Jack This Heart, page 10
“You don’t think that’s sharing too much?”
Shannon shook her head. “Most Zephyrs are body purists. They wouldn’t want to alter their bodies themselves. No, they’d rather sell the tech and hope that people fuck themselves up more and it takes out the competition.”
She dared a glance, taking her foot off the accelerator as they finally came up on Zephyr. Two guards were already motioning for the hauler to slow down.
Jack pursed his lips and his silence set her on edge. Finally, he spoke. “Fine, I’ll follow your lead, but the minute I sense something’s off, I’ll do things my own way.”
Shannon brought the hauler to a stop, taking note of the two guards and the two extras that had just emerged from the hut at the end of the street. This was how Zephyr always operated, with a show of force. There would be at least four more out in the open within the next few minutes.
“Hello, folks. We’re here to talk to Noid.” Shannon propped her arm up on the side of the hauler door doing her best impression of relaxed she could muster.
The guards themselves shared a couple gazes between them.
Then the one closest to her grunted. “Visitors aren’t allowed past top-side.”
“He’s expecting us.” Which she wasn’t sure if Noid was or wasn’t. She wasn’t sure if her communication informing him of her imminent arrival had made it. But she had told him she was going to Frog Lick in their last communication. They were tied to that town forever because of the cybernetic trials and Kascade’s end goals.
“Then we’ll alert him and he can meet you up here.”
“Sounds fine to me. Tell me where to park.” Shannon’s unease notched up a bit as the second guard motioned to the one she’d been talking to. Their helmets with barely see-through visors failed to hide the concern on their faces.
Instead of a response, they aimed their guns at Jack. “Get out of the hauler, now!”
Jack shook his head. “Remember what I said about when this goes to hell?”
Shit.
Chapter Twelve
Jack held his arms up and looked at Shannon. As soon as he opened the door, he would make a move. These two guards with their visor helmets and rifles wouldn’t stand a chance if Jack could get in close. They wore vests over shirts and had sulky expressions that reminded him of men who preferred any other job than the one they were stuck on.
“Well, get out,” the idiot on his side of the hauler said.
“Sure, but to do so means lowering my hands. Didn’t your superiors ever teach you not to let a man’s hands out of your sight?”
Idiot number one chuckled. “Funny shit but your hands won’t matter. We suspect anything weird, we shoot. No one gets upset as long as we shot first.”
“Real good way to kill business partners,” Shannon fired back as she opened the door on her side. Jack followed suit, deciding against an attack. He didn’t want to risk Shannon’s safety if these spaceholes really didn’t care about firing their weapons.
Hell, he shouldn’t have listened to Shannon in the first place. No way were they getting in here nice and easy. Not when the guard saw his leg and freaked out.
“See…like I said, Kurt. He’s not natural.” He pointed to the hole in Jack’s pants at the knee. Jack should have patched the damn things up a long time ago. The shiny metal of his cybernetic leg was visible.
“Shit, what’s something like that doing here?”
Shannon popped off before Jack could respond. “Like I said, to visit Noid. You know he worked with the moonies before coming back home. Has experience with implants and the like.”
“Yenna won’t like it. She’s big on keeping that sort of thing—”
“Why don’t you both take a load off? These two are with me.” Another voice entered the ring, this from a man who stood shorter than almost everyone present. He barely reached over five foot six, wore a rag wrapped around his head and had pockmarks all over his skin, something Jack recalled was caused by an illness that killed plenty of children.
“Noid, Yenna said no—”
“And I’ll keep them top-side for our entire transaction. You let me deal with Yenna.”
So, this was Noid, with nuggets bigger than most. He walked toward them, more a sideways strut and that was when Jack noticed his left leg wasn’t quite the proper position either, the foot pointed away from him sideways.
The guards left, moving over to another small group that had gathered. The four to six huts were a smokescreen, designed to make people think this town was nothing, with no one. Underneath the dirt, though… Jack flexed his feet a bit, but everything felt solid.
“You’re curious, huh?”
“What?” Jack snapped his attention to Noid, who was standing in front of the hauler and grinning at him.
“You’re like everyone else, wondering what’s down below. Afraid this trip finding out is not part of the plan.” Noid gave him a wink then looked at Shannon. “Thought you were done with lost causes. You always said connections are for the weak, but here you are with him.”
Jack heard the words and established this wasn’t just someone she randomly knew. No, these two had a history and Jack despised the flair of jealousy that radiated through him at the idea this Noid might have gotten to know Shannon better or even intimately.
“Stuff it, Noid. Just get to work.”
Noid pulled a handheld device out of the inside of his long coat. “Lemme guess, nanotechnology degradation.”
Jack frowned. “How did you know?”
“I predicted it.” Noid approached him as his fingers flew across a small keyboard. “Hold still, hands at your side.”
Jack did as commanded, tensing and hoping this wasn’t a trick to immobilize him. They could take him for experimentation. Even if Shannon said Zephyrs didn’t care for those with enhancements, it wouldn’t stop them from cutting off his cybernetic leg and selling it to the highest bidder.
“And don’t make fists or tense your frame.” Noid angled the device and the small green laser light mapped Jack’s body. “Relax.”
“Easy for you to say,” Jack replied. He was already running on a bit of an adrenaline rush from the guards putting them on edge. Now a weird scan with no explanations. This was the stuff that could fuel his nightmares.
“Yeah, I’m not the one suffering. I get it.” Noid pressed a button and the device beeped, before a body-wide net, starting at his head, moved downward until it got to Jack’s feet then back again. “It’s like you thought, degradation. But you were right to come here. I’ve been working on the solution. Second-gen nanites. Won’t break down over time or even with exposure.”
“Exposure? What the hell wasn’t I supposed to have been doing?” Jack couldn’t help the frustration in his voice.
Shannon leaned against the hauler, arms crossed, and Jack’s anger rose.
Noid shook his head. “We didn’t know right away either, but the program got canceled because long-term exposure to ship engines degrades the nanites. You got lucky, Frog Lick losing their shipbuilding license when they did. Might have given all of you cyborgs a few more years.”
“You knew about this?” Jack asked Shannon, even when he already knew the truth.
“Nothing I would have said would have made a difference, at least until now. Knowing Noid had the cure…”
Jack shook his head. “Unbelievable. So, tell me, Noid…how do I save myself and my brothers?”
“It’s a simple injection. Once we finish the transfusion, you let the nanites take hold in your system over a week, then you can extract and replicate enough for another injection. Easy-peasy.” Noid tucked his scanner back into his coat.
“And we trade you the tech we brought in return.” Jack decided not to wait for Noid to name the price. Jack would figure this out himself, even as he fought the ongoing frustration that the two people standing here knew more about the inner workings of the enhancements in his body than he did.
Noid made a little noise with his mouth, glanced at Shannon and shrugged. “I’ll be honest, maybe before that would have worked fine. But I’m risking a lot of Yenna’s wrath for not letting those guards boot you to begin with. Afraid it’s going to cost a bit more.”
“You can’t even cut us a break for knowing each other.” Shannon’s half-hearted attempt at a friendly voice got Noid laughing.
“You really tried to make that sound meaningful, but we both know you never cared about anyone but yourself.”
Jack didn’t like the way those words snaked along his skin, soaking into him fears he’d harbored his whole life. The woman who wore his necklace needed to be a partner.
“Though this cyborg may be a close second contender, what with you bringing him all the way here. I’ll tell you what. You run a little gig for me and I think we can work something out.”
Shannon shook her head and sat back down in the hauler. “Nope. You can’t accept the tech, we’re out. You think we’re desperate, but he’s got time. So do the others, like you said.”
“Wait.” Jack refused to let this chance to save everyone he cared about walk away without understanding the ask. “What’s the job?”
So far Noid hadn’t seemed like the manipulative type. No, he was straight-forward and said what needed to be said. Simple tech wouldn’t appeal to him and Jack should have realized it from the start. They needed to offer more.
“I’m working on a project and it requires a rare stone. One of the local gang-towns has one, won off a bet with an Upper who was supposed to be bringing the stone to me to sell. Now the gang isn’t willing to trade, even though it’s worth more to me and I offered a good deal.”
Jack nodded. “Yeah, that’s rough, but breaking and entering isn’t my type of gig.”
No, he did racing and muscle. If it were a simple bet or a collection, he could probably handle it. Subterfuge, sneaking around, not really his area of expertise.
Noid pointed at Shannon. “But it’s her kind of gig.”
No wonder this had become the vocal point of what he wanted because Shannon was here. The woman in question gripped the steering wheel of the hauler so tight her knuckles were white. She stared Noid down with a narrow gaze.
“Shannon?”
She looked at Jack and her expression changed, lightened. He couldn’t help but recall their early morning together, chasing oblivion. This woman inspired something crazy in him. “I’m not really into those sorts of jobs anymore.”
The honesty in those words… He believed her. Judging how she didn’t try to change the subject or laugh the conversation away.
“Yeah, but I’m willing to give it a go, if you have a plan.” Jack found himself saying words he would have never considered before. All because a woman looked at him.
“No.” Shannon pushed herself out of the seat and back onto the ground, stalking around the back of the hauler and coming up beside him. “I’ve got this.”
“How?” Jack found himself reaching for her hand, as subtly as he could, but she refused to connect with him.
“I wasn’t always a nurse, Jack.”
Noid chuckled. “No, she wasn’t. The pair of us did plenty of questionable things when we were with Humans First.”
Humans First—the name curdled in Jack’s stomach and once more he was reminded how no matter his feelings for this woman, her background was filled with the kinds of nightmares that might keep haunting her for years to come. He hadn’t been part of the terrorist organization, but he’d agreed to them putting this cybernetic limb on him. The goals of the group had been a little mysterious at that time and he’d been desperate to walk again with two legs.
“You were both members?”
Shannon bowed her head a bit, glancing at her feet. “We were. Our expertise and skills in various areas helped get us in the door, but we were often tasked with special missions that may have been less than legal.”
“Yeah,” Noid continued, “but we were good at it. Though this isn’t something that requires my high-tech abilities. There is a safe, but old-Earth-style locking mechanism with a tumbler and everything.”
The conversation still sat uneasy with Jack, unsure of how he felt knowing Shannon’s past. He wanted to ask more questions without an audience.
“I’m not comfortable with them, but familiar.” Shannon looked up and squared her frame. “I assume we’re not doing this tonight. We’ll need time to plan, to travel.”
Noid nodded in agreement. “Sure, have a night to go through things. I’ll drop off a holo-tablet to the hut on the end there. You can park your hauler right next to it. Door to the under will be locked. But you’re welcome to crash inside. We can reconvene tomorrow afternoon.”
“All right. We meet up then.” Shannon pointed a finger in Noid’s direction. “But, if I don’t like it or something seems fishy, we back out and you still give us the second gen.”
Noid chuckled as he wrapped the edges of his coat around his body. “You know that’s not how this will work, Shannon. Besides, what happened to taking risks, living on your own terms? Last I checked you were still living life the same way… Don’t stop now.”
Risks… Jack didn’t like them, especially when taking one meant playing with his life.
Chapter Thirteen
The hut was like the one from Shannon’s childhood—minimally adorned with a wooden table, two chairs, a low-set bed in the corner that could maybe fit two. The mattress was a thin piece of stuffed fabric and no blankets.
“Looks like we’re cuddling tonight.” Shannon motioned toward the bed then sighed. “Sorry I couldn’t get us better accommodations.”
Jack hauled their duffels in through the door and tossed them down. The wood creaked in response. “I’m not complaining. We also have enough food and water left from the Argest post, shouldn’t need to ask for anything. I’ll grab the supply box and then we can settle.”
He was distant in his tone of voice, his mannerisms. Nothing like a man who’d seen her naked and brought her to a satisfying climax repeatedly…almost as if he’d been let down by something.
Of course, Shannon could hypothesize all she wanted, but ultimately they needed to talk about this. The very thing she never wanted to talk about—her past. A solid knock rapped against the trap door in the floorboard at the back left corner of the hut. Then the door swung open and a holo-tablet was set on the floor.
“All the info is there,” a voice announced. The person who owned it was hidden in shadow, but the hoarse guttural sound meant it wasn’t Noid.
“Thanks.”
The hinge creaked as the trap door shut, right as Jack walked back in. Shannon marched over and picked up the tablet, thumbing through the details for a quick skim.
“What’s that?” he asked as he set their small crate of supplies on the table.
“The details for our heist. At a glance, shouldn’t be an issue, but I might need your help as a lookout.” Shannon would need his help and possibly Noid’s. No way could she just walk in and get away with this without a distraction in place. There was time to figure that out before they left tomorrow.
“I can definitely play the role of eyes, no problem.” He opened the canister of water and took a good swallow before holding it out to her.
She set the holo-tablet on the table and took the container from him. “This might be more involved than that.”
The water cooled her throat, helping ease a little bit of the nervous energy coursing through her at the coming conversation. How she’d need to dredge up her past in ways she’d hadn’t spoken of to anyone in years…not since she’d spilled her heart to Kascade and in turn he’d abused her past for his own gain.
“How so? I mean, I’m not a fan of the idea, especially since if you fail, I don’t get what I need.”
She set down the canister and sealed it back up. “That’s why I won’t fail, because there isn’t an option for us to leave empty handed. If we do, I don’t get paid.”
Pulling out a chair, she sat down at the table and let out a sigh. “I get you’re not comfortable with this—you can’t control the outcome—but I would have figured you’d learned by now that I don’t bet if I can’t win.”
Jack grabbed the other chair and started pulling items out of the supply box. “Oh, no, I acknowledge you’re confident in your abilities. I won’t lie, though. You like to hide things and it makes me worried you’re hiding other stuff.”
“Like?” She wasn’t going to throw more out in the open than she needed to.
“How’d you get familiar with breaking and entering?”
She reached for the container of protein cubes and decided then and there to be honest. Maybe it’d wise him up, keep him from probing for more. Maybe she’d get a good reminder why being on her own was better than trusting any part of her future to someone else. “I used to spend hours locked in a room. Sometimes days if I was unlucky. The only way to escape was to learn how.”
“Why were you locked up?” Jack’s sympathy kept her from looking at him.
No, I have to be emotionless.
“Because I was a murderer.”
Jack barked out a laugh. “I find that awful hard to believe.”
She snapped her head up and narrowed her eyes at him. “Really? You think I couldn’t?”
“Oh, anyone is capable in the right circumstances, but you were a kid.”
“I killed my mother coming out of her. You think having an enhanced body is a bad thing. It’s not the only superstition these damn Zephyrs use as a way to build themselves up and break others down.”
Jack sobered. “I’m sorry. That’s a medical travesty, not something you blame a child for.”
“In Auster, people aren’t as forgiving. I was called a murderer by adults, children…everyone. They wanted nothing to do with me. I was locked away whenever my father felt like it. Then traded away to moonies so I’d at least be worth something.
