Kingston 691: Book Two of Cyborgs: Mankind Redefined (26 page)

“Broadcast amplification—an even better way to torture our brains, eh Dan?” William leaned back in his chair. “I heard you say new cyborgs? What new cyborgs?”

Dan shook his head. “Please don’t make me tell you. They’ll kill me for sure.”

William leaned forward. “Pssst…hey stupid….they’re going to kill you anyway. You’ve been captured and grilled by rogue cyborgs. It doesn’t matter if you talked or not. They won’t care.”

Dan looked to the side. “If I tell you, will you keep me alive?”

William snorted. “No…not that I’m inclined to, but I can’t take on Norton all alone. Face it, you’re in deep shit, Dan. All you can do is run and hide and hope they don’t have any mechanized way of finding you. Now tell me about the new cyborgs before I break your feet and make life even harder for you.”

Dan swallowed. “Prisoners—all prisoners. It doesn’t matter what the crime is. They’re being converted.”

“Been happening for years, Dan. That’s old news.”

Dan shook his head. “No—not like this. They’re being…customized…for the right price. Some get military enhancements. Some just get programming for specific tasks. It saves rehabilitation costs for the prisons and makes the convicts valuable to our society.”

“So the people you work for think it’s okay to turn a person into a cyborg, program them any way they see fit, and sell them as custom slaves for a huge profit? Does that apply to weak dicks who code military chips for the bad guys? Where exactly does your secret boss draw the line about who should receive that fate?”

Dan stared and blinked.

“Your brand of stupidity should be illegal,” William declared. He rolled his eyes as he stood. “I can’t take any more of your nonsense without ridding the world of you. But I’ve had enough of you bastards making me kill people, so I’m not taking you out. Enjoy the rest your short life, Dan. I hope whatever you got for selling your soul was worth it.”

Chapter 21

Nero handed over the chip to Kyra with a sigh. “See how this one works. I’m not a military coder, but William and Peyton both helped me determine what to remove and what to keep. The override wasn’t even cloaked. It was just there. They were pretty sure no one would look. Kyra, if I don’t get some sleep soon, I’m going to fall to the floor. Other changes will have to wait until tomorrow.”

Eric patted his shoulder. “No worries, Nero. I can carry skinny dudes like you all day long. I’ll make sure you and your sweet ride make it home safe and sound.”

“No, you will not. My airjet has been worked on twice since you drove it,” Nero said.

Eric lifted his hands. “I was just testing its limits.” He laughed as Nero glared before dropping his worn out body into the nearest chair he found.

Kyra inspected the new military chip as she carried it to Seetha. “What do you think? Are we ready for a test?”

Seetha shrugged. “Ask William. He’s the guinea pig.”

Kyra’s sharp gaze fell on the squirming man in the chair. “Well…?”

“A well is a hole in the ground to access a water source. Why are we playing twenty questions, Doc? Switch out the damn chip,” William ordered, closing his eyes.

Seetha took a reading and saved the calibration settings. She lifted out William’s old military chip and inserted the new one Nero had created. Each man they found wired this way would have to be individually re-programmed so they kept their particular service records. Nero was looking for a coder to help him when the recalls started returning in greater numbers. So far, they had only found five or six out of the first fifty they checked. Hopefully the number would remain small.

She slid the new chip into place and made a face. “Grit your teeth, William. This is going to hurt a little.” She touched the code transfer tool to the manual restart on his processor.

“
Sonofabitch
…” he yelled, pounding the arms of the medical chair as the amount of pain made his back arch.

Kyra shook her head. “It is either that burst of sharp pain or eleven hours in the cage. If it’s too much, we’re just going to have schedule overnight stays for those we fix.”

“I was faking the pain. It never hurt a bit,” William denied.

Kyra fisted a hand on her hip. Seetha grinned and bent down. “I would advise against lying, William. Cyborgs get headaches when they lie.”

William closed his eyes. “Master Sergeant West, will you get your smart-ass wife-to-be away from my head. She’s a dangerous woman with those tools.”

“She’s a dangerous woman without them too, Sir,” King said, walking closer. “How to do feel now? Any different?”

William closed his eyes again and ran some checks. Nothing came up wrong. His gaze popped open and immediately looked for Kyra Winters. “No. I feel…fine,” he said, pleased when relief appeared in her gaze.

Kyra nodded. “Good to hear, William. Looks like we have a winner, Nero. Go home and get some sleep now.” She watched Nero nod, but smiled when her tired assistant made no move to leave.

They all turned when Peyton walked through the lab door. He was just one of those people who commanded all the attention when he appeared.

Seetha turned her attention away from Peyton and back to her patient. William was looking around the room and studying the people. It wasn’t long ago she’d felt that same sense of disbelief about their goodness.

She smiled as she stepped away from her operating chair. “I have a question. What happens now?”

Peyton smiled. “Captain Talon gets to spend ten years of back-pay. The credit transfer should be completed in the next few days. In the meantime, he’s staying with me and Kyra.”

Seetha snorted and looked at him. “That’s great, but not what I meant.”

She turned as she heard King laughing.

“Now we get married and start our happily-ever-after all over again,” King declared. “I was thinking a week from tomorrow. How does that sound?”

Seetha sighed in exasperation. “Too damn fast. How am I supposed to get everything done in a week?”

King shrugged. “I’ll take care of the arrangements and we’ll have dinner after at the restaurant. All you have to do is buy a dress. I’m sure Annalise would love to help. How hard can it be to shop for clothes?”

All the male groans in the room had his gaze sweeping across grinning men. “What? What did I say wrong?”

He looked at Nero accusingly.

“No,” Nero replied. “You don’t need it. You’re doing fine. Just stop being…dense. Get some women’s mags. They have good advice in them.”

Seetha grinned when Eric’s wicked laughter got the evil eye from both Peyton and King. She patted King’s arm. “It’s okay, honey. You didn’t say anything wrong. We’ll look at the calendar later. I may need a little more time than a week to plan our wedding. But that’s still not what I was talking about.”

All eyes turned to her, including her confused future husband’s.

“Aren’t we going to do anything about what we learned?” Seetha asked. She had figured out talk needed to be kept general while at Norton. Everything around them had eyes and ears tuned to what they were doing and saying.

Kyra nodded. “Yes. Peyton has collected the data and is investigating. The rest…the rest we’ll deal with as it comes. Get married, Seetha. Enjoy your life. That’s the best thing you can do right now.”

Seetha nodded, but turned away. That was exactly what William had said in parting to Dan Masterson. He told Dan to enjoy his life—but two days later the man was found dead in his home from an unexplained heart condition. Not a person in the room believed for one minute that was the case, and yet…there was nothing to be done about it. Dan had disappointed someone and paid the price for it.

Shaking off what she couldn’t control, Seetha turned her gaze back to the man in the chair. She was never going to feel completely at ease in his company, but she didn’t hate him either. It was enough progress for now.

“William Talon, I hope you never end up in my chair again. Get out now. Go away. You’re fixed.”

William chuckled at her bossy tone. “Seetha…in case I never see you again…you have the nicest legs the Goddess ever put on a woman. Don’t tell your future husband I said that. He looks big enough to kick my ass.”

“Freak…ing…bot…voice,” Rachel declared, as she took the tools from a chuckling Seetha’s hands.

Seetha turned her smile to the younger woman. “Don’t worry, baby girl. We’re going to fix you. Then all the broken cyborgs will be clamoring after you instead of me.”

“Ha…ha…ha…” Rachel said, mad when she couldn’t even laugh without sounding robotic.

Seetha grabbed her before she escaped and hugged her tightly. She looked up to see her husband’s kind gaze taking in her actions. His smile of approval was worth all of this…even the chaos of not knowing how bad tomorrow would be.

“Kingston, take me home,” she ordered, loving the way excitement lit up his face.

“I’m ready. I can’t believe you insisted on driving the fuel goblin today. Every time I get in that thing, I see the crystal panel drop twenty percent. We’re going to spend half our money on keeping it going.”

Seetha let go of a squirming Rachel and stalked to the man she intended to marry…if she didn’t kill him first.

“No…what we are driving today is a mid-size airjet I bought with leg room to spare and modest fuel consumption. It has speed, endurance, and it fits me…just like you do…
honey
.”

King opened his mouth to tell her the comparison of his vehicle to hers and how poorly hers performed, but stopped when Nero groaned and put his head in his hands. He backtracked, thought again, and then grinned.

“So long as we get home safely. That’s all that matters,” King said softly, wanting to laugh when Seetha looked at him like he had morphed into a three-headed monster. Her narrowed gaze and raised eyebrows were priceless. He suddenly understood the humorous value in giving an irrational answer. “Hurry up. I’m in the mood for gumbo. Let’s stop by the restaurant on the way home.”

“Who are you and what have you done with Kingston West?” Seetha demanded.

King’s laughter sounded loud in the lab as he dragged the woman he loved out the door.

# # The End # #

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