Elusion(53)

Patrick sets the shopping bag on the entranceway table and shrugs. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Josh lets out an irritated laugh. “Yeah, right.”

Patrick walks around Josh and approaches me again. “What’s his problem?”

I glance over at Josh, who’s clasping his hands behind his head, waiting to see what I’ll say. Since lying to my friend’s face isn’t something I’ve perfected yet, I just go ahead and tell him the truth.

“There’s a story on the Net about this kid in Miami. The cops found him in a coma, without any ID or passcard. They showed a photo of him and there were these indentations—”

“Christ, that’s what this is about?” Patrick spins around and points at Josh. “You think the kid is sick because of Elusion?”

“I think there’s something really wrong with Elusion and you know it,” Josh says, pointing right back at him.

Patrick takes a step toward Josh, saying through clenched teeth, “You’re paranoid, you know that? And blaming me isn’t going to make that guy better any faster.”

“Why didn’t you meet me at the warehouse? I told you I had proof.”

“IV bags? Empty pill bottles? That doesn’t sound like a problem with Elusion. That sounds like you stumbled onto a bunch of druggies!” Patrick says, nearly shouting.

“Hold on a minute, Pat. Let him explain,” I blurt out loudly, trying to interrupt the rising tension in the room.

Patrick quiets down but begins to pace back and forth. Then he shrugs off his coat, nearly throwing it on the floor.

“There’s some kind of loophole, Patrick. People are figuring out how to break the signal between the Equip and the app so they can disable the automatic time-out. I’m telling you, you have to do something,” Josh says coolly. “Recall the device, shut down the server, anything.”

But when Patrick just turns away from him without answering, Josh can’t contain his contempt any longer.

“You just can’t admit that your precious product is dangerous, can you? What’s it going to take? Does someone need to die before—”

All of a sudden, Patrick lunges at Josh, grabbing his shirt and shoving him up against the wall.

“Patrick, stop!” I yell.

Josh doesn’t move. Even though he has a few inches on Patrick and at least twenty pounds—all of it muscle—he stands still, nose to nose with him, staring him down without flinching.

With some effort, Patrick breaks eye contact and swallows, loosening his grip on Josh. Patrick lets go of him and stares at his shaking hands, as stunned as I am by his outburst. His gaze slowly turns toward me, pained and desperate. My childhood instincts kick in, and I race to his side to see if he’s okay, putting my arm around him.

Then I look at Josh, who is breathing hard and, from the way he’s squinting at me, wondering why I’m not comforting him.

Honestly, I’m wondering the exact same thing.

“I should go,” Josh says, tightly.

“See you tomorrow” is all I can bear to say.

As Josh walks out the door, I’m filled with emptiness. This is such an utter and complete mess.

Why didn’t Josh just stay in my room?

Patrick lurches away from me and drops down on the bottom step of the stairs, loosening his tie. “I’m sorry. Losing it like that. I don’t know what got into me.”

“What were you thinking? That’s not the type of guy you are,” I say.

At least not the guy I grew up with.

He puts his head in his hands, running his fingers through his hair, but when he looks back up at me, his eyes are like daggers. “And what the hell were you thinking, Ree? Inviting that guy into your house?”

And into my bedroom.

“I was being polite.”

Not the best comeback in the world, but how can you argue with that?

Unfortunately, Patrick seems stumped for only a split second. “Did he tell you about his sister?”

I sit down next to him on the stairs, hugging my knees to my chest and preparing myself for a fight, because he’s not going to be happy about the next bit of truth I’m about to share with him. “Yes, and I saw the warehouse.”

I pause for a moment, thinking about whether or not I should tell him that I saw 5020 spray-painted on the wall there, and decide to hold on to that little piece of information until I can confer with Josh. Even though our kiss in Elusion may not have changed the shape of our relationship, we’re a team now, and I don’t want to jeopardize our plan by revealing too much.

“I can’t believe he took you there,” Patrick grunts.

“Why does that bother you so much? If there’s something wrong with Elusion, don’t you think I deserve to know about it?” I ask. “Josh just wants our help. His sister is missing and he’s scared. Don’t you get that?”

Patrick lets out a condescending laugh. “Nora is way beyond our help. She’s unstable, Regan. Really troubled. She has been for years. Now Josh is acting just as insane.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“I bet Nora took off, like she always does, and didn’t tell Josh where she was going. And he’s just freaking out. He called me yesterday, and when I said I was busy, something snapped. Now he’s on some sort of vendetta.”