Cryostorm (Touch of Frost)

by Lynn Rush

  “Jump? Wait, what?”

  Another knock on my ice.

  “You can fly,” he said.

  “Yeah, but you can’t.”

  “I can sustain the impact from landing two stories down.” He smiled. “Then I’ll speed us away.”

  “I expected a more intricate plan from a robot.”

  “Why be complicated when the answer is simple? They’ll take us in the office now to question us about the exercise and healing.” He combed his fingers through my hair as his eyes analyzed my face with such wonder. “You are a treasure.”

  “Nate, I—”

  “Follow my lead.”

  I nodded and pushed back getting ready to pull in the ice when Robo Nate’s hands cupped my cheeks. He held me steady, his gaze impaling me with intensity. God, I just wanted to see My Nate if even for a second. Soon maybe. Once out, and back to Brandon’s team, he’d have scientists that could extract the chip.

  Robo Nate pulled my face to his and touched a kiss to my lips, then my nose, then my eyes. Tears stung. I kept them closed, dreaming it was My Nate. In a way it was, because My Nate did that to me all the time. It was different this time, but I allowed it.

  Even enjoyed it.

  “Okay,” he whispered.

  I called in the ice. A drenched Bev looked down at me with murder in her eyes. I glanced at Robo Nate and smiled. His eyes squinted as if he was trying to pry into my mind to see what I was thinking.

  Robo Nate wanted to learn, right? It might be time for a fun little slippery floor prank on Miss Snooty Scientist.

  Then, we were out of here.

  Chapter 41

  “Nice stunt you pulled there, Mandy.” Bev limped into the office, rubbing her right butt cheek.

  I stifled a laugh and caught Robo Nate smiling as well as he stared at me in disbelief. I’d slicked the floor around where he and I were on the ground so when Bev turned to lead us from the room she wiped out.

  Classic pranks never went out of style.

  I plopped down into the seat facing Bev’s mahogany desk as she tossed Robo Nate a new shirt. I’d pretty much trashed the one he’d worn to get to his wound. I glanced around as he did his business putting it on.

  True to Robo Nate’s word, there were windows. Lots of them.

  They overlooked the open desert. The sun beamed down, baking the already dried bushes and desert brush. I couldn’t see anything for miles other than a sea of brown. Bev eased herself into the high back office chair and Nate stood near the windows, arms over his chest. He glanced over his shoulder and scanned the area.

  My heart lurched. We were really going to do this. Weren’t we?

  Bev was the only person in the office, beside Robo Nate and me. It couldn’t be more perfect. Of course there was a camera in the corner of the room, but if we worked fast enough, it wouldn’t matter. Of course, the fence surrounding the property concerned me a little. But Nate would have thought of that. Maybe he could jump really high? Carry us over it?

  Or, no, I could ice a ramp. Maybe some steps. Wasn’t sure how to do the steps thing. Never tried. But still. I could make a ramp of snow and—

  “Your behavior in the simulated fight was exemplary. You easily defeated several of our best agents.” Bev scribbled something on her paper. “Even with the element of surprise.”

  “You hurt Amanda. That was not part of the arrangement.” His voice was even. Tone solid and pitch utterly degrading.

  “You both needed to be taken by surprise. What were your thoughts during the fight, Mandy?”

  “Other than wanting to kill you?” I smiled. “Nothing really. Just to stay alive. To keep Nate—er—Robo Nate alive.”

  “How is your healing ice different than the ice you use in battle?” Bev scribbled more on her notepad, which was of course connected to her clipboard. I really wanted to shove that thing down her throat. I usually wasn’t such a violent person, but all this crap with The Center, GenCorp, and Robo Nate was really warming me up to the idea of going nuclear with the ice on this place.

  “Mandy?”

  “It’s Amanda.” I shook my head. “I don’t know. It just is.”

  Bev looked to Robo Nate. “It’s not as cold as her lethal ice. Felt more soothing as it entered my injuries. I am unable to describe it more.”

  “Unable or unwilling?”

  “Excuse me?” I said. “It’s hard to describe what I can do. I don’t know how I can do it or how it’s different. It’s what I tell it to be. If I’m thinking heal the ice heals. If not, it just is.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I said. “You know what? Never mind. I’m done trying to figure out your sick scientific mind. Are we finished yet?” I pushed myself up to my feet.

  “No. We’re not.” She nailed Robo Nate with a glare. “Why have you not mated with her as your programming indicates is priority number one?”

  I flinched at the term mated. These guys had no couth, did they? Mating, inseminating, I mean, really. What was I, just a little… Oh, I shouldn’t even finish that. They wouldn’t do that, would they? Of course they would. They’d use me as an incubator no problem. I mean, they killed my folks, poked and prodded, played God, why wouldn’t they do that?

  I inched toward Robo Nate. Even the prospect of being with him was better than whatever they would do to get me pregnant.

  “Josiah?” Bev asked.

  This time he flinched. He did that every time Bev used his given name. It had to be the My Nate remembering his time at The Center as Josiah. Slave to the sickos there. Planning my mom’s capture.

  Man our relationship was complicated. I shook my head.

  “It’s a study. Nothing else.”

  “Of…” Bev set her pencil aside, never taking her intense stare from him.

  Warm hands encompassed my shoulders, and my back brushed against the front of Robo Nate’s body.

  “Of my soulmate’s needs. The dynamics of pleasing a female. Wooing her as humans do. It’s very intriguing.” His voice went flat as he spoke. “There are unspoken rules of engagement with the opposite sex. I sacrificed the window of fertility this month to investigate this phenomenon.”

  “Interesting,” Bev said.

  “Do not worry. I plan to mate Amanda at her next cycle. Each day. She will be pregnant within two months.”

  My stomach clenched. I wanted to blurt out, like hell, but I didn’t. He said to follow his lead, but I hadn’t expected it to take this turn. He spoke with such certainty. What if I refused? Would he go crazy on me again like he did at the rest stop? Then at the town when I met him alone?

  No. We’d have him removed from Nate’s brain before then. I had to trust that. I had to believe it or I would have melted to the floor crying. Nineteen and pregnant by a mutant. I’d probably have a two-headed baby with all the junk The Center had done with everything.

  “Amanda? How do you feel about this?”

  “Do I really have a choice? But I’d like to see him get through the ice I’ll cover my lower half in.” I sank my elbow in his gut. He leaned forward and gasped.

  He clasped his iron fingers around the back of my neck. His lips brushed my ear. “Freeze her,” he whispered. “Then the window.”

  My pleasure.

  He kissed my cheek. “She will come around. I will make sure of it.”

  “I will not wait another month, Josiah, if this doesn’t work.” Bev shuffled some papers. “We will resume—”

  I raised my hand and sprayed. I let it stream. In the next instant, Robo Nate darted around the room like a pinball. I pointed my other hand at the window. My heart clamored to get out of my chest through my throat, both with fear and with hope.

  In a whirlwind, Robo Nate was next to me again. He held several pieces of electronics. They dangled and one even sizzled.

  I glanced at him.

  “Cameras.”

  I cut the stream to Bev. She was nothing more than a pile of ice and snow. Robo Nat
e approached the frozen window, and I cut that stream as well. He picked up the wooden chair that sat in front of Bev’s desk and stepped back.

  With one quick motion, he tossed the furniture through. “Tempered glass. Needed it more brittle.”

  “Oh.” Yeah, I wouldn’t have thought of that.

  “Go.”

  “Will you be okay?”

  He cocked his head.

  “It’s a long way down. I could help soften the landing for you.”

  “Oh, yes. You softened the landing for Nate when the helicopters had procured him.”

  I nodded and stepped to the window. Wind whipped through the opening and my loose hair slapped against my eyes. Several guards started making their way around the sides of the buildings.

  “We must hurry. I’ll be fine.”

  I hated the idea of him jumping that far. He could get hurt and then not run with us very fast. What if—

  He planted his hand against my back and then behind my knees. In a flash I was up in his arms and he launched me out the opening. My stomach jumped up into my throat as I plummeted to the ground.

  I put my arms out, palms down, and shot the snow out with jet speed as I bolted upward. Cutting the power, I floated toward the ground. Robo Nate dropped past me and landed with the ease of a cat.

  He looked up and out went his arms to catch me. I had my target so I thrusted to the side and cut the flow. I landed in his strong arms, curled mine around his neck, and he was off. My surroundings blurred into oblivion as I held on tight, burying my face in his neck.

  His pulse hammered against my forehead.

  Sooner than I expected, we stopped. I pulled my face from his neck to look. We stood next to a playground. No kids on it, but the green and blue equipment shone in the sun like an altar.

  “Why’d we stop?”

  “I am strong and fast, but I still need rest.”

  “Where are we?”

  He eased me down. “Edge of California, nearing Nevada. You wish to return to GEM, correct?”

  I nodded. Maybe Scott would be there by now. Had to be. But Robo Nate would go to GEM? That didn’t make sense.

  “We will get a room so I can rest then procure a car for the remainder of the journey.” He took my hand in his and guided me forward.

  “We could get a car now. I’ll drive while you sleep. How far until Aspen?”

  “Several hours. We need food and to rest.”

  “No. I need to get to Georgia. If we stop, Bev will find us. They’ll—”

  “They will not find us. We will rest.” His grip tightened. “I will not sleep while you drive.”

  “Please.” I went to twist my hand from his grip, but it was too strong. Instead, he pulled me close to him, studying me with his wonder-filled eyes. Tears stung. “I—I just want to go home.”

  “You have no home. Aspen is not home. You—”

  I pounded my fist on his chest. Such a robot. No clue. My Nate would know what I meant. My Nate would sweep me into a big hug and kiss my sadness away. Robo Nate would never be—

  Two warm arms wrapped around me, encompassing my shoulders. His hand palmed the back of my head and pressed me close to his chest. Light kisses touched the top of my head and another hand brushed gently up and down my spine.

  Could it be My Nate breaking through? My tears didn’t seem to care, because they spilled over. Streamed down my cheeks like acid against my skin.

  “Amanda.” Robo Nate was still intact it seemed. “I’m sorry.”

  I hugged him tighter.

  “Please. I know you haven’t been sleeping at night. I’m tired from the run. We’ll eat, rest, and then get a car. Travel under the cover of darkness is better, anyway.” He pushed my hair away from my face and smiled. “I will get you to your family quickly.”

  “Why are you doing this for me?”

  “Because you are my soulmate. I want to please you.”

  “So I’ll sleep with you?”

  He nodded. Such honesty, yet such cluelessness.

  “Already learning the manipulative ways of men, I see.”

  Chapter 42

  “Eat,” Robo Nate said, pushing the tray toward me. “You need nourishment.”

  Yeah, right. Had to keep me healthy for baby bearing.

  The hustle and bustle of the fast food restaurant had me on edge. So much noise, clanking, and talking. What if Bev’s goons barged in?

  “We’re safe,” Robo Nate said, biting into his burger.

  Something about his words calmed me. If anything, I knew he’d never let harm come to me. He needed me. Well, his programming did.

  And I needed food.

  I dove into my burger, keeping a keen eye on the door as people came and went.

  “You are very alert. It’s impressive.” Nate—er—Robo Nate took a long draw of soda from his straw. “How’d you learn that?”

  “Being on the run for so many years. Nate taught me plenty, too.” I reached for my French fries.

  “How did you come to love him so deeply in such a short time?”

  “Can’t control love. It just happened.” Let’s see, because he’s amazingly kind, selfless, considerate, strong, dedicated, gorgeous… Easy to fall in love with that.

  “And this promise ring. That’s a pledge, yet not engagement.”

  “Exactly.” I glanced at the treasure Nate gave to me. “It’s a step. Remember?”

  He nodded. “I remember how much pleasure it gave him to give that to you. Felt how it connected you.”

  So did I. Nate had touched me in ways no man ever had that night. Heck, I was ready to have sex that night when he’d said he wanted to wait until marriage.

  “What’s it like…when My Nate breaks through?”

  “You mean when I allow him through?”

  “Nice try, buddy. He broke through you a couple of times.”

  Robo Nate’s jaw tensed, then he took another bite of his burger as if contemplating what I’d said.

  “You are right. He did break through. I’ve said this before. He is strong.”

  “Does it hurt you? Or…him? What’s it like?”

  “A headache, and a flash of white is the only way I can describe it. And then I feel like I did before.” He glanced away as he took a sip of his drink. “Like I’m looking at everything through a filter. Detached. Like there is a disconnect.”

  “But you can see.”

  “Bits. Flashes and images, but mostly feelings. The feelings are what allows me to experience what is happening.”

  “How does he break through? Or how do you let him through?”

  “My programming dominates his synaptic input and output. So, if I choose to step back, he comes forth. But…somehow he was able to override me on a few occasions.”

  Was?

  “I’ve remedied that.” He grinned. “He is quite genius. His creators did well.”

  I ground my molars until a slight headache bloomed at the base of my skull. His creators. The fucking Center.

  “May I be with you tonight? When we get back to our hotel?”

  “Depends on what you mean by be with me. And didn’t you say we were leaving after we ate and rested? To ride under the cover of night?”

  “Yes. We’ll leave when it’s dark, but until then, I would like to be close to you. Hold you as I did at our apartment.”

  My cheeks flushed. I’d allowed him to cuddle with me in bed each night. But nothing more. Surprisingly, I’d slept better those nights.

  Then again, when I’d healed him today I sure kissed him good. The fact that he was asking permission to sleep with me reminded me of when My Nate first asked to kiss me. How direct and matter of fact he was about it. How bold. He’d always said it was because he knew what he wanted and would risk getting hurt to experience it.

  Seemed this Robo Nate was running the same course. I didn’t want to want to sleep with him. But I really did want to be close to him. Kiss those yummy lips. Feel his smooth skin. At the same time it fel
t like a major betrayal of My Nate, though.

  “I’m not having sex with you, Robo Nate.” I shoved a fry in my mouth. “Remember, he wants to wait until marriage. There are steps to relationships.”

  “But you didn’t want to wait, did you?” He leaned forward. “That’s unusual. Males are more geared toward having sex. They are usually not the ones wanting to wait for marriage.”

  Busted. “If you have his memories, then you know why.” I ate the last bite of my burger. “Ready to leave?”

  He nodded. “I’ll get you some chocolate ice cream for dessert.”

  I wasn’t sure where he’d gotten the money for our hotel and food, but at this point, I didn’t want to know. His curiosity intrigued me. At some moments he was so robotic, then others… Like now, he stood in line to get me dessert. Then before, back at GenCorp, all the gifts and treats he’d given me.

  He really was trying to romance me, wasn’t he? And if I was honest with myself, he was doing pretty well, too.

  Within two minutes he approached with a tall, chocolate ice cream cone and a smile filled his face.

  “Here you go.” He leaned forward and kissed the tip of my nose.

  “Ahhh, you two are the cutest couple ever!” a girl said as she and her friends walked past us to the line.

  Robo Nate’s eyes lit up, and his smile widened as his chest puffed up. He beamed with pride.

  I couldn’t help but smile.

  “Ready?” he asked, nodding to the door.

  We stepped out into the sunshine, me licking my cone. It was only a block to our hotel, but I sure enjoyed the fresh air and sun. I’d been cooped up in that damn research center for a week, and I was feeling it.

  Warm fingers brushed mine, then twined between each. He did it with such a familiar ease. He was learning well.

  We walked in silence to the hotel room, and I’d finished my cone as he opened the door for us. A TV was propped on the wall, opposite the two beds, and on the far wall a door led to a small bathroom.

  The drapes were drawn so only a halo of light around them illuminated the room. Robo Nate shut and locked the door, then nodded toward the bed. “Let’s rest. I’ll set the alarm to wake us.”