Defiant: Quantic Dreams Book 2 by Elizabeth McLaughlin (reading list txt) 📗

to move away from the one-armed embrace he had caught me in. Something was about to go very wrong. “Now now, Jakey boy,” Gabriel growled at me. “Play nicely. You wouldn’t want me to take all my marbles and go home.”

“Fine.” It’s not as if I had a choice. The faces of the crowd had settled into contented anticipation. Their expressions reminded me of the way the man in the cafe had calmed after Gabriel touched him in the virtual world. Clearly he had just as much hold over people here, even if his influence was gained through rapport rather than neurotransmitters. What was his ploy going to be now?

“Ladies and gentlemen, you must bear some patience for this man!” Gabriel resumed his address to the crowd. “He has worked himself to the bone from the very moment he learned of the outbreak! I understand your frustration, I’m worried myself, but this kind of outrage isn’t the answer!” It wasn’t? I couldn’t blame people. If our fortunes had been reversed I would have caught myself up in the same desperation. Hell, I was a little surprised that I hadn’t ended up dead in a shadowy corner of the shelter already. Offering even a glimpse of real solace would be more than enough to get me to listen. I was already screwed.

“What would you do?” A man who I recognized as one of Gabriel’s fan club shouted. “What would you do if you had won the election, George?”

Gabriel released me from his grip and spread his hands, a beneficent mountain of a man, bringing his unshakable peace to the scattered lambs. “I’d honor the will of the people, of course. If it is your wish to return to the virtual world, I would do everything in my power to make that happen.” Shouts of support erupted from the crowd. This was supposed to help me? How? “Now, I think you’ll all understand if I have a private conversation with Mr. Alvaro for a moment. We are both men who have the best interests of the people in mind. I have no doubt that the two of us can work something out. After all, it is only through collaboration that we will survive this crisis.” He turned and pulled me towards him again, showing our backs to the crowd as if we were co-conspirators in a plan not yet revealed. “Here’s the deal, Jacob.” The tone of his voice made a chill run down my spine. It was machinelike, so similar to how he sounded before I unplugged us, that I had to blink hard to bring myself back to the present. “You and I are going to talk here like old friends for just a minute. When I let you turn around again, you’re going to let me make an announcement. You will have this virus under control within three weeks and if you cannot accomplish that, you have agreed to allow me to start reactivating the hibernation pods. Nod if you understand.”

Damn. Here is was, the culmination of Gabriel’s efforts. if he couldn’t beat me outright, he got others to join him. He took advantage of my lack of control to seed enough distrust that there was nothing I could do. Rather than hopelessness, I felt a perverse relief. Gabriel was leaving me an opening to relieve myself of a horrible burden. After everything, it was tempting to just give in. I could volunteer myself as the first person to plug themselves back in. One quick prick on the arm and I could live out the rest of my days in a little shack by the sea. That is, if Gabriel didn’t just kill me instead.

By the time it was discovered that Gabriel had manipulated the populace into relinquishing their freedom to him again, I would already be long gone in one way or another. Then I thought of the fate that would actually befall me if I was plugged in to the virtual world again. Gabriel wouldn’t let me live out the remainder of my days peacefully, nor would he grant me the mercy of a quick and painless death. I had committed the ultimate act of defiance and violence against him. If I gave up the fight now I could look forward to as many tortures as his unhinged mind was able to devise before I died. He wouldn’t just take his anger out on me, either. My family would be targeted too. There was no way I would let that happen.

Filled with renewed defiance, I turned towards him. “You’re a piece of shit, Gabriel. I always knew you had Daddy issues but this is just sad, you know?” I earned a slight growl for that. “You need to face up to the terrible truth.” I wrapped an arm around him as if I were going to embrace him and pulled his face close to mine. “You’re going to have to realize that you too, are mortal.” A flash of something crossed his face then. I wasn’t sure if it was fear or anger, but I knew deep down that I had just sealed my fate. Lose this fight and I was going to lose it all. Family, sanity, and possibly my life. Not necessarily in that order. With no more charades to perform for the crowd, we turned back to the people and I tried very hard not to roll my eyes as he laid his plans out in full. When he was finished thunderous applause broke out in the chamber and he waved.

The race was on.

Chapter Fifteen

Progress was indeed slow going on a vaccine. As we had no immunologists in the shelter we were relying on machinery that most of us hadn’t operated in years to do the job. The virus itself was complex; short of being able to inject industrial disinfectant into a patient’s veins more research was required. As more people fell ill it myself and the medical team decided that it would