Zero Factor: A Cybershock Story

by Stacy Gail

  “You can talk, you can breathe.” Too late, she remembered compassion was one of the infamous zero factors. Then he squeezed her throat once more, just for giggles. “This house is full of sensitive targets, so we don’t want to disturb them, now do we? Just call for Locke, and you get to live. But try alerting the whole house, and I snap your neck and vanish before your carcass hits the floor. Roger?”

  The chokehold eased up once more, and had he not been holding her, she would have fallen. “R-R…”

  Apparently that was good enough.

  Keeping his arm in place, Fynn pressed his mouth to her ear, so hot and livid it made her skin crawl. “Now…say ‘Locke, come out here. I need you.’ Quietly, farmer.”

  Her abused throat worked, trying to remember how to make noise after being so brutally crushed. “L-Locke, come out here, I need you.” In the worst way, I need you now. Please…

  The croaking that passed for her voice was unrecognizable, and for a heartbeat of time that seemed to last an eternity she thought he hadn’t heard her. Then, ever so slowly, the black-matte muzzle of the Widow-Maker pulse rifle emerged from the slit in the chain mail draped over the open patio door. Pushing through the metal veil, fully dressed in his camo fatigues and rifle at the ready, Locke emerged onto the patio, looking as jarhead formidable as when Via had first laid eyes on him.

  His cyberoptics caught her gaze, and in that fleeting moment she tried to tell him with her eyes that she believed in him, that she was sorry it had come to this. That if this was the last minute of her life, she was glad he had yanked her from her bubble and out into the big bad world. She had no regrets, save one.

  As Locke turned to face his colonel squarely, Via was only sorry she hadn’t told him she’d fallen in love with him.

  “Well done, soldier.” Fynn’s thin smile was a vicious mockery before he nodded to Locke’s weapon. “Locked and loaded, just like I trained you, but this situation isn’t going down like that. We negotiate, or I annihilate.” To send his point home, he clamped his arm tight around Via’s neck once more, causing her breath to whistle to a painful halt. Locke took half a step forward as if he couldn’t help himself, but Fynn pulled her up so hard he almost lifted her off her feet. “Twitch again, soldier, and she gets snapped.”

  Locke froze.

  “Lose the weapon.”

  Watchful, Locke let the rifle clatter to the patio’s concrete floor. “Her lips are blue, Colonel. Let her breathe.”

  “I think blue looks good on her.” But the chokehold eased up a fraction, dulling the angry buzzing in her ears. “Looks like you got yourself pussy-whipped, boy. Didn’t even put up a fight.”

  Locke ignored him. “How did you find us? I thought I was off-grid.”

  “You did a great job on silent running, just like I taught you. But there was one thing you couldn’t guard against, and that was the unknown.” Fynn’s gaze dropped to the medallion, and another tight smile appeared. “UNAS insists on keeping its militia members tagged with a dog-tag microchip, yeah? I saw no reason why I shouldn’t keep my Lifers tagged in my own way with that medallion, after investing so much time in you maggots. It may be old GPS technology mothballed by the military years ago, but it gets the job done.”

  Locke tugged the medallion from his neck with a snap to stare at it as if it were a cockroach, before throwing it on the ground. “You stole obsolete technology from the military to use for your private purposes, an offense worthy of court-martial? Worse, you bugged your own people without their knowledge, in direct violation of the Freedom from Tyranny Act and countless other privacy laws—”

  “Don’t you preach to me, I am the law.” Fynn’s voice was glacier cold, and there was no denying that he spoke the absolute truth as far as he saw it. “Here’s the flash-news headline for you, dumbass—those laws are to keep the no-goods in line. They’re not meant for people like me. Or have you forgotten who I am?”

  “I haven’t forgotten, Colonel Fynn,” Locke said, and the bleak shadows in his tone closed in, becoming an impenetrable cloak of darkness that made Via’s heart break. “You’re the man who saved me from the state orphanage. You’re the man who gave me a purpose—protect the citizens of this region. And you’re the man who tried to TK me for no frigging reason.”

  “There was a reason.” Fynn shrugged, clearly unable to stop himself from correcting someone when they’d put a foot wrong. “There’s always a reason for the things I do.”

  “Then why did you try to blow me up? What did I do?”

  “Nothing at all, Locke. You were just going to take one for the team.”

  “Take one for the team?”

  “I needed a distraction,” came the irritated reply, as if he were exasperated over a field exercise that had run into a snag. “Thanks to that bitch Lady Pirate alarming everyone about all the so-called missing pregnant no-goods, heat’s been coming down on the Las Vegas Territory from Continental officials. The death of a well-trained, valuable Lifer at the hands of a crazed mob of rebellious insurrectionists would have been perfect. Not only would it have taken the heat off me, it also would have led to a nice cleansing period where we could have legally gone to war with anyone we wanted to and tightened our control over the population in this region. But somehow it didn’t shake out the way I’d planned. I’m still not sure why.”

  Via’s racing brain crashed to a halt when it came up against a vague memory. Something about pregnant women…

  Sources have confirmed that no less than seventeen young women have vanished without a trace over the past year.

  Locke was staring at the colonel in something like horror. “Missing pregnant no-goods…? Wait. Are you talking about the patient-transfers to medical facilities we Lifers were ordered to do? Our mission was to bring these indigent people out of potentially contaminated areas for the health and safety of their unborn children. Why would UNAS Continental officials have a problem with those orders? The directive came from them.”

  “The directive came from me,” Fynn snapped as though irked Locke hadn’t figured it out for himself. “The militia’s got a problem, Locke. It likes using our homegrown psionics to get the edge on the rest of the world—thanks to those damn zealots, we’re the only country that has psychic talent. But there’s a problem with them—they break. We only get about a year’s worth from them before they’re good for nothing other than spare parts.”

  “Oh God,” Via choked out, gorge rising.

  Fynn ignored her. “A think tank here in New Vegas thinks psionics break because they were once free citizens. From a psychological standpoint, they can’t take the captivity. But, if we can raise psionics from the womb, the theory is they’ll last a little longer.”

  “That’s…insane.” Locke was shaking his head, as if he wished he could un-hear the colonel’s words. “All of it is insane. And there’s no guarantee any of those babies would be born a psionic.”

  “The geeks in the think tank have several experiments on how to produce psionics in the lab, don’t ask me how.” Fynn shrugged again, clearly uncaring. “I think they’ve managed to get one out of the bunch we harvested for them so far.”

  “One,” Via croaked, tears stinging her eyes. “Lady Pirate said there were…seventeen…”

  A snarl rumbled from Locke. “What happened to the others?”

  “Not my department,” came the indifferent reply. “I do know that one woman who gave birth at your feet walked away. The geeks rejected her and I got zero payment—apparently they like the bun still in the oven.”

  “So you got paid for this…atrocity.” The word shot out of Locke’s mouth like it left a bad taste. “And you used us Lifers—soldiers sworn to protect the citizens of this region—to pull it off for you.”

  “You asshat, of course I got paid for it. Sure, it sounds good, trying to build up the militia’s covert psionics program out of patriotism, but at the end of the day I want to get paid like everyone else.”

  “You’ve had your last pa
yday, Colonel Fynn,” Locke said, and the sudden, flat calm of his tone made Via shiver. “This stops now.”

  “You’re right about that,” Fynn agreed in poison-edged joviality. “Your insubordination ends here. I hunted you down because I have new orders, soldier—I need you to sing for the dumbass UNAS officials who dared to come to my New Vegas to investigate me. Tell them you got your hands on some C-10, and this was all a simple misunderstanding. Make it believable and everyone walks away from this.”

  Locke growled. “Like you’d ever let that happen.”

  “You owe me your life, Lieutenant.”

  “You owe so much more to the people of the Las Vegas Territory, Colonel, and it’s time you started paying. Your attempt to TK me is nothing compared to what you’ve done to the citizens you were supposed to protect.”

  “I’m going to pay?” Fynn repeated with a scathing snort. “Who’s going to make me pay, you? The useless keyboard jockeys UNAS sent down? The Lady Pirate? Who, exactly, can even touch me?”

  “All of the above, apparently.”

  It was almost comical the way Fynn froze, while light bloomed within the room. Cedrine slid through the chain-mail sheers, resplendent in a white satin robe and marabou slippers, her nose crinkled up as if she smelled something bad.

  “I was just coming to tell you, Locke, that your neurolinks and cyberoptics seem to have been hacked by the Lady Pirate. Everything you’ve seen and heard for the past ten minutes has been broadcast via the Internet and sat-radio around the globe, including every international governmental watchdog group on the planet. Isn’t that odd?”

  Fynn’s hold on Via loosened a fraction as his gaze bounced from Cedrine to Locke in dawning understanding. “You—”

  Having already missed one shot at escape, Via wasn’t about to let another one slide. Stepping back into Fynn’s space, she twisted in his hold while bending forward simultaneously to send the wiry Colonel flying over her back. Not the prettiest O Goshi judo throw ever executed, but it got the job done when it landed Fynn on his back at Locke’s feet.

  In a flash, Locke had the rifle up and trained on his former commander, who looked as though he couldn’t believe the world he’d always controlled had just gotten turned upside down.

  “Locke, you bastard, I order you—”

  “Enough, Colonel,” Locke snarled while the house began to come to life. “As of now, you are nothing but a zero factor.”

  The questioning seemed to go on forever.

  Breakfast for Via was little more than a cup of coffee while a UNAS official raked her over the coals. Lunch came and went as well, and it wasn’t until she began to make noises that when it came to her basic human rights being violated UNAS was no better than Fynn, that things came to a close. She was released into Cedrine’s care and assured that by evening, a transport would arrive to carry her back to her quiet life in Agridome #4.

  As Cedrine led the way back to the room, Via couldn’t think of a worse fate.

  “I can’t remember when the Palace has been so busy.” Cedrine’s face was a study of displeasure as Via hungrily attacked a tray of tea sandwiches Cedrine had ordered up from the kitchens. “The stupid-ass kind of busy that doesn’t make me any money.”

  “It gives you contacts, though,” Via reminded her around a mouthful of chicken-salad sandwich. “Lots and lots of contacts.”

  “True, that.” Cedrine smirked. “In fact, the lead investigator interviewing Locke seems destined for great things. Needless to say, I’ve devoted every possible moment to making him insanely addicted to me.”

  Via’s breath caught. “Locke? How is he?”

  “Disillusioned, I’d say, but dealing.”

  “And Fynn?”

  “Ugh, that monster. His geeks were already trying to clean the evidence out of their mad-scientist lab when the authorities busted in. Unfortunately, many of the babies they were experimenting on may have long-term medical issues, but at least they’re alive. Neither the mothers nor the one psionic infant Fynn mentioned were found.”

  Via shivered. “I hope they weren’t used as spare parts.”

  “It’ll all come to light now, including what UNAS is really doing with the psionics,” Cedrine said, lips pursed. “Thanks to global concerns over human-rights violations, UNAS will repeal the PAI Law and admit to crimes against humanity, though Fynn and other militia heads will take the fall for that. This journey you and Locke had to go on has changed the world for the better, little sister.”

  Via stared at her in dawning realization. “You knew all of this would happen, didn’t you? It wasn’t just me you saw when you shook Locke’s hand all those years ago. You saw this.”

  Cedrine’s perfect brows arched. “Darling, I told you—I always look for anything that affects me. The repeal of the PAI Law will make it safe to live out in the open, so that I may be worshipped as the goddess I am. Helping you was simply my way of getting what I wanted, so there’s no need to thank me.”

  Via wasn’t sure whether to snort or swear when the door suddenly opened to admit an irritated-looking Locke. His disgruntled frown vanished the moment he spied Via. Ignoring Cedrine, he joined Via on the low-slung sofa and pulled her onto his lap.

  “Via.” With a long sigh, he nestled his face in the curve of her neck. “I was worried about you.”

  “Ah, your interview must be over.” Hopping to her feet, Cedrine made a beeline for the door. “Time to remind someone they can’t exist without me.”

  “I think Cedrine might be the most diabolical person I’ve ever met,” Via commented when the door swung shut behind their hostess. “And that includes Fynn. Are you okay?”

  “Outstanding, now.” Pressing his lips against her throat, Locke suddenly jerked back.

  Via looked at him, alarmed. “What?”

  “How do I know I’m not still hacked?”

  She relaxed enough to smile. “They wouldn’t do that.”

  “They’re your parents, of course they’d do that. Shyte, I can’t believe it,” he muttered, shaking his head. “My woman’s parents are the hackers known as the Lady Pirate.”

  “Mom is the voice and social conscience of the pair, and Daddy is the hacker,” she tried to explain yet again, when the first part of his statement sank in. “Whoa. Your woman?”

  “I wonder what they think of me.” Locke sighed and for just a moment he looked ancient. “Your parents must think I’m a monster, considering the role I played in Fynn’s scheme.”

  “You saved my life, kept my secret, then agreed to let them hack into your neurolinks in order to stop Fynn. You’re a hero, Charles Locke.”

  The sound of his full name seemed to surprise him out of his gloom. “Say that again.”

  She smiled into his cyberoptics. “You’re my hero, Charles Locke.”

  A corner of his mouth curled. “Charles Locke, huh? I’ve been a Lifer so long, I don’t even know who Charles Locke is.”

  “I do.” Enchanted, she kissed that curled corner. “You’re the man I trust to always do the right thing. You’re the man who wishes to protect those who can’t protect themselves. You’re the man I love.”

  “Love?” The word seemed to hit him like a sock full of rocks, and he stared at her as though he’d never seen her before. “You…love me?”

  She lifted a brow at his bewildered tone. “Is love a zero factor?”

  “No, it’s… I don’t really know what it is, Via.”

  “Ah. Well, let me show you.” And with that she kissed him again, opening the floodgates of joy and tenderness, of passion and everlasting devotion. Of belonging, of rightness, of friendship and loyalty. It was that simple, that complex.

  It was that perfect.

  When Via at last lifted her head, Locke’s face was filled with something akin to wonder.

  “Is that what love is?” he breathed, touching her lips with his fingers. “That overwhelming need to hold you, to cherish you as the precious treasure you are? To never want to leave you, and
to suffer when you’re not by my side? That’s what this is?” He indicated his chest as if he’d run out of words to describe the enormity of what he felt.

  Joy overflowed in Via’s heart as she rested her forehead against his. “That’s what that is,” she whispered, kissing his fingers as the banked embers of desire flared to life once more. “The love I’ve found in you is the most important thing in my life. It could never be a zero factor.”

  “No more zero factors for me,” he vowed, slipping the buttons of her shirt free before smiling up at her. “From now on, you are the only mission in my life.”

  About the Author

  Stacy Gail would love to announce that she is an accomplished concert pianist and can speak seven different languages. Unfortunately, she can’t. “Chopsticks” was the only piano tune she ever mastered, and her idea of speaking another language equates to talking with a funny accent.

  There are, however, a couple of things Stacy can do—figure skate and write romances.

  While skating competitively from the age of eight and learning that perseverance is the true key to success, she began to write stories in between skating events to pass the time. By the age of fourteen, she told her parents she was either going to be a figure skating coach who was also a published romance writer, or a romance writer who was also a skating pro.

  Amazingly enough, both dreams have now come true.

  For more news on Stacy Gail’s upcoming releases (or to uncover the latest trouble into which she’s landed herself), feel free to take a peek:

  Blog: http://stacygail.blogspot.com/

  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=100002015699203&sk=wall

  Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Stacy_Gail_

  Look for these titles by Stacy Gail

  Coming Soon:

  Best Man, Worst Man

  Rule number one: Run from the Shadows. Unless one knows the secret that will save you.