by Cara Bristol
Mariska was gone, as he’d hoped, but so was the dead staffer. Why had she cleared away the body, but not opened the AI unit door?
“Code one-one in Section two. Repeat. Code one-one in Section two. All nonmilitary personnel report to quarters. All military personnel report to your units.”
The door started to close, and Kai dove through to the other side. Blood and Vison’s gray matter stained his uniform. Even if he didn’t have Terran features, there’d be no fooling anybody he was a robot. There’d be no sneaking in or out of anywhere. Fight or retreat would be the only two options—not that there’d been any other ones up to this point.
Whatever the hell code one-one was, it had cleared the corridors. The station appeared almost deserted. Sticking close to the wall, he sprinted down the hall. At the end of it, he peered around the side. Clear.
This was too easy. The hairs on his nape prickled with wariness. He stifled a snort. He’d killed two officers and three staffers, deactivated nine androids, and broken out of a sealed laboratory unit—after nearly having his circuits fried. Cyberoperatives defined easy differently than most people.
He wished he could piece together the garbled communiqué from Carter. Endez…10… station…ba. Ending…ext…Rend at…ba. Ma...utt...ay… He had no idea what any of it meant. However, collecting Mariska was priority one. Then he could figure out the message. Another item for his to-do list.
He scooted around the corner.
* * * *
How much time had passed? Hours?
He’s not coming. If Kai survived, he would be here by now. She’d clung to optimism as long as she could, but too much time had passed.
Breathing through her mouth to cut the horrible smell, Mariska huddled in the tight, cramped closet and hugged her knees. It was hard to breathe in such a small space. Metal clanked and whirred as huge machines purified the waste, causing the floor to vibrate.
She’d waited and waited and waited. Several times, footfalls had approached her hiding place, and she’d held her breath with hope and trepidation, but they’d all passed. Just androids performing their duties.
Detonating the MED in Obido’s office might have lured the soldiers away from the lab, but it hadn’t changed the outcome. Injured and outnumbered, Kai couldn’t have fought off all the androids and the Lamis-Odg personnel.
An aching void existed where hopes and dreams had begun to blossom. How idyllic their time on Darius 4 had been. Kai had shown her a glimpse of a promising future. Freedom. Pride. Love.
Illusions, like a fake ocean that could be swept away by the cracking of a dome.
No, the love was real. She’d begun to fall for him even when she’d thought he was of a different species. Even when he questioned her beliefs. Because he questioned them. He thought enough of her to engage her in discourse. The respect he’d shown her had opened her eyes and melted the protective ice barrier around her heart. As a pretend android, he’d demonstrated more concern for her than anyone ever had. She hadn’t known what respect was until Kai showed her.
He hadn’t reciprocated the depth of her feelings, but it didn’t matter. That he cared at all was enough. He’d pushed her through the gap; his last act had been to save her at the expense of his own life. No one had ever put her needs ahead of his own. How could she not love him for it?
Or for the way they’d mated. Frequently, furiously, tenderly. Her pleasure had been like the ocean waves, crashing over her. He’d told her she was beautiful. He’d showed her he believed it.
She’d started to believe it, too.
Obido’s soldiers would come. Locating her would be easy. Conscience hadn’t permitted her to risk Janai’s life, so she’d verified the woman was in her quarters before detonating the MED. It wouldn’t be long before the soldiers would arrest and execute her. A new general would be appointed, and Lamis-Odg would continue its crusade to vanquish the infidels of the galaxy.
I am one of the infidels. I am Terran. Lamis-Odg had more than one reason to want her dead. She would never visit the land of her mother’s birth, her own homeland. Never see a real ocean. Never have a true mate.
So, are you going to give up? Is that what Kai would want you to do? You dishonor him. He did not die so you could surrender.
Mariska dried her tears with the back of her hand and then gripped her blaster with determination. She might die, but she would not surrender. When the soldiers came, she would fight with everything she had.
Chapter Nineteen
Twice Kai had to retreat and take cover. At first deserted, the halls now teemed with armed soldiers. While the destruction and carnage in the AI lab provided cause enough, he had a hunch the patrols were tied to the code one-one. Was it like a code red, a DEFCON one? From the armed personnel, it would appear so. Units had been organized and deployed, and the service bots lurched and jerked, as if there had been a programming glitch.
A familiar, menacing voice reached his ears. Obido! His cybersenses went on hyperalert, releasing a surge of adrenalin. Heart pounding, he flattened against the wall.
A receiver in his middle ear picked up the rumbling sound and relayed the signal to his microprocessor, which analyzed the frequency. Not a real voice. A transmission. Still cautious, Kai peered around the corner.
A life-sized hologram of the general in full military dress shimmered like an apparition. “An attack on my life was implemented by a rogue android and a woman I had treated as my own daughter.”
What attack? On the lab and its personnel, yes. But not against Obibo, unless…
Mariska had detonated the MED in his office.
“Do not attempt to engage them. Shoot to kill.” The hologram of Obido winked out and one of a veiled Mariska and himself in his former android uniform rotated. “The traitors are armed and dangerous,” continued Obido’s voice. “All personnel are ordered to shoot to kill. Repeat. All personnel, shoot to kill the traitors.”
Kai ran. He’d bet any number of credits the order had been broadcast throughout the station. If someone got to Mariska before he did—
Sending ship to extract. Rendezvous at 10:00 in main station shuttle bay. I won’t be able to send another. Copy?
Carter’s communiqué, deciphered by his microprocessor, slammed into the forefront of his brain, and he nearly tripped over his own feet. It was 09:50. He had ten minutes to retrieve Mariska, evade the armed patrols, and get to the main shuttle bay before the rescue ship left. He didn’t know how Carter would dock a craft inside an enemy stronghold. As the director had pointed out, they’d tried for years to infiltrate Lamis-Odg without success. Sneaking the android C684 and then himself on board as shipments had been achieved with 1 percent cunning, 99 percent bum fuck luck. Maybe Carter had a trick up his sleeve Kai didn’t know about. He hoped so.
With the station crawling with armed soldiers, his odds of stealing a shuttle had dropped from slim to nil. Carter offered their best, probably sole, chance for escape.
With cyber abilities restored, he spent a precious minute modifying his internal defense system as insurance. They would need every possible edge to survive.
Then he doubled his speed and streaked for Waste Recycling.
* * * *
The din from operating machinery shut off. Legs numb, Mariska got to her feet and cocked her head. Her ears still rang from the MED explosion and the racket in Waste Recycling.
Obido’s voice drifted into the stuffy closet. He was here! Oh Great One. He would kill her. Her lungs seized. The only things holding her upright were the close walls of the closet.
His voice stopped.
She gripped the Taser, waiting for the door to be torn off, waiting for the soldiers to find her.
Waited.
Waited.
Her thundering heartbeat almost drowned out the clanking that had resumed.
Nothing happened.
Maybe it wasn’t the general like she’d thought? Or maybe it could have been a s
tationwide announcement?
She released her breath. They hadn’t found her, but it was only a matter of time before they did. I’m trapped in here. And the sewage was overpowering. Despite the air purifiers, which added to the noise, the smell, permeated her hair, her clothing, her skin. The lack of fresh air within the tight space constricted her lungs. Her head spun and colored dots danced before her eyes. If she stayed, she would pass out. What if she fainted and the soldiers came while she was unconscious? It would be all over then. She had to find another place to hide.
Mariska wiped a sweaty hand on her skirt and gripped her Taser. Cracking open the door, she peeked outside. A few droids manned the vats of waste, but, otherwise, the center was vacant. She eased the door shut. She had to have a plan, place to run to. Where would they be least likely to look?
Her old quarters! No one would expect her to return. Sneaking in would be a challenge, but she’d figure out how to gain entry without leaving a digital footprint when she got there.
A blast shook the walls of the closet. A thud. Shouts. Another blast vibrated the floor. Soldiers! Her hand shook as she raised the Taser.
I won’t let them take me alive.
Metal clanged and banged.
They were searching for her. Sweat trickled down her temples. Her heart pounded in her ears. She pressed against the wall, and gripped the weapon tighter. Footsteps stopped outside the closet.
The door was yanked open.
Mariska squeezed the trigger.
Chapter Twenty
Terrified eyes. Weapon. That was all Kai’s cyberbrain processed before a blast struck him in the chest. It threw him several meters and slammed him into the side of a large vat. He slid down smooth metal into a heap. Electricity sizzled through his circuits for the second time in as many days. She shot me!
“No!” Mariska screamed. She flung herself on top of him, banged his skull against the floor. “Don’t die. I love you! I love you. Don’t die. No!” Her tears dampened his face.
“I’m not…dead.” Neurons and nanocytes buzzed.
She raised her head and stared.
“I’m not dead,” he repeated. “And…” He swallowed. “I…love you, too.” He’d never uttered those words to a woman before. Until meeting Mariska, he had never experienced the emotion.
Her jaw dropped.
His grin felt lopsided as if the blast had caused partial facial paralysis. His hasty reprogramming hadn’t been perfect, but if he hadn’t had the foresight to increase the protective insulation around his nerve endings and internal fiber optics, he'd be out of commission and twitching right now. If she’d had a blaster instead of a Taser, even the mods wouldn’t have saved him. He would have been dead.
She gawked. “You love me?”
“Yes.” He pressed a quick, hard kiss to her mouth then shifted her off him and jumped to his feet. “But let’s talk about it later. We have to get off the station.”
“You’re injured!” She stared at his chest. Only a few patches of tan fabric were visible through the red dyeing his shirt.
“Most of it isn’t my blood. It’s Vison’s.” And some of his brain matter. “I used his palm to open the AI lab. Come on, we’re almost out of time.” He hustled her down the metal walkway.
She glanced back. “You deactivated the droids.”
“They were going to call for help. I had to search for you. You weren’t in the storage room.” He’d panicked when he’d found it empty. He’d about run out of places to look when he’d yanked off the utility duct access panel.
“That wasn’t the storage room?”
“No, you were in a maintenance duct.” Aware of her claustrophobia, he would never have had her hide there. He grabbed her arm. “We need to run. The entire damn station has mobilized. We have to get to the shuttle bay. Hurry!” He urged her into a jog.
The situation required more than optimism for escape. They needed a miracle. Kai prayed Mariska’s Great One was on their side. The main bay wasn’t far from Waste Recycling but, in his microprocessor, a timer counted down. They had two minutes before Carter’s ship left. If it had arrived at all.
Their feet thundered on the metal floor, but there was no time for a quiet getaway. Mariska slipped and nearly fell, but they continued to run.
“Halt!” shouted a voice from behind them.
Kai whipped around to stare down the wrong end of a photon blaster set to kill.
“Throw down your weapons,” the guard ordered.
Oh fuck. What choice did he have? Cooperate, and maybe he’d have an opening to jump the guard. “Do it,” he murmured, and let his blaster slip from his hand to the floor. She did the same.
“Take me. Let her go.” He shifted, shielding her with his body.
“Orders are orders.” The soldier leveled his weapon.
“Nobody needs to know you found us. Please. Please,” Mariska begged.
Self-loathing rose in his throat. He hadn’t been able to save her, and now she was reduced to pleading for her life. If he charged the soldier, held him off, perhaps she would have enough time to get to the main bay. Perhaps…
His cyberbrain calculated the probability at zero percent.
It also notified him they’d missed the rendezvous.
Emotion overwhelmed control, and a hailing frequency opened. Mariska, I love you. I’m sorry.
She wasn’t a cyborg and wouldn’t receive the message, but he hoped she knew how much he loved her. If they hadn’t been stopped…if he’d found her ten seconds sooner…if…if…if…
The soldier’s eyes were cold. He might well have been an android for the emotion he displayed.
Mariska whimpered, and the small sound of terror ignited a surge of anger and hatred toward the soldier, Obido, Lamis-Odg, Lamani, whoever and wherever he was. Kai accepted death as part of the job. But not for her. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
The soldier aimed for the kill shot. A hot bead drilled into Kai’s forehead.
The soldier dropped dead to the floor.
Blaster in hand, Janai stood there. “Take me with you,” she said, and lowered her weapon.
“But, my fath— General Obido…” Mariska said.
“He’s still alive, if that’s what you’re asking. I can’t continue like this.” She pressed a hand to her abdomen and stared down at it, before lifting her gaze. “Please?” she asked again.
Unlikely any of them were going anywhere. They’d missed the extraction, but Kai scooped up the discarded weapons and grabbed the guard’s as well, never taking his eyes off Janai. Just because she’d shot the soldier didn’t mean she could be trusted.
Scrutinizing her scarred face, he could understand why she would want to leave. Mariska’s ostracism had left her untouched. Janai, as the favored wife, had borne the brunt of Obido’s affection. No Terran woman would choose to live that way.
Except she wasn’t Terran, but Lamis-Odg. She could be a terrorist rigged with an MED. His cyberbrain ran a quick scan. No bomb, but Janai could still be a spy. If she accompanied them, she might report everything she saw and heard to Obido.
Or she might tell Cy-Ops everything she knew about the general and his operations. The intel could be invaluable, what Cy-Ops and the Association of Planets needed to reverse the tide and destroy Lamis-Odg.
He might be able to steal a shuttle, hack into the flight controls, and convince traffic control to open the launch door—all the while evading a full-on manhunt. Calculated odds put his chance of success at 1.89 percent.
“Please.” She peered up at him. In the pools of her eyes, he saw fear and desperation. Real? Faked?
“We can’t leave her here,” Mariska said.
“Come on, then. Let’s blow this joint.” He gestured to Janai and nudged Mariska’s arm. They raced to the shuttle bay.
The wall scanner blocked their passage. Remembering how he’d escaped the AI unit, he swiped his sleeve stained with Vison’s DNA and
punched in the old code.
The screen went red, and ACCESS DENIED flashed. A deafening siren shrieked.
Fuck. Vison’s death had been discovered. Obido and his troops now knew where they were. “We have to leave. Run,” Kai shouted.
“No!” Janai yelled. “Let me.” She pushed in front of him and swiped a rag across the scanner.
The siren shut off. The doors slid open.
“What’s on the rag?” he asked.
“Obido’s…DNA,” she answered.
They darted into the bay. The doors hadn’t fully opened before Janai swiped the screen on the inside and keyed in a code. The doors reversed and closed. “That ought to keep them out for a little while.”
“Will the rag work on a ship?” he asked.
“It might,” she answered.
Maybe he wouldn’t need to make voice contact with the controller. Maybe he could hack into the computer, and, with Janai’s codes...hell, they might have a chance after all. “Let’s grab a ride!”
“How about that one?” Mariska pointed.
At the far end of the bay was Obido’s shuttle, the one they’d left on Deceptio.
Waving impatiently from the top of the lowered gangway was the devil himself—Dale.
They raced across the catwalk and boarded the vessel.
The door hissed shut.
Dale winked at Mariska. “I told you I’d come.”
“Thank you! We owe you so much.”
“I’ll put it on his tab.” Dale jerked his head at Kai. You took your sweet time getting here.
Came as fast as we could, Kai replied. Wasn’t sure you’d be here. Carter said you’d leave.
Those were my orders, Dale agreed. Carter enlisted my assistance then went all commando and read me the where-tos and the why-fors, but he forgets I don’t work for Cy-Ops anymore. No man left behind.
Thanks, buddy.
You can pay me later. Who’s the woman?
Obido’s newest mate. She helped us, but she might be a spy.
Carter can sort it out. It will give him something useful to do.
