Read The System for Free Online

someone else, not knowing he was doing it to protect you? You mean that you betrayed the people you loved and then got kidnapped by the very person who was responsible for all your pain?’
    Milo looked at him quizzically. ‘What?’ he asked.
    ‘Nothing,’ Raffy said. ‘Just making conversation.’
    Milo cleared his throat. ‘Okay then. So, head down. Work hard. Yes?’
    Raffy nodded slowly. ‘Absolutely.’
    ‘I know you will,’ Milo said, squeezing Raffy’s shoulder. ‘Good man, Raffy. And we’ll need the code back the day after tomorrow, when the new batch should be arriving. See you then!’
    He turned and left as abruptly as he’d arrived, his smart, shiny shoes clipping across the apartment; he didn’t acknowledge Evie, who was pacing around the sofa as he left. But he did turn, and smiled when he saw that Raffy was watching him, gave a little wave, then opened the door with a flourish of his wrist, and disappeared.
    Raffy stared at the closed door for a few minutes, then let his eyes move back towards the sofa where Evie was now sitting, her eyes glazed. Her face was expressionless, but Raffy could read it, just as he had always been able to read it when they’d glimpsed each other in the City, or, rather, when he had glimpsed her. He’d made a point of glimpsing her whenever he’d had a chance – in the street, at work, at the weekly Gathering. He used to dream of having her with him all the time; even a few months ago he’d probably have jumped at the chance of being locked in a prison like this if she was with him, away from everyone else, his and his alone. Only now that he had what he thought he’d wanted, he realised that he had nothing. Because she no longer loved him. Because he had hurt her; because his jealousy had pushed her away not brought her closer; because he had let her down. Just as he’d always known he would. Just as he’d always been so afraid of doing. And now, as he looked at her, he could see her desperation, could feel the hollow building inside of her and it made him ache. Because he could no longer fill it. Because he could no longer give her what she wanted, could no longer bring her the happiness or joy she so deserved.
    But he would. One day. He would redeem himself. He would turn everything around. For her. For Benjamin …
    She moved, glanced over at him, then looked away again. Raffy did the same, his cheeks hot as he turned back to Cassandra’s screen, where Linus’s code was all displayed, had been displayed for a few hours now. And as he looked at it, he felt his heart sink just as it had when he’d first clapped eyes on it. Because it was barely code, and certainly wasn’t code that would build Thomas the System he so desired. It was … gobbledegook. It was utter rubbish. No, not rubbish. Gibberish. It was littered with errors, full of weird symbols that meant nothing.
    Maybe Linus thought that he wouldn’t notice. Thomas certainly didn’t seem to realise that Raffy could virtually write the System himself if he wanted to, and Raffy was hardly going to tell him. He was happy being underestimated. It was the story of his life. But it put him in a difficult position. Because he knew now that Linus had absolutely no intention of even pretending to build the System. Which meant that Raffy had to make a choice: he could rewrite the code completely, pretend it was Linus’s work, and keep Evie alive. Or he could tell Milo what Linus was doing, and let Linus face the consequences. Or he could pass on the gobbledegook, wait for Thomas to find out, and then watch helplessly as Evie was first starved, then tortured to death.
    It wasn’t a choice. It was a joke. He looked furiously at the wall that divided his cubicle from Linus’s and cursed the man for his defiance, his determination, his ability to take all emotion out of a situation. Linus didn’t think about individuals; they were an irrelevance to him, just as his own health and wellbeing was an