Ultimate Nyssa Glass by H. Burke (ebook reader browser txt) 📗

the office and the workshop is pretty much airtight … the one between the office and the lab is just a flimsy divider. Shutting the door between might buy us a little bit of time, but not much.”

Nyssa nodded then dove for her tools. She took up a hammer and examined the floorboards for weak spots. “Well, I guess I better work fast then.”

“Nyss, there’s always the option of me giving him what he wants.”

She glanced at him. “That’s no guarantee. A man like Rivera doesn’t leave witnesses.”

“Yes … but … look, the fact that what is programmed into me is just programming doesn’t make it feel any less real. If you die, I don’t know how I will process it.”

“Well, then we’ll figure out a way to keep me alive.” She placed her hand on his monitor. The points of light on his screen swarmed to her touch until her fingers glowed. The diamond in her ring sparkled like a thousand stars. “This doesn’t change our plan. It just means we have to work faster. Bring up the house plans again, please.”

She studied the plans then paced off to where she thought was the best place to begin her “excavation.” Finding the edge of a floorboard, she sank the claw of the hammer into the crack. “Wish I had a crowbar.”

“There might be one in the closet near the wash sink,” Hart said. “The professor kept a stash of miscellaneous tools, and he sometimes used heavier ones working on his robots.”

Nyssa opened the indicated door, and her nose wrinkled. Cobwebs covered a jumble of broom handles, metal plates, and a rusty upright toolbox nearly as tall as she was. She pulled open the first drawer to find it full of mismatched bolts and screws. The second, however, had a crowbar. Grinning, she returned to her task.

The nails screeched as she pried the board up from the floor. Beneath lay a tangle of wires and pipes, too thick to squeeze through.

“Shock me, this is going to be harder than I thought. Are these wires part of your system?”

“No, they aren’t on my plans. Perhaps something Rivera did during renovations. I was inactive for much of that.”

“Don’t want to risk cutting into anything live.” She slipped her goggles over her face and turned them to their electromagnetic-field-detection setting. Some of the wires glowed. “Going to have to be careful going through here. Don’t want to fry myself.”

Something buzzed next to her heart, and she jumped. Her hand flew into her breast pocket and withdrew the handheld. It vibrated again, light slipping from beneath the lid. Every cell in her body trembling, she flipped it open. The screen blurred with static for a heartbeat then steadied into a clear but black and white image … She fumbled, nearly dropping it, then clutched it closer, bringing the video-screen right before her eyes. “Ellis?”

The face on the screen gaped for a moment then smiled, his eyes staring at her as if she wasn’t quite real.

“Nyss? Are you all right?” His voice had a wobbly, underwater quality, but it was still his voice, his beloved voice.

She sank to her knees. “I’m … I’m fine. Oh, Ellis, I worried I’d never see you again. I tried to call out last night, but I couldn’t …” A sob choked her.

“I just now got into range. Oh, Nyss, you don’t know how good it is to see you. Where are you? Are you safe?”

“Yes and no … for the moment, I’m all right. I’m in Dalhart Manor, in the lab. Rivera’s the one who brought me here. It’s a long story, but I managed to get myself locked in, and for now he can’t get to me.”

Ellis beamed. “That’s my Nyss.”

“You’re in New Taured, then?”

“Yes, and I’m coming for you. Just hold on.”

“You have to hurry. Rivera’s run out of patience, and he says he’ll pump gas into this room to force me out in a few hours.”

Ellis’s eyes widened, then his mouth wrinkled into a scowl. “All right … I’ll be there before then. I’m working on a plan.”

Worry shot through her.Shock me, Ellis is smart, but Rivera is ruthless. Do I really want Ellis going up against him? On his own?

“Please be careful. I don’t know how, but he knows about you. I didn’t say anything, but he found out you’re alive, and I’m worried what he’ll do to you.”

“That’s not really a surprise, unfortunately. When did he find out? In San Azula?”

“No, it was after he brought me here. Just this morning, in fact. He stormed in wanting to know what you knew and how you were still alive. I’m not sure how he found out.”

Ellis pushed his hair back from his forehead, his thinking tic. “Yeah, that timing confirms something I’ve been dancing around. Hold on, all right. I wish I could keep you on the line, but there are things I have to do. If you need me, though, call. I’ll get you out of this, Nyss. One way or another. I love you.”

“I love you too, Ellis.”

The screen flickered out, and the strength drained from Nyssa’s limbs. She collapsed, hugging herself and sobbing.

“Nyss, are you okay?” Hart asked.

She wiped her eyes, drew several deep breaths, and forced herself to her feet. “Yes … I mean, I will be. I’ve got a floor to cut through first, though.”

I’m going to get back to you, Ellis. Nothing in this world is going to stop me.

***

Ellis stared at the now blank screen. Turning off the handheld had felt like letting go of a rope and allowing himself to fall.

At least I know she’s still alive. I can save her, but if she’s right about when Rivera found out about me, I have another, more immediate problem.

“Well, what now?” O’Hara sat across the tiny hotel room on the twin bed. The clerk had given them a look when Ellis had checked in, but Ellis was in too much of a hurry to worry