The Overseer seemed oblivious to the fact the general was moments from beating his ass. Cyprian’s foul reaction to the way she had been experimented on, made her like him even more.
“You have been rather entertaining,” Cuttles said to Riley between stuffing bites into his beak. “You will have to keep an eye on her, General. She is more intelligent than she looks. Riley made quite a bargain with me when she first arrived. I haven’t seen profits like this from an exotic auction, well, ever.”
“Oh. What kind of bargain?” Cyprian asked as he looked from Cuttles to Riley.
“I agreed to dance in exchange for my necklace.”
“It’s a very interesting necklace. It holds a data chip with her native songs and some images. Interestingly it also holds another file, which became corrupted when I loaded everything into our system.”
Riley froze as Cuttles looked her square in the eyes. She could tell he was assessing her, with those creepy sideways pupils of his.
Does he know? Come on, say something.
“A virus?” Riley screeched. “You don’t think it’s going to ruin all my music, do you?” Riley asked as she adopted a frown.
She tried to play ignorant, meanwhile she was screaming inside.
I thought I fixed this when I destroyed my drive.
Exo said he made it so the file couldn’t be copied off her thumb drive, but Cuttles had all sorts of technology at his disposal.
If Cuttles pieces that damaged data together…Oh Jesus. He doesn’t know yet. Cuttles is so arrogant, he’d say something if he decrypted the map already, Riley consoled herself, though in the back of her mind she knew it was just a matter of time.
“Don’t worry Little Manx. They’re probably harmless junk files,” Cyprian said casually, though she could see the question in his eyes.
Riley nodded, while hiding her concern. Hopefully the comment was enough to keep the Overseer from looking at the file any further, but now Cyprian was suspicious of her again.
The general might be genuinely concerned about her safety, but he still thought slavery was acceptable. She’d been growing soft toward Cyprian, letting the mind-blowing sex and pillow talk sway her opinion of him.
I have the worst Stockholm syndrome ever. You can’t trust yourself, and you can’t let either of them discover that star chart.
Riley tried to still the trembling in her hands as she took a large sip from her drink. Her world felt like it was closing in around her. Riley’s concern mounted as a Verrater guard approached the Overseer, wearing a grim expression. The male whispered something to Cuttles then left.
“I am sorry but I must cut lunch short. I would appreciate it if you would accompany me to my study. There are some things you need to see,” Cuttles stated. “Have this food sent to the general’s suite,” he said to a nearby server.
“Fine,” Cyprian said as he quickly stood, then helped Riley out of her seat.
Riley agonized over what she was going to do, as they descended on the large see-thru escalator and entered one of the back halls. Riley recognized the set of doors leading to the Overseer’s lavish office. She watched Cuttles as he slid into an upholstered scissor chair. The two tentacles he used as hands moved over the tablet on his desk, and a large image appeared on the far wall. She eyed the tablet computer.
I bet Aculus’ data and the star chart are loaded in that tablet. June, I could really use that scary smart brain of yours right now. Riley didn’t know the first thing about deleting files from an alien computer.
Things went from bad to worse as she glanced at the image playing on the wall. There stood the cloaked figure of Aculus near the stage in the weapons viewing gallery. The hood on his coat kept his face obscured, but she knew it was him.
“That’s the male who sabotaged the weapon?” Cyprian asked.
“Yes, but watch,” Cuttles replied.
Riley followed Aculus as he planted a device on the weapon, then melted into the crowd. If they weren’t intentionally following him, he would’ve blended in with several other patrons dressed like characters from Assassin’s Creed. The image shifted to show Aculus plucking her from behind Cyprian as he made his exit with the other panicked guests.
“He’s the one who took Riley,” Cyprian growled.
The general briefly looked at Riley with a narrow gaze, before turning back to the video. Riley didn’t think she or Cyprian would be present when Cuttles got a chance to view this footage. She swallowed hard, while attempting to maintain a straight face. Her nerves were already frayed, agonizing over the star chart.
The footage followed Aculus through the grand hall. The lump where she was stashed beneath his coat barely registered in the video. The next scene showed Vintor exiting the washroom, as Aculus paused several yards away. Cuttles sped up the feed to show Riley walking calmly away several minutes later, while a hooded Aculus followed casually a hundred feet behind. The video stopped when Riley met back up with Cyprian.