Programmed To Protect (The Tau Cetus Chronicles)

by Jenna Ives

  “Don’t forget me,” Wyatt said plaintively, hinting at the sexual frustration Veraine obviously hoped he’d feel.

  Veraine gave him a sly smile. “Oh, I won’t, agent Wyatt. Don’t worry.” He glanced at a readout on the wall of the outside lab. “See you at 1330.”

  And then he pulled the door closed.

  Wyatt got right down to work. Using his personal – and more importantly, secure – communication device, he arranged for two military airships to fly to Terra Acer tomorrow. It was amazing how quickly a huge logistical undertaking like this could be accomplished at the mere mention of Theus’ name. Then he secured four military transport trucks to ferry one-hundred robot soldiers at a time from the Beautiful Dolls factory to the air base. The continuous round-trip convoy would probably take the rest of the day, but the five-thousand robot soldiers should be fully loaded onto the airships and ready to go first thing tomorrow. He’d oversee the boarding and packing of them himself this afternoon.

  A call to Callex Industries helped coordinate the weapons delivery. He knew Alyn Rekos from a previous assignment, but Wyatt had never met Zan Talesin. A quick conversation with Rekos was all it took to assure Wyatt that Talesin was the right man for this particular job.

  Good. Wyatt needed people around him he could trust.

  There was just one call left to make.

  Knowing that Titus Veraine had cameras in his lab – and by now, probably Ginger’s utility closet as well – Wyatt hunched over his communication device to hide it from a potential camera’s view while punching in the numbers to a high security line. He wasn’t worried so much about a microphone recording his end of the conversation; he knew to keep it generic.

  As soon as Wyatt punched in the last number, the connection was immediate.

  “This is Tau Cetus police agent Leith Wyatt. Premier Theus is expecting me.”

  The call transfer was almost as immediate.

  “Agent Wyatt.”

  Wyatt straightened in his chair, even though the premier obviously couldn’t see him. “Sir. All arrangements for tomorrow’s deployment to Terra Acer are complete. Have you spoken with regulator Jaqan yet?”

  “I have. He’s expecting you, and very grateful that you’re coming.”

  “We’ll do our best to keep Terra Acer safe, sir.”

  “Or use it as bait to draw out those damned missing stinger missiles.”

  Knowing the destruction the two small warheads could cause, Wyatt wasn’t sure which outcome he was hoping for. Theus’ position, on the other hand, was clear. He was a ruthless leader.

  Well, that wasn’t exactly true. He was looking at the bigger picture: keeping the planet – and everyone on it – safe.

  The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

  Especially when those sacrificed would only be robot soldiers. Highly technologically advanced, yet relatively easily replaced. Still, Theus was in a difficult position. There would undoubtedly be collateral damage to property and innocents. And national politics. Thank God Wyatt wasn’t the one making the decisions. “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. Be in touch tomorrow when you arrive in Terra Acer.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The line went dead.

  Wyatt blew out a breath, and stared at his hand-held device. The home screen readout blinked 1315. Organizing the transportation of five-thousand robot soldiers had taken less time than he’d expected, giving him a full fifteen minutes now to think about Ginger before Veraine returned for him.

  He could either idle the time away working himself up into a full-scale hard-on while visualizing various sexual fantasies, or he could take charge of the situation and head to Veraine’s lab right now.

  Which also might give Veraine the impression Wyatt was so eager to see Ginger that he couldn’t stay away.

  That pseudo-vulnerability might reinforce Veraine’s false sense of power where Wyatt was concerned. And keeping an enemy off balance was always a good thing.

  Who are you kidding? You want to have sex with Ginger as much as Veraine wants you to have sex with Ginger.

  But how the hell was he going to question Ginger without Veraine discovering his true motives on camera?

  He’d have to play it by ear. Take advantage of any opportunity that might present itself.

  Decision made, Wyatt pulled open the door of his tiny office, and headed for Veraine’s programming lab. He passed through the outside lab with its twelve identical work stations, all eerily deserted now that the robot soldiers were suited up and ready to go. Wyatt paused outside Veraine’s black lab door at the back of the room. As he’d seen both Rhean and Anson Carron do, he knocked once, then pushed open the door.

  Veraine was at his computer screen. Seeing Wyatt, he glanced at his digital time readout, and the sly smile Wyatt expected spread across Veraine’s face.

  Wyatt shrugged nonchalantly. “I finished organizing the transportation details early.”

  “Of course you did. And how could you not, with such a delicious reward waiting for you at the end of it? Tell me, did you enjoy congress of a cow yesterday? I didn’t get a chance to see you before you left.”

  Wyatt’s eyebrows rose. The man had nerve. Wyatt hadn’t expected Veraine to ask for the specific details of his and Ginger’s sexual encounter. Maybe Wyatt had played his part too well earlier. He growled a warning low in his throat. “Veraine—”

  The programmer laughed. “Oh, don’t be such a….gentleman…agent Wyatt. She’s a Beautiful Doll. Her sexual skills are unparalleled.” He turned back to his keyboard. “Just a minute. Let me get out of this program.”

  Wyatt’s jaw tightened. Get out of a program? Or start your damned cameras?

  “There. Done.” Veraine swiveled his chair around, then stood and headed for Ginger’s utility closet. He opened the door. “Ginger? Agent Wyatt is here to see you.”

  As it had yesterday, Veraine’s use of the Doll’s name activated Ginger from her hibernation mode. Wyatt watched as her eyes slowly opened, and her gaze took in Veraine, then turned to him. That familiar warm smile spread across her face. “Hello, Leith.”

  That silky caress of her voice sent a shiver down his spine. Damn, everything about her excited him. Why did his visceral reaction to her always surprise him? She was a machine, for heaven’s sake. “Hello, Ginger.”

  “Well, I’ll leave you two alone,” Veraine said, then turned to Wyatt. “I’ll be in Mr. Carron’s office. Why don’t you come there after you’re done here? We’ll need to know details of the travel arrangements for tomorrow.”

  Wyatt’s eyes never left Ginger’s perfect face as he answered. “Fine.”

  Veraine laughed again, then took a step closer to the Doll and whispered something in her ear

  Ginger blinked slowly. “Yes, Titus.”

  Wyatt would have given next week’s pay credit to know exactly what Veraine had just told the Doll, but he was sure he’d be finding out shortly. It was undoubtedly an order for another sexual position to try out on him. But ironically, Veraine’s whisper had just given Wyatt an idea.

  Take advantage of any opportunity…

  “Enjoy yourself, agent Wyatt,” Veraine said as he headed to his lab door.

  With that, he was gone.

  Wyatt turned back to Ginger, and watched as the Doll took a step out of her utility closet and toward him. Once again, he was amazed at the perfection of her naked body, but before Wyatt got caught up in the mind-blowing sex he was sure was coming, he had to try to get some information from her.

  “Ginger? You’re programmed to please, correct?”

  The Doll paused, and tilted her head. “Yes, Leith.”

  Damn, when she did things like that, she seemed so…human. Just like a regular, normal woman tilting her head in curiosity. He cleared his throat. “Then I would like you to do something that would please me.”

  “Certainly, Leith.”

  “I’m going to kiss your ear. Then I want you to kiss mine.”


  He could have sworn the Doll frowned, as if she was trying to figure out how this could possibly please him.

  “It’s called foreplay,” he explained. “Humans do it.”

  Ginger nodded uncertainly.

  He took a step toward her, placed both his hands gently on her naked shoulders, leaned close to her left ear, and lowered his voice. “Are the cameras on? Whisper your answer.” Then he nipped playfully at her earlobe. The polymer skin tasted a bit like rubber, but he ignored the alien flavor.

  He pulled back, gave her a smile, then pointed to his right ear. “Now me.”

  She hesitated, then suddenly smiled brilliantly at him. She’d figured out his tactic.

  Following his example, she put her hands on his shoulders and leaned in close to his right ear. “Yes. The cameras are on.” She bit his right earlobe much too hard to be pleasurable, but Wyatt was happy to suffer the pain in return for information. She pulled back.

  “That was very nice, Ginger,” he lied. “Now I’m going to kiss your other ear.”

  To make it look good for the cameras, this time Wyatt threaded his fingers into her hair in what he hoped was a romantic gesture as he moved in for his kiss. Damn, but her hair felt like the finest silk.

  Stop it! Concentrate on what you need to do.

  This time, he sucked her right earlobe briefly into his mouth, surprised he was already getting used to the artificial taste of her. It’s not so bad. He lowered his voice. “Is there something else about Titus Veraine you want to tell me that you can only say in private?” Then he pulled back.

  Ginger again followed his lead, moving in toward his left lobe. “Yes, Leith. Titus has been… experimenting on me.”

  Experimenting?

  As in…sexual experimentation?

  Why did the thought of that upset him so much? Ginger was, after all, a Beautiful Doll. She’d been created for sex. Still, it didn’t sit well with him. She’d obviously been in service for a while, so why was Veraine experimenting on her now?

  Wyatt frowned, but then let out a quick moan of pleasure for the benefit of Veraine’s camera as Ginger bit his ear.

  Wyatt pulled back, and stared at the Doll. Damn, but he wished he could read something in those stunning starburst eyes of hers, but unfortunately, there was no emotion in those green depths that he could discern.

  Sexual experimentation. I need to be sure that’s what she’s saying…

  Really? Or do you just want to keep touching her?

  He hesitated. He could afford one, maybe two more questions before Veraine would know something was up with this extended foreplay. Unfortunately, Wyatt couldn’t count on the fact that whatever sexual position Ginger had planned would bring them close together. After all, neither of the previous two had brought their mouths and ears within range of each other.

  “Ginger? I’d like to try something else. I’m going to kiss your neck and your ear. This is a favorite…turn-on…of mine. Just hold still.”

  He leaned forward and trailed his lips up the side of her silky neck, this time inhaling her unique scent as he went. It wasn’t metallic, it wasn’t synthetic, it was just… Ginger. He was so close to her now that he could feel her soft breasts nudging his chest. Were those two hard points her nipples?

  Damn it, keep your mind on your job!

  He forced himself to concentrate on reaching her earlobe. “Do you mean to say that Veraine is sexually experimenting on you?” he whispered carefully.

  He pulled back, only to see a deep frown on her face.

  “What is it?”

  “I can’t kiss your neck that way with your shirt on, Leith.”

  Wyatt’s eyebrows reached his hairline. He hadn’t considered she’d be so literal about mimicking his actions, but he was the one who’d started this. And she was right about his tunic. It covered his neck, blocking her access to his throat.

  But…

  You’ve already had sex with her twice, what’s so upsetting about taking off your shirt?

  Because the possibility of having her breasts pressed hard up against his naked chest seemed far more…intimate…than the actual sex they’d had.

  Unfortunately, he could see no way around it. And he needed to hear her answer to his question. Before he could second-guess himself, he grabbed the hem of his tunic in both hands, and pulled it up his torso and over his head. The tunic landed on the floor at his feet.

  Ginger smiled her approval and moved closer to him.

  Wyatt held his breath as she pressed her breasts against him while she trailed a path of odd, suction-like kisses up the side of his neck. Coupled with the brush of her pert nipples against his hot skin, the action sent a message directly to his groin.

  But her next words helped put a damper on his erection.

  “Not sexual experimentation, Leith. He has been running programs on me. He keeps asking me questions. He says he wants my opinions. It’s so confusing.”

  Wyatt went completely cold. In a clever move, Ginger had tilted her head so that her curtain of hair hid her mouth as she spoke, but Leith wrapped both his arms around her to hold her close while his brain raced feverishly.

  Good God. Titus Veraine was experimenting on Ginger to try and make her sentient. Hell, Ginger was sentient! She’d been dropping obvious hints every time they’d met. Her fear at disobeying Veraine’s instructions. Her moral judgment that Veraine’s cameras weren’t ethical.

  Fucking hell. She was sentient. But what did potential sentience mean for an army of robot soldiers?

  He buried his mouth in the smooth silk of her hair and whispered urgently into her ear. “Has Veraine realized that you’re…different?”

  She nuzzled his other ear. “No. A Beautiful Doll cannot lie, but I’ve been…careful…in my responses. He has been frustrated.”

  While Wyatt’s brain was swirling with the far-reaching implications of Ginger’s monumental revelation, she eased herself out of his tight hug, took him by the hand, and led him toward a long couch positioned against one wall of Veraine’s lab.

  Of course. Sex. They needed to have sex in order to maintain their cover.

  And it was the Doll who was keeping the level head about it. But how the hell was Wyatt supposed to perform under these circumstances?

  She’s a Beautiful Doll. Just concentrate on what she does to your body.

  Wyatt forced what he hoped was an eager smile to his face. “What position did Veraine instruct for today?”

  They’d reached the edge of the couch, which was probably twice as long as Wyatt was tall. Ginger turned toward him, and, with one hand, she shoved him forcefully enough to topple him into a sitting position onto the cushion.

  Damn, he’d known she was strong. But sudden fantasies of being submissive and at her sexual mercy wormed their way into Wyatt’s brain.

  She bent over and lifted his feet off the floor and onto the couch, effectively positioning him flat on his back.

  “Titus said to ride ‘em cowboy.”

  Wyatt shivered. Ginger on top? Dictating his pleasure? Hell, that was domination enough for his cock to spring to instant attention.

  Ginger mounted him, one leg on each side of his thighs, just below the level of his groin. She reached unerringly for his belt, unhooked it, unbuttoned his trousers, lowered his zipper, and worked his cock free.

  Fuck. The silky glide of her synthetic hand stroking his shaft made Wyatt buck up for more contact, and desperate to touch her in return. He reached up and filled both his hands with her luscious breasts. They were as soft and full as any human woman’s, and felt just as real. And they were lush enough to spill over the confines of his fingers. He stroked his thumb back and forth across her two erect nipples, and moaned low in his throat.

  Ginger must have taken his reaction as a signal, because she shifted her body, moving away from his fingers. She raised herself onto her knees, positioned his cock with one of her hands, and then slid herself down onto his hard shaft.

  “Fuuuck…” Wya
tt’s eyes rolled back into his head, and he screwed his eyelids shut.

  She was smooth and tight, enveloping him in the most intimate of caresses. She anchored her hands on his hips and moved up. Then down. Then up. Then down.

  Just like riding a horse.

  The rhythmic stroking soon had Wyatt’s hips thrusting in time to match her movement. Ginger slowly increased her speed, which increased the friction along Wyatt’s sensitized shaft, sending him on an upward spiral toward a familiar goal.

  It was nice. It was good. It would work. But it was too…tame. Too human. What the hell was wrong with him?

  Wyatt made a frustrated sound, and opened his eyes.

  Ginger was watching him, her speed and movement never varying.

  “More,” Wyatt said desperately. “I need more.”

  Ginger paused, tilted her head to the side, and then gave him a brilliant smile. Grabbing him by each wrist, she jerked his hands high above his head, and held tight against the sofa cushion. As if he were tied to a bed. Helpless. Spread out beneath her. At her mercy.

  And then she really began to move.

  Leaning over him like that, she turned on her full nineteen-mile-per-hour speed. She pumped him hard and fast. Like a rod and piston. Like a jackhammer. Her body alternately squeezed and stroked his willing cock until Wyatt literally lost control of his body. He began to shake. He began to sweat. He definitely began to swear. The pleasure in his body built and built until it reached a climax so powerful it shot right out of his cock in the biggest orgasm of his life.

  He screamed so loudly that he was glad Ginger’s ears weren’t human.

  Hell, if he hadn’t been lying down already, he would have fallen down from the force of such pleasure.

  “Holy Mary, Mother of God…”

  Ginger throttled down on her pumping, as Wyatt desperately tried to catch his breath and slow his pounding heart.

  Fucking hell. His body would never be the same.

  Still holding his wrists, Ginger leaned down the last few inches toward Wyatt’s right ear, her hair falling like a curtain across his face. “You are a Tau Cetus police agent, Leith Wyatt,” she whispered. “You told me you are programmed to protect. Protect me. Help me.”