Seth: Futuristic Spy Romance (Cyborgs: More Than Machines) (11 page)

So close. S
o close. Oh please.

Seth took over, flipping her onto her back to continue what she’d begun, driving into her with a
rhythmic intensity that had her panting and clawing at his back. Just when Anastasia thought she might die if she didn’t come, he grabbed her roughly about the hips and changed the angle of his penetration.

Dear heaven. Each
thrust, each jab of his thick cock, hit her G-spot after that and threw her over the edge. She came with a scream, her sex pulsing wildly around his pumping shaft. But he didn’t stop. Oh no. Even as she quivered and shuddered, he continued to thrust into her, driving his shaft into her over and over until she came again, an orgasm so intense that she opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out.

Everything went into that orgasm. Her voice. Her mind. Her heart.
And probably her soul.

And then, only after he’d claimed her, every inch that she could give, did he finally come.

After such a cataclysmic event, everything else on that mission paled in comparison. Playing nice with drug lords, arms dealers, and other rich pricks who thought money ruled the world? Piece of cake.

Being with Seth, really
being
with him, imbued her with an extra layer of ease and confidence. She played her part of wife to perfection. Or so he claimed later when he took her from behind while tugging at her hair, her dress thrown up around her waist.

She stepped into her role of spy without a hitch, overhearing and recalling later for their debriefing the many facts she
’d learned as a brainless wife in the company of men who didn’t watch what they said.

And when it came to killing? It just required a little pressure on the trigger of her revolver fitted with a silencer. The dread she’d feared?
Non-existent. As a matter of fact, when she sneaked into the primary target’s rooms while Seth took care of the guards outside, she’d wondered if she’d have the guts to accomplish the task. The whimpers of the young maid as she bore the lashing of a whip wielded by a power-hungry pig made it easy.

Anastasia was more than just a girl in the military now. She was an enhanced cybernetic soldier—and she was in love.

Back to the future
, in time for the rendezvous with the military craft and the next phase of her operation.

“So that’s the ship?” Seth leaned over the back of her seat and gazed over her head at the large vessel they approached.

“Yes.”

“I don’t suppose we have time for a quickie?”

Insatiable man. Since her capitulation a few days ago, they’d spent most of their time in bed having sex. Actually, that wasn’t true. The bed wasn’t the only place they
’d christened. Practically no bare wall, chair, or space hadn’t seen them doing things that would make a human woman blush. It seemed they’d both harbored a lusty need for contact. More than contact, satisfaction.

Anastasia had forgotten the ecstasy of
a lover’s touch until Seth reminded her. With each caress, stroke, kiss, and orgasm, she recalled the other reasons why she’d become so addicted to him so long ago. Like a drug, he entered her system and made her crave more and more.

He was a dangerous distraction she could ill afford. But he was also the only person she could count on to help her.

If he could play his role, which she reminded him for the umpteenth time. “Now, remember, once we land, no more touching and kissing and wife comments.”

“I know. I am John Tweed, open
ly homosexual male whose last partner ditched him before he went on his scientific exploratory mission.” He recited his role in between nibbles to the nape of her neck.

“Right.”

“What about sneakies?”

“Sneak what?”

“Sneakies, like kids do in college, where boys visit girls rooms in the middle of the night to get some.”

“There are cameras and mic
rophones in many of the common areas, the labs, and some corridors, so no.”

“I’m really starting to dislike this plan. Once I get the
intel, I demand we come up with a new cover for the next phase. One that sees us pairing up again.”

She whirled in her seat. “I thought I made myself clear that we weren’t a couple.
We had sex.”

“Lots of sex.”

“And sex doesn’t mean this marriage is back on again.”

“If you say so.” A sly smile hovered on his lips.

“Seth, I mean it.”

“Sure you do.”

She could tell he didn’t believe her. Hell, she didn’t believe herself. The last few days had been wonderful. If one could forget the crap they’d gone through, she could almost pretend that everything would work out fine. That they’d complete their self-imposed mission and head off into the sunset, once again a happy married couple, in sync on the job, during their relaxing time, and in bed.

But the reality was that kind of walk
-into-the-sunset dream wasn’t for the likes of them.

“I don’t have time for this
argument,” she growled as she whirled back around to face her console. “Don’t make me regret finding you.”

“You can
count on me. You can always count on me.”

She didn’t doubt the sincerity of his words.
The problem was, revenge had been her focus for so long, could the same be said of her?

The time to ponder would have to wait as she went through the manual steps to dock with the larger ship. Humans couldn’t use their brains to interface and multi task. Nope. Playing the role of mundane human meant doing everything by hand. But at least it kept her busy instead of wondering what to do with Seth.

Despite her claims to Seth that no one suspected her cyborg heritage, as she disembarked her small explorer craft into the bigger bay of the military vessel she’d rendezvoused with, she couldn’t help but feel a tingle of fear, something her machine side never quite managed to dispel.
Will this be the time I get caught? Have they finally seen through my ruse?
Have I led Seth into a trap?

To her relief, a cadre of soldiers with amped
-up Tasers didn’t await. A silent sigh let loose in her head and not via her mouth. So far so good. No ugly waiting committee. No one trying to take a swipe at her head in an attempt to decapitate, the only one hundred percent sure way of killing a cyborg. However, to her dismay, she wasn’t exactly home free. Her human boyfriend awaited.

She feigned delight and waved while Seth muttered at her back, “Are you fucking kidding me? That’s who
you chose as your partner?”

Okay, so Jerry wasn’t exactly the most
imposing fellow around. Skinny, tall, and not the most athletic of guys, she’d chosen him because he was such a non-threat. He also happened to hold the title of scientist in charge of research and development of ways to disable and modify cybernetic organisms. The irony that the man in charge of trying to eradicate her kind was dating one didn’t escape her.

She ignored Seth’s snicker and waved. “Hi, darling.”

“You’re back. Finally,” Jerry said, beaming from ear to ear. He wrapped her in a clumsy hug and planted a sloppy kiss on her cheek. Unbeknownst to Seth, hugs and a few kisses were all they’d exchanged thus far, despite her assertions to the contrary. She’d told her boyfriend it was because they worked together and she didn’t want to get in trouble. Jerry, being the kind of guy who respected rules, abided by her decision. She dreaded the day when they finally got some planet-side leave though. At that point she’d run out of excuses and would either have to break up or put out.
I could also kill him. Benign appearing or not, Jerry’s got a dangerously clever mind.

“How were things while I was gone?” she asked
, linking her arm through his and pasting a fake smile of welcome on her lips.

“Boring. Our latest testing failed. But it seems
Denson’s crew might have had some success. Apparently we’re going to head back to that godforsaken planet now that all the explorer vessels have made it back. What about you? How was your trip? I see you returned with a passenger.” Jerry directed his gaze to Seth, who loomed behind her doing who knew what. She wouldn’t put it past him to make a gagging face or hold fingers behind her head as bunny ears.

“Meet John Tweed.
Only survivor of an explorer vessel that went down on planet HD85512b. Or, as I nicknamed it, planet Blah. What an ugly place.”

“Tell me about it,” Seth chimed in, his voice adopting a nasally twang. “Why I swear, if I had to eat one more squirmy tree root, I would have died.”

“You don’t seem malnourished,” Jerry observed. “Are you sure this place is such a write-off? We could use some new food sources, especially for the colonies, so we don’t deplete the earth’s stores.”

Shoot. She’d have to remember Jerry’s eye for detail. She quickly covered. “Even if you could convince people to get past the taste and look, it doesn’t matter. Mr. Tweed here observed indigenous life forms that are intelligent enough to
place the planet under automatic protected status from the federation.”

“Are you sure of your findings, Mr. Tweed
?”

“Call me John.” Seth held out his hand
, and Jerry reluctantly withdrew his arm from around Anastasia to shake it. “And, yes, I am very sure. I observed them using simple tools in their everyday tasks and also discovered they had progressed from cave dwelling to the building of structures to shelter themselves. Whilst I didn’t manage to crack their language, there is no mistaking their ability to communicate.”

“
Sounds like they’ve barely escaped from the mud. The general will want to hear about this place before you send in your report.”

Of course he would because if no one knew about the creatures then he could wipe them out and claim the planet was open for farming and colonization.
It wouldn’t be the first time.

Anastasia pretended chagrin. “Oh dear. I didn’t think of that. I already filed my findings with the bureau for intelligent extraterrestrial life as well as the one for protected planetary status.
”

For a moment, Jerry’s genial appearance hardened
, and his lips tightened, and during that split second, she actually questioned her ability to read people, as Jerry appeared anything but benign. It lasted only as long as a blink before his usual smile took over. “Ah well. I guess we’ll have to skip this one and hope the next planet we find has resources we can use.”

“
Or take,” Seth muttered under his breath.

A
jab from her elbow kept Seth from making other remarks, but she thought she heard him growl as she tucked her hand in Jerry’s crooked arm and followed him down the spaceship’s gangplank to the docking bay floor.

“So tell me what’s been going on while I was away
.” As Jerry related a series of boring events, she kept her eyes peeled for trouble. It seemed odd now that she thought about it that only Jerry had greeted her. A soldier or a liaison at the very least should have also been on hand, if only to debrief and take care of her guest.

She interrupted Jerry
during some dull tale of his work to ask, “Where is everyone? I would have thought Lancomb or Helger would have shown up by now to take Mr. Tweed here to some quarters and to debrief him.”

“The higher
-ups are in a bit of a tizzy. Seems we lost yet another female unit to the other side. B785 was reactivated and is now in the possession of the rebel cyborgs.”

And he chose to relate news of no import instead of telling her?
“Oh dear. That makes three now they’ve recovered. How are the cyborgs doing it?”

Jerry shrugged. “Appears to be dumb luck, but the project managers are freaking and tightening security around the ones remaining in custody.”

Seth just couldn’t keep his mouth shut. With a twang so nasal she wanted to jab a pick in her ear, he said, in a tone most shocked, “Do you mean to say you have murdering robots in your possession? I thought they were supposed to be killed on sight.”

“The kill order still stands, but given their dangerous nature, and the casualties we incur when taking down just one, it was thought best if we kept some to experiment on.
”

“I hope you don’t have any on board,” John/Seth exclaimed.

“A few, but you needn’t worry about them. We keep them closely guarded.”

John/Seth clutched at his chest with a dramatic gasp. “Aren’t you afraid they’ll escape and take over
the ship?”

“We have fail safes
already in place for such eventualities. In the case of an incident, the vessel is programmed to self-destruct.”

“But what of the crew?”

Jerry’s lips twisted. “Apparently, the lives of a few are considered a small price to pay for the knowledge we might glean. It’s why all testing is done either on a spaceship or on remote planets. But enough talk about those murdering bots. You won’t be seeing any during your stay. Testing is done under heavy guard and only authorized personnel are allowed near them.”

“Are you one of them?”

Jerry’s chest puffed out. “I am. It is my belief we need to better understand them if we are to effectively stop them. Or reform them.”

Make slaves of us again you mean.
How Anastasia wished the time were ripe enough to kill those who still wanted to make tools of the cyborgs. However, the fleeting pleasure of bending Jerry’s arms backward until they cracked and he screamed wouldn’t solve the larger problem.
I need to know who is behind the project. I need to find the source, or we risk seeing more humans experimented on, more unsuspecting souls changed and tortured for the so-called greater good of humanity.

Casting a
glance back at Seth, she wondered what he thought of the news. On board the ship, when he’d heard about the captive cyber units, he’d lost his temper, quite the feat considering his usual calm demeanor. To her surprise, she didn’t see anger or disgust at Jerry’s words. On the contrary, he smiled and winked at her.

Then the idiot sent her a wireless message, straight to her BCI.
The only person reforming me is my wife, hopefully with handcuffs and thigh-high boots.

Despite her urge to kill him, she couldn’t help but picture it. And she added a blindfold and scented oil to the scenario.

Not that they’d likely live long enough to act it out, not given his stupidity in using their wireless communication ability. It was her fault for not specifying beforehand that they needed to maintain absolute BCI silence.

Then again, he should have known.

Before they’d made it too far on the ship, Jerry’s arm emitted a beep. He peeked down at his communicator and sighed. “Looks like the lab needs me. Much as I’d like to continue our reunion, I need to go.”

“I’ll see you later?”

“Of course.” Jerry placed a sloppy kiss on her lips, and she held herself still lest she shudder.

Seth stiffened beside her.

“What about our passenger?” she asked, inclining her head in Seth’s direction.

“There’s an empty cabin
up the hall from yours. Stick him in there for now. I’m sure the officers will want to talk to him once they stop freaking out.”