Marcus 582: Book Three of Cyborgs: Mankind Redefined (20 page)

Kyra watched him nod for the benefit of the audience listening to their discussion. But in his gaze, she saw irritation with what she’d revealed—which could only mean one thing. When he and Chancellor Li had made their side agreement with Bradley Smith about taking over Jackson’s work, they really had thought Brad could make them new creator code. She’d always suspected it, but Owen’s frustrated gaze was a strong validation.

When the silence stretched out for too long again, Kyra cleared her throat. “My recommendation in this matter is that the UCN consider instituting a global ban on all new cybernetic conversions. It won’t stop black market scientists, but any new cyborgs appearing afterward would make it easier to flush out the cyborg replicators and shut them down. Conversion labs are not cheap to build or maintain, as I’m sure you well know.”

“Indeed,” Chancellor Owens said firmly. “Trust your recommendation will be duly discussed and some steps will be taken. Thank you for your honesty, Dr. Winters, even though it is coming rather late.”

When the screen went blank, Kyra stayed where she was. Every instinct said Owens was well aware of the mini-conversions. If true, then the UCN was quietly sanctioning the cyber evolution Dan Masterson mentioned was already happening. Awareness of their duplicity made her feel old and sad and more regretful than ever about how she’d used her talents.

She hadn’t even finished restoring all the Cyber Soldiers yet. Were those men and women going to end up being mankind’s cybernetic guardians in the widespread cybernetic future she couldn’t seem to keep from happening to all of mankind?

A tension headache took hold of her entire upper body making it nearly impossible to shake off the realizations she was coming to.

But if she didn’t stop thinking about how dire it all was, she’d be incapacitated by the time she had to work on Rachel. She had to go back to the basics…back to what Peyton kept reminding her to do. She would focus on fixing one at a time until she’d restored all the ones she’d helped convert.

Then…after that was done…they could look into rescuing the new ones. She just hoped the numbers stayed as low as they were at present.

***

Rachel didn’t have her badge so she coded herself into the lab. Her first sight was of Seetha bent over Edward’s lap. With the exception of the tool in Seetha’s hand, the position looked so compromising, that it made her laugh. The sound of her voice echoed in the quiet lab. Two sets of startled gazes turned in her direction.

“Hi Edward,” Rachel said, smiling at the sound of her voice. It was very nice to talk.

“Hi sweetie. Sure is good to see you,” he said.

“Hi Seetha. Your husband is down the hall. Please don’t let him catch you with your head in Edward’s lap. He almost broke my back when he hugged me earlier. I can only imagine what he could do to Edward.”

“Oh My Goddess. Your voice. It’s so beautiful,” Seetha declared, climbing to her feet. “And for your information, I was working on his damn knee. I don’t care what it looked like.”

“It sure didn’t look like knee repair from where I was standing,” Rachel declared.

Seetha laughed and took two steps. Rachel met her halfway and flung herself into her boss’s arms for a hug. They were still wrapped together when King walked through the door. He smiled at the two of them.

“Holy crap. I’d heard he was the size of a mountain, but damn…he’s really big. Thank you, sweetie. I think you just saved my life,” Edward declared, blinking up at King from the chair.

Rachel giggled at Edward’s comment as she pulled away. “My voice is fixed, but that’s all the good news I have. I don’t know what else they did to me. All I know is that it wasn’t as much as they intended to do.”

“It doesn’t matter. Kyra will find out what they did and make it right,” Seetha said.

“Not today though,” King said quietly, touching his wife’s back. “Peyton found Kyra in her office, staring off into space. He says that usually means she has a sick headache. Since Rachel seems mostly okay, I’m going to walk her home and make sure she’s secure for the evening. Marcus said her apartment is locked down and secure again. When I get done delivering and checking, I’ll be back to get you.”

Seetha nodded. “Okay.” She looked at Rachel.

Rachel smiled. “I feel fine—truly. I want to go home. I want to…”

“See Marcus?” Seetha finished.

Rachel nodded and smiled again. “Yes. Peyton says he sent a message to him that King was taking me home. I’m sure he’ll be there soon. It’s okay. I won’t be alone long…and I need the space to think about things.”

“It’s okay, baby girl. You don’t have to justify anything to me. I get the whole alone time thing. Wow, your voice is wonderful. It’s so good to hear you speaking normally.”

“You and Kyra were right about me needing a new processor. I wish I had listened to you and let Kyra do it. Apparently that was the source of my speech problem.”

Seetha hugged her again. “Well, whatever…you’re fixed and that’s all that matters. Kyra will make sure it’s all good.”

“Yes. I believe that now,” Rachel said. “And I’m going to let her. Maybe I’ll even ask her to make me smarter. I’ve learned that can be done without changing much else. I met several smart geeks with no morals whatsoever.”

Seetha lifted a hand to her friend’s young and still innocent face. “Anything is possible, but some things are not so wise. Be careful of what you ask for. Sometimes it's hard to live with what you get.”

“It’s okay. I was mostly teasing,” Rachel declared. She hugged Seetha one last time, then ran over and hugged Edward. “Get well. I want to do dinner again soon…without the bad guys showing up.”

Edward snorted. “Can I bring my pulse cannon?”

King looked at his wife’s intriguing patient. “You have a pulse cannon?”

“Yes. One I built myself. It’s not registered, but it works just fine. It has two settings—human and cyborg. Next person to point any kind of device at me I don’t recognize is going to get a hell of a surprise.”

King laughed. “I hear you.”

“Were you this big before…you know…the change?” Edward asked.

“Let’s just say they didn’t have to work very hard to make me into what they wanted. Now though, the cybernetics just keep me trim. I run a restaurant, so that’s a very good thing in my case. There’s no telling what size I’d be otherwise. I love to eat.”

Rachel grinned when Edward’s mouth pursed in surprise.

“A restaurant, eh? I’ll have to check it out sometime.”

“Do that. It’s a great place to bring a date,” King said.

“Great place to pick one up too, Edward. Have Franco seat you in the last seat at the bar while you wait. There’s magic in that chair,” Seetha supplied.

Rachel ducked her head and giggled when King turned to his wife and growled. She interjected trying to save Seetha from her own mouth. Her teasing about other men didn’t always sit well with her possessive husband.

“I think I need to go home now, especially before Seetha gets into more trouble. I can’t take any more violence today.”

She grinned when her comment made Seetha and King both laugh.

She almost choked on her tongue when King lifted Seetha up to his mouth and had his way with it in front of Edward and her. The man did not spare anyone’s sensibilities in the sensual attack. Her own face was flushed and her gaze wide when King finally let Seetha go. Her boss was glassy-eyed with lust, but not one whip embarrassed. Rachel fought the urge to sigh and lost.

“Well, okay. I guess that’s one way to settle an argument. Now I really miss Marcus.”

“At least you’ve got someone to go home to, sweetie. I think I need a damn cold shower,” Edward declared, grinning as he complained.

As King grinned back at Edward, he also nodded to the door with his chin. Rachel waved at a still smiling Edward and a smiling Seetha before happily following him out.

Chapter 15

He and his team were all still wirelessly connected, a fact that Marcus appreciated most days. Because of it, he felt Eric arrive even when his friend was still a good distance away. He didn’t automatically turn to greet him. Instead, he continued facing forward to stare at the upscale building. It was full of luxury private residences where he was pretty sure he was going to find his target getting ready to disappear from his cushy life forever. The chip Kyra and Peyton put in Nathan was still pinging.

“Sorry to pull your ass out of its comfortable seat at Nero’s com, but I needed help taking down the geeky cyborg. You lost the fire team coin toss…again,” Marcus joked.

Eric’s laughter held so much relief in it, Marcus actually got choked up. He might have lost one family because of the war, but he’d gained another during it. The man beside him was as close as any brother could possibly be.

He finally turned and met Eric’s curious gaze. “I don’t remember everything, but I think I remember all the important stuff. And I heard what you said to Kyra about me…so thanks. I didn’t want to act in that stick-up-my-cybernetic-ass way but I couldn’t help myself. That level of mind control is completely fucked up and I can’t believe we lived like that for a decade. It’s like being half-alive.”

Eric nodded. “Yes, I agree. It is completely fucked up that changing out a few parts can do that to a person. You are always a pain in my ass, but at least you’re a lively one. Cyborgs in the condition you were are actually scary. I’m glad I never was one like that.”

Marcus laughed at his friend’s bragging. “Uh…I hate to break the news to you…but we’re both about as real as cyborgs get.”

He turned and leaned his head in the direction of the building. “But that guy up there isn’t a real cyborg. He’s just got delusions of grandeur about big muscles making him more talented in the sack. I called you here to keep me from killing him for being stupid.”

Eric grinned. “Who’s to say I won’t kill him myself?”

“Will you?” Marcus asked.

Eric snickered and then laughed. “No—probably not. Actually, I feel kind of sorry for him. For all his intelligence, he hasn’t got a clue about what he’s done to himself. Doc thinks whoever did this to him put some invisible strings in place. My guess is that’s she’s right. Now that’s scary.”

Marcus looked at the building and nodded. “Damn right it is. And you can feel sorry for him all you want. He almost killed me and Lieutenant Jensen. He took Rachel. I have no objectivity here. I definitely want to kill him.”

Eric slapped his friend on the back. “Good thing you called me then. I got gobs of objectivity. I think you develop it from sitting at a com so much.”

They walked into the building and approached the guard desk. The unresponsive AI stared straight ahead. All other security was deactivated except for a guard gate blocking off the scanner path.

“Shit. Somebody is up to something,” Marcus declared.

They each took hold of the crisscrossed metal and pulled at it until it gave way and broke off completely.

“That gate is not very effective,” Eric declared. “It needs to be stronger.”

“I don’t think it was made to keep out cyborgs.” Marcus snorted at Eric’s evaluation of their security and headed to the airlift. “I also don’t think the geeky versions of us understand the value of stealth.”

On Nathan’s floor, they headed down the hall to his residence. The light over his door wasn’t flashing with an illegal breach, but the door was still cracked open. Marcus took one side position as Eric took the other. Then he eased the door open and glanced inside. All he saw was a serene, well-maintained living space.

Treading quietly across the threshold, Marcus walked through the main living space and into the kitchen. He saw a duffle full of electronics on the dining table and pointed it out to Eric.

Eric nodded at the geek’s predictability, and then looked around and up. There were no signs of conflict…no evidence of break-in. Whoever came inside didn’t have to work very hard to do so.

Then they went to search the bedroom.

“Uh oh,” Eric said, running to the silent man’s side. He felt his neck. No pulse. “Somebody beat you to it, Marcus. The geeky dude’s dead.”

Nathan 180 lay prone on his bed, staring at the ceiling. His still mostly innocent eyes were wide open and showed shock. His cybernetic compartment was completely empty—no processor or chips remained. All that was left were a few dangling wires running out of a metal box.

“Someone was certainly covering their tracks. They intentionally didn’t leave him hooked up for life support. His brain would have died within an hour. The rest would have followed shortly after.”

Marcus reached out and pulled down Nathan’s eyelids. They moved easily. Rigor mortis hadn’t set in yet. Nathan’s death hadn’t happened long ago.

He turned to Eric. “Any idea who could have taken out our target before I could?”

Eric nodded. “Actually, I sort of do. Rachel said there was a doctor at the place where she was being held. She said he’d turned a couple of women into human robots. My theory is that it’s the same guy who’s been converting geeks. He seems to be into experiments. Rachel said he kept referring to her as a
prototype
he had created.”