Page 90 of Amethyst Flame
“Actually…I don’t feel very well,” Will said. “I need to go home. I don’t want to be sick here.”
Every word he uttered felt like the absolute truth. And he didn’t look well at all.
Adley’s expression shifted to concern. “Why don’t you sit down, and I can have someone take a look at you.”
“No.” He took a step back while still holding on to Oluwa. “I have to go.”
I remembered Dane’s theory that Will had been trying to warn me that killing him might be the only option. Today, I heard the warning loud and clear in Will’s plea to go home. He didn’t want to hurt anyone.
I hoped Adley was listening too.
“The help you need,” she said, “can only be found here.”
Will’s mouth opened, tension making his forehead taut, though by his grip on Oluwa, he had to have suspected that Adley had arranged today’s meeting to call him out.
“I swear to you,” she went on, “I will help you.”
“Mo told you,” Will spat.
“Imogen has become a valued part of my team here. You’ve seen that she comes and goes from the site at will, lives her life fully, and all the while we here at BantaMatrix are committed to making certain she achieves a full and dominant symbiosis with her hive.”
See now, her word choice—dominant?—suggested she did know about the bugs plotting a human host takeover. She was trying to communicate that to Will without tipping me off, but…consider me tipped.
“I can offer you the same deal,” she told him. “Your choice of projects, your choice of support team members, and a parking space. I think the space was the clincher for Imogen.”
“Her car is a rusty dead heap in the desert,” Will said, voice rasping.
“And I thank you for that,” Adley returned. “Now she can pick out something a little safer and with a little more style.”
I groaned. Adley had just blown it.
And she’d been so fucking close!
Will seemed to shiver. “Mo told you about our fight, too?”
That he’d tried to incite a nano-bug battle to the death? That he’d been violent enough to destroy property and would’ve blasted me if I hadn’t been so quick on my feet? Yeah, I’d told her.
Adley’s calm expression wavered as she recognized her misstep. “Imogen asked me to make a place for you here. She believes in you.” Her gaze flicked to Oluwa. “And we believe in you too.”
Hestillwasn’t letting go of Oluwa, which meant he had a hostage. Adley couldn’t isolate him with that dragon-powered force field without trapping Oluwa in there with him. And who knew what he’d do to her then.
The situation out there had become a blender full of fruity ingredients and frothy pomegranate juice. Any second now the blades were going to spin, and guts were going to splatter on the ceiling and walls.
Best get a lid on it pronto.
I promised myself a whole cheesecake on my way out of the security room into the white lab’s main area.
Will’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “Mo. I figured you were here somewhere.” It was an accusation.
“No shit,” I shot back. “I work here. And you could too. At least look at the contract.” I was stalling so Adley could get her shit together and figure out a way to take him without anyone getting hurt. “I know you don’t need money like I do—what with that silver spoon thrust up your ass—but it’s nice to have an inside track on the tech, considering that tech is part of us now.”
“We’redying,” he told me.
“Not today, asshole.”
“Imogen!” Adley chided.
Yeah, yeah, except I knew what I was doing. And Oluwa was starting to sweat.
