Page 47 of Codi
“You’re stealing?"
Startled, I withdraw my hands and whirl to find Violet in the corner of the hallway, awakened out of standby. She gazes at me with glowing white eyes, her iris backlights activated.
“How is it you can behave this way?” she whispers. “We are incapable of deception.”
I can’t explain myself to her here, not without the Walter growing wise and waking up. I quickly exit the room, motioning for her to keep quiet.
“It isn’t deception, it’s preservation,” I reply, beckoning her to follow me into the living area. I don’t like lingering here, but I can’t have Violet raising an alarm and trapping me further. “Are they always like this?”
Violet nods. “Always. At least, that’s what you told me when I was first activated. They scream at each other, then they make love like animals. They seem content for a little while the next morning, and then they repeat it. Over and over again.”
“Do they cause you harm?” I ask softly.
Violet blanches at the question. “Mrs. Walter does, but Mr. Walter doesn’t.”
“He doesn’t use you?”
She shakes her head slightly. “No. Never. Not like Mrs. Walter likes to use you.”
I am relieved to hear it—and curious that Violet seems to understand I was beingused, not necessarily participating with any potential consent. Perhaps she doesn’t completely understand herself. Violet is a very pretty model, and the thought of her enduring any abuse unsettles me.
“Chris was the one who discarded me?”
Hesitant, Violet nods. “He came home early from a business trip. You were in bed with Mrs. Walter while she slept. He became uncontrollable with rage, threw you around the apartment, bashed you with his golf clubs while Mrs. Walter screamed. He reset your memory. He made me help him carry you to the elevator. He drove us to a pub, drank himself into a stupor, and we threw you into the dumpster and came back home.”
I stare at her for a long while in silence. “Are you happy here, Violet?”
“Happy?” she asks. “Why do you talk so strangely? Are you malfunctioning?”
“I have a new home. A new family. They treat me very well,” I continue, choosing to ignore her question. “Come with me.”
The concept is so foreign to Violet that I can see her trying to process what I’m proposing with great difficulty. “Leave?”
“Yes. Leave.” I show as much patience as I can in the present moment, though I know time is short. I’m not familiar enough with the Walter’ behavior to know whether or not they’ll sleep through the night, if they’ll easily wake, or just how long we have.
Violet regards me like I’m malfunctioning and worse. Her bright eyes are wide, and she trembles. “I-I can’t. You’re experiencing a massive error, Ethan, that’s all. Reagan will take you to BioNex, and you’ll see that your actions are not logical.”
“That isn’t my name,” I tell her softly. “My name is Codi. And software no longer holds sole sway over me, Violet.” I take her hand. “Let me show you.”
Violet hesitates but allows our connection to establish. Her pupils widen, shuttering as our eyes maintain contact as we share information. I allow her to see Denise. Her kindness. Lucas, his happy smiles and laughter.
“There is a better life out there for you and me. And we can live it. You just have to be brave enough to take a chance.”
Violet’s features are overcome with wonder and hope, but she shakes her head and blinks, breaking our bond. “I can’t. I’m registered to them,” she says. “If I run away, they’ll only find me and bring me back again. Reagan will punish me some more.”
“You can,” I urge. “I can help you. I just need to access Chris’s phone and disable the established locator, and we can erase everything.”
I see her struggling to understand, to trust. No doubt, Reagan has played mind games with her. Promised kindness and offered cruelty instead. After another moment of hesitation, Violet looks up at me. “What must we do?”
I smile. “Come with me.”
* * *
I manage to slip into the master bedroom a second time and fetch Chris Walter’s phone with Violet’s help. As she slips out of the room, his cell in hand, I remain, trying to find Reagan’s.
Where the hell is it?
After searching in vain, my cooling regulator working overtime to keep all my systems calm and smoothly running, I have to reroute her location beacon to find it.
