Kingston 691: Book Two of Cyborgs: Mankind Redefined Read Online Free PDF Page A

husband record before.
    At the end of the file was a memo entered on the same day the locked file was dated. It was added exactly three weeks after Norton had returned King to the devastated Seetha Harrington. Nero opened it, skimmed it quickly, and swore.
    “Those fucking assholes. They waited until she was convinced about King being only a cyborg again and then sent her to a damn work camp. She thought they were facilitating her acceptance into the Peace Brigade. I bet they didn’t want her talking to anyone about what had happened.”
    King felt the anger response ignite inside him again. Was he mirroring Nero’s anger? Or feeling his own? He couldn’t tell, but either way, he didn’t like how it felt in his body. This level of stress was unacceptable…as was what had happened to both him and Seetha Harrington.
    “Does it say which camp she was sent to?” King demanded, shocked when the question came out so terse. “Sorry, Nero. I’m…tense.”
    Nero shrugged and read the memo again. “No. It doesn’t say which one, but there are only sixteen work camps in the world. They’re on our hit list because they have cyborgs as well as bots in residence. We just hadn’t gotten to rescuing those abandoned soldiers yet.”
    He looked up at Peyton when he felt a hand patting his shoulder.
    “Nero, see if you can narrow down the search some way to give us a starter set of four or five to investigate. Eric, contact Marcus and tell him we have a job. I’ll call Vincent and Steve, but I’m going to use my handheld so they don’t overreact. They’re still adjusting to not having their military life as a crutch.”
    King grabbed his arm as his former captain started to walk away. “Wait. You guys don’t have to go with me. I can go by myself. There’s no need to disrupt your lives for the sake of my mystery.”
    Peyton laughed. “King—I’ve studied those camps. If you intend to go into one, you can’t do it alone. They’re more secure than military bases used to be and even the UCN has limited authority within them. Once the control bots are put into place there, the camp runs on strict routines to do the mining or whatever other manual labor tasks occupy their time. AI units in the camps are rebooted daily and they allow nothing to disrupt their processes. They are hundreds strong in number and the guards are military grade.”
    “Any chance they’d give her up if we petition the UCN?” King asked.
    Peyton snorted. “Changing camp protocol would take months to accomplish through normal channels. Since we’ve been using Norton’s facility to search for her, you can bet your ass somebody knows. Do you think she’ll last long if they helped put her in there? Going after her is probably the only chance of survival Seetha Harrington has.”
    King nodded at the harsh truth and let go. He looked away, not liking that the problems of his life were disrupting so many others. All he wanted was a peaceful existence. Why was that so much to ask for having survived a ton of shit already?
    “I don’t like what you’re saying, but I get it,” he said quietly.
    Peyton turned and faced his friend. “Look King, if your wife is in one of those camps, it’s because she’s a UCN prisoner just like we were. You’re going to need all the help you can get. The bots are not going to let you just take her out of their camp. Plus, we have no idea about any of the cyborgs there or their military capabilities or how they might react to us trying to retrieve her.”
    “Is this fucking nightmare ever going to be over?” King demanded.
    Peyton nodded, firming his jaw. “Yes…at least for most of the cyborgs. We’re going to make sure of it. But when we find Seetha Harrington—if we find her—we’re not going to try to shut down the camp completely. That would cause a ruckus we don’t need to have to handle. We just want to get her out and let life move on. Right?”
    King frowned, even as he nodded his compliance. He