"I'm not pissed off," Danika snapped. "Will you drop it? You're like a kid! You know just because you notice something it doesn't follow that you justhaveto point it out, alright? Especially if it's something that's going to make somebody feel bad."
Thankfully, that silenced him because Danika was running out of patience fast!
She led the way when they left the facilities, trying to dismiss her anger--which she knew was really out of proportion to the situation. So he'd pointed out that she looked like she was about to drop dead? It wasn't like shecaredwhat he thought, damn it!
She did care, though, she realized. She thought he looked absolutely amazing, even though he'd lost a lot of weight, as well.
But of course that just went back to the fact thattheyhad been designed to be perfect and she hadn't been.
She realized she would've been touchy about that fact even if she hadn't thought Seth was attractive. She wassurroundedby superhuman beings! All of the defective or just undesirable genes had been eliminated from their design--which was against the law with humans even though it was possible. They could eliminate defective genes, could evenaddgenes that helped boost the immune system since the government saw it as far cheaper to do so than to shell out more money than they absolutely had to for health benefits. But 'tweaking' was playing god and that wasn't allowed.
It occurred to her abruptly that her own comments had been dead on without her even realizing it.
She'd pointed out that he had the rudeness of a kid that hasn't been taught better manners than to make hurtful observations.
And why wouldn't he, she realized? He had neverbeena kid! He hadn't had a parent to pound home the socially acceptable things and the things thatweren'tacceptable!
No wonder he was confused!
That realization diffused her anger. It didn't make her feel any better, unfortunately, because it was as clear as a bell to her that he thought she looked just awful, but she didn't think he'd intended to make her feel bad.
Which only made it worse in a way. He'd given her an honest opinion.
And there were times when a person just didn't want a damned honest opinion!
As desperate as she was for a distraction, she didn't know if it was a good thing or bad that Reuel seemed to be waiting for them to emerge. The moment he saw them, he strode toward them.
Danika stopped when he neared them, eyeing him uneasily. He nodded, his expression hard with some emotion she found difficult to decipher.
"I deeply regret that I endangered your welfare when I caused the cavern entrance to collapse. Please believe I would not have risked it if there had been any other way."
Danika felt her face heat with discomfort. The last thing she'd expected when Reuel had stopped her was an apology. She discovered it was a vast relief, though, on many levels since she'd suspected she wouldn't be welcome, all things considered, and had wondered if she needed to hide her presence in the 'rebel' camp. "Don't. I knew then that it was for the best." She grimaced. "I'm not sure I would've felt so forgiving if my guys hadn't been watching my back and helped us dig out," she added, flicking a grateful look at Seth. "But I'm as convinced as I need to be that, in the end, it was best for everyone, me included. There would've been a firefight, I think, if not for that and a lot of people would've been hurt or killed. You did the right thing."
Reuel flicked an assessing look at Seth. "I am not certain your men agree. Or forgive as easily."
Danika wasn't certain what the undercurrents that passed between Seth and Reuel were all about, but she got the impression that they weren't exactly friends.
"Maybe not, but I'm satisfied with the outcome. I wanted them to have the chance to escape. Brown had accused Seth of treachery, too, and I didn't want him filled full of holes just because he thought I should keep my mouth shut and tried to keep me out of trouble. I think I should rather thank you for what you did than forgive you. Not saying it didn't scare the hell out of me when I thought we were trapped there and might not get out, but, thankfully, we weren't trapped long enough for that to really set in."
Since she wasn't actually comfortable with the conversation and she couldn't tell that anything either she or Reuel had said had had any appreciable effect on the vibes of hostility emanating from Seth, she abruptly turned the conversation. "How did you find this place?"
Reuel seemed to relax fractionally. "We looked for it."
Danika couldn't decide whether to laugh or berate him for being sarcastic. She didn't think he'd actually intended the comment that way, though. "When?"
He shrugged. "After the battle at Slaughter Ridge. We tracked the survivors of the battle here and eliminated them."
Danika blinked at him in surprise and then frowned. "But you didn't report it?" she guessed, wondering if she just hadn't heard, wondering if all the time she'd thought their leaders were slacking they hadn't launched a counterstrike because theyknewthe sector was secure. Why hadn't they said so, though?
Well, actually they had, she remembered. But they hadn't said that they knew it was secure because the cyborgs had found the enemy base and captured it.
"They did not ask," Reuel said, smiling thinly. "I was not programmed to take the initiative in such cases. I was not ordered to do so. Nor was I programmed to volunteer information not requested unless it pertained to a threat to my human handlers."
"And you thought it might be a good place to retreat to if that became necessary?" Danika guessed.
Reuel frowned and lifted his head to survey the cyborgs working around them. "We were programmed to protect ourselves because of our value to the confederation--our dollar value," he said bitterly. "But as sentient beings we also have our own instinct for self-preservation. Iguessedthat the humans would not be delighted to know that we had attained awareness and were no longer merely machines to be used as they saw fit--that we were no longer slaves to the whims of the humans."
Anger abruptly flared in Danika. It was resentment that she'd been lumped with everyone else that had fucked them over when she certainly wasn't guilty, but it was as much because she felt like she was being unfairly judged as the fear that she'd be treated as if she had done something to deserve their animosity. "Not that I don't get what you're saying, but we're all soldiers," she said tightly, "and soldiers are expected to do as commanded--or face the consequences."
