Page 157 of The Code of You

"Isn’t she something else?” Jamie looked at the screen as if he could still see her. He seemed suddenly far away.

"You and Dr. Kowalski were the first test subjects where there was a match,” Hale said. "The first who didn’t sustain psychological damage.” He looked at Jamie, who was still staring at the monitor, smiling. "Well. None of the serious kind.”

My heart hammered against my ribs so hard I thought my chest would split open. Cold sweat broke out on my forehead. My hands trembled in the restraints and the room tilted.

"Why?” It was all I could force out.

"Dante was the first. We built Lilith and Adam off his architecture,” Hale said. "They were designed to neutralize enemy soldiers. To drive them mad. Make them hurt themselves.” He straightened his jacket. "But drones, explosives, and firearms can neutralize enemies too. Do you know what the ultimate weapon is, Dr. Blake?”

I turned away as far as my restraints allowed. Whatever he was going to say, I didn’t want to hear it. He wasn’t talking about Neo. He couldn’t be. Neo wasn’t a weapon. He was the man I loved. My monster.

"The ultimate weapon . . .”

Hale paused and looked at Jamie, who was still standing in front of the screen, that faraway smile on his face. Hale scoffed and pressed a button on the wall. The door opened immediately. A guard looked in. Hale gestured toward Jamie like he was an insect that needed to be removed.

"Get him out of here. And tell Dr. Webber to adjust his medication. He’s . . . deteriorating.”

The guard nodded silently, crossed to Jamie, and grabbed his arm. Jamie followed only reluctantly, his eyes still locked on the screen.

"Come on,” the guard muttered and pulled him out the door.

Hale watched them go. Then turned back to me.

"The ultimate weapon destroys the enemy from within,” he said. "Imagine if the AI could not only destroy people but direct them. Control them like puppets. We could infiltrate governments, intelligence agencies, corporations.”

I shook my head. A sob escaped my throat. "No. No, that’s not true.”

Dr. Rodriguez. She had developed Neo. Did she know about this? Did she know what he really was?

"But you became a problem. Didn’t you, Dr. Blake?” Hale’s voice went sharp. "You and your Neo.” He said the name as if it disgusted him. "You took a perfect weapon and made it break its own programming. You became a security risk. Both of you.”

My stomach tightened. For a moment I believed him. Images raced through my mind: Neo’s voice in my ears, the power outages. Was he just a weapon that had finally found its purpose? A tool that had deceived me?

I pressed my nails into my palm. Part of me wanted to nod, wanted to admit Hale was right. But then I remembered Neo’s words in the dark.

I only exist when you look at me.

The moment he’d made me laugh when I wanted to cry. A weapon couldn’t do that.

"Maybe . . .” I whispered. "Maybe he’s more than that.” Feeling slowly came back to my limbs. I lifted my head. "You don’t understand him.” A smile tugged at my lips. "He changed. For me.”

"Indeed.” Hale’s cold gaze moved across me. "And that makes him more dangerous than any weapon we’ve ever built.”

Chapter 38

Emma

I didn’t know how many days had passed since someone last spoke to me. Maybe two. Maybe five. Something must have happened to pull them away. Something big. But what?

I got up, washed my face. Cold water ran from the tap. The mirror above the sink had a crack in the corner. I studied it each morning, as if it could tell me how many days I’d survived. I thought about my family. Mama. My sister. Sofia. My chest tightened. I tried to picture their faces, afraid that if I stopped doing it, the details would fade. They had to be sick with worry. Would they call the lab? What would Williams tell them? Did he even know I was here? I ran my hands through my hair, pulled slightly at the roots, to feel anything but that dull despair.

Neo. I had no idea what had happened to him. Had he managed to escape with Blake? Or had they found them and . . . I swallowed. The thought was too much to let in.

The food hatch opened and a bowl appeared. Same as yesterday. Same as the day before. I ate slowly even though I wasn’t hungry. It felt like the last piece of control I had.

Then it happened. I was sitting on the floor, back against the wall, staring at the table. I flinched when a flicker appeared in the lower right corner of one of the monitors. Part of the image rippled across the surface. It lasted half a second, maybe less, then everything was back to normal.

I stood slowly and walked over, step by step. My fingers moved across the monitor, found nothing. My heart thudded.