33. Ten seconds

“Yes, that's what we feared. The distance has decreased,” the man in the white coat furrowed his brow.

“And how much will it decrease?” Grant asked colourlessly, as if he didn't care at all about the impending mini-end of the world because of the bomb around my neck.

“It's not a question of how much, but how fast. And distance isn't our biggest problem. There are so many factors affecting the collar, it's a wonder you're still alive.”

“So you're saying the bomb could go off at any time, no matter how close we are?” I blurted out, holding my breath, afraid of the answer.

“It's hard to tell. We've scanned the collar and found the trigger circuit for the remote mode, but it's been slightly altered, so we can't say for sure if you can be blown up by outsiders.”

“And yet... we could die at any moment?”

“Yes.”

I exhaled... Wasn't that what I had been wishing for the past two weeks? Death.

But I didn't like the fact that I couldn't have it my own way. I would rather choose the time and place of my own death.

I glanced at Grant, who was sitting in his chair, looking perfectly calm. Was he about to go over the edge too? I'd never heard such an idea from him before, but I had no evidence to the contrary.

“But there's a blind spot, they made it especially for this kind of problem,” the lab assistant's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

“What's the blind spot?”

“If Young Master Grant is standing behind you, within three paces of you, the bomb will not go off, even if it is remotely triggered.”

“So what, we're supposed to walk around in a line all the time?”

“No, of course not. If the bomb ‘wakes up’, you have a few seconds to get back while the collar beeps. Ten seconds, to be precise.”

Yeah, ten seconds and that's it – bang, “Hello, tritium!”, “Hello, deuterium!”, “Hugs?” and a big mushroom explosion.

“Thank you, Professor. We're leaving,” Circul rose from his chair. He picked up the chain so it wouldn't drag on the floor.

I nodded goodbye to the man, who looked at us with regret. He felt sorry for us, you could see it in his eyes, but he still hadn't found a way to get the damn collar off me. I felt sorry for him too. Sorry for the guilt he felt, even though it wasn't his fault.

All the blame lay with an unknown enemy of the president who, it seemed to me, would never show his face. The country's leader had many ill-wishers, many of whom were simply out for revenge. Some of them succeeded.

I was glad that Rizor Circul was suffering now, probably cursing his own politics every time he looked at Grant and me bound in chains, but I didn't like that I was the one who had to carry out this revenge.

I'd like to find the people who kidnapped me from the dentist's office and beat the crap out of them, then make them wear a latest-generation heavy bomb 24 hours a day.

“How can you be so calm?” I stopped the guy by taking his hand.

Grant turned around before getting into the car.

“We could all explode into atoms at any moment, and you walk around as if you don't give a damn about the future.”

“If I worry, will it make a difference? Siri, I still care about my nerve cells. You've already killed a few billion, and they regenerate very slowly,” Circul grinned.

The bodyguards hurried to their posts. There were more of them now. The president was really worried about our safety. It seemed that we would soon be guarded by helicopters and tanks, and heaven forbid we should dare to take a single step without supervision.

Out of sheer defiance, I stopped, stood still and admired the spring sky.

It was late morning, a light breeze, the sun's rays playing on the roofs of houses and the windows of passing cars. Lous had changed with the arrival of May, birds were already flitting about in the young foliage, sheltering from the impending clouds. On the side of the industrial area, a curtain of rain was moving, and behind it, as if in a golden dust, was the edge of a pine forest.

The lime trees in the nearby park smelled of honey, two big drops splashed on the windscreen of the auto, rolled down in streams. The rain drummed on the bonnet, the warm asphalt darkened before my eyes, covered with dots of water.

May... summer was just around the corner, everything was breathing life and preparing for a long hot season, but my heart was not singing with the birds, my soul was not rejoicing in the sunshine. I couldn't forget myself, I couldn't get rid of stuffy, gloomy thoughts, I couldn't breathe fully and escape the future, I couldn't stop wishing for death.

“Have you decided to feed the rain with your frown?” Grant looked out of the car and pulled the chain. “Siri, if you catch a cold, I'm going to kill you. Why aren't you wearing a jacket?” he furrowed his brows, only now noticing that my arms were covered in goose bumps.

I shrugged my shoulders indifferently and raised my face to the heavenly tears, clear drops immediately running down my cheeks.

The chain twitched again, forcing me to walk.