Sanctuary 2 (The Foliage Series Book 4)

by Aline Riva

  As she walked with the unexpected visitor through the secure gates that led to Death Row, Governor Black was tense, as beside her walked a shapely woman whose dark skin looked glowing with beauty against the white satin dress she wore that clung to her curves as her dark hair fell almost to her shoulders, and looked groomed to perfection. Her make up was immaculate and she looked as if she has just stepped out of an old world beauty salon – and she was about to visit Lynch, and there was nothing she could do to stop her because Stephanie was the wife of the Premier, also the Culture Minister, and basically, that gave her not only a place in the ruling circle but the power to do what ever she damn well liked....

  “I understand your interest in the General given that as minster for culture you wish to take an interest in the cyborg race,” Black said, “But really...must you insist on a black out? This is highly irregular, if the cameras are off and Lynch attacks you -”

  “He won't do that,” she replied, giving her a knowing glance, “We go back a long way. I remember the battle to win this city...I was there, and so was he!”

  Then she paused to shoot a hard stare at the Governor, “I am pro cyborg and I make no secret of it, I also carry great influence in the hiring and firing around here...” she snapped her fingers and held out her hand, “Camera controls, please.”

  Black handed over a remote control and Steph smiled.

  “Thank you, now I will see General Lynch, and I require the viewing window to his cell to be shielded, please.”

  “As you wish,” Black muttered, waving aside guards as she slammed up the metal cover to the window set in the door of the prisoner's cell, and then she unlocked it.

  “You have a visitor,” she announced, and stepped aside to allow Steph to pass, then she closed the door and locked it behind her.

  As she stood in the cell, Steph raised the remote and turned off the cameras.

  Lynch had been sitting on his bed in the corner of the room, his shirt off after he had bathed his burnt chest and now had a damp hand towel wrapped about his fractured wrist. He looked up and met her gaze as she stared at him in shock. Felix looked battered and bruised and as she recalled how they had first met, when he had been so intimidating after she had freed him from the incubator at the tower on the day of the battle, she was stunned to see such a formerly aggressive man – and now a cyborg too - looking so injured.

  “Stephanie,” he said as he clutched at his wrist, “It's about time! Where the fuck is the Vice Premier? I need to see Sylvia Payton!”

  She blinked, looking bewildered as all her planned scenarios of finally being alone with her fantasy crush, who was deliciously half cyborg came tumbling down.

  “She is preparing paperwork in your defence for the debate on your sentence,” she replied, then she cast her gaze over his bare chest, where a raw wound glistened and his UNA tattoo was burned out.

  “Oh god no...they ...they did this? You've been tortured?”exclaimed Steph in horror.

  Felix clasped at his fractured wrist, looking down at it as every line on his face deepened as he fought a wave of sickening pain that went bone-deep, then he looked up at her, his steel gaze boring into her soft, dark eyes.

  “No,” he said in a voice heavily laced with sarcasm, “I paid a dominatrix to beat the shit out of me, what does it frigging look like to you?”

  Then he let the towel drop from his swollen wrist as he tugged at his belt and pulled down his zip, shifting awkwardly on the bed as he tugged at his clothing, exposing not only a groin plate that she had only ever fantasised about seeing in reality, but a large gash in his metallic thigh, where inside, wires had been cut.

  “They cut a major line from my leg to my spine...to partially paralyse me! I had to crawl to the fucking bathroom just to wrap a towel about my wrist!”

  Her jaw dropped.

  “I...I don't believe this...They can't do this to you! No, I won't allow it! I'm going straight to Sylvia!”

  “Finally!” Lynch muttered under his breath as he shifted awkwardly, his paralysed leg a dead weight as he adjusted his clothing, pulled up his zip and then struggled with his belt.

  “Let me help,” Steph said quickly, leaning closer and buckling his belt for him, as she did so she paused, her hands lingering on his belt as she met his gaze.

  “You scared me half to death when we first met. And then, after the explosion, I held you in my arms and willed you to live! And over the years...I've admired you very much, Felix...Very much.”

  Suddenly all that harsh fierceness in his gaze and tone wavered as a brief flash of panic came to his eyes as he realised Steph was coming on to him...and under these circumstances, too...

  “I'm flattered,” he said, unable to control a slight blush as he gave a hint of a smile, “In fact its funny you should say that - my beloved Elise, my partner, the mother of my child says that to me all the time!”

  “And I will work with Sylvia to make sure you get back to her,” she vowed - with rather more passion that he wished to hear. Then to his dismay Steph lunged forward, planting a kiss on his unsuspecting lips as his eyes widened and he froze, pulling back from her until he was tight against the wall then finally, as she realised he was not responding, she let go of his shoulders and drew back, straightening up once more as her face flushed.

  “Sorry,” she said quickly, “I just wanted to boost your morale, General.”

  “You can do that by getting me some medical treatment and then telling Sylvia I've been tortured! And Steph...” he looked into her eyes, forcing a smile that he hoped was charming given her attraction to him, “Do all you can to get me out of here...I need to be with my family and I'll always be grateful to you for any help you can give...”

  Hope sprung alarmingly fast in her eyes as she nodded.

  “Yes, yes I will! I'll do that right away, Felix...”

  She hurried to the door and quickly turned back, flashing him a smile as her cheeks flushed.

  “We'll meet again under better circumstances...When this is over... You, me and some fine wine...I promise, I'll set you free!”

  He forced a grateful smile as she knocked on the door, it was unlocked and then she left, and as the heavy cell door closed behind her and the lock thudded into place, despite his pain Lynch breathed a relieved sigh then he shook his head, finding it ironic that he was actually glad to be locked up here alone once more – anything to keep Stephanie's hands off the half machine body that his Elise so adored...

  Chapter 6 : Plan and Schemes

  By nightfall, Jekel was back at the house. He had broken the bad news to Travis and spent more than an hour hugging his tearful son as he told him all he could promise was to be there for him as long as he could – how long that would be, was something nobody knew...

  And Joy had looked on feeling powerless as she struggled between the urge to comfort her son and the urge to put her fist into a wall as she looked at Ash and felt like her heart was tearing in half. And while this was happening, Del had moved into the house, taking the room across the hall from Joy and Jekel.

  When the former stage illusionist had been introduced to the man who had survived the Howler virus, he had stared at him at first, then nodded and said Hello, reasoning the world felt so crazy and unreal at the present time that looking at a man who almost appeared alien seemed perfectly unsurprising after all he had been through...

  Now it was growing late and Jekel was on the bed in a silk robe, thankful for the fact that he faced no more of the torturous Iv treatment. Riley had started him on the course of injections and already, he was starting to feel an improvement – most of the crippling weakness was lifted and the pain was fading out like a bad dream.

  “Maybe it's better like this,” he said as Joy got on the bed and joined him and he put his arm around her shoulder.

  She looked into his eyes, studied his face, noticed the awful pallor was gone from his complexion and a shine was coming back to his eyes – he looked like her Ashley Jekel once more, a
nd right now, it was hard to believe he had ever been so sick, or was facing an early death.

  “You mean its an end to the pain,” Joy said quietly.

  Jekel smiled sadly as his gaze locked with hers.

  “I'd rather spend the rest of my days not suffering than trying something based on a theory that could make the rest of my life a misery, and now he's got me on the shots I'm feeling better already. It means I can get on with life – who knows, maybe that alone will help me to live longer!”

  “It's not a magic potion,” she reminded him, “It's low dose Trizinaq combined with double dose pain relief.”

  “I know that, Riley said it's standard treatment for end stage life limiting connection failure. But its working and that's all I'm bothered about. I don't feel like I'm dying any more!”

  “But you are,” Joy said as her voice choked with emotion.

  Jekel pulled her closer, letting her sob against his shoulder as Joy tried and failed to stop the flow of her tears as the thought ran through her mind that it was her who should be comforting him and not the other way around...

  “I won't leave you until I have to,” he said softly as he held her, “You and Travis are more than enough reason for me to hold on as long as I can. But I'm going to make an announcement before the Festival. I want the fans to know it's my last one. Then when it's over we can spend all the time I have left together as a family.”

  Joy's face was streaked with tears as she raised her head from his shoulder.

  “I never knew you could be so brave,” she said softly.

  Jekel ran his hand over her hair as he looked into her eyes fondly.

  “Neither did I,” he replied frankly, “You simply don't know how to do it until you have to.”

  Down the hill in the town of Bullet, while Flynn and Kait were serving customers in the bar, upstairs, Fi was in her room, and her mother believed she had gone to bed, but she was still up and dressed because she had seen something strange from her window – her Mum had left the pub by the back door, looked about to be sure she wasn't followed, then unlocked the door of the motor home, gone inside and closed the door behind her. A light had gone on in the middle of the vehicle, but the refurbished motor home now had shades at the windows that were al pulled down and she couldn't see what she was doing in there. So Fi left the bedroom, went down the stairs and out the back door, creeping quietly over to the motor home, where she hoped her mother had not locked the door behind her.

  She reached the door at the mid section of the vehicle and tried the handle cautiously, and it opened with a quiet click.

  Inside the vehicle, Elise's head jerked up robotically as she stared down the walkway as she sat at the table, a pencil in her hand as she scratched over and over on to the paper as she drew another symbol.

  “Who's there?” she called out, then the door closed and Fi saw her mother and ran up towards the seating area.

  “Mum!” she exclaimed as she reached her, “What have you been doing?”

  And then Fi stood there beside the table, looking all about the place in fascination:

  Every inch of wall space was covered in paper, and on that paper were symbols she did not recognise, all drawn with her colouring pencils – the same ones that had gone missing from her room a few nights back...

  “I'm looking for something,” Elise replied, looking down at the table, searching the android part of her mind for the next sequence, then she smiled.

  “Got it!” she said excitedly, and drew a zero then an X through the zero, and looked at her daughter triumphantly.

  “It's a code,” she told her, “You know how I'm half android?”

  Fi nodded.

  “Well,” Elise explained, “Before I was half android I was a full android...I was a very special combat machine called an ESBA with something special – a full Protocol Five. I can't use it any more because the part of my brain it should interact with to activate is gone and replaced with human tissue – but if I can get the unlocking code I can take it out.”

  And she smiled again.

  Fi stared at her.

  “Take it out of your head, Mum?”

  “Yes, Fi! But I need to read the entire coding system from start to finish and then let my inner processor work on it for a few hours. Once I have the unlocking sequence I can take it out.”

  “But Mum...you can't just take something out of your head!” Fi warned her, “You need your robot parts.”

  Elise dismissed that remark as her eyes sparkled and she smiled warmly at her daughter.

  “When I was selected for the hybrid experiment that part of my mind was disconnected, it's only still there because it's a copy of the android wire cluster that links to the wiring that links to the human part of my mind. It's a spare part, it's a back up system and I don't need it!”

  Fi sat down at the table and looked at her mother in confusion.

  “So...if you don't use it why are you so pleased to get to it and take it out?”

  Elise was looking to the paper that plastered the walls, all filled with the colourful symbols, then she held out the final piece of paper, looking intently at it.

  “Okay... processing,” she said, then she blinked and looked at her daughter, laying the paper aside as she leant on the table and looked across it.

  “What did you say, Fi?”

  “Why are you doing this?”she asked her.

  The look in her eyes softened as she studied her daughters face in in that moment saw so much of Felix Lynch in her.

  “Because I used to be a very special android. I was a very highly programmed battle machine. I was chosen for the hybrid experiment because I was one of their best. And even though that tiny spare part with special programming and wiring is no good to me now, inside another android, it would turn them into an ESBA with full Protocol Five, and if we do that Riley can program the android...”

  She fell silent, looking into her daughter's innocent eyes.

  “To do what, Mum?” asked Fi.

  Elise looked down at the table, feeling an ache inside her heart that she could only liken to the pain she had felt stirring in her human half on the day she first saw Lynch after the explosion, when she had feared she would lose him...Now she feared losing him all over again. She reached across the table and gently clasped her daughters hands as she looked into her eyes.

  “If we can find a former UNA android with wiring sophisticated enough to accept connection and commands from my old ESBA neural unit, we can send that android into Freedom to rescue your Dad.”

  Fi's eyes widened.

  “But I've heard Lexie Flynn say if we fire one shot in Freedom City, there's going to be a war!”

  “No,” Elise promised her, “It won't be like that. An ESBA unit with Protocol Five can be fine tune commanded. Riley can tell the program the seek out your Dad and rescue him and ensure zero casualties. If no one gets killed, there's no war, sweetheart.”

  As hope shone in her mother's eyes, Fi looked at her in confusion.

  “But you can't know that.”

  “Yes I can. Protocol Five is very special. It's precise. But first we have to find an android that's up to the job and that's the hard part.”

  As she let go of her hands, Fi thought on all she had said.

  “What if we can't find one? What then, Mum?”

  Elise ran her fingers through her long dark hair as her eyes darted left and right as she checked the progress of her internal processor. It had a long way to go to crack the coding...

  “Well, we just have to hope the Premier keeps his word and reduces your Dad's sentence...But with the bombing in the city it looks like they will want to make an example of him even though he would never do something like that, even though what he did to get in trouble shouldn't even have been considered a crime. So we have to be ready for bad news if the deal goes wrong - and then, remember we have a plan of our own.”

  “So we can save Dad?”

  “Of course we will,” Elise s
aid as she desperately hoped she was not making an empty promise that her own heart wanted to believe, “Of course we'll save him. Your Dad's coming home no matter what!”

  It was early morning when Riley went to his desk in his grand study at the mansion house, sat down wearing a while, flowing shirt as jewelled rings adorned his fingers and he paused to admire them and hoped his majestic appearance would put some fear into the circle who ran Freedom as he opened up the lie, struggled for ten minutes to get a signal, then whacked the top of the box, and finally, the screen stopped rolling and he was face to face with the Premier, who looked rather startled to see King Steel glaring at him with his wild blue eyes as he laced fingers adorned with jewels and began to speak.

  “Morning, Premier. I would have made this call yesterday but I had a serious medical case to deal with – someone close to my heart...close to many hearts in the Valley, actually. How is Lynch?”

  Josh blinked, staring into the screen as static pricked the image of Riley, then he assembled a few words that he hoped would not spark a war....

  “Lynch is resting in his cell...He was subject to interrogation and unfortunately I wasn't there to oversee procedure. Sorry about that...He was injured but it's nothing that won't heal. I've seen to it that he's had medical attention. My wife alerted me to the situation...” Josh paused, silently recalling how he had been disturbed from a quiet evening at home by Steph and the Vice Premier entering the apartment together, yelling at him, calling him every name under the sun...

  “It was a matter of course to interrogate him after the bombings purely because of the timing and the fact that his charges, although not related, came under terrorism,” he cautiously explained, “And....and I have been assured this won't happen again...” Josh paused again, swallowing hard as he saw a spark of murderous rage in Riley's eyes and felt a shiver run up his spine.