Toys

cops. I’d only have seconds to do it. As soon as they reported that I was here, they’d no doubt get orders to shoot me on sight.

Just then I spotted a couple of staggering Ghools.

They were so high on wyre they either didn’t notice or didn’t care about the police cars swarming into sight. I charged at the pair of punks and clamped a hand around each one’s neck. Then I hoisted them high enough for the approaching cops to see.

The cars skidded to a halt and the troopers came streaming my way, guns out.

“Where the hell have you been?” I yelled like I was still in charge. “What took you so long, you incompetents?”

The lead officer stammered out a few words. “We-we got here as fast as-”

I cut him off, shoving the gasping Ghools toward him.

“Arrest them for the murder of Agent Owen McGill! The rest of you, find their buddies. They attacked McGill like a pack of rats. Tore him apart.”

I waved them toward the woods, then walked the other way-fast. I had to do what I promised Lucy.

And she was right-I didn’t like it one damn bit. It went against everything I had believed in-as an Elite.

Chapter 97

Home sweet home again-or maybe not. Definitely not!

As I stepped into my old apartment, I was hit with enough memories and feelings to make me dizzy for a week.

Right off, I heard voices coming from my daughters’ bedroom. April and Chloe were here. What could be more bittersweet than that?

“Why do we have to go back to Grandmere’s, Mommy?” Chloe asked.

“Remember, I told you that Daddy’s not feeling well?” Lizbeth said, with tense impatience in her voice. “We’ve got to give him the proper time to rest and become himself again. Poor Daddy. Besides, the city is dangerous right now. I told you that, girls.”

“Grandmere’s no fun. She’s a grump and she doesn’t have enough toys,” April complained.

“I’ll bring you toys. But right now, we have to hurry. Let’s go, girls. Now! You can bring Jacob and Jessica if you insist. And don’t ever call Grandmere a grump.”

They were coming out of the girls’ room, so I slipped inside the front closet and partially closed the door behind me. Then I climbed straight up.

There was only a foot of space between the top shelf and the ceiling, but I wedged myself into it, folding my body like a pretzel.

It was damned uncomfortable, but the very dangerous and humanphobic Metallico was bustling around the apartment somewhere, and I couldn’t afford to have him or Lizbeth, or especially the kids, see me.

Just being here was bad enough, but hopefully I could do what I had to do without badly scaring the girls. They’d be confused, but fine. There was no way I could explain myself to them now, only hope that someday they might understand that I had done the right thing. For humans, and even for Elites.

After a few seconds, Metallico actually came into view. He was carrying their little overnight bags, which he set down at the front door. “Let’s go, ladies!”

Let’s go, indeed. I focused my wrist chron on his head. I’d already set it on DM-Deactivation Mode. I carried this special device because robots occasionally got in our way when we were carrying out missions. Sending out a DM signal shut them down in a hurry.

I touched the control, feeling a tingle myself as an electron pulse shot into Metallico’s circuitry.

The family robot made a sound like a groan, stopped dead in his tracks, then locked in place like he’d been turned to stone. He’d be back to his old self as soon as he was reset-although if I had anything to say about it, that wasn’t going to happen any time soon.

I eased out of my little niche in the closet, then dropped back down to the floor without making a sound.

“Lizbeth! Would you come here a second?” I called out-mimicking Metallico’s sassy tone.

I could gauge her annoyance by her sharp, angry footsteps-she practically stomped down the central hallway in my direction.

“Honestly, Metallico, can’t you handle something this simple on your own?”

I stepped all the way out of the closet now. Lizbeth stopped in midstep, her eyes widening in shock. I stared back at the wife who had heartlessly betrayed and manipulated me, then abandoned me to die.

But this was still the most heart-wrenching thing I’d done yet. Now I was betraying her. There was no other word for this.

“You’re coming with me, Lizbeth,” I said. “I’ll do my best to keep you alive. The girls might not have a father much longer, and I’d like to leave them a mother. But if I have to take you dead, I will. You’re just as useful either way.”

“You unbelievable bastard,” she barked. “This is our home, Hays.”

“We’re leaving home now. Make up your mind. Dead or alive?”

It took her a few seconds to compute her chances in a brawl against me. Then she answered with a taut, hair-tossing nod. I motioned to the apartment door. Lizbeth went ahead and reached to open it. I couldn’t see what else she was up to.

Suddenly a vicious rrrhhh erupted behind me-a growl like from a savage beast that’s ready to feed. I whirled to face Metallico, who was charging with his steel fingers ready to pierce through my body like spikes.

“Traitor!” the robot yelled. “Human turd!”

“Nice mouth,” I said. “There are children here, you know.”

Chapter 98

I barely managed to twist myself sideways, just in time to avoid being severely maimed or possibly killed. Metallico’s rigid and powerful hand raked across my chest, slashing through an inch of flesh and scraping my rib bones raw.

As the powerful and determined robot lunged past me, I pivoted and kicked his legs out from under him, watching as he sailed headlong into the wall and then crashed down to the floor.

But he sprang right back up and at me again, still snarling that ugly rrrhhh.

Deactivation Mode, hell! I thought. The only way to deactivate that berserk hunk of silicone was to bust him up into byte-sized scraps. I’d been right all along that something was seriously scrambled in his wiring.

Now it flashed through my mind that maybe it was no accident-and that Lizbeth had secretly modified him to protect herself and the girls from me.

My darling wife wasn’t standing still either-she’d taken off running toward the kitchen. “Leave me alone, Hays,” she called over her shoulder. “I’m warning you.”

I couldn’t let Lizbeth go, so I grabbed the granite-topped coffee table and slammed it into Metallico’s very thick skull. Then I went after Lizbeth. Though not as physically ferocious as Metallico, she was still just as dangerous.

But the robot was on me before I could get to her, and the two of us went into mortal-combat mode again. I was hammering him with fists and elbows and knees, while slipping like a snake to dodge his gouging fingers. The wounds from where he’d already raked me were streaming blood now, slicking my skin and staining my shirt bright