Finding the Jewel Read online

  Because that’s what they did. They talked. They mediated. They were neutral and no one offered them harm.

  Until the Tr’Low. The fact that they’d taken an IPKA ship hostage was enough to have every single combat capable force in the galaxy on their tales but Peirce hadn’t done that.

  He’d called in Cyborgs—why?

  Rich turned to study the smaller man, his gaze narrowing. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  Admiral Pierce sighed and ran a hand through his thinning hair. He looked around the room at the marine guards stationed at intervals and appeared to make a decision.

  “All right,” he growled, “Everybody out. I want the room.”

  “Admiral?” The captain of the guards looked surprised. “Excuse me sir, but is that safe?”

  “I said get out!” the admiral snapped. “Now or I’ll have the lot of you court-martialed for insubordination.”

  That got them moving, Rich saw with amusement he didn’t allow to show on his face. Instead he kept his features completely impassive while the marines cleared the room. When the plush conference room contained only himself and the Admiral, he took a step forward and repeated his question.

  “What aren’t you telling me? Why do you want me—a cyborg—going after your daughter? Is it because of my background in hostage negotiation and extraction?”

  “That’s the reason your Captain recommended you for this assignment when I first made contact with your, er, crew,” Admiral Pierce admitted. “But there is a reason I need a cyborg on this. You see, our intelligence officers weren’t able to penetrate into the…the Breeding Compound where my daughter is being held captive.” He seemed to be having a hard time getting the words out. “But they were able to find out why the Tr’Lows want her so badly. And…” He swallowed hard. “And what they expect to do with her.”

  If she’s in a Breeding Compound and their entire religion centers around breeding then one guess what they’re fucking going to do to her, Rich thought dryly. But he didn’t speak his thought out loud. The pain in Admiral Pierce’s face stopped him. This wasn’t just one of the Top Brass handing out an assignment—this was a father, in pain when he thought of what was being done to his daughter—his little girl. Now wasn’t the time for levity, no matter what Rich might think of the man.

  “Why do they want her?” he asked instead. “Does it have anything to do with the reason you want me?”

  “It does.” The Admiral nodded. “The Tr’Lows have a kind of…prophecy—a foretelling that has apparently been passed down through their ranks for generations. It has to do with a special child who will be bred—one with red hair and eyes like the sky.” He looked hard at Rich. “My daughter has red hair and I can’t help noticing you’ve got the palest blue eyes I’ve ever seen. You look like a goddamn Husky from Old Earth.”

  Rich shrugged.

  “Yes, but there are other men—human men—who have blue eyes. You still haven’t told me why I’m here.”

  “You’re here because the other part of the prophecy says the father of this miracle child they hope to breed will be ‘half man and half metal.’” He grimaced unhappily. “Are you beginning to get the picture?”

  Rich stared at the other man.

  “So…you think they’ll be more likely to accept me into their cult because of my cyborg status?” That would certainly be a first. Usually the fact that he was half machine spooked people. A group that might want him because of his machine half was an intriguing thought.

  Yeah, they want you just the way you are. Too bad they’re a group of murderous cult members, muttered a sardonic little voice in his head.

  “Exactly.” The Admiral gave a curt nod.

  “And…they’ll take me in because they want me to breed your daughter and father this…super baby on her?” Rich went on, making sure he was understanding correctly.

  Admiral Pierce’s face went red.

  “Don’t misunderstand your assignment, cyborg.” He spat the word as though it was a curse. “You’re going in to rescue my daughter and that’s it. If you so much as lay a single metal finger on her—”

  “Understood,” Rich said, cutting him off. “You don’t want anyone touching your daughter sexually.”

  “No, I fucking don’t.” Pierce looked so angry now Rich thought his head might explode. “Especially not a metal monster of an abomination like you.”

  Rich frowned.

  “Your words are unnecessary. In my current state, I doubt a human woman would be in any way attracted to me. And I do not care to engage sexually with a female who does not want me.”

  He deliberately kept his words cold, his tone mechanical. He buried the pain and shame of what he was saying under a layer of artificial frost—letting his metal half take over so his human half could stay the fuck out of it. But even so, the truth hurt—hurt a hell of a lot. Why would a human woman want to be with him as he was now?

  Of course, Doc Chambers had been able to see past Drew’s cyborg half and love him but that was different—she was used to working with cyborgs—used to men who were half machine. It didn’t faze her because it was her life’s work. But to a normal human woman who had never even seen a cyborg before, he would look like a fucking monster. There was no doubt about that.

  “Well…” The Admiral’s face had gone from dull brick red to a slightly less apoplectic pink. “As long as we understand each other.”

  “We do.” Rich nodded. “Except for one thing—I do not understand why you expect me to go on this mission for you.”

  “What?” Pierce exploded. “You will do as I say, soldier! I am your Admiral!”

  “Not anymore,” Rich said calmly. He and Drew had discussed this at length—how to handle orders from higher-ups they no longer considered their superiors. When their company had gone rogue, they had left the Space Corps behind. They intended to establish autonomy from the organization that had fucked them up and fucked them over so badly and there were going to be no exceptions.

  “You will do as I say! You will retrieve my daughter!” Admiral Pierce barked at him.

  Rich regarded him calmly.

  “Yes, I will,” he said in a low, measured tone. “For a price. Complete autonomy and separation from the Space Corps for myself and the other cyborgs in my group and one of your older Carry-all ships, fully equipped and provisioned, to use as our base.”

  “You…I…I can’t just give away a multi-trillion credit piece of equipment like a Carry-all!” Pierce sputtered. “Especially not fully stocked!”

  “Too bad.” Rich shrugged. “Then I guess maybe you can send one of the other cyborgs you made—one of the ones that was really brain-dead before he was cyborgized. Oh but wait…” He frowned, pretending to consider. “Those aren’t very smart are they? Seems like the Tr’Low cultists might get suspicious if you were trying to remote-control the thing you sent in to rescue your daughter. Not to mention that no brain-dead cyborg you might get has anywhere near my hostage extraction expertise.”

  He could see by the Admiral’s face that he had thought this exact same thing—sending a regular Space Corps-controlled cyborg had probably been his first plan. But the brain-dead cyborgs were nothing but fancy half-human robots, incapable of free will or independent thought. There was no way such a creature could successfully carry out a delicate and dangerous mission like the one Pierce wanted him to undertake. If it was someone else held hostage, the Admiral might have risked it. But it was his own daughter and no matter what kind of a bastard he might be, Rich could tell he loved her with his whole heart.

  His own heart twisted a little in his chest. The poor girl, trapped down there with that fucking evil cult. Everything in him wanted to go to her now and if Pierce refused their request, he would still go and do everything in his power to set her free. But he wanted to put on a brave face and get as much as he could out of this. It was important for their whole group.

  So he kept a stony expression on his features as he waited for Ad