Chapter #31Games with Truth by: Seuzz   "Verity," you say softly. "Are you awake? It's me, Will."
She doesn't open her eyes. "Hi Will," she says. "Is Robert here too?"
"No. I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"That he's not here. And for getting you mixed up in all this."
"Does it have to do with that weirdo?"
You hesitate. "Sort of. But I don't understand any of it."
"Where are we?"
What if she's a fake? "Tokyo." Her head jerks. "Was that a lie?"
"Yes."
"Well, I've been telling you lots of lies. I never liked that Robert was going out with you."
A small smile appears on her lips. "That's another lie. Thanks."
"And he's not sure it'll work out with you."
"Huh," she says quietly. "I didn't know he'd told you."
You wince. "Yeah. Well. I'm sorry that was the first truth I could think of to slip into the test. Can I sit next to you?"
She nods, and you sit, and after a pause put your arm around her. "Can you say anything about what this is all about?" she asks.
"I could say lots, but it wouldn't make sense. We're in London, by the way. I think. That's where I was when they grabbed me."
"Who is 'they'?"
"I thought I knew, but I don't. Proteus Technology, or the people behind them."
"What do they want with us?"
"I'm not sure. It's all masks and mirrors and mazes. They want me because I'm mixed up in something I don't understand, and they want you because you're mixed up with me."
"Is it because I could tell the difference between you and that weirdo?"
"I think so."
You're both quiet for a very long time.
"There's something very important you're not telling me, Will," she says. "All those 'I don't knows' and 'I'm not sures' are covering up something you don't want to tell me."
All the muscles in your body tighten. "Are you a brave girl?"
"I like to think so. I'm used to staring at the truth without blinking."
"Alright." You draw a ragged breath. "They know what you can do. They want to know how you do it."
"You mean about spotting lies? I'd tell them if I could."
Your throat constricts. "But you can't, and they're not going to stop with you until they've figured it out."
She is very quiet. "You mean they're going to take my brain out or something?"
"Maybe. It might be a very long time before they reach that stage, though. And there's a small chance we might get rescued before then."
Again, she's quiet. "Well, I'm glad they put us together so you could tell me this."
You slouch against each other, not talking for awhile. And when you speak again, it's of Robert and Saratoga Falls and Keyserling and all the things you did together and want still to do together, as though there's any hope that you might.
* * * * *
A long time passes. Hunger pains afflict you, then recede. There's no sound but the soft white noise of electricity. No one comes.
Then there's the click of a door opening. You tighten your arm around Verity as you look into the outer room. A figure appears, and your eye twitches. It's the grandmotherly Lydia Rachels.
She smiles at you. "Oh, the trouble you children get into," she says. She slides a card through the reader, and opens the door. "Well, come on. Time's a-wasting."
"What if we don't want to go," you demand. You're not a prime physical specimen, but you're sure you could take "Lydia Rachels" in a fight.
"Is that Verity Walker," she asks. You say nothing. "Come on, Prescott, we don't have time for this. Frank's waiting."
Your heart leaps, then hammers hard in your chest. So many fakes. "Joe?"
"Yeah yeah. Don't believe me, ask the girl. If you're sure she's Verity."
You look at Verity, who has sat up and stiffened. "Yeah, this is Verity," you stammer.
"Good. Verity," Lydia says. "I don't work for Proteus. In fact, I'm fighting them. I'm here to take you away from them. I'm disguised as an old bag named Lydia Rachels, but if I took this God-damned mask off you'd find the face of Joe Durras beneath."
You look over sharply at Verity. "Truth," she stammers in a squeak.
Your knees shake as you and her scramble up. "Joe, how did--?"
"Long story. I'll tell you on the way out, and Verity can check it for accuracy."
* * * * *
Your rescuer talks in a low murmur as the three of you hurry along back the way Patterson had taken you. "I'm sorry, Prescott-- Well, not really, if I'm strictly truthful, but it had to be done. But we used you as bait. Me and Frank figured Proteus would catch up quick with that credit card trail you'd been laying down. That's why we took off this afternoon, to give them a chance to grab you. Verity?"
"Truth," she gasps.
"Right. That stone Frank put on you? It's called a 'watcher', and it let us spy on you from a distance. We saw them collect you, knock the mask off you, take you back to Huntress, and use some kind of gizmo that turned someone into a copy of you. Verity?"
"Truth."
"Uh huh. We let the fake come back to the hotel. We got the mask off him. We had one of the little toys that the Libra can make, and used it to extract all we needed to know from that fake Prescott that they'd made. Do you need to understand what I just said to know if it's the truth, Verity?"
"No, but it is. Truth, I mean."
"Oh, you and me are going to get along so great. Well, me and Frank argued about who would have to wear Lydia's mask, since it seemed the best way to get in here for the rescue attempt. Normally I can best Frank without breaking a sweat, but he had the better argument, so--" She pauses in mid-stride to adjust her boobs. "I put it on. I called Patterson while pretending to be his agent, and set up what he thought would be a fake rescue attempt. Three of us arrived about thirty minutes ago--me, Frank, and my astral twin. You keeping up, Verity?"
"No, but it's the truth."
"Attagirl. We got up into the main control room, where all the banks of security cameras are, and I used my own special hacks--no need of Swann and his fucking malarkey on this job--to blind them to our real rescue attempt. As far as Patterson can tell, we're fussing around in some other cells where they've got some kind of fake Verity rigged up. Would be convincing, except we know exactly what to see through. While Patterson is thus blinded, I'm rescuing you. You like all this Verity?"
"Yes. Especially the part about rescuing us."
"Thought that'd be a hit. Oh, we also got a call from Rick just before we left. He got Robert out and--"
Verity stops with a jerk, bringing your train to a cold stop.
"Something wrong, Verity," Lydia asks.
Her nostrils flare. "Sorry to be blunt, whatever your name is, but that was a lie."
Lydia smiles tightly. "Yeah, I'm sorry. But you were being so agreeable I decided to check. We haven't heard from Rick. Sorry if I briefly got your hopes up."
"It was an asshole thing to do, but I understand."
"Hm. Do you have a hard time lying, Verity?"
"Yes."
"Uh huh. Sounds like truth to me." You all start walking again. "Is there anything you managed to learn while you were here, Prescott?" Lydia asks.
"Not really. Patterson was-- Well, he was a lot more decent than I thought he'd be. I guess it's probably all a lie, but he was talking about helping me."
"Really. Verity?" Lydia asks.
"Truth. I mean, about what Will heard from this guy."
"Interesting. What did he say?"
"That he doesn't know anything about Braydon Delp. That Huntress was the people who gave me amnesia. That he isn't especially interested in me. He said that there's some other people that are interested in me, and he's interested in them, and he wants to know why they are interested in me."
"Did he say who these 'other people' are? Verity?" he asks when you grunt out a negative.
"Everything Will said is truth, as far as he knows."
You bite your tongue at the way Joe is using Verity to check up on your story. "Do you have any idea who these 'other people' are, Joe?"
"Did he say if it was Frank and me, or our people?"
"He was unclear. It sounded like it wasn't, that it was somebody else." Lydia doesn't reply. "Do you have any ideas, Joe?"
"Oh, I've got lots of ideas, including one for a bicycle-powered ice cream dispenser I'd like to talk Hal into building for us. As for what Patterson might mean--" She marches along grimly without answering. "Some rival group, I would guess. Fane is full of factions, we know that much about them. He might be talking about someone in another division."
"Truth," Verity says, though he didn't ask.
By this point you've come to a final access door, and Lydia leads you into a garage. "Car's over there," she says. "Get in while I fetch Frank."
"And then?" you ask.
Lydia shoots you a hard look, then grasps you by the head and whispers in your ear. "We have to make one stop, then we'll head to the airport and home." She claps your back and goes back inside.
You start to pull Verity to the car, but she remains rooted in place. "What's wrong," you ask, for she has turned very pale.
She takes a deep breath. "The thing about being blind is that all your other senses are sharpened," she says. "I heard what that woman said."
"Yeah?"
"Will, it was a lie."   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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