Studenstein (Love-Bots, Book Two) Read Free

from Synadate . This stein belongs to us.”
    “Uh…” The bartender looked her over with narrowed eyes. “You got here fast.”
    She heard that tone in his voice—questioning, snide, not-trusting. Shani’s lips pinched and she swallowed her comeback. “We always have help nearby in case of malfunctions.”
    “Can I see some ID?” He did it again—scanned her from head to foot, passing judgment. Making her prove that she was as good as the next person. Her hands balled into fists. “Of course. I have it right here.” Shani dug in her purse for the fake ID.
    “Easy, Shan…” Q-ter spoke in her headset. He must have heard her facade cracking.
    “Here you go, sir.”
    The guy from the bar took the card from her without touching her skin. He stared at it for several moments—no doubt weighing the option of babysitting a malfunctioning stein against the trouble he’d get into giving Royce to the wrong person.
    “Fine. Take him.” The guy waved them away as if he were swatting at flies. It wasn’t surprising. Most lifers were scared of steins. Some states restricted their use to crash-test dummies. It didn’t help that human-rights groups had twice bombed stein-making labs, accidentally releasing hundreds of lobotomized walking corpses into the population.
    Shani hooked her hands under Royce’s armpits and hauled him up to leaning. Then she bent over and hoisted him in a fireman’s carry. Damn , she thought as she staggered forward over the stress of his weight. Maybe she’d underestimated his bulk.
    In the headset, Q-ter squeaked, “I just intercepted a text from Synadate. They’re on their way!”
    She swung open the passenger-side door of the van. The back door would have been easier, but the bartender was still watching. He’d expect a gurney and med tech, not a dinette and bed set up for a road trip. Shani lurched upward to toss Royce into the front seat. He fell on his back across the bench, with his legs hanging out the door. Before the other guy could come forward to help, she bent Royce’s knees and pressed his shins into the cab.
    Royce lifted his head and their eyes met for a split second right before she slammed the door shut. She heard his garbled groans as she rounded the back of the van. What’s worse—that damn bartender hadn’t left.
    “Weren’t you inside earlier?” He didn’t step closer, but Shani could feel his suspicion. She should’ve told him it had been another Synadate model, one built to the same specs as her, but her temper flared. “What, you think we all look alike?” Listening to Q-ter’s hissed scoldings, she turned on her heel and headed for the driver’s seat. “Fucking lifers,” she muttered. Shani grabbed the back of the seat and hopped into the cab.
    “You know he’s probably taking your license plate to complain,” Q-ter spoke in her ear.
    Shani frowned as she started the engine and pulled out of the alley. “Screw that asshole.” She wove the van through the city streets, ignoring a thrashing Royce. He could move on occasion, but not in any coordinated way.
    “Ahhh…waaaa…goooohh…baaaaa…”
    She pressed a button on the dash to change out the license plate display and flipped a switch to activate interference that would block Royce’s mental connection to Synadate. When Royce grabbed at her arm, she slapped his hands away with sharp blows.
    Frank had been trying for months to find a Synadate stein out in public to liberate. With all the information Q-ter could download from Royce’s brain, the ZU team might be able to track down more love-bots, maybe someday attack Synadate’s whole operation.
    Shani cursed that it had to be this particular model. Mr. Don Juan sure as hell wouldn’t be any help on the way back to headquarters. Heck, he’d probably try to run for it every time she turned her back.
    When Royce started whining again, she thought about doping him with another round of drugs. But the ZU was running low on drugs. Instead