“Tess, you’ve been a great help to me so far, but we can’t solve this by just running and hiding. CyberCorp wants me dead, they covered up Mandy’s death, someone, probably Drake, who, by the way, can be mind-controlled by CyberCorp, has completely destroyed my life, and all you can say is, ‘I’ve got a place?’ Come on! You obviously got your own cybernetic enhancements from somewhere, and with the way things work nowadays, I’m betting that somewhere is, or has ties to, CyberCorp. So what do you know?”

She just stares at me for a second and I think maybe she’s going to reach out and break my neck or slit my throat or something like that. Blowing up at her probably wasn’t the best idea, but dammit, this is about more than my life or death here. This is about getting to the bottom of things.

“Jack,” she says, just as serenely as ever. “There is nothing else you can do tonight. Your apartment has been destoryed, all your belongings are gone. Your leads are gone. If you don’t want to be killed by some other cyborg assassin tonight, you really only have one choice. You need to come with me.” She places the tips of her fingers on my chest. Her head is less than six inches away from mine. She’s only a few inches shorter than me, and I can feel the heat of her breath radiating from her mouth like exhaust from an engine. God.

“I don’t . . . know, I’ve got to . . .” but all my attention is focused on her lips and I realize there’s a bulge growing in my pants. She puts a fingertip on my lips, and I go quiet. Then she cranes her neck up and kisses me hard on the lips. Her mouth is soft and warm and wet, nothing that you’d think to associate with a cyborg killer. But I don’t really have time to analyze now. I’ve got other things on my mind.

She backs away from my mouth and whispers “So what is it going to be?”

Dammit, man I still have a choice to make.

Give in, agree to stay with her tonight

No, this is wrong, tell her to get lost