Scorch

by Liliana Hart

  Fortunately, Shane and Mary had security clearance because they, just like the other MacKenzies, all owned a small percentage of the company. But even Shane didn’t have as much clearance as she did, and there were some areas he was restricted from.

  She coded them all into the elevator, and they each gave their thumb print before it whisked them away to the fifth floor. Mary twisted her hands nervously as they made their way up.

  The floor was divided into quadrants, and each project was headed up by a different research and development team, depending on their specialty. It was a security measure she and Declan had put in place, so no one person, except for her, knew the complete sensitive nature of what was being developed.

  The elevator doors opened and she pushed him into a long, rectangular room to the left. Mary followed behind them and took a place against the wall. The room was a walking track of sorts, and on one side it was completely flat. On the other side there was an incline that could be adjusted with the key panel on the wall. Sections of the rubberized floor could be moved at another touch of a button, and in their place rocks, water, or sand might come up to give the tester different terrains to walk on.

  “Robotic prosthetics were something we started developing my first year with MacKenzie Security,” she said. “As a soldier myself, strengthening our forces and rehabilitating soldiers through technology has become my passion. I heard that a professor at MIT was working on a prototype, and so I read Doctor Hughes’s work. I knew he was just the person to recruit, since he could work uninhibited by budgets and he’d have anything he needed at his fingertips.

  “Another professor replaced Doctor Hughes at MIT soon after he came here. The new professor is credited with getting the first prototype on the market because Hughes had to leave a lot of his research at the university. And no disrespect to the professor that took Hughes’s place, but Hughes is better.”

  The door opened and in walked a tall, thin man with a head full of silver hair and round glasses. His face was comfortably lined and his lips were quite thin. He carried a large box in with him. Lacey had always like Doctor Hughes, as he was both brilliant and quirky, and he’d lost a leg in the Vietnam War, making himself the first test subject for his invention.

  “Mary,” Doctor Hughes said, walking directly to Mrs. MacKenzie and squeezing her hands. “It’s always lovely to see you.”

  “You too, Harold. I hope you’ve got room in your schedule for dinner sometime soon.”

  “I’ll make the time,” he assured her.

  “Shane, this is Doctor Harold Hughes,” Lacey said. “He’s going to fit you for your prosthetic, and believe me when I tell you there’s no better brain for robotic prosthetics in the world today.”

  “Lieutenant MacKenzie,” Hughes said, shaking Shane’s hand.

  Lacey noticed Shane tense at being called Lieutenant, but he didn’t say anything.

  “The important thing to remember about this prosthetic is that it’s going to take time to adjust to, just like any other prosthetic,” Doctor Hughes said. “Even with advanced technology, we can only minimalize the discomfort of the attachment by using materials of the twenty-first century. Eventually, the soreness will dissipate, but you’ll find you’ll initially limit yourself to wearing the device for a few hours a day. But even so, we’ve come a long way from the wood, plastic, and rubber models of prosthetics from fifteen or more years ago.”

  Doctor Hughes set the box on the table and opened it up, and Lacey could almost feel the waves of anticipation, fear, hope, and animosity coming off Shane as he looked at the device in the box. It was much the same as the feelings coming from Mary, standing close behind them.

  “This is a smart leg,” Hughes continued. “It has a very short learning curve. Meaning once you put it on you’ll be able to walk intuitively. The joints in the ankle and knee are built to emulate human bone structures, so walking inclines, stairs, or different terrains should feel natural. You’ll be back in business in no time,” he said, smiling. “But like I said, limit yourself at first. You don’t want to rub blisters and risk infection to the skin where the joint attaches.”

  “What are the limitations?” Lacey asked him.

  “Well, it’s a machine, and unfortunately that’s the greatest advantage and greatest disadvantage. You can’t submerge it in water. It’s water-resistant, but any kind of prolonged submersion will ruin it.”

  Shane’s hands were gripped tight around the arms of the wheelchair as Doctor Hughes measured the stump just below his knee, and fitted the prosthetic. They helped him from the chair and steadied him, letting him use the ramp railing as his support. And then something miraculous happened. Mary MacKenzie began to sob, her hands covering her face as her body shook. Lacey found her own cheeks were wet.

  Shane took his first step.

  Chapter 17

  Maxim Petrovich was beginning to grow impatient.

  He’d recruited someone who was supposedly the best of the best to get the job done, yet weeks had passed and he still didn’t have Doctor Lacey Shaw in his possession, or the XO51 suit she’d been instrumental in developing.

  Anyone could be bought, even those who worked for high-and-mighty Declan MacKenzie. It hadn’t been hard to pay off someone like Harold Hughes to get the intel he’d needed on the suit. Hughes was a man with plenty of money already. The way to Hughes’s heart had been the promise of more possibilities. MacKenzie paid his employees well. What Hughes didn’t have was carte blanche to create the kinds of machines he wanted to create. The exoskeleton suit had been Doctor Shaw’s baby, but Hughes had assisted through the developmental stages. And what he’d seen had been endless possibilities.

  Hughes didn’t want to stop at a suit worn by flesh-and-blood soldiers. A suit that would protect and heal them as they went into battle. A suit that could be a weapon itself, creating an almost invincible army. What Hughes wanted was to make the perfect army. There was no need to risk the possibility of human error by letting humans wear the suit when the machine could do all the work. They could think, make decisions, and they were their own weapons. But Declan had shot down Hughes’s plea to extend the suit development to the next stages.

  So it hadn’t been difficult to offer Hughes the opportunity to do exactly what he wanted with the tech. Hughes didn’t care that Russia would be the one with the technology—with the perfect army. All he cared about was the science. But Hughes couldn’t develop it fully. Shaw was the missing piece to the puzzle. And unfortunately, there was nothing Maxim had found that could lure her away from MacKenzie Security. He’d offered her jobs—indirectly, of course, as he hadn’t wanted his name attached to them. And the pay had been almost double what she was making now. Plus bonuses.

  But her loyalty was to the Mackenzie’s and the work they were doing. Unfortunately, her loyalty was going to cost her, because he’d run out of time and patience. His country had spent years waiting for the right opportunity to take control. There were many, like him, in place already in the states, and they’d already tested their abilities by hacking into various government computer systems and shutting them down. The United States was weak, and it was important to strike while it was at its weakest.

  It was time to up the stakes and declare war on Declan MacKenzie and those who worked for him. He would not stop until he had what he needed.

  Lacey couldn’t have been more pleased with the way Shane had adjusted to the prosthetic. It was designed to be user-friendly and for the brain and body to work together, so the prosthetic could take commands from the brain, just like his real leg would have.

  And what was even better was to see Shane’s reaction to it. Being able to be upright and moving without having to rely on anyone had given him a total attitude adjustment. They’d put the prosthetic through its paces before Shane had gone home with it. He’d gone up and down hills, up and down stairs, and walked on loose rock and sand. He’d even jogged a little, though that skill was something that would come with time.
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  For the last two days there’d been glimpses of the man he’d been before. The man who interacted with his family and friends. The man who always had a smartass word, and the man who’d kept his promise of being insatiable for her anytime and anywhere.

  If she hadn’t slipped out of his grasp in the shower and hurriedly gotten dressed, she’d still be in his bed. But she’d wanted to come back to her office and grab a different attachment for the prosthetic. Doctor Hughes had designed several, as there were different fits for different people.

  Watching Shane make adjustments and ask questions over the last couple of days had also given her ideas of things she wanted to add to the XO51 suit. She’d already talked to Declan about moving the suit to the compound and setting up an office for her there. Her time was being split in so many directions, a thirty-minute drive to and from the hospital each way was wasting her time.

  The sun shone bright overhead and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. She’d decided to take Shane’s Jeep and leave the top off, so the sun beat down on her face. She was in her standard khaki BDUs and a black MacKenzie Security t-shirt, along with black boots. The black MacKenzie Security hat on her head was to keep the hair out of her eyes, and the pistol at her hip holster was to get back in the habit of carrying a full-time weapon.

  Lacey did her normal security checkin at the hospital and made her way to her parking spot. She removed the gun from her holster and stuck it under the front seat since there were no weapons allowed inside the building.

  She waved to several colleagues in different departments, and did a quick stop by her office to see if there was any troubleshooting to be done. There were updates from her department heads, but nothing she needed to take care of. Declan was right, she’d created a well-oiled machine. It was time for her to move on to the next challenge. And if Declan had his way, it would be her and Shane heading into the field together. It could either work out splendidly, or it could be a disaster. Shane wasn’t exactly known for his long-term relationships with women. And they’d already mucked things up by starting a sexual relationship. That wasn’t really a cat you could put back into the bag once it was taken out. What they had to decide was if they could continue to be partners, to have each other’s backs, if they ever ended their personal relationship.

  After she stopped at her office, she opened the secret panel to the room where the XO51 suit was held. She was the only one who had complete access to the suit. Those who had contributed to it only worked on small sections, and never had the entire suit in their possession.

  It fit nicely in a black leather suitcase that had a thumbprint and voice command lock. She wore it like a backpack and went to find Doctor Hughes and get the other attachments for Shane’s prosthetic.

  Hughes worked in a space separated from everyone else. He was proprietary about his research, even though it belonged to MacKenzie Security. He had a large corner office that had tinted windows and blinds. It was overkill, but she knew it was because that Doctor Hughes didn’t want anyone being able to see in his work space.

  His lights were on, so she knocked on the door. She’d texted him earlier to let him know she’d be stopping by, but her knocks went unanswered. She used her master key to swipe herself in and was immediately struck by the smell of death.

  She pulled out her cellphone and dialed security at the front desk, but she didn’t hit send yet. Not until she saw Hughes’s body hanging from the ceiling.

  “This is Doctor Shaw,” she said to security. “We’ve got a situation in Doctor Hughes’s office on the R&D floor. I need you to shut down the building per protocol. Mr. MacKenzie will be here soon, and I’m going to need a transport guard back to the compound.”

  The guard accepted her requests with an efficient, “Yes, ma’am,” and then Lacey got Declan on the line and told him Doctor Hughes had killed himself.

  There was a note, neat as you please, right in the center of Doctor Hughes’s desks. It wasn’t the neatly typed letter with his signature scrawled across the bottom that grabbed her attention, so much as what it said. The apology letter took her off guard. She’d trusted this man and worked with him for years. But he said there was too much at stake, and that all he cared about was the science.

  He admitted that he was the one that had breached contract and told others about special projects they’d been working on at MacKenzie Security. He’d had a change of heart once he realized that even though MacKenzie Security put limitations on how far they’d let science advance, they still had the best scientists, resources, and money behind them. He ended the letter by saying he was involved in a much younger man’s game, and he didn’t have the energy to see who would come out the winner.

  Protocol demanded that if there was a chance of a security breach, which Hughes had already confessed to in his suicide note, then all personnel were to be separated and questioned. They’d undergo truth testing and basically have their private lives invaded until Declan was satisfied there weren’t any other breaches and no one’s lives were in danger. It was all part of the package when signing on with MS, and no one put up a complaint once word traveled about Hughes.

  “You okay?” she asked Declan once he arrived.

  “I’m fine. Mad as hell, and ready to find out who Hughes compromised our information to, but otherwise I’m just fine. These are the reasons we have protocols in place. It’s never safe for anyone to have all the pieces to the puzzle.”

  “Except for me,” she said, brow raised.

  “And even you only have half the puzzle,” Dec said with a smile. “I’m a paranoid bastard. I like our national security to stay secure and our agents to stay alive. I read through Hughes’s letter. You know what this means?”

  “Yes,” she said nodding. And she did know. It hadn’t been difficult to put the pieces together—someone burning down her house, sending her photos. She was the target. If the enemy thought Hughes was an asset, then they must consider her the grand prize.

  The suit on her back was worth millions, and it was something that any country would love to get their hands on. Part of development at MacKenzie Security was to not only brainstorm the possibilities of what they could do for good, but to also brainstorm the possibilities of what they could do for bad.

  She’d always known it was a possibility that someone would want her and the suit. She was the one who’d created the bulk of it. She’d been testing it, using it, and if Hughes had relayed all the information to the enemy, then they’d know that without her the suit was virtually useless. They’d need her, for a little while at least, to create a new user of the suit, whose brain activity and nervous system complied like hers did with the current suit. It took weeks of studying a person’s brain activity, taking blood tests, cardiograms, and muscle movement tests to make the suit act as one with the human it belonged to.

  “I want you to go back to the compound with an armed guard. Once I’ve got things wrapped here we’ll have a meeting with the team and see if we can ferret out who Hughes was feeding information too. With Hughes’s betrayal, all I can tell you is to keep your eyes open. Unless their last name is MacKenzie I’d think twice about trusting anyone.

  Ryan Rodriguez was her escort back to the compound. He was retired Delta Force and in his mid-forties. He was dark-skinned with black eyes and hair, and he skimmed just under six feet. And he was still a badass. Lacey had always liked him.

  The security guards weren’t just security guards. They were all retired special ops, and they rotated between the hospital and the compound so they didn’t get complacent by guarding the same space all the time. Rodriguez had been on staff for several years, and they knew each other well enough to speak to each other in passing.

  “Boss man says you’re in a heap of trouble and to take you straight to the compound,” he told her as she approached the black Expedition near the hospital exit. “That’s a shame, because I really wanted some ice cream from that little shop in town, but now we can’t have any.”

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nbsp; “I bought a gallon of it when I went into town the other day,” she said. “I’ll give you a scoop for your troubles.

  “Just one scoop?”

  “Maybe two. You must’ve picked the short straw.”

  “Nah, if you need protection, Doc, boss man knows I’m your guy. Dec said he’ll drive the Jeep home for you and to give you this.” He held out her weapon she’d tucked under the seat and she gratefully took it and put it in its holster.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “Anytime. Let’s roll. The kid has a soccer game tonight. I don’t want to be late.”

  She hopped in the Hummer, the suit still attached to her back in the black pack, and they made their way down the secluded, winding road that led back toward MacKenzie land.

  She and Rodriguez didn’t talk much. They were both vigilant, studying the road and looking at passing cars carefully. The problem was, certain parts of the roads were one-lane, and brush and trees grew close to the road. It would be easy enough to hide a car or people back in the trees and ambush them on their way.

  And that’s exactly what they did. They were approaching the bridge that ran over the river when they heard the rev of an engine just after they passed an overgrown area.

  “There we go,” Rodriguez said, stepping on the gas. “I would’ve been disappointed if no one had shown up to play.”

  “You’re always making friends,” Lacey said, pulling out her weapon.

  A black Hummer came up fast behind them.

  “Here we go. Hold on tight.”

  The Hummer rammed into the back of the Expedition, shooting them forward, and gunshots rang out from behind them. Bullets pinged against the glass, but it was a bulletproof carrier. They were rammed again, and this time the Hummer pressed on the gas and pushed them in front like a dump truck, shoving them closer and closer to the bridge and the river.

  Rodriguez gassed it and they shot ahead a little, but the SUV stayed on them, ramming them again as they made it to the bridge. If they went over the side it was going to hurt.