Cyborg Nation by Kaitlyn O'Connor (english readers TXT) 📗

the abundance doubtfully, wondering if he thought she needed that much food.

It tasted surprisingly good. She wasn’t certain if that was because she was so hungry, because she’d had nothing but reconstituted food or unseasoned wild game for so long, or if he was just a very good cook, but it was delicious and she ate far more than she’d thought she could. By the time she’d eaten all she could hold, all she could think about was crawling into the big bed waiting in the sleeping chamber.

Thanking him, she got up and did just that.

Chapter Twenty Two

“Guard!” Gideon bellowed when he ran out of patience. “There is news about my woman?”

The man standing at attention at the door that led from the cell block ignored him.

“Asshole!” Gideon ground out. The man turned to glare at him at that and Gideon parted his lips in a feline grin that lacked any humor. “I did not know that was your name!”

“We have been here ten hours!” Jerico snarled. “There would be news by now about my woman!”

“You do not have a woman!” the guard said coldly, curling his lips at them in a way that made all three men surge against the door as if they could reach him.

“Do not be an asshole!” Gabriel growled. “They took her to the med center to check her. Just tell us that Bronte is alright!”

The guard went back to ignoring them and after a few moments, Gideon pushed away from the door and began pacing. Jerico and Gabriel alternated between threats and bribes for a while longer and finally gave up, as well. Moving to the stacked bunks at one end of the general holding cell the three of them occupied, they sat down to watch Gideon pace.

“I have never cared for the brig,” Jerico said after a while to no one in particular. “It seems to me that they go to a great deal of trouble to make the cells as uncomfortable as possible. I can not imagine why anyone would manufacture beds designed to be uncomfortable. Does this seem logical to you?”

Gabriel stared at him thoughtfully. “The brig on Ben-Tavo was not half bad,” he replied after a few moments.

Jerico frowned. “That one was a pigsty!” he spat. “You are thinking of the one on Ralo.”

Gabriel glared at him. “I know which one I am thinking of!”

“Well you are light here,” Jerico retorted, tapping his head, “from too many blows to the skull plate! That one was worse than the brig on Paq-312!”

Gabriel punched him in the mouth. Jerico reeled backwards, caught himself, and sat up again, spitting a mouthful of blood on the floor.

“Knock it off!” Gideon ground out. “We agreed not to bring up Gabriel’s head wound and he is entirely recovered so there is no point in doing so!”

Jerico looked uncomfortable for a moment. “I still think it is Ralo that you were thinking of,” he muttered after a moment.

Gabriel frowned. “Why do you think they have put us in the brig, Gideon?”

Gideon stopped pacing and stared at him for a moment. “We wrecked the ship, Gabriel.”

Gabriel’s brow cleared for a moment before he frowned again. “That is not at all reasonable. We were not doing anything we should not have. It was an accident.”

Gideon shrugged. “I had thought it likely that we would end in the brig for convincing Bronte to contract with us, but they have refused even to acknowledge that, so it can not be that.”

“You did not say that before!” Gabriel said indignantly. “Did he tell you that we would have to spend time in the brig for his plan? Because I am sure he did not tell me!”

Jerico thought it over. “I do not recall that he did, but that is hardly the point, Gabriel! We almost always end in up the brig when we follow Gideon’s plans. You know that!”

Gideon stopped pacing and turned to glare at them. “We almost never end up in the brig because of my plans!”

Gabriel and Jerico exchanged a speaking glance.

Gideon’s lips tightened. “Name one!”

“Now,” Jerico and Gabriel said in unison.

“Besides now,” Gideon said irritably.

Jerico and Gabriel frowned thoughtfully. “There was the time on Lockmead when you thought that it would be a good idea to borrow the Major’s vehicle to visit the whore house in the village so that we could see what it was like to have a woman pleasure us for a change,” Gabriel said presently.

“And the time when you suggested that we see what getting drunk was like and ended up clearing the bar….”

“Never mind,” Gideon ground out, stalking to the door of the cell again. “Guard! Three months pay! Only call the med center and see what they have found out about my … Bronte!”

“Three months!” Jerico exclaimed.

Gideon didn’t glance at him. “One each.”

“You might ask!” Gabriel said indignantly.

Gideon turned to look at him. “You do not want to know about Bronte?”

“Yes, but....”

“Six!” Gideon offered when the guard didn’t even turn around.

The guard turned to look at him that time.

“We have four each coming to us. Just find out what the med tech discovered.”

The guard’s lips curled. “You crashed the ship—one of the fastest we have. They are not going to pay you.”

Gideon frowned and turned to look at Jerico and Gabriel. “Do you have any credits saved?”

“I have a month,” Gabriel offered.

Gideon looked at Jerico. Jerico shrugged. “I do not have more than half a month.”

Gideon’s lips thinned. “What have you spent your money on?” he demanded.

Jerico gave him a look. “You know that I was courting Rose.”

“And look where that has gotten us!” He turned to the guard again. “Four months credit,” he offered.

“You are wasting your breath,” the guard said. “You are to have no outside contact at all until they have finished debriefing you.”

Gideon stared at the man in disbelief for several moments and finally slammed his fist into the door. Turning away from the door, he began to pace again.

“It is her belly?” Jerico asked after watching