Captured by the Cyborg by Cara Bristol

Author:Cara Bristol
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Cara Bristol
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Sensor-controlled lights flickered on as Dale shouldered into his private quarters. Illumina glanced around, eager to learn more about the man as revealed by his personal space. His sitting area accommodated a replica of the sofas in the employee lounge, except longer, so he could stretch out, no doubt. Through an open door, she spied his bed, no different from the bunks in the barracks, only larger, with its thermal cover wadded into a ball at the foot. She stifled a grin at the idea of him on a standard bunk. His knees would dangle over the edge.

“If I’d expected company, I would have picked up a little.” A faint blush tinted his cheeks as he kicked a pair of boots underneath a table, grabbed an armload of clothing, and tossed it into the adjacent bedroom, and slammed the door. With a wry grimace, he ran a hand over his head.

They’d be entering that room, too. She swiped a hand over her grin, charmed by his nervousness.

“Can I get you a drink? Cerinian brandy?” he asked.

“That would be nice. Thank you.” She figured he needed it as much as she did.

While he got the brandy, she examined a group of stillvids on a credenza. A smiling couple held two small children, the boy she recognized as a younger, mischievous version of the man getting brandy. “You look the same,” she said. “Only…more.”

He snorted and uncorked a bottle of amber liquid. The second image showed a mature Dale with four other men, three of them as big and muscular as he, one startling familiar. Her gaze shot to Dale.

“Buddies,” he answered her unspoken question. “Kai Andros, Brock Mann, Carter Aymes”—he poured two shots—“and March you already know.” He brought the drink over to her.

“You knew March before you opened the shop?”

“We go back a ways.”

She eyed the stillvid, realization dawning. “You’re all cyborgs?”

He nodded. “Except for the guy in the middle. Carter. You’ll meet him tomorrow.”

Carter stood as tall as the other men but couldn’t match their physique, their musculature.

She set down the stillvid to accept the small glass. They clinked. Dale downed his in a single gulp, while she took a tiny taste. Fire seared her throat, bringing tears to her eyes. “Oh hell!” She coughed.

“Sorry.” He grinned. “I should have warned you. Cerinian brandy doesn’t affect cyborgs.”

“Potent stuff,” she said, and shifted her gaze to the third stillvid. Dale and two men and two women knelt over a dusty pile of rocks, purple sky behind them. “Friends?”

“My archeology team.”

“The ones who were killed.” After which he’d been captured and tortured.

“Yeah.”

“Again, I’m sorry.”

“Thank you.”

She braced herself and sipped her brandy, managing not to choke this time. She studied his Spartan accommodations furnished in a minimalist manner. “Your place says a lot about you.”

“That I’m boring and utilitarian?”

“That you’re a fair man. You don’t take advantage of your position. You’re living pretty much like the employees who work for you.”

“I do have my own private ChemShower,” he joked, but a trace of red darkened his cheekbones.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.