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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
In the next room, the Emperor’s voice rises.
“She has a purpose and we need to see get her into action. She’s got a job to do. We can’t just keep on waiting.”
I freeze and press my ear against the thin wood wall.
The Mastermind says, “What do you suggest? We give her a script, teach her some lines and a couple of speeches, then throw her at the lions?”
The Emperor’s footsteps are heavy enough to make the wood floorboards bounce through the whole lodge. He says, “Come on…”
“No,” the Mastermind’s voice hardens. “I want to hear it. What are you saying we should do?”
Almost shouting, the Emperor growls back, “Do you see a way through this without her?”
“She’s not dead. Don’t talk about her like she’s dead.”
“She might as well…”
“DON’T!”
My heart hammers in the silence.
An engine roars outside. Two sets of footsteps beat on the wood steps and the door opens. The Emperor and the Mastermind call out, “Hey.”
I hear a grunt in the Warrior’s voice. Then the doctor.
“Is she here? I need to examine her.”
“First off,”the Emperor’s gruff snarl, “you’ve been brought up to date on her condition?”
“No change is what I’m hearing. But she’s healthy otherwise?”
The Emperor is demanding. “There has to be something you can do.”
The doctor takes a pause. Then, angrily, “You mean can I give her a drug that’s got all of her memories in? Or is there some kind of an electric shock that will switch all her lights back on? No. Human bodies are not machines. There’s no part I can swap out. There is no patch or upgrade I can load her up with.”
The Warrior cuts in. “Where is she?”
Then his boots head this way. Quickly I move away from the wall.
Not quickly enough, though. The Warrior is pretty instinctive. I can see he knows that I’ve been listening.
I sit on the side of the bed.
He tells me, “The doctor is here. He wants to see you. But you know that, right?”
I look up at him. “While you were away, getting the doc, the other two were… um… well, they kind of surrounded me.”
“Oh?” his eyes harden.
“Yeah they were… well, you know they were really close and–”
His lip twists. “What, are you coming to me for protection? ‘Daddy, save me from the nasty men’?”
“No… I…”
“Oh, so you’re just tattling. Telling tales.” His jaw flexes and his lips tighten. “Do you really think you can get us at each other’s throats? Set us off against one another?”
