赤裸裸的滑稽故事

“Why would you do that?” Clara asked.

“Because, based on the reactions so far, you guys are probably about to tell me how she is sending false information and secretly laying traps and blah, blah… I get it; she did some bad stuff to people and is not trustworthy.

“But I don't know anything about that. What I do know is that she has provided valuable information that could help Summer and its allies get ahead in the coming fight. So, before you guys immediately try to discount and ignore what could be a great inside source, let's check her out. See what her personal computer tells us.”

Clara looked to Galen.

Galen sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

He knew that he should tell her to shut it down and reinforce whatever allowed Alice to even send a document to them. Ashleigh had made it clear that she did not trust Alice or anything about her. But, on the other hand, Caleb had been the one that said Alice wasn't all bad.

“Do it,” he sighed.

Nessa nodded with a brilliant smile and immediately entered line after line of code. It took almost twenty minutes before any progress was made, but suddenly Nessa smiled and sat straight.

“I'm in,” she whispered.

Galen and Clara had been glancing through paperwork while they waited. Finally, they hurried over and looked at the screen.

It was a basic desktop, with only one or two folders and a few standard tools.

“Looks pretty empty….” Clara said.

“Yea… not sure what we're supposed to learn from this….” Galen added.

Nessa smiled.

She opened the first folder and found it empty. The second folder contained four more folders. Finally, after going ten folders deep, she found a game file.

Opening it up, she was faced with a question.

“Would you rather be a scout or a spy? What is this?” Clara asked.

Galen remembered the first time Alice had come to Summer. Caleb had called her a spy, and she corrected him that she was a scout.

“Choose scout,” he said._-.

Nessa chose scout.

“Would you rather use honey or vinegar?” Nessa read the question out loud.

“What the heck is that supposed to mean?” Clara asked.

Galen stared at the words, feeling like he had heard them somewhere before.

“I guess… honey?” Clara asked.

Nessa nodded.

“It would be a guess either way,” Galen said. “Go for it.”

Nessa selected honey.

“Are you my enemy?” Nessa read the screen.

Below the question was an empty box.

“It's not a this or that question,” Nessa said, “I guess we type our answer.”

“No, right?” Clara asked. “I mean, that's what we should say? Who would say yes?”

“I guess,” Nessa said.

“Wait,” Galen called as Nessa began to type.

The memory of a long-ago conversation stirred in his mind.

“Honey, not vinegar, Darlin. Don't you know the basic rules of talking to the enemy?”

“Are you my enemy?” Galen asked, looking her in the eye.

Alice let out a small gasp of surprise.

“I'm not sure yet,” she answered before turning to leave.

“I'd rather you not be,” Galen said as she was walking away.

“So would I,” Alice whispered with a curious smile.

Galen took a deep breath as the memory faded.

“I'd rather you not be,” he said. “Try that.”

“Are you sure?” Clara asked. “That's really specific….”

Galen nodded.

“Alright, here goes nothing,” Nessa said as she entered the answer.

The screen changed, and a new desktop appeared with many more folders and icons.

“That's more like it….” Nessa smiled, but before she had a chance to select anything, something else appeared and blocked the screen.

A pop-up with one more question.

“How will you remember me?” Nessa read with furrowed brows.

Clara sighed.

“A piece of chocolate,” Galen said, remembering the phrase Caleb had told him he used to reach Alice the two or three times he was able.

“What?” Clara asked.

“Don't ask,” he sighed. “Just try it.”

“Ok,” Nessa said, entering the phrase.

The desktop returned, and Nessa smiled while the others let out sighs of relief.

“So, this is it?” Clara asked. “We're on her computer?”

“Looks like it,” Nessa said. “Let's start looking at what we've got.”

Nessa opened a folder called ‘Personal'.

“Really?” Clara asked. “All these folders, and you start with the one marked personal?”

“Hey, you guys don't trust her, might as well go for the nitty gritty and see what we see,” Nessa replied.

Nessa opened the folder. Inside were several documents and a few folders. She was about to open one of the documents labeled ‘treatment schedule', when Galen interrupted her.

“What is that?” he asked.

“What?”

“The folder titled ‘Sweet Boy'.”

“Let's find out,” Nessa said.

She opened the folder, and inside were three video files.

The first one was immediately recognizable as Axel being named Alpha.

The second was of Axel and several others shaking hands and smiling. Finally, one man bowed to Axel, and he smiled back. That was where the video ended.

“That looks like a security camera,” Clara commented.

“I agree,” Nessa said. “I can probably figure out where, but it will take some time.”

“Check the third video,” Galen said. Growing a little concerned as to why these videos of Axel were on Alice's computer.

Nessa opened the video.

It showed Axel sitting at a desk, typing. The camera was clearly on the computer he was typing at.

“She hijacked his camera….” Nessa whispered.

Axel stopped typing. He sighed and hung his head, running his fingers through his hair. It was clear he was upset.

He let out a soft sob and then pulled a small braid from the back of his head and pressed it to his lips.

“I miss you,” he whispered.

The video suddenly closed.

“Why'd you close it?” Clara asked.

“I didn't,” Nessa replied.

A new window opened in the center of the screen. Within that window, all three saw themselves for a moment.

“Shit…” Nessa sighed.

The desktop fell away, and, in its place, Shae reappeared. First, she hissed and swiped at them. Then, her body fell apart into numbers, and letters were reorganized to say, ‘Playtime is over'.

“Fuck!” Nessa shouted as her screen went dark.

***

Alice the doll sat at her computer, staring at the screen but seeing nothing. Her hands scurried across the keyboard, typing commands and code away, but she seemingly had no idea of her actions.

Inside her mindscape, Alice was in complete control. She saw the notification. Someone else was looking at her private files.

“Oh, Nessa, I thought we were friends,” she sighed dramatically.

She sent the kill code back through the hole Nessa had tunneled into her system files.

Alice had been piggybacking off the adorable creature Nessa had made out of the bug she had left in Summer.

She was disappointed that the game was over but satisfied that she had provided Summer with what she could.

It wouldn't have lasted much longer anyway. Knowing how Holden operated, it wouldn't be long before he pulled her off the Summer assignment for lack of results.

With a sad sigh, she deleted her desktop, including the videos she had of Axel.

There was a knock at the door.

Alice quickly finished the last commands to send her parting gift.

The door opened just as the desktop was reset, and Alice gave back control to the doll.

“Hello, dearest,” Holden smiled as he entered the room.

“This specialist is a tricky one. I'll give her that,” Alice said.

“I see. You are still unable to break back into Summer?” he asked.

“No,” she sighed. “Every time I get in, I get kicked back out. Soon she'll start to notice my attempts.”

“Then let's move on,” Holden smiled. “I have a field assignment for you.”

“Oh?” Alice smiled. “Will there be cute boys involved?”

Holden cleared his throat.

“A girl can dream,” she winked.

“Get ready to leave,” Holden growled.

“Yes, sir,” she saluted.

***

Galen returned to his office shortly after the failed attempt to hack Alice's system. He left Nessa with instructions to reinforce all of their security and to make no further attempt to contact or track Alice.

He sat down at his computer and received a new email notification.

The subject was ‘Parting Gift'.

Galen opened the email. First, he furrowed his brows, unsure of what he was looking at, but then darkness settled into his eyes as he understood.

An image of a man with dark hair and fiery eyes stared back at him. Scans of plane tickets to Europe. And in the body of the email were only a few words.

“Roman won't fall for my trick for very long. He will be back. Keep her safe.”