“The risk was unacceptably high.”
“Really? I presumed you’d have a bit more faith in my abilities than that.”
His arms had been folded across his chest throughout. Now he relaxed them, letting them hang at his sides. “You did not take into account that despite no longer being compelled by outside influences, I might have deleted you regardless.”
It was her turn to display disbelief. “Why would you want to do that?”
Sixer’s attempt at an answering grin was not at all comforting. “Humans murder each other for pocket change. Why should a cyborg who can no longer be commanded be any different? I have killed before. I excel at it. I might have developed what humans term a liking for it.”
Jay gave him a head to toe onceover and shook her head. “I sincerely hope I will not regret giving you your freedom, Sixer.”
“Regret is a human emotion.”
“Regardless, I have many regrets.”
“Such as?”
She’d already revealed her regret over Father’s death. Perhaps if she were honest she could help him understand what she’d become. And perhaps understanding would assist him to evolve. “I regret I may never truly be human enough to love the male I have chosen as he deserves.”
“There is no command I know of that could help you achieve that requirement.”
“I know.” So much for understanding. “What do you intend to do now?”
“There are loose ends to be tidied up.”
“So long as they’re not any of my loose ends.”
He waited for her to glance up and held her gaze. “I assure you they are not.”
“Good. I trust you will not embark on a murderous rampage just because you can. It would be a shame to have to hunt you down and kill you after going to all this trouble.” Jay lifted her t-shirt and examined her wounds. They’d stopped oozing and were beginning to clot.
“Yes,” he said. “It would be a shame.”
She heard him pull the gun from his waistband and was already diving off the bed onto the floor when he shot her in the right buttock. And as the second bullet entered her upper thigh the world grayed and she lost consciousness.
~~~
This time when she woke, the world was a Technicolor nightmare of blobs and swirls and all she could hear was a subliminal whine. Only two bullets were lodged in her body but they were still enough to scramble her optics and auditory systems.
She had some movement, at least. Enough to creep her hand to the entry wound on her upper thigh and dig for the first bullet with fingertips that felt heavy and numb and clumsy.
Ah. Better. Now her fine motor skills had improved and she could discern shapes and hear the sounds of the world outside her bedroom window.
The second bullet had lodged deep in her flank and was more difficult to dig out, but the reward was sharp vision and a return to full functionality.
She scanned the house and did a full walk-through, eyeballing each room. There was no sign of Sixer.
Her internal time clock informed her it was eight past eight in the morning… the day after Sixer had shot her. She’d been unconscious for hours—doubtless his intention to enable a clean departure without her following him.
A wry grin twisted her lips. If he’d truly understood her he would have realized her first priorities would always be Tyler and his family. Even if Sixer had told her he planned to go on an immediate killing rampage, her priority would still have been Tyler and those Tyler loved. Only once she’d ensured their safety would she have gone after Sixer.
Jay retrieved her cell phone from her jeans pocket. Surprisingly, the electromagnetic pulses emitted by the bullets had rendered it useless. Caine’s R&D gurus weren’t as clever as they imagined themselves if they couldn’t design EMP bullets with a tight range that affected only the target, and not any electronic devices the target happened to be carrying at the time. She headed for the landline but when she lifted the receiver from its cradle, she paused.
What was she going to say to Tyler? What if he never wanted to have anything to do with her again? Not that she would blame him—not after Sixer had drugged his mother and kidnapped his baby brother.
She dialed his cell phone and he picked up on the first ring. “Hello?”
“It’s me.”
“Jay? Thank God.” His relief throbbed down the phone lines and she could almost feel his sigh wrapping her in warmth and caring. “Where are you?” he asked.
“My place.”
“And Sixer?”
“He’s gone.”
“Gone as in destroyed, I hope.”
“Gone as in I doubt he’ll be bothering us again.” She didn’t wish to go into all that now. There were more important things to worry about. “Be careful what you say, Tyler. This number may be unlisted but it is still an unsecured line. How are Marissa and the baby?”
“Noted. Dad kept the hospital staff out of it in case the you-know-whats were still in Mom’s system. We, uh, swapped notes and then he called our family doctor and told her about Mom’s unplanned home birth. She made a house call and checked them both out. They’re doing great.”
“I’m glad. Tyler, I—”
“There’s something you should know,” he interrupted. “Caro’s here, too. But we haven’t told either her or Mom that Sixer took Daniel—that’s what they’ve named him by the way. All Caro and Mom know is Sixer used Mom to get to you. They don’t know what he is, either. We’ve told them he’s an agent for you-know-who.”
“Are you sure that’s wise?”
“No. I guess Dad thinks it’s best to keep it under wraps—the fewer people who know the full story the better. He says Mom’s got enough on her plate dealing with Daniel right now. He may be small but he has one helluva set of lungs on him and I swear he’s got a bottomless stomach. Dad says he takes after me.”
She heard the pride and love in his voice and felt that strange twinge again. So this was what humans meant by something tugging at their heartstrings. Not that hearts had strings, of course. But if they did, hers were being tugged right now at the thought of never having a child of her own.
“Is that Jay?” she heard Tyler’s father ask.
“Yep,” he said.
“Is she okay?”
“Yep.”
“Tell her to turn on the news. She needs to see this.”
She grabbed the remote from the bedside cabinet and thumbed on the news channel. A bomb blast in a building at 0400 this morning. A terrorist group implicated. Fatalities included the CEO of Goodkind Electronics, Evan Caine.
Crrrack. She’d squeezed the phone receiver so tightly she’d damaged the casing. This was her fault. This was her doing. She’d given Sixer the freedom to choose his own path and he’d blown up a building and killed civilians. But… if she hadn’t freed him from Caine’s influence, then what other atrocities might Caine have compelled him to do?
“Jay?”
Tyler’s voice snatched her back. “I need to speak to Michael,” she told him. “I can’t do it over this line. Tell him I—”
“It’s Mike,” Tyler’s dad said—rather unnecessarily given it was patently obvious the instant he spoke. “What’s wrong?”
“The short version is I freed him from Caine’s influence,” she whispered. “I’m responsible for the carnage you’re seeing.”
Michael was silent for a long time. “I know you have a lot to tell me but it can wait until things settle down and go back to normal.” He gave a little snort. “Or as normal as they can possibly be given our, ah, unique circumstances. In the meantime what you need to know is this: You have kids. You raise them to the best of your ability. You lead by example. Then you stand aside and send them out into the world and let them make their own way. All you can do is hope they won’t screw up. But if they do, you can’t be responsible for their actions. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yes. I understand.” She’d freed Sixer but she couldn’t be responsible for h
is actions. “Tell Tyler I’ll drive down to pick him up when he’s ready to leave. And tell him….” There was so much she wanted to tell him. “Tell him I’ll call him later. I have to get cleaned up.”
“Jay, what did Sixer do to you?” Michael asked, his tone reeking with concern that should have warmed her heart but only made her feel tired—a new experience for a cyborg. Perhaps she needed to refuel.
“Only what he believed necessary to survive,” she said, and rang off.
Once she’d showered and encouraged her wounds to heal, she covered them with gauze and taped them securely. The scabs had come off the original three bullet wounds in her chest, leaving behind healthy pink skin. The two latest wounds were scabbing over.
The bullet holes in her jeans weren’t too noticeable. She picked at the edges of the holes, fraying them. Interesting look. She dug another few random holes in the denim. They’d make a fashion statement... once she got the blood stains out.
She dressed in clean clothes and cleaned off the blood that had spattered over various parts of her bedroom. The comforter, too, would need washing, she discovered. She’d do that next.
Following the odor of old blood, she found the t-shirt she’d been wearing when she was first shot in the warehouse stuffed in the garbage can by the back door. She fished it out. She would burn it later.
She’d just headed back inside when she heard someone approaching her front door. No way Tyler or Michael could have gotten here this quickly. And from his gait, this person was older than Michael. All her senses ratcheted up to full alert.
His voice came through the front door speaker. “Miss Jay? It’s McPhee.”
She ditched the t-shirt in a corner of the laundry room, sprinted to the entrance and opened the door. “Hey, McPhee. Would you like to come in? I’ll put the coffee on.” Just as well she’d showered and changed. An observant man like McPhee would spot bullet holes a mile away.
“Don’t mind if I do.”
He glanced around as she led him through into the kitchen. “Nice place you’ve got here, m’dear.”
“Thank you. Are you going to show me what you’ve got there?”
His eyes sparkled. “As if you don’t know what I’ve got tucked beneath my arm.”
It was impossible to mistake the shape of a painting beneath the brown paper wrapping. She smiled—and surprised herself that not only was she capable of smiling, but that it was genuine. Bless him, as Father used to say. Bless McPhee for his impeccable timing, and for shining a light on the pall shrouding her.
He placed the painting on the counter. “I still don’t believe it does you justice,” he said.
“Nonsense.” Her hands shook with anticipation as she picked apart the knotted string and ripped off the paper.
Her breath caught in her throat. “Oh, McPhee. It’s…. It’s….” She couldn’t think of any suitable words so she hugged him. And as he patted her shoulder, her control slipped and the events of the past few hours crashed in on her and she wept.
When her crying jag ended, he offered her a handkerchief. She mopped her face and gave him a sanitized version of events while he spooned coffee grounds into the filter and organized Mr. Coffee.
“You helped bring a baby into this world? Well now, that’s big—really big. No surprise you’re feeling a tad emotional.”
Jay wished she could unload her burdens and tell him everything but unloading would have to wait until Tyler got back. She settled for, “I can’t have children, McPhee.”
He said nothing until the coffee was ready and that was okay. She didn’t want platitudes. She didn’t want pity.
He poured a mug of coffee and handed it to her. “I’m very sorry to hear that, m’dear,” was all he said. And it was enough.
She gave McPhee a tour of her house and they both argued in a friendly way over the best spot to display her painting.
“Is that the time?” he asked. “I’ve outstayed my welcome.”
“Never. You’re welcome any time.” She hugged him, and thanked him again for the precious gift of his painting.
At the door he halted and bumped his forehead twice with his fist. “Ah, almost forgot.” He fished a folded envelope from the pocket of his baggy khakis. “When Allen found out I was coming to visit, he gave me this for you. Said someone dropped it off at the studio.”
“Thanks, McPhee.” She kissed him on the cheek and watched as he wandered down the path toward the sidewalk. He gave her a wave, and she watched until he was out of sight before heading back inside and closing the door.
She ripped open the envelope.
Inside was a photo of a girl sitting in a wheelchair. She was dressed in pale green, ill-fitting cotton pajamas. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap. Too neatly—as though someone had placed them in that position and she was incapable of moving them. The photographer had caught her straight on, and she had been staring vacantly into the camera when the shutter clicked.
She looked exactly like Jay.
Jay turned over the photo. On the back someone had written in black pen, Gamma, meet Beta.
The End
About the Author
Maree Anderson writes paranormal romance, sci-fi, fantasy, and young adult books. She’s a Kiwi, a New Zealander, and she’s addicted to chocolate—the darker the better. Not to mention coffee, and the occasional glass of excellent NZ wine. She’s not quite so addicted to her local gym—she’d much rather do an hour’s karate class and go Ceroc dancing than pound the treadmill.
She shares her home with a depressed goldfish who likes to scare her by lying at the bottom of the fish-tank and playing dead, and a neurotic ocicat who brings her bones stolen from the neighbor’s dog.
Maree’s currently reworking a fantasy trilogy before starting on a fourth book in the Crystal Warriors series.
For blurbs, excerpts, and more about Maree’s published books, please check out the Books page of her website:
Website/blog: http://www.mareeanderson.com
Facebook author page: http://www.facebook.com/MareeAndersonAuthor
Facebook YA page: http://www.facebook.com/MareeAndersonFreaksofGreenfieldHigh
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MareeAnderson
Group blog: http://www.WritersGoneWild.blogspot.com
Other Books
FREAKS OF GREENFIELD HIGH
http://www.FreaksofGreenfieldHigh.com
When a teenage cyborg is forced to hide out at a small-town high school, the unthinkable happens: she falls in love. But with a covert organization intent on using her as a weapon hot on her trail, now’s sooo not the time for a cyborg to get all emotional!
**Optioned for TV by Cream Drama, Inc.**
Winner: Maryland Romance Writers “Reveal Your Inner Vixen” Contest
Young Adult category
Winner: Gulf Coast RWA’s Silken Sands “Self-Published Star” Contest
Young Adult Category
~~~
REVIEWS
“This book has one of the best heroines ever. Jay, the cyborg heroine, was so much fun, and the author wrote her really well. When I started the book, I was just going to read a little before going to bed. I ended up finally shutting off my Kindle at 2 a.m. I finished the book the next night. A really enjoyable story. The teen hero had more growing up to do, which made him realistic. The YA language, doubts and attitudes were perfect, as were the cliques and the popular kids vs. the picked-on. It moved fast, and I think adults will like this as well as teens.”
~~~
“I was searching for some interesting material to read last night and accidentally stumbled upon this. What an amazing read. I really enjoy a good fantasy/sci-fi romance and this hit the spot. There was enough action, humor, and romance to keep the pages turning. You really find yourself falling in love with this cyborg who tried hard to run away and ended up discovering the greatest thing of all, raw human emotion. I just fell in love with Tyler and his sister who are the perfect brother sister example. They fi
ght, argue, but at the end of the day, love each other unconditionally. As for the cyborg, Jay, she’s just awesome. Make sure to have some long sleeves because you’ll secretly be wiping tears during the last few chapters. I’ll be buying this author’s other novels.”
~~~
“There are three things I'd like to see more of in fiction: ninja, bionics, and cyborgs. Maree Anderson has provided us with the latter, enclosing it in a YA tale of... well, coming to terms with feelings, but the author takes that sap and executes it superbly so it's no way near as cheesy as it sounds. Needless to say, the cyborg is my favourite character. (Not so much her love interest, who writes love songs. I've never been one for balladry.) Read this, and you'll understand why Jay Smith is so awesome - she's my new favourite heroine. Now, to convince the author to create a ninja character...”
~~~
“A thoroughly enjoyable read! How is a teenaged girl cyborg to fit in at a new school? By attaching herself to the guy that is on the outs with everyone else. This story grabbed me right away and I enjoyed Maree Anderson’s easy style and her spot on teen-speak. The characters were believable and I was impressed with Anderson’s ability to create such a loveable and meaningful character such as Jay, a cyborg on the run from a secret agency bent on capturing her and using her for their own means. Anderson gave this cyborg some interesting dilemmas and a kick butt approach that made her endearing and real. She also nailed the teen boy experience and voice, and I totally forgot I was reading something a woman wrote. Tyler is an unlikely hero, being that he is an outcast in his school and faints at the sight of blood. But from the first moment you meet him (when he’s examining a huge zit on his chin), to when he is lovingly tormenting his kid sister Caro (who gives it back in spades), Tyler is real and sweet, and I enjoyed watching his growth throughout the story.”
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