Aramus (14 page)

“Only one?” He laughed. “
Foolish girl. We’re not stupid enough to have only one. As a matter of fact, in spite of them dumping you and the others, they still have one on board. And they don’t even know it. Don’t even suspect.”

“
Who are the spies?”

“Does it really matter?”

“I want to know.”

“
Still stupid, I see,” Carmen replied as she moved to stand beside Dennison and smiled up at him.

“You? But you slept with the cyborgs.”

The Latina traitor shrugged. “Sex is sex. What better way to divert suspicion?”

“So who’s the other one? David? The mute women?” Whom she’d never truly gotten to know
and whom she’d not seen since their dumping on the station.

“Those expendables? Not likely. We’ve disposed of them now that we don’t need them to camouflage our true spies.”

“But that only leaves…” Oh, god. One of the cyborgs Aramus rescued was a traitor.

“The cyborgs they supposedly
freed. Ironic, isn’t it? The machines save other machines, acting on some weak morality that they need to rescue their kind, and yet that will be their downfall.”

O
h, please don’t tell me it’s Avion.
She’d grown to like the injured cyborg and couldn’t picture him as a traitor. Not after the abuse he’d suffered. It would destroy Aramus if he ever discovered his friend had betrayed them. Or maybe Avion didn’t know. Maybe he harbored a bug, or something, that made him an inadvertent spy. Whatever the case, it didn’t bode well.

The engines purred to life under her feet as the craft prepared for flight.

“Enough spilling of secrets. Much as I’ve enjoyed our refreshing chat, it’s off to your cell you go. Once we take care of the cyborg ship, we’ll be on our way to your new home, with new test subjects.”

“You m
ean new dead bodies.”

“Only if we’re unlucky. See
, with the failure of human hosts to accept the DNA, we’ve opted to go in a different direction, one which we were about to begin when we were so rudely invaded and interrupted. But that turned out to be fortuitous. The new cyborgs I plan to capture will provide ample fodder for the next round of experiments, the nanos in their bodies hopefully the catalyst needed to accept and blend the alien DNA with human.”

“For what purpose?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” With a malicious grin, Dennison gestured to the guards behind her. This time when they clasped her arms, she fought. She couldn’t go back to her cage, not knowing this time she wouldn’t escape, that the entire time she’d enjoyed freedom it was but a sham. She couldn’t go back to living like a victim.

But they paid no mind to her feeble kicks, thrashing
, or hurled invectives. It took just one gun butt to the head for her to sink into blackness.

“What the fuck did you do?”

Aramus spared Avion only a quick glance before returning his stare to the screen before him and the stars whipping by as they sped away from the source of his malfunction. So far, distance wasn’t providing the instant cure he’d hoped for. “Shouldn’t you still be in bed?” he grumbled.

“I’m tired of lying around like some useless mannequin. Beside, when I heard the news
, I had to come tell you in person what a fucking idiot you are.”

“And how many walls did you dent on your way?” Because without his eyes and with his cyborg senses still refusing to function correctly, Avion was still very much an invalid.

“Who cares about some replaceable fucking panels? How could you just dump Riley like that?”

“
I did what had to be done.”

“No. You did the easy thing.”

Easy? Exactly how was leaving Riley behind, considered easy? Aramus had fought an inner battle nonstop since he’d had her and the other humans escorted from the ship. He’d almost had to blind himself to prevent himself from checking the videos, fearful if he saw her reaction, he’d recant. “The humans were a security risk.”

“To who?”

“All of us. Someone has been trying to send messages.”

“And you traced it back to the captives?”

“Not exactly, but who else could it be?”

“Me. Deidre. Anyone on the crew. If you were so convinced one of them was a traitor why didn’t you slap them into a cell and get them to confess? Or do what you usually do, execute them.”

“I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

“Maybe not, but you will have to explain your irrational actions to Joe.”

“I’ll deal with Joe.” Who would probably also call him a fucking idiot for dumping the company employees because he couldn’t handle how one little female made him feel.

“I hate to interrupt your fascinating discussion,” Aphelion interjected, “but I thought you might want to know that the space station we left
the humans on was attacked.”

“What the fuck do you mean the station got attacked?” An icy chill settled in
Aramus, at odds with his usually high temperature.

Aphelion pointed to the SOS scrolling
across his screen. “Not even four hours after we left, an unidentified craft docked and gassed the place with a sleeping agent.”

“I thought
all facilities had measures in place to prevent that kind of thing after the pirates adopted that tactic a few years back when they raided.”

“They did, but only in the docking area itself. Th
ose on guard in that area had masks on and weren’t affected. They’re also the ones who died. All who resisted were killed.”

The coldness within
Aramus deepened. “What were they after?”

“Here’s the messed
-up part. They were after the prisoners we dropped off. Nothing else.”

His mechanical heart stopped beating for a millisecond. No. Fuck no.
He’d feared as much as soon as Aphelion mentioned the raid. “They’re all dead?”

“Not all. They killed the guy in the coma and the two mutes but seem to have abducted the others.”

“They took Riley?”

“Riley, Carmen
, and Percy.”

He almost sighed in relief.
She lives.
“Are you sure?”

“It’s what I just said
, isn’t it?”

Yes, but he needed to
confirm before he did something irrationally rash. “We need to turn around.”

“
What for?”

“
So we can go after that fucking ship.”

“
Again, I have to ask what for?”

“Are you being deliberately obtuse? To fucking save them
, of course.”

“I still don’t get why.
They are only humans,” Aphelion mocked. “Isn’t it you who always says, ‘the only good human is a dead human’? Why should we bother helping them? If they want to kill each other off, then that’s their business.”

Aramus was less than impressed
, even if it was true. “Since when are you such an asshole?”

“Me? I’m just repeating things I’ve heard you say in the past.”

Fucking hell. Why did Aphelion have to choose now to listen to anything he said? “Well, that was before.”

“Before what?”

Before he’d met a human who reminded him that not all of them were evil. Reminded him he was capable of caring and who liked him in return, even if he was an ornery asshole. “Forget what I’ve said. Since when does anyone listen?”

“Since you usually put us in a headlock and yell it at us until we cry uncle.”

“Well, maybe I’ve changed my mind.”

“You?
” Avion, still present, snickered. “Since when does Mr. I-Wouldn’t-Piss-On-A-Burning-Human suddenly give a fuck?”

Trust
Avion to take over Seth’s role in annoying the hell out of him and making him admit that perhaps he’d been wrong. “I do suddenly care, damn you. Is that what you want to fucking hear? I hate it, but I care. I should have not let my defective emotions cloud my judgment and left Riley there. Want to strip me of my command? Maybe mock me some more? I fucked up and now I need to fix it.” He needed to get back there and save Riley before they hurt or killed her.

“You do realize
she might already be dead?” Aphelion raised a valid point, one Aramus preferred not to dwell on because it chilled him to his core.

“No. She can’t be.”
He couldn’t help his frustrated roar or the fist he smashed against the metal post that served as a structural beam in the command center. It didn’t hurt more than knowing he’d failed Riley. Because of his fear, he’d put her in danger, and yes, now that she was gone, perhaps forever, he could admit his fear. He should have listened to his friends, pushed past his own prejudice, and kept her at his side.
It wouldn’t have killed me to admit I felt something for her, and I could have punched anyone out who dared make fun of me for it.
“She can’t be dead.” No logic backed his claim other than his own hope.

Avion tendered the hope Aramus needed.
“Given the trouble they went through to get her back, not likely. If they were looking to silence her and the others, they would have executed them on the station or blown the damned place up.”

“So you think she’s intact?”

“Yes. For the moment. But the longer we wait to save her, the more time they have to change their minds or harm her.”

“No!” Frustration and impatience did not
mix well. Aramus needed something to kill. Right now. “We need to go after them. Fast.”

“The good news is we don’t have to go back and look for those responsible.”

Aramus paused in his tantrum—which the steel support bore with dented grace—to glare at Aphelion. “I am not following your logic.”

“
We don’t need to go back because, the bad news is, they’re on our tail.”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what that meant. There was only one way a ship could have been dispatched quickly enough to raid the way station and find them when they’d done their utmost to cover their tracks.

They had a bug aboard. But where? Was it amongst the computer and supplies they’d salvaged from the installation, or was the problem a deeper one? The humans were gone. So unless they’d carried a tracking device and planted it somewhere on the ship, that left only one possibility. Did they have a spy?

He’d not jested earlier about the attempts to use their computers to send a message
. At the time he’d suspected one of the humans was trying to contact friends or family back on earth. However, with the humans all gone, that left only one disturbing prospect. A cyborg spy. The question was, did the spy know and willingly participate?

Please don’t let it be Avion.
He’d hate to kill his friend. He’d have to lay a trap and flush the traitor out.

“Lock down communications. All of them an
d jam our BCI to BCI frequency. We’re going to verbal, face-to-face command only.”

“But that will cut us off from the engine room.
”

“
They know how to do their job, and I trust them to be able to handle themselves. Let’s not give our possible traitor any more information than necessary.”

“Aye, sir.
What about the vessel following us? Do you want to try and lose it?”

“Like fuck.”
For one thing, they had Riley on board, and he wanted her back. And two… “They pissed off the wrong psychotic cyborg. Turn around, Aphelion. They want to fight, then by the rusted bolts holding my shit together, we’ll give them one. Let’s go kick some company ass.”

The explosions rocked the ship in a rather alarming fashion. It seemed the cyborgs weren’t going to give
in without a fight, or so Riley assumed. Ensconced in a cell, with no windows, no video screen, or anybody to ask what happened, she could only sit, listen, and hypothesize about the unfolding drama. From the percussions vibrating the floor, the muted thunder, and the occasional screams, it appeared violent.

Definitely more than
Dennison reckoned on, she’d wager. Why he’d ever thought he’d prevail she didn’t know. The cyborgs were heartless, killing machines. But not tough enough in the end.

Despite their reputation and the ease with which they’d infiltrated and taken over the installation, the cyborgs lost the battle. Hands cuffed behind their backs with thick metal restraints, heads bowed and faces bloodied, the mercenaries Dennison oversaw marched their prisoners into the holding area and locked them up. Riley recognized
a few faces—Xylo and Avion among them —but also noted not all of the crew were accounted for. Probably because the fight wasn’t completely over or so the vibration underfoot indicated, as something impacted the ship.

Please let Aramus be safe.
Despite his treatment of her, she didn’t wish him ill. If he suffered any harm, she wanted to inflict it!

In an ironic twist of fate,
the fourth body dragged into the detention area was her ex-lover himself. Limp and bloodied, Aramus ended up thrown in the holding cell across from hers. He remained where they’d dumped him, an unconscious heap of flesh and metal that she desperately wanted to hate, yet couldn’t.

She clung to the bars, face pressed against the cold metal
, and willed him to move, to regain his senses, to give her a sign he lived. She’d even welcome an acerbic “Fuck off!” Then again, perhaps he was better off not regaining consciousness, not with what his future entailed. As a prisoner of the company, he was about to become an unwilling victim of experimentation for the second time in his life, this time with possibly deadly consequences. It seemed backward to hope that Dennison was right when he claimed their enhanced bodies could handle the abuse and merging with the alien DNA.

Because
I don’t think I can autopsy Aramus’s body.
But first he needed to live long enough to become a Frankenstein patient. He’d yet to move. Common sense tried to tell her they wouldn’t put a corpse in a cell, but it wasn’t until she saw him twitch several minutes after the soldiers left, joking about their victory over the not-so-tough cyborgs, that she breathed a sigh of relief, and when Aramus opened his eyes, she whispered a heartfelt, “Thank god.”

“
Don’t you mean thank my nanos? Once again, they saved my metal ass.”

“And here I thought it was your rock
-hard head that saved the day,” quipped Xylo.

Another joked,
“Ha, it was his thick skin that kept him alive. Damn shit is so tough the bullets bounced off.”

Tough? Having touched every inch of it, with more than just her fingertips,
Riley begged to differ. Not that she’d tell him. Aramus didn’t deserve any compliments, not when she was still mad at him for abandoning her.

Getting to his feet, Aramus rolled his wide shoulders and stretched, careful to not touch the bars
, which hummed with electrical current. “Are you hurt?” he asked, as his eyes scanned her from head to toe.

“As if you care.”

“More than I should,” he muttered. “And you didn’t answer my question. Are you injured? Have they hurt you?”

“Nothing other than a bump to my head when they wanted to shut me up.
I’d ask if you’re all right, but I’m sure that’s a waste of breath, not to mention effort. Besides, I wouldn’t want you to freak because I
care
.” She said it with finger quotes before turning her back on him.

He chuckled, a low sexy rumble that made her senses vibrate in a way she tried to ignore.
“I’m going to take a wild guess here and say you’re angry.”

Her? No. Which was why she didn’t reply and stared at the wall. What an interesting wall. Rivets holding the seams. Scratches in the gr
ay paint.

“Ignoring me won’t make me go away.”

Nope. But she enjoyed the childish satisfaction of it.

“
Would it help if I said I was sorry and made a mistake?”

Yes
! No, she wouldn’t let him off the hook that easily. Actions spoke louder than words.

“
I knew it as soon as we pulled away.”

Yet he
hadn’t turned around.
He left me there. Alone. Unwanted.

“I’ve missed you
, even though it’s only been ten hours and fourteen minutes since we last saw each other.”

So what if he
’d kept count? His computer probably kept a log of all events, even minor ones like dumping a human lover.

“Come on, Riley, talk to me.”

She crossed her arms and really enjoyed her featureless view. It was only missing a few spots of rust to complete the ambiance.

“
As soon as I heard about the attack, I turned around to come find you.”

Ha. More like
he wanted to make sure she and the others didn’t spill any secrets.

“I know you’re probably a little scared right now, and I just want you to know you don’t need to
worry. I’ll get you out of here.”

The snort escaped her before she could stifle it. Incarcerated too, exactly how did
Aramus plan to rescue her?

He latched on to the sound.
“I heard that. Are you doubting my ability to rescue you?”

She answered
, despite her vow to remain silent. “Kind of hard not to, given where you are.”

“You don’t seriously think they can contain me?”
Was that incredulity coloring his tone?

“They caught you didn’t they, Mr
. I’m-So-Bad-Ass?”

“No
t exactly.”

“Say
s the man in a cell.”

“Only because
I let them take me.”

She whirled around, unable to resist. “Let them? Sure you did.
Like I believe that. I know you, Aramus. I know it’s not in you to let a human get the better of you. Or to care for you. God forbid a human do anything to the great and mighty cyborg Aramus.”

“I
am not that bad.”

“No, you’re worse.”
Because he’d made her fall for him and then done exactly what he’d promised—treated her like the enemy.

“You didn’t used to think so.”

“I changed my mind.”

“Does this mean you won’t want to copulate when I’ve freed you?”

“Is that all I am to you? A means for sex? You know what? I take back what I said. You’re worse than a machine. Even a sex droid has more manners than you. I’ll bet they have manners enough to say thank you too.”

He
approached the bars, close enough she feared him getting burned by the electricity coursing through them. “Thank you? Shouldn’t you thank me? I worked my tongue and dick off making sure you got pleasure.”

Of all the cocky things to say.
“Yeah, you made me come, but so does my vibrator, and at least once it’s done, it doesn’t dump me on the floor or ditch me on a planet with barely a goodbye.”

He winced.
“I acted the fool.”

“You were an asshole.”

“Can we settle for jerk?”

“No.”

“What will it take for you to forgive me?”

“Nothing
, because I am not forgiving you, and we’re never having sex again.”

“I really wish you wouldn’t lie like that.”

She stomped her foot. “I don’t lie.”

“
You just did because you will forgive me, and then we will have sex. Probably several times. In a row. And then the next day. Probably every day thereafter.”

“Are not.”

“Are too.”

“Are not.”

“Don’t argue. If we’re going to form a mating partnership, then we’re going to need some ground rules. Rule number one, you must not make me seem weak in front of my brothers.”

“Mating what?”

“Partnership. On earth, I believe religions cite it as marriage.”

Jaw dropped and eyes wide, she stared at him.
He did not just say what I think he did.
“I am not marrying you.”

“Of course not. I
don’t believe in god or religion. But we will register a civil bond with the cyborg department of interpersonal affairs so all know you belong to me.”

“Oh my god. You are injured.”

“Not according to my diagnostics.”

“You must be because you are not making any sense.”

“Oh, I am. Don’t forget, I record everything, and in replaying our conversation, while you are doubting my word, which again, will have to stop if I am not to appear humanesculated in front of my brethren, I am making perfect sense. It has come to my belated attention, due to a loop that I only recently managed to break, that, although you are undoubtedly human, and fragile, I am still fond of you. I’ve tried to fight it. I’ve asked the doctor if I can be cured or operated on, but it seems there is no cure, lobotomy, or programming solution to my dilemma but one. I need to keep you.”

“
Or kill me.”

His brows drew together.
“No. That’s not an acceptable course of action.”

“But I’m human. Aren’t we all supposed to die?”

“Only those responsible for the atrocities done to us. Oh, and anyone who lays a finger on you, cyborg or human. A male can handle only so much. I will, however, try to restrain myself from murdering those who look at you. Apparently, that crosses a line,” he said with disgust.

It took her a moment to filter everything he said and read the underlying message he
’d imparted in his usual backassed way. “Hold on a second. Is this your messed-up way of saying you love me?”

He nodded.

Her heart fluttered. “Say it.”

“
I’d rather not.”

‘Say it out loud, Aramus.”

“But there are people coming, and my brothers are in the cells next to us,” he hissed.

“An audience? Even better. Say it.”

“You are testing my fucking patience, little doctor.”

“Bite me.”

“We’ve no time for foreplay. Later.”

“
Araaaamus.” She drew out his name as she tapped her foot and crossed her arms.

“Very well. But I warn you, if anyone laughs, they will die.
Probably painfully.”

“Only if they deserve it.”

He growled. “Stubborn human. It’s a good thing I am fond of you.”

“Still waiting.”

“Fine. I love you. Are you content now? Can we move on?”

“What
’s that? I didn’t quite understand you.” She held her hand up to her ear and pretended she strained to hear.

“I. Love. You.” The gritted teeth added a touch of eloquence to his words.

“Huh? My poor human ears. They just don’t hear that well.”

“I love you, Riley Carmichael!” He shouted just as
Dennison and a cadre of soldiers turned the corner.

Only in her messed
-up world would Riley finally get the declaration she wanted just as fate, with all its promised violence, came calling.

“Isn’t that touching?”
Dennison sneered. “A machine loving a fleshy. Will you still love her after I’ve fucked her in front of you?”

Aramus
clenched his fists at his side, his face a mask of fury. “You are already slated to die. Threaten her again, or touch her in any way, and it will be painful. Your choice.”

“
Big threat for a cyborg behind bars.”

“These? Bah. They won’t hold me.”

“If you’re so big and mean, then how come we caught you so easily?”

“Who caught who?” A smile stretched
Aramus’s lips, and Riley took a step back, excited and chilled at the same time. The mocking grin Aramus wore, along with the gleam in his eyes, was the stuff cyborg legends were born of, psychotic with a dash of danger.

“Nice bluff. We know how to deal with your kind now. The
previous cybernetic units we captured proved invaluable in our research. For example, those bars you mock, they’re electrified. One touch and you’ll fry the flesh off your bones faster than your nanos can heal, not to mention scramble your BCI. But feel free to try. Just try not to scream louder than your girlfriend over here. I’d hate to miss hearing them as I fuck her.”

Talk about waving a red flag in front of a bull. Steam practically poured from Aramus’s ears
, but Dennison didn’t pay him any mind as he advanced on her cell, a taunting leer on his lips. Riley retreated until her back touched the wall. Despite Aramus’s boast, she didn’t see a way out. Dennison held the upper hand. With soldiers at his back, he could do whatever he damn well pleased. Fighting would just make everything worse. She’d seen the results first-hand during her first incarceration. She’d just close her eyes and try to think of Aramus’s declaration as she bore the pain and humiliation. It was the disgust in Aramus’s eyes after she wasn’t sure she could handle.