Eric 754
Eric 754
Book Four of
CYBORGS: MANKIND REDEFINED
by
Donna McDonald
Edition License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should delete it from your device and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is coincidental.
This book contains content that may not be suitable for young readers 17 and under.
Copyright 2015 by
Donna McDonald
Cover by
Blackraven’s Designs
Edited by
AJ at Blackraven’s Designs
Praise For Donna McDonald
Riveting, suspense-filled action that keeps you glued to the end.
~ S.E. Smith, NYT/USAT Bestselling Author
Donna McDonald’s books are like Lays Potato Chips…one is NOT enough!
~ Robyn Peterman, NYT/USAT Bestselling Author
Consuming, heart-pounding, emotional - easily the best books I've read in a long time. Donna McDonald impresses the hell out of me with her diverse writing!
~ J.M. Madden,
NYT/USAT Bestselling Author
Acknowledgements
Thanks to my nephew, Derrick, who loaned me his mountain hideaway so I could have a place to write when it seemed I couldn’t write anywhere.
Thanks to Robyn, Jennifer, Heather, Kris, and Kathleen for pulling me up by the shirt collar, shaking me metaphorically, and reminding me that I was a writer no matter what else was happening in my life.
Thanks to AJ for the amazing cover and for editing at the last minute. This series would not be the same without you.
Thanks to my husband, Bruce, for helping me set aside the thousand screaming personal problems long enough to finish this book. You are every hero to me.
Thanks to all my
CYBORGS: MANKIND REDEFINED
readers for loving this series as much as I do. You are the reason I write.
Dedication
This book is for Evelyn P. who deserves to be a heroine.
May you always be programmed for prosperity.
Chapter 1
Eric blinked dry eyes. “Come on. Damn it. Where are you hiding her?”
Nothing he tried was working and he’d stared so long at the com station his gaze was blurry with fatigue. As a Marine Lance Corporal, he’d received upgraded corneas during his Cyber Soldier conversion, but those only corrected a genetic vision deficiency from his youth.
Sometimes he wished he’d gotten full cybernetic orbs like Peyton. His eyesight always gave out before his mind grew tired. Cyborg or not, he needed a good solid eight hours of shut down time to keep his organics functioning properly. He sure wasn’t going to get that tonight if he couldn’t bust through his latest obstacle.
He grimaced as he lifted his wrist com to his mouth. “Contact Dr. Bradley Smith.”
Peyton and Kyra had come up with a wearable com device that scanned channels for covert monitoring before syncing to make contact. The random channel matchup allowed for more secure communication than using any of Norton’s available connections.
When the cyborg restorations were completed, Kyra said she was going to apply for a design patent on the wrist com and Eric didn’t blame her. It wasn’t just functional. It was also attractive enough to pass for any modern wrist piece. He admired the design as he waited for an answer.
“Acknowledged—Eric 754. How may I assist you?”
Eric huffed before swiping to reply. “Brad, please omit my cyborg ID number from future greetings. I’m calling because I need your help. I’ve found another file I can’t unlock.”
“After completion of my current task, I will be available. Your estimated wait time is approximately twenty-six minutes. Please allow an additional five for travel to your com room. I have mapped your current location.”
Eric snickered as he disconnected. Approximately twenty-six minutes? No way did he believe Evil Brad was guessing.
He talked to himself as he waited, an odd habit he did only when alone. “I think Kyra needs to tweak your logic chip, Dr. Smith. But a better question might be why the hell do I care about your reactions? Probably the same reason I’m talking to an empty room right now. This work has finally driven me over the edge.”
Though chronologically the youngest member among his Marine fire team, sometimes Eric felt like the oldest. Having two cybernetic compartments and two processors had required very unique programming. It had also required him to deal with situations the others had never known about.
Most cyborgs were shut off from their humanity. He never had been. The things he remembered—like watching his best friend get gutted—would have been better forgotten. But Kyra had said it was an all or nothing deal. So he’d kept it all.
To keep his mind from reliving a past he couldn’t change, Eric pulled up the official cyborg file on Evelyn 489. He’d memorized all the data in it already. Mostly he just wanted to look at her picture again. The woman was a beauty even with her copper-streaked hair cut military short. In her ID photo, little diamonds glinted in her ears, though they didn’t match the serious expression she wore.
It was damn strange to him that the woman’s standard military ID hadn’t pinged much back in his early global image searches for her. The photo attached to her file had been taken right after she got her Army captain bars. Military officers, regardless of branch, didn’t just go missing for no reason—not without a full-blown manhunt taking place. Yet nothing about any prior search for her was listed in the file he had in front of him. Only her current apprehension was documented.
Research often sent him snooping into a Cyber Soldier’s background. Lucy’s lack of one was nothing but frustrating. All he had for clues to her real identity were several female first names from a fiction book she prized highly enough to keep in her cell.
“If I’m correct that narrows your name down some, but are you going to be a Lucinda, a Lucille, or just a plain old Lucy like I’ve been calling you?”
Eric snorted when he realized he was talking to himself again. Maybe Marcus was right. Maybe he needed to get his ass out of the research chair more often. It had been weeks since he dated and a couple of months since he’d slept with a woman. Life had gotten busy.
And okay… he just hadn’t been interested. Unless you counted the woman on the screen.
He reached out with one finger and stroked the photographed cheek of his mystery woman. The female captain looked tough and purposeful, but also oddly calm in her picture. She was definitely not the swearing hellcat he’d met in lock-up who could read his mind. If he ended up working with her, he would have to warn Evelyn 489 about what she was going to find in his brain if she kept digging around in there. Nothing was locked away but stuff that would give her a thousand more reasons for those sad and angry tears she so often shed.
His random musings about cybernetics, women, and the elusive Evelyn 489 were finally interrupted by the sound of the room door sliding open. Eric checked his processor when he saw who it was. Evil Brad had arrived in fourteen minutes, not twenty-six, and hadn’t bothered to inform him. Strange.
“Hey there, Dr. Smith. You’re here much earlier than you estimated.”
Eric was stunned when Brad shrugged in response to his statement. The physical gesture was unmistakably a human one expressing indifference. The changes he was observing couldn’t be just his imagination. He listened intently as he waited for Brad’s response to his statement, his intuition already alerted.
“My previous task was completed sooner than I calculated. Is my early arrival inconvenient timing for your schedule?”
Eric shook his head, noting Brad was now staring stoically at him. He frowned. Was that irritation he’d heard in Brad’s reply? He shook his head a second time, forcefully pushing his concerns aside. There were more important things to consider at the moment than whether or not Evil Brad was breaking through Kyra’s special programming. He added a flag to his existing mental note. He would definitely mention his concerns to Kyra later.
Moving his gaze purposely away, Eric looked at and pointed to the com station monitor. “I’m looking for more information about the cyborg on the screen.”
“I am familiar with Evelyn 489,” Brad said. “What information do you seek that is not available to you?”
Eric’s eyebrows shot up. “You know her? How do you know her?”
“I assisted with her second cybernetic conversion.”
Eric barely stopped himself from showing more surprise. “Second conversion? I didn’t see anything about that in her records. Explain her second conversion to me.”
Surprising him once again with his actions, Brad walked to the chair next to him and sat down without any prompting. He set his curiosity about that action aside when Brad spoke.