He brought his hand up to my face again when a grunt behind him reminded me Maddox was also here. Cy stepped aside, and my tunnel vision locked on Maddox’s darkened Vysor and grim expression.
“Still feeling the effects of the dampener?” I couldn’t see his eyes, but I knew they were scanning over my slack face and the trail of drool I felt in the corner of my mouth.
“Like a bad hangover,” I huffed.
“Well, sober up.” Cy had something metallic in his hand, but it was much larger than any bioChip. He held it out before him and pressed the top of the small cube with his thumb. The entire device vibrated, and eight spindly appendages popped out of the sides—like some sort of perverse, titanium spider. It leapt from his hand and landed on my chest. I hissed as those eight legs ejected nanowire and latched into my skin.
“Cy, maybe we should—” Maddox started, but Cy cut him off.
“Always soft for women, man. She’s going to catch you off guard like those NSPD idiots. Straighten the fuck up.”
While they argued, I tried to summon my Flux to fry the little beast on my chest, but white-hot pain laced through my head. Cy noticed as my jaw clenched and smirked.
“Got a Flux dampener on you. Don’t think I’m a complete idiot.”
“No reason to think otherwise.” I managed to force my numbed lips into a smile.
His eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched as he moved toward me, but Maddox stepped between us.
“Do you know what that is?” Maddox motioned to the device on my chest.
I finally gave it a look. On top of the cuboid body was a small screen, its green readout slowly pulsing like a heartbeat—my heartbeat.
“Lie detector, I’m guessing.”
Maddox nodded. “Yes, but it’s also a motivation device.”
I quirked an eyebrow at him. “Motivation, huh? That corpo speak?”
“Why don’t you test it out, doll.” Cy pushed around Maddox’s bulky frame. “Go ahead, lie to me. What’s your name.”
“Lady Godiva.” The device flashed red and started shaking. As its processors whirred, it began to heat up.
“That’s it?”
Cy placed a hand on the back of my chair, leaning in close, his eyes burning as he said, “Lie to me again, gorgeous.” Maddox let out a soft cough, but we both ignored him.
“I’m the CEO of MedTek.” The device shook harder, and I realized it wasn’t just heating from running—it was getting uncomfortably hot. Then, like fire, each of the nanowires in my skin flared and pain shot from my chest to the back of my head.
“I’m the Queen of Sheba,” I hissed, and the pain intensified until my vision went white. I wouldn’t have been able to answer any more questions if I tried.
Cy smacked the green light, and the device shut down. “The more you lie, the faster you burn. See—motivation.”
My arms were shaking in the restrains, adrenaline from the pain still coursing through my body. I tried to slow my breathing, slow my heart, before responding.
“And what exactly are you motivating me to do?”
“Just have a few questions we want you to answer—starting with what you know about the explosion at the Green data center.”
“I don’t know anything about that.” Immediately, pain lanced through my body.Stupid!I had to be smarter. I had to get out of this. Be careful with my words. I ground my teeth to stop from screaming as Maddox hit the button on my chest.
“Let’s try again. We can start simpler.” He moved away, his arms crossed. “This whole conversation is being recorded. Please state your name for the camera.”
“Eon Ibarra.” They clearly knew, so no point in lying.
“What happened at the Green data center?” Maddox asked calmly.
“I don’t know.” The device lay quiet. Maddox and Cy exchanged a glance.
