“I’m so glad I told you, Kingston. What if I hadn’t? I almost didn’t. It took me so long to find the courage to even speak to you again. No one would ever have looked for Seetha if I’d stayed silent—I see that now. How did you find her?”
King pushed Annalise gently away and walked her to a chair. “I served in the military with some amazing men who never cease to surprise me with their talents. One of them found Seetha and they’re all going along to help me free her. In the meantime, I want you to stop beating yourself up. You saved me from a worse fate by buying me when you did. You saved your daughter by asking for my help. You have acted as bravely as possible given your circumstances and I don’t want to hear you saying anything different.”
Annalise nodded and patted the strong hand on her shoulder. “Yes. Okay. Thank you, Kingston. I badly needed to hear that. Now don’t worry about me at all. Just be careful and bring Seetha back.”
King lifted Annalise’s chin until he held her face in his hands. The pain in her gaze as she imagined her child suffering made his gut ache. Not stopping to analyze the urge, he bent to drop a kiss on her cheek. It felt right to do so. Her ragged sigh over the comfort made him feel very protective of the older woman. A new relationship was being formed between them—or at least new to him—but he wasn’t inclined to stop it from developing.
“Okay. My transport is waiting and I have to go. Annalise, I need you to trust me now the way you did when you first told me about Seetha. While I’m gone, pray for us to have good luck.” At her silent nod, King patted her cheek gently before turning away to leave.
Outside Annalise’s residence, a pod cab hovered at curbside, still waiting as he’d asked. King walked to it with his determination growing every step he took. Even without remembering the mysterious Seetha, he had to try and help. Regardless of his apathy for the Cyber Husband program, he couldn’t abide the Harrington women suffering for yet another atrocity Norton had committed on behalf of a corrupt UCN.
He climbed into the vehicle, closed the door, and gave directions to the driver to take him to the local air transport station.
***
Peyton looked down the row at the men checking their cybernetics to make sure they were fully functional with the limited modifications they’d received. King could no longer turn himself into a fusion bomb, but something so dramatic had never been his idea of a viable weapon anyway. The thought of losing King was not something he was willing to contemplate longer than the three seconds it took to be grateful. Kyra had insisted on downgrading King’s enhancements before any of the other men’s. It had taken a bomb expert two days to declare him completely deactivated. God only knew why Norton hadn’t done so before they put King into the Cyber Husband program.
“This is like the good old days,” Eric declared, smiling as he looked from man to man.
Peyton snorted. “Except that we’re a decade out of practice.”
“Not to mention Doc made sure we only kept a few of our enhancements,” King stated, turning on his pulse canon deflectors. “I’m more afraid of her than I ever was of any enemy we faced.”
Peyton nodded. “Well, it’s not like we’re fighting a hundred trained Cyber Soldiers any longer. We’ll be dealing with labor AI units at the work camp. They’re going to be strong and maybe hard to get around, but they’re not going to be prepared for any sort of full scale invasion of their territory. I think all we’re going to need is a distraction that will require a lot of them to investigate. We also need a way to discreetly get in and out of the camp without disturbing their routines any more than necessary. If we keep them functioning normally around our efforts, we’ll move in and out easier. The cyborg Eric saw is the only unknown factor.”
Marcus looked at Vincent and Steve who both nodded. He looked back at Peyton and King and swept his head to indicate them. “The three of us will create your distraction. How big of one are you wanting?”
“Your basic big boom with as little real damage as possible, but make it messy. We want as many of the AI units occupied in addressing it as possible,” Peyton declared.
Marcus nodded, and then picked up the pulse canon leaning on his leg to check it.
Eric stared at Peyton. “So what? Since they’re creating a distraction, I guess I’m supposed to figure out a way for us to get in and out?”
Peyton grinned. “Oh hell no. I’ve got that covered. I already did some research on this camp. King’s got the tough job and you’re with him, Eric. Once we get in, he’s going to have find the target and release her.”
“Seetha Harrington is not a target,” King said, glaring at Peyton.
Eric laughed at the instant defense. “I always heard men were touchy about insults to their wives, but your reaction surprises me, King. I thought you didn’t remember her.”
“I don’t and she’s not my wife. Seetha is my…” King sighed heavily. He didn’t know what the hell she was. But she wasn’t a just a damn mission target. “Fuck you, Eric. She’s more than just a mission.”
“Of course she is,” Peyton declared, grabbing King’s arm and laughing at his friend’s emotional reaction. “I just fell back into old habits and the way we used to talk about the people we rescued. I wasn’t implying anything by the terminology I used.”
“Yeah…damn it…I know,” King said, running a hand over his newly shorn head. He had his hair clipped close when he found out where they were going. He looked at the men around him, all of whom were now grinning. “Don’t pay any attention to my bitching and complaining. I thought we were done with these kinds of things. This rescue shit has got my circuits a bit scrambled.”
Marcus laughed and shook his head. “No need for a meltdown. You’re not the only member of that club traveling in this transport, Master Sergeant West.”
When the others laughed at Marcus and yelled their agreement, King heaved out a nearly exasperated breath. “I was going to say thanks for helping me find her, but maybe I’ll save my gratitude for when I’m not pissed over your teasing. And I’m not having a meltdown. I just don’t know what we’re getting into.”
King turned to look at a grinning Peyton. “Now what the hell are you smiling about?”
“Nothing I intend to share until Seetha Harrington is safe and headed home with us. This transport is too small for me to have to kick your big ass around in it.”
“You wish you could kick my ass,” King grumbled. He fell back against his seat and huffed when Peyton’s comment earned another round of snickers at his expense. “Glad I seem to be providing the entertainment for this freaking party.”
Eric grinned. “Dude, it’s the least you can do since it's your wife we’re helping you rescue.”
King’s swearing at Eric’s teasing filled the air, but still didn’t drown out the laughter.
Chapter 4
“Engineer Harrington. You must wake and accompany me. You are being relocated.”
Seetha rolled over in her bed and pried her dry eyes open. It had been a long work day for her yesterday. She had fixed…and creatively tweaked…seven units.
“It’s not completely light yet. What time is it, Rodney?”
“It is time for you to be moved to another location. Dress and follow me.”
Knowing he’d escalate his warnings if she didn’t respond, Seetha sat up and slowly pulled both her soiled shirts back on over her head. She’d barely eaten last evening and hadn’t bothered to clean her clothing. She didn’t have the energy to go digging through her storage in the semi-dark for the only other clothes she owned.
“This is very unusual, Rodney. You have never moved me to a new location before. Why move me now?”
“I am unable to answer your query. The reason is classified.”
Seetha snorted. “Well, that sure doesn’t surprise me.”
She dragged herself to the bathroom and used it just in case the opportunity didn’t come again for a while. Coming back out, she slid her feet into shoes and grabbed a couple food bars.
She turned to look at her guard bot while she was stuffing her pockets with things that might get her through whatever was happening.
“Will my personal things be moved to the new location?”
“All traces of your presence are to be removed from this building.”
Rodney’s answer sent her eyebrows arching into her hairline. She’d beaten back fear of him long ago when she realized giving in to it daily just paralyzed her mind. Now though it returned full force exhibiting itself as self-preservation.
“Am I going to be…shit…what would you metal heads call it?” Seetha searched her mind for a term Rodney’s programming might have used for his orders about her.
“Am I going to be terminated?”
“Unknown.”
“Am I going to be recycled?”
“Unknown.”
“Am I going to be transferred to another facility?”
“No answers are available for your queries. You must accompany me without delay. I am authorized to use any force necessary to make you do as asked.”
Adrenaline surged in her body, hitting every cell with an equal amount of terror. She had always suspected the day would come when somebody in the mysterious somewhere would decide she was no longer useful to the AIs. Now it looked like that day was here.
Seetha thought hard about her options as she slid her beloved necklace from its secret hiding spot and slipped it over her head. Her adopted mother had gifted it to her and hadn’t tried to dissuade her from adopting the religion of her birth parents. She wrapped her fingers around the metal symbol of the Tree Of Life and said a quick prayer to the Goddess.
Now how could she pose a logic question in AI speak that would force an honest answer from the bot? She needed to know what kind of risk she was about to take.
“Am I going to be fixing AI units again tomorrow?”
“No,” Rodney said firmly.
Seetha froze. That was way too easy. “No?”
“No. You are not available for servicing AI units any longer.”
“Is someone going to help you relocate me?”
Seetha watched nervously as Rodney paused his mechanical fidgeting and searched his data storage. He was as slow as ever. She heard her heartbeat in her ears while she waited. His joints squeaked loudly as he shifted in place and prepared to unlock her cell.
“William 874 has been programmed to see to your final removal from this facility. He has been updated with instructions about what to do. We are to meet him outside his domicile in fifteen minutes.”
“I bet I know what those instructions are too,” Seetha said, lifting her chin. “Do you know what death is, Rodney?”
“Death is a human term for when an organic body ceases to function sufficiently enough to maintain life. Massive molecular deterioration rapidly follows the cessation of all energy.”
“Your data is wrong,” Seetha declared. “Death is a soulless bastard who needs to learn how badly I want to live.”
“Rephrase, Engineer Harrington. I am unable to understand your statement.”
“Yes. I know. But it’s okay. I forgive you for being an unfeeling machine. Just know if I had a weapon right now, you’d be one fucking dead metal head.”
Seetha looked at the guard bot as she walked quickly by him out of her cell. He wasn’t her enemy. The person who programmed him was. Rodney was a tool being used just as much as she was.
Without waiting, she yanked opened the heavy building door, glanced around her, and took off running in the first clear direction she saw without looking back. Rodney would be pursuing slowly because of her tweaks on him—there was no doubt of that—because he’d done it before. More importantly, he would be broadcasting her breakaway to others as he chased her across the grounds.
The most she could hope for was to put up a good fight before one of them nabbed her.
Between the bots in the place, the cyborgs being used for Goddess knew what, and the jungle surrounding the location, Seetha knew there was no real chance of surviving. But she would be damned if she let some freaking guard bot lead her docilely to her damned executioner.
No. Not today—not this time. They were going to have to drag her kicking and screaming to the cyborg programmed to kill her.
Now at the end of her captivity, she only regretted that she’d ever stopped fighting. What had her compliance ever gained her? Just a little time—that was all.
Her sandaled feet pounded the dirt as she dodged around obstacles, most of which she didn’t recognize. She passed two other guard bots, but they paid no heed to her jogging by. Apparently they hadn’t gotten the word yet. Unfortunately, her poor health had her slowing down much sooner than she’d hoped.
And then she heard it…a boom that shook the ground. The reverberations sent her wobbling.
Suddenly there were sirens and bots scrambling in the direction of the noise.
Freezing in shock, Seetha stayed where she was and put her hands over her ears as dozens of running robots streamed by her on both sides—some faster than others. Her efforts to slow them, all the work she’d done to do so, now mocked her as they half-ass ran, squeaked, and limped by. But one-by-one they moved around her without stopping, all heading toward whatever had made the ground vibrate.
With her heartbeat in her ears again, Seetha finally pulled her hands from her head. She ran in the opposite direction of the bots. She stopped after a couple more minutes, hands on knees as she panted in exhaustion.
Now where to go? Where to hide? What should she do?
There was only one way out of the facility and that was to go up and out in an airjet. If she could get to one of those—if there was one of those here—then maybe she’d have a small chance.
She looked around and started heading to what looked like it might be an airjet hangar. She’d rounded the side of the building and in the distance saw two very determined cyborgs marching along and carrying weapons. They were both big and alarming, but one was nearly double the size of the other.
And by the Goddess…Kingston was still the biggest man she’d ever known.
Seetha stopped running to stare. “King? Is that really you?”
Maybe in her desperate circumstances she was hallucinating about the one and only man she’d ever let get to her. Despite his jacked-up audio sensors, there were no indications he’d heard her over all the commotion. The man continued walking toward her slowly, his expression never changing. Inside her chest, shock warred with sickening elation, sending her heartbeat into overdrive. She now fought feeling joyful the way she’d earlier fought feeling fearful.
Seetha stumbled as she decided it was best to keep moving forward, but she was suddenly halted by someone grabbing the back of her shirt. Calling out, she turned to see a steely-eyed William glaring at the other cyborgs while keeping a firm hold on her. Off to the side, she watched a slow moving Rodney also getting closer. Both could restrain her boney, skinny butt without even trying, and her heart dropped to her stomach in fear.
Looking back at the still walking armed cyborgs, Seetha saw both of them raise some sort of weapon up to their midsections and point it as they got closer. William yanked her backwards, ripping through both her worn-out shirts in the process. She fell away from his grip to the ground, clawing at the dirt as she tried to move out of reach. Her torn clothing added to the struggle. Eventually she stopped fighting and curled into a ball.
When no one yanked her up again immediately, she turned her head to watch Kingston 691, her former Cyber Husband, fire his weapon in her defense. William’s body lifted into the air and then fell silently to the ground. The cyborg programmed to kill her didn’t even flinch afterward. The other cyborg walking with King took aim too, and with one blast Rodney flew apart. Pieces of her AI torturer flew everywhere, spraying the area with various mechanical fluids in the process. Seetha covered her head to protect herself from falling debris.
When things had gone quiet again, she peeked around fingers still covering her eyes.
She saw there was no one left conscious, but her and her rescuers. It was hard to believe both William and Rodney had been so quickly disarmed.
Before she could recover her senses, a ghost from her past was suddenly looming over her. She looked up at him, still trying to take in that King was really there.
“No need to be afraid of us. We’ve just come to help. Are you Seetha Harrington?”
The question about her identity didn’t register at first. Total lack of recognition for her was reflected in King’s gaze. It hit her emotionally as hard as it had the last time she’d laid eyes on the man. All the torturous months she’d spent with the passionless bots had not stripped the trauma of King’s passionless gaze from her. She was caught up once again in the endless looping cyber hell where her kind, loving husband had been made to forget her completely. And once again, she couldn’t be mad because it wasn’t his fault. King had been like Rodney—just a sophisticated cybernetic tool in the wrong hands.
Seetha shook her head slowly, trying to get an emotional, as well as mental, grip on herself.
At least she was alive.
Maybe she should just be grateful William hadn’t even come close to carrying out his horrible task of getting rid of her. There was no time to be lonely for a man who never really existed outside some programmed chip anomaly.
She forced herself to do what she should have done instead of running away when it had happened. She studied King’s concerned gaze on her and traded the past she’d lost for a chance to live in the present.
“Yes. Goddess, yes—that’s me. I am absolutely Seetha Harrington,” she bravely informed the man she’d given her body to hundreds of times.
When a large familiar hand reached down, Seetha stared at it for long moments before finally letting the man-machine she’d fallen hopelessly in love with help her get to her feet. She did her best to hold her torn clothes up enough to cover her breasts.
More of the past came back to haunt her as she faced him, including the coldness of her bed without a loving version of him in it. Images of all the things those strong hands used to do to her flitted through her mind, refusing to be set aside.
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