by Julia Crane
She pulled her hand away and stared at him. Several emotions flashed across her face. Lucas saw the moment logic took over her thought processes, and her grey eyes softened. He was thankful she was able to see the situation objectively. Even though she was clearly upset only a moment ago. If she never talked to him again he would never forgive himself.
One dainty, long-fingered hand flitted to rest on his arm. Lucas stood up to tentatively pulled her towards him. When she didn’t resist his shoulders relaxed.
“As much as I hate to admit it, I can comprehend why you would think it was a good idea. But you should have asked me first. I deserve a choice. You took that away from me. You can’t imagine what it’s like having others make ever decision for you.”
“You’re right. I should have talked it over with you. I’m sorry. I really am.”
“So, I shouldn’t have feelings for you, but I do. What does that mean?” Kaitlyn pulled back to look up at him.
His lip twitched. “That I’m irresistible?” He looked away, bashful. That was so lame.
“It does seem that way, doesn’t it?” She looked pensive. “I guess I don’t understand why they don’t want me to have feelings or emotions. There are soldiers everyday that do their jobs well, and they have families and people they care about.”
“You’re not supposed to be any old soldier, though,” Lucas said. “You are supposed to surpass the best soldier. And emotions get in the way.” Lucas touched her cheek; her skin was warm.
There was a long silence before she spoke again. “Are you going to tell Professor Adams?”
Lucas stuck his hands deep in his pockets and looked off in the distance at the towering trees. The sun was gone completely; night had fallen. He knew he should tell the professor. “Not unless you want me to. As far as I’m concerned, the coding is correct. I did my part, and you have done a convincing job of fooling everyone.”
“I don’t want you to tell them.” She held out her pinky.
“You learned that from Quess?” He laughed.
She nodded and waited. Lucas held out his own hand, so much larger than hers. They hooked pinky fingers, and shook.
Chapter Fifteen
Kaitlyn sank to the ground, pulling Lucas with her, and rested against the tree. She felt better after their pinky promise. She had to admit she was a little relieved to know that the feelings for Lucas were real, and not a computing error.
Lucas opened his arms and tugged her close. She rested her head against his chest and listened to the steady rhythm of his heart. Even in the cool evening she could feel the warmth of his skin through his clothes.
She should have been angry with Lucas, but being with him felt so right. She didn’t want to squander away the short amount of time they had together not getting along. The thought of never seeing him again sent a brief wave of panic through her that her systems quickly overrode.
“What were you like when you were younger?” Kaitlyn asked, lifting her face to peer up at him.
“I can’t believe you still want to be with me,” Lucas said softly and ran his thumb slowly across her lower lip. “I thought I’d lost you forever.”
“That feels good.” Kaitlyn closed her eyes at the touch of his hand.
“How about this?” Lucas’s warm breath on her neck caused her to gasp as he flipped her hair off her shoulder and lightly kissed from her collarbone to her temple.
“That, too.”
His lips moved across the sensitive skin at the base of her neck, his tongue darting out to touch her. She shuddered, one hand reaching up to cup his face and draw him closer.
His touch was intoxicating; it set her blood boiling, flushing her body with heat. Kaitlyn completely lost herself when he was so near. “Kiss me,” she whispered.
His lips met hers, slowly exploring with an urgency that left her breathless.
Eventually, she pulled away and met his gaze. “Are you distracting me with pleasure to avoid my question?”
Lucas laughed, long and hard, his body shaking beneath her touch. He leaned forward, kissing her again, just a short, affectionate peck. “You’re too astute.”
Kaitlyn straightened up, putting some breathing room between them. She cupped his face and looked him in the eye. “Tell me about your childhood. We don’t have much time together, and I want to know more about your past. I hardly know anything about you.”
“Let’s just say I’m glad you didn’t know me when I was younger.” He tugged on a lock of her hair, but his eyes were dark and sad.
“Why?”
“Well, I was what one would call a ‘nerd.’ Tall, lanky, no social skills, and eye glasses as thick as a coke bottle.”
Kaitlyn tried to match the mental image with the man sitting beside her, but they didn’t seem to match.
“When you have an IQ as high as mine, it’s hard to fit in. I skipped ahead in school, so I was always around older kids, and they didn’t want anything to do with me. Plus I would get lost in my own world and didn’t care about anything else.”
“What changed?”
He was silent for a moment. “My father left when I was twelve. He always wanted an athletic son—someone he could be proud of. He wanted to go to football games, not science fairs. One day, he just walked out on me and my mom and never came back. I guess I thought if I could be the son he wanted, he would return.”
“Did he come back?”
“Nope.”
Kaitlyn didn’t know what to say. Finally, she said, “I don’t think he left because you weren’t athletic enough. That doesn’t seem to make sense.”
“You’re right, but I was a kid, I didn’t know that at the time. I guess, in a way, I’m glad. Glad he left, glad he didn’t come back. It was good for me to get out of my comfort zone. I started running and lifting weights. I joined a couple of clubs in school and learned to be more social. By the time I made it to college, I wasn’t such an awkward disaster.”
“I don’t remember what I was like when I was younger.”
Lucas entwined his fingers with hers. “I’m sure you were amazing.”
“Quess found a Facebook page that had images of me on it. She said I needed help in the style department. That my clothing was lame, but that doesn’t tell much about my personality does it?”
Lucas squeezed her hand. “I think what’s important is who you are now. You have a second chance at life. I know it’s easy for me to say since I’m not in your shoes, but Kate I’d hate for you to be miserable for the rest of your existence.”
Kaitlyn didn’t even think about the consequences of her next question; she didn’t consider how awkward it would be for him to answer. “Why did they have to take my memories?”
Lucas stiffened, his face stricken. It was a minute before he gathered his thoughts and was able to answer. “We thought it would be easier for you to adjust to your new life if you couldn’t recall your old one.”
“I don’t even know if I have any family.”
“If you knew you had family, would you want to see them?”
Kaitlyn thought it over for a few moments and shook her head. “No. I know that life is over. They think I’m dead. I also understand the reason for the secrecy. I guess I just wish I could remember it.”
“I’m sorry, Kate.” Lucas tugged her into a bear hug, speaking against her hair. “We were working blind. We had no idea what we were doing. You’re the first of your kind.”
Kaitlyn pulled away and met his gaze. “Maybe you’ll do better with the next project.”
She caught a flicker of something in his eyes. The facial program scanned images, looking for its equivalent. The answer promptly blinked on her internal screen: Regret, or maybe sadness.
“It would help our next project if we told Harrington and Adams that you still have emotions. That way, we’ll know it isn’t necessary to erase them for the next…person.”
Kaitlyn turned away. “I don’t want that. At least, not right now. Don’t tell. Please.”
“Your secret is safe with me.”
The wind blew. Lucas shivered, and Kaitlyn wondered what that felt like. She sat with her back to him, gazing out over the darkening yard. The fence was visible in the distance—the fence that penned her in.
“Lucas, when will I be leaving?” she asked quietly.
“The day after tomorrow you’ll meet with the committee. Then they’ll negotiate. I’m not sure how long that will take. Could be days, weeks or even months.”
“Is there any way out of this?”
“As you know, there are always alternate scenarios. But Harrington is dead-set on releasing you to the government. I can’t think of a single reason that would convince him otherwise. Believe me, it’s been keeping me up at night trying to come up with something Harrington would go for.”
“I could run away.”
Lucas turned to face her. “Yes, you could run away, but then what? You would be on your own. What if something happened with your programming? Like the way you shut down the other day. It would be impossible for you to hide in society. The upgrades have helped, but you’d still have trouble blending in for a long period of time with the general populace. Not to mention you have GPS installed. They’ll find you.”
As much as she hated to admit it, she knew he was right. Perhaps the new life wouldn’t be bad. Maybe she would come to enjoy her new existence the way she had the compound. It would certainly be easier to accept the changes if Lucas was there with her.
“Could you come with me? Maybe work for the government and oversee the project?”
Lucas sighed and ran his hand through her hair. “If only it were that easy. But I’m not ready to give up. I’m going to hound Harrington to make sure he insists that we have some oversight of the project. It should be easy enough to convince him that it’s needed in order to proceed with stage two.”
“More cyborgs?”
“Eventually. It took us a long time to find you, and I don’t think it will be any easier to find a new subject. We’ve been searching all this time with no luck. Not many people offer to donate their body to science within the age requirements and fitness abilities.”
“I’m…” Kaitlyn scanned her memory banks, trying to come up with the correct word to fit the situation. “Grateful for the time we were able to have together.”
Lucas cupped her face in his hands and leaned in to kiss her gently. The kiss quickly intensified. When he kissed her, everything else faded away. All she was aware of was his scent, his lips on hers, and how warm his hands felt on her body.
Abruptly, her sensors picked up on another presence. Apparently, he couldn’t block out everything.
Kaitlyn’s eyes flew open, and she pulled away, jumping up. “Someone is coming.”
Lucas looked around and didn’t see or hear anything, but he knew better than to question her. He stood up, brushing off his slacks. “We should head back.”
“I wish we could stay here forever. Away from everyone.”
“Me too,” he said softly. He stepped closer and kissed her one last time.
As they were walking back, one of the guards came into view. “There you are. We lost you on the cameras after a while and became concerned. Everything okay?”
Lucas nodded. “We’re fine. We were just taking a walk and testing out Katilyn’s new upgrades. We must have been in a blind spot.”
“There are a couple of those, unfortunately. Perhaps we should have a guard patrolling those areas more often,” the guard said, more to himself than to them.
“Not a bad idea.” Lucas tried for ambivalence, but his voice sounded strained to Kaitlyn.
With a quick nod, the guard walked in the opposite direction.
“So much for that hiding spot,” Kaitlyn said sadly.
“We’ll just have to find another.”
Kaitlyn was suddenly flooded with sadness. Even if it is only for one more day…
Chapter Sixteen
Mr. Harrington strolled into the laboratory on a wave of expensive-smelling cologne. “Who’s up for paintball?” he boomed, breaking the silence so abruptly that Professor Adams jumped at his desk. “I need to stretch my legs, and we should try out the new equipment.”
Kaitlyn bit the inside of her lip and looked down at her sneakers to keep from smiling. She loved the rare chances she had to roam in the woods, and playing a true sport instead of staged tests. This only happened when the highly competitive Harrington was around.
“I’m game,” Lucas said from behind his desk. He snuck a peak at Kate and their eyes met across the room.
“How about you, Adams?” Harrington asked with a smile.
The professor chuckled, holding up both hands. “I think I’ll pass this time. My old body can’t keep up with you youngsters. Last time we played, I had bruises for a week. I’m sure Quess would be interested.”
“Call her. Some of the guards are going to join us as well.” Harrington turned to Kaitlyn, sizing her up. “They like a challenge.”
Adams picked up the phone to call his granddaughter as Lucas asked, “Teams or individual?”
“Individual,” Harrington answered with a wolfish smile.
Lucas groaned. Kaitlyn always won when they played individual.
“Let’s get suited up.” Harrington rubbed his hands together in front of his face. “Kaitlyn, no body gear for you.”
She nodded. They would have the camouflage to help them, and her pale skin would be like a beacon in the sunlight, giving them somewhat of an edge. Theoretically, she thought with an inward grin, her hard drive already computing the odds.
Half an hour later, the players gathered in the foyer, and they made their way outside and deep into the property. It was a crisp fall day and the sun shone brightly through the bare tree limbs above them as they came to a stop in the area they used for paintball.
After defining the boundaries, Dr. Harrington laid out some basic ground rules.
“Okay, it’s a free-for-all. Everybody against everybody. If you’re hit and out, move to this area.” He pointed at a spot on the map. “Once there’s only one person left, they’re the winner. We'll have a three minute ‘get in place’ period, then we’ll start. Any questions?”
Heads shook. A few of the guards had smiles in anticipation of the fun.
Harrington clapped once. “Spread out. Three minutes. Go.”
There was a mad scuffle as the guards jostled each other and then ran off into the forest, but Kaitlyn calmly walked into the nearest grove of trees and stopped. Crouching down, she watched the internal clock in her head count down three minutes as she closed her eyes and focused on the sounds around her. Her built-in tactical computer worked through several different strategies based on her knowledge of the area and her assessments on all the various players and what they might do given their backgrounds, physical fitness, injuries, and even attitudes she had observed in the past.
Before the three minutes were up, she had decided on a course of action. Not necessarily the most tactically sound, but given her enhancements, it would be a good test of how much of an advantage she really had. A slow smile spread across her face. She loved the hunt.
Right on the mark, she opened her eyes and took off running at full speed through the shrubs and the trees. She had a mental image of where targets might be, and that image refreshed dozens of times a second as she took in more sights and sounds. They couldn’t have made it too far in three minutes.
A sense of calm engulfed her body. She was in her element.
Without breaking stride, she started to engage. One at a time, she took out the enemy.
The targets didn't even hear her coming before they felt the sharp sting of paintballs splatting against them. A couple of times, someone saw her before she shot them, but of all the eight other people playing, only one of the guards came remotely close to hitting her, sort of a ‘spray and pray’ style attack when he thought she would expose herself in a gap between some trees.
After
a session lasting only nine minutes, Harrington decided to lay out a handicap for Kaitlyn for the next session.
"Well that was interesting. And painful,” Harrington said. “Lets see if we can prolong the next game just a bit. Kaitlyn, I'm going to pair you with Quess. She's your principal who you have to protect. Lucas, you'll be a principal as well, with Tim, Jimmy, and Cal on your team. I'll be the third principal with Craig and Terry on my team. If you're hit, you're out. If your principal is hit, your whole team is out. Three minutes to get set. Questions?"
Again, no one said anything, and the teams moved away from each other into the woods.
“What are we going to do?” Quess asked eagerly.
“Not get shot.” Kate smiled.
Quess nodded, gripping her paintball gun tightly with both hands.
Kaitlyn ran an analysis on her friend, noting the bead of sweat at her hairline and the pinch between her brows. “You’re nervous.”
Quess laughed. “Don’t do that!”
“Don’t be nervous.” Kaitlyn grinned. “Either way, if we win or lose, this will be fun. Let's go."
“I have to say, it’s pretty awesome how badass you are,” Quess muttered as they moved forward.
Kaitlyn didn’t respond, but at times like this, she almost enjoyed her new body.
With the new team configuration, the second session lasted more than twice as long, twenty-one minutes, but the outcome was the same. Lucas's team lost a member to an early engagement with Mr. Harrington's team before they broke contact and sprinted away, but after that, Kaitlyn made short work of the other two teams.
Instead of running, this time Kaitlyn moved silently forward through the brush with Quess positioned about one meter to her right rear. Every minute they would stop, crouch, and Kaitlyn would take in the sights, sounds, and smells around her, updating her internal tactical "map" and changing direction or the speed of their movement.
She was crouched at the top of a hill, listening when she heard the crack of a branch in the distance. Kaitlyn motioned for Quess to lay prone behind a tree and cover her. Studying the most likely avenue of approach, Kaitlyn maintained her crouch and waited.