Page 116 of Ezra
“Nobody’s coming in without your say so, Zoey,” I reply. “I just want to know why.”
I didn’t expect the conversation to last long at all, but it does. She’s venting, going on this somewhat nonsensical tirade, but she lets it all out. I can recognize indoctrination when I hear it. It’s difficult for me to separate the girl I worked with at the museum, laughing and joking about sexy cavemen and dancing around my new apartment, with the girl who holds the life of my father and the man I love. All I can do is keep her talking and hope it calms her down.
The sun will be rising soon. I’m somehow exhausted and wired at the same time. Zoey’s starting to lose some of her steam.
“You have to kill my masters, you know,” she says during a lull in our conversation. “The androids with me. Ezra shouldn’t have activated that beacon. Now they refuse to leave unless you kill them. They won’t risk being taken by the enemy.”
“I know,” I tell her softly. “But they’re not who I’m worried about. I’m worried about you. And Dad. And Ezra.”
“They beat up your dad a little bit.” Her voice softens a little. “Gave him a black eye and stuff. But he’s alive.”
She sounds more like a nervous kid than a confident young woman at the moment.
“And Ezra?” I whisper.
“They reprogrammed him. He’s TerraPura now.”
I grip my cell phone tightly, bowing my head. For a moment, I forget how to breathe. How to think. But something in me refuses to accept it. I can’t believe it, not until I see it with my own eyes. I can’t trust everything she says. Clenching my jaw tightly, I finally respond with another question. “What happens if you try to walk away from this now, Zoey? Tell me what happens to you.”
She’s quiet for a long moment. “My masters kill me.”
“Okay,” I whisper. “But we’re not going to let that happen. Where are they now?”
“They’re here. They can hear me. They just don’t care. They’re invincible, you know? The masters. Nothing fazes them. I can say anything I want, and it doesn’t matter. They’re just waiting for orders.”
“Orders from who?”
“I don’t know,” Zoey mumbles. “They didn’t really tell me. I was supposed to accompany the androids, appear like their owner, and deliver Carson to an anonymous contact. But then NCPD found us. They won’t come now.”
“Okay.”
Zoey’s voice breaks. “I don’t want to get shot. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I’m just so angry all the time. My dad lost his job. My mom left him. My boyfriend barely makes ends meet. Diana, her husband—everything is just so tainted. We ruin everything we touch. I want someone to pay for it, and?—”
“I know,” I tell her, trying to sound sympathetic while still being guarded. This is my friend, but the sting of betrayal is strong. “But it doesn’t have to go down like this.”
“They’re not going to let us exit. It’s too late for that.”
“It’s not too late.” I look to Deion for assistance as the SWAT team readies itself. “I just need your solemn promise that you’re not going to hurt anyone.”
“Is Bridger there with you?”
“No, but I can get him here. That won’t be hard. He loves you, Zoe. We all know you’re a good person, deep down.” It hurts me to say those words. How could she do this? After the museum bombing, after everything. But I’ll say anything to get the people I love out of there. “Promise me.”
Her answer is a resigned sigh. “Okay.”
I’m guided to stand far back, near the bridge. Then, SWAT is deployed. They crash through the utility vault, barricaded inside by the occupants.
My heart beats so hard, it might as well be lodged in my throat.Come back to me, Ezra.In an instant, I witness an exchange of gunfire, unsure of who’s winning this fight. More and more police show up, circling the insurgents.
Two androids appear, rushing the police vehicle barricade. Neither of them is Ezra. Law enforcement tries to gun them down, but they keep coming until one has catapulted over a barricade, his body lighting up from the inside out.
Jacobs shouts, “Get back, get back, get back!”
I can only watch in horror. The android is unstoppable, like a freight train. He doesn’t stop, and finally, he explodes, sending me and police ducking and scrambling for cover as he takes out a few cars with him.
But the other doesn’t follow suit. I’m expecting a secondary explosion. It doesn’t come.
“Stay where you are!” Deion shouts, aiming at the other android. Bullets are flying but they aren’t slowing him down. He just keeps moving. Ivory blood speckles the ground but nothing seems to deter him. He maneuvers a hundred feet from that utility bunker and makes his way to the bridge, tossing officers out of his path when they try to intercept, like they weigh nothing to him. He balances himself on the rails, impervious to bullets as they whiz past him, embedding into his synthetic skin. He turns and looks at everyone, smiles maliciously, and jumps off the side, plummeting into the dark waters of the Vanderbilt River below.
