The Braverman Experiment by Aubrey Parker

Author:Aubrey Parker [Parker, Aubrey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sterling & Stone

CHAPTER SIX

“I said, ‘Search Clive Spooner.’”

Again, Brad refused.

They’d been at this for a half hour, and after Andrew’s strange departure and her ominous chat with the mystery caller, Chloe’s nerves were fried. One or the other would have weakened her; both together cut her at the knees.

She was on fumes — and interestingly, her current questions for Brad weren’t even the ones that bothered her most. She was asking because she felt she was supposed to.

What Chloe really wanted to know was what had been wrong this morning, when Andrew left. She wanted to know what he was up to, why he was bothered, why he’d looked regretful and sad.

What wrong had he crusaded off to fix?

Or for that matter, what wrongs did he feel he had perpetrated against Chloe?

She could get the answers to at least some of those questions. She could get Brad to plug her into City Surveillance, if necessary. She actually didn’t know too much about Andrew. He didn’t talk much about himself beyond his work, and she knew almost nothing of his past.

Of course, Brad could tell Chloe all sorts of things about Andrew. She could get his whole history.

But no. She wouldn’t do that. She trusted Andrew. She loved him. It didn’t matter that he’d left her frightened and fragile this morning. It didn’t matter that he’d upset her, then gone off to places he wouldn’t divulge …

… to do who-knew-what with who-knew-whom.

Stop it. Stop it, Chloe. You need to learn about you, not him. Trust. This is all about your decision, right here and now, whether you trust him or don’t.

Brad, in his usual chair in her apartment, gave Chloe her predicted reply.

“We’ve talked about this. There is no way for me to provide the information you keep requesting.”

She snapped like a twig. “Stop playing both sides, Brad! Either you’ll help me or you won’t. Don’t do that bullshit where you tell me you have a secret, then refuse to tell me. It’s cruel. And not fair.”

“‘Cruel’ and ‘fair’ have little meaning to The Beam.”

“Oh, but sympathy has meaning? You said you were loyal. Does loyalty have meaning to The Beam? You said you’d protect me.”

“I have.”

“I know that in your robot way, you get jealous. I’m a friend, right? As much as you can have friends? You were a bitch when we started working together. Your holographic body inhales and exhales. You get pouty. And proud. I’ve seen you defensive and angry. I don’t believe for a second that it’s all just programming, Brad. I know you by now, and I can tell the difference. You’re observant, like me. You take best guesses. And you know when to bend the rules.”

“This isn’t a rule I can bend, Chloe.”

“Bullshit!”

Brad waited patiently until Chloe, more frustrated than ever, felt calm enough to continue.

“I told you what that man said. He had his own research or data somewhere — something from twenty years ago. Something he and Alexa were working on, though I guess he decided to go over her head.

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