Passion Model (14 page)

After what had happened between us, I should not have wanted to go to my knees before him, but I did. I shuddered and hid the motion by bending to push my carrybag against the bench.

When at last he faced me, he had the good sense to do it from a distance away. His posture still indicated tension, but he forcibly opened his fists to let his hands dangle at his sides.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said.

“You didn’t scare me.” I took a deep breath. “It’s an automatic reaction, based on signals you sent with your expression and your stance. My body registered you as a threat, and I got kicked into defensive mode.”

“Because you’re an Op.” He narrowed his eyes to look at me, but in his gaze I caught a glimmer of comprehension. “It’s your training, right?”

I stood and moved closer to him. I turned my head to show him the thin, nearly invisible scar snaking down my neck and across my chest. “I was in a very bad hoverbike accident during vacay on Solaria eight years ago.”

He stared at me without speaking for a long time. Neither of us moved. He was smart enough to figure things out. I didn’t have to spell it out for him. I waited to see his reaction, and the thought he’d at least know my truth sent a bubble of relief to lift my heart.

“You’re mecho.” He didn’t stumble on the word, or look embarrassed by it, and why should he? He shared the same stigma.

“They replaced ninety-eight bones, my kidneys, my spleen and my spinal column. I have an enhanced circulatory and immune systems, and they put an internal hard drive partition in my brain.”

“I don’t understand.”

“What is there to understand, Declan? I’m mecho. Same as you.”

“Why did you send that holonote then?” He’d advanced on me again, a little, but when he saw me tense he backed off.

I sighed, frustrated. “I didn’t. I told you I didn’t. I was late because of work. That’s all.”

“And I was so sure you wouldn’t want to be with me if you knew the truth, I was ready to believe the note without question.” He punched his fist into his palm. “I’m an idiot!”

I didn’t want to be the one to tell him his father had been interfering with his life. I didn’t have to. Declan, despite our misunderstandings, was smart.

“What happened to your face, Gemma?”

I touched my cheek, surprised. I’d forgotten about the bruises. No wonder the man I’d traded with in the distribution center had looked at me so strangely.

“I had a problem with some secbots.”

“My father’s secbots?”

I hesitated, then nodded. There was no point in lying about it. Declan swore.

I bent and gathered my carrybag. “I have to go. I shouldn’t even be talking to you.”

I meant to brush past him, but he reached out and grabbed my arm. His touch was soft enough not to trigger a response, unless you counted the way my heart trip-trapped.

“I owe you an apology.”

“You don’t owe me anything.” I felt my back as stiff as an iron rod, and I didn’t turn to face him. “We fucked a couple times. It’s not like we were in love.”

My voice caught and broke on the last word like a glass dropped on the floor. I pulled out of his grasp and headed for the garden gate. His words stopped me.

“Gemma, I’m sorry.”

“Me too.” But that couldn’t change things between us, and I kept walking.

“Wait!”

I was almost to the gate, but I paused again anyway. This time, I turned. The weight of the carrybag dug into my fingers and I shrugged it around until it went over my shoulders again. Grief and anger warred within me, and anger won.

“Wait for what?” My voice was sharp and cold. “You made your feelings clear the other night.”

“That was before I knew the truth about you.”

I set my jaw and glared at him. “That I’m mecho too makes everything all right?”

He shook his head. “No, but—”

“You’re right. It doesn’t. You were so ready to believe the worst of me, you never even gave me a chance to explain myself. You ran away, knowing I wouldn’t be able to find you! You didn’t trust me enough to talk to me!”

“But you did find me,” he replied and gave me his damn cocky grin.

I wasn’t going to fall for it. Not this time. “And I paid for that, believe me.”

His gaze went to the fading bruises on my face. “I never meant for that to happen.”

“But it did. And there’s more, Declan. I was demoted in my job. I lost rank. I’ve lost delivery privileges and God-of-choice only knows what else I haven’t discovered yet, because your father wants to scare me into keeping my mouth shut! I guess I’m just lucky he didn’t have me killed!” I jabbed a finger in his direction. “And for what? Nothing! I thought we might have something together, but I was wrong. You don’t care about me. You couldn’t possibly, or else you wouldn’t have believed I could’ve written that note.”

“My father again.”

“Who else but the great and mighty Howard Adar has so much to lose if the public discovers his only son and heir is mecho?” I spat to clear the foul taste of fury from my mouth. “Keep your apologies, Declan. They’re worthless to me.”

I turned again to go.

“Gemma, I have never felt about anyone the way I feel about you. I can’t stop thinking about you. I don’t want to be away from you anymore.”

He spoke quietly, without shouting, and so it was easy for me to pretend I hadn’t heard. I kept going, pushed through the gate and came out onto the sidewalk. After the silence of the garden, the bustle and noise of the traffic outside seemed magnified tenfold. It hurt my head.

Anger welled inside me again. Easy enough for him to say, but not to mean. I thought of his face when I’d found him at the Adar complex, and of the cruel things he’d said. No. If Declan truly cared for me, he would’ve trusted me enough to tell me the truth about himself.

I stopped so suddenly several people on the pedtread turned their heads to stare. Trust. It was easy for me to accuse him of not trusting me, when I’d been just as guilty. I hadn’t told him I was mecho.

“But I was going to,” I muttered. Thankfully my voice didn’t carry to the pedtread, or I’d have earned another few strange looks. “I was going there to tell him.”

I held fast to the loose threads of my anger, but they slipped from my grasp and left me with nothing. He’d opened his heart to me, and I’d walked away. Now who was being unforgiving and distrusting?

Maybe he was still in the garden. I had to check. I’d just turned around to go back, when two huge forms loomed out of an alleyway and blocked my passage.

I hit the ground without even time to cry out, and then they were upon me.

Chapter Eleven

There was nothing subtle about Adar’s goon-bots. They hammered me with metal fists and rammed me with the metal treads of their feet. The pain was so intense I couldn’t even shame myself into silence. I covered my head with my hands to protect it. I couldn’t afford scrambled brains. The rest of my body could withstand an awful lot of abuse, but not my head.

They’d had enough sense to pull me back far enough in the alley so there was less chance of any Newcitizen coming to investigate the scuffling and the grunts. Though if anyone did come to see what was going on, I was sure that once they saw it wasn’t a mènage but a beating, they’d disappear pretty fast.

The internal hard drive partition I’d told Declan about was worthless, most of the time. Now it allowed me to separate my mind from the pain being inflicted on me, so I could think. Secbots are big, and they’re strong, but they’re not smart. They rely on causing so much immediate and encompassing pain their victim is unable to respond. I had an advantage over them, and I was going to use it.

I curled into a ball, knees tucked to my chest, arms curled around my head, hands splayed over my arms. As I figured, they concentrated their blows on my back, trying to get my kidneys. I rolled over onto my knees so I was crouched on the dirty pavement. My cheek scraped the rough concrete. I waited for a pause in the beating, took my hands from my head and pushed off from the ground. I straightened my knees and got to my feet in a smooth, fluid motion that belied my aches and pains. At least they couldn’t actually break most of my bones.

Without a pause, I kicked up and out. My foot hit the descending hand of one of the secbots, and it wobbled off balance. Saved by its solid treads, it didn’t fall. It knocked against the building behind us hard enough to scratch the plazbrick wall. The other secbot swung at me, but I ducked beneath the swing and kicked out again. This kick took out one of its glaring red optic beams. The secbot let out a muffled grinding sound of surprise and put its hands to its optic center.

Now the first bot came back for me. I flexed my fingers and jumped a little to loosen my bruised muscles. It swung at me, and I deflected its arm with a nifty little martial arts move that I learned from watching Britney’s favorite movie.
The Matrix
might look dated now in terms of special effects, but it had some kick ass moves in it.

I can’t hover in the air like Neo and Agent Smith, but I could jump high enough to kick the secbot squarely in the metal grill that served as its mouthpiece. The heel of my boot bent and broke the grill, and the force of the kick knocked the secbot backwards. Its partner, weaving a little because of its vision problem, came back at me, and I kicked out its other eye. Even though I was sure Adar had paid for subsonic navigation and radar, blinding the bot would buy me a little time.

I landed from the kick with my feet spread apart and my hands raised. Both bots whirred and churned, chattering to each other in their private language of clicks and beeps. My guess was they were deciding what to do next, since I’d certainly surprised them.

What they did next surprised the hell out of me. Both of them slid their pincer grip hands into small openings that appeared in their torsos, and both pulled out identical silver cylinders. To any Newcitizen eye, they’d appear to be stunners similar to what I carried as part of my own uniform, but I knew better. These bots carried real weapons, the sort that have been illegal in Newcity for half a century. Laserguns, the kind that could kill.

Why should I have doubted that Howard Adar would consider himself above the law? I didn’t recognize the type of weapons, but then I hadn’t been Offworld in eight years. I didn’t need to know the make or model to figure out pretty damn quick that they were going to make my aching and bruised flesh the least of my worries in about two seconds if I didn’t react fast.

I ducked. The white hot glare of the laser hit the wall of the building behind me and scorched the plazbrick. The burn area was as large as my head.

They were quicker with their weapons than they’d been with their self-defense. The next shot came within seconds of the first. I avoided it, barely, by throwing myself to the side. I hit the concrete but didn’t pause, just kept rolling. I rolled toward the secbots, aiming for their treads. The one whose optic center I’d destroyed aimed at me, but I rolled away as it shot. The laser struck its own tread and blasted the metal to bits. With a strangled roar, the secbot toppled over.

Its partner focused its red optic beams on me as I crouched at its feet. It didn’t shoot. Instead, it reached down with its free hand and grabbed for me. It got lucky, and grabbed a handful of my hair. Its height allowed it to pull me right off my feet. I dangled only for a moment, then swung my legs until I hooked them over the secbot’s shoulders. Its arm bent, and I bit my tongue to keep the scream of pain from my ravaged head inside.

The bot tried in vain to aim the laser at me in a way that wouldn’t also injure itself. Weapons like that aren’t made for close combat. I still had the advantage. I reached up and jerked my hair from the bot’s grasp, and left a handful of violet strands behind. Using the strength of my stomach muscles, I held myself upright while still gripping the bot’s shoulders with my legs. It twisted and turned on its treads, but it couldn’t shake me off.

The downed bot didn’t seem to have any qualms about making sure it hit only its intended target. It sent off a shot that skimmed my shoulder. The heat was enough to scorch my jumpsuit. The next shot came lower and also missed me. It hit the other secbot square in the chest. The sizzle of scorching metal and stench of frying circuits were music and perfume to my senses. The bot twitched and jerked, and I lost my grip. I hit the pavement again, this time hard enough to knock the wind out of me.

I scrabbled at the concrete to get to my feet before the downed bot could re-aim. My luck had run out, though, because I found myself staring into the black end of the lasergun with no place to go.

“Terminate destruction sequence!”

The shout echoed through the alley. I didn’t dare turn my head to see who it was, but I recognized the voice with no problem. The secbot holding the weapon pointed it farther in my direction, using its radar to detect me since it couldn’t use its visual circuits.

“Command number 2411690264, terminate destruction sequence!”

The secbot didn’t lower the weapon. “Termination command not recognized.”

“Shit!” Declan came into view and stood between me and the bot. “Override previous command, override code 99710561, terminate destruction sequence!”

The bot lowered its weapon at last. “Command recognized. Awaiting further instructions.”

Declan turned and held out a hand. I took it. I got to my feet, and we stared at each other for a long, long moment.

“I’m sorry, Gemma,” he said at last.

I looked at the secbots that had very nearly just killed me. “Thank you.”

He looked over at the metal thugs too. “What do we do now?”

The bot with the broken tread managed to push itself upright. Its partner lifted its weapon. Both spoke simultaneously, though the one whose grill had been bent was incomprehensible. We heard the other one just fine.

“Instructions received. Termination sequence reactivated.”

“Your father must have them on remote,” I said as the secbot steadied the lasergun.

Declan stepped more firmly in front of me. “I’ll take care of this.”

“Target blocked by Newcitizen 906264,” said the bot with the weapon.

“Declan, that bot’s aim isn’t very good.” I watched the other secbot trying to reach the weapon it had dropped when it fell to the ground. “I’d get out of the way.”

“Instructions received. Termination sequence expanded to include Newcitizen 906264.”

To give him credit, Declan didn’t sound surprised at the lengths to which his father was willing to go. “Let’s get out of here.”

I crouched and leaped, and swiped the other lasergun off the pavement before the fallen secbot could reach it. The weapon’s weight and controls were similar to a stunner, but different enough that my first shot went wild. My second didn’t. The secbot on the ground fell back without another protest, its guts a smoking mess of burning wires.

Declan grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back as the remaining secbot fired at us. The blast winged Declan, singed his shirt and crisped the hair curling over his collar. We both ducked as the bot fired again. I whirled with the laser in my hand and aimed for the secbot’s face. They’d been given weapons to carry but not the shielding to protect them against their own weapons. It took me two shots, but I killed that bot too.

We stared at each other in the smoke-stinking alley. The hand holding the laser trembled, and I let it fall to my side. Declan put his hands to my face hesitantly, his eyes searching mine for permission to continue. With the adrenaline no longer pumping through me, I felt weak and more than a little close to tears. I couldn’t have resisted him even if I’d wanted to, and I didn’t want to.

His mouth on mine pressed sweetly, then hungrily as I clutched at his shoulders and urged him on. It had been too long since we’d kissed, an eternity since we’d touched. I’d thought I’d never touch him again.

His hands found the tangled lengths of my torn hair and smoothed them away from my forehead. His eyelashes brushed my cheeks as he pressed kisses to my face and neck. When he put his arms around me to hold me closer to him, I let out a sighing moan at the combined pleasure and agony the embrace provided. With the immediate danger passed, my brain was no longer blocking the pain from my wounds. I didn’t want him to let go of me, but I pushed him back, anyway.

“Give me a few hours, Declan. And maybe a handful of pain meds.”

“Gemma, I’m—”

I put my finger to his mouth to shush the words. “Didn’t I tell you I don’t want your apologies?”

“We need to figure out what we’re going to do.”

Declan ran his hands through his hair. “My father is not a generous or kindhearted man.”

“Really?” I touched the burn mark on his bare shoulder, then bent to kiss the spot.

A small sound from behind me made me turn. Kaelyn peered around the doorway, her eyes wide. Her wings fluttered so frantically her small feet barely skimmed the floor, a testimony to her nervousness.

Declan made a small sound of surprise. “Who’s this?”

“Declan, this is my—” I broke off. I’d been about to say “my fairy”, but Kaelyn was so much more than that. “This is my daughter, Kaelyn.”

The smile on her face as she came to my side made me glad I’d caught myself. Declan looked at me with his eyebrow cocked. I put my arm around Kaelyn’s delicate shoulders.

“Kaelyn, this is my friend, Declan.”

She bobbed her head. The fluttering of her wings slowed, but only slightly. She didn’t offer him her hand. “Hello.”

“Hello, Kaelyn.” Declan gave her a slightly milder version of the smile he’d wooed me with. It worked the same magic on Kaelyn, who blushed furiously and ducked her head against my side. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

I bent to look into Kaelyn’s eyes. “K, I have to talk with Declan about some important things. Why don’t you go watch the viddy for awhile?”

She nodded, noticeably less anxious to stun her brain than she usually was. I could see her curiosity about Declan, but I feared I didn’t have time to do more than introduce them. We’d killed Adar’s secbots. I didn’t know what he’d do next, but I knew it wouldn’t be good, for any of us.

I kissed her cheek and gave her a squeeze. “K, please.”

She nodded again, her hair a fine, sweet smelling cloud against my face. Even her gentle embrace made me wince, and when she pulled away her face was pulled into a grimace of concern. “Is my Gemma all right?”

“I’ll be fine, honey. Right now I need you to go watch viddy. Okay?”

“Okay.” With a backward glance, she left the kitchen and went in front of the viddy.

“We don’t have much time. Your father isn’t going to let us get away with this.”

Declan sighed and ran his hands through the mess of his hair again. I reached out, unable to help myself, and smoothed the spiky dark strands. “I know.”

His face was bleak, and my heart went out to him. What would it be like, to have your own father reject you so completely? To try to have you killed because you might be an embarrassment to the family?

“My father died when I was a child,” I said quietly as I slipped into the seat across from him. I took his hands with mine. “My mother died when I was twenty. Neither of them lived to see my accident.”

“But if they had?” He asked. “Would they have turned you out?”

I squeezed his fingers. “I like to think not. But I don’t really know. My husband did.”

“You were married?”

I smiled at his growl. “Yes. For three years. It was Steve’s idea to go to Solaria, and his idea to rent the hoverbikes. After the accident, he dissolved our marriage.”

“Bastard.”

In that moment, I loved him for his anger on my behalf. I kissed his hand and then laid it briefly against my cheek. “It was a long time ago.”

“My mother stopped looking at me like I was her son. Her eyes just…slide past me as though I were a stranger. She’s always perfectly polite, and perfectly cold. My sisters treat me as badly as they always did. But my father is the worst. He pretends nothing is different, nothing is wrong. When I told him I was ready to go back out into the world, he clapped me on the back and offered me a cigar. Like he was proud of me.” Declan’s face twisted and his hands bunched into fists beneath my fingers. “That son of a bitch. All along, he had me followed to be sure nobody found out who I really was. I’m not his son, I’m a liability.”

“We need to get out of here, Declan.”

He nodded. “I know. But where will we go?”

My stomach dropped at the thought of it, but I knew as I answered him we had only one choice. The word caught in my throat like barbed wire. I swallowed to keep myself from choking as I replied. “We have to go Offworld.”

System’s modulated voice startled us both. “Communication requested from Newcitizen 08111977.”