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I force my gaze away from him and back to the screen. The blip in the White House is making his way out of the building again. The three in the Senate still remain inside, but static. The coup is complete. Our democracy has fallen. I have more important things to worry about than this. Than him.
I stare at that screen for what feels like hours, doing my best to ignore the quietly seething male. Trying to decide what to do. What Icando.
I guess officer Welsh was right—more right than he’d have guessed, or I’m sure he would have been a hell of a lot more aggressive in surveilling my father.
Is he still alive? And if so, for how long?
If my father and whoever the hell he’s been conspiring with is okay with slaughtering the president and the majority of the Senate, they’re not going to show mercy to anyone who opposes their new regime.
DoIoppose it?
My instinct is to be horrified. A change to democracy as we know it—it’s unthinkable. On the screen, the AX soldier tasked with assassinating the president looks to be headed back toward my lab. The other three are still inside Capitol Hill. I chew my lip as I stare at those three red dots. How many people died today?
Certainly no more than they’ve killed before—often on my orders. Orders passed down through the chain of command. Does it matter that today’s death is our country’s?
Maybe it shouldn’t. But it does.
I clench my fists and look away from the screen. My father will give me leniency he won’t show to others; he’s made that much clear. Heexpectsme to oppose him, just as he’s expected me to argue since I was a teenager who didn’t want to fall in line with his archaic views on women. He’ll handle it the same way he always has: with overbearing patience. And just as he did with my refusal to take an alpha husband and become meek and obedient, he expects me to come around to his way—therightway—eventually.
I glance at AX2; the alpha husband I was forced to take. I think it’s plenty obvious by now that officer Welsh was right: my father knew what would happen when he sent him to save me. Guess he got his way in the end.
I can’t muster enough emotion to feel outraged at that realization. I’m just… so tired.
I reach for the keyboard—the coup must be all over the news by now—but before I can open up a secure browser, AX2 materializes beside me, clasping my wrist.
“AX2!” I protest, startled at his sudden nearness. His touch.
“Jacob,” he says, voice cool. He doesn’t release my wrist. “If I am Jacob when you come for me, I am Jacob the rest of the time, whether or not I know who that is.”
I flush hotly at the unexpected reminder of our morning together—and my far too enthusiastic surrender to it. To him. “I… that doesn’t…” I don’t know how to finish that sentence, so I don’t try. “Let go. I’m just looking at the news.”
“I can’t allow you to touch a computer,” he says flatly.
“Don’t be ridiculous—”
“I was ordered not to. I can’t disobey orders. You should know.”
I open my mouth and close it again on a shaky exhale, eyes darting to his. This quiet rage is almost worse than all-out aggression. It creeps under my skin from the angry bond throbbing behind my ribs, and it makes me feel—
AX2 jerks his head to the side, toward the door, pulling me out of my thoughts. The next second he’s in front of me, blocking my view of the exit with his bulk. A low, warning growl emanates from his throat.
It takes me several more moments to hear the dragging footsteps from the hallway beyond.
TWO
ADDIE
The door handle creaks as the door swings open, but instead of attacking, AX2 straightens. A small noise leaves his throat, and then he strides forward, allowing me to see the newcomer.
AX21 stands in the doorway.
Blood drips steadily down his body, pooling on the floor with alarming speed. A snapped bone protrudes through one arm, and several of the deeper-laying circuits in his shoulders and neck are exposed. Bullet wounds pepper what’s left of his combat uniform.
“Dr. Thompson. I was sent for recalibration.”
“Christ,” I mutter. The AX units are built to withstand damage, but I’m surprised this one is still conscious. “All right, get into the stasis chamber.”
AX21 staggers a step forward to follow my command, but before he can take another, AX2 stops him.
