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She stilled, her fingers feeling the back of her head to see if she was bleeding “That’s illegal”

“You really are as ignorant as you seem on the news CommTECH runs the country—they make the laws and do exactly as they wish It doesn’t al They wanted to plant a chip in my brain that would turn my life into a live feed for security to watch in detail They would have seen me bathe, seen me use the toilet, seenanyone could have done to stop it”

It didn’t make any sense “Active recorders are only used on heavily monitored criminals”

“No, my dear, they’re used on anyone CommTECH wants to use them on” He stood and held a hand out to her “Please, come with me Otherwise, I’ue take care of getting you to the terrace And I can’t guarantee that you’ll make it there in one piece”

Keiko cast a glance back up the stairs, but there was no sight of Mace Tiht off these two men, and she couldn’t wait for Mace Please let him be okay

“Ms Sato, we need to go”

For soenteel manner even more offensive than the brutish behavior of his fellow Freedohter His civilityher to walk to her execution

She gritted her teeth and stood, feeling each bruise on her body as she did so The man put his hand on the small of her back as he walked her to the elevator It was a courteous gesture, at odds with her walk to the gallows

“Stay here,” he told her attacker “Back up Rock Make sure the reporter is dealt with”

Keiko felt the blood drain fro her stulared in her direction but did as he was told Meanwhile, the polite rammed the panel with their destination—the terrace and Freedom

“Did you run to Freedom when you were told you’d have an active recorder implanted?” She shouldn’t have cared, but she wanted to know To understand

He arched his eyebrows at her, surprised by her question “My wife left me She didn’t trust me when I told her that I’d refused the implant A week later, I was fired Two days later, I lostTell me, Ms Sato, to whom should I have run if not to Freedom?”

He didn’t need to say all

of his other options had disappeared once CommTECH had wiped their hands of him No one would employ someone CommTECH fired If they did, they risked the wrath of the company Which meant that once CommTECH ruined an eht it was a security matter To ensure the fired employee had to find work in a different sector, to prevent theained at Co she’d been deluded about

“I’m sorry about what happened to you,” she said softly “No one should have to deal with that”