In the meantime, the three of them would quietly start searching for the other women—the ones Bradley 360 had said were programmed to be ‘better’ programmed companions. She’d leave it to Peyton and his people to review records and vid recordings and com links in their searches. She and Aja and Meara had other ways of flushing out Creator Omega’s creations.
But in the end, some of the cyborgs he’d tortured would find him. Like she told Bradley, she would never stop looking. And when she found him, Creator Omega would suffer worse than Bradley Smith or the allegedly dead Jackson Channing ever had.
***
The interview had taken most of an hour to record. It was running non-stop on World Com networks, but this was a private showing. The lab door had been propped open during that time to allow for the amount of people attending to come and go as needed. Lucy felt a shiver down her spine when a familiar man walked inside and looked around.
Letting go of Eric’s hand, she rose and walked to him to stare up into his face. She knew him. How did she know him?
“Lucy. Is that really you?”
She saw him blink several times. For a few seconds she thought she had seen moisture in his eyes, but if true, it had cleared quickly.
“Yes. I am Lucy… Captain Lucille Evelyn Pennington. Do I know you? Things are still not always clear to me. You look familiar, but I can’t find my file on you.”
“It’s… I’m…” he looked away, saw the rest of the room staring at them. He looked back at the ghost from his past. “It’s… Will… William Talon. My name is Captain William Talon.”
“William Talon,” Lucy repeated.
She let her eyes roam his face and then down his body. Some time during her perusal, she noticed Eric standing next to her. She looked at him and then back at William Talon. She put both hands to her temples as several older files pushed forward, prompted by his name.
“Willam Talon… we dated in college, but you married… my college roommate. I… married David. Cassandra came to see me when you went missing. She asked for my help in finding you. She had me looking for you before my conversion. We thought you were dead. She was still looking when the war ended.”
William nodded. “I was dead… still am. My damage is extensive. And I’d rather you not tell Cassandra that you found me. She’s moved on. That’s best for her… and the kids. I plan to leave it that way. I’m staying clear of people I used to know. It’s safer.”
Lucy raised her human hand and used it to rub the tight muscles she felt through his sleeve.
“Okay. Someday soon though, we need to swap war stories. You are no more dead to me than I was dead to myself not long ago. Do not hide from me, William Talon. I will find you this time. If I have to live, you do too.”
“Okay,” Will choked out, rigid under her stroking hand. He would hate nothing worse than telling her what happened and would see their conversation never came to pass. She didn’t want to know what he’d done. No one did. Especially him.
“Hello Lucy,” Meara said, crowding through the taller bodies blocking her view. It was hard to believe the man she’d been looking for had walked right into this meeting. That had to be a sign. “Will ya introduce me to yar tall, dark, and miserable friend? I saw him in the hall with Peyton and the others, but he got away from me. I’d like a formal introduction if ya don’t mind, please.”
Lucy turned automatically, knowing her thoughts wouldn’t be her own again until she complied. “Of course. Meara, this is William Talon… Captain William Talon.” She looked back. “Will, this is…”
“… Meara McDonald and it’s a great pleasure to meet ya,” Meara declared. She stuck out a hand, frowning when it went ignored. “If yar hands are busted, Engineer Harrington is right smart about fixing such problems.”
Will looked at the woman’s hand outstretched and lifted his. Her smaller one disappeared in his larger one. She was a talker... but had a nice smile. “I’m sorry. I didn’t catch your name.”
“Meara,” Meara said firmly and very slowly, like she thought he had a problem with taking it in. Maybe he did, but she was hoping to get him to laugh. “Looks like yar hearing needs adjusting as well, William.”
“I’m sorry… I don’t think I understand what you just said,” Will said, pulling his hand away from the chattering magpie of a woman. “Are you cyborg?”
“Cyborg? Well, aren’t ya a charmer now? Why don’t ya just call me fat and ugly and we’ll throw down in front of everyone? Ya might be the man of my dreams, but that doesn’t mean you can get by with insulting me at our first meeting.”
“Meara stop… turn it off,” Lucy ordered. “Will is married.”
“Married?” Meara looked back at him, absolutely stunned. How was that possible? “Well feck me. I didn’t see that coming at all.”
She rubbed her chest where it hurt. Grief over him belonging to someone else? Surely not. She’d only seen him at a distance. He could be the worst man ever born.
“Guess the gods are still pissed over the appropriating thing I tend to do. A married man… and I’m not even flaming with drink. Don’t worry, William. I’ve changed my mind about rattling ya.”
Meara turned on her heel and walked back through the staring crowd. It parted for her like the biblical Moses parting the Red Sea in the Holy Scriptures. As she neared her seat, Aja rolled her eyes and patted the cushion of her chair. She sat and then turned to face her friend.
“I’m beginning to think that whole Irish luck thing is a bunch of blarney. My man radar is usually much better than that. A fecking married man, Aja. What’s happening to me? His wife must be terrible in the sack. Look at the frown marring his face. I could have erased that for him with a single blow.”
Aja snickered and reached over to rub her friend’s arm. “It’s okay Meara. If you want another cyborg, there’s plenty that aren’t married. We’ll find you one. We’ll… troll. Yes. Isn’t that what you’re always asking me to do when you get horny?”
“I suppose,” Meara said, sighing in frustration. “I wanted that one… even more than I thought I did. What the feck is wrong with me?”
She looked across the room and waved sadly at Will who was still staring at her. Lucy was looking her way and rubbing her face. Eric was shaking his head and laughing, as was nearly everyone else in the room.
Sighing greatly, Meara stood and looked around.
“Why are ya all still gawking? Show’s over. Haven’t ever seen a woman make a fecking mistake before? I don’t go after what belongs to someone other than me, so untwist your knickers. We should let Peyton get down to the business that brought us here. I promise I’m done being ya entertainment for the day.”
Will looked back at Lucy. “Am I supposed to understand what that was about? Because I don’t.”
Lucy shrugged as she met Will’s forlorn look. “Meara likes you… or she did. I didn’t mean to mention Cassandra, but it was the only way she was going to leave you alone. Meara can be quite determined when she wants something badly.”
Will looked at the redhead who was now studiously ignoring him. “Is she always that bold?”
Lucy shrugged as she grinned. “I can’t say for certain. You’ll have to ask Aja. Last time I saw them was over seven years ago. They’ve both evolved in our time apart. We’re getting to know each other again… like you and I will be doing. But she won’t bother you now that she knows you’re off limits.”
Will nodded absently, his gaze straying back to the redhead. Curiosity probably. He hadn’t felt a physical need for a woman in a decade. They’d done something to make sure he hadn’t. Kyra had said normal desire would return eventually, but wouldn’t it have done so by now if it was going to happen?
Even if he had been interested in the redhead—which he would never be with a talker like her—he still would have put her off. Too many dark shadows in his life. His past would surface at some point, no matter how much he tried to shove it in a box. It would extinguish the light she beamed from her face and dim that full wattage smile… and that wasn’t even the worst that could happen.
He forced his mind away from the redhead to Peyton who was finally ready to talk.
Looking away from William Talon’s sad face, Lucy felt Eric entwine his fingers with hers.
“Come on,” he whispered. “Let’s get our seats before someone else takes them.”
Lucy gave William a final glance before heading back. She was going to read the rest of her files on him later. And when Meara got over her disappointment, she was going to have the woman steal the files on him from Norton’s database… or wherever else she could find them.
College was hazy, but her files backed up the memories that were flowing back about her military days. Cassandra Talon had looked for her husband for years. She’d banked money to buy him from the Cyber Husband program, but Will had never shown up on the contract list. That was too much effort to have gone to for a man you’d forgotten.
Chapter 28
Lucy had wanted that night was sex and lots of mind-numbing, toe-curling orgasms. Instead, she and Eric lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. The news Peyton had shared had changed everything again.
What he and Kyra wanted was as bad as the military asking for Cyber Soldier volunteers. What cyborg would want to become more of a freak?
Lucy sighed and blinked her stinging eyes. Tearing up was starting to happen more. Emotional breakthroughs would continue to happen, Kyra had explained. Hormonal surges were perfectly normal, Nero had declared. Outside of great sex, being a cyborg female was the pits, Lucy decided.
“Why are we chewing so hard on what Peyton talked about? You and I are not on the list, Eric. Shouldn’t we just be grateful?”
“Yes. We should just be grateful.” Eric reached out and pulled Lucy up close to him. “I would be more grateful if Marcus hadn’t been on the list.”
Lucy put an arm across his chest and threw a leg over his thighs. When his hand came down to rub her leg, she wanted to purr like a happy kitten. There was a constant dichotomy within her—the bossy military woman versus the cuddly companion who wanted to wrap herself like a vine around the man beside her. It took some effort to answer as the one Eric seemed to want to talk to most in that moment.
“Rachel will never let Marcus do it. I saw her face when she heard he was a candidate for it. He’ll lose her if he volunteers. They only need two. It would make more sense to pick two who didn’t need to be rewired.”
Eric nodded. “Do you think Peyton is right? Is building a better cyborg the only way to truly fight Creator Omega?”
Lucy released a ragged breath as she formulated the most logical answer she could. She could tell Eric needed reassurance. She wished she could give it to him.
“Is it the only way? I wish I could say no. Look what happened with Bradley Smith, and he wasn’t even a real cyborg, at least not like we are. If his goal had been something other than killing me, he could have easily made those AI units kill hundreds of innocent people with those pulse cannons. There wouldn’t have been a damn thing anyone could have done to stop him outside of killing him… and even then it wouldn’t have stopped what he’d set in motion with those machines. I got lucky, Eric. No doubt about it.”
Eric frowned and hugged tighter. “I hate that Kyra has to build a better cyborg than Creator Omega. Getting the neural implants alone would be torture enough for any of us…”
“…unless you’ve already got them,” Lucy said, interrupting.
Eric nodded. “Like you… or William.”
“Yes. William is on the list,” Lucy said softly. “So are Meara and Aja. Any of them volunteering would negate having to wire someone like Marcus who doesn’t have a neural controller already.”
“Will Aja and Meara volunteer?” Eric asked.
Lucy hugged him tighter. She really didn’t want to talk about this anymore, but she couldn’t stop him from worrying about his friend. She sighed as she answered.
“Yes. They’re going to tell Kyra Winters in the morning. Both will volunteer. They want vengeance for what was done to us… and for all the women who didn’t survive. Maybe they want it too much. I can’t say I’m any different. But I have my own ideas about how to serve the cause.”
Eric rolled over until he was looking down into Lucy’s face. “Is it totally selfish of me to be glad you’re not on the list? You just got out of cyber guinea pig hell. I don’t think I have what it takes to watch you go back.”
Lucy lifted a hand and brushed back his hair. “Yes, Eric Anderson. You’re being totally selfish to want me to be free and happy. Now ask me if I give a fuck? It’s only flattering that you want to save my ass. How could I see it any differently? It would not be logical.”
Eric lowered his forehead to Lucy’s as he laughed. “Do you really expect me to kiss that dirty mouth?”
“Yes… and every other part of my body until I can’t think about anything but the orgasms you’re going to give me.”
“Gee. I love you too, Lucy.”
She laughed beneath him, feeling his answering laughter in every cell. “I didn’t say anything about love. Who talks like that these days? With you, I always give as good I get. And I always want to.”