Page 58 of Amethyst Flame
If you’re caught, which is unlikely—Ha! Unlikely?—then trust me to get you out, Dane had said.You are not alone.
Felt alone though. Felt totally fucking alone.
Ruskin approached my invisible cage and gave me a warm smile. “So you’re my little miracle.”
CHAPTERELEVEN
My heart was doingsome sort of weird polka complete with discordant oompah music echoing in my brain.
Ruskin pulled a chair away from one of the consoles and angled it toward me. She didn’t swagger or straddle the chair backward or any of that toxic masculinity bullshit, just sat neatly, hands on her knees, staring at me.
“Not a lab rat,” I said.
And immediately wished I hadn’t taken such a snarky tone. Saving my ammunition, indeed.
Did Dane and Jacob know I’d been caught yet? Could they get me out before Ruskin dissected me?
But she laughed. “Apologies. I just can’t believe it. I’ve worked for this for so long. And here you are instead: a wildcard spontaneous evolution in our experiments. A singularity.” Her voice trailed off, and her green eyes were soft with something like wonder.
Had anyone ever thought I was wonderful?
I gulped down the panicked breaths stacked in my chest that might’ve triggered either screaming or a very inappropriate laughing jag. “I can explain—”
Keep talking until Dane arrived, gun a’blazing.
“That you were trying to steal the next-gen tech?” She flicked her index finger dismissively, like swiping left. “Yes, yes. I can see that for myself. That’s why I set the trap, after all.”
Yikes. Dane was going to be pissed that he fell for it. Which I couldn’t wait to tell him…if I survived.
“I’m sorry,” I told her, and I truly meant it.
I was really, really sorry to get caught.
Very carefully, I set the vial on the floor and held out my empty hands. “It’s like I was lured down here, against my will. As if there was some sort of siren call echoing in my mind…” Trying not to fidget, I waited to see if she’d buy the excuse. If she played Legendelirium, she might recognize it as the setup for a side quest in season two, but I was desperate and not thinking at my best. I was a terrible secret agent.
Trust me to get you out,he’d said.Well, where the fuck was he?
Ruskin only tilted her head the other way. “How did you synergize the hive?”
“I have no idea.” A true answerandlikely to keep her from killing me immediately. “Your employee Brayden stole the moths and left them where I’d get infected and then—”
She sat forward attentively, as if I was the most fascinating person on the planet, while I stumbled through a montage retelling of my experience, sans uplifting musical score. I didn’t mention Dane or Jacob or Vegas or any of the important parts, just enough to keep her from—I dunno—executing me on the spot.
When I petered out, she nodded slowly. “We’ll add this to our project notes and consider future implications. Thinking it through, much of it could have been anticipated.” When I gave her an incredulous look, she amended, “Not the slushy part, of course.” Her chuckle had an edge, and the way she crossed her arms, leaning back, implied she wasn’t feeling as confident as she sounded.
Well, I knew all about faking it. “Once I stopped throwing up after that first day, the bugs just sort of…hung out. It wasn’t untilyour employeeAlling kidnapped me that I found out more about them, and obviously he didn’t tell me much.”
“He didn’t have much of an opportunity, did he? He died by the gun in his own hand during the fire.” She pursed her lips. “By the way, I appreciate that you keep emphasizing it was my employees who embroiled you in this mess. You’re the one caught with your hand in the proverbial cookie jar.”
I didn’t want to think of broiling plus dead bodies and that fire I’d set with my moths. “Well, you gotta admit, HR seems a bit slack around here. I mean, they letmein.”
Heh. Bantering to save my skin. Buy the boys some time. Any second now, they’d save me. Dane promised.
She laughed again. “Be assured I’m reviewing our intake processes. Our algorithms should’ve identified Greg Alling’s weaknesses earlier. But after the fire and with the hive still missing, I’d hoped the access offered by the intern program would bring our intruder back around.” Her gaze fixed on me. “And so it did. Although my money was on William Teller.” She shrugged. “Selma takes the pot. She’ll be thrilled.”
Oh fun, my secret identity was part of an office pool. A wave of anger crested over my fear, even though I’d probably outed myself when I tweaked the electron microscope while Oluwa was watching during our tour of the labs. They were playing a game with my life—many lives, actually.
Any…damn…second, Dane. Now would be good.
