out.” Cindrac was grateful to whatever nanite was helping him keep his patience with her.
Loquan’s snappy, hateful, and arrogant attitude grated on his nerves.
“OK, I get it,” Loquan smiled. “Have you figured out this one yet?”
Cindrac tried to feign surprise when Loquan’s body shimmered for a moment before her clothes changed into all-black leather.
“Nice trick.” Cindrac couldn’t care less about her vanity but played along and changed his pants to match hers and added a jacket over a black T-shirt.
“You’re right about not letting them create more of us,” Loquan surprised Cin by saying. “I’m going to take a long, hot shower, and maybe we can leave when I finish.”
Cindrac merely nodded his head and stepped out onto the deck off the living room. The screech of birds and howl of what he had learned were coyotes in the distance made him genuinely smile.
This peace and beauty were what he’d dreamt of his whole life, and he vowed to protect it and come back to it. It was his and humanity’s by right, and Cin would make sure it was returned to the people.
Chapter Three
Reaching speeds of up to three hundred miles per hour in the stolen pursuit vehicle, Cindrac easily navigated the roads to Atlanta without using the headlights. He enjoyed the freedom of driving and tried not to smile at Loquan’s white-knuckled grip on the car's interior safety bars.
“Was it necessary to reprogram the engine to go this fast?” Loquan complained for the fourth time since they left the peace of the cabin.
“The faster we go, the harder it is for them to spot us since I’m using my night vision instead of the headlights. The soldiers and elites also can’t go this fast and will never catch us unless they use aerial craft,” Cindrac repeated the same thing he’d told Loquan each time she’d asked.
Another hour passed before they reached the outskirts of Atlanta, and Cin looked over at Loquan. “Are you ready? Remember, you take out the power to the area, and I’ll take care of the soldiers.”
Loquan nodded and smiled when moments later, the entire city went completely dark. By the time they reached the security checkpoint leading into Atlanta, the soldiers were all passed out on the ground, and Cindrac flew right through the flimsy barrier.
“Oh, this is going to be so easy,” Loquan boasted, getting excited.
Cindrac didn’t bother to warn her about getting too cocky. He hoped she didn’t make it through this first mission because it would save him from killing her later. Instead, he kept his mouth shut and concentrated on disabling the vehicles coming after them from other parts of the city.
The excessive display of pursuit didn’t fool him. Cindrac knew it was a cover for the teams evacuating the elite into their mountain bunkers. He ignored the parking lot and drove right up the lab steps and parked in front of the doors.
Cin and Loquan jumped out of the vehicle and headed confidently in the double doors of the lobby. Unconscious soldiers littered the floor while lab staff ran or hid in the dark. Cin smiled as his night vision chip, enhanced by the nanites, allowed him to see clearly in the building's darkness.
Ignoring the panicked slaves fleeing in the dark, Cin strode to the elevator and used his control over the building's computer systems to open the doors.
Loquan stumbled around for a few minutes before figuring out how to get the information needed to see in the dark, and it told Cin everything he needed to know about his future enemy.
Loquan was learning only what she had to for revenge and power, where he was trying to learn all that he could to create peace and a better world. He hoped that would give him an edge when it came time to kill her.
Once Loquan joined him inside the elevator, Cindrac ordered the car to the floor he wanted and waited for the short ride until the doors opened. His nanites already pulled up the security cameras, and information was scrolling through his mind as Cin headed down the hallway.
“Where are we going?” Loquan snapped. “Let’s just blow the fucking place up!”
“I’m going to make damn sure the computers can’t be salvaged,” Cindrac shot back and pointed at the first lab. One that didn’t have what he wanted. “Unless you want to fight clones of ourselves, start destroying everything in there.”
Loquan huffed but headed into the dark lab anyway, and Cindrac continued down the hall until he reached