Jack This Heart, page 3
He frowned. “You and that psycho you worked for never thought to fix this back then?”
The little shrug she gave as she crossed his arms had his hands aching to throw the broken chair at her. Kascade, her old boss, the one who’d promised him a new future. Promised all my brothers… We shouldn’t have done this to Hemi.
“Jack’s right,” Snapper said, clearing his throat. “Why didn’t you fix this before?”
“We didn’t need to, but I know someone who’s worked on the concept since then. Perfecting it.”
Bullshit. “I don’t believe you.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter unless your fearless leader wants to scrounge up the flash.” She pointed toward Drag.
Drag stroked his chin. Snapper and Gina whispered between each other. Rune kept his eyes on his older brother.
Jack couldn’t stand this debate…them deciding how much more of Full Throttle’s flash reserves to use to save him. No, he could fight this his own way. Prove his worth. “Tell her to screw off, Drag. I’ll find another way or we’ll let Hemi heal up and do what we know he can. Sharon here—”
“Shannon.”
“Yeah, Susan. She can focus on the real winner.” He knew her damn name, but for some reason loved calling her something else, just to see her grind her jaw.
“I think his plan has merit. I’m good to let this spacehole bite the dust.”
Good—if she didn’t like him, then he could focus on not liking her. Because his body saw the perfect female form and was desperate to get closer, even though this outsider had a true dust honey nature…only looking out for herself.
Gina untangled herself from Snapper’s arms and pointed at the door. “How about Shannon and I step out while you four come to a final decision on the matter?”
Shannon stood and scowled at him. “Great idea, and you boys can figure out if Jack’s life is worth the flash you’d give up.”
Fuck her. Jack almost flipped her the finger but controlled himself even as his gaze drifted to her perfectly shaped ass as she sashayed away. There was plenty for two handfuls and he clenched his hands into fists to fight back the urge. It’d been too long since he’d let himself get buried inside a woman. Exactly why he found the evil nurse so attractive.
If he didn’t distrust her true motives so much, he could have appreciated her fine figure a little more. Might even have been willing to see if she’d give him a chance to go for a ride, but… Women who have tech abilities don’t scrounge out a life on Mars.
Shannon left first, and Gina turned as she was halfway out of the door. “Think about things, but, honestly…she’s your best shot.”
“Gina’s right,” added Snapper.
Jack sighed. “You say that because she’s your woman and can probably hear every damn word you say. So it’s required.”
Drag sighed and sat down in the seat Shannon had occupied. “You’re being a real ass, Jack.”
“Well, I’ve earned the right. When your body starts breaking down on you, feel free to act like a real turd pounder.”
Rune was the next one to slide his seat closer to Jack. “I get you’re hurting. Drag acted similarly when he lost his arm and lost Bridget.”
“We don’t talk about her.” Drag slammed his cybernetic arm down on the table, adding a crack to the table to match the chair.
Jack smirked. “At least I’m not riled up by a woman.”
“Aren’t you?” Snapper parried.
Jack would never admit it, not to this group. He wanted to wallow in his feelings, fall into despair. You want to act like her.
“Listen, all of this banter and bullshit is skipping over the point.” Drag motioned toward the broken chair and the cracked table. “That’s the future for all of us and we’re barreling straight for it like a racer headed for the finish line. You want to argue for Hemi to continue on, but he might not be ready in time for the championship. We have to prepare for that possible future. Lay on the other bad news, Snap.”
Snapper snapped his cybernetic thumb with his index and middle finger, sending a spark in the air. “We only have one more chance to replace Hemi and two more regional races left to do so. After that, we’re locked in.”
Rune stamped out the spark before it could catch the table on fire. “This isn’t just about the win, though. It’s about finding a cure for you that will help my brother, Snapper and Hemi. Because what’s happening to you will eventually happen to them.”
Way to pile on the guilt. Rune was good at pulling emotions from people when they wanted to hide them. He possessed an uncanny knack for saying the perfect words to make a person think twice.
“I’d rather stay stuck in my pity party of one, please.” Jack always sacrificed for the good of the gang and his brothers. These men in this room, and Hemi, had all supported him even as he stood as a reminder of the Smith gang, the past. They treated him like his word and opinions mattered, more so than his own family had.
“Even if this wasn’t about the race, you know we’d never let you fall apart. You don’t get to die on us yet, Smith or not.” Rune reached out and gave him a fake punch to the arm. “We’d be angling for a solve to this no matter what.”
“Yeah.” Snapper walked around the table. “So, are you going to let our little guilt-tripping, emotionally encouraging discussion go to waste, or do we pay the woman you want to fuck some extra money to get you a cure?”
“Let’s hope she doesn’t try to scam us into believing the solution is in her pants.” Jack couldn’t help the crass remark. “And I don’t want to fuck her.”
“He who protests is usually—”
“Full of shit.” Drag slapped his knee with a human hand. “Then it’s settled. We’ll pay Shannon the flash, if…and that’s a big if, she can produce a solution. I’m not giving that amount of crinkle without some results first.”
Snapper chuckled. “Thank goodness we have a leader with some brains. Remember when…”
Jack stopped paying attention to the recall. The memories of the Smith gang or even the Macintosh group didn’t matter any longer. The past stayed where it was. Besides, all the past held for him were bad memories and lost chances.
The mere mention of the Smiths sent him spiraling mentally to the days when he’d been struggling to find his own identity since the loss of his mother, so soon after his father. All he knew was that he still searched, waiting and wanting his other half…the one his father had always talked about. Though he’d prayed silently for years she would be the one to lift him up. Like Gina did for Snapper… Now with his leg and body failing him, he’d never find her.
Probably die first.
“Enough!” Drag’s announcement had Jack sitting up straight in the chair. “Are you good then, Jack? We do this?”
He gave a nod. If there’s a chance… “I’m in. For the sake of Full Throttle.”
Chapter Four
“Why do you dislike Jack so much?”
Gina posed the question to Shannon once they were out of the hallway and in the main room of the Watering Hole.
“I think I need a drink before I start sharing things with you like we’re best friends.” Shannon didn’t bother glancing back, just headed straight for the bar.
Both Hemi and the crowd were no longer there. They’d moved off and gathered at tables near the stage where some older gentleman—a semi-regular fixture from what Shannon had seen—had set up with his guitar. Hemi sat there, front and center, drinking as the guitar player strummed a long wail of a ballad.
Shannon reached the bar, slid onto one of the wooden stools and bumped her fist against the bar top twice.
“Be right there,” Gaia said, swiveling on her feet with the grace of a dancer, her twin blonde braids waving in the air as she moved back and forth assembling food and drinks.
Shannon tapped her toe against the leg of the stool, anxious to hear what Drag and the others decided, nervous if she’d played her hand too hard. She needed an opening… Her time was running out. When the opportunity to play nurse for Hemi came up, that was when Bridget had given her the opportunity in place of coming up with the flash outright. But the Macintosh leader had given her only a six-week window. Six weeks ended today.
Shannon had kept her focus on Hemi, because anything else seemed to only get her side-eyes from others. Not to mention, outside of her patient, Gina was the only one who would really talk to her, not Snapper or Drag. The others in the bar and in town were friendly, but like any gang, unwilling to open up to outsiders unless their leader gave the word.
Her reputation and past with the cyborgs here had gotten her into the town itself, even earned her a place to rest her head, food and drink without the expectation of pay, but otherwise they treated her like an off-worlder. Not worthy enough to court favor with like so many did for those visiting from the Uppers, who had the flash to raise a gang out of the ashes.
No, I’ll never be good enough for that.
“Are there certain topics only limited to best friends?” Gina saddled up on the stool next to Shannon.
“Huh?” She’d gotten distracted by her bitterness.
“You mentioned sharing things with a friend. Are there topics you only save for them?”
“Yeah, there are some. I don’t go around telling everything about me to everyone.”
Gina adjusted herself and angled to face Shannon. “Makes sense. Can you tell me about Hemi, though? Do you think…if Jack says no, that is, will Hemi be ready to race within the next two months?”
“I honestly don’t know.” Talking about him had Shannon glancing over her shoulder at the man himself.
Hemi was positioned fairly close to the stage, non-cybernetic hand holding his mug high and waving slowly back and forth in the air to the latest song playing. “His confidence was shattered from the accident. He’s mentioned having nightmares and adjusting to cybernetics is challenging for those replacing a single limb… Half a body is unheard of.” She’d marveled at the concept of a person made of equal parts machine and human because Shannon had thought it impossible until she’d been asked to come to Frog Lick.
Gaia came over to them, placing her palms flush against the wood. Her expression was all business—flat lips, no smile to her eyes. Another person who barely tolerated Shannon. “What can I get you?”
“A brew, whatever you want to pour.” Shannon always said the same thing—doing her best to try to win the woman over because she’d be a good insight into others, but like Gina, the bartender refused to give her a chance outside of providing food and drink.
“Gina?”
“Same as what Shannon’s having.”
The bartender smiled then. “You know I serve her the bottom of the barrel brew. That weakling ale no one likes.”
Gina’s face contorted in disgust. “Why? This woman’s a hired guest of Full Throttle. She’s taking good care of Hemi and you’re treating her like she’s some enemy.”
Those words made Shannon sit up a bit straighter. Maybe Gina wasn’t like everyone else after all. Shannon’s foolish heart clenched a bit and she thumped her chest twice with a flick of her thumb to clear the useless desire for friendship and closeness away. Tender emotions weren’t for her, not after what she’d done and even more what she was willing to do.
Gaia’s smile faded, her gaze a bit sheepish. “I apologize. I’ll get you both the house special.”
The bartender walked away and Shannon bit her lip to keep from commenting on the set-down Gina had given the woman.
“People don’t mean to be so cruel. I promise. It’s often they don’t know any better. This world seems to breed a natural distrust.”
Don’t I know it.
“It’s all right.” It wasn’t, but Shannon had forced herself to stop caring long ago. “I won’t be around long enough to worry about making connections.”
“But you see the purpose of getting Jack fixed? You understand the predicament we’re in and survival…”
Mugs clicked against each other as Gaia set them down, foaming spilling over the sides. “On the house, for my previous attitude. We do appreciate Hemi getting the help he needs. He’s one of the good ones. Hell, all the racers and mechanics are.”
Shannon picked up the mug and took a quick sip. “We’re all good until someone gives us a reason not to be.”
Gaia raised a single blonde eyebrow in response and Shannon winked. She liked to keep people guessing. Those who underestimated her did so at their peril.
“We’ll let you know if we need anything, Gaia.” Gina grabbed her mug, oblivious to the exchange.
Shannon didn’t miss some sort of unspoken communication between the two, though. But she’d let them have their private moment. Everyone in this town had a bunch of those and she’d lost her curiosity for such things when her gang-town had sold her off to the moonies.
Inter-gang-town politics were a waste of a person’s time and patience. Exactly why Shannon enjoyed traveling from town-to-town, finding her own fortune and making her own way. She’d never belonged anywhere before, and the two times she’d tried had only ended in disappointment.
Never forget it.
So, Shannon took a couple more gulps of brew before Gina spoke next.
“Then, if what you’re saying about Hemi is true and you know what this means to us, is the flash really worth all that much?”
Funny, Gina was playing the emotional card. The ‘if you cared, you’d do this.’ How many times had she heard those impassioned speeches over the past couple decades of her life? “Sacrifice yourself for the greater good.”
Those words had been used by her father, her adoptive parents and even Kascade, though never once had giving provided her anything in return. No, she made deals, but they cost something. Because everything had a price.
“Is paying for someone’s connections and ability not worth it? The conversation can work both ways. The bottom line, I don’t give things away for free. You wouldn’t give stuff away either and don’t mention the drink.”
Gina turned her mug, the handle moving back and forth between her hands. “Your reasoning has logic, but I had to try.”
“Well, let me point out if Drag doesn’t agree to pay or Jack refuses to cooperate, these problems aren’t going to go away. I was there when they all had the cybernetics implanted. There were risks then and there is a reason that until Hemi, and whatever trick you used to get the cybernetic doctor out of retirement, there were only three cybernetic test subjects.
“What we attempted was risky. Now Hemi is going to run into the same problems as the others. Maybe worse ones due to the amount of cybernetics you gave him. Is it really saving his life, if he ends up suffering worse than if you’d let him die?”
There were plenty of emotional triggers she could push, too.
“You gave my friend Sampson the doctor’s information and we’re grateful. He believed in using the technology to save Hemi’s life and I guess I hoped you might believe in prolonging these men’s as well.”
Shannon chuckled and ran a finger along the rope chain at her neck, trailing back and forth. “No one does things out of the goodness of their heart, and I won’t be the sucker to start. It’s not polite to play those offering their skills and services.”
Gina sighed. “We are grateful for what you’ve done so far.”
“Well, supposedly she can do more…for a price.” Jack’s voice rang out crystal clear as he leaned on the bar next to her, then yanked her mug out of her hands. He downed the rest of her drink.
“The hell?”
“That’s exactly what we’re going to be in for however long it will take for you to deliver on your promises.” He slammed the mug on the bar top. “That’s good shit. Gaia, Shannon needs a refill.”
She twisted in her seat facing Jack, lifting her necklace out from under her shirt to grab a hold of the white indented bone charm there, her special talisman. “Then Drag has agreed.”
“First payment he’ll bring out to you right here. So don’t go anywhere. Make your plans, but we head out to meet your contact within the next two days.”
Two days wasn’t enough. She needed to contact Bridget, make arrangements and set up Hemi’s physical therapy plan before she headed out. No sense in risking flash.
“I’m gonna need more time than that.”
“Well, two days is all you’re going to get.” Jack winked at her and walked off. His gait was slowed, but he still possessed plenty of strength and looking at his ass wasn’t a hardship either.
Well, damn.
Chapter Five
Shannon sat in the cold metal room where she worked with Hemi and waited. She didn’t want to risk drawing attention to her presence from other folks wandering the street, so she sat in the dark. The only illumination was from the rays of Mars’ larger moon, Phobos, shining through a broken window.
There was a light breeze in the air, bringing with it the scent of burning wood and a sharp metallic bite—iron and Marsanium being processed.
They may not be able to build ships, but they’re still stockpiling.
A long howl and the rattle of metal containers clanging against each other somewhere outside made her jump.
“Fuck,” she muttered under her breath. She’d left her signal for Bridget’s spies and she was almost out of time.
They were set to leave in the morning and so far her newfound agreement with Full Throttle had yielded no results. She’d spent the better part of the day prepping Hemi’s physical therapy plan in her absence, sending a holo-communication to her friend on the nanites and wishing she could have found a way to steal the plans.
She still couldn’t go into the mechanics bay. She’d hoped signing up to help Jack would give her a little more access to other areas of Frog Lick, but no such thing. Her attempts to enter had been thwarted three different times. Any excuse was dismissed as nothing urgent and she was told to go to the Watering Hole after hours if she wanted to speak to anyone.
