Mated with the Cyborg (16 page)

A dozen droids and three staffers converged. A shot scorched by his ear and struck the wall, lighting up a radiating circle with a red-hot glow.
That would have fried my circuits
. He ducked behind a metal pillar and fired back.

Androids, with the strength of two men, outnumbered the staffers three to one, but the Lamis-Odg personnel posed the real danger. They were armed, understood the stakes, and were better able to adapt. The androids marched woodenly, like their programming had been scrambled by new orders. If he’d had a clue Vison was a cyborg, he would have shot him in the head sooner to prevent him from raising the alarm.

Kai fired his blaster and scored a hit. A staffer collapsed, and his weapon skidded across the metal floor. The other two scrambled for safety. A droid approached from the side mere meters away, and Kai shot him. If they’d been soldier bots, they would have been programmed to seek cover when attacked. Aiming from behind his post, he took out three more.

A blast hit the metal column, turning it into a pillar of radiating heat. He jumped back to avoid a burn while trying to remain hidden. Another blast zipped by so close he smelled singed hair. Fighting would have been easier if he’d had two good arms. His wounded left one throbbed, but nanocytes had already initiated healing. Another burst struck the pillar, and Kai realized the staffers were aiming for it to drive him away from the barrier. Not a bad idea…

He deactivated three more bots then held a steady stream against the column behind which one of the shooters had taken cover. The post lit up. The man gave a shout of pain and stumbled sideways, exposing a shoulder. Kai fired. The man screamed and fell. Another blast finished him off.

Two droids left. He took them out with ease. A single staffer remained.

“Surrender, and I’ll let you live,” Kai shouted in Lamis-Odg. “Throw down your weapon.”

The wall behind him glowed scarlet from a photon stream. “I’ll take that as a no,” he muttered.

Another shot lit up the metal support post. Front and behind, heat radiated. It was hot enough to cook him. Sweat poured down Kai’s temples, plastered his shirt to his skin. The perspiration caused his self-inflicted chest wound to bleed again. Nanos rushed to the surgical site.

The standoff would continue until one of them ran out of firepower. Kai had a feeling it was going to be him. The surviving staffer had proven to be wilier than the others. He’d been able to grab several weapons from his fallen comrades. Kai had emptied one of his blasters, and the charge was running low on the second. When that one failed, he would only have the two he’d cobbled from android parts. No telling how reliable they would be or how long they would last.

He was outgunned.

Mariska was out there alone.

The ear-splitting siren shut off. “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.”

What the hell was a code-one-one? He had no time to ponder because another strike from his determined opponent hit the wall. It glowed from the thermal energy, forcing Kai closer to the red-hot pillar. He couldn’t stay here much longer.

He let off two quick shots at his opponent’s shield then fished out an MED and set it. Taking aim, he tossed it. It hit the floor behind the staffer’s column.
Three, two, one…

The MED exploded. Body parts whirled. A bloody severed arm hit the floor.

* * * *

Kai slung Vison’s body over his shoulder and hauled it to the wall scanner. Grabbing the officer’s limp hand, he shoved it against the screen. The reader lit up.
Response?
A prompt flashed. Fuck, this door required a code. He let the first officer’s body collapse in a heap. When he’d been undercover as an android, he’d been given a code but hadn’t had access to the more sensitive areas. Did those areas have a special number? Or did an individual’s identity determine access?

He punched in the number he remembered from his android days.

The door slid open.

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.

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 stationwide 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.

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.