531
532

Wu DaQi stared out the windows, questioning his decisions. Unlike Dr. Warner, Dr. Atieno Obuo had a connection to Mann Enterprises’ parent company, Mariner Tech. She’d been in the Piles for almost eight years, but she’d been a well-paid employee for fifteen years before that. There was no sign that she was currently involved with them, but he questioned his sanity for even thinking of coming to her.

He needed answers though, and he believed Warner when he said Obuo was the best. He just wished he knew why she had fallen so far. There were rumors, but they tasted bad. Something darker lay behind her fall and he wasn’t sure he wanted to tangle with it. Except she might be the only one who could help him replace his past.

The apartment door opened and a light turned on in the front hallway. DaQi turned, waiting for the woman to walk into her front room. He heard the sound of shoes hitting the floor as she kicked them off and moved so that he was in the shadows beside the hallway when it opened into the room.

When she came in, she walked right past him. She flipped on a light on the other wall, and he stepped out of the shadows, letting her see him for the first time.

Her eyes widened but she didn’t try to run. She spoke in a whisper. “532.”

He took a step back as if he’d taken a physical blow. Of all the things he expected tonight, he would never have expected that. “What did you call me?”

“I’m sorry, 532. I don’t know what you go by now,” she said. Her heart was racing, and she was taking calming breaths, even as she tried to appear normal.

“Wu DaQi,” he answered. He didn’t know where else to start.

“What do you want, Wu DaQi?”

“Do you know where he is?” It wasn’t what he came for, but as soon as she called him 532 it was all he could think about.

“Who?”

“531.”

She shook her head. “He’s looking for you though. He came to me, a few days ago, injured. I patched him up but he’s trying to replace you.”

“Then you can reach him.”

“No, I don’t know how. He came to me when he needed it, but I never had any way to contact him. The last time he was here I warned him to stop coming. There were too many people looking for him, and I was part of your design team. Someone was bound to start watching me.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“What?”

“Part of my design team?”

She stared at him, her brows furrowed as she tilted her head to the side slightly. “You don’t know me, do you?”

“I’m supposed to. That much is obvious.”

“What happened to you, 532?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I came here. I was given your name by another doctor. I woke up three months ago with no memory. They said it was an augmentation gone bad. That something went wrong when they were poking around in my brain. I went to an outside doctor because I had reason to believe they were lying to me. So, tell me, why can’t I remember my past?”

“I … I don’t know. I haven’t seen you since I left Mariner.”

“I worked with 531.”

“You were partners.”

“Why are they hiding it from me?”

“532, I don’t know what they’re doing. I can’t guess. I’m a scientist and a doctor. I wasn’t a part of anything else.”

“I need to know. I need to replace out about my past. He said … 531 knew me. But how could I be partners with a terrorist?”

Obuo stepped forward and touched his sleeve. “No matter what they say, 531 was loyal to you, if no one else.”

“Then what he said was true.”

“What did he say?”

He remembered the press of lips against his own, of warmth and affection in 531’s eyes as he called him by a name that he didn’t know.

You know me, Two. More than anyone else in this world.

“It doesn’t matter. I have to replace him. If he comes to you again, tell him I want to meet. Just the two of us.”

“He won’t return, but if he does, I’ll tell him.”

He nodded, then remembered the real reason he’d come. “Can you look at my augmentation? I need to know if you can help me regain my memory. And tell me why the other doctor got so upset when he looked at it?”

Her heart began to race again, and she glanced past him, towards the door. When she looked back at him, she nodded hesitantly. “Alright. But not here and not tonight. Tomorrow. Come to my office. There are things I need to set up before I can do it. Your… augmentation is special, 532. It was experimental at the time. I need all my equipment and I need time to review the files I was able to sneak out with me.”

The way she hesitated before she said augmentation made him nervous, but he didn’t have much choice. His other option was kidnap the doctor he was asking to poke around in his brain. Not something he would recommend to anyone. “Tomorrow night, then.”

“As soon as I close, come in the back. I’ll be waiting.”

He nodded. “I’m trusting you, Dr. Obuo. But if you run, I will know. And I will replace you.”

The color drained from her face, and he could see the fear in her eyes. He had been told that 531 was a terrorist. If they were partners, what had he been? If she was still so afraid of him, after more than 7 years, did he really want to remember that man?

Or was 531 the honest one, and 532 the man DaQi wanted to become?