Captured by the Cyborg (13 page)

“Team shot,” he said, unable to message the director that Cy-Ops’s secrets were secure. Carter had founded the covert paramilitary organization, but he wasn’t a cyborg.

Dale wished he didn’t have to leave, but Illumina would be well-protected, and the sooner he left, the sooner he could return.

“How long will you be gone?” March asked.

“Two to four days.”

“That long?” Illumina’s face crinkled with dismay, but she straightened her shoulders. “Never mind. You need to do what you need to do. I’ll be fine.”

Now he really wished he didn’t have to go. “You’ll be safe. I have total confidence in these guys.”

She flicked her gaze to the other men before glancing at Dale. “It’s not that. I’ll miss you, that’s all.”

How many more reasons could there be for not going? He hoped the Xenian emperor wasn’t given to a lot of pomp and ritual. Dammit. “I’ll miss you, too,” he said huskily.

She lit up with a silver glow, and his body responded, his groin tightening with an ache. The flight to Xenia would be long and hellacious. But, as soon as he landed back on Deceptio, he’d get Illumina naked. Maybe they’d revisit the observatory—

The three men peered intently out the window at the shop. Damn the lack of privacy. Dale shot Illumina a rueful smile then cleared his throat.

“Here’s the plan. Carter will use my office as a command post to continue the cyber search for Alonio. March will continue his supervisory duties in Diagnostics and Repair, which will enable him to keep watch during work hours. At night, Sonny, you’re on. I’ve put you in the barracks nearest Illumina’s room. Deceptio is as secure as it can possibly be, so within the facility she’s free to come and go as she pleases.” He paused and sought her gaze, “You need to keep March, Sonny, or Carter apprised of your whereabouts.”

She nodded.

“Are we expecting any arrivals or departures of craft or personnel?” March asked.

“Just the returning employee shuttle. Charlie and Giorgio will be on it.”

“Why didn’t you put a moratorium on shuttle flights while you were gone?” Carter asked.

“My assistant had a family emergency. Some of the others had had their R&R booked for months. I couldn’t approve his leave and cancel the others without a mutiny.” He was just glad Illumina had stayed on Deceptio. Not that she’d had a choice. He would have locked her up.

“Don’t you have to lower the shield?”

“Lowering the cloaking device does create a moment of vulnerability, but we’ve never had a breach during five years of operation.”

“How many entries and exits have you had during that time?” Sonny asked.

He queried his database. “Eight hundred sixty-eight.”

“That sounds like a lot,” Carter said.

“Well, each entry also means there’s an exit and vice versa. We’ve purchased or traded for ninety-two vehicles which we refurbished or tore down for parts to produce sixty-one craft delivered to the buyers. Add to that 152 test flights, sixty employee shuttles, forty special charters, and twenty-nine unplanned arrivals.”

Carter frowned. “Like what? What kind of unscheduled visits?”

“Such as Kai Andros who arrived on the run from Lamis-Odg. All people I know and trust.”

“If you factor exits and entries, the length of time the cloaking device is shut down and allow for spacecraft traffic in the area, the chance of infiltration or penetration is less than one-tenth of one percent.” The statistical odds were on his side, and he felt confident Deceptio was impregnable, otherwise he would never have considered leaving Illumina. Life rarely offered certainties, but, with March and Sonny both watching over her, her safety was as close to guaranteed as he could get.

Still, Alonio needed to be neutralized ASAP. He couldn’t keep her under moon arrest forever, and if the meeting with the emperor resulted in a contract for a fleet of ZX7Ms, flights to and from Deceptio would increase significantly. New staff would have to be hired. The cloaking device would be down more often. The more successful and profitable Moonbeam became, the harder it would be to maintain security.

“I expect business as usual while I’m gone. I left a message for Charlie that March is in charge. Feel free to call on my assistant for anything. He’s here to help.” He rubbed his hands together. “That’s it. Any more questions?”

“No.” The men shook their heads.

“No,” Illumina said. She’d been quiet during the debriefing.

He hoped she wasn’t afraid. “Everything will be fine. These guys will take good care of you,” he said again.

The men nodded.

“I know,” she said.

“Walk me out?” A kiss wouldn’t be enough to sustain him, but it would have to do.

She nodded solemnly.

“I’ll go down with you, too,” March said.

Dammit. So much for being alone.

“Sonny and I will remain here and set up shop,” Carter said.

Thank goodness for small favors, anyway. “Sounds good. Serena will be up later to show you to your quarters.” Charlie’s fill-in could handle that much. Maybe.

Illumina giggled.

Carter and Sonny exchanged a frown. “That’s funny because?” Carter asked.

“She’s”—he struggled to find a tactful word—“new.”

“I’ll see that they get to the right place,” March offered.

“Thanks,” he said. Many people approached cyborgs warily, not quite sure how to pigeonhole them. Were they human? Android? He tended to forget what it was like to be
only
human. So Serena’s exceptional incompetence might be due to nervousness—and he had to admit he hadn’t been as patient as he could have been. But, if recent work performance was close to her norm, her employment needed to be reconsidered.

A hell of a realization now that he had to leave. “Keep an eye on her, too, would you?” Dale said.

Carter arched an eyebrow. “Problem?”

It was that the one-tenth of one percent probability again. No, no problem. Most likely. “Don’t give her anything taxing or classified. By tomorrow, Charlie will be back.”

“Great. Well, I’d better get a move on. Thanks again for coming.” He slapped Carter on the back and shook Sonny’s hand then he, March, and Illumina left the office.

In the stairwell he gestured to March. “You go on ahead.”

“All right. Have a safe trip. Sell lots of ships and don’t worry about anything here. We’ve got it covered.”

March disappeared, and Illumina flew into his arms. “I thought he’d never leave.”

He chuckled and kissed her, inhaling her scent, savoring her taste. What began as a slow good-bye turned frantic, lips and teeth colliding, tongues lashing as if the separation of a few days meant forever. He disliked leaving her at this juncture, but she would be fine. He’d be gone four days tops. Security couldn’t get any tighter. All bases had been covered. So where was the desperation coming from? She felt it, too, clinging to him and winding her arms around his neck in a near chokehold.

If he acted concerned, she would become needlessly worried. “Think about me while I’m gone,” he said.

“I’ll think about nothing else.”

“Good.” Gently, he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I’ll be thinking about you.”

“Even when you’re negotiating with the emperor?”

“Especially then.”

“Right. I believe that.”

“Honest. ‘Hurry up, Your Emperorness, and make a decision.’ That’s what I plan to tell him.”

Her tinkling laugh filled the stairwell. “I believe the proper address is Your Majesty.”

“Whatever.” Dale laid another lip-lock on her. “I won’t be gone long. I have a girl waiting for me.”

She drew back, silver eyes serious. “I’m your girl?”

Yeah, she was. For no other reason would he have put so much effort into ensuring her safety. He hadn’t needed to deal with the situation himself. As soon as he’d learned of the danger, he could have passed her off to Cy-Ops. Eliminating threats and protecting the vulnerable was what they did all the time. Hell, it was their mission. In their protective custody, she would have been safe and secure.

But she would not have been with him, so he’d used the potential danger as an excuse to keep her near. Hell, he’d coerced her compliance by threatening to lock her up in the brig.

Not very honorable.

She still stared. An indication he’d probably misread the depth of her feelings. He didn’t doubt she was attracted to him, but sex didn’t have to mean anything. Maybe she’d been making the best of a bad situation. Separation might provide some clarity. She could discover how she felt, and he, well, he already knew how he felt. He could get a grip.

“We’ll talk when I get back. You’ll have time to mull it over.” He turned to descend the stairs.

She barred his path and planted her hands on his chest. “You surprised me, that’s all. So you’d be like my a…a…boyfriend? Is that the right Terran word?”

A silly term from long ago for which no better word had ever been coined. “Yes.”

“I’ve never had a boyfriend before.” She smiled. “I would like that.”

“Well, good.” His face could crack he was grinning so hard. He hadn’t felt this giddy when he was sixteen. “You’ve
never
had a boyfriend?”

She shook her head. “We don’t date since Farian marriages are arranged.”

Somebody had set her up with that monster.
Don’t think about that. Not now. There’s nothing you can do, and it will make you crazy.
They had so much to talk about, and he had to leave. He planted another hard kiss on her mouth. “When I get back, we’ll talk.” After they humped like bunnies.

He took her hand, and they descended the stairs.

Buzz.

Illumina jackknifed out of a dead sleep. Muscles between her shoulder blades spasmed. Fear clawed at her throat, cutting off air.
Run! Get out!

She leaped out of bed. Her legs tangled in the thermal blanket, and she fell, hitting the floor with a light thud. Her heart pounded, and her breath came in gasps.
It’s okay. It’s okay
. She strove for calm and to free herself from the blanket. The danger signals sizzling through her brain weren’t real.

Buzz.
When the saber had sliced through the air and cut off her wings, there’d been no sound, not even a whisper.

Buzz!

What was that?
Buzz!
She jerked her head at the harsh sound, and her gaze landed on the wall scanner.
BUZZ
. The volume increased, and the screen flashed, lighting up the room like a strobe.

The scanner. No danger. Just the scanner. She pressed a hand to her thudding heart, dragged in a lungful of air, and stumbled across the room. She palmed the screen and swiped the comm link. “Y-yes?”

“Did I wake you?”

Thoughts fuzzy, she recognized the pleasant male voice, but couldn’t place it. “Um…yeah. Kind of.” Simulated morning lights weren’t on yet. She squinted at the screen. Two a.m.

“Sorry,” he said with an apologetic laugh. “I thought you’d want to know Dale is arriving.”

Sleepiness vanished. “When?”

“Now. His craft is on the runway. Should be just a few minutes, if you want to come meet him.”

“Yes, I would. Thank you for waking me.” She tried not to sound too eager, to be discreet, for all the good it did. Word must have gotten out that they had more than an employer-worker relationship or she wouldn’t have gotten a wake-up in the wee hours of the morning.

She’d missed her cyborg like crazy. The two days he’d been gone had dragged. “I’ll be right out.” She disconnected the comm line and activated the lights.

Heart still racing, but with excitement now, she rubbed her eyes. She shrugged out of her night robe and pulled on a lavender gown that enhanced the color of her hair and eyes. She wanted to look good for the reunion.

Work had kept her busy during the day, but the evening hours were long and lonely.

With any luck, the visit with the Xenians had proven productive and a contract for more ZX7Ms had been secured. She hoped Dale’s feelings hadn’t cooled during the separation. Before he’d left, they’d reached a turning point in their relationship, and he’d promised a discussion when he returned.

Action first. Talk later. Desire and longing pulsed. The night terror that had awakened her faded into nothingness.

Her hair hummed as she brushed it with a bristled desensitizer allowing her to smooth it out without discomfort. Dale always seemed entranced by her hair, like it was something unique. Men! She didn’t understand his attraction to it, but it pleased her that it pleased him. She arranged the silvery tresses over her shoulders and back then eased her feet into a pair of slippers and hurried from the dorm.

Lights, tripped by sensors, came on as she skipped along the hall. She slowed as she passed Sonny’s room. Wake him?

Negative, as the men would say in their military way of speaking. If they hadn’t already been called, she wasn’t going to do it. She’d agreed to keep her bodyguards apprised of her whereabouts, but Dale had returned so their responsibility had ended. Besides which, she did not wish for company. The men would find it impossible to resist debriefing each other and alone time would be delayed by hours.

Under the reduced lighting in the high bay, spacecraft loomed like sleeping giants. Her footfalls made soft
pffts
as she trod across the floor. She eyed the office overlooking the entire operation. Was Carter up there? The man was tireless. He wasn’t a cyborg, but he had the determination and fortitude of one. He’d been excited yesterday, reporting he’d gotten a lead on Alonio’s whereabouts. Soon, he’d promised her, her ex would be a non-issue. She could not fathom what that would be like. To never have to hide or run again. To be free to just
be
.

She owed it all to Dale, Carter, Sonny, and March. The men belonged to a military organization of some sort. They hadn’t said, but their camaraderie, precision, and attention to detail spoke of it. AOP? Possibly, but probably not. If they’d been with the Association of Planets’ peacekeeping battalion, they would have said so. AOP operated openly. She’d bet her credits the men belonged to a clandestine paramilitary force of cyborgs. She would ask Dale. Probably they had taken some oath of confidentiality, but if she’d already guessed…maybe he would confirm it.