Kingston 691

by Donna McDonald

  King nodded. “Then we have to unlock the file to find the secrets, right?”

  Eric shrugged. “Well, since she didn’t talk to her family about her plans, it’s the only potential lead about what happened.”

  All eyes shifted as the door slid open to let in a white coated scientist and her gray coated cyborg assistant.

  “Just the person we were hoping to see,” Nero said, glancing at Kyra and Brad. “We found a locked file in Kingston’s Cyber Husband records.”

  “Yes. I remember seeing that, but had forgotten to go back and check it,” Kyra said, laying down her portable as she walked to peer over Nero’s shoulder at the com. “How high is the security on the file?”

  Nero snorted. “Level twelve—but tighter than I’ve ever seen that level be. Normal unlock codes aren’t working on it.”

  Kyra’s gaze lifted. “Brad, tell us everything you know about this sort of data lockdown.”

  Brad walked to peer at the com. “Files of that sort are often found in cyborgs who were sent to work camps.”

  “Work camps? Does this file indicate the cyborg’s human side was controlling their cybernetics too much for Norton’s acceptable ratio?” Kyra asked.

  Brad blinked as he processed the information. “Such a deduction has a ninety-seven percent accuracy rating.”

  Kyra looked at King. “Looks like you were even further along in becoming human again than Peyton was when I found him.”

  King snorted. “Annalise said Seetha fought Norton over my upgrades. She held them off for seven years. Are you saying that without the upgrades, I was going back to being who I am now?”

  “Not exactly,” Kyra said gently, “but you weren’t completely cyborg either. Aspects of your true personality were probably breaking through daily in those years. Your sense of humor may have even returned. That was one of the first things Peyton got back. I’m sure your behavior during that time was not purely logic driven. Otherwise, they would have left you alone. I’ve restored several cyborgs who still had their original coding.”

  “Annalise said I was different during those seven years and that I became less cyborg as time passed. She said the upgrade put me back like I was when I first came to them.”

  Kyra nodded and motioned with a hand to the com. “Chances are that locked file holds the truth about those seven years. They would have wanted to preserve it so they could study how not to let it happen in any other cyborgs. That’s the kind of thinking Norton applies to everything.”

  She turned her attention to Brad again. “How do we open the file, Brad?”

  Brad looked at Nero. “Authorization Echo Roger Alpha Sierra Echo will open a portal to lift the file to the top of the storage area, but you will still need a viable unlock key code to access the content of the file.”

  “Echo Roger Alpha Sierra Echo? That’s the code to erase, not to open,” Nero challenged.

  “That’s the only way to access Norton’s level ten and above files with layered protection. Erasing them is protocol answer three under direct orders from the UCN.”

  Nero looked at Kyra. “I can’t copy it to test what he’s saying. Copies appear briefly and are destroyed within a few seconds. If I use Brad’s method, I could potentially lose the data permanently.”

  “Got any other solutions?” Kyra asked.

  Nero shook his head.

  King’s gaze went from scientist to scientist. “Just do it. If I lose the data, so be it. If I find Seetha Harrington, she’ll tell me what happened anyway. And if she’s dead…her family deserves to know so they can mourn and move on.”

  Kyra nodded as Nero sighed and punched in commands. Up popped the file with a choice of permanent erasure or opening for review. “I’m going to run all the Norton access keys I’ve successfully used, and then I’ll try some I haven’t been successful at using. However, one of them could conceivably tell the file to blow itself up.”

  Brad stepped forward. His eyes scanned the key codes running. “Add the acronym DRJ to the front. Dr. Channing liked using parts of his name for layered password code keys.”

  “Dr. J—for Jackson—of course.” Shaking his head at the intellectual vanity of the man Kyra was married to once, Nero did as Brad suggested. One hundred and twenty-two codes later, the file rolled open displaying videos, discussions, and more data reports than he’d ever seen in any cyborg’s husband record before.

  At the end of the file was a memo entered on the same day the locked file was dated. It was added exactly three weeks after Norton had returned King to the devastated Seetha Harrington. Nero opened it, skimmed it quickly, and swore.

  “Those fucking assholes. They waited until she was convinced about King being only a cyborg again and then sent her to a damn work camp. She thought they were facilitating her acceptance into the Peace Brigade. I bet they didn’t want her talking to anyone about what had happened.”

  King felt the anger response ignite inside him again. Was he mirroring Nero’s anger? Or feeling his own? He couldn’t tell, but either way, he didn’t like how it felt in his body. This level of stress was unacceptable…as was what had happened to both him and Seetha Harrington.

  “Does it say which camp she was sent to?” King demanded, shocked when the question came out so terse. “Sorry, Nero. I’m…tense.”

  Nero shrugged and read the memo again. “No. It doesn’t say which one, but there are only sixteen work camps in the world. They’re on our hit list because they have cyborgs as well as bots in residence. We just hadn’t gotten to rescuing those abandoned soldiers yet.”

  He looked up at Peyton when he felt a hand patting his shoulder.

  “Nero, see if you can narrow down the search some way to give us a starter set of four or five to investigate. Eric, contact Marcus and tell him we have a job. I’ll call Vincent and Steve, but I’m going to use my handheld so they don’t overreact. They’re still adjusting to not having their military life as a crutch.”

  King grabbed his arm as his former captain started to walk away. “Wait. You guys don’t have to go with me. I can go by myself. There’s no need to disrupt your lives for the sake of my mystery.”

  Peyton laughed. “King—I’ve studied those camps. If you intend to go into one, you can’t do it alone. They’re more secure than military bases used to be and even the UCN has limited authority within them. Once the control bots are put into place there, the camp runs on strict routines to do the mining or whatever other manual labor tasks occupy their time. AI units in the camps are rebooted daily and they allow nothing to disrupt their processes. They are hundreds strong in number and the guards are military grade.”

  “Any chance they’d give her up if we petition the UCN?” King asked.

  Peyton snorted. “Changing camp protocol would take months to accomplish through normal channels. Since we’ve been using Norton’s facility to search for her, you can bet your ass somebody knows. Do you think she’ll last long if they helped put her in there? Going after her is probably the only chance of survival Seetha Harrington has.”

  King nodded at the harsh truth and let go. He looked away, not liking that the problems of his life were disrupting so many others. All he wanted was a peaceful existence. Why was that so much to ask for having survived a ton of shit already?

  “I don’t like what you’re saying, but I get it,” he said quietly.

  Peyton turned and faced his friend. “Look King, if your wife is in one of those camps, it’s because she’s a UCN prisoner just like we were. You’re going to need all the help you can get. The bots are not going to let you just take her out of their camp. Plus, we have no idea about any of the cyborgs there or their military capabilities or how they might react to us trying to retrieve her.”

  “Is this fucking nightmare ever going to be over?” King demanded.

  Peyton nodded, firming his jaw. “Yes…at least for most of the cyborgs. We’re going to make sure of it. But when we find Seetha Harrington—if we find her—we’re not going
to try to shut down the camp completely. That would cause a ruckus we don’t need to have to handle. We just want to get her out and let life move on. Right?”

  King frowned, even as he nodded his compliance. He didn’t complain again because there was really no other choice but let Peyton and the rest of his old team help him free his former wife.

  Chapter 3

  Nero scratched his head as he walked back into the lab. It was late and he should be home sleeping, but Eric hadn’t left the facility in three days. The man would shut down for short periods of time right in the chair, then pop back up a short while later and start work where he left off, as if he’d had a full night’s rest.

  Nero shook his head, yawned and stretched, while envying how alert the cyborg managed to stay. “How did you get around the satellite security to redirect its lens?”

  Eric laughed. “Easy. I didn’t get around anything. Since I didn’t know how long the search would take, I looked for a more legit tactic. So I’m pretending to be a new com station. I paid their yearly fee from money King gave me, got the control coordinates to manipulate the satellite, and now I can point its most excellent high-powered camera anywhere I want on earth. I can even point it into the work camps and watch who comes and goes. The problem is I can only do one damn camp at a time. It’s taking forever to check them.”

  Nero stared, fascinated by the man’s cleverness. “Can’t you record instead of watching? Seems like it would be less taxing and we could enlist some help reviewing the records.”

  Eric shook his head. “No. Just the opposite. I’m pretending to broadcast which means I have to keep sending the bogus signal constantly. If I stop sending it, their monitoring service might suspect I’m not exactly what I say I am.”

  “I see. How many camps have you watched in three days?” Nero asked, amazed by the man’s focused dedication to the task.

  “I’ve watched six of the sixteen so far. Not many. I’ve been hoping to get lucky. Five were in the mountains, all mining camps. Bots went in and out of dark holes in the ground. Very boring. This afternoon I’ve moved to the jungle for a change of scenery. This camp digs for gold. It should be much more exciting to watch them go in and out of holes in the ground surrounded by jungle plants.”

  Nero snorted at the self-effacing humor. “This camp must be deep in the jungle. Most of the gold was mined out of the earth by the end of the twentieth. I’m afraid mining for gold there is nothing but a waste of time and AI units.”

  Eric blinked, zoomed in, and turned his head to grin at the skeptical scientist. “Or this camp could have the very gold we’ve been looking for. Does that look like a human female to you? She’s awfully skinny—almost looks like a man to me.”

  Nero stared at the screen. “Whoever it is has a hefty escort. There’s a cyborg walking behind the AI bot.”

  “Really?” Eric adjusted the zoom on the satellite, moving in for a closer shot. “This is as good a feed as I can get. Can we do face recognition on this com?”

  “Absolutely.” Nero swung to his com and pulled up the photo Kingston West had given them of him and Seetha. He typed a few commands to send it along to Eric. “Just pull it up and put it in the top right corner of the screen.”

  They both watched as the photo landed in place.

  “Now highlight her face and drag over it. Then drop the cropped photo of her face on top of your video. The system will do the checking for you. We use the feature to identify rogue cyborgs.”

  “Rogue cyborgs…right. Bet that’s got you working your ass off these days,” Eric declared, smiling when he heard the scientist tiredly chuckle.

  “Yes. I’m up to my neck in rogue cyborgs and the bastards never fucking sleep. They make me look bad when I have to crash once in a while.”

  Laughing at Nero’s reply, Eric dropped a copy of the woman’s face over his video feed. “Now look at my satellite, sweetie. I need to see that pretty face of yours.”

  Another five minutes went by as they watched her walk toward a building. If she went inside, they’d lose her until she came back out. But at the door, she stopped and stared at the sky. Clasping her hands together, she lifted her face, then lifted her hands in a pleading, prayerful gesture. A push in the middle of her back from the bot had her swinging around and bam—the photo started flashing.

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” Nero said. “That’s Seetha Harrington. You actually found her.”

  Eric smiled and pushed back in his chair. “King is going to owe me big time. I knew I could do this. I’ve always had a lot of faith in my instincts. I even had it as a cyborg. Back then I credited being this sure to some sort of data I couldn’t access, but really it was my intuition talking to me the whole time. I figured it out almost as soon as I was restored. I feel ten times smarter about myself.”

  “Great. I’m glad to hear one restoration is working out well. Call Kingston on the way home and tell him we found her. I’ll drop you at your place. Dude, no—don’t look at me like I’m a wimp. I have to go to my domicile and get some real rest,” Nero exclaimed.

  Eric laughed at his protesting. “Okay. I need just one more minute—there it’s done. I pointed the satellite at the nearest city, just in case it gets looked at while we’re away. So we’re going to the jungle? I guess it beats heading back to the desert. Marcus is going to hate it though. He hates the oppressing level of humidity required to make the place so green.”

  “I’m not too fond of it either. My airjet isn’t big enough for the five of you or I’d offer it as your ride.”

  Eric grinned as they walked out the door. “The place we’re going is south of the equator and straight down. It’s going to take about six hours by deluxe airjet, unless we get a cargo lift. Cyborgs can survive the speeds those travel, but you still feel like shit for a while after you get there. We wouldn’t be able to bring the woman back that way. Guess we’ll have to book private air transport. Peyton or King can take care of those details.”

  “You’re not like other cyborgs, Eric. If I didn’t know what you were, I would think you’d never been anything other than human. You don’t spout logic all the time like the rest of your group. You talk in terms of end results—a very human thing to do.”

  “Is telling me I suck at being logical your way of paying me a backhanded compliment? Because if it is, you hellaciously need better social skills.”

  Nero sighed as they exited the building into the parking lot. “Yeah…sorry. That probably was out of line. I didn’t mean to insult your friends. I’m tired and my filters are down.”

  Eric shrugged as he climbed into the sleek vehicle. “Good enough apology for a pass. What a sweet ride you have here, Nero. Would you offer your airjet to one very proficient-at-driving cyborg if he promised to bring it back in good condition?”

  Nero thought as he opened the driver’s seat compartment. “I might be persuaded…for the right reason.”

  “Right reason? What does that mean?” Eric laughed as he asked the question. He was as confused talking to Nero as King had reported being. The young scientist was smart though—incredibly smart. He had no doubt Nero had earned his white coat.

  “I want to ask you questions—any questions I want—about your cyborg life. The collected data on cyborgs says nothing at all about the realities of living in a human world with a higher functioning brain, not to mention the problems you have dealing with your leftover military cybernetics. I want the inside scoop even though my questions will undoubtedly continue to reflect my lack of social skills. It will probably feel like I am prying your brain open again.”

  Eric looked around the airjet’s interior. It was pristine. He glanced at the man beside him. Everything about Nero was just as precise as his ride. “Can I keep your ride for a whole afternoon?”

  “If you prove to me you can drive and agree to my terms, you can keep it a whole work day,” Nero declared. “But I want access to you immediately. We’ll start interviewing tomorrow…or whenever you guys get back f
rom rescuing Kingston’s lady. I can wait that long.”

  Eric snorted. “King’s lady…that’s so funny to hear. You see, King always had a lady and didn’t have to work very hard at it. He’d hook up with one wherever the hell we got sent. When he’s not freaked out, the man is completely charming—well at least to women. I think he looks scary as shit, but women don’t see him like I do.”

  Eric looked back to see Nero blinking at him…and waiting. The man’s single-minded focus made him laugh.

  “Okay. You can have eight hours of brain picking time in exchange for eight hours of ride borrowing. That’s my best offer.”

  “Done,” Nero declared, putting the airjet into gear as it revved. “Better buckle up or grab on to something.”

  The moment the engine reached max power, he shot straight up and did it at peak velocity.

  Beside him, the cyborg he’d surprised laughed and swore.

  ***

  “Seetha? In a work camp?” Annalise shook her head. “That’s where they put rogue cyborgs…and antiquated robots. Why would they put Seetha there?”

  Thinking about her daughter having to survive in such a place gave her chills. All this time she’d been thinking Seetha didn’t want to be around her family, when the truth was she couldn’t be.

  “I don’t know why or how she ended up there.”

  King outright lied, even though it hurt his brain to do so. He bore the suffering of the uncomfortable cybernetic side effect to save the older woman. It would have caused her worse anxiety knowing Norton and the UCN were likely involved in her child’s disappearance.

  “All I know right now is that we’re going to go get your daughter out. You need to focus on that.”

  Annalise throwing herself at him to hug him tightly caught King off-guard. His arms came around her, offering comfort as best he could. He hadn’t hugged any female but Doc since his restoration. It felt very strange.