Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Audra hovered by the door, half afraid Gage would try to come back in and half afraid he wouldn’t. A quick peek through the curtain showed him gripping the railing like he wanted to choke the truth out of it. Was he imagining it was her?
That image didn’t mesh with the calm, controlled man she’d observed over the years. He’d never shown a flicker of anger, even during his daily pat-down and full body scan at the Pentagon employee security entrance. He’d always suffered the humiliation with stoic acceptance.
It had broken her heart to watch. But she’d admired his fortitude.
Yet within the last hour, he’d switched from caring to distrusting to downright aggressive to cryptic.
The swift evolution of his behavior didn’t mesh with the man she’d scrutinized for years.
Neither did the look of pain flashing across his face.
He’d grilled her about her micro-drive, but the questions had sounded forced, as if ripped from his throat against his will.
Whoever was coercing him was using physical threats.
The fact shouldn’t be funny, yet she slapped her hand over her mouth to mute the chuckle that escaped.
What kind of idiot thought they could use pain to get Gage Austin to do their bidding?
The man had suffered through the physical and emotional torment of getting his real leg blown off and rehabilitation with a cybernetic leg.
If the Army hadn’t already made him strong, becoming a cyborg had.
Audra was far safer with Gage on her side, even if it seemed the other way around.
A soft knock on the door made her jump. She peered through the peephole and saw a strange woman on the other side, but no Gage. The woman, her image distorted through the tiny lens, resembled a WWII pinup model. Audra’s brain buffered. Why would a pinup model knock on her hotel room?
“Audra, I’m Luann.” The woman spoke just loudly enough to be heard through the metal door. “Your brother sent us.”
Audra’s heart jumped, but this time not in fear.
Were these Dennis’s friends? She hadn’t seen or talked to her brother in well over a decade.
Given the nature of her mission, contact with him had to be kept to a minimum.
There could be nothing tying them to one another.
No trace, no connection, no link. She’d selfishly kept a faded picture from when they were young—the last picture ever taken of them together.
Everything else had been shredded and burned and buried.
This could be a ruse. Knowing Gage had somehow tracked her all the way to Indiana—to this exact motel she hadn’t even known she’d be at until John had parked the car—then it was possible other people had tracked her as well.
She flipped the door security latch and opened it a few inches, regretting the choice of a short-sleeved shirt when the cool air rushed in.
This was her only way out, and if someone really wanted to get in, they could break through the window.
But having the bolt in place gave Audra a semblance of protection.
Gage was nowhere to be seen. Just the woman she’d spied through the peephole.
Yep, a pinup model. The woman was about Audra’s age and height, but voluptuous.
She wore tight black capri pants, a striped black shirt with a square neckline, and candy-red flats that matched her bow-tie lips.
Her dyed red hair was up in a bouffant style and her moss-green eyes gazed back at Audra, deep pools of understanding and empathy.
“Hi, hon. No need to be skittish.” The woman who called herself Luann smiled, her sweet soprano voice a calming balm to Audra’s fraught nerves.
“Why do you think I have a brother?” Under different circumstances, this Luann looked like someone Audra might want to be friends with. But that didn’t mean she could let her guard down. She’d blindly accepted Gage’s offer of help, and look what had happened.
“Because he said so. Char—I mean Dennis—asked us to pick you up when you sent him the signal a couple hours ago.”
Had it only been a couple hours since she’d activated the clicker? Seemed like a lifetime ago. Audra crossed her arms even though her chest was a little sore, and frowned at Luann. “What’s our secret phrase?”
There wasn’t a secret phrase, but Luann didn’t know that.
The woman frowned and shrugged. “He didn’t give us one.”
“Okay, what about a childhood pet’s name.” Again, Luann wouldn’t know it, but there was no childhood pet.
“He didn’t say anything about that, either.
” Luann shook her head. Then chuckled as if at herself.
“Honestly, I don’t know anything about him.
I knew him simply as Charlie, the homeless man who would sometimes come to my little neighborhood library.
Then a week ago, he told us about you. And this morning, he asked us to come get you. ”
“No offense, Luann, but I don’t know you from Adam. And I can’t verify the truth of your information.”
A throat cleared and a man’s face appeared in front of Luann, apparently having stood to the side so Audra couldn’t see him.
“Hi, Audra, I’m Adam. Now you know us both.
Look, I don’t mean to alarm you, but we should have this conversation in the car.
Or somewhere else less out in the open. I can fireman carry you, but it would be best if you just trusted us a little.
And I know that’s a tall order to ask of you. ”
“You’re right, Adam. I’m not sure I trust you.”
“Look, Luann and I are both cyborgs.” His deep voice lowered to a whisper and he angled his head so she could see the dull red shadow refracting from his bright blue cybernetic eye.
Luann held up a finger and a slender data jack extended from the tip.
“And you know how much we risk by admitting that.”
“I do know. I also know you could have been sent by someone who wants me dead.”
“We were sent by someone. Someone who very much wants you alive and who knew the best way to ensure that was to send two badass cyborgs to protect you. Someone who knew you wouldn’t freak about being in the company of those two badass cyborgs.”
True. Gage had been sent to find her, but she wasn’t supposed to know he was a cyborg. And whoever was pulling his strings was likely keeping his cybernetic status like an ace up their sleeve to scare her into compliance. Or maybe…
Maybe they were using that knowledge to coerce Gage into obedience. Public opinion about cyborgs was volatile; they were so hated and feared that being outed as one was a death sentence.
Audra glanced at the individuals standing outside her motel room, their expressions open and understanding. They were eager to go, but didn’t push her to choose. They didn’t threaten her. Didn’t physically intimidate her into agreeing.
She didn’t know them, but she liked them. They seemed dependable. Honorable. Steadfast, like Gage. If the tables were turned, she would send them to retrieve her brother. No wonder Dennis had sent them to get her.
Was she really going to leave with these two cyborgs?
And what of Gage? A twinge of betrayal knotted her stomach.
She needed to leave him before he returned because he was obviously compromised.
But she couldn’t just walk away. “Shouldn’t we wait for my friend?
He was here just a moment ago. He couldn’t have gotten far. ”
Adam looked confused. “We didn’t see anyone in the area. Just you and the handicapped man by the road who looked like he was having a seizure.”
Where had Gage gone? And why? “What did the handicapped man look like, Adam?”
Adam shrugged. “Big and tall. Middle aged with a buzz cut and a right leg that didn’t work right. Army green cargo pants and a long-sleeved black shirt.”
That was Gage. And apparently, he was struggling. Was that what his puzzling hand signals had meant? He was held hostage by his own body. By something in his head. And he’d walked away rather than put her at risk.
Audra twined her fingers together. She nodded and choked out the admission. “That’s my friend. Gage Austin. He’s also a cyborg, even though he’s never admitted that to me and I shouldn’t know it. And I think he might be compromised.”
“Then we need to get you to safety before we come back to get him.” Luann reached a hand toward her.
“And we promise to come get him.” Adam added.
“Don’t worry about your friend, Gage. Instead, focus on seeing your brother again. Char—er, Dennis, is anxious to see you after so many years, and my gut tells me that’s going to be an emotional reunion.”
Audra unhooked the security latch and turned to pack the few items she carried.
If only she could leave Gage a note of some sort—to say goodbye, to wish him well, to thank him for his help, something, anything—but that would be foolhardy.
He’d tracked her halfway across the continent. He could very well find her again.
And that might be a bad thing.