Adam (9 page)

Some spotted his partial military uniform and soot-covered countenance and naturally assumed he had the answers.

“What’s going on? Are we supposed to evacuate?”

Given the more chaos the humans caused, the better chance he’d have at slipping notice, he did the responsible thing. “Get out! Fire! Use the stairs.”

The fact that he sidled along the wall, in the opposite direction, seemed to pass unnoticed, except by one human, who’d, up to now, remained quiet.

“Adam, where are you going?” a raspy-voiced doctor asked.

“Out.”

“Isn’t out the other way?” she inquired much too calmly. Good and bad. Good because it made her easy to handle, bad because he’d wager, once the shock set in, things could get ugly. Histrionics weren’t something his kind was really programmed to deal with.

“Not for us,” was his enigmatic reply.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He didn’t immediately reply as he chose his moment when no one appeared to pay them any mind and slipped into a condo, whose door had been left ajar by a fleeing inhabitant.

Shutting the portal behind him, he dropped Laura to her feet and took a quick stock of their situation. The condo itself followed the same layout as the doc’s. Small entranceway opening onto the living room area and open kitchen. He ignored the décor and zeroed in on the sliding glass doors leading to the balcony.

In case anyone was listening, he sent one brief mental shout, which included his coordinates.

If anyone’s listening, I’m coming out hot.
Hot and bloody. The second he could kind of fix. A row of jackets and sweaters, even some ball caps, hung on hooks by the door. He snagged the largest one, which was thankfully black. It wouldn’t do anything to clean the blood from his back, but it would at least hide the damage from any cursory looks.

Given it wasn’t exactly balmy outside, he tossed a smaller navy blue coat at the doc, who snagged it one-handed while the other hand shoved her glasses back up on her nose. She stared at him then the jacket she held.

“Put it on.”

To his surprise, she obeyed his request without question, but that didn’t stop her from asking and repeating others. “Where are we going? What’s happening? Is this related to the threat on CyberGlys? Shouldn’t we call for help?”

Having stepped over to the sliding glass doors, which he opened and dared a peek outside, he answered her over his shoulder. “Listen, Doc, I don’t have time to play a thousand questions. You’re just going to have to trust me to get us out of here alive. Can you do that?” He turned to face her.

For a moment she stared at him, vulnerable in the oversized coat, her hair straggling out from its ponytail, her cheeks smudged with soot and even spots of blood, his he’d wager since he didn’t spot any fresh wounds on her.

It didn’t take much deduction to read the fear in her gaze or the will it took to keep her trembling from turning into tears and hysteria.

She kept her spine straight and her tears in check. His doc was made of stern stuff. She might eschew adventure, but when it came into her life—and shit blowing apart—she took it in stride with a bravery he admired.

She nodded. Then gasped as he swung her into his arms. “Hold on tight,” he advised. She wound her arms around his neck. “Oh, and don’t look down.”

As she opened her mouth to say, “Why?” he pressed a hard kiss on her lips. Maybe their last.

It all depended on timing.

And luck. Something cyborgs didn’t truly believe in, but his human side was counting on it.

With one last mentally shouted,
Here we come,
Adam ran at the sliding glass doors.

Trust me, he says. Trust him to kill us both.

The screen door popped as Adam hit it and took them outside at a sprint. As Adam ran at the ledge rimming the outdoor balcony, she wanted to scream at him, but terror stole her voice. With a leap, he balanced on the parapet. Given their distance from the ground, she couldn’t help but shut her eyes tight.

This isn’t happening.
Maybe she dreamed. Maybe this was all a nightmare, a production of her overworked mind.

“Don’t let go,” he advised. As if she would. She clung tight to his neck, especially when one of his arms moved away from her upper body, leaving only a single one to support her legs. Forget further warning or time to prepare, or protest. He jumped, and they were airborne.

Oh my god
—who probably wasn’t listening, given she’d written a thesis disproving his existence—
we’re going to die.

Her head snapped as their descent was abruptly halted. Given the screams and sirens and the air whistling by her head, they weren’t dead. Yet.

She opened one eye to peek.

It appeared they were floating or flying or something because they certainly weren’t standing on solid ground—which she intended to kiss if she made it out of this insanity alive. The odds truly weren’t in favor of survival, not given they hung suspended at least two stories or more in the air.

Using only one hand, Adam held on to a braided cable, displaying a strength she hoped wouldn’t fail them, especially since it seemed his one-armed hold on the dangling rope was the only thing keeping them from crashing and splatting much like overripe fruit.

As they swung through the air, a pendulum without a clock, she tried to take in what happened around them. Over Adam’s shoulder, bedlam reigned. It didn’t take a genius to guess that the smoke billowing from a floor a few levels up and now a block away, given their movement, was her condo. It also didn’t take someone with a Mensa level IQ to realize that the figures dangling from rappelling ropes on her building had spotted them and now aimed weapons their way.

Not sure how announcing it would help them in any way, but feeling a need to let him know, she yelled, “Guns!”

“Fuck,” was his reply, which really didn’t reassure. “Crank us faster,” he hollered to someone above them. Had she neglected to mention the rope they dangled from was anchored to a helicopter, whose timing was impeccable?

Forget kissing the ground. She should kiss the chopper pilot first. The military had come to their rescue. So quickly? But how had they known? Who cared? Their arrival had saved them from painting the sidewalk red.

A jerk on the rope sent them spinning. She bit her tongue lest she scream again. They ascended more quickly and just in time, too, as cracks sounded behind them.

They’re shooting!
At least she assumed that was what the sound meant, a hypothesis confirmed when a missile whistled way too close to her ear.

“Tuck your head into my shoulder,” Adam shouted, his words barely distinct over the roaring stutter of the chopper blades.

Face buried against his neck, she couldn’t help but note how Adam kept his body turned so that any more bullets would hit him first. Once again, he played the part of human shield.

Or did he?

With terror threatening to freeze her mind, she let it wander in a direction other than the danger they faced—why dwell on the possibility they could plummet to their deaths at any moment and force the medical examiner to turn to DNA for identification? Why worry about the possibility some determined shooters would turn them into the human equivalent of Swiss cheese when she had a more interesting thing to focus on?

Adam.

Sexy Adam, who kissed her and made a mockery of her dull existence with just one touch.

Gentlemanly Adam, who protected her, even though it caused him great injury.

Strong Adam, who carted her out of the danger zone and never even broke a sweat.

Crazy Adam, who jumped off a bloody balcony and, in a stroke of timing, caught a rescue rope.

Not human Adam, WHO WAS A FREAKING CYBORG!

Okay, so she shouted the last bit mentally. It didn’t make the revelation any less stunning.

All this time, she’d looked for evidence of cyborgs at CyberGlys, only to have one under her very nose. In her condo. Working for the military.

The traitor.

How could he knowingly work for the men who’d ordered the slaughter of hundreds of his kind? Or did he not have a choice? Was he a reprogrammed model who couldn’t think for himself? Had he gained freedom only to lose his humanity again as the military plugged holes in their cybernetic units? Did he willingly choose to align himself against the others in order to survive? Or was he a new model, an improved one that no one suspected existed?

She’d have to figure it out later. They’d reached the end of their journey. Reeled to the edge of a helicopter, Laura only had a second to note a set of hands reached out to haul her in. A really strong woman’s hands, while a male set yanked Adam into relative safety.

Laura, the shock of the past moments making her legs unresponsive, sat in an unladylike heap on the floor of the chopper and stared at her rescuers. A statuesque blonde, who could have modeled for any fashion magazine, as could have the stunning male at her side. If she hadn’t already met Adam—and kissed him—she might have found herself more in awe of his looks. Blond, built, with a chiseled face and body, he was much too handsome to be real.

Dressed in black from head to toe, they didn’t look like soldiers. They didn’t look like robots either. But she had a niggling suspicion.

She’d blame shock for blurting out, “Are you all cyborgs?”

They exchanged looks, silent ones, and yet she could have sworn they spoke. Heck, they probably did. Most models had a wireless capability for communication. It was how the military conveyed orders and downloaded programming changes.

Just when it seemed as if no one would reply, Adam shook his head and broke the silence. “She’s seen too much for me to easily explain it away.”

“You mean like the fact that you move faster than is biologically possible, how your back has already healed from the cuts, and, yes, I noticed that. Kind of hard not to, given you had me tossed over your shoulder with only one thing to stare at.” Well, two, but given the situation, ogling his ass didn’t seem appropriate.

“You do realize that by letting her in on the secret, you’re jeopardizing us all.”

With a weary expression that she wouldn’t have thought a machine capable of, but then again, cyborgs weren’t only machines, Adam scrubbed a hand over his face. “I know. But what else was I supposed to do? I couldn’t let her die.”

Ah, how sweet. She couldn’t help the warmth that spread through her at his words. Quickly followed by a chill at the reply from his companions.

“It might have been better if you had. Someone was really keen on having her killed. Why do you think we were in the area, close enough to catch your distress call?”

“I wasn’t distressed,” Adam protested. “Merely inconvenienced. If I were alone, I could have handled the situation.”

“At what expense?” the other male pointed out. “Innocents would have gotten killed.”

A grimace twisted Adam’s countenance. “Innocents have probably already died tonight, but not through any fault of mine. Whoever came after us was determined and didn’t seem to care about casualties or drawing notice. You never did say how you knew to be in the area though.”

“Rosalind caught wind from one of her informants about a planned attack on the doctor’s condo, and we went on the move.”

“A good thing you did. I wasn’t looking forward to dodging them on the ground and making my way to one of the safe houses unnoticed.”

“Again, all things you could have done easily had you chosen to leave her behind.”

Laura couldn’t help but shiver.
Thank goodness Adam doesn’t share the same opinion as this lady, or I’d be dead.

Once again, he came to her defense. “If I’d left her behind, they would have killed her, or worse.”

What was worse than death?

“Then you should have disposed of her so she couldn’t give away any secrets before escaping. Instead, we had to swoop in and save your ass, quite publicly I might add.”

The handsome male laughed. “We’ll be YouTube sensations before the night is out.”

“I’ll have Rosalind scrub any pictures or videos she finds,” Adam replied.

“Who’s Rosalind?” Too late, Laura wished she’d bitten her tongue, as the blonde woman turned her cold gaze and attention her way.

“What’s done is done. Perhaps you were right in saving her. She might have answers for us. After all, the attack seemed geared toward her. But the question is why? What makes her so important that anyone, even a fringe group, would so publicly and violently attack with no regard for civilian casualty? This isn’t how things usually work.”

“Instead of focusing on why, perhaps we should be asking who?” the other male interjected, lounging in a seat, but eschewing the buckles.

Adam, in the process of peeling out of his stolen coat, frowned. “What do you mean who? Didn’t you say Rosalind had an informant notify her? That must mean she knows who’s responsible for the attack.”

“Nope. It was a rapidly organized mercenary hit. Although, given the weaponry and organization, I have to wonder if it was military in origin.”

“Secret ops?”

“Most likely. Which means your little doctor here is obviously in possession of something they deem valuable. Question is, what is it?”

Finding herself the focus of all their gazes wasn’t reassuring. Laura, still seated on the vibrating floor, hugged her knees to her chest. Time to remind them she existed and had feelings. First though, she poked the glasses she’d not yet lost up on her nose. “If they were looking for something, then why blow up my apartment? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to search it?”

“So it’s not a physical object they seek. What are you hiding in that human brain of yours?”

Given the way the female stared at her with her head on a tilt, she wouldn’t put it past her to demand to dissect it. Laura shivered, and Adam frowned.

“Anastasia, would you stop trying to frighten her? She’s not the enemy. On the contrary, if the military, or even an unknown faction, want her dead so badly, then obviously she knows something of worth. Even if she doesn’t realize what it is.”

“Why would the military want me dead? That makes no sense. I work for them. They assigned you as my guard to keep me safe.”

“A good thing they chose Adam too. Anyone else and you’d be barbecued meat right now,” the other male cyborg said.

“Seth! Must you be so crude?” This time the woman took offense, and Laura relaxed a bit. “You know I’m hungry. So much for having a real Earth-cooked dinner tonight.” And with those words, Laura tensed back up.

“Sorry. I guess you’ll have to make do with whatever we can scrounge up.”

Anastasia made a face. “Oh yay. More rocks and plants. You know, just because we can digest and make use of the compounds in raw materials doesn’t make it all right. I see nothing wrong with enjoying a flavorful meal, one that engages my taste buds.”

“I’ve got something you can taste.” The leer on Seth’s face did not need interpretation.

As Laura blushed and ducked her gaze, Anastasia exclaimed, “Seth,” again, but this time in fond exasperation.

“What am I going to do with you, husband?”

“Hopefully chapters nine through thirteen of that tantric book I downloaded.”

“Ahem, while I am usually the first to offer a video camera to tape kinky sex, I think we do have more important matters to attend to. Such as where the fuck do we go next? If we assume the target is Doctor Cowen—”

How impersonal, Laura thought, a little miffed at Adam’s formal tone.

“—then my place should provide a safe hideaway while we regroup and plan. If, however, the military is behind it—”

“Then we should hurry back to your place so we can be on hand to greet any guests,” said Seth with a bright grin, not at all perturbed at his desire to rush into danger.

An indication of faulty programming? Or was this what happened when the emotions of a testosterone-filled male mixed with the almost invincible nature of a cyborg?

A frown marred Adam’s face. “They better not blow up my house. I’ve got some priceless shit inside.”

Anastasia snickered. “Yeah, like your collection of vintage
Star Trek
figures. I still find your fascination with the Borg disturbing.”

“Funny because I would have thought you were more disturbed by the Seven of Nine costume I made you wear that one time.”

The punch Seth threw at Adam just barely missed his jaw, but his simmering jealousy was evident for all.

Adam and Anastasia used to date? Odd how Seth wasn’t the only one who felt an urge to slap something. Laura fought to keep a scowl from her lips as Anastasia laughed.

“Oh my god. That stupid costume. I still can’t believe I agreed to wear that thing to that Halloween party.”