“Good Morning, Mr. Fallows,” comes a voice that sounds eerily like my own. “I must admit I was curious as to whether or not the two of you would cross paths. While I had hoped to avoid it, fate seems to have intervened.”
“Who is this?” I meet eyes with Mathan as if posing the question to the both of them at once. He shrugs and points at me with the same look of wild confusion in his eyes.
“I believe you know who this is. I must apologize to you for my methods in utilizing our mutual friend. After careful observation, I felt confident that the young man staying with you would trust your voice to carry out the task I required more so than that of a stranger.”
It’s my voice, or at least the annoying sound that other people hear, but only one person would address me so formally. “Wyrmwood.”
“It would seem we came along at an opportune time. Soon all of the data should be done transferring and I will lead the two of you safely from the facility. In the meantime, it may be best to calm the young man, I can hear his heartbeat through the monitor in the headset and it is above healthy levels.”
“It’s okay, Mathan,” I say without thinking. “He’s a friend.” No sooner do the words leave my mouth than I instantly regret them. “So it’s been you this whole time.”
“On the contrary, I have no affiliation with the other group. I saw an opportunity to seize invaluable information and chose to take it. Given the nature of your involvement in my endeavor, we will consider our debts settled for the time being. The upload is now complete. Hand the headset back to our friend and I will guide you from the facility.”
In no position to argue, I remove the headphones and offer them back to Mathan. He seems reluctant to replace them, but does so when I give him a nod.
“It’s going to be all right, Mathan. You didn’t do anything wrong. Let’s go home.”
He nods slowly, replacing his visor. After a moment, he nods again and takes my arm, wrapping it around his shoulder for support and we walk from the room and back into the chaos.
Thirty-Five
“What the hell happened here?” I ask, shock clearly flooding my face. I look past Milton and direct my attention to Burly sitting across the way on a stainless couch. “Is this your doing?”
She smirks and shakes her head, pointing back to Milton looking more flustered than usual. “It was all him.” My eyes scan the scene in wonder once more. The apartment is spotless. Not only that, there’s natural light coming in through the window. What once seemed like a tiny hovel of depression has nearly doubled in size with flawless organization and use of space. “Right after you left, he spent hours dashing back and forth across the place muttering apologies every few minutes.”
“You could take a few pointers from him,” comes a deep voice from the kitchen. Charlsie steps through the doorway with a can of beer in hand, popping it effortlessly with a twitch of his index finger before tilting his head back and taking a long drink. “Ahh. Good to see ya, Monkey.”
“You too, fella. Glad to see you guys are already introduced.” I drag my partner in from the hallway. “Guys, this is Mathan.” He waves shyly. “He’s a man of few words, but he’s good people. Sorry we’re late. Job ran long last night and I must’ve overslept a bit this afternoon.” The apology is a blatant lie. I’m about to start two weeks of double shifts at the Rosy Coaster tomorrow on top of all of the other shit I have to deal with. I need a vacation.
“Welcome Mathan,” Milton says, shaking his gloved hand with a wide smile. “I’m Milton. Nice to meet you. Go ahead and make yourself at home.”
He makes it two steps before Charlsie gets ahold of his hand for round two. “Hey there, kiddo. You can call me Charlsie. It’s good to know ya.” He leans in and offers a good-natured, “Good luck keeping this guy outta trouble.” Cute.
He makes it to the couch and plops down next to Burly, who greets him as well with the same luck as the others. Soon he’s focused intently on something across the room. I close the door behind me, latch it, then follow Milton and Charlsie to the living area. “Now that we’re all introduced, welcome everybody.”
“Wait. This is the whole team?” asks Milton.
I give a nod. “Yup. Everybody I trust is in this room.” I start to add something about Burly being there too, but bite my tongue. Charlsie fills in for me.
“It’s more people than I would have expected.” Even Mathan manages to snicker at the joke.
“Me too, Charlsie. Me too. To break down our agendas, we’re all going into business together to open up a repair and second-hand sales shop. Mathan has already scouted out a few areas, but I believe we’ve found what we’re looking for. Once we’ve managed to secure a loan to get everything up and operational, we’ll begin our dealings outside of the districts. I’ve established partnerships with the Junkers, Aggies, and Techies to create a looping cycle of inventory that nearly guarantees that all sales and most parts for repairs will serve to immediately generate profit and begin paying off debts. I’ve also included salaries for each of my employees,” I gesture to the crew, “You guys, for the first six months.
“The breakdown is as follows. Milton will be the face of customer service and work directly with the clients and assist Mathan with repairs when possible. I considered having Burly up front, but her face is too recognizable and we need to keep her whereabouts unknown for the unforeseeable future. Instead, she’ll be in charge of marketing and advertising, attempting to bring in customers to our shop. Mathan, as suggested earlier, will be head of repairs and work back in the shop behind the store front. As for Charlsie and myself, we will be in charge of shipping and receiving as well as partner relations.”
“What do you mean by partner relations?” Milton asks.
Charlsie replies before I get a chance. “Dealing with the Junkers so you don’t have to.” Milton looks between the two of us, concern showing on his brow. “They tend to be a bit rapey.” His jaw drops and he quickly looks away before his face reddens.
“On top of that, we’ll also be working together on tasks assigned by the United Assembly. In the past, I’ve only been paid in supposedly destroyed evidence, pieces of furniture, and a security system with absolutely no sense of privacy. I’ve been assured that this time around there will be funds to compensate our ventures, though I can’t make any promises of digits at this point in time.” I let my gaze focus on Charlsie. “I can almost assure you that it won’t pay as well as crime.”
“What does?” he shrugs.
“Politics?”
“Same damn thing.” He pauses thoughtfully for a moment before adding, “But with ties.”
“True enough.”
“If you’re all done, Heath, we’ve got a ton of food in the fridge,” Burly smiles sweetly at Mathan. “The three of us already ate, but please help yourselves to anything in there.” Mathan’s out of his seat and across the room, headphones back up over his ears before I can open my mouth to respond.
“Thanks. We’ll check it out.” I follow Mathan to the kitchen, watching him withdraw containers of food and setting them on the counter with lightning proficiency. “Maybe we should have opened a restaurant,” I muse, then my phone goes off. “The hell? Everybody I like is already here.” Unknown Caller flashes across the screen. I flip it open. “Hello?”
“Good evening, Mr. Fallows,” Cellar’s voice hums through the receiver. “Are you alone?”
“Not presently, but I can be in just a moment.” I place my hand over the phone and call out to the room, “Gonna step out for a minute. I’ll be right back.” I don’t wait for any responses before unlatching the door and stepping outside, letting it close gently behind me. “What’s going on, Cellar? And what happened to Valerie?”
“Valerie is just fine. As the case is closed, she is juggling paperwork and research on other matters. Do not expect to hear from her for the time being. In any case, this is a matter of which I needed to speak with you directly.”
“I’m listening.”
“Does that eliminate the threat? Or reduce their means for the time being?”
“I do not believe that this is the last time we will be forced to deal with the mastermind behind the break-ins, but the damage dealt would be a crippling blow to any operation and absolutely instill caution before other attempts are made.”
“That’s good at least.”
“I wanted to also congratulate you on your resourcefulness in your escape. You spared us quite a bit of paperwork in having to retrieve you from custody. Clearly you were the perfect candidate for the job.”
“I didn’t have a lot of choice there, Cellar. Valerie suggested I turn myself in, but the guards gunned down the other intruders in cold blood, no questions asked.”
“Oh? That’s too bad,” he replies flatly with no hint of surprise in his voice. “As compensation for the services provided by you and your team, I have deposited five-thousand creds into a savings account I have established for you at Scheuster bank. I believe you are familiar with them. You are free to delegate funds amongst your coworkers as you see fit. As for now, until you are contacted again, our business is concluded. Enjoy your evening.” He doesn’t wait for a response before the line goes dead.
Another job from the UA that I more than likely wasn’t supposed to walk away from. Wonderful. At least there’s pay this time around. Not much, but enough to keep my partners afloat for the time being. Between Cellar and Wyrmwood, I’m not sure which I trust less. Of course Wyrmwood has at least decided that it’s in his best interest to keep me breathing. For now.
The extra creds will be good, I think about how to split it up, whether or not to be honest about how much was initially deposited, or if everybody gets equal shares. It’s a lot to consider and my mind is already a million stops away. Right now my focus is less about who wants me dead this week and more about how to get up the startup capital for a business venture I’ve already bled for.
Poking my head inside the apartment, I call out to the crew. “Hey guys, I’m gonna step out for a little bit. Don’t wait up for me.” I spot Mathan stuffing his face, eyes still fixed on some singular location in front of him. “Is it cool if my little bro crashes here tonight?”
“That should be fine,” Milton spits back, “I have some extra blankets and stuff. But Heath? Why does he keep staring at my surveillance equipment? It’s kinda starting to give me the creeps.”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” I lie with a smile. Better sleep with one eye open, Milton. “Goodnight everybody!”
I shut the door behind me after a friendly wave. With all of the double-shifts up ahead of me, it should make for extra income, but probably still won’t put much of a dent in what I need. There’s only one fast, easy method to pull in a lot of creds in a short amount of time. Lucky for me, I’ve already got the experience and a big bag of free inventory.
It’s for the company. I tell myself. For my future. For my friends. And only for a little while. Just until we get the business started and then I’m out for good. I almost believe myself
Vessel Page 23
