Free The Exchange Part 1 by N. Isabelle Blanco

bleeding out, as I stare into her eyes, all I can think is: Worth it.
    I want her back in my arms. Caged by my body. She’s studying me, and I’m damned sure
     she can tell everything I’m thinking.
    “Your hands first,” she tells me, softly caressing my wrists.
    “Whatever we’re going to do, we need to do it now .” Gage is scowling at my feet, where the blood is gathering. “And even if we save
     you, now we’re leaving this nice pool of DNA evidence behind.”
    “No. Hospital,” I say yet again. He has a point about the DNA thing, but… “They’ll
     track us down there.”
    He raises an eyebrow at me. “Should I start making funeral arrangements, then?”
    Fucking smartass.
    “I can help him.” Sapphire holds her hand out for her bag. Gage gives it to her and
     she starts searching through it. “My father—my real father—gave me these nanobot injections
     that work with our BCI’s.”
    “Brain-computer interface nanobots?” Gage and I ask at the same time. Up ‘till now,
     the nanobot technology wasn't advanced enough to sync with our BCI’s. The bots had
     to be controlled by a separate computer.
    Sapphire pauses in her rummaging and blinks up at us. “All three of us are part machine;
     I was born inside a computer, technically speaking, and you’re surprised to learn
     that my father perfected BCI-controlled nanobots?”
    Fair point.
    “Thank God you were able to save my bag,” she tells Gage, pulling out a small, gray
     box out of it and opening the lid. There’s a small screen on the underside. She presses
     a button on the side and the screen comes to life, bathing the interior of the box
     in blue light. Three needles sit cushioned inside. “I have them inside me. That’s
     how I healed after the crash.” She pulls out one needle.
    I’d been wondering about that. But shit, perfected nanobots.
    “So Dr. Allen gave them to you?”  Gage asks Sapphire. At her nod, his eyes flicker
     toward me for a second. “And I’m assuming he is also giving this technology to Lei
     Heaton.”
    “No.” Sapphire hands the box to Gage. “He destroyed all his records on how to make
     them. I’m the only person who has the info,” she taps the side of her head with one
     finger, “in here.” She doesn’t even give us a second to process that before grabbing
     one of my wrists again. “Now, the bots won’t be able to do much more than stop the
     bleeding, Deimos. I need to go into your systems and program them to integrate with
     your BCI. And I don’t have the time to do that here.”
    I tense at the mention of her going back into my systems.
    She turns my hand over and begins searching for a suitable vein on the back. I feel
     a small prick as she slides the needle in and pushes down on the plunger. The cerulean
     liquid inside goes rushing into my vein. Once the needle is empty, she pulls it out
     with obvious skill.
    She knows how to give an injection.
    And slice people up into pieces, too.
    "There you go." Sapphire lifts my hand up and shows me. The bleeding is already slowing
     down. "I'll reprogram them to help with the tissue regeneration later."
    Gage spins away from us and takes a look out into the street. Even from where I'm
     standing, I see people rushing past.
    "Blending in is most important. We'll find a small hotel. No large ones, impossible
     to hide. I still have my fake documents and credit card on me. Once you two are settled
     in," Gage pauses in the middle of raising his hood, eyes on Sapphire and me, "she
     can do her thing and heal you. Then I'll go looking for the others."
    His tone states what his words don't loud and clear: he doesn't like the idea of leaving
     us alone. Not one bit.
    He's supposed to be one of the closest things I have to a friend, but ask me if I
     care. Go ahead, ask me.
    Gage catches the way I'm staring at him. He glares right back, adjusting his hood
     so that it hides his hair.
    Yup. That's right. We're no longer two hardened