I, Android: A Different Model

by Heather Killough-Walden

  “You’ve got good instincts,” said Jack with a wary eye toward Cole. “Lieutenant Black was passed over three times for promotion because he doesn’t know how to use his words to solve problems within the department. He would be a chief by now, otherwise. The only reason he hasn’t been fired altogether is because of his brother.”

  At the mention of Nicholas Byron, I realized he wasn’t in the room with us. And now I had even more questions.

  But before I could ask any, Lucas looked at Jack and, with no small amount of sarcasm he said, “He would seem to take after you, Captain.”

  Jack blinked at him. Then he slowly smiled and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Crap, I’m oh-for-two today.”

  Cole considered Lucas carefully and leaned in to whisper in my ear again. “I’m beginning to hate the plastic asshole a little less. He’s got a sense of humor.”

  Lucas surely heard him this time, seeing as how Cole wasn’t trying to be as quiet. And he’d probably heard Cole the first time too, given his android capabilities. But either he didn’t care or he was definitely the more mature between the two of them because he still chose not to address the insults. Instead, the android calmly walked around the bed toward Cole, who sat back again, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

  Lucas stopped inches from the seated cop and turned to face me fully. For his part, Cole appeared to be remarkably unafraid of the powerful android he had just insulted.

  Nevertheless, Lucas would have had a much easier time reaching me by coming to the other side of the bed, where no one was sitting and there was plenty of room. He was doing this to prove some kind of point. Either to remind Cole of the power difference between them… or – and this thought gave me a strange thrill – to assert his dominance when it came to his girlfriend in the face of a new male competitor. Knowing Lucas and the way he covered all his bases, I was betting it was both.

  Lucas reached out to take my hand on the hospital bed covers. His fingers curled possessively around mine before his expression changed, becoming so starkly concerned and apologetic, that I rapidly forgot about Cole’s misconduct and remembered why he would feel apologetic. In other words, I remembered the way Lucas had inadvertently injured me when he’d torn me from Zero’s grasp.

  Now I knew why it had happened though; the Anthrocore had been moving through my system. Under normal circumstances, the action would not have injured me at all and would have freed me from my captor. Lucas had indeed behaved rather harshly and without much thought to consequence, but he certainly wasn’t to blame for the medical mishap.

  Yet he still looked like he’d been stressing about it since I’d passed out. He leaned over the bed so he was speaking into my ear and whispered, “How are you feeling, Beautiful?” As with the first time he’d used the term of endearment with me, he said it fervently, as if he truly believed it. And that sent a string of something warm uncoiling inside me. His tone had changed when he addressed me, becoming more intimate, and his gray eyes genuinely searched mine when he straightened a little to capture my gaze.

  I knew those eyes were searching other things too, of course – those damn android readings – but at the moment, I didn’t really care. I was content to be there with him, seeing him whole and well and not strapped to Zero’s torture table, covered in Vulcan blood.

  I tried to squeeze his hand back, but when I did, it sent a little more pain up through my arm. So I backed off and said, “I’m good,” I told him reassuringly. I honestly was. “There’s almost no pain.”

  “Chalk one up for opiates,” said Cole with a broad smile.

  To which Sonia, who stood at the foot of the bed with the others, wryly said, “You would.”

  But Jack interjected in Cole’s defense. “Hey, I’m a veteran cop and I’ll still take the lieutenant’s side on this one right now. Thank God for good drugs. Pain sucks.”

  I laughed at that. He wasn’t wrong. “I gotta know though,” I said as I looked down at my wrists. “How did you guys get Zero’s cuffs off me?” I distinctly remembered still having them on when I’d passed out.

  Jack had the answer to this. “The one-time emergency release code was sent to the hospital, and when you arrived the hospital officials used it right away.”

  I looked at Jack. “Who sent it?”

  “Vector Fifteen,” he said after an ominous pause. His expression was grim as he met my gaze.

  But I’d already known that would be the answer. There was something going on here, in this hospital, that had IRM-1000 written all over it. I wasn’t sure what, exactly. But the fact that it was the only fully-staffed hospital in several states and staffed both androids and humans without inter-departmental incident spoke volumes. Zero’s apparent ability to influence what happened here was icing on the strange cake. I was having a hard time ignoring it all.

  His scope of power was filling me with trepidation.

  “Guys, where’s Nicholas?” I asked, looking from one member of Prometheus to the other in turn.

  Sonia had a strange smirk on her face when she said, “Nicholas hightailed it out of here when this asshole showed up,” she nodded at Cole. “The lieutenant came with a contingent of cops to run round-the-clock guard duty on this entire floor of the hospital. He almost wasn’t going to let us in to see you.” She glared at Cole. But that small smile was still there.

  Cole just gave her a lopsided shit-eating grin. It was cannon Cole.

  “That’s why we weren’t here when you regained consciousness,” said Lucas by way of explanation. He looked truly pained by the fact that he’d seemingly broken his promise to be here when I woke up.

  Behind him, Cole’s smirk grew. I was glad Lucas couldn’t see it.

  “It’s true,” confirmed Sonia. “I had to threaten the lieutenant with a certain limb detachment to make him sneak us in here,” continued Sonia, crossing her arms over her chest.

  Cole eyed her and drawled, “That particular limb would take you an inordinately long time to saw through, sweetheart. You should have threatened a leg.”

  I could have sworn something was going on between the two of them then. Not that Cole wasn’t a goddamn flirt who would have romanced the gurney I was on if the pillows had been more round – and firm. It was just that I was beginning to get the feeling there was more going on here in general than they were all letting on.

  “Okay,” I said, choosing to let it go for now. There was something I needed. I released Luke’s hand and turned to Nanuk. “Come here boy,” I said, no longer able to hold back my enthusiasm in seeing the dog. He wagged his fluffy tail zealously at being finally noticed and lumbered his enormous body around the bed. When he reached my side, he gently brushed up against Luke’s leg. I knew from experience that if Luke hadn’t been an android, Nanuk’s size would have caused the leg to buckle.

  Lucas obligingly stepped back out of the way. He smiled in that way that made my soul smile back. “Easy, Nanuk!” I instructed. “You have to watch out for people, remember?” Nanuk stopped, tilted his head to the side adorably as he stared up at me, then gave me a small grrruff and great big tail wag before spinning around and jumping on Luke to lick his face in apology.

  I let out a bewildered laugh. Nanuk’s actions could only mean that he’d understood me perfectly. And people didn’t think animals were intelligent.

  Lucas let out a laugh too. Then he gave Nanuk a scratch on his head to let him know he was forgiven before the beast got down and turned to me again. Without hesitation, he proceeded to thoroughly lick my outstretched hand.

  “Awww… if you were a third the size you are Nanuk, I’d have Luke put you in the bed with me.” I wanted to hug him so badly.

  “Aaaaand now I’m jealous of the dog,” Cole muttered, chewing on his cheek as he watched us happily interact.

  I shot him a warning look. But when Sonia chuckled and suggestively added, “You and me both, Lieutenant,” I turned wide eyes on her. She shrugged her faux bad girl shrug and played faux innocent. />
  Cole said, “Okay, that is just fucking hot.”

  And half of Prometheus suddenly said, “Language!” as Charlotte covered Mabel’s ears. But they were smiling.

  Cole held up his hands in placation. “Sorry!” He smiled too, blushing. “Christ. I’m not used to a rug rat being underfoot.”

  I turned and winked at Mabel – who was grinning because she and every other member of Prometheus knew damn well she’d already heard every bad word in the book. We were rebels, not saints.

  Then I turned to address Jack. Maybe it was because he was the oldest member of Prometheus, but sometimes I found myself just naturally turning to him for answers. “Jack, when can I get out of here?”

  “That’s….” He looked suddenly uncomfortable, all signs of revelry dropping away as he put his hands on his hips, shifted his stance, and looked sidelong at Cole. “It’s sort of complicated, Sam.”

  “What do you mean, ‘complicated’?” I asked.

  Cole sighed. When I glanced at him, it was to find the smarmy cocksure expression entirely gone and replaced by a look a lot more serious and grown up than one I’d ever seen him wear. He sat forward, placing his elbows on his knees. He did it exactly the way Zero did it, and for a split second, I was thrown.

  But I got over it quick and listened.

  “When the order came through the department for your protection, I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “And I jumped at the chance to see you again, Sam. But when I got here and recognized Daniel for who he was,” he nodded at Daniel – who still hadn’t said anything and was simply watching everything carefully – “I realized you were working with Prometheus.” He gave a meaningful pause, and I think I may have blushed. He was a cop. And Prometheus was pretty much as vigilante law-breaking as you could get.

  “But I know you,” he continued, “and I know you wouldn’t do something you didn’t believe was the right thing to do. And if you believed this was right, then it probably was.” He sighed. “So I tried to find out who the security detail order came from, and that’s where I ran into red lights. The chief is tight lipped about this one.” He shook his head, his dark blue eyes flashing. “The scared kind of tight lipped.”

  “We believe IRM-1000 has someone in the Columbus Police Department on his payroll,” Daniel finally said. His voice was so calm, collected, and mature that it had instant leadership effects on the group, including me.

  “Along with most likely the entire hospital,” added Cole. “And more than a few people outside the hospital. The captain tells me this IRM-1000 runs most, if not all of Pittsburgh – along with neighboring cities and even some areas in neighboring states. I’m getting the impression his financial and influential arms are longer than anyone at first suspected, and certainly long enough to stretch to Columbus. Plus, the Wexner family has all sorts of political connections, always has.”

  Wexner was the name of the hospital, which was technically a part of Columbus University, which was also largely funded by Wexner. I wouldn’t have been at all surprised to find that Zero was in bed with the Wexners either.

  “Which means it may be difficult to extract you from the facilities, Sam,” said Daniel.

  “In truth, that’s why it was hard for me to get your friends in here,” Cole said seriously. “I’m under direct orders to keep all non-essentials well away, and arrest anyone who makes any trouble.”

  And now I knew why Lucas hadn’t been bothered by Cole’s insults. Lucas knew he didn’t mean them. That was why Sonia hadn’t actually been mad at him either. They were all on the same side, working together in this. I couldn’t have said how relieved I was to hear that. For the first time in days, something seemed to be going right.

  But there was still so much wrong – and there were still so many questions. I didn’t even have time to ask any of them before Jack spoke again.

  “We had to drug Lieutenant Black’s partner,” Jack told me, looking distinctly uncomfortable with this bit of information. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and looked around nervously. “Eye drops in his coffee. I swear I never thought I’d use that trick on someone’s partner.” He cleared his throat. “Not again, anyway.”

  I frowned, choosing to ignore the humor in what he’d just said because something else he’d just said caught my attention more. “Wait. You called him Lieutenant Black earlier too.” I turned to Cole. “Black?”

  Cole shrugged. “Too much publicity tied into my real name,” he said. I knew what he meant; his brother was more than famous. “So I chose another.”

  I processed that and then blinked, looking between the two police officers. “Wait. You had to put a cop out of commission to do this?”

  Cole ran a hand over his mouth in a sign that he was amused, but also stressed. I watched him as he gestured to Nanuk. “The dog was actually the easiest to get in. I pulled fast strings and registered him as a therapy dog. Can’t believe that shit still flies.” He looked up at Charlotte and company. “Then that little ring leader there,” he smiled at Mabel, who beamed proudly back at him, “led Lex, Charlotte, and the dog through the guest’s entrance. With the therapy tags, they waltzed right in. Once my partner tucked into the men’s room to alleviate his sudden intestinal discomfort, I slipped Daniel and Lucas back here to clean the room.”

  By “clean the room,” Cole no doubt meant check for bugs.

  “Once they were done, they hid in the ladies room. They made the whole thing faster and easier by changing into hospital staff wardrobes, then waited in a stall for my call.”

  Cole nodded at Jack now. “The captain slapped a pair of cuffs on Sonia and came in on his own cognizance, claiming she was a key witness in an android homicide who’d been injured during an altercation and was in need of new biocomponents before she could be processed. His badge and her drama skills did the rest of the talking for them.”

  He gave Sonia a cheeky look. She smiled and drawled, “I have many skills.”

  His brow shot up. “Xena,” he admitted, nailing the old school reference. Then he grinned. “Nice.”

  But I frowned. I tried to swallow and couldn’t because my throat was too dry. So then I looked down at the bed and just tried to wrap my head around everything they were telling me. It was a lot to take in. They’d gone to a ton of trouble to get in here to see me. Exactly how long had I been out? And why would they go to such great lengths to be in this hospital room when I woke up? Why not just wait?

  And something else didn’t add up. If Cole was actually on our side, then why was so Nicholas so hesitant to see his brother? Where the hell was Nicholas? He wouldn’t have actually left in a huff upon seeing Cole if we were all working together, would he?

  “Cole, where is Nick really?” I asked.

  He reached behind him for the glass of water on the bedside table and brought the straw to my lips as he said, “Running surveillance.”

  I gratefully drank as Lucas filled me in from where he again stood beside the bed. “He’s been keeping watch for any sign of Zero or his men,” he told me. “He’s parked in a van across the street, where he’s been for the last thirty-one hours.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  I almost choked on the water, but Cole pulled the straw away. I managed to swallow what remained in my mouth while I reeled over the time that had passed. The surgery surely hadn’t taken that long. It was very routine. So what happened?

  “You were exhausted,” said Lucas as if he could read my mind. I glanced at his ear, looking for Nicholas’s co-crest. But it wasn’t there. Luke didn’t have to read my mind; as usual, he just knew what I was thinking. “I believe it had been somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty-six hours since you’d slept before you even underwent the surgery.”

  Knowing androids and their Vulcan-like calculations, “somewhere in the neighborhood” no doubt actually meant exactly.

  “And your system needed vast amounts of rest to begin repairing the damage the poison caused,” said Charlotte. It was the fi
rst time she’d really spoken up. But she was the ultimate mothering type, so discussing rest or rehabilitation was right up her alley.

  Beside her, Lex shifted a little, preparing to talk. Lex had always been an android who gave new dimension to the term, “strong and silent type.” He was very strong and he was very silent. However, he and Charlotte shared a special bond. He’d saved her life when they first met. Now they were what humans would call soul mates.

  When Charlotte spoke up, it often seemed to embolden him enough to add his two cents if he felt them worth adding. Which he did now. “Angel, the reason we had to go to these lengths to get in here is because… we need to get you out of here.”

  Charlotte nodded. “We wanted to at least wait until you woke up on your own. Just to give you that extra bit of healing. But now that you’re awake,” she paused and rolled her shoulders back, “we need to leave.”

  “She’s right,” said Lucas. The expression on his beautiful face was earnest, and his storm-wrought eyes were intense. “I’m afraid we’ll have to move you, Samantha. We’ve taken every precaution we can to keep you from sustaining damage while we do. But if we’re right, IRM-1000 controls everything that happens at this hospital. Which means he’s most likely been informed that your critical treatment has passed and you’re recovering.”

  “And… he’s most likely on his way,” said Daniel.

  “That’s assuming he isn’t here already,” added Cole under his breath. Which was exactly what I had been thinking.

  I glanced at the orchids, and I felt myself blanch. Zero had made references to orchids…. I was absolutely certain the flowers had been sent by him, if not placed here by him personally. “Guys, you said you cleaned the room. Did you check the orchids?”

  Daniel nodded. “We removed several devices from them, and more from the room in general.” He glanced at the window. “From the van he rigged outside, Byron ran a scan of the entire facility for interference signatures. Our immediate area is clean for the time being. But that’s unfortunately both good and bad.”