Containing Malice (Rebel Cyborgs #1) - Cynthia Sax Page 0,7

measures they installed and access every system in the structure.

The door opened. The medic, his enemy, exited the chamber.

A sensation similar to losing a limb hit him. The silence was unnerving. Her chatter vexed him, but it interrupted the quiet, and it made his friend, Valor, happy.

You’re next. He warned the E Model through the transmission lines. She’s headed toward you. Don’t relay any information to her.

The warrior didn’t view her with the animosity he should. Valor hadn’t told her anything more damaging than their names. That she had even that information about them bothered Malice.

I miss communications. Valor said that in his defense. She chatters to me.

It’s a trick. Malice didn’t trust the chatter and he didn’t trust her. She wants you to lower your guard, tell her secrets she can use against you.

He strained upward. His hands lifted from the surface of the sleeping support.

It was too soon after being stunned to be able to move. His processors spun. Was his fast recovery due to the injection, or was the sleeping support malfunctioning?

How could he use this development to help in their escape?

I won’t relay any secrets. Valor’s tone was dry. If we have any secrets left from her. The probability of that is 11.5289 percent.

That probability is high enough to warrant staying silent. If Malice could manage it, the E Model could do the same. Don’t talk to her. Don’t be swayed by the touching.

She rarely touches me. She reserves that for you. His friend sounded amused.

There was nothing humorous about it. He pushed against his metal restraints. They bent. If he pressed harder, he projected they’d break. She reserves that torture for me.

Is it torture? Valor’s processors must have been malfunctioning for him to ask that question. She’s an attractive female.

She’s the enemy. And he would kill her. The last stunning didn’t take. I can move.

This could help us. Excitement lilted the E Model’s transmission.

It doesn’t help us much. Malice tilted his head back, processing the situation. I can free myself from the sleeping support but not from the chamber. And if the head guard—

Picton. Valor hated the male as much as he did.

If he uncovers I can move, he’ll increase the intensity of the stunning. That would wipe out any advantage they were given. I have to conceal this development from the guard. And from the medic.

As though summoned, the door opened and Picton stepped inside the chamber. Nelson, the other guard, was visible in the hallway behind him.

The Humanoid Alliance had designed the system so two guards were always present when the doors to the cyborg chambers were opened. One guard entered the space. The other guard waited outside, ready to open the door when the first guard was done delivering pain.

The human guards seemed to believe the system protected them.

It didn’t safeguard them. At all.

Malice could kill them both before they processed the attack. He was a cyborg, could move faster than their inferior human visual system could follow.

Only his caring for Valor, his friend, kept him restrained. Once that warrior was free, was safe, nothing would bind Malice. Picton, Nelson, the other guards, and the medic would be dead.

“Your face won’t be so pretty in a moment, machine.” Picton smacked a reprimand stick against his palm.

Malice could snap that torture tool in two and not strain a muscle. He pressed his fingertips into his palms, forcing himself to remain as still as possible.

It will be a challenge to not react, to take the pain, while processing you can kill him at any moment. Valor outlined the challenge the C Model would soon face.

I can do it. Malice clenched his jaw.

He could endure the medic’s abuse and he could endure this.

But once he was free, all the humans in the lab would die.

That would be his reward and he would savor it.

Chapter Three

It was time for the next step in Illona’s plan to free the cyborgs. It was a dangerous step. She might not survive it, but the risk had to be taken.

The communication came midway through the rest cycle. The machine was agitated, Picton had relayed. She had requested she be notified. He was notifying her.

Illona had feigned surprise, had told him she would be there soon. But she had expected the message. She had threatened the guard’s cozy position with the Humanoid Alliance.

He would seek to eliminate her, would think it humorous to use whom he considered to be her favorite test subject to do that.

She mussed her hair, unfastened and