by Megan Hart
"Do you have another mate in mind?" his mother asked hopefully. "Perhaps Jeena or Tella?"
They were just as bad as Nia. All lovely, all perfect. All boring.
"You want to go rogue?" his father had spat when Del asked why he needed to choose someone at all. "You want to spend the rest of your life fucking your own fist instead of choosing a partner? You'll never get be accepted as a melek that way."
"I don't want to be," Del had replied evenly.
"Then what do you want?"
He hadn't had an answer then and he didn't have one now. He knew what he didn't want. He didn't want to drive a hovertaxi in Newcity any longer.
He needed, wanted, a woman who thought for herself. A woman with intelligence and beauty, as well as kindness and a sense of humor. Someone he could spend the rest of his life making love to, not resenting.
Someone like Linna.
But that was just stupid. A non-Xanderran woman might be flattered to learn her Xanderran lover could never be unfaithful to her, but when they realized that just because their man couldn't physically fuck another woman didn't mean their man wouldn't want to, the relationships usually turned sour. Non-Xanderran women didn't understand the complexity of being behsherit. Monogamy was sexy only when it sprang from desire, not lack of choice.
Linna sighed beside him and turned. Her buttocks brushed his leg and Del's body tensed. Even the most casual of touches made him hard for her. He wanted to kiss her again. He wanted to feel her body arch beneath him when she came.
He settled for the torture of feeling her warm flesh next to his. The flat was still too hot for clothes, even if he'd have preferred that small barrier between them. Then again, he supposed his reaction had made a high enough wall.
She'd offered to be his friend, but he hadn't even treated her that well. Harah, he thought. It's the sex. For Newcitizens, fucking was as simple as breathing. It wasn't supposed to be so complicated.
But for him, it was. He couldn't do it the way they could. The way she could.
"Attention all residents of Caldyx Heights, units A-1 through ZZ-250. Prepare documentation for citizen census verification." System's smooth voice cut through the blackness.
Linna came awake with a start beside him. "What did it say?"
"Get ready for the census." Del got up and turned on the battery lantern again. The light was weaker and he fiddled with the knobs until it shone a bit brighter before dimming again. The battery was dying.
"You mean a physical census?" Linna asked. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders in a riot of sex-tangled curls he wanted to dig his fingers into. She stretched, and his eyes riveted to the way her full breasts lifted. He could remember all too well the feeling of their soft weight, the taste of her nipples....
"Del?"
He shook himself mentally. "It didn't say."
"Query," Linna addressed System. "Census procedures?"
"SecOps and R.I.Ops have been dispatched to attend each unit in this domicile. All residents must have proper identification, licensing or verification of residency permit."
Linna gave Del a worried glance. "Query. Physical inspection required?"
"Affirmative. Physical inspections include, but are not restricted to, visual verification, cellular verification and serial number scanning."
"In other words," Del said, "if your face matches your picture, they can still check your blood or the numbers tattooed on your circuit panel."
"I don't have a circuit panel," Linna replied. She bent and got her discarded jumpsuit. As she slipped it on, she addressed System again. "Query. Estimated time of arrival to this unit?"
"Unit MH-33 will be entered in approximately one hour, thirty-five minutes. Power cycling remains in effect. Emergency lock-down remains in effect."
"We can't go anywhere until they get here."
Del nodded as he put on his pants. "Yeah."
"And when they get here...." She sighed and her shoulders slumped. "I'm a goner."
"Query," Del said. "What are they trying to prove?"
"Query not recognized."
Del cursed. He'd never gotten the hang of the stilted Newcity speak System responded to. "What...damn."
"Command not recognized."
"Let me try. Query. Expected outcome of census procedures?"
"Discovery and arrest of non-registered mechos, rogue Pleasurebots and Offworld citizens with expired visas."
"That would be me." Linna's gaze held his. "You're okay, right?"
Del shook his head, thinking of the way Adar and the Ruling Council were likely to think. "Query. Penalty for harboring unregistered mecho?"
"Further information required to process your request."
Even System followed the Newcity motto of "to thine own business attend." If you asked the right questions in the right order, you might find out what you wanted. If not, you were shit out of luck.
"What do you need to know?" he asked.
"Status of offender."
"Offworld."
"Offworld citizen harboring an unregistered mecho penalty is immediate revocation of resident visa."
"Penalty for Offworld citizen with invalid visa?" Linna questioned.
"Arrest and trial."
She was much better at working System than he was. "Probability of guilty ruling?"
"Probability of Offworld citizen with invalid visa being found guilty, 98.99 percent."
"Sentence for that crime?"
"Termination."
"Shitdamnpissfucktits." The current trendy curse rolled off Linna's tongue in a way that made Del smile despite the circumstances. "I've got to get out of here."
"Where are you going to go?" He reached out to snag her arm as she passed. "The doors to the outside are locked. The building is crawling with Ops. You'll never make it."
"I can't stay here and let them catch me!" she cried. "It's bad enough what they'll do to me, but I won't let my mistake hurt you, Del! If they find me here with you, they'll revoke your visa. You'll be arrested, tried and terminated! I won't have it! I won't!"
She flailed at him, but he caught her arm easily. She yanked it from his grip and flailed again with the force of her enhanced muscles behind it and knocked him back a couple steps.
Instantly, she stopped. "Oh, Del, I'm sorry."
"S'okay." He waited to see if she was going to punch him again. When he saw she wasn't, he came closer. Took her hand. Pulled her toward him until her cheek rested on his bare chest. "It'll be all right."
She let him hold her; something he was grateful for and hated at the same time. She clutched him almost desperately. Her shoulders heaved as she tried not to cry.
"I shouldn't have come here," she whispered.
"Shut it. If you hadn't made it here, you'd have been dead already."
Her laugh was forlorn. "Now we're both going to be dead. Adar isn't kidding around about this social cleansing business."
His arms tightened around her. "He's a bastard and a liar. His son didn't get kidnapped by any rogue mecho. I saw his son with my own eyes and he loves the R.I.Op. They ran for it and got to Oldcity through a zip in the Dome. They escaped. We can, too."
She tilted her face to look at him. "What are you talking about?"
Quickly, Del ran through the story of how he'd helped Adar's son, his mecho lover, the other R.I.Op and the Keanican escape. When he was done, Linna looked stunned.
"The Adar's story was that Caldyx nearly died in that accident, but survived with injuries so severe he was crippled for life. They used that story over and over to prove that becoming mecho doesn't need to be an option. They said the Recreational Intercourse Op who kidnapped him did it for the ransom and when she didn't get it, she killed him before they terminated her."
"It's a bunch of shit," Del said. "I got them to the zip myself. Caldyx Adar was mecho too, no matter what his father said."
She stepped out of his grasp. "They got out through a zip in the Dome? They went to Oldcity?"
He n
odded, missing the feel of her in his arms, but knowing it was better if she wasn't in them. He only had so much self-control, and it had already been sorely tested.
"But they weren't locked in a flat with Ops coming after them in a Code Red situation."
He shook his head again. "Nope. They weren't. But we can still get out. Get away. If we get to Oldcity somehow and hire a berth on one of the outgoing spacers...."
Linna crossed her arms over her chest and fixed him with a steady glare. "And do you have a plan on how we're supposed to accomplish this?"
"Hell, no."
She laughed out loud. "But you mean to try."
He fixed his eyes on hers, serious. "Yeah. I mean to try."
"Why, Del?" Linna asked softly. "You could put me out in the hall right now and let them find me. They wouldn't know you'd helped me. You'd be okay."
"No, Linna."
"You'd be okay," she insisted.
"For now, until the Council sets up some new rules designed to get us out of Newcity for good."
"But you'd have more time! You could find a way to get out--"
"Linna." He stopped her mid-sentence. "If I betrayed you, do you really think I'd be okay? Do you think I could live with myself?"
She took a deep breath. He could read the query in her eyes, but like System, he was only prepared to answer the questions she asked, not the ones she didn't.
Linna nodded slowly, but didn't press him. "We're friends."
"Right." He grinned. "Friends."
"Okay, then. What's the plan?"
He looked toward the door to the flat. "We run for it."
Chapter 4
Linna looked around the rooftop. "How'd you know about this?"
Del shot her a grin. "I've done some maintenance on this building for extra credits toward my rent. Places like this are all falling down and need a lot of upkeep. Who better to do it than an Offworlder? Pay 'em less, and it doesn't matter if they fall off and kill themselves."
Linna shivered as she looked over the edge to the street below. "You'd think it was an army down there."
Del snorted. "It is an army. Adar's army. Whoever said Newcity is in peacetime never watched a SecOp take someone down."
"When not much is illegal, there's not much reason for people to buck the system."
"As long as we're all marching in tune to Adar's drum anyway." Del tugged her back from the edge. "Careful. The wall's crumbling there."
His concern warmed her heart, but she tried not to read too much into it. She looked around again. "Now we're up here, where do you expect us to go?"
He pointed to the building across the way. A large gap separated the buildings. Linna moved closer.
"You want us to jump?"
"That complex is probably being searched, too. Lots of non-res tenants in there. But the building next to it is an office complex. They're probably not bothering with that one right away, not when they can get most of us in our holes."
"Del, that building is eight stories higher than the one next to it." Linna craned her neck to peer up. "Do you expect us to fly?"
His chuckle sent a spear of heat rippling through her. "Not exactly. Do you trust me?"
His question caught her off guard and she replied without thinking. "With everything I have."
His mouth parted and his tongue swiped along his bottom lip before he replied. Her comment hung between them in the thick Newcity air. She couldn't snatch it back, and she didn't want to. Linna lifted her chin and stared into Del's dark eyes, waiting for him to speak.
When he did, she was disappointed, but not surprised he blew off her words. "Mind telling me what, exactly, you've got inside you?"
His innocent question made heat surge through her again. "Not what I'd like to, that's for sure." She cursed her flippant tongue, which always got her into so much trouble.
Del turned, seemingly unable to answer.
Linna pretended she hadn't put her foot straight into her mouth. "I don't have automatic caloric regulation for one thing." She tried to sound light. "I can still gain weight if I'm not careful."
He slanted a gaze toward her. "Uh-huh."
"I don't have auto-antibodies either. Viruses and bacterial invasion can still lay me low."
He nodded and the awkward moment passed. "On Xanderra, operations like the ones you had aren't available."
"Illegal?"
"No. Just not available. We don't have the tech knowledge. You get too sick to be healed, you die. You get hurt bad enough, you die."
She reached out to touch the faint line of scar on his broad shoulder. "That seems strange considering how much you guys like to fight."
"No honor in being fixed up with more than what your body has on its own." Del shrugged. "It's more honorable to die."
She tried not to be offended. "I told you before. I'm happy to be alive, even if they did have to fill me with nuts and bolts to keep me that way."
"I didn't mean--" He shrugged and shut up. "Things are different here. Some better. Some worse. That's all."
The sound of gunfire from the street below jerked her head around. "We'd better move."
"The reason I asked is because I know you're fast." He touched his cheek where, to her dismay, a bruise had purpled from her fist. "I know you're strong. But do you have stamina?"
"With the right fuel I do." She patted her jumpsuit pocket containing five protein bars she'd discovered tucked away in the back of his cupboard. "This will keep me going for a while. But what about you? You don't have any enhancements."
"I'll be fine." He eyed the distance between the buildings. "We can leap that, no problem. Let's go."
Linna nodded and took a deep breath. It was one thing to know her body was capable of an exertion like that. Quite another to actually attempt it.
"I won't let you fall," Del said as though he'd read her mind.
"You never have," Linna answered, well-aware of the context of her reply and not caring. She squeezed his hand and he let her. "Let's go."
He went first, his large body tense with expectation before he put on a burst of speed and launched himself into the air. He came down on the roof of the other building, his knees buckling while he rolled himself into a ball and came up on his feet.
He beckoned her. Linna took a few steps back. She wet her lips. Took a breath. Tried not to remember how high they were, and how hard the pavement would be when she fell.
A memory stabbed her; the stairs in front of her, Daniel's hands behind, pushing. Falling. Hitting the ground and the pain that filled her before she lost consciousness.
"I won't let you fall," Del's voice repeated in her head.
She believed his intent, but couldn't quite convince her body of its merit. Too many residual memories. Her organs and systems had mostly been replaced, but not her mind.
He gestured again. Linna rubbed her hands together. Just do it, she thought. Just go.
Her feet locked and refused to obey. The world swam in front of her. She swallowed against a sudden rise of nausea.
Which are you more afraid of? she demanded silently. Falling to the street or falling into Howard Adar's hands? One way or the other, you're dead, sweetheart.
Del had moved close to the edge of the roof, both hands outstretched. He didn't call for her because they didn't want to attract attention to themselves. He just held up his hands and waited for her to trust him enough to leap.
A clatter from the doorway behind her made her stiffen. She tensed, waiting for the door to fly open and the SecOps to swarm out. They'd have stunners as well as guns, and she could imagine all too well the pain that would fill her if they shot her....
Linna ran. She jumped. She flew. Her feet peddled the air and her arms churned. Her eyes never left Del's face as she grabbed for his hands.
She hit him full force and knocked him to the rough surface of the roof. He winced and oofed as her weight landed on him. Yet he didn't let her fall.
"Good job," he said after a moment,
barely wheezing.
Her heart was pounding so hard she thought it would beat right out of her chest. "Nice catch."
His eyes went wary and he put a finger to her lips. "I think they're out over there."
She heard voices and the clang of metal as the door on the other roof flew open. The Ops' metallic voices rang through the air. Linna froze in Del's arms.
Could they see them? If they went to the edge of the wall, could they look across and see? Her heart pounded and she concentrated on slowing it.
"The wall." Del's mouth shaped the words he didn't voice. His eyes flickered over her shoulder, and Linna blinked in acknowledgement.
The wall on this roof was higher around the edges. They were lying down. They might not be seen, especially if the Ops had no reason to look very hard.
Her internal clock told her only moments passed, but it felt like hours as they waited to be discovered. Linna put her head down, tucked into the space between his neck and shoulder. Belly to belly, thigh to thigh. This was a position she'd relish under different circumstances, and Linna discovered something.
She'd always mocked the viddy stories that showed romance blossoming between a hero and heroine thrown into extreme or dangerous situations. Now she understood it. The knowledge they not only could be caught at any moment, but that being caught would surely mean their deaths, only made her more aware of the way Del smelled. Of how his broad chest felt beneath hers and of how every limb aligned perfectly with hers. All she could think of was his mouth, his lips and tongue, of kissing him.
If they were going to die, she wanted it to be with the memory of his taste on her tongue, not of regret.
Linna kissed him. He responded instantly. Their tongues met, stroked, moved away in a connection that had her head awhirl. His cock hardened between them and pressed into her belly. Her clit tingled and she rocked her hips against his thigh.
It was stupid to do this when at any moment they could find a bullet in their heads, but Linna didn't stop. The kiss went on and on. Del became her world. There was no sound, no scent, no sensation not directly tied to him.
He didn't even groan about her weight, which, though her body was slim and fit, was still deceptively excessive because of her artificial internal components. Metal and plastic weighed more than flesh, her clients had often complained, but Del held her like she was made of air.