Page 119 of Ezra
“Deion!” I call, not taking my eyes from him.
“Kyrone,” Deion says in the background. “Do it. Get the cord, get behind him. We don’t know how much time she’s got him for.”
“On it.” Kyrone pulls a long, heavy cord and a sleek black case from his car. He holds the tri-plug end like a knife. He crosses the distance between the police cars and Ezra’s position in long strides.
But I never look away from Ezra. “I love you,” I reassure him.
“Katrina.” His entire body shakes as he fights the programming inside him. “I love?—”
Kyrone jams the cord into the back of Ezra’s neck. Ezra jolts, then goes completely limp. I feel like I’m getting stabbed too, wondering if it’s painful, if I’ve caused him hurt. I sag, stifling a sob.
“I don’t got a lot of time. I need to reset him,” Kyrone explains as he starts frantically working through the holo-projections hovering about his tablet. “TerraPura programming is self-destructive.”
Fresh fear overwhelms me. Will I lose Ezra either way?
Seeing Ezra limp, prone, as people extend his limbs like a scarecrow and scan him with machines right here in the open seems so macabre. I know they’re helping, but I want them to stop touching him and let him be. I can only stand there with him, remain as close to him as I can. Ivory blood leaks from a hole in his chest left from a ricocheted bullet. I press my hand over it to stifle it, gazing into his slumbering face.
“I’m here,” I whisper softly, hoping he can hear me in his present state. “I’m here with you, and I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’ve got it,” Kyrone says, like he’s struck gold. “I’ve got it! Holy shit.”
“What is it?”
“I’ve got a copy of the TerraPura programming now, for the first time ever,” Kyrone says, unable to hide the excitement in his voice. “Droids always self-destruct before we can really take a look at it. I managed to quarantine it like a virus and download it. We’ll be able to study it and shield Ezra and other droids against it in the future.”
He looks up at me. “And you made it made it possible. Thank you for this.”
“Is he going to be all right?”
“Right as rain.” With his words, I let go of all of the tension in my body for the first time since I learned what was happening. “He’s hella smart. He uploaded his memory drive to his cloud before he went out on assignment, like he does every time.”
“Katrina.” Deion rests his hand on my shoulder gently.
I turn to face him. I can see the weariness, the gratitude, the stress of it all weighing upon him, all tinted with relief. “Thank you.”
I smile at him. “Don’t thank me. Thank you—for being his brother.”
I stay with Ezra until he’s packed into a car and shuttled off to BioNex headquarters. I want to go with him, but Deion refuses, promising me he’ll be with him every step of the way, telling me I need to get some sleep. I’m so exhausted that I can barely argue. The tremors in my hands threaten to return. My mom and dad are at the hospital. They need me too. At least with Deion and Kyrone, I know Ezra is safe. Now there’s a way to ensure this never happens to him again. I’m not a bionic engineer; I shouldn’t get in the way.
The next day, after sleeping a full twelve hours, I have to play catch-up with everything going on. Rashelle and Jayne keep me apprised of Ezra’s progress. He needs massive repairs—things that can’t be done overnight. He’ll be out of commission for a week in the laboratory. A week without Ezra is like an eternity, but Rashelle offers to go with me to see him while he’s being repaired, and I eagerly take her up on it.
It’s like being in another world, watching from outside Laboratory 317 at BioNex headquarters. Dr. Genevieve Taylor and her android, Victor, are hard at work. Ezra is mounted on an activation pedestal, his arms outstretched and his synthetic skin removed. He looks almost alien without skin. Ethereal. His mainframe is sleek dark blue, almost black. Lights glow where his circuitry is.
I watch engineers and technologists tend to him in quiet awe. Ezra is the most earth-shattering man I’ve ever met—but seeing just how intricately he’s designed, how beautiful he is beneath his synthetic material renews my admiration for just how incredible he truly is.
Several days pass. I stay with Mom and Dad at the hospital the first night, and then when Dad is well enough to be released, we head to a hotel and don’t tell anyone where we’re going, except Detective Washington. He keeps tabs on us, and I check in with him often.
It’s difficult, broaching the subject with Dad about shutting down Humanity First for good. But to my surprise, he didn’t fight me or argue or even seem disappointed in my decision.
“I’m only sorry I made it in the first place,” he says regretfully. “I was filled with so much anger when I founded it. And filled with so much hope that we could really change the trajectory of the nation. Of the world. But there’s no stopping what they’ve started now. And I only caused heartache for everyone involved.”
“Dad—”
“No, Kitty.” He doesn’t allow me to argue. “That’s my burden to bear. Let me sit with it a while. It’s the least I could do.”
The conspirators within Humanity First have been arrested and charged for attempted murder. That bolsters my father’s spirits a bit. Together, my father and I announce his retirement in a livestream announcement on the website several days after his kidnapping. All of our funds will be donated to various local New Carnegie charities.
Then, with Dad next to me, I address the entire organization from my platforms, with hundreds of thousands of viewers watching me from all over the globe. It’s the biggest livestream I’ve ever hosted, and the pressure is on. But I know what needs to be done.
