Captured by the Cyborg (8 page)

He had converted the melody from the stairwell to light impulses and transmitted the data to Brock.

I have something for you there. It’s not music. It’s a Farian name
.

His heart thudded against his ribs.
And?

Faria isn’t translatable into Terran or any language, but luminous spirit would be kind of close
.

Nanocytes buzzed.
Illumina kind of means light.

Sounds about right.

The relief…elation…that pumped through him was irrational. So, she kind of told the truth one time. Big deal. Everything out of her mouth couldn’t be false. The question was what to do with the information?

Nothing. She had tendered her resignation. She still wasn’t interested in him. Was leaving
him
.

Thanks. I owe you one.

I have more info for you. Your Illumina—

She’s not my Illumina.
He had to keep his head straight. Knowing her name didn’t change anything.

All right. This person with the musical name is divorced from her lifemate. According to Farian records, an intruder broke into their residence and attacked her while her husband was away.

So her ex hadn’t assaulted her at all. There you go. Another lie. When she told the truth, it was purely by accident.

However,
Brock continued
, I found an anomaly, some trace data that didn’t fit with the official record, so I dug deeper and managed to recover a good portion of deleted code. The official record had been altered. In the early reports, her husband was implicated in the attack.

Jesus, Buddha, Lao-Tzu. She hadn’t lied.
So he got an official to falsify records?

I’m thinking he did it himself. Her ex is a moderately talented computer sensate.

What’s that?

Basically, he has the computer capabilities of a cyborg, but without the hardwiring.

Holy shit. Ramifications rushed through his head. No wonder she had fled. If her ex had tried to kill her then expunged the records to exonerate himself, he was probably still looking for her.

A discordant static blast shot through his head,
and he flinched.
What the fuck is that?

That is the ex-husband’s Farian name. I can’t come up with a translation for that one, but the AOP knows him as Alonio. You can thank Pia for that tidbit. She recognized his stillvid.

Brock’s wife, Penelope Isabella Aaron—Pia—served as Terran’s ambassador to the Association of Planets. The alliance worked toward the betterment of the galaxy, and, since the common enemy Lamis-Odg had become more powerful, had accepted the role of interplanetary police.
He’s on the AOP’s most wanted list?

Uh, no. He’s Faria’s AOP ambassador.

What next?

Illumina raised her face to the glass dome and studied the glittering sky. So many planets…so few options. Alonio could track her to all of them; Dale would be on none of them. Deceptio had been the safest haven, but she couldn’t stay any longer.

After she’d rejected him, he’d demoted her the very next day. She still held the title and salary of Cyber Tech IV, but the work she’d been given wouldn’t have challenged a Tech Assistant I. March had reassigned her, but Dale obviously had ordered it, making his feelings plain. How stupid to hope he’d approach her. Why should he? She’d only reject him again. She’d made her feelings clear, too.

Or what she needed him to think.

Until tonight she’d avoided the observatory. After all that had happened, it seemed like a violation to sneak back here, and she had assumed he had rescinded her access anyway. But as time ticked, with only a week remaining before she departed Deceptio, she wanted to see Naran one last time. The memories captured in the observatory had nothing to do with returning. To her surprise, the transporter had obeyed her command. She could have hacked in, but wouldn’t have. She’d broken too many rules already.

Illumina rubbed her hands down her arms and shifted her gaze from the orange and purple planet to the bench where the beginning of the end had played out. Perhaps she’d overreacted. How could she expect to engage in sexual intercourse and
not
have him touch the scars? She hadn’t expected any intimacy, physical or otherwise, so she’d been unprepared for the flood of emotion. Unable to revisit her painful loss or bear his pity, she’d pushed him away. What if she hadn’t run? Would they have had sex again? Would it have become a regular occurrence?

Whooooosh.
The descender whirred. The remnants of her wings twitched with an urge to take flight, but she clung to courage with resolve. The remainder of her predictably short existence would be spent on the run, but tonight she would stand her ground.

She closed the dome and switched on the lights. There would be no hiding in the dark either.

No seduction under starlight.

Yeah, like that would happen.

The transport doors slid open, and Dale stepped out. Hair endings quivered. Stomach tumbled.

He stood there silently, but the muscle twitching in his jaw said volumes. So did his clenched fists. Tension stretched like a band that could snap at any second.
Say something!
She wiped damp palms on her trousers. Any discussion would be pointless and wouldn’t resolve anything. So much for the confrontation.
Coward!
Head down,
s
he fled for the transporter. How quickly resolutions crumbled in his presence.

“You don’t need to leave.” His voice grated.

She stared at the doors, not at him. “I shouldn’t have come.”

“I meant Deceptio, not the observatory, but that, too.”

“It’s for the best.”

“Where will you go? Do you have another job?”

“How could I? Your rules prohibit employees from accessing communication channels.” She could have circumvented the block and contacted prospective employers, but the last thing she wanted was to cause a breach in Deceptio’s security. And she didn’t care about another job. “I’ll find something.”

He barred the escape route. “I spoke to March. I had your duties reinstated.”

How big of him! The force of her fury spun her around. “You felt rejected so you demoted me. Now, I’m supposed to what—be grateful you developed a conscience and opted not to abuse your authority—or is your
magnanimous gesture
your attempt at seduction?”

“No! That’s not it. You’re a damn good programmer.”

“So you say.”

“I know so.”

“So I’m a good programmer, and you weren’t seeking revenge. So why demote me?” The answer wouldn’t change her decision, but it would be nice to know.

He looked uncomfortable. “Moonbeam’s projects are sensitive. You had falsified your CV, and after what happened between us, I couldn’t risk the possibility of sabotage.”

She flinched. Her skin heated, and she feared that guilt glowed in her face like the luminosity suppressor had failed. She
had
tinkered with programs without authorization—had tweaked Deceptio’s software to shore up security—but not out of malice. Would he understand? How could he unless she explained—and that she couldn’t do.

Even if he believed her, staying posed too much of a risk. It would be only a matter of time before she succumbed to further intimacies, and that would lead to disaster.

She dropped her gaze. “I would never sabotage your shop.” She moved to go around him.

“I know your ex-husband is an AOP ambassador.”

His words knocked the wind from her lungs.

“That he expunged the records after he attacked you.”

Her feet froze to the ground. Dale touched her arm. “He’s searching for you, isn’t he?”

Lies would not serve her now. “Yes,” she admitted in a whisper, and then said more strongly, “That’s why I must leave.”

“That’s why you need to stay. I can protect you.”

He had no idea of the danger. Alonio was no ordinary Faria. Her chest ached. “My presence will draw him here. He always finds me.”

“Because he’s a computer sensate?”

“You know that, too?” She clutched at her throat. If Dale had learned so much, she hadn’t covered her tracks very well, and it would be a cinch for Alonio to find her. He could be orbiting Deceptio right now, watching for an opportunity to enter. Tears welled in her eyes. It would never end, never! She stumbled to a bench and slumped onto it.

Dale sat beside her. “Let me help you.”

“You can’t. He has more power than you know.”

“Because he’s politically connected?” He snorted. “I have friends, too. Inside and outside of the Association of Planets. If you’re thinking the alliance will take his side, I promise you that’s not the case.”

Illumina took a deep breath, and, in Faria, spoke Alonio’s sacred autonym. To a non-Farian ear, it probably sounded like a staticky metal-on-metal warble.

He grimaced and rubbed his temple as if suffering a headache. “Why don’t we avoid mentioning him by proper name.”

No one but Faria knew sacred names. Maybe Dale did have powerful connections. “Do you understand what it means?”

“Asshole?” he guessed.

She couldn’t help it, she giggled. Such mockery would infuriate Alonio. Amusement evaporated. Once, she’d laughed at a small faux pas he’d made and paid the price many times over. “It means”—she scrambled for a Terran translation that came closest—“thunder saber.”

“Thunder saber?”

“He can absorb and harness energy.” She held up her wrists then rubbed the right with the left.

“He shoots lasers out of his wrist?”

“He can transform his forearm into a sword.”

Dale’s expression turned grim. “That’s how he cut off your wings, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t have the ability to transform yourself?”

“No. Very, very few Faria do. It’s a rare gene, and one that doesn’t express itself until adulthood. I didn’t learn Alonio had that ability until after we were bonded. If I stay here, he’ll attack. My presence endangers you and your employees.”

He regarded her with an assessing gaze. “You and he share one thing in common. You’re a computer sensate, too, aren’t you?”

Her jaw dropped.

“That’s how you fixed Baby,” he said.

She swallowed. “Yes. My gift is…um…quite advanced. It was the only reason I could stay a step ahead of him, but with his moderate ability and political connections, he’s been able to find me.”

Dale slapped his knees. “Here’s what’s going to happen. First, to put your mind at rest, let me assure you that Alonio is no threat to me. I’m a cyborg. Keeping people safe is what I do. He might succeed in drawing a little blood, but I’ll wipe up the mess with his ass. Second, while I doubt he can gain access to Deceptio, as a precaution, I’ll amp up security.”

“About that…” She had to tell him how she’d changed the entry protocol. He wouldn’t like that she’d gone behind his back. “I need to tell you…”

He held up his hand. “Let me finish. Third,
you
are not going anywhere. You’re staying right here where I can protect you.”

The autocratic edict set her teeth on edge. “You can’t keep me here!” She hadn’t fought so hard for her freedom and safety only to be dictated to by another man, however well intentioned. She was nobody’s captive!

“Yes, I can.”

Let him try! “As you’ve realized,” she said, “I’m a master sensate. A computer system doesn’t exist that I can’t infiltrate. I can hijack one of your spaceships and be gone before you realize there was a breach. Your entry and exit protocols, for instance—”

He leaned in until his breath caressed her ear, and he whispered, “Did your orientation tour happen to include a visit to the brig?”

He was threatening to lock her up? She jerked away and rounded on him. “What are you saying?”

“Moonbeam’s isolation can cause people to go a little crazy. We haven’t had anyone snap yet, but the possibility exists. You could be the first ward of the Deceptio jail.”

“I can access computer-controlled doors, too!” She crossed her arms.

He laughed. “You and half the employees on Deceptio—which is why they’re not computer controlled.” From his pocket he pulled out a metal ring and dangled some odd-shaped jagged objects. “Good old-fashioned locks and keys. The best antiques money can buy.”

She leaped off the bench. “You’d imprison me?”

He rose to his feet. “In a heartbeat, if it would save your life.”

He would. She could see it in the determined set of his jaw. Not a man to cross. He was a mountain. Bigger, taller, and, if his taut muscles were anything to judge by, stronger than any man she’d encountered. Only March, her supervisor, approximated his brawn, but Dale still came out ahead.

Alonio was slight but wiry and fast. He struck like lightning, inflicting thundering pain. Her wings had been gone before she’d realized his saber had been unsheathed.

Could Dale protect her from Alonio?

“My ex vowed to slay anyone who assisted me. He executed the guard outside my hospital room,” she said. “Then he planted a report in the official record that a crazed patient had done it.”
She
was insane for considering this. But oh, how tempting. She’d fought solo against an indomitable force for so long. “He won’t stop until he destroys me.”

“He’ll stop.” Dale flexed his fists. Had he gotten bigger? Muscles in his shoulders, his chest, his biceps bulged. His face adopted a hardness she hadn’t seen before. “Because I’m going to take him out.”

“Take him—”

“Kill him.”

“He’s an ambassador.”

“He’s a threat.”

“There will be repercussions. Intergalactic ones.”

His eyes narrowed. “Perhaps you still care for your ex-husband.”

“No!” Tender emotion had been decimated long before the final attack. “Why would you say that?”

“You seem to be protesting his demise rather vehemently.”

“I don’t want you to put yourself at risk to save me. No one can prove what he’s done. If you kill him, you’ll be charged with murder. You’ll be arrested.”

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

“I do need to worry about that.” This conversation was surreal. They argued about killing her ex-husband, weighing the pros and cons as if it were a debate. Alonio’s viciousness had driven her to moral ambiguity.