Page 87 of Cruel Master
The smugness in his voice scratches at the inside of my skull. “Yes. She’s got a filthy mind. My original plan was to take herbefore you got the chance. Steal your prize the way you did mine. But I had to adapt. And I think this is better, don’t you?”
He wanted to take her? Images rattle through my head, all of them horrifying, but I force them away and take a deep breath. It doesn’t matter. Nothing does except saving her. “Let her go, and I’ll never work again. I swear it.”
“Pretty words, but we both know you’d report me to Kendrick as soon as you got a foot out the door. And where would the fun be in that? Tal and I went to a lot of trouble setting this new game up. We should get to enjoy it.”
Enjoy it? The words send a shiver down my spine. And Tal? I almost don’t want to ask—the answer can’t be anything good—but I do anyway. “Who is Tal?”
Dmitry doesn’t answer for long enough that I shake with the effort of keeping still, despite my best intentions. 1:48:02. It’s running down too fast. The irony isn’t lost on me. I used the timer to torment Juliet, and now this one is tormenting me.
“He’s nothing compared to your Candice, of course. He doesn’t have thetrue spark of sentienceI keep hearing about. But Tal and I have been together a long time. He’s helped me create some interesting scenarios over the years. The sarin gas? That was his suggestion. It’s clever, isn’t it? Especially when you created the prison yourself.”
Interesting scenarios?The way he says the words makes them feel coated with filth. Dimitry isn’t just bitter and jealous. There’s something wrong with him. And Tal? It must be one of Dimitry’s creations. AIs develop based on the sort of content you feed them, much as humans do. What the hell has Dimitry been feeding this Tal if it’s sadistic enough to come up with this?
On the monitor, Juliet closes Charlie's tank and gets to her feet. She stares around the cell, then wanders to the altar and picks up her sketch book. She’s here because of me. In dangerbecause of me. Whatever might happen to her after I die, it couldn’t be as bad as what Dimitry is going to do.
I run through my dwindling options. My phone is still dead. The doors are still locked. It’s a prison, and there’s no way out. Sweat sticks my shirt to my body as I try the computer keyboard. Maybe I can find a way through whatever Dimitry is doing? But as I try, the lights dip, and Juliet’s timer flickers, dropping to thirty seconds.
“No!” I leap to my feet, an iron bar around my chest as it flickers again, shooting back up to 1:46:21.
Dimitry’s laughter echoes around the room.
“You fucking bastard!” I slap the desk, but he only laughs harder.
I can’t reason with someone like this. If I piss him off, he’ll kill Juliet.
No.
He can’t.
I take a deep breath and sign my own death warrant. “I’ll swap with her. Just don’t hurt her. Do I have your word?”
His laughter cuts off abruptly. “She’s nothing to me. I won’t harm her. It’s you I want to play with.”
The future I’d pictured for myself and Juliet shatters, destroyed under the weight of what I’ve just agreed to. I’m going to die. And what will happen to Juliet? Maybe I can help a little. If I write a note telling Kendrick my wishes are for her not to be passed to anyone else. Can I do that? I’ll have to try.
So, at best, I've trapped her in a lonely life away from everyone she loves.
Fuck.
I stare at the timer again, counting the seconds to my death.
“Time to go,” Dimitry says. It’s a door slamming shut, and panic scrabbles at my chest.
“I need to leave a note for Kendrick. I need to tell him what I want for Juliet—”
“Forget it. Move, now. And don’t think of trying to grab her and escape. I control all the locks. The outer door won’t open until you’re secured in the cell. I’m more than happy to gas you both.”
I can barely breathe as I get to my feet and walk toward Juliet’s cell.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Juliet
Iwanttodrawbut can’t make my hands obey. I’m back in my cell, but it’s not permanent. I stare at the door and can’t hold back a smile. Soon, I’ll walk out of it again. I’ll walk out of it, and Hadrian will be with me. The real one, not the character he’s been playing.
I’ve missed him so much.
I didn’t know how much until I saw a glimpse of it today as he talked me through creating Candice. He thought I hated his work; I never realized that until now. I should have worked harder to make him understand why I was so scared of what he was doing. It was never his goal that scared me—it was his reckless obsession.
