Page 88 of Amethyst Flame
Even though he’d tried to blast me, I felt bad for Will.
Fuck, IwasWill.
“Positive identification on William Teller’s vehicle,” one of the professional security assholes behind us said.
And sure enough, a car was just turning into the lot. Looked like…a Tesla. In white. I wondered what had happened to his gray SUV. Maybe I’d whammied it worse than I thought.
I missed my rusty bucket so badly right then, I didn’t care I was about to trap someone like me. Will could suck it.
He parked. Got out. But he stood by his car, looking toward Banta’s main entrance.
Nervous? He should be.
He pulled himself together enough to start toward the doors with that lanky stride of his.
My guts knotted. “I’m not sure this is the best idea.” Though I didn’t know why I felt that way. Dane would approve of everything Adley was doing. And I couldn’t think of anything better. Unless maybe we just sent him an email with a plan and let him turn himself over on his own?
“Did he attempt to hurt you this weekend?” Adley asked in a leading tone.
“Well, yeah.” But I didn’t have a scratch on me. Even the lash to my cheek hadn’t left a mark. “What are you going to do once you have him?”
Security snapped a pic of him as he entered the main lobby and posted it in the corner of the wall screen. The skin around his eyes seemed a little red and puffy. His already-pale skin looked a little gray. And his hair seemed thinner up top.
“I’m going to help him, Imogen.” Adley must’ve sensed the tension behind my question because she added, “I swear to you I don’t intend to harm him. But his hiveisharming him. Right now. If he becomes violent, as he did with you, then we may be forced to use measures to keep everyone else here safe.”
“You could try talking to him,” I muttered.
“Oh, I’ll try that first. I promise I did learnsomethingfrom you, Imogen.” She smiled at me. “We’ve had no coerced test subjects here at BantaMatrix. Everyone involved is a collaborator.”
Yeah, no…that just sounded sketchy. But here I was, collaborating. Dane would be proud. Mom, however, would be so disappointed. She’dtoldme not to come back here.
We watched as Will stopped in the break room, got a coffee and what looked like…an everything bagel, and headed to the bright, happy big room where the interns gathered every morning. A couple of the guys were tossing something shiny back and forth over the girls’ heads. Like the playground at grade school.
“That’s a prototype,” Adley drawled. “Worth about half a million.”
“Oh shit,” I said.
“Indeed.”
Will entered and Rahm, who had the prototype, fumbled the catch. The ball danced on his fingertips—I held my breath—before he got it safely in hand and tucked it under his arm like a basketball.
Adley inclined her head to the left again. “And please remove the prototype from the interns’ workroom. And schedule a lecture on how to handle expensive tools.”
Meanwhile, the others greeted Will, and Mary Liz went over and asked him about his weekend. Her body language clearly communicated that she was into him, but he was so distracted and twitchy that he was missing all her cues.
Will ate his breakfast while Mary Liz chatted. His gaze tracked the room, lingering on the discreet camera in the corner as if he knew we were watching.
I sank down in my seat a little.
But otherwise it seemed a normal morning for the interns. The group leaders entered—Oluwa looking fabulous and slightly irritated as she called Will, Rahm, Hassan, and Mary Liz into one of the project rooms.
The sound in the security room shifted from the main intern area to follow Will into one of the classrooms.
Oluwa was speaking. “We have a lot to do today and no time for bullshit. Rahm, I see you throwing around one of our prototypes again, you’re out of the program.”
Rahm put the prototype down on the table. “I didn’t kno—”
“I don’t want an apology,” she told him. “Just don’t do it again. Today you’re each getting paired up with a senior researcher to shadow them throughout their day. Donotembarrass me by asking asinine questions or slowing down their work.”
