Chapter Six

It was clear that Clayton wanted to talk more, but the things he had said didn’t ring true. Wrath’s sensors could detect all the scientist’s vital signs and show that the scientist’s heart rate was increasing and his temperature rising. He could see through Clayton’s brave facade. Wrath didn’t understand why he was trying to fool anyone. The scientist knew that Wrath could analyze his biometrics, but he wouldn’t stop speaking. It was almost as if he thought the cyborgs were simpletons he could easily fool.

With his gaze focused on the girl, Wrath activated his facial recognition program. He felt as though he should know her. Something more than the Cyborg Sector shirt set off alarm bells in his head. Wrath’s computers framed the woman’s face with a green box and went to work, evaluating the relative dimensions between her facial features and comparing them with profiles stored in his database. The tests were completed in seconds and all came back negative. She was someone new who he had never encountered before. That knowledge might work in his favor.

Before he shut off the recognition database, the bright green lines surrounding Rachel’s face froze. He blinked rapidly, waiting for the box to disappear from his sight. Instead of vanishing, the green rectangle shifted to the side of his vision, and his system started to process the cave floor as a person. Wrath closed his eyes, waiting impatiently for the computer to reset.

When his eyesight returned to normal, he leaned forward in the chair and stared at the girl. “What is your name and rank?”

Rachel’s plump bottom lip quivered as she stared at the cyborg. Something inside him was attracted to her. He had to remember that she was the enemy, no matter what she looked like or how innocent she seemed. Her appearance was probably part of her game.

“My name is Rachel Halliday,” she finally stuttered. “I don’t have a rank. I’m just a reporter with World Community News.” Her hands fidgeted in her lap, alternately coming together and breaking apart.

“Why have you come here?” Wrath didn’t understand why Cyborg Sector would have sent a small, untrained woman to infiltrate Green Squad. The pale girl wasn’t a real adversary. Her only weapon was her beauty: soft skin, large eyes, and silky hair. He could easily overcome that.

Rachel shrugged uncertainly. “It was an assignment. I came because I had to.” She glanced at the scientist, who was beginning to recover from the assault. “I was just doing my job, you know?”

He wasn’t satisfied with her answers. They seemed too simple. Was she intentionally being vague to hide something from him? “And what, exactly, is your job?”

“I told you before - I’m a reporter. I give other people a way to learn about what’s happening here without them having to be here. Finding a lost cyborg patrol is a big deal, and I’m supposed to explain things on television.”

Wrath impatiently closed his eyes. The woman was useless. The squad commander needed actionable information, and he wasn’t sure he could get it from a television personality. “I know what a reporter does, but I don’t think that’s the only reason you are here. If you were a typical journalist, you would have turned and fled down the mountain as soon as we killed the rest of your party.”

He studied her face with his natural vision, waiting for her to give him a sign that he was on the right track. The only emotions he detected were awe and fear. He decided to try again. “Do you think I’m going to believe that you came up here and risked your life for a job?”

Rachel’s eyes darted to Clayton once again. She opened her mouth to speak then shut it before saying anything. Wrath couldn’t help noticing that her mouth was pleasant and tempting. She had full, succulent lips that fired up parts of his system that had been inactive for a long time. He tried to suppress his base instincts as he analyzed the humans in front of him. Her glances at the scientist suggested that the two were working together.

“He was the only other person alive,” she finally stammered. “I couldn’t go off into the desert by myself.”

Wrath shook his head. The woman would never have made it back to civilization on her own. Now her best chances at survival were an idiot scientist and a group of angry cyborgs. He stood up and took several long strides across the cave floor until he loomed over her. Rachel looked up, making her hair cascade down her back and accentuate her green eyes. She looked innocent underneath the cyborg, and it made Wrath want to take full advantage of her.

“I don’t think your presence here has anything to do with delivering a story. The only story is the one you’re telling me. You and the asshole over there” — Wrath gestured to Clayton — “were supposed to serve as a distraction. His assignment was to tempt us with the luxuries of life at Cyborg Sector while you tried to seduce us. We would be vulnerable, and the rest of the team could come to kill us.” The plan sounded ridiculous, but they couldn’t have had another strategy. They would not be able to defeat the Green Squad in a fair fight.

The girl shook her head frantically, sending her hair flying around her shoulders. “No. You’re wrong. I don’t know what the scientists were going to do besides negotiate and try to bring you back. The other reporters and I were told to watch everything from a safe distance.” Tears welled up in her eyes, and they soon spilled over onto her cheeks. “I don’t want to hurt you. I just want to go home.”

Wrath took in a deep breath. Why did the woman have to be so emotional? This interrogation would have been far easier if it was with other cyborgs. Even the terrorists had presented fewer problems than these humans.

He leaned down, placing his face only inches away from the reporter. He could smell the salt of Rachel’s tears and the musk of her body. Underneath it all was the faint odor of fading perfume. The combination was intoxicating, and Wrath quickly shut down his olfactory sensors. “I’m sorry if you haven’t realized this yet, but you aren’t going home.”

The girl cried harder, burying her face in her hands. Wrath left her curled up in a ball on the sandy floor as he returned to his seat on the opposite wall. Clearly, she was playing a trick on him and trying to make him think she was innocent. He knew she wanted to manipulate him.

He signaled Weapon to continue watching the prisoner. The battle strategist nodded and grinned. He would have his fun with the reporter when everyone else finished with her.