Seth: Futuristic Spy Romance (Cyborgs: More Than Machines) by Eve Langlais Page B

avoid a long , overdue conversation by putting herself into a coma-like state.
    “Sleep? But we have so much to catch up on. Such as, why you never gave me a chance to prove the charges against me were bogus.” Instead of trusting him, she’d let her jealousy consume her and refused to listen.
    “ Prove what? I saw the video.”
    “A doctored video. You know, there’s this thing called splicing and editing. Even kids can do it nowadays with the technology we have. No matter what you think you saw, I never cheated on you.”
    “Really ? Because in case you didn’t know, I saw you and heard you with my own two eyes and ears flirting with that Russian slut at the ball the tsar threw. You going to tell me I imagined that too?”
    Ah yes, the infamous last dance. He ’d been masquerading as a rich playboy, she as an embassy bigwig’s arm candy. They’d both flirted and smiled with other people as part of their cover. “I was doing my job. We were spies, remember? Our mission was to ferret out information about nuclear arms and deals by any means possible.”
    “And we both know you’d do anything to win.”
    “Kill. Steal. Lie. Even flirt, yes. But I never seduced that woman.” Even if he’d awoken in bed naked with her and possessing no recollection of how he’d gotten there.
    Of course, she’d bring that salient point up. “If you’re so damned innocent, then how did you end up in the sack with her?”
    “I was drugged.” It was the only explanation. Drugged or the Russian bitch got a hold of one of his programming codes and shut him down. He’d not even known about that kill switch in his neural interface until later. He’d long since gotten rid of it, but he’d often wondered if Natasha, that marriage-wrecking spy, had used it. And, if she had, who gave it to her?
    “ Drugged?” Anastasia snorted. “Sure you were. By then, we were both swimming in nanos. No way a simply mickey took you out.”
    “ Well, she did something. Drugged me or zapped me or something. Believe it or not, it’s the truth. Next thing I knew, I woke in my hotel bed with her on top of me trying to get a little too personal.”
    “Aha, so you admit being in bed with her.”
    “Yes. I never denied that. But nothing happened. I told her to get the fuck off. She did and laughed, saying she’d gotten what she wanted. When I demanded she explain, she pointed a gun at me, blew me a kiss, and walked out. I immediately reported what happened to our handler, who told me not to worry about it.”
    “That doesn’t make sense.”
    “Which part?”
    “All of it.” Anastasia frowned. “Our handler is the one who told me about it.”
    “Joel is the one who showed you that damned video?”
    “Yes. He also told me it wasn’t the first time he’d caught you screwing around on me.”
    “ He did what? That son of a bitch! I’m going to kill him.” Slowly and with a lot of pain. Seth was trained in the art of keeping his victims alive for maximum torturous effect.
    “Too late. He got taken out in the revolts at the cyborg training camp he was assigned to.”
    “Pity.”
    “Yes, because now I have a few more questions for him because he ’s also the one who gave me the order to hunt you down and execute you.”
    “ Then you won’t be surprised to discover he’s the one who told me you’d gone rogue and gave me the same order.”
    “What?” The surprise in her eyes and exclamation was genuine.
    “You heard me. I also got the order to execute, wifey poo, except I refused to comply.”
    “I never heard about that. And you never told me.”
    “You never gave me a chance.”
    Her lips flattened into a straight line. “I was angry.”
    “Say it like it is. You had a jealous temper tantrum.”
    “I did not.”
    “Did too. Which in itself was unusual. I mean think about it. You didn’t bother to question. Didn’t bother to dig. You just accepted what they told you. Then hunted me down and refused to even listen.”
    The