Kira hoped like fuck she was. Truthfully, she had no clue what type of boss her sister was. But considering that she sucked as a sister, Kira was going with the impatient-bitch model. And the busy part was true enough. In the past couple of days, the vibe had changed down here in the guts of the place. Everyone seemed so god-damn busy, couldn’t lift their eyes from their tablets and charts to say boo when she walked past. Blake hadn’t said more than good morning in the past week since that weird four-in-the-morning call. Come see what I made, Kira. Now piss off and forget about it.
What the hell was that all about?
‘Kira, we really don’t have time for –’ Gwen Weylen hesitated, tugging at one of the crazy curly strands of black hair framing her face. Blake’s right-hand chick. Probably knew her better than Kira did, but Gwen’s flustered demeanour said she knew about Kira, too.
‘Time for my shit?’ Kira crossed her legs and leaned against the glass of Azrael’s containment cell, gesturing to the half-naked guy lying on the concrete floor staring at them. ‘All I’m doing is chatting. Shooting the breeze. He doesn’t seem to mind my shit. Finds it more interesting than trying to crack open his pretty skull on the rock. Which is what he was doing when I arrived. Did you see that?’
Slight exaggeration. He had been curled up in a ball in a corner, rocking back and forth, his bare back thudding against the rock.
Gwen tightened her arms around her chest, pushing ample breasts even higher beneath her lab coat. No doubt about it, the girl kept some impressive secrets under that god-awful coat. ‘We did . . . I did observe that, yes. He returns from training displaying heightened levels of trauma.’ Her gaze grew distant, resting on Azrael. He lay on his side, in the middle of the empty space, dark hair loosened from its tie, strands falling across his cheek. Shirtless for some unknown reason, hair mussed up as if he’d just banged a football team. If the dude hadn’t looked so freaked out, if the cell hadn’t looked so much like a damn cell, then it would have made an awesome model shoot. The lighting was right. All globes blazing. The compartment lit up like a fucking Christmas tree. Turns out pretty boy had issues. The dude went supernova nuts if he was left in the dark.
‘Yeah well, whatever Captain Asshat’s training involves,’ Kira said, ‘Az here doesn’t like it. Not one little bit.’ Speaking of asshats, Eron had disappeared from Blake’s powwow a week ago and was avoiding Kira like the proverbial plague. She swore the guy had a tracking device on her so he could make sure he was always somewhere else. ‘You know what, you guys should be thanking me, I’m looking after the merchandise. Look at him. I’m either so boring, or so mesmerising, that he forgets his android troubles when I’m around.’ She winked at Gwen. ‘I think we both know which of those two it is.’
The biotech had obviously been born without a funny bone. ‘Kira, I have about fifteen minutes of work to do in the tech room. You will leave with me when I’m done. Do you understand? And this will be the last time you come down here.’
‘Yes, Mum.’
‘I’m serious. I let yesterday slide, but it wasn’t an open invitation to wander around the high-security areas everyday.’
‘I said yes, Mum. What more do you want from me?’
‘For you to listen.’
‘Listening.’
‘Good. Fifteen minutes.’ Gwen pulled a tablet from the copious pockets of her coat and walked away, jabbing in whatever biotechs jabbed into those things.
Fucking hell. Things were definitely off down here. Yesterday morning, Kira had thought for certain Gwen would chase her out when she’d wandered down in the early hours. But nope. So Kira’d pushed it again, returning the same time today, right about the time the aliens had their prayer session to Lah-Lah or whatever their supreme leader’s name was.
Kira returned her attention to robo-boy. ‘Everyone’s so distracted. What the hell’s going on, Az? And why does no one seem to want to play with you anymore, did you chuck too many tanties?’
No answer, of course not. If the dude worked out how to use those sleek lips of his, she’d have a fucking heart attack. Even yesterday when she’d seen him banging his back against the wall, he hadn’t made a sound.
Blake had never explained why they needed glass cells built on level eleven. Now Kira knew. Apparently they were some kind of shitty android Holiday Inn. The spaces were barely big enough to contain a single bed, which was good considering no one had bothered to put any furniture in anyway. And Az clearly didn’t need to shit and piss, because there was no sign of a toilet, or even a sink for water. The cells ran along the back of the cavern, the bare rock forming the rear walls.
‘Okay, where was I?’ she said. ‘Right, explaining the movie. So the twist. Get this, he was totally kissing his sister. And the audience knows it. Gross, right?’ She tapped her metal fingers against the glass panel that separated her from the prone body of pretty robo-boy. ‘Still with me, Az? It’s a classic movie. If Tamas and Blake weren’t such Neanderthals, they’d give you a PlayStation or something down here. Let you watch some stuff, play a few games. Not sure how you’d go with games, though. You’re not exactly the sharpest tack in the box, huh?’
Az just stared, unblinking. Emerald eyes like two perfect circles of jade. Fucking gorgeous. And the wild-eyed look she’d seen in the tech room was gone; now it was more like a newborn kid’s. Not quite focusing but getting damn close, eyelids widening and lowering, as
