Programmed To Please (The Tau Cetus Chronicles) (17 page)

“Did you enjoy that, Marque?”

“Fucking hell,”
he breathed.

She took that as a compliment.

“I’ve never met anyone like you, J. I’m definitely taking you home with me today.”

She smiled at him. “I
want
to go home with you, Marque. I love you.”

I love you.

Marque looked up into the artificial blue starburst eyes of his Beautiful Doll, and smiled. He’d said almost the same words to her yesterday. It was insane to be in love with a machine, but what was normal about his life anyway? Nothing. “I know you don’t know what the hell
love
means, J, but I appreciate you saying that.”

Her hands came up to cup the sides of his face, like he’d done to her a few minutes ago. “I
do
know what it means, Marque. I have a confession to make.”

He frowned. After their incredible sex, he was in too good a mood for a serious discussion. He wanted to savor his post-coital buzz for a minute. The pleasant heaviness of his exhausted body. The drugging endorphins zinging through him. The illicit thrill of having his very own Beautiful Doll sexbot.

What could she possibly have to confess, anyway? That she’d faked her orgasm? Of course she had; she was a machine.

“Come lie on my shoulder. I want to enjoy—”

“No. I need to talk to you.”

His frown deepened, and she reached up to rub between his eyebrows with her index finger.
Hmm.
Was it the same index finger she’d used to drag down his coc—

“You’re much more attractive without this frown,” she said quietly, stroking his brow.

He grunted. “We call it the Callex crease. My sister has one, too. Comes with worry. That’s what happens when you’re orphaned as kids. You worry
a lot.
About where you’ll sleep that night. Where your next meal will come from.”

Odd. If Marque had just heard right, J had given him a sympathetic sigh. “I lost my parents in the Great War, too. And two brothers. At age ten, I was placed in a group home with two dozen other orphaned survivors. I counted the days until age sixteen, when I could get out of there.”

Marque’s mouth fell open. “
Wha--?
They give you sexbots…
histories?
Why on earth would Anson Carron do that? To make clients more comfortable? So you appear more human? You seem pretty damn human to me already.”

“I
am
human, Marque.”

He stared at her. Was his Beautiful Doll defective? There certainly was something wrong with her. A computer virus maybe. She was obviously malfunctioning. An odd knot settled in the pit of his stomach.
No, no.
He didn’t
want
J to malfunction. He’d found the perfect woman, and he didn’t want to lose her to some technological glitch. Or was it something he had done?

“Is this my fault?” he asked quietly. “Did I treat you too much like a human? Should I have just used you for sex and then left—”

“I’m not a machine, Marque.”

Okay, she was scaring him now. Her firm insistence was frightening, especially since he was lying here naked and vulnerable. She was still straddling him, so he pushed her off him, to the side of the bed.

“You
are
a machine,” he insisted.

“No, I’m not. I’m human.”

He made a dismissive sound. “I’ve got news for you, J. No human has eyes like yours.”

In response, she raised a thumb and forefinger to one of her eyes.
Dear God!
As Marque watched in horror, it looked like she popped out one eye, and then held out her hand to him.

Marque recoiled on the bed. In her palm was…
what?
A blue…

…contact lens?

His gaze shot back to her face. One blue starburst eye and one… brown eye. A light brown doe’s eye, with tiny flecks of gold.
Beautiful.

She blinked calmly. “I’m a brown-eyed, brown-haired human, Marque.”

Assassin!
Marque was out of bed almost before she’d finished her sentence.

“Bursus!” Instinct had him taking cover behind the headboard, looking around for a weapon to defend himself, even as his brain registered the fact that J could have killed him countless times during this past week if she’d wanted to.
“Bursus!”

Idiot. This room was soundproofed. His bodyguard couldn’t possibly hear him. Or help him.

J held up her hands. “Marque, listen to me, I’m not here to hurt you. Let me explain.”

“Give me my pants.” His clothes were on the floor near the foot of the bed.

“Marque—”

“Hand me my pants, damn it!”

She stood as if she was going to comply, then shook her head. “Not unless you agree to let me explain.”

 Why did she look so fully capable – regal, even – while naked, when he felt so goddamn vulnerable?

Because she’s human. And you thought all this time she was a soulless machine.

The knot in his stomach tightened.

Christ. The things he’d done with her. The things he’d told her…

“I’m an agent with the Tau Cetus police force, Marque.”

Marque’s eyes widened as his brain struggled to process that astonishing statement. Of all the things she could have said, that was the last thing he expected to hear.
“What?”

“The High Council gave us orders to find evidence of your rogue arms dealings. After gathering that evidence, we were supposed to take you down. But there’s no need for that now. We know you’re innocent. You’ve turned in Chavis Smith.”

Marque’s brain was really spinning now. “The High Council… is behind this?”

“Yes. Theus gave my boss, Commander Talis Rainey, the order directly. Rainey—” J looked away briefly, as if embarrassed, “Rainey sent me undercover as a Beautiful Doll sexbot in order to coax you into admitting your illicit activities.”

 Marque went from shock to outrage in the space of ten seconds. His eyes narrowed. So
that’s
why Theus hadn’t asked Marque where he’d been on Wednesday when Marque was late getting back to his office. Theus knew
exactly
where he’d been!  Theus was behind this whole fucking setup.

“I’m telling you all this, Marque, because the assignment is over with today. We can both go back to our jobs. Our lives. But…” She paused, giving him a look. “This turned into more than a case for me.
I fell in love with you.”
Marque saw her chin come up as she took a deep breath. “You don’t have to buy me. I’d gladly come home with you.”

His jaw set into a hard line.
“Hand me my pants.” 
 

This time, J walked around to the bottom of the bed, and picked up his trousers. With a sigh of resignation, she held out her arm. Marque reached over the headboard and snatched the pants from her hand. He shoved one leg in and then the other. Pulling the pants up, he hurriedly yanked on the zipper.

Barely decent, he headed for the pile of his clothes on the floor at the foot of the bed and pulled on his shirt, not bothering to tuck it in. Socks and underwear were shoved into his pockets. His suit jacket was thrown over his arm.

He had to get out of this room.
Now.

As he headed for the door, he suddenly stopped. Whipping around, he noted she was dressed once again in her sarong, that scrap of silk which had given him such pleasure just minutes ago.

Stop thinking about the pleasure she’s given you! She’s a deceitful bitch…

He straightened his back, and his tone was furious. “You tricked me. Lied to me. Used sex to manipulate me. And you would have coldly betrayed me if you’d gotten the information you’d expected. But worse than all that, I let it happen. I’m a fucking idiot. You say you want to come home with me? After all this? You must be insane.
I can’t even stand to look at you.”

Why was he breathing so heavily? He was
not
emotionally devastated by this.
He was not!

Still, he couldn’t help seeing the tear that formed in the corner of her eye at his harsh words. The corner of her warm,
brown
eye.

“My name is Jai Turner. J-a-i. I really
am
J, Marque.
Your
J. I want you to know that.”

Giving her his fiercest scowl, he turned and stalked out the door.

Chapter Nine

“Bursus.”
Marque slammed J’s door shut behind him. He was desperate to get out of this den of deceit. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Marque didn’t even try to straighten his appearance, not giving a damn about what Anson Carron, standing behind his reception desk, might think of Marque’s disheveled state. Hell, Anson Carron was in on this whole fucking setup, too! Why the hell would Marque care what Carron thought of his appearance? Besides, Marque didn’t want to see or acknowledge the no-doubt smug look on Carron’s face now that Marque knew J – or Jai – was human.

Good God. I tried to buy a human being. Thinking she was a machine!

“Bursus. Let’s go.”

Why was his ever-vigilant bodyguard still sitting in the chair just outside Jai’s room? And worse, why did it look like he was
sleeping
on the job? It’s true that Marque hadn’t stayed the full hour with his sexbot today, but still, Bursus’ duty was to be on guard.
Alert.
Marque’s anger was already off the charts, but this was just too much.

He’d always felt he could trust Bursus with his life.

“Bursus!” Marque gave the bodyguard a rough shove to wake him up. It was only when Bursus’ body tilted to the side and fell off the chair – revealing a large splattering of blood on the wall behind – that Marque realized he was dead.

In shock, Marque’s gaze whipped around to Anson Carron, and his body tensed. Carron had a gun in his hand, and that damned smug smile Marque had feared on his face.

“Don’t move, Callex.”

Marque’s mind raced. What the hell was going on? Jai had just told him the authorities knew he was innocent. She’d told him he was free to go. So why did Carron have a weapon with a huge silencer trained on him?

There was something else going on here.

Marque’s suit jacket was still slung over his forearm, so he carefully tossed it aside, but kept his feet firmly planted where he was. Considering the gun pointed directly at him, he wanted to have his hands free for any opportunity.

Make
your opportunity…

Right.

“So you’re in league with the Tau Cetus police,” Marque began cautiously. 

In response, Carron laughed. “Only for as much as it benefitted me!”

Okay. Keep the man talking while you figure out what’s really going on here, and what you’re going to do…

Marque frowned deliberately. “What’s your game, then? How exactly does all this benefit you?”

“Tsk, tsk.” Carron shook his head. “How many people want you dead, Callex?”

One of Marque’s eyebrows rose in surprise. Was that it? Carron wanted him dead? Why? Had Marque ever crossed this oily purveyor of pleasure? “Plenty of people would like to see me dead.”

“Right. But they can’t get to you.” Carron pointed his gun casually toward Bursus’ body on the floor. “You’re too heavily guarded.”

Marque’s eyebrow rose higher. “You agreed to work with Tau Cetus agents in order to have the chance to kill me?”

Carron’s laughing countenance faded, replaced by a look of determination. “I’m not only going to kill you, I’m going to
become
you.”

Ah. Now they were getting somewhere. There were plenty of egomaniacs who’d love to usurp Marque’s place as Tau Cetus’ most notorious arms dealer.  But how much did Carron know about Marque’s true position? “So you want to
be
me,” he repeated carefully, attempting to lead Carron into supplying more information.

The oily man’s smile was back. “Yes. And I’m going to succeed. You see, I have an informant in your organization. You’ll never guess who it is!”

Marque had a very good idea, but he wasn’t about to give anything away. “And who would that be?”

Carron cackled. “Your own brother-in-law! He supplies me with weapons and information both.”

Marque forced a shocked look to his face. He noted that Carron had used the present tense: Chavis
supplies
, not Chavis
supplied
. Hopefully, that meant Carron didn’t know Chavis Smith was
no longer
part of his organization.

Carron’s smile faded, replaced by a look of annoyance. “I was hoping those missing wasp missiles three months ago would discredit you in the High Council’s eyes, but…”

Marque went suddenly cold. Dear God. Carron
did
know of his true connection to the High Council! But Chavis Smith didn’t know Callex Industries was a front for the government, so Carron could not have gotten his information that way. And even if Carron had somehow found out about Marque’s relationship with the Council through this sting operation by Tau Cetus’ police force, it wouldn’t account for him knowing about the relationship three months ago. He needed more information from Carron.

“The High Council?” Marque blustered, feigning nervousness. “What the hell are you talking about?”

The oily man’s eyes narrowed. “Everything’s for sale, Callex…” he murmured, in an echo of Marque’s own words earlier, when he’d demanded to buy his Beautiful Doll, “…even
that
information.”

Good lord. There was another traitor in their midst.

“I couldn’t believe it when you weren’t dismissed back then,” Carron continued with a scowl. “You have a powerful ally in Theus.”

Fucking hell.
This was bad. Theus had told Marque he’d be dead right now if not for Theus’ influence with the Council. So Carron’s informant must be on the High Council itself!

Five men. Four possibilities. Which one was it?

Carron shrugged negligently. “This time my plan
will
work. I intend to funnel those two stingers your brother-in-law just sold me to a rogue country which will use them to cause a lot more damage than just the death of one insignificant Regulator.” Carron waved his gun again. “Besides, I’m a much better ally for the Council than you could ever be.
I can make robot soldiers.
Now
that’s
a weapon Theus can hardly refuse.”