The Cyborg Bounty Hunter: In the Stars Romance

by Miranda Martin

  I can feel the tension in her grow as time ticks by. Her eyes hop around with a nervous edge. I glance at her, and her vitals reveal higher than usual cortisol levels. She’s stressed.

  “Everything’s going to be fine.” I rub her arm. I’m not even sure I believe the words. I know what Donner’s capable of. He destroyed my planet and practically wiped out my people. “We’ll catch him.”

  “I hope you’re right,” she whispers.

  The next few hours fly by in a blur. My eyes dry, and eyelids begin to twitch from staring at the monitors for so long. The only break I get is when I have to go and scan my bank chip to extend our time in the booth. Part of me worries that we’ll trip some monitor or something. I’m sure it must look oddly suspicious for a couple to spend so much time in an observation booth.

  “Cole,” I hear Lily shout.

  The sound spikes my heart, and fear surges through me. I sprint back into the booth and find her, standing with her finger outstretched. “It’s Donner. He’s on the move.”

  27 Lily

  Cole and I maneuver through the docks in perfect synchronicity, both of us never wavering in our vigilance. Although we haven’t reached a formal consensus on the matter, it’s clear to me that I speak for the both of us when I say that there is no time to waste now. Every single drop of sweat, tears, or blood was spilled to get to this final showdown. One misstep can mean the end of what we worked so hard to achieve, but then, it is hard to get discouraged because one misstep from Donner ends in the exact same place.

  Whereas that bastard enjoys considerable success in most of his ventures, I have the benefit of my survival instinct at my disposal. To me, there is no conceivable way that I can leave this place without seeing to it that my tormentor is utterly obliterated.

  Cole and I work fast to block Donner’s access to the ships. Working side by side and cross-referencing our vast mental vaults—rife with information—Cole and I are able to zero in on a pair of ships we both agree Donner and three of his creepy AI fuckers are sure to access with baggage. They’re on the move, so the process that Cole and I use to eliminate or double down on each given vessel must move along at warp speed.

  Luckily, we’re up to the task.

  That’s two down, then. We have to find the third ship before time runs out.

  At least, I’m reasonably confident that we’re up to it. There is still a little voice in the back of my mind that warns me against trusting my reality too much. It might well come back to bite me in the ass. The thing is, I can’t shake the fact that I don’t know Donner to be the type that makes idle or empty threats. He promised a small diversion; I am not stupid enough to disregard it or to fail to expect it. With each passing moment that it doesn’t materialize, my dread grows. Knots form in the pit of my stomach and nausea blurs the edges of my line of sight.

  It looks like Donner altered the plan.

  It’s eerily quiet out here, so silent that one could probably hear the drop of a pin or a soft sigh in the distance. On the one hand, it makes me feel better because if the bastard is on the prowl or if he’s got it in his head that he can launch a blitz attack on us, he’ll be forced to think twice.

  Cole and I climb aboard one of the vessels we’re reasonably sure are one of Donner’s. It’s hard to put a finger on what gives it away, but the second I set foot squarely on the rig, the scales are tipped. I know in my bones that this belongs to his fleet. In a way, that’s the best development we could’ve hoped for: that the ships we flag bear fruit.

  My neuratelepathy stretches and wanes, gingerly picking at the vessel’s defenses. I wish I could be sure one way or the other as to whether I should bite the bullet. Brute force my way into the system and bend it to my liking. If Cole is aware of what I’m doing and of the questions circling my brain, he doesn’t say a word. I’m on my own, and whatever choice I make is one I’ll have to live with.

  I decide to take the plunge. Very carefully, I sound out the security apparatus, disable it, and slip into the camera feeds. What I see shocks me. I turn to Cole. “I think we have enough here to call the patrol. I say we wait for them to arrive before culling through the contents of these ships. We wouldn’t want to contaminate the ‘evidence,’ if you know what I mean.”

  He says nothing, only nodding to signal his agreement. I wait for Cole to patch through word of suspicious-looking men with baggage. In my mind, the IDs of the merry band of assholes flash through. Donner, followed by the three AI that were with him when we last saw them.

  Weirdly, I can feel Cole’s bloodlust. It is not lost on me that he wants more than justice. Of course he does. He’s got a temper, and he’s a man of the world. What he really seeks from this situation is red-hot vengeance. I know that he’s only doing his part by the book for my benefit. He doesn’t need to spell it out for me that if the situation were only marginally different, he would’ve snapped Donner’s neck days ago.

  I tap my foot, impatient for the patrol to arrive already.

  Where is Donner’s sideshow?

  I will my mind to simmer down. All the best instincts and intentions in the world are a lovely thing to have in one’s war chest, but right now, I can’t be second guessing myself. I can’t afford a second’s hesitation. I need to be on my game.

  When things are coming to a head like this, that’s easier said than done. I sigh.

  Suddenly, I sense another telepath in the vicinity. Damn it. I fire up my usual safeguards, hoping against hope that this incognito being is enough of a novice to fall for a few tried-and-true traps. He doesn’t, and he’s also too far away—something that’s seldom a problem where I’m concerned. If I want to have any shot at neutralizing him, I need to find a way to sneak up on him.

  Then it becomes clear to me that this isn’t just a normal invasion. No, whoever it is at the helm of the strike is actively going on the offense. My brain short-circuits. Cole steadies me and props me up while I recover, which takes longer than I wish.

  “Easy,” Cole says. “What’s going on?”

  “We have a party coming our way,” I deadpan, wincing at the throbbing ache that threatens to tilt my entire world off its axis. “We need to move closer.”

  “We can’t,” Cole counters.

  “We have to,” I insist. “I can’t defend the vessels or fend off whoever this is from so far away. And it’s not a question I’m putting up for debate. We have to get in there, Cole.”

  “Where?”

  I jut my chin out in the general direction of the main terminal. I’m not about to lay down cold, hard cash as to the certainty of the telepath’s exact location, but if I’m to hazard a guess, that’s the one I would go with. Whoever Donner hired is emitting a thready signal at best, and this is as much as I can pick out on my own.

  Together, Cole and I risk injury as we step off the relative safety of the spacecraft deck. Adrenaline charges through me, and that primal connection Cole and I share flares and amps up several orders of magnitude. Energy feels like it’s discharging at my fingertips. I clench my fists and set my jaw, trying to contain my excitement.

  We make good time through the first twenty feet before I catch sight of my target. My breath catches in my throat. It’s a man. Short, with a wiry frame. Is that—

  Oh, no. Between the awkward way he wields his power and the copious amounts of acne covering his face, it’s clear that the assailant is young. As in, he’s a teenager.

  Fuck.

  I stop dead in my tracks and stare at him. Donner really, truly knows no moral bounds. He also knows how to play me like a fiddle. Every second is precious and here I am, squandering them freely. I close my eyes and tap into my power, letting it consume me fully. The precision that stopping this kid from succeeding with his plan takes is no fucking joke. It’s true that when there’s a confrontation between two similarly powered individuals, one of them risks interference injury.

  I wonder if the kid knows that. I wonder if he has the capacity to fully appreciate what he’
s risking in the name of someone as psychotic and devoid of any reasonable amount of decency.

  My attention is held captive by the teen. I try to work out what it is that he means to do with his diversion. As I watch the two ships Cole and I picked out as Donner’s, it dawns on me what is about to unfold: there is to be a collision.

  FUCK!

  So Donner substituted someone else into my role of this entire nightmare situation.

  I strain to interrupt the incoming trajectory of the two ships. How did I not see this coming? How did I miss this? I would kick myself if there were any time left over to do so. Of course, judging by the shit-eating grin on that boy’s face and the fact he still hasn’t realized he is way out of his element, I don’t have a millisecond to spare.

  “Lily!” Cole shouts.

  I twitch, putting the finishing touches on my move. Finally, I overcome the other telepath. He goes down easy—too easily, I think as I witness his near fainting.

  “Hold on,” I yell back. I scurry toward the teen, suddenly concerned that I overplayed my hand. It was only necessary to subdue him. That he landed flat on his ass is a testament to someone’s incompetence, and I have to make sure it isn’t mine. Fuckity fuck fuck.

  “You,” I screech when I see him stirring. “Wait there. We are not done with you.”

  The kid is alert enough to have the presence of mind to try to escape, but I pin him in place. He struggles against my grip, which is somewhat amusing. I try to limit the amount of entertainment, though, because Cole is waiting for me. I still haven’t had time to see why he called my name.

  “Let go!” The teen turns belligerent. He jerks one way, then the other, like a spastic hamster tethered by his own tail. “Please let go.”

  His voice breaks; my heart sinks. Ugh, here I go again, ever the tone-deaf warrior. This guy is as much a victim and a pawn in all of this as I am. He is not the outlet for all my frustrations, and if I have to remind myself of that little fact every three seconds, it’s what I’ll do.

  “Where is the third ship?” I demand.

  “What third ship?”

  “The third ship in Donner’s fleet,” I reply through gritted teeth. I clutch his arm and spin him around to face me. “Don’t get cute with me, kid. You have my sympathy for getting dragged into all this but right now you’re just one soul against the many I need to save. And to save them, I need to stop Donner. So cough it up.”

  The kid only shoots me a confused expression. His lower lip trembles, betraying his age more thoroughly than any other indicator. “I don’t know. You have to believe me.”

  “LILY!” Cole hollers.

  “Shit,” I mutter. I watch the kid with an appraising eye, trying to determine what the best course of action here is.

  Fuck, I hate having to come to last minute, knee-jerk decisions.

  “Stick with me,” I tell the kid. Mentally, I add, if you don’t, I can’t guarantee you’ll be okay when all is said and done. Not only does he have to steer clear of any attacks I may launch, he also has to evade any attempts or overtures that Donner makes to collect him again. If I know that sociopath well—and I undeniably do—he’s already figuring out what other plays he’ll use the kid in. What games, what hustles, what cons, what jobs. He likely already has the next two years of this poor sod’s life mapped out in unnerving detail.

  I spot Cole. A cluster of artificial intelligence lackeys is approaching him, too. From a distance, I think I make out Cole’s hand gripping the neck of one of them. Did he finagle one over to his side?

  Beyond Cole, a ship looms closer. I’m far enough away from it that I can’t tell what its unique features are, but the drop in my stomach is unmistakable. It must be Donner.

  Instantly, I try to slip under the ship’s radar technology, but I don’t fool whoever is manning it. Instead of returning with some kind of proportional response, those aboard point a laser at us.

  “Kid!” I call, unable to scan my surroundings. “If you aren’t next to me in the next five seconds, you are going to get pulverized. If you are here—”

  “I’m here,” he assures me. His voice comes out rushed and breathless. “What do I do?”

  “Follow my lead!” I tumble down toward Cole. He catches me and sets me upright before returning fire with a laser-pointed firearm of his own. I jump back when the discharge from the gun reverberates all around us, chilled to the bone by the hollow popping. I blink several times and then hang back, blocking the kid’s passage on the off chance he decides his resources are better employed right at the front line.

  “Lily,” Cole gasps.

  Is he hurt? I make a beeline toward him and search for some indication that he’s wounded.

  “I’m fine,” he replies even though I haven’t verbally asked him anything. “I need you to give me some cover.”

  It’s unnerving that I seem to have forgotten that I can manipulate electronic and virtual systems. I debate whether or not I should ask the kid—I really need to ask him what his name is once I get the chance—to give me a boost. The lasers from the vessel shift gears, setting out to converge on a common point.

  That target is Cole. I lunge toward him again without a care in the world. He’s only in the middle of this because of me. Whatever vendetta and whatever payback he wants to exact on Donner would never have escalated to this if not for my involvement. That’s the fuel that drives my quasi-suicidal mission.

  I reach a false landing and stumble forward, my arms spinning in an effort to recoup my balance. It’s futile. The next instant, I’m toppling over the edge of the rails on the platform, half a second away from plummeting to the unknown depths that await me below deck.

  Cole catches me by the arm, a single lifeline that saves me from death. My mind can’t process all of the events anymore: I’m a being that exists solely on adrenaline and raw, primal energy. Cole shuffles and pulls me up with ease, hoisting me with his mech-arm like I’m weightless. My heart pounds and I long for the comfort of solid footing again. I glance up and purse my lips together until my feet are—

  An ear-splitting boom blasts nearby. Half a second later, I’m in flight again but this time I don’t need Cole’s heroic measures to save me from freefall. I land on my knees, smarting from the pain of the impact, and take a few labored breaths before rising again.

  “Cole?” I say, spinning on my heels in search of him. When my eyes finally land on his crumpled body, seconds pass in what feels like a span of eternity. “Cole!”

  He’s been hit. It’s too chaotic for me to figure out what to do next. Even worse, I hear Donner’s sneer from uncomfortably close range.

  “Well, Lily.” His voice carries over the abyss, low and menacing. “It appears like the cyborg was no match for me after all.”

  Footsteps scrape the surface of the ground. I don’t give myself enough time to second guess my next move. Instantly, I hyperfocus on all the remaining AI, which Donner has left to their own devices. Seize him, I order in a sequence of rapid-fire communications. Unlike normal systems, AI can put up a fight.

  Little did they know that today is the day where even their biggest objection is no match for the force of my own will.

  At long last, the dreaded creatures fall in line. Donner recoils for a moment, apparently unsure of what it is that instigated their sudden movement, before a look of horror creased his features. His eyes darted and fixed on me. “You.”

  “Me,” I reply, savoring the moment.

  I watch as the faithless AI descend on him. The view should be sweet, but it’s not. My own reaction to it is lifeless and cold. I wait for another couple of beats to make sure I’m in no danger of another unexpected ambush and then I drop to my knees, holding on to Cole as if for dear life. A sob escapes my lips.

  “Cole? Please say something.” It takes every drop of restraint for me to keep from shaking him by the fabric of his shirt. “Can you hear me? Help is coming. Hang on for me.”

  My mind flashes to Cole’s promise tha
t he would always protect me. He delivered—and how. But it’s all for nothing if it means he traded his own life in the process.

  A flurry of movement snaps my eyes back to focus. I turn around and zero in on the kid. “Keep whoever that is away unless they’re the patrol.”

  Petrified but clearly not moved to defy me, the teen pivots and retreats down the walkway.

  “Run!” I snap.

  So he does, his gait uneven and shaky.

  I whip around again and look helplessly at my companion. “Cole.” An agonizing death-drip seizes my heart. My head swims with every outcome I can possibly summon.

  What if...?

  I touch my finger to his wrist—on his biological hand, mind—and sit motionlessly, my breathing ceased, and my heart’s beating suspended as I wait to feel his pulse. Please. Please be okay. Please.

  There it is! Weak and thready, but present. I exhale and fight back the urge to yell at him.

  Because he’s the one who made me like this. He’s the one who made me the sort of person who relies on someone else. He’s the one who came into my life and made me care for him. Made it so my own well-being and happiness are contingent upon his.

  “It’s the patrol!” comes an isolated voice that I recognize as the teen’s. No sooner than he announces their arrival do they pour in, seemingly occupying every available patch of ground. I don’t move from Cole’s side, and if they think they’ll coax me away, they —

  “Miss, please move out of the way,” a gruff voice orders. I don’t look back to see whose it is because ultimately it doesn’t matter. The moment I draw away from Cole is the moment they can firmly count on me to be dead. I don’t think any of us want that. “Miss, I won’t say it again.”

  “I won’t,” I hiss. “I will not. Send a medic, please. He needs help. He’s a bounty hunter, he’s been shot, he’s—” I choke from somewhere deep and distraught in me. “Please, just help.”

  Tears are streaming down my face, salty and hot. Suddenly, the ground beneath me shifts. I scramble to my feet and realize it’s not the ground that changed positions, it’s me. I’ve been scooped into someone’s arms and they’re firm, taut, and unbending. I struggle to break free from the man’s hold, but it’s useless. He’s probably got ten times my strength, and he’s not motivated to change his ways.