Tin Soldier (Silver Cyborg #3)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

“Audra Muir has gone AWOL.” The three-star lieutenant general seated behind his overcompensating-for-something-sized desk announced in a booming voice, as if he issued orders in the middle of a battlefield.

Not that he’d ever seen active combat. Gage Austin would bet his measly Staff Sergeant’s pension on that fact.

Still, Lt. General JR Higgenbotham outranked him by a lifetime even though they were only a few years apart in age.

Gage wasn’t about to relax his stance or question why the lieutenant general had called him on the carpet when Gage wasn’t even part of Higgenbotham’s particular department here at the Pentagon.

The late morning sun slanting through the executive office window cast Higgenbotham in a spotlight and glinted off his chest brass like twinkle lights on a Christmas tree.

But nothing about this meeting was festive.

Higgenbotham leaned forward on his elbows, spearing Gage with a withering glower.

“Care to enlighten me on where my secretary is, Staff Sergeant?”

Gage glanced over at his boss, Master Sergeant Aquiles Sohl, who looked as confused as he, and back to Higgenbotham. “Wh-why would I know where Ms. Muir is, sir?”

Gage had also wondered where Audra was the past month.

Other than that one wonderful morning in Higgenbotham’s conference room a few weeks ago, they weren’t anything to one another.

Not lovers, not friends, barely even passing acquaintances.

He would love to be something more to her…

but she’d left before they could solidify the details of their date. And he hadn’t heard from her since.

A normal man might be upset about such callous treatment. But not Gage. Being ghosted was for the best, for everyone.

Because he was a cyborg. A retired Army vet with enhanced cybernetic systems and a machine-gun leg no one here at the Pentagon knew about because that detail might incite a panic.

Which meant passing acquaintance was all he and Audra could ever be to one another.

He was smart enough to keep this in mind when they made small talk at the elevators or wound up in the same line at the food court.

And she was beguiling enough she didn’t need to pursue a washed-up veteran like him who eked out his remaining days in a dead-end desk job.

Yet that one morning…

“You have the audacity to ask why you should know where she is?” Higgenbotham practically growled. “Because you’re fucking her!”

The animosity in Higgenbotham’s voice echoed in the room and set Gage back on his heels. Sohl also flinched, but responded with respectful composure. “Lieutenant General, sir, I assure you Staff Sergeant—”

“Everyone knows you two are going at it like rabbits.” Higgenbotham interrupted, disgust creeping into his tone, his glare never leaving Gage. Was the thought of him in a physical relationship with Audra that offensive? “And the security vids prove it.”

Damn. If Higgenbotham had watched the security vids, he’d seen what should have been a private interlude with Audra.

Gage stared straight ahead, not meeting Higgenbotham’s gaze to see his reaction to the truth.

“Not like rabbits, sir. That’s quite an exaggeration. But we did have one impromptu tryst.”

That morning encounter had occurred in the boardroom adjoining Higgenbotham’s office.

Gage and Audra had desecrated the sturdy conference table with their naked bodies and a variety of fluids.

It had been her idea. It had been amazing.

It had been exactly the positive human interaction he’d needed on a particularly shitty morning following years of shitty mornings here at the defense headquarters of the country he’d sacrificed a quarter of his body, most of his happiness, and all of his social life to defend.

Higgenbotham and the rest of the Pentagon staff might scorn them for what they’d done and where. But Gage couldn’t muster even a gram of regret for the one rendezvous he’d had with Audra. She had acted as if she felt the same, and they’d even made dinner plans for the weekend.

“So why did Audra Muir disappear?”

The voice in his mind mirrored his own concerns, but it wasn’t his voice.

It wasn’t a voice he’d ever heard before.

Gage blinked at the weird sensation of someone else in his head.

Was he finally about to snap and go rogue, like other cyborgs had done before?

Like all of society was afraid might happen at any given moment, thus spurring their distrust of his kind?

“Why don’t you go find her?”

Again, that strange voice, but a question he’d asked himself countless times over the past weeks since their romp in Higgenbotham’s boardroom.

Gage usually saw Audra several times a day during the normal course of his menial duties.

But he’d only seen her a couple times the rest of that day.

And then not at all since. They hadn’t even worked out the details of their date, so those plans had disappeared as completely as she had.

He shouldn’t worry about it. One quick, no-strings-attached fuck didn’t mean anything.

It didn’t beholden him to her care and safety, nor her to keeping him informed of her whereabouts.

But her face had been the only friendly one in this place.

Even after the sex, they’d exchanged only restrained small talk in passing, but it was more interaction than he had with most people, and more than he should have with any one person.

Becoming a cyborg had killed his career, his personal life, and any hopes for a sex life with the exception of his daily pat-down by the Pentagon security officers.

“You say you two fucked only one time, but that’s the most meaningful contact anyone at the Pentagon has had with her.”

“Sir?” Gage frowned at this obviously falsehood.

Audra was the friendliest person he’d ever known.

In the years he’d observed her from a safe distance, she always had a bright smile and welcome greeting for everyone.

Quick-witted with a ready laugh and a kind word on her tongue, she captivated all within her circle.

Sohl cleared his throat. “Lieutenant General, forgive my surprise that you would consider the… uh… interaction… my staff sergeant had with Ms. Muir as more meaningful than the working relationship you surely had with her. After all, she’s been your administrative assistant for several years, wasn’t she? ”

Higgenbotham’s gaze ping-ponged between the two men, looking like he’d rather chew glass than utter his next gruff words.

“I’m a firm believer that an employee should leave their personal life at home.

She was proficient in her work duties, and professional in her demeanor. That was all I cared about.”

Audra deserved better than to work for a man whose greatest compliments were professional and proficient.

The Pentagon environment was fast-paced and cutthroat, but most supervisors treated their subordinates like actual humans.

Even Sohl encouraged Gage to have a work-life balance, as if that was possible for a cyborg.

“Her unexpected absence is affecting the department’s workload and deadlines.

” Higgenbotham hurried to add, as if he could compensate for his tepid praise by blaming her for his department’s failures.

“We have vital military contracts that need to be vetted and signed, and she is the only one with comprehensive knowledge of where each stands in the process. But she’s MIA and we’re short-staffed as it is. Retracing her steps could take weeks.”

Higgenbotham threw his hands up in defeat, or as a declaration of his own innocence in this debacle. Either way one interpreted the move, it defied both the Army’s motto and the soldier’s creed which should define the Lt. General’s life. The asshole didn’t deserve an employee like Audra.

Gage’s hands fisted, so he clasped them behind his back under the pretense of adjusting his stance.

His cyborg leg twisted just enough from the motion to shoot bolts of pain up through his hip and spine.

He swallowed the resulting grunt and breathed through the pain it until it ebbed to a dull throb.

Bad enough the Army had decommissioned his machine-gun leg from active duty, but the damn thing was defective and there was no way to fix it.

“You should offer to search for Audra.”

The strange voice in his head didn’t make sense. Tracking down truant employees was not in his job description or his pay grade.

Higgenbotham’s eyes lit up and he sat back in his chair as if he’d thought of the perfect solution to his dilemma. Gage held his breath; if the past five minutes were any indication, Higgenbotham’s idea would be a doozy.

“Staff Sergeant Austin, why don’t you track Audra Muir down?”

Gage nearly choked. The voice in his head wasn’t Higgenbotham’s, so why the similar suggestions? Sohl sputtered. “Sir, Staff Sergeant Austin’s responsibilities are strictly limited to building operations, not staff. He doesn’t have the skills or the—”

“He was an Explosive Ordnance Disposal NCO, wasn’t he?” Higgenbotham looked at Sohl like he was stupid. Then he turned that look to Gage. “Well, weren’t you?”

“Yes, Lieutenant General. But that was nearly a decade ago, and Ms. Muir is a human being not a bomb—”

“It’s settled.” Higgenbotham nodded and planted his palms on the desk like a king making a decree that would be followed without question. “Master Sergeant, you’ll make Staff Sergeant Austin available to search and return my secretary to me in an expeditious timeframe.”

Higgenbotham continued, ignoring Sohl’s shocked objections. But Gage had stopped listening, his heart pounding in his ears. Yes, he’d love to see Audra again, but how the hell was he going to find a woman who obviously didn’t want to be found, just because her boss was desperate to get her back?

“You’re happy with the assignment. You want to search for Audra.”

Damn that strange voice in his head. How could he listen to the growing argument between Higgenbotham and Sohl with that voice saying those words in his head?

Yes, he wanted to know Audra was alive and safe, but it wasn’t his place to hunt her down like a bloodhound to an escaped criminal.

But what if she was in trouble? What if something bad had happened to her?

Maybe she’d been hurt. Maybe she’d been abducted.

Maybe she was somewhere wishing someone would come save her, and here he stood trying to avoid the responsibility.

He’d scoffed at Higgenbotham, but Gage’s own reactions defied his noncommissioned officer creed and the Army motto. This we’ll defend. Saving Audra would uphold the morals by which he’d lived his life. It was the right thing to do.

“Tell them you’ll do it.”

“I’ll do it.” Gage blurted, effectively silencing Higgenbotham and Sohl in the middle of their loud argument. The two men both stared at him, Sohl shocked and Higgenbotham smug with self-satisfaction.

Maybe it was the prospect of seeing her again.

Maybe it was the thought of doing something more meaningful than processing requisition forms for new lightbulbs and toilet paper.

For the first time since he’d become a cyborg and had been shuffled to his desk jockey job here, a glimmer of hope and excitement flickered in his chest.

Gage cleared his throat. “I’ll search and find Audra Muir.”