Second Chance (16 page)

78 Second Chance

the other man writhing on the floor.

Most of the cages were occupied, and all the prisoners were women. They now lined the bars, eager to be free. Laci ran her eyes over them. They were of the Third Gen, but there was something different about their signal. The scientists had done something to them. As with the doors within the facility, a touch pad allowed entry to each cell.

“How many men are here?” She asked everyone as she lifted one of the men and awkwardly pressed his hand to the panel of the cell nearest to her to open the cage door. Her mind raced with possibilities and scenarios. From the careless way these guards had treated her, she would wager that these women weren’t experienced in any form of fighting, but she would take any help she got.

“Including those two, there are eight. The other guards will be in their quarters. They’re off duty. Two will be sleeping, two maybe not. The other two are the scientists. One of the scientists will probably still be at the guard desk. He sits there when the guards have to come get us.” The blonde woman who spoke stepped out of the cell. She took the other man’s gun and pulled him into the cell.

“Is the scientist armed?” Laci checked the charge on the stunner. It was full. “Is there an alarm at that desk?”

“Not armed, no alarm.” The blonde slammed her hand into the ID panel and broke the scanning surface.

The two of them freed the other seven women and then used the unconscious man to open the door to the outer room. Laci’s shot hit the man in the chest just as he spotted them and opened his mouth. Laci went to the desk and pushed the man out of the chair.

The scientist had apparently been working because the network was active, an accepted user already logged in. The program was in the standard language and not too complicated. To access security and make changes required an accepted hand print ID.

Once again, Laci used the unconscious guard’s hand. Laci then input her own hand print and that of the eight women behind her, erasing that of the guards and scientists. They now had control of the base. When Laci was certain the command had been accepted, she helped three of the women drag the guard and scientist into a cell.

“What have they done to you?” Laci looked around at the group of women. There were blondes with pale, cream-colored skin and dark-skinned brunette beauties. She focused on the coming battle. She knew there was a chance the guards might escape the locked rooms.

“They’ve altered our nano-cytes, made them more aggressive. The nano-cytes carry a program they intend to use to hurt others of our kind,” one of the dark-haired women replied.

“As soon as we secure the scientist and the other guards, I’ll see what I can do. I’m very familiar with all of the programs the nano-cytes use and just what they can do.” Laci shook her head. The scientists were relentless. Would they never stop in their attacks?

The scientist had been an easy enough proposition. It had taken only one shot to

79 Rebecca Airies

stun him. The guards had been more difficult. Although they’d been contained to their quarters, they had been able to pry it open just before the women arrived. Shots had been traded until finally the one conscious guard shielded behind a barricade of bedding had given himself up. The four guards and the scientist were now locked into cells and Laci went to the lab to see if she could find out what had been done.

Laci rejoiced when she found copious notes and detailed accounts. She loved the tendency of scientists to document and then document again. Knowing what they had done, how they had accomplished it, made finding a solution to neutralize the program much easier.

“They did make them aggressive, but fixing the problem will be easy enough.” Laci’s voice was calm and confident as she read the reports. “I would start, but I wouldn’t even get halfway finished. We’ll soon have company.”

“Who?” asked Cheli, a brunette.

“The rest of the universe knows them as the Norik. We called them the First Generation.” Laci was furious, but kept her voice even.

“You were sent here? They let you be captured?” asked Cami, a petite blonde, with surprise.

“I was bait. I didn’t realize it until almost halfway through the battle with the guards. They sent me in here without a word of warning. I’m still very angry with two of those men right now,” Laci growled.

“How can you be certain that your solution will work?” Cami tilted her head, her expression doubting.

“I’ve studied all three types of nano-cytes extensively. I know their strengths and weaknesses. When the males get here, don’t let any of them kiss you. That is a possible path of transfer with your nano-cytes.” Laci looked at each of them to ensure that they understood.

“We won’t, but why would they want to?” Cami swept out a hand to indicate their limp hair and dull, standard clothing.

“Some of you might have a mate among them, and they would be overcome with the desire to kiss you.” This, Laci knew well by now. “Make them understand that you can’t kiss them or have sexual contact yet because of what the scientists did. Although it will be relatively easy to stop the carriers in you, it would be harder if another person was infected.” Laci grimaced. “It could be done, but that is a battle that I don’t want to fight yet.”

The eight women found seats in various spots around the room and asked her questions. The questions ranged from wanting to know about the way the nano-cytes worked to questions about the Norik men. Laci answered them all. The questions about the men tended to be general—what were they like and how did they treat her.

Laci sat on a stool facing the door. The stun gun was clasped lightly in her hand and lay across her lap. She was prepared just in case the next people who came through that door weren’t Norik. Although she was aching for a fight with Darion and Alek, she

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wouldn’t conduct it with a stunner.

The door slid open with an almost silent swish. Laci raised the gun, her finger on the trigger. Alek was the first man through the door. He grinned at her as he strode into the lab. Laci lowered the gun, but glared at him and then at Darion, who was but a few steps behind him.

“Are you all right, Laci?” Alek strode toward her, eager to take her into his arms. “Never again will we even think about setting a trap in this way.”

“You mean have I been infected by nano-cytes whose one purpose is to kill me slowly? No, I haven’t.” Laci shot them an accusing look. They were an arm’s length away from her, but she wouldn’t let herself get sidetracked by their touch.

“Laci…” Darion began.

“I’ll warn your men now. Until the nano-cytes within these women have been neutralized and fully replaced, those women can’t be kissed or touched in any intimate way.” Laci pointed a finger at them. “And don’t give me those questioning looks. It wasn’t an hour after I woke up chained to the wall that you had your hands on my breasts.”

“The scientists have done something to them?” Alek’s gaze fell to the lush mounds beneath the soft fabric.

“That’s one nasty program these scientists have built. If you have a tech who knows all three versions of the nano-cytes and their capabilities, he could work on the neutralization. If you don’t, I’ll have to do it.” They could have warned her that she was going to be put into this kind of situation. Reliving her worst nightmares wasn’t her favorite pastime.

“I don’t think that we have anyone familiar with all three versions.” Darion frowned as he considered the problem. “Are you sure that you can do it?”

“Who do you think made the program to beat Vanya Steryan’s creation?” Laci narrowed her eyes. Did they think she was some fluff-brained ornament? “I’m not a simple hunter. In my group, everyone had to be able to do many things.”

“
You
were behind that program?” Darion asked, disbelief patent in his voice.

“I thought I told you of it while I was showing you the program that you needed to use, at least implied it.”

“If you did, we missed it.” Alek shrugged as he came to stand before her. Everything about her posture said, “Don’t touch me.”

“You had better make sure the men all understand about no kissing. Those women merely carry the program. If anyone is infected by it, destroying the nano-cytes within them will be tough. It would make Vanya’s little creation look like a toy.” Laci pointed a threatening finger at him as she kept the gun in her other hand. “And don’t think about touching me. I’m furious with you two.”

Darion chuckled. He stalked forward and plucked the gun out of her hands. “We’re properly scared of your wrath.”

81 Rebecca Airies

“You sent me with that man without any warning of his very dangerous intentions. I could have been infected for all you know!”

“We were right behind you all the way,” Alek assured her.

“Because the tracker you implanted in me the first time I encountered you was still functioning, still there,” Laci seethed, angrier by the moment.

“Yes,” Alek acknowledged without hesitation. He saw no reason to deny it. She was theirs. It was time she admitted it. “We weren’t going to chance losing you in any way.”

“You were willing enough to use me as bait.” Laci fisted her hands and resisted the urge to swing at him. “You let me walk unprepared into enemy hands. You should know that I consider myself quarantined. I don’t know what was done to me while I was unconscious. I won’t risk your lives until I’m certain that I’m uninfected.” She gave him a falsely sweet smile.

“We’ll find out. The shuttle has an onboard video system. You probably woke soon after it landed.” Darion strode toward the door. “That ploy won’t last long. As soon as you finish your work in the lab, we’re going to finish this little discussion.”

“Come on, Laci. You need to get started on neutralizing those nano-cytes. These women have mates among the crew of the
Chimau
and the
Mocant
. The men will be eager to renew the acquaintance and a long delay won’t sit well.” Alek curved an arm around her waist as he led her toward the entrance. “After you’re finished, we’ll talk.”

“Your actions spoke for you.” She tried to keep the distance between them with her voice and attitude. Actual physical distance was impossible.

* * * * *

Back on the ship, Laci was taken to the lab and allowed free run. All of the scientists’ notes had been brought aboard and Laci began her work. First, she made certain that the notes weren’t mere decoys by going line by line through the program they’d created. It was a long, tedious process.

Fortunately, Laci had all the help she could need. The lab techs willingly assisted her. Upon confirmation, she set part of them to work on a program to prevent the infected nano-cytes from infecting a person with the First-Gen
nano-cytes
while the rest of them worked on neutralizing the threat in the carriers.

After nearly seventy-eight straight hours of work, they had success. The infected carrier nano-cytes they used to test the efficacy of the program were all destroyed by the nano-cytes with the new programming and not one of them had been infected.

Laci and her assistants ran the tests over and over to be certain. Each time, the results were the same—the carrier nano-cytes were destroyed without further spread of the harmful program.

Finally, the women were brought in and the process of removing the infected nano-

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cytes was begun. They had decided that using the First Gen nano-cytes in a seek-and-destroy manner would be the easiest and safest way to prevent the program from spreading. Just in case there might be an unexpected transfer, there was already a program in place to act as a vaccine to the virus program.

Laci was exhausted. She’d been certified healthy and uninfected. That had been Darion and Alek’s first priority. In between verifying and programming, she had caught naps, but she was still exhausted. The mental drain had taken its toll. She was heading for the door when it opened, revealing Alek and Darion. Both of them looked well rested and impeccably groomed. She wasn’t surprised at their timely appearance.

In truth, she’d been expecting them a little earlier. She hadn’t forgotten Alek’s threatening promise of a talk after she had finished her work. She wasn’t in any shape to deal with them. In an ideal world, she would be rested and have her anger whipped into a frenzy before she confronted them. She was too tired to wallow in righteous anger at the moment. They probably knew it and planned to use that to their advantage. There was too much of the predator within them to resist taking advantage of the weakness.

“Time to talk, Laci.” Darion’s smile was toothy and anticipatory.

“I need to sleep, Darion.” She knew it was a futile protest.

“After we’ve settled this argument you have started.” Alek’s voice was unsympathetic and smug as he took her arm and led her out into the hallway.

They can be opportunistic bastards when they want something,
Laci thought with a grimace. They weren’t going to budge and she knew that sleep would be postponed until they had made whatever point they thought that she had missed. The argument would be conducted now. Laci knew the odds were heavily weighted in their favor. She was too tired to be logical and rational, much less angry. She couldn’t even work up a decent frown.

They practically towed her down the hallway to the lift. Even in the lift, Alek kept a firm grip on her arm. Laci glanced down at those strong, tanned fingers on her arm. She’d like to disappear, just long enough to get some rest. She sighed and rolled her eyes as the lift doors swished open. They tugged her down the hallway to the door to their room.

They allowed her to enter their room first, following with smug male confidence. With a few long strides, both of them placed themselves between her and the bed. They weren’t going to chance letting her get into that bed and drift off to sleep before this was completed to their satisfaction.

“Do you have to do this now?” Laci’s eyes rested with undisguised longing on the soft bed behind them. The green blanket on top of it looked like paradise. “I can’t argue my side.”

The remark drew chuckles from both of them.

“You told us your side already,
be’rai
. You believe that we sent you into danger without giving you any warning because we didn’t trust you. That’s totally untrue.”