Chapter 27 · The collar can stop your heart

He crouched in front of the chair. The position should have made him look less dangerous. It didn't. He set one palm on the armrest and leaned close, his knee pressing against mine to keep me from shifting away.

"The collar can stop your heart," he said. "The implant in your spine can shut down your motor functions. The contract can erase your remaining access privileges. And the archive can wake the old protocols."

"You put all that inside me?"

"I kept you alive."

"You built a cage and filled it with switches."

"I built a cage because you kept trying to run into gunfire."

"Maybe I was running from you."

"You were."

His voice dropped.

"You just don't remember why."

The room narrowed around us.

I could hear his breathing. Mine was worse. Fast, shallow, angry enough to shake my chest.

"You erased me," I said.

"No."

"You cut my past out and left me with a leash. What else do you call that?"

"A rescue."

I laughed once. It came out rough.

"You really believe that?"

"I know what I did."

"Then tell me."

"Not here."

"Why not?