a sudden movement, like he was worried his father might hit him.
