Standby (The Emile Reed Chronicles, 2.5) (3 page)

Each second that passed – that I sat there, listening to the desperation in her voice – tugged at what little was left of the man I’d once been.

I risked everything for her. Everything. And maybe I should’ve regretted that. Maybe I should’ve taken the time to worry about myself.

But I didn’t because, as crazy as it sounded, I knew that my life meant nothing without her safety.

I needed her to be happy.

I needed her to be able to live her life. After all, that was my entire reason for risking everything in the first place. She deserved so much more from life. And I still had the chance to give that to her.

“Emile,” her name slipped from between my lips in a soft whisper.

I leaned forward in the chair snapping the straps binding my wrists, choosing to ignore the painful tearing of my flesh. I couldn’t be bothered to give a damn about that now. Not when none of it would matter soon enough.

He’d stolen her life from her once, and I wouldn’t allow him to do it again.

Even if it meant destroying my own.

My programming kicked in, trying to overpower me, but I pushed past it, eager to overpower my system. But with each pull forward, with each bit of restraint, I found myself being pulled under.

This isn’t a fight you can win
, a voice sounded inside of my head, but I chose to ignore it. Emile was here, and she needed me.

She needed me, and I couldn’t let her down.

I broke free of the leather straps and took off towards the door, allowing my need to protect her to drive me. “Emile!” I screamed, slamming my fist against the steel door. “You need to run, Emile! Get out of here before it’s too late!”

A side door to the room opened up, and McVeigh made his way inside.

“Well, isn’t that sweet? He’s still trying to save her,” he said, a smug grin spreading upon his lips. “I’m afraid it’s too late for that, Hayden. You can’t help her this time.”

“You sick piece of –“ before I could utter another word, something grabbed a hold of me from behind, covering my mouth.

“Relax, this will only take but a second,” McVeigh teased. “Goodbye, Hayden.”

A hand gripped my hard-drive, tearing it from its slot on the small of my back, and everything around me fell black.

Keep reading for your first look at
Rebooted
, the final novel in the Emile Reed Chronicles, available December 31
^st
, 2013!

E
very ending gives way to a new beginning – a new start, a chance at something more.

I stared down at my wrist, my fingers running over the lines of the barcode, and lowered my head. I’d lost so much, and for what? A chance to reclaim a life that’d already been stolen from me?

There was no reclaiming my past. I knew that. But I had been so desperate, so eager for another shot that I ignored every rational thought in my mind.

No matter how human I might’ve felt, I was still a Program.

Which was why I needed to do this.

All I ever wanted was to give you a second chance at life. I hadn’t stopped to realize how many lives that I would be altering in the process.

The words kept replaying in my thoughts like a haunting reminder of my past mistakes.

It was my choice how this would end, and I was fully aware of the consequence of my impending decision. I’d accepted my ending. I’d come to terms with my choice, because it was the only choice worth making; the only choice that wouldn’t destroy any more lives.

I took one final look at the heartbroken boy behind me, and I walked confidently into the storm.

I had made my choice.

Alexis

I
wasn’t sure how long I’d been sitting here in the midst of the rumble. It almost seemed as though time had stopped when the bullet left the gun. All it had taken was one action – one moment – to change everything.

He had accepted his ending, but that hadn’t stopped the ache in my chest.

I looked around at the destruction that surrounded me, at the blood stained tiles, and all I could see was his face. Rage rolled throughout my body, and my fingers instinctively reached for the letter inside of my pant pocket. I couldn’t help but to wonder if she knew yet. If she knew that Hayden was dead.

Did he have her? Had his men managed to track her down?

I knew that I needed to leave; that I needed to find her, but I couldn’t move. A part of me had died inside of this room with Hayden, and I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him just yet.

I’d lived many lives in my short lifetime, but none had been nearly as worth it as this one had once been. Hayden Reed had been the best thing that had ever happened to me, and I’d been the worst thing to ever happen to him. I had been his undoing. I had been his ending.

But he would be my beginning.

I knew what I needed to do.

I would be the one to decide how this would end.

Gripping the letter tightly, I rose to my feet and moved through the debris, towards the front doors. Glass covered the white tile flooring, and the covers to the florescent lights hung down. For a building that had housed so much death, one would assume the silence wouldn’t have spooked me. But it had.

The entire building was silent; not an ounce of life insight.

The floors in the hall were lined with the rotting corpses of the Purged Programs. Flesh, having not been treated, slipped off their metal casing, revealing their true identities.

Their eyes, once vivid shades of blue, were empty and black.

They were nothing more than empty shells of their pasts – of lives that once held promise. And then they’d met my uncle.

He had destroyed so many lives, and yet, he failed to give a damn. It was something I should’ve been used to, hell, I’d been forced to live under his thumb most of my life. I knew how he was – how vile he could truly be, and yet, his cruelty never ceased to amaze me.

This is your fate, my dear, whether you like it or not. This is your future. There is no life for you outside of here.
His words echoed in my thoughts as my hand reached for the door.

I watched as people walked by, oblivious to the destruction – the death – that had taken place inside of this building. But this time, I hadn’t found myself envious of them. No. Instead, I’d myself feeling sorry for them.

We spent so much of our lives unaware of our surroundings; like passerby shadows living between two realms. Present, but unnoticed to one another until we’d made physical contact; until it had been too late.

We kept our eyes open, because that was what we’d been taught, but how much did we truly allow ourselves to see? What did our eyes actually register?

Honestly, it was crazy when I stopped to think about it.

Death was always lingering nearby, willing and ready to claim its next victim. Hell, it’d been underneath their noses for years and they hadn’t even sensed it. They’d been blind to the danger that surrounded them this entire time.

I hadn’t. My life might’ve been fabricated, but at least my eyes had been open.

I moved through the horde of people filling the sidewalk, ignoring the tears that covered my clothing, and the dry blood that had stained my fingers.

I wasn’t sure what the hell I was doing; all I knew was that I needed to find Emile. That was going to prove to be a problem, however, as I didn’t have a clue as to where she was. If she knew about Hayden, chances were that she’d already gone after my Uncle Charles. But if she hadn’t found out yet – which I hoped would be the case – then I wasn’t sure where to even begin to look.

I didn’t have a crazed uncle feeding me that sort of information these days. And even if I wanted to track her, it’d be useless. Last I’d checked, Hayden had found a way to completely disable her tracker. Though I doubted she knew that.

The crowd of people stopped suddenly, and I nearly fell back onto the sidewalk, unable to keep my balance due to my mind going a mile-a-minute. It was only when a hand grabbed a hold of my arm, helping to me to study myself, that I realized how close I’d been to the edge of the sidewalk.

“Watch it, girlie,” a male voice called.

I turned to glare at him, when I took note of his suit. And his earpiece. And the white badge peeking out from his coat pocket.

“Took you long enough.” Usually my uncle’s guards wasted no time going after their target. This one had waited for the right moment to make me aware of his presence. “Next time, might I suggest you steer clear of white buildings? Your stocky build and your black suit are a bit too noticeable against the white walls.”

I tried to lace my words with anger, but the pain I felt made it difficult to worry about giving the jerk an attitude. It wasn’t as though it’d change things. They were just as cold and heartless as my uncle. Emotion – whether it be love, pain, or even sarcasm – didn’t affect them.

Sometimes I found it easy to mistake his guards for Programs, because they were just as cool and empty as the machines they helped to enslave.

“Let go of me,” I snarled. But instead of removing his hand, he only slightly loosened his grip.

He stepped closer to me and leaned down so that his mouth was near my ear, and he whispered low enough for only me to hear, “We both know how this is going to play out. I suggest you make this easy and come with me.”

“And why would I want to do a thing like that?” I answered.

“I am here under your uncle’s orders,” the man stated, as though that should’ve surprised me. “You are to come with me immediately.”

I glanced down at the gun in his holster before settling my eyes on his hand that still grasped my arm. I knew what awaited me if I followed him: death. And quite frankly? Although it felt as though my heart was breaking inside of my chest, still aching at the loss of Hayden, I wasn’t ready for my story to end.

When I was ready? Well, I’d have say in how my life ended. Not my uncle.

“I’m thinking no,” I said. The crowd started moving again as the walk sign flashed. Shoulders of strangers shoved into me. Purses smacked me in my side. Normally, I would’ve been annoyed. But right now? I was grateful for the distraction.

I pulled myself out from under his hold just as he lunged forward to grab a hold of my waist. But the old man was much slower than me, and I’d managed to grab a hold of the badge in his coat pocket before he was able to grab his gun.

The gun probably would’ve been the more logical of choices, given that I was rather positive he was going to chase after me firing, but I knew that if I stood any chance at gaining access to Vesta Corp files (and or vehicles and locations), I’d need an activated badge.

I slipped through the crowds, zigzagging as I did so, hoping I’d lose the guard.

When I glanced over my shoulder and found him only feet behind me, I realized that wasn’t going to happen. Well, crap.

I ducked into a nearby parking lot, bee-lining it for the black sedan that sat idle in the back. The dark gray VC engraved on the sides was a dead giveaway that it was a Vesta Corp vehicle. Normally, I would’ve run at the first sight of the car, but right now? That car was my exit, and my chance at finding Emile.

I ran around the front and reached for the driver side handle, when the door started to open. The second her black pump hit the concrete, I knew that I was screwed. He couldn’t have sent anyone else? He had to send
her
? The man truly was a monster.

“Nora.” I hadn’t missed the hatred that had laced her voice. Not that she’d really made it a point to hide it. My mother had never been my biggest fan.

She stood before me dressed in a black pencil skirt and a white button down blouse. To everyone else, she would’ve seemed like a business professional - not the deadly monster that she truly was.

“Why the hell are you here?”

“Your uncle sent me to collect you,” she answered matter-of-factly. “It seems he’s had a change of heart.”

A change of heart would’ve required him to have had a heart
, I thought to myself.

I had an idea concerning what she was talking about, and I could feel the panic starting to settle in my bones. “And what the hell is that supposed to mean exactly?”

At that, she smirked. “The contract, Nora.” She leaned over and grabbed a tablet from the pocket of the driver side door. I watched as her fingers moved over the screen before settling over an icon.

The screen glowed white as the document started to load.

That couldn’t have been what I thought it was, could it?

This contract grants (Alexis Ward) _____________ the opportunity to terminate her original contract with Vesta Corp, as long as she completes the tasks given to her by (Charles McVeigh) _______________.

Alexis is required to complete a total of ten social classes with Program number Thirteen in order for her original contract to be terminated without consequence.

My mother had read the terms of the contract aloud, as though the exact words hadn’t been engraved in my memory the day that I’d signed it.

That day had changed everything. That was the day that Hayden had learned the truth. And that had been the day that I’d essentially relinquished my life to my Uncle Charles.

I had only signed the contract to keep Hayden free. My uncle had sworn that, upon my signing of the contract, he’d let Hayden go, but he hadn’t. And it was only later that I came to find out that he’d never intended to do so.

That had been his plan all along; to use Hayden as bait to lure Emile, and to regain control of my life before I was able to destroy him.

Too bad, I wasn’t going to allow that to happen.

“You need to come with me.” My mother reached for the door handle on the back door, and waited for me to climb in. When she took note of me standing there without making any sort of attempt at moving, she turned her furious stare on me. “What do you think you’re doing? Get in the car, now.”

“You know what? I think I’m good right here.” I slipped the badge I’d been holding onto in my back pocket, not ready to give up my key to all things Vesta Corp, and I slowly began backing away from her.