The Outlaw Cyborg (Cyborgs on Mars #5) - Honey Phillips Page 0,14

her torn blouse to shift, and he caught a glimpse of pale cleavage that made his pants suddenly feel too tight. Resolutely ignoring his unruly cock, he forced himself to concentrate on her face.

“Twelve originally.” Once again, she surprised him by responding openly. “Although they’re down to ten now.”

She looked down at the body on the floor and sighed, the expression on her face so desolate that his heart ached for her.

“My bosses are not going to be happy about this development.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” The question emerged before he had a chance to reconsider, but he didn’t regret the impulse.

“I—”

His sensitive hearing caught the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. “Someone’s coming.”

He saw her hand tremble again, but she nodded calmly as she opened a desk drawer and pulled out a handful of darts. “I should have thought about these before. I’m not sure if they’ll work, but it’s worth trying.”

“What are they?”

“Paralytic darts. They shut down the nanites in a cyborg’s system. I hope they have the same effect on the hybrids.”

“Stay behind me,” he ordered as he moved to one side of the doors. Rather to his surprise, she silently obeyed.

A big cyborg burst into the room. He appeared to be one of the rangers, but J-100 didn’t hesitate. He fastened his arm around the man’s neck, although he only maintained enough pressure to render the man immobile rather than to actually harm him. A second cyborg appeared and grabbed uselessly at J-100’s arm.

When the second cyborg appeared to realize the futility of his efforts, he started to reach for his gun. Serena stopped him by the simple expedient of pressing one of the paralytic darts to his skin. She really was an amazing woman. He gave her another admiring glance as he obeyed her and released the ranger.

J-100 reluctantly released the Judge at her request, and Serena couldn’t help a feeling of satisfaction at his unquestioning support. Although she would never permit them to see her concern, the cyborg rangers were an intimidating bunch and having her own cyborg on her side was unexpectedly reassuring.

Wyatt, the second ranger, really looked at her for the first time and his eyes widened. Fuck. She had forgotten her disheveled state, and in the drama of the moment, her blouse had gaped open again. J-100 immediately stepped in front of her while she wrapped herself in her jacket and pulled Serena’s usual icy calm back in place.

“What’s going on, Serena?” the Judge demanded when she stepped forward again.

Fighting back the sense of loss that threatened to swamp her, she filled them in on what she knew about GenCon’s plans for the hybrids. As she suspected, both rangers immediately agreed to take action against them. However, since the hybrids appeared to be monitoring communications, they wouldn’t be able to alert the other rangers until they were outside the city.

The Judge decided they needed to obtain more information from one of the hybrids. Before he and Wyatt could execute their somewhat complicated plan to capture one, J-100 looked at her and raised an eyebrow. As soon as she agreed, he nodded and disappeared, the Judge hastily following him.

“Quite an admirer you have there,” Wyatt said teasingly.

She did her best to ignore him, despite that same feeling of satisfaction filling her. Even though she was quite sure J-100 hadn’t told her everything, she liked knowing that he was on her side.

For now, she reminded herself. I can’t depend on him.

Picking up a tablet, she began making a note of the locations for which the hybrids had been intended, but as she did, she considered the possibilities. Even though she knew the hybrids had to be stopped, if there was any way to keep her options open…

In the end, she suggested that Wyatt contact Earth Government. It would divert attention from her by forcing GenCon to deal with the resulting investigation. Hopefully, it would also eliminate the possibility of any additional hybrids being sent to Mars.

As she finished her list, an anomaly in the data caught her attention. Before she could examine it in greater detail, the doors to her office reopened and J-100 threw a hybrid to the floor in front of her desk. Rochester. The spoiled younger son of a wealthy family, he had plotted to assassinate his older brother and take over their company. He had failed, but the brother had been “merciful” enough to send him off to Mars rather than terminate him. She suspected his brother