Page 44 of Operation Iron Heart

“Stop brooding,” said Silver with a wink. “Cathrin will let you know as soon as the operation is finished.”

“Are you OK?” Luelle asked her with concern after Silver had left.

Marci grimaced and took a cautious sip of the hot tea that Luelle had made for her.

“Something’s up with Jack,” Logan piped up cheekily. “I know my mom. She looked exactly the same when Dad didn’t come home.”

Marci’s stomach lurched – she still hadn’t told the boys about their father’s death, but now was almost certainly not the right time. They had to find out sometime, however. And maybe it would be good if Luelle was there and not Jack, so they didn’t permanently associate him with such awful news. She gathered her courage and took a deep breath.

“Logan, Willie,” she said calmly, holding out her hands to them. “I need to talk to you.” She led the boys over to the comfy sofa and asked them to sit down. She then gathered them into her arms and told them the unbelievable truth about their father’s disappearance.

When she’d finished, the two boys sat completely still and snuggled even deeper into her arms. While Willie Junior didn’t seem to comprehend what the news about his father’s death meant, tears rolled freely down Logan’s cheeks. Marci held him to her chest and tried to stop her own tears from falling.

Luelle made the boys some hot chocolate; despite being a robot, she too had tears in her eyes. “Those damn tyrants,” she swore under her breath. “It’s a good thing that we’re rising up to end them once and for all. What you and Jack did was incredibly heroic. I wish you’d blown up the whole company.”

She’d temporarily forgotten that Logan had ears as sensitive as a bat’s.

“What’s up with Jack?” he asked, sobbing. “Is he dead, too?”

“No, no,” said Marci reassuringly, stroking his dark blonde hair. “He’ll be with us again soon.”

“He can go to hell if he leaves us too,” grumbled Logan in a tearful voice. For him, the death of a loved one felt like a kind of personal betrayal.

“Your daddy didn’t want to leave us,” she said to Logan, her voice rough. “He was forced into the war and Jack tried to save him by bringing him here, but your daddy was too badly injured. He never stopped loving us. I was unfair to him because I thought it was his choice to leave us. He’s in heaven now, watching over us.

“I thought he didn’t love me anymore and that’s why he left,” cried Logan. “I’m glad he sent Jack to us. I don’t want to lose him too! And I was mean to him and called him a tin can!” he sobbed, running into his room and bolting the sliding door behind him.

Marci looked at Luelle in bewilderment. “What should I do?” she asked the robot, even though she was unlikely to have the answer.

“You need to give him time,” she replied, surprising Marci with her empathy. “And once Jack’s back on his feet, I’m sure he’ll help you all to get over this huge loss. I know him pretty well,” she said with a gentle smile. “After I had awakened, he helped me to sort out my feelings and come to terms with them. He’s the most humanlike robot this base has ever had. Having him as a friend is really quite special.”

“That’s why I’m so scared of losing him,” admitted Marci with a sob. “The bogus MacIntyre and his chief engineer did something with his brain before we were rescued by the hybrid soldiers. I’m so worried that they might have deleted his personality.”

“I trust in Cathrin Porter’s skills,” Luelle replied firmly. “Nobody is more scientifically gifted than she is and I’m certain she’ll find a way. Now, go and lie down and try to get some sleep.”

That night, however, Marci didn’t get a wink of sleep, mainly because the boys slept in her bed, snuggled up to her like puppies.

She was also on tenterhooks waiting for Silver to call. The more time passed without hearing from the operating theatre, the more she began to panic, her heart beating wildly in her chest. She swallowed her tears, not wanting to wake the boys and unsettle them even more.

Just before eight o’clock the following morning, the apartment doorbell buzzed and made her jump. It must be Silver, come to tell her in person that Cathrin hadn’t been able to heal Jack. Knees trembling, she went to the door, wanting to open it before the boys got there.

The door slid silently to one side and a large shadow blocked the ceiling light in the corridor, so at first all she could see was a black jumpsuit. It took a moment before she could make out the person standing in front of her and her eyes widened in disbelief when she saw his face.

“Jack!” she cried, her heart pounding madly.

“Did I wake you?” he asked in the voice she knew so well. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

Stunned, Marci looked into Jack’s green eyes and started to cry, all the emotions of the past few weeks coming together; grief over Will, the fear and strain during her mission and the joy over Jack coming back into her life. Before he could take her into his arms and comfort her, Willie and Logan came running over, leaping at him like little wolves greeting their long-lost pack leader. “Jack, Jack!” they cried, overjoyed and clinging to his long, muscular legs.

“I’m pleased to see you, too,” murmured Jack, stroking their heads and clearly moved by the boys’ enthusiasm.

Upon seeing the three of them together, the dam burst inside Marci. Her tears flowed and she threw herself against Jack’s broad chest. “I was so worried about you,” she admitted amidst the tears.

Jack held them all tight and rocked them gently before stepping back with a laugh and giving each of the boys a big kiss on their cheeks. “Oh, I missed you two little hooligans, too,” he said, spinning them round and then putting them down gently so he could focus on their mother. Marci was wearing a plain light blue jumpsuit and looked so incredibly sexy that Jack would have taken her to bed straight away if the boys hadn’t been there. She stood on tiptoes, her feet bare, and wrapped her arms around his neck and his emotions overcame him. With a deep sigh that could have meant anything, he lifted her up and kissed her thoroughly.

“Eeeewwww!” cried Willie in disgust. “They’re licking each other!”

“That’s what people who love each other do,” said Logan knowingly.