Marcus 582: Book Three of Cyborgs: Mankind Redefined (7 page)

Eric waved to the guy on the monitor. “Look at him, Marcus. The guy may be a cyborg, but he’s not scary.”

Marcus snorted. “Damn right, he’s not.”

“See? That’s what I’m talking about—you like looking like you do. I think you need to lighten up if you want Rachel to feel comfortable around you. Take a break from looking over your shoulder now and again. Learn to enjoy the fact Rachel gets so hot and bothered around you she can’t talk to you normally. That’s actually a positive sign.”

Marcus glared. If Eric mentioned her adrenaline spikes or how she smelled when aroused, he was going to knock him out. “How the hell do you know how Rachel gets around me?”

Eric chuckled and smirked. “Maybe because I pay close attention to women with legs like hers…just like that attractive geeky guy did.”

“More sarcasm—I get it, smartass,” Marcus declared. “How do you know Rachel gets that way because of
me
?”

Eric laughed and patted his own midsection. “That’s instinct, Marcus. I am a finely honed guessing machine when it comes to understanding the ladies.”

Marcus sighed and closed his eyes as images of Rachel’s legs ran through his mind. His loss of control around her was not comfortable for him to deal with. His worry about what she thought about him was worse.

“Am I being pathetic to hope you’re right about her interest in me?”

“No,” Eric declared, smacking Marcus on the knee. “You’re being really human for once. Now run with that. I want you to figure this shit out so you can rescue the girl from herself. Rachel’s processor is dying. I heard Nero and Kyra arguing what to do about it.”

“What’s there to argue about? A processor can be easily replaced,” Marcus said with a shrug.

“Not hers, dude. Rachel’s going to need a more extensive overhaul…more along the lines of William’s complete re-chipping procedure and possibly a new wiring job to make the processor work with her implants.”

Marcus rubbed a hand over his face. Peyton and the others had adopted the captain from the work camp into their group. But William never seemed completely stable to him. The tortured captain’s restoration hadn’t exactly turned out like most. The man always looked ready to either slice his own throat or someone else’s.

Rachel’s youthful exuberance potentially turning that dark was simply unacceptable.

“She’ll never agree to let them do that much modification to her cybernetic components. Rachel doesn’t want to be a full cyborg,” Marcus said at last.

Eric shrugged as he met his friend’s gaze. “It’s too late for such wishing. She already is one. Her processor just hasn’t been fully functional all this time. Evil Brad scaled it’s functioning back to try and leave her as many female emotions as possible. Apparently women go a little nuts if they don’t get to ride their hormonal surges. All Rachel’s urges are throttled at the moment…just like her voice.”

“Fucking bastard. I should have killed him when I had the chance.”

Eric shook his head. “Evil Brad is a human robot. He’s a walking example of the very thing Norton tried to make out of us. I think that’s why Kyra keeps him here and on camera where everyone can see his fate. What happened to him is worse than death. He’s not getting to live as himself.”

Marcus thought about it—then he thought about how distressed Rachel was about what had happened to her. To become more of what she hated would be worse than death to her. It was critical to his peace of mind that she remained both alive and at peace with herself.

“How am I supposed to convince Rachel life is okay as a cyborg? I’m in a worse position to do that than anyone. I lost everything important to me because I became a cyborg. My life didn’t change a few months ago when Doc released us. My life changed because I chose to be cybernetically enhanced for the war. I even knew back then what it was going to cost me and I
still
did it. I lost my family because of that decision.”

Eric shrugged. “You’re just one of those people who have to live their irony. That’s why everything seems so illogical if all you do is explore the data you’ve collected. Life will end up biting you on the ass over and over by repeating your single biggest challenge until you either go insane or resolve the puzzle of it. No one can explain why or how this always happens to people like you. On the plus side, a hot mess like yours does tend to resolve itself eventually, even if you do nothing.”

Marcus leaned back in the chair and narrowed his gaze. “I have no idea what you just said. All I heard was blah, blah, blah—life is going to bite you on the ass, Marcus. Hell, I already knew that.”

Eric laughed and shook his head. “What I said is Rachel has to be upgraded and learn to live with being the thing she hates. You’re going to have to find a way to make her like you despite what you are.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Marcus declared.

“Okay, I will. You can’t tell Rachel she just had a date with a cyborg. If you do, she’ll hate you and who knows what she’ll say next time she sees the geek. The way she feels about what she is now, the last thing she needs to know is that she’s surrounded by cyborgs who are lusting for her.”

Marcus swiped a hand through his shaggy hair, which he knew was in bad need of a cut. “So what
can
I do not to fuck this up royally, Dr. Armchair Shrink?”

“Wow, that was some sucktastic sarcasm, Marcus. At least you’re trying though…” Eric’s teasing smile quickly turned into a serious frown as he saw how seriously concerned Marcus was. “If you really want to spend your time keeping track of someone, start stalking Nathan 180. See what you can learn about him before we have to tell Kyra and Peyton. They need to know about him.”

Marcus nodded and clapped Eric on the shoulder as he stood.

Chapter 5

“He…bought me…a freak…ing…handheld.”

Seetha snickered. “Makes perfect sense. What other kind of love gift would a tech-loving geek buy the woman he’s interested in? Not every man is the flowers type. King brings me food.”

Rachel frowned. “I…re…fused…it.”

She flushed with irritation when Seetha reached out and tapped the handheld in her palm.

“And yet there it lies in all its shiny glory.”

Rachel stared at the bright red metal object, detesting her weakness. “He…left it…with…AI guards. They…made me…receive…it. Sneak…y…bas…tard.”

Rachel glared when Seetha snickered and turned her face away. “Not…fun…ny…Seeth…a. I…do not…want his…at…ten…tion.”

Seetha waved a hand in the air as she walked away. “I can’t help you. You think cyborg men are handsome, but you won’t date them, including that sexy Marcus who walks you to work and back every day. You’re on your own with your obsessive geek problem, baby girl.”

Rachel stared at the phone, but finally pressed the power button to turn it on. As she had dreaded, there was already a message from Nathan. She read it and rolled her eyes.

I’m really, really
sorry if I insulted you and your work. Please give me another chance. I promise not to make you mad again.

He’d ended the message with an animation of a person crying.

“Dra…ma…Queen,” Rachel said sternly, fuming still because she’d let Nathan trick her. Next time she’d watch where she was going in the damn hall.

Now she had the problem of finding a way to return the handheld without directly dealing with Nathan. But she’d find a way…or it would go into Norton’s recycler. The last thing she wanted was for any man to have a way to constantly be in touch with her.

She ought to ask Marcus to return the phone to Nathan, but that would give Marcus the wrong idea. It was bad enough she kept having sex dreams about her tattooed bodyguard. They had been so bad and so frequent last night after he’d left, it had been impossible to hold his gaze longer than three seconds this morning.

But no matter her physical needs, she was determined her hormones were not going to rule her common sense anymore. No man was going to have any technological means of tracking her. And she was not going to give Marcus any more reason to lust. With that resolve, she had dressed in her ugliest clothes today on purpose. All she’d gotten for her efforts was a raised eyebrow and a silent smirk from the man whose gaze stayed on her legs every time he saw her now.

Rachel huffed out a breath and hit the button to turn off the stupid device. When the power light stayed on, she sighed in frustration. Great. A jacked-up geek handheld that wouldn’t turn off. Just what she needed. She was now officially creeped out about him. Deciding to see if it died of its own accord later, she shoved the handheld in her carryall and went on with her work of prepping the lab.

Before her day was finished, four cyborgs had come in to be fixed. The last of the day was an older man…older even than Captain Elliott…if you could believe his silver temples and smattering of gray streaks in his hair.

Seetha fixed his arm, and then because she had to leave, she had handed Lieutenant Edward Jensen over to her to finish the report on his repairs. Trying not to be self-conscious about her speech, Rachel haltingly asked the required exit questions and carefully wrote down his answers.

Lieutenant Jensen smiled every time their eyes met. Finally, he spoke what she’d seen in his gaze.

“I hope you don’t take this wrong, but you’re way too beautiful to be hidden in here working on broken soldiers like me. Somehow I think you didn’t plan on being an engineer’s lab tech. What in blue blazes are you doing here, Sweetie?”

“Beau...ti…ful? Are…your…eyes…o…kay?” Rachel asked haltingly, smiling at his comments as she glanced down at her long pants and too large shirt. He should have seen her yesterday. She at least looked hot then.

What she was wearing today was her anti-sex outfit. She wore it at home when she got to feeling lonely and sexually deprived enough to consider going man hunting at bars. The clothes made her feel ugly and ratcheted down her crazy libido a few notches.

Which was good because she absolutely couldn’t afford to go picking up another Brad Smith for a one-night stand.

Today she’d worn the outfit to keep Marcus from staring at her so long and hard. She’d been having non-stop sex dreams for weeks now. Catching him looking at her legs had made matters worse. Now her body was starting to prime itself whenever he was near, but she refused to use Marcus for just sex. She had good reasons.

For one, he was hard enough to handle without adding that complication. And two…what if she wanted a repeat…and another after that? She was not going to fall for a man who could rip bots apart when he wanted.

Her patient’s chuckle brought her attention back to the man in front of her. She could only imagine what kind of look had been on her face while she thought about Marcus.

“My eyes are fine, Sweetie. And they see beyond those God-awful clothes you’re wearing. Now what’s wrong with your voice?”

Rachel shrugged and bent her head to her portable, keying words in blindly. “Accident,” she lied. She was caught off-guard when her questioner laughed loudly and a bit harshly.

“Right. You mean the same kind of accident I’ve had? The one that sent me in here to get my mechanical arm fixed.”

Surprising her, he reached up and lightly touched the side of her head where her cybernetic panel was hidden by her hair.

Rachel’s guilty gaze met his knowing one. In Edward Jensen’s eyes was empathy, not sympathy. Somehow she instantly knew this seasoned survivor would never judge her for what she’d done to survive. It was strange how intuitive she’d gotten about men while working with the cyborgs. Some ended up more in touch with their humanity than most real men ever got to be. Finally, she nodded because she realized she had no desire to hide the truth from him. If she was naïve for trusting him, well at least it felt better than looking over her shoulder all the time.

“Yes…same kind.” She drew in a breath and let it out. “I…was…ab…duct…ed,” she paused, “and…changed.”

“Some cyber scientist prick no doubt,” Edward said harshly, rolling down his sleeve and fastening it back without meeting her gaze. “I’m sorry for my language, sweetie. Frankly, I’d kill the bastard with my bare hands for you if I could. You’re young and beautiful…fresh. My God, you don’t deserve to have to deal with this shit at your age.”

“What…a…bout…you?” Rachel asked, studying the emotions on his expressive face. “Are…you…o…kay?”

Edward shrugged as he stood. “Am I going to live? Yes. Am I okay? No. My real wife died five years ago, and I had no idea until last week. She died not knowing I still loved her. Now our two children don’t want anything to do with me because they believe I’m some rogue killing machine. Some days I wish Dr. Winters had left me like I was. As a Cyber Husband, I was contracted to a pretty decent woman in most respects. In my case, I think ignorance really was bliss. Now I’ve got nothing and no one.”

Rachel put a hand on his arm. “No. Not…choos…ing…is…worse. Trust…me.”

Under her palm, she felt Edward’s whole body sighing from an emotional weight almost too heavy to bear. Yet she knew many cyborgs bore that same weight. She saw it every day. Edward was another Marcus—another man who’d lost his entire family because of what he’d volunteered to do as a soldier. “Life…gets…bet…ter. You…must…go…on,…Ed…ward.”