Toys Read Online Free PDF

ally when things get rough. He’s built like a gorilla,
     six foot six, and close to three hundred pounds.
    “Where are the killers?” I said, assuming the humans responsible had been arrested by now. The city police would have been
     on the case immediately.
    “So far, no sign of them, Hays. You believe it? They got away with this.”
    “That’s not possible.”
    “I hear you. Gets even stranger though. Listen to this. Every single one of the security cameras in the place
just happened
to malfunction at the same time.”
    “What?”
    “It gets even better. There must have been close to a hundred customers in the store—nobody remembers a goddamn thing. Not
     even the security guards.”
    That
was impossible. Elites have crystal clear memories and would never lie to authorities. They aren’t capable of it.
    “Go ahead, ask ’em,” Owen McGill challenged me. He gestured at the civilians gathered beyond the cordon. “Maybe it will start
     coming back to them—once you turn on the old Hays Baker charm.”
    As with most of the company’s consumer outlets, especially ones in respectable Elite communities, this Toyz superstore was
     open twenty-four hours, and it was crowded with customers.
    “Who can tell me what happened?” I stepped forward and called to the blank-faced, clearly confused crowd. “Somebody must have
     seen these terrible murders. I need witnesses. Please.
Anybody?
Speak up now.”
    A pretty, young Elite woman, wearing skintight jeans and a bodice that barely covered her nipples, shrugged helplessly. “I
     was standing right there, looking at the iSpielberg imagers,” she said, pointing at a display of equipment that allowed you
     to star in your own movie.
    Her shaking finger moved toward the homicide scene.
    “Those two—I don’t think they were a couple… they acted more like they worked together… Anyhow, they were walking past me,
     talking to each other. It was all perfectly… ordinary. Then—they were lying on the floor. Just like they are now. Cut open!
     It’s the weirdest thing, but it was like there was
nothing
in between.”
    Others in the crowd nodded their heads in complete agreement.
    “Hey, why don’t you tell
us
what’s going on?” a man infront called out to me. “The police are supposed to protect us, aren’t you? How could you let something like this happen?
     In a Toyz store of all places?”
    It was a fair question, but I didn’t have a clue what to say. How could I? Basically,
these murders just couldn’t have happened.

Chapter 13
    “COME ON, THERE are more bodies up front,” McGill said in a quiet voice, respectful of the occasion or, perhaps, the deeply
     disturbing mystery of it. It was rare for Elites to be crime victims—now here were eleven of them dead, and Lizbeth and I
     were still recovering from an armed attack. What the hell was going on?
    I followed Owen through the distraction-crammed store, trying to keep my focus on the grisly task at hand and my head clear
     of the Toyz siren song.
    But what a collection of playthings. Sex and adventure simulators, domestic servants that could do everything but think your
     thoughts, genetically tamed wild animals that never needed feeding, personal submarines, personal airpods, role-playing worlds,
     antigravity chambers, celebrity “clone” androids you could bring home and interact with asyou pleased…
Toys, toys, toys for all good little girls and boys.
That line—from the Toyz store’s famous jingle—you couldn’t get it out of your head without using a ThoughtCleanser, another
     Toyz store favorite.
    “One thing’s for sure—it had to be skunks,” McGill said grimly, hatred for the despicable human killers burning like hot coals
     in his eyes.
    I nodded. No Elite would commit a vicious crime like this. Almost by definition, it’s what separates us from those murdering
     animals. Genetically speaking, of course, Elites are more than 99 percent human. It’s not something we tend to