Bytes of Passion

Chapter 35

Of course Margaret could give her back her memories... she was the leech who'd stolen them from her. Skylar tried to contain her anger, both at herself and Margaret. If she had realized months ago how Margaret had been using her – that she had the cure – Skylar never would have gone on the dark web to arrange her own kidnapping. Then again, she wouldn't have met Teegan.

Oh, Teegan, what am I going to do? Make a deal with the devil or find a way out of here, without my memories?

Skylar took a deep breath. "No," she finally answered Margaret, hating herself for it. She wanted her memories, to know who and what she'd been and done. Teegan had said her past shouldn't matter, but it did. How could he ever trust her without knowing her past? How could she ever trust herself?

Margaret frowned, far less creepy and telling than her earlier smile. "This facility is our back up. Thanks to that mercenary you were with earlier, we had to abandon our primary base. And now that idiot Dennison brought you here, jeopardizing our location." She shook her head, as if talking about a child who'd walked all over her new rug with muddy shoes.

"Now that you're here, you have two choices. Work with us willingly or return to the chair." She motioned to the chair in the center of the room, twin to the one she'd been strapped down in countless times over the past... months? years? Hell... she didn't even know how long they'd been using her. Skylar barely contained her shudder.

"What, no enticement package, bonus money for signing up on the spot or extra vacation time?" Skylar asked, hoping her voice wasn't shaking like the rest of her.

"Stupid, girl," Dennison said. "I should have killed you and Mickaelson when I had the chance."

Hearing Teegan's name sobered her. She knew this wasn't a game, but resorting to sarcasm and humor was preferable to screaming hysterically or worse, shutting down and giving up any control she had over the situation.

"I told you to leave," Margaret said over her shoulder as Dennison stood at the bottom of the steps.

Dennison shook his head. "Can't. My ass is on the line here. Use some of that white stuff on her, Goldsmiths, so we can get her to destroy the information she has on me."

Margaret sighed once more, almost like a mother who no longer knew how to handle a wayward child. "You see what I'm dealing with? He's an ass, but he's a loyal ass." Her green eyes darkened. "I will have your loyalty too, Skylar, or you will continue as before."

"Sure," Skylar said. She could swear her loyalty on a bent knee before Council, and it still wouldn't mean squat. "You cure me and I'll work for you. It's not like I have anywhere to go. At least I don't think I do."

Margaret laughed. "You don't, dear. You had no family or friends to speak of, and you weren't paid nearly as much as you deserved. Your old life isn't worth returning to. What we offer you is so much better."

Whether Margaret meant that as a slight, she couldn't say, but the woman was right. She had no one, not even Teegan at this point. Though a part of her still held onto the hope that he'd return. But that didn't mean she should give up searching for a way to escape, maybe even with her memory restored.

When Margaret motioned her to the chair, Skylar froze. "Oh, I see," Margaret said. "The few memories you have are of the time you've spent in that chair. Very well. We can do this here." After she pulled over a stool for Skylar to sit by a worktable, Margaret withdrew a vial of blue liquid from one of the refrigeration units.

Skylar really wanted to believe Margaret would give her the drug she needed to unlock her memory, but she couldn't. Margaret was part of a group of murderers and terrorists who had lied, drugged and used her. Skylar rubbed the scars on her left arm. Taking an unknown drug from the master manipulator herself was risky, but it didn't look like she had much choice. She had to trust that Margaret really did want her alert enough to hack for them and that this blue liquid wouldn't harm her further.