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“Yes, but this is more important. I need you there,” Nick says briskly.
“Why don’t you reschedule it? I have been to every one of these formal events. This is not a good idea; you’d be down one man, not to mention I still have a livewire in room seven to contend with.”
“No can do,” Nick shakes his head. “Everything is already confirmed and set up with Reynolds.”
The bastard—he wants me out of the picture so he can have Julianna all to himself, without me interfering, but he’ll only wind up messing with her mind some more. His scheming plan is written all over his face. Once a month, we hold a formal dinner upstairs in the hotel’s main ballroom. It gives us an opportunity to test the women’s loyalty, an experiment to see how each captive behaves in mixed company, if she’s truly accepted her new role, or if she’ll try and bolt for the door. Of course, there is no way out, and security is always doubled upstairs.
The room falls silent, everyone lost in their own thoughts until Jared pipes in out of nowhere. “Well, would you like my report on deductive and inductive reasoning regarding the—“
Nick immediately cuts him off, “No, and hell no.” He holds out his hands in a stopping motion. Jared is one smart motherfucker, but he doesn’t have the first clue of how to communicate. He can only think in scientific reasoning, and Nick has no patience for it.
Nick then turns his attention back to me and asks, “Where are we with the new implant chips?”
I clear my throat, wiping the grin off my face that had formed from their exchange. “One of the biggest hurdles right now is we’re waiting for the company to finish perfecting the GPS receiver chips. They do have some working models, but they’re still undergoing extensive testing.”
Nick’s brows furrow, not taking his eyes off mine. “What’s the holdup?” He doesn’t like waiting, and it seems like it’s taking forever to get his hands on this type of technology.
“Apparently, the company has run into a few technical difficulties. The main problem is in order for the chip to be embedded, their power source needs to remain small, yet they still have to be sensitive enough to receive signals from thousands of miles out in space. Their designers are still working on them.”
“How big would that sucker need to be?” Nick asks, grabbing a pen. He begins to jot down a few notes.
“About the size of a quarter. The chip is intended to be embedded in the hip.”
Nick scratches at his chin with one hand, and rolls the pen between his fingers of the other in deep thought.
Leaning forward in my chair, I tell him, “We will need to invest in new detectors and readers. Each is going to cost about five grand, but it’s worth it; this technology is profound.”
“Did the company have a target release date?” he asks, tilting his head to the side, outwardly excited about the thought.
“No, they didn’t say.”
He rests back into his chair, tapping his finger on the desk. “Interesting.” Suddenly, he changes the subject, his demeanor immediately tense as he sits up straight. “She’s scheduled to be in the clinic this morning. I want the full work-up.”
“Who?” Jared asks confusedly, as his eyes shift between the both of us, but I know who Nick is talking about.
“Room seven,” he answers.
I shake my head in disagreement. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea. She had a shit-ton of anger yesterday. I think she needs more time, more meds, sedation, or all of the above.”
Jared breaks in with his expert advice. “Nah, Trav, with the amount she’s had for the past thirty-six hours, she really should be at peak level.”
“It’s two against one, Travis,” Nick says, cocking one eyebrow at me.
Placing my empty coffee cup on the end of his desk, I mumble, “Yeah, well, we’ll see about that.” I’m not happy about the decision. “What time is she scheduled?”
“In about fifteen minutes,” Nick informs me.
I look at my watch and get up to leave. “Well, no time like the present. I’ll get the party started then.”
As I reach the door, Jared calls out behind me, “I’ll be in there soon. I just have some lab work to filter through first.”
“No problem, man,” I say, pausing in the doorway.
I’m not looking forward to this morning. I’ve been doing this long enough to know when someone is ready to be pushed or not, and right now, she’s not ready. Maybe the reality is I’m not ready to face her. I get this unexplainable feeling when I’m around her, and I need to shut it down. Every time I create a new barrier, she seems to find a way to break through it, and I go soft every damn time. Plus, I’m on the acting stage as it is, since there are hidden cameras every-fucking-where; I have to be careful just how warmhearted I get. I shake my head at the thought of me growing tenderhearted. I have enough nightmares haunting me from my past as a result of having been too softhearted. Being benevolent only serves to cause me weakness, chaos, and pain; that bullshit’s not going to happen. Leaving Nick’s office, I turn down the long hallway, making my way to Julianna’s room. It’s show time.
