Page 21 of Operation Iron Heart

“We’ve packed your business outfits and your evening wardrobe in a smartcase,” the equipment specialist assured her, pointing to a huge suitcase that would keep her wardrobe in perfect ready-to-wear condition. “We’ve already taken yours to the glider. When you get to the hotel, one of the employees will take your luggage and move it to your room. From then on, nothing can go wrong.”

Marci hoped that everything would go as smoothly as the plans for her clothes.

Jack’s eyes gleamed as he picked her up from Jeanette’s inner sanctum. Looking Marci up and down, he gave a low whistle. The fact that he was acting like a normal man, and not detached and uninterested like she would have expected a robot to be, unsettled her again. Even the wink he’d given her in Rochelle’s villa as he’d walked past had unnerved her. It was going to take her some time to get used to a robot that behaved like a human, but at least he looked as gorgeous as a real guy, if not more so. In his close-fitting, black suit and a black roll-neck, over which he wore a holster containing his laser pistol, he made Marci quite nervous. When he noticed her looking at him closely, he assumed a stern, unreadable expression, the kind she would expect to see on a bodyguard, and definitely on a robot, and then scowled furiously before suddenly giving a broad smile, which not only transformed his rugged face and revealed to Marci his flawless teeth but also made her heart beat faster. It gave her a vivid impression of the effect he must have on the powerful and wealthy sex-starved women who – if Cathrin’s theory was to be believed – were desperate for a toy like him.

Despite the adverse circumstances and the fact that Jack was essentially just the product of an excellent imagination, Marci felt a burst of pride as he led her silently to the hangar, where a team of technicians watched as they climbed into a luxurious high-speed glider that would not only transport them back to the United States but would also emphasise her status as a successful businesswoman.

As they sat down in the comfortable white bucket seats that automatically adjusted to the shape of their bodies, Marci was assailed by fresh doubts – was she really up to the job? It didn’t help when, after the gull-wing doors had closed automatically, Jack explained briefly that he could set up a wireless connection to the glider’s control program and fly it just using the power of his thoughts. Despite the implanted chip, she barely understood half of his explanations and hoped that she wouldn’t make a fool of herself when robot technology was discussed in the upcoming meetings. Emotion and anxiety engulfed her as Jack started up the glider and it took off vertically out of the rebel base’s hangar. As it shot up into the azure skies and then hurtled south, skimming the treetops, she tried to quell her fear, with only partial success. Why, for heaven’s sake, hadn’t she told Cathrin about her fear of flying? It would probably have been a piece of cake to suppress her fear with some appropriate programming.

As Jack steered the glider over a deserted chain of mountains, she suddenly felt his warm hand on hers, pressing it far more gently than she might have expected.

“You really don’t need to be afraid,” he assured her. “These things only crash if they’re shot out of the sky, and you definitely don’t need to worry about that. Nobody would dare; the glider is registered in American airspace as a private jet for businesswoman Skyla Rosebud, who has received an invitation to the industrial magnates’ ball in Chicago.”

As Marci’s heart skipped a beat, Jack smiled at her encouragingly.

“You can do it,” he said, a mysterious confidence in his green eyes.

“Please don’t say that,” she replied, her mouth twisting bitterly. “It reminds me of Will and his fake final message. His holographic clone said the same thing to me. It was all a show created by MacIntyre and his accomplices to deceive me.”

“We’ll send them all packing,” he reminded her with an encouraging nod.

Marci summoned her courage and attempted to return his nod. “I’ll do everything I can to avoid disappointing myself and your organisation.”

Chapter 4 – Enemy Territory

Chicago, October 2056

The hotel was sheer madness; four hundred storeys high, with its own air corridor for wealthy guests’ luxury speed gliders. As he skilfully landed their glider in the hotel’s hangar, Jack remained calm in the face of this obscene display of wealth and power. He used voice control to give the robots rushing past instructions on where to find their luggage and when they would need the glider again, as if he did this kind of thing all the time.

Jack’s probably completely indifferent to all of this, thought Marci with a sigh, whereas she could barely contain her nerves. As a robot, he was likely only interested in whether his batteries were charged and his system was functioning, not in how these overwhelming circumstances were affecting her.

She was therefore really surprised when he gallantly helped her out of the glider and guided her, like a large shadow extending his protection over her, to a luxurious lift with a holographic directional display that she found totally confusing.

“Have you been here before?” asked Marci, feeling like an idiot. “How do you know your way around so well?”

“When we arrived, my core processor connected to the hotel’s central computer,” he explained briefly, “so I know exactly where our apartment is. I arranged for our clothes to be taken there and ordered something to eat. I’ve also raised the temperature in our hot tub so that you can take a relaxing bath before our appearance this evening.”

“Hot tub? Is there a bathing suit in my suitcase?” she asked in a panic. She hadn’t treated herself to a bath for years, instead simply cleaning herself and the children under an ion shower in her tiny apartment, water being virtually unaffordable for most slum residents. She remembered, however, wearing a bathing suit to go swimming as a child.

“You don’t need a bathing suit in our apartment.” Jack grinned in amusement. “Who’s going to see you except me? And I’m just a robot, remember?”

Marci wasn’t certain whether she shared his insouciance; she’d spent the whole flight here wondering whether she would able to resist him in his role as an escort robot. Jack was incredibly attractive and she felt a sense of safety and security in his presence that soothed her troubled soul. Almost more than Will had been able to. He’d rarely taken her worries seriously. And if she was honest with herself, she yearned to sink into Jack’s strong arms and no longer feel quite so alone in the world. She didn’t know whether he felt the same. Sure, he’d paid her compliments, but then he also stressed that he was just a robot. And when she thought back to the discussion with Jeanette, he’d already had several relationships with human women that hadn’t lasted. Jeanette may have claimed that he could feel just like a human could, but Marci wasn’t completely sure that was true. And maybe it was better that way. After all, Will hadn’t been dead for that long and she would feel awful if she got involved with another man so soon. Although a robot could be considered an exception, as that was something different. Or was it really? Feeling unsettled, she glanced back at Jack as he guided her inside the vast glass palace, admiring once again his broad shoulders, confident stride and the perfect cut of his grey jacket. He’d put it on before they left the glider so that his weapon wasn’t immediately obvious. He’d have to register it at reception anyway, he’d said, so he could store it in the safe in their suite, as it was not permitted to wear a weapon inside the conference hall. She admired all of him; not just his appearance, but also his air of authority and his clear strength of mind. And she was already jealous about the thought of another woman coming close to him. Damn, she thought, taking a deep breath before stepping into the hotel. Maybe it was a bad idea to get mixed up with Jack on a mission like this.

Stepping into the reception hall, her concerns temporarily vanished from her mind. She’d never seen anything so beautiful. Giant screens fixed to the walls and ceilings showed an ever-changing selection of adverts for products that only the richest of the rich could afford – iridescent exotic fruits made by several genetic labs that Marci had never even heard of, let alone seen, and breathtakingly expensive holiday destinations with idyllic beaches in the middle of the Caribbean aimed at high-net-worth clients, far away from the war and the slums. The speaker’s silky voice also mentioned that these locations were better protected against any unwanted intruders than the PanAmerican Bank’s credit reserves. As Marci and Jack stepped into a glass lift that bore them upwards at incredible speed, the bright midday sun offered them stunning views over the city and Lake Michigan. Marci tried to work out where in the endless sea of buildings the slums were or the villa where she’d mopped Rochelle’s floors, but it was all too much of a jumble to be able to locate anything.

When they finally reached their floor, Jack pushed her gently out of the lift and guided her along incredibly plush, snow-white carpets to their apartment, the door to which automatically slid open as they reached it.

Before they went in, he paused and turned to her. He looked down at her with a serious expression on his face, and she saw that his pupils had narrowed. “From here on, we are what we are – you’re a successful businesswoman and I’m your obedient robotic slave that follows your instructions to the letter,” he said firmly, his tone emphasising the importance of his words. “Don’t forget that MacIntyre will be watching us the whole time, even though Silver is doing everything he can to replace the recordings with fake videos.”

“OK,” replied Marci, slightly too submissively, considering her new role. The thought of now being able to give Jack any orders whatsoever sent her mind off on a tangent and led to surprisingly erotic fantasies as they entered the apartment – Jack taking her over one of the bar stools; Jack, seducing her in the hot tub; Jack screwing her senseless on the white marble kitchen worktop. Good God, Marci, what’s got into you? She felt shell-shocked and hoped fervently that nobody was able to monitor her thoughts. Definitely not Jack, who she knew possessed some scanning functions.

Her focus was severely tested as she explored the gleaming white apartment, its floor laid with smart ceramic tiles that automatically adjusted to the temperature needs of each resident, and she saw to her astonishment that it didn’t fluctuate much between her and Jack. A holographic assistant of Asian heritage with a mellifluous voice, wearing a close-fitting white catsuit, introduced her to all the features of their luxury accommodation, including the hot tub that Jack had mentioned. It was on a spacious roof terrace laid out with delicate trees and shrubs reminiscent of a Japanese garden and couldn’t be seen from inside the apartment. The only audience was a couple of huge fish with golden scales, gliding majestically through crystal-clear water in a second pool that formed a glass frame around the hot tub.

“What do they feed on?” asked Marci, crouching down to look closer at the glimmering animals that looked to be as long as her forearm.

“They’re robots,” Jack replied casually, looking all around them as if checking the surroundings for any unwanted intrusions. “They just need a source of energy, and they get that from the sun that charges their batteries.”

“But look,” said Marci, gliding her finger across the outside of the glass, watching as the animals followed her with curiosity. “They’re interested in my hand.”