Page 31 of Operation Iron Heart

“Fuck!” MacIntyre swore and asked the same question that was in Marci’s head. “What the hell is going on?”

As MacIntyre called for security, the holographic live feed continued and Marci watched as Jack reacted instantly when one of the attackers headed for Jill – who was still naked – and made to grab her. Jack punched the man in the head so hard that he flew across the suite and landed in the hot tub, his skull smashed in. Like him, it was a humanlike robot, so the bubbling, crystal-clear water immediately turned red. Jill cried out and tried to hide from the other three robots behind a huge white leather sofa, but one of them snatched at her arm. The robots were almost a match for him, but Jack quickly disposed of one, ripping first its arm then head off before it could activate its laser pistol.

Jack grabbed his weapon and – also still completely naked – leapt athletically over the leather sofa. With a well-aimed shot, he hit the third robot in the middle of the chest before it could reach Jill. Gesturing to her firmly that she should stay where she was, he turned and dispatched the fourth robot with a shot in its optical sensor. The robot stumbled around firing aimlessly until Jack reached it and broke its titanium spine with a single jerk, severing the connections with its core processor.

Unlike Jill Ambush, who was still screaming and utterly beside herself, Jack wasn’t even out of breath as he looked around the suite to make sure there were no more attackers. With rapid steps, he strode to the bed and ripped off one of the blankets, which he then draped solicitously around Jill’s slim shoulders. Marci then watched as she threw herself against his broad chest and gasped “you saved my life” in a shocked voice before sobbing uncontrollably. She then looked up at him adoringly as if he were God himself.

The live transmission suddenly ended. Marci gathered herself and whirled round to MacIntyre in consternation. “What in heaven’s name was that?” she cried. “Do something, dammit! What if there are more of those things lurking around down there?”

Marci was pretty sure they hadn’t been rebels; Jack and the President’s sister-in-law had been in serious danger. It may, however, have been the same people that were behind Rochelle MacIntyre’s murder. Maybe their host had other enemies that Jack and his people didn’t know about?

“How was that possible?” asked Marci accusingly as MacIntyre contacted more of the security staff. “I thought everything here was monitored?”

“Thanks to your robo-lover, nobody got hurt – not counting the four exorbitantly expensive robots who are now only worth their scrap value,” replied MacIntyre tersely and with a dismissive gesture. He informed security what had happened, but they couldn’t explain it and put the whole building on high alert. What looked like half an army turned up at the suite to hunt down more attackers, but there was nobody there.

“Come,” he ordered Marci. “We need to go downstairs and see how Jill is doing.”

How do you think Jill is doing? thought Marci crossly. She spent an incredible night with Superman and he’s just saved her from the bad guys. No wonder she doesn’t want to give him up.

On the way downstairs, Marci wondered why MacIntyre had been interested in the value of the destroyed robots, unless they belonged to him, and couldn’t stop herself asking, “So, do we know who they belong to?”

“No. If I knew that, this attack would never have happened,” he assured her with a severe expression. “It is more than annoying. It means that our security mechanisms have been infiltrated by someone.”

He gave her a long look from his round brown eyes, as if he suspected her of being personally responsible for this disaster. It was very unsettling, but Marci knew she mustn’t under any circumstances let it show.

“And?” Marci shrugged nonchalantly as they got into the lift. “What have you concluded?” “For one thing, your super-robot with its allegedly inbuilt aggression inhibitor has just destroyed four first-class robots,” he commented with an odd expression on his face. “It’s interesting, considering your statement that he’s completely harmless and controllable. Maybe we should forget the robo-lover plan and you should join my war machines business?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Marci put her hands on her hips and looked at him disbelievingly. “Are you complaining because he saved Jill Ambush? If he hadn’t, you would have had to give the President and his wife the unpleasant news that their dearest relative had either been kidnapped or killed. That’s what would have happened, unless I’m mistaken? OK,” she added in a conciliatory tone, raising her hands, “maybe I should have mentioned that his personality also contains a military module that enables him to see off an attacker when he’s in bodyguard mode. But he only reacts like that if the person he’s protecting is attacked. And who would have considered that an attack like that might happen under the watchful eyes of all these guards? Unless you have some enemies who were able to beat your elaborate security systems?”

“A man like me has millions of enemies,” snarled MacIntyre. “But that doesn’t mean anything. And I won’t be able to say who sent these robots and why until the necessary investigations are complete,” he added with an air of hostility. “At the moment, I just have my suspicions. I’d like to bet that it was those rebels who’ve been trying for months to incapacitate the whole robot industry. But they won’t succeed,” he declared darkly. “We’ll track them down and teach them a harsh lesson. But first, I need to apologise to Jill Ambush. You should come with me. Your robot needs to answer a few questions.”

“Goddammit!” Jack swore silently and lifted the President’s sister-in-law swiftly off the formerly white couch that was now smeared with blood. He’d contacted Silver over his secure connection and brought him up to speed, but nobody in the rebel base had any idea who could have been responsible for the attack.

“Is Marci OK?” Silver sounded uncharacteristically worried.

“She wasn’t there,” replied Jack silently, glancing at Jill, who was cowering in front of him, wrapped in a blanket, shaking and staring into space. Her face was covered in blood, and even if it wasn’t human blood, it looked and smelled similar, which was clearly making the otherwise composed blonde panic.

Jack helped her up gently, putting an arm around her and leading her past the destroyed robots to the bathroom so she could wash while he took a shower. Afterwards, once he was dry, she stood in front of him wearing a white bathrobe, still looking dazed.

“What did they want from us?” she asked in a quivering voice, as Jack led her carefully back to the bed, where she lay down on the soft mattress with a sigh. “What was it all about?”

“I don’t know what it was about.” Jack picked up his clothes and started getting dressed. “But they will never attack anyone again,” he assured her, grimly scanning the shredded robot parts that lay scattered across the suite.

“I’ll call someone to clear this lot away,” he said unnecessarily, knowing full well that MacIntyre was already on his way to them.

Silver had updated Jack after re-establishing contact with Marci. “I think it’s likely that MacIntyre himself was behind it,” he said to Jack silently. “We’ve got the whole site under observation and I swear that no one else got in. The attackers must have come from inside the building. Maybe MacIntyre wanted to find out how you’d react to a situation like that.”

“Unfortunately, I was forced to show my hand by activating my battle mode,” Jack replied silently. “It remains to be seen how MacIntyre reacts to that and what Marci says. She won’t be thrilled.”

“She definitely won’t be thrilled that you slept with Jill Ambush,” said Silver, clearly amused that Jack was concerned about what Marci thought of him.

Jack huffed a sigh of resignation. He’d just put on his underwear and was about to pull on his suit trousers, when Marci suddenly appeared in front of him, followed by MacIntyre and a couple of security personnel.

“What are you doing here?” she asked Jack furiously, staring at him in disbelief. Probably because he was standing in front of her half-dressed.

I could ask you the same thing, he almost said, but he kept quiet. As a robot, it would not be a good idea to question his owner’s actions in front of MacIntyre.

“We were attacked.” He looked back at her calmly. “It’s my duty to protect a human client.”