“What now?” John asked.
He had driven the rover to this point without any additional questions, but it hadn’t been the usual comfortable silence between them.
“Do you think Winston is all right?”
He had told the horse to follow them but remain out of sight, and there was no sign of him now. John ran his fingers over his arm, then nodded. “Yes. He’s in the rocks behind us.”
“Then let’s give this a try. I have an override code. It should work for all GenCon facilities.”
He nodded quietly, then pulled on a breathing mask before helping her down from the rover. He was playing the part of her human bodyguard, although she didn’t see how anyone could look at him and not know that he was more than human. Her gaze drifted admiringly over his big body before she brought her attention back to the matter at hand. The control panel was located in the identical position as the one to the hidden city near New Arcadia, and she found it easily. As she punched in the override, she found herself holding her breath. For a long, silent moment, nothing happened, then she heard the distant scrape of rock and the wall moved to one side.
Straightening her shoulders, she strode confidently into the tunnel.
Unlike the entrance to the hidden city, this tunnel led not to a vast cavern but a small atrium with more tunnels leading away on all sides. Before she could decide which one to take, a tall man in a white coat with the stooped shoulders of a scientist came hurrying towards them.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?”
John immediately stepped forward, but the man paid no attention to him, his eyes fixed on her face instead. “Ms. Gatling! I don’t understand. Why are you here?”
“Making an inspection, of course,” she said coolly. “And you are?”
“Dr. Renfrey. But we weren’t expecting you.”
“Is that a problem?” She looked down her nose at him. “Surely you are prepared?”
“Yes, yes, of course.” He didn’t sound as confident as his words, and she watched him twist his hands together nervously. “But, um, I just need to check on a few things. You must have had a long trip. Perhaps you would prefer to rest first…”
She let him sweat for a moment, then inclined her head. “Very well. I assume the Director’s Suite is available?”
It was a calculated guess, but all GenCon facilities that she was aware of were outfitted with quarters for visiting officials.
“Yes, yes,” he repeated, a little more confidently this time, before casting a doubtful glance at John. “But we don’t have any staff quarters.”
“That is of no concern. He will remain with me and stand guard.”
“There’s nothing to worry about here,” Dr. Renfrey assured her.
“Company policy. Please show me to my rooms. As you said, it was a tiring journey.”
“Certainly. Right this way.” As he led the way into one of the tunnels, he babbled nervously about the progress they were making. Since she had no idea about the official purpose of the lab, she let him ramble on, but her silence obviously unnerved him and his words finally petered out as he came to a halt in front of a door.
“This is the suite,” he said, opening the door panel with an anxious look at her.
Interesting. It was just as elaborate as her rooms in New Arcadia. An exquisitely furnished central living area was flanked by an office to one side and a bedroom to the other. Instead of a view, the three rooms were gathered around another atrium, this one filled with an impressive display of plants.
“This is acceptable,” she said briskly, ignoring the doctor’s nervous smile. “I will give you one hour to make sure that everything is in order. Then we will begin.”
“Yes, yes. I’ll be back then.” Dr. Renfrey rushed away.
“He seems very nervous,” John said thoughtfully.
“He certainly does. But why? This is a GenCon facility, and I’m in charge of their work here on Mars.”
“Except you didn’t know about this place.”
“But does he know that? If he does, why go along with our visit? And if he doesn’t, why is he so nervous?”
John shook his head. “I don’t know, but I don’t like it.”
“I think the first order of business is to see if there’s any indication that they’re trying to create hybrids here.”
“Agreed. But what’s the second order, Serena?”
She wanted to tell him, she really did, but the words just wouldn’t come out. In the end, she shrugged as casually as possible. “If it’s not hybrids, I want to know what they’re really working on.”
From the look on his face, he knew she hadn’t told him the entire truth, but he let it drop. He paced to the atrium and back, then headed for the door. “I’m going to have a look around. I want to know what we’re up against.”
She stared after him in dismay but his leaving only served to reinforce her doubts. It was inevitable, after all. The more rational side of her brain argued that an exploratory surveillance was hardly the same thing as abandoning her, but the protective shell around her heart refused to listen.
John returned just before Dr. Renfrey reappeared so they had no additional time to talk. She longed to know if he had found anything, but her questions would have to wait. She had spent the time logging into the lab system. Her credentials appeared to work but there were several odd menu options and she suspected that there were additional items hidden from her.
The official purpose of the lab was cultivation, and most of the information available in the system dealt with the experiments they had been doing to develop plants suitable for the Martian climate. She knew it was something GenCon had been interested in pursuing, but she was sure that there was more going on here than just plant development.
Despite her assurance, nothing that Dr. Renfrey showed them suggested any alternatives. She wondered again if John had managed to locate anything else. As soon as they were alone again, they would have to talk. And possibly, she thought with a little shiver of excitement, they could do more than just talk. The memory of their earlier encounter replayed in her brain, and her nipples hardened beneath the thin silk of her blouse. She looked up to find John watching her, the undeniable heat in his eyes mixed with equally obvious affection. And her heart skipped a beat.
Yes, she definitely wanted to be alone with him again.
John hid a smile as pink tinted Serena’s cheekbones and she looked away from him. He recognized the signs of her arousal and was relieved that she hadn’t completely shut him out. He’d thought she’d finally let him in but as soon as they were inside the lab, her walls started to reappear. His frustration had driven him out of their rooms before he said something he regretted, but as soon as he left, he realized he didn’t want to leave her alone in this place. Instead of exploring, he had lurked pathetically in the corridor until he heard Dr. Renfrey returning.
The tour had gone well enough, but something about the place triggered his sense of unease. Everyone was polite, but they all seemed nervous, almost afraid. He could understand that having the boss visit might be nerve-wracking, especially given Serena’s reputation, but this seemed excessive.
The other thing that bothered him was how few people occupied the lab. It was a large facility, obviously designed to hold hundreds of people, but they encountered fewer than a dozen. He surreptitiously triggered his cybernetic censors but only registered a few more people.
“You seem a little understaffed,” he said to the doctor.
The man jumped, then blinked owlishly from behind his glasses. “We’re expecting some additional… scientists on the next transport. We have to get the right people. Isn’t that right, Ms. Gatling?”
He had the odd sensation that there was a deeper meaning to the question. The doctor seemed overly relieved when Serena nodded.
They ate dinner with Dr. Renfrey and one of his colleagues, an equally nervous little man named Dr. Ignatius. The food was surprisingly excellent, but the stilted c
onversation made the whole experience uncomfortable. He would much rather have been back in the cramped habitat with Serena, drinking tasteless broth.
“We need to return to your quarters, Ms. Gatling,” he said abruptly as soon as the meal was finished.
Serena gave him a startled look but rose to join him. “I’m afraid my guard is right. I do have work to do.”
The other two men flinched, but she ignored their reaction and bid them a gracious goodnight.
As soon as they left the room, she turned to him. “What was that—”
“Once we’re back in our quarters,” he interrupted.
She frowned but followed him silently back to their rooms.
“What was that all about?” she began as soon as the door closed behind them.
His mouth descended over hers.
Chapter Fifteen
Serena’s indignation at the abrupt departure from dinner vanished as she lost herself in John’s kiss. Her doubts faded away as well at the hunger with which he kissed her.
When he finally lifted his head, she smiled up at him. “What was that for?”
“I shouldn’t have left the way I did earlier. I can’t ask you to be open with me and then stomp off when you hesitate.”
“Thank you,” she said softly. “Did you find anything when you stomped off?”
“Not really. I didn’t want to leave you so I mainly just lurked around outside. But there is one thing…”
“What?”
“I think this place is even larger than it appears,” he said slowly. “My cybernetic enhancements include sound propagation—a way to detect if something is solid or hollow. Either there are a number of unexplored caves or there are a lot more rooms than they showed us—rooms with no obvious entrance.”
Her heart rate increased. “A secret lab in a secret lab?”
He grinned and shook his head. “It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?”
“No, it doesn’t. I logged into the system while you were gone, and there are hidden entries in there as well, I’m sure of it.”
She hurried into the office and he followed her, watching curiously as she pulled up the log records she had noticed earlier. “I’m sure there should be more here.”
“Secret records in the secret records,” he said ruefully.
“Exactly. I started a small decryption program earlier. Let’s see if it worked.” Her hand trembled as she opened the program. A few seconds later, lines of data began scrolling down the screen. “It worked!”
“What does it say?”
“There is another lab. And they’re working with nanites.”
“To create more hybrids?” he asked grimly.
“No, I don’t think so. These look like much smaller, more targeted efforts and… that’s strange.”
“What is?”
“It looks like the scientists are using themselves as subjects. But there are so many more names here than people we have encountered so far…”
“Perhaps their experiments weren’t successful.”
Despair washed over her but she kept reading. The experiments became fewer, but they lasted longer.
“I think that may have changed. Here. Patient 236. This was six months ago, and there’s no record that the experiment failed. What if they’ve been successful?”
“Successful? You have to be kidding. Would you trust them?”
“I might.”
“Why, Serena?”
He had asked her to be open with him. But then again…
“Why are you here?” she asked. “You never did tell me.”
“I told you I was in the military,” he said slowly.
“Yes?”
“I suppose in some ways, I still am. They’re the ones who sent me to Mars.”
Her stomach felt queasy. “To spy on GenCon? To shut us down?”
“To shut them down if they are violating the law.”
“By creating the hybrids.” And by creating the technology that’s my last hope.
“Not necessarily. It’s a grey area, especially if they consented to the experiments. But we can’t let them take over Mars. You know that—that’s why you tried to stop them.”
The rational part of her agreed with him, but the familiar taste of betrayal filled her mouth. “So that’s why you’re really here. I should have known.”
“No, I’m here because you asked me to accompany you.”
She wanted to believe him, she really did, but she couldn’t.
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” he added. “You’ve just told me that there’s no evidence that they are creating hybrids here.”
“No,” she agreed absently.
“But that isn’t really why you wanted to come here, is it, Serena? It wasn’t about the hybrids at all, was it?”
“No.”
“It’s about this, isn’t it? But why?”
She intended to lie, intended not to tell him about her deficiencies, but when she opened her mouth, the truth rushed out. “I can’t have children. I was… damaged. A long time ago.”
His face softened. “I’m sorry. I know that must be difficult.”
“Difficult?” She heard the bitterness in her laugh. “I wanted—I want—a child so much. To not be alone. To have a family.”
Saying the words made her feel more exposed than if she had been naked in front of a hundred people. She schooled her face into the familiar mask and turned away from him. He came up behind her and put a big warm hand on her back. She wanted to lean into the support he offered, to turn and bury herself in his arms, but the place inside her that had been hurt so terribly wouldn’t let her. She shrugged off his hand.
“You don’t have to be alone,” he said softly. “And you don’t have to give birth to have a family.”
“I don’t expect someone not of my blood to love me.”
“Blood doesn’t guarantee love. My mother proved that.”
“No! My child will love me. He’ll never betray me.”
“Serena, I love you.”
Tears rushed to her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She wanted to believe him—she wanted desperately to believe him—but she couldn’t. He had lied to her once. Was this just another lie?
“That’s very nice of you,” she said politely. “But it’s not enough. I want a child.”
There was a long silence, and she was glad she couldn’t see his face.
“I see,” he said finally. “And you’re here because you think that the technology that GenCon used to create the hybrids can restore your ability to have children.”
“Yes,” she whispered, almost afraid to say it out loud.
“Serena, you can’t. You’ve seen the abominations they’ve created.”
“It doesn’t have to be like that. Your nanites work—they heal you.”
“This isn’t the way.”
“You don’t know that!”
“I see.” His voice sounded heavy, tired. “And this is more important to you than anything else? Even a man who already loves you?”
“Yes.”
“Then I guess that means it’s time for me to leave.”
No! She didn’t want him to leave. But she was finally within reach of the goal she had spent the last fifteen years working towards. She couldn’t give it up now. She couldn’t.
He waited, but when she didn’t say anything, she heard him walk away and then the door close behind him. The tears that she had tried to suppress streamed down her cheeks. He’s just another man, she thought furiously. She would forget about him once she had a child of her own. But no matter how hard she tried to convince herself, the words rang hollow.
John strode rapidly away from their rooms. He wasn’t angry as much as hurt and frustrated. He loved Serena and knew he could make her happy—but only if she was willing to let herself be happy. What had happened to her that she thought this was the only answer?
Lost in his thoughts, he almost ran over Dr. Renfrey.
“Oh, Mr
. W-Wales,” the man stuttered nervously. “I didn’t expect to see you out and about at this time.”
“You said we had free run of the facility.” He frowned and the doctor flinched.
“Yes, of course. It’s just rather late.”
“I’m doing a final security check. We can’t take any chances with Ms. Gatling’s safety.”
The doctor wrung his hands together as he nodded. “No, no.”
“Why are you up so late?” John asked.
“Just checking on an experiment.” The doctor began to babble on about test parameters and timing, but John was no longer paying attention. A very large part of him wanted to return to Serena, take her in his arms, and kiss her until she listened to him. But no matter how strong their physical connection, unless she could find it in herself to trust him, there was very little that he could do. He had no intention of giving up on her, but perhaps a night without him would help her realize that she missed him.
He had seen for himself that the lab was well secured and had encountered nothing more threatening than the odd collection of scientists. She would be safe here, he decided. He would go and check on Winston and get his own thoughts in order. He felt a sudden desperate longing for the simplicity of the empty desert. He nodded abruptly at Dr. Renfrey.
“I’ll leave you to your experiments. Goodnight.”
“G-goodnight.”
He had taken only a few steps in the direction of the exit when he felt a sudden prick in his neck. He clapped a hand to the spot and pulled free a dart. Even as he stared at it, he could feel an icy cold spreading from where the needle had penetrated his skin. His strength drained away as his body began to go numb. He managed to turn and stagger back towards the doctor but only made it a few steps before his knees gave out. The man was pale and shaking, obviously terrified. Had he been the one to throw the dart? But even as he wondered, a dark-haired woman stepped out of the shadows.
“Excellent. That was even easier than I anticipated. Now Ms. Gatling is all alone.”
No! His mouth wouldn’t form the word. He tried to lunge forward, managing to grab hold of the doctor’s pants leg before the numbness reached his hands. His surroundings seemed to be shrinking, collapsing down into a single point of light.
The Outlaw Cyborg (Cyborgs on Mars Book 5) Page 9