Conduit

Ch. 2

I thought of my father, the hard-working man who raised me. With my mother dying when I was young, he did everything he could to make sure I was okay—him, and my grandfather. The two of them worked and did everything Lyons asked. It was because of them that I knew what I did today.

Would they have wanted me to become a back-alley technician? Probably not. Most weren't good and had a bad reputation if they were around long enough. And those that were on the streets with a name were eventually scooped up, arrested, and behind bars, good or not. Was my time up?

As the man continued to glance into the room, I wasn't so sure. He told me I could run.

"World clock's ticking, Elijah," the man said, glancing at his wrist.

World clock. Ha. Funny. Was that government humor? The lack of hostility made me curious. Mr. Suit and Smiles here didn't seem like the type. But I didn't trust being in the room with him.

I reached behind me for Victoria's hand. It made me happy to know she was waiting and quickly pressed her fingers between mine. Focusing on the man, I asked, "Do I need to go in there? Or can it be said right here?" I motioned around the hallway.

The man's brows lifted before he pressed himself on his toes. I could tell he was trying to look downstairs. "Is your farmer friend still lingering?" he asked, looking at me.

"I don't know, I—" I looked back at Victoria. "Is he still downstairs, Vicky?"

Her gaze relaxed, white light passing over green again, before she blinked and nodded. "He is," she said quietly. "It seems like he's trying to listen."

"Listen?" Mr. Suit came closer. "You're 100 Series can do property scan?" he asked.

I looked back at him and nodded.

Property scans were only available in the Personals 500 Series and later, added for additional security and peace of mind. Any model before it wouldn't have been able to run that type of data, especially not a 100, but I needed Vicky to be my eyes and ears, especially for places I couldn't see and hear on my own; for both of our sakes. It wasn't a hard program to tweak and fix, either.

"Excuse me, 100—"

"Victoria," she and I said in unison. We looked at each other and smiled.

"Shit, it has a name." Mr. Suit lifted his brows, wiping his cheeks. "Okay, fine, Victoria, is he close by enough that if I called to him, he—"

"I think he heard you," she said. "He's already leaving, heading over to the stables. His 400 is waiting there for an update on this situation."

Mr. Suit's look of disbelief had me laughing. It wasn't loud, but I felt the tears in the corners of my eyes. I wiped them before I looked back at his face. "So, if he's gone you can say what you need to say."

He cleared his throat. He couldn't take his eyes off Victoria. Just like I'd done to Robert downstairs, I waved my hand to get his attention. He blinked and looked at me. "Um, I'd rather we sit down and—"

"Elijah." Victoria tugged at my hand. "He's safe. There are no weapons on his person and the only piece of technology he has is an outdated smartphone without its recent update."

Mr. Suit gasped.

"Anything else you can see?" I asked her.

"Not really," she shrugged. "He's just here with one job, looks like."

Blinking, I couldn't hide my smirk as I looked back at Mr. Suit. He had his hand over his mouth, eyes opened wider than normal. As I stepped off the stairs, he inched back. "I guess it's safe to talk to you about... well, whatever it is you want to talk about," I said.