* * *
A few minutes later, she helped him into the car. He was soaked through to the skin. She tried to get him to peel his shirt off, but he resisted.
Probably just too tired, she hoped. His head lolled as he fell asleep. Putting her seatbelt on, Molly put the car into gear and with Oz’s assistance, navigated out of the hellhole of a parking garage and into the city traffic.
Any chance we’re being followed?
Unlikely. The only camera I can see on the network was the one at the door. Nothing in the parking garage, so they won’t have an image of your identifier.
That’s damn lucky.
Molly contemplated all the hundreds of ways this could have gone sideways. Being able to retrieve Joel so easily was a blessing. And a mistake she was never going to make again. From now on, they’d be way more careful. This wasn’t an exercise in a controlled environment where you could fuck up, hit the showers, and come back tomorrow to try again.
This was life and death.
And things were getting very death-oriented, very damn fast.
Let’s get this lug back to the safe house. He’s going to have one hell of a headache when he wakes up.
“No more apartment for you, big guy,” she told the semi-conscious Marine. “From now on, we’re taking this shit seriously 24/7 and staying safe.”
Molly cursed at herself that she’d let something like this happen. This was her fault—and why she had joined the military. She didn’t want to be responsible for making decisions that would get people killed. The military made those decisions, and she did her best.
Why did she ever think she could deal with this shit and have people be okay?
Her thoughts wandered to the three kidnappers she’d left behind. Without medical attention they would probably die, and though she didn’t feel guilty per se—they had kidnapped her teammate—she still felt a twinge of regret for killing them. It couldn’t have been helped, but this was her first real kill. And yet it felt so remote.
Maybe I just feel bad for not feeling bad?
I have no way to parse the information that I can gather from your system. Or interpret what you just said.
Me neither. I just…it wasn’t until now that I realized what I’d done. Had I thought of it sooner, we might have called emergency services for them.
That would have been unwise. Not only would they be able to identify you, the police would have tracked you down, and then those kidnappers would probably have come after the both of you. Game theory suggests that given you wanted to get away and not have to deal with them again, you made the right call—98.5% probability of success.
Oh. That’s good to know.
Your circuits have settled.
You mean, my emotions. My emotions, Oz. And yes, thank you. That helped.
Oh. That’s good. It wasn’t what I was optimizing for, but I’m glad my analysis could be of assistance.
Molly rolled her eyes. Maybe this was what she sounded like to normal people….
Chapter 6
Mac Kerr’s Office, Health Corp Building, Downtown Uptarlung
Molly stormed in, a hard copy file in her hand. She slammed it on the desk in front of Mac. The cup of mocha on his desk slopped as he jumped back in surprise, bashing his inner leg on the table.
“What’s this?” He looked up at her completely perplexed, resisting the urge to rub his leg and look weak.
“Evidence.” Molly glared at him, staring him down, daring him to play dumb. When he stayed quiet, she continued.
“Evidence that you hired us for this job, that you work for the competition. Oh, and that your real name is Frank O’Rourke, and you’re wanted in the Outer System for murder, accessory after the fact, and human trafficking. My guess is that if we release our intel to the authorities, this place will be swarming with cops in no time.”
Molly glared at him and he noticeably shriveled, shifting backwards in his seat.
“There are things you need to understand about this situation, Ms. Bates” the Estarian began. As he spoke, he found his voice and his posture recovered, little by little.
“This is bigger than you,” he pointed to her and then to himself. “Or me.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before. And half the time, it’s from some Ogg trying to get me to go back to his place,” she smirked.
Oggs and Estarians were known to like human companionship, as long as they were the ones giving orders and controlling the relationship. They only treated their own as equals. That’s what made this exchange particularly…humiliating for him.
“Tell me, what do you know about the Syndicate?” he asked.
She raised an eyebrow, “Sounds like a seedy nightclub you people like to frequent.”
He paused a moment before continuing as if she hadn’t spoken. “It’s an organization; a very private organization that monitors and controls the interests of some very powerful people in the health care sector. These corporations you’ve been digging around in recently have made a lot of Sarkians very rich. And your poking around has made a large number of them very nervous. And when very rich people get nervous, it becomes a problem.”
Molly had straightened up and folded her arms. Though she had intended to get him to talk, she didn’t think it would have been quite so easy. It seemed like his ego was more important to him than his discretion.
He continued, “The Syndicate has friends all over the place: in the police, in the government, in the military.” He put extra weight on the word “military,” and turned to pull something out of his desk drawer.
Molly drew back a little, completely unprepared if he was pulling out a weapon.
He threw another file onto his desk, open at the page describing Molly’s discharge. He had a glint in his eye.
“A 4077, eh?” It was his turn to smirk. “You know, if I’d have known you were that kind of girl…”
“Shut up!” she snapped. “I’m not. And I would never...”
“Point is, Molly Bates—do you think these health care corporations, with all that money and all that power, wouldn’t have means to make some interfering human go away? Mr. Andus would just need to say the word, and that would be it.”
“Mr. Andus? Who’s he? Did he give the word on Joel?”
“You don’t already know? Wow, you are new to this part of town. Keep going the way you are and you’ll find out eventually, though that would be a very bad thing. He’s the last person you want to meet. Not very understanding when people tread on his toes. And he knows who you are now.”
“Because you told him?” She asked.
“Because I told him,” he confirmed.
The smug look had returned to his lips. This Estarian thinks he’s won this war. Molly considered coming back with a gun, or planting a car bomb for his trip home…but that was just her inner teenage frustration talking. And she’d already put enough people in danger acting on her impulses. She had to be smarter than that.
Smarter than him.
And now smarter than Mr. Andus, whoever the fuck he was.
This battle wasn’t going to be fought here in Mac Kerr’s office. She needed to leave.
“You need to leave,” Kerr announced, mirroring her thoughts. He reached over to pick up the phone. “Or else I’ll have security remove you.”
Molly turned on her heels. Mac Kerr had already been immensely useful. She’d let him think he won, and leave quietly more informed. They had research to start on this so-called Syndicate.
“One more thing, Mr. Kerr,” she turned before walking out of the open door. “We have precautions in place that if anything should happen, this intel is automatically deployed. You had better pray we don’t have an accident.”
Molly left his office and continued out of the building via the front door.
Joel was waiting in the car just down the street. She got in and slammed the car door shut.
“Fuck!” She slapped t
he dash in front of her.
“What?” asked Joel, genuine concern plastered all over his face.
“I’ve just realized how Oz came up with those names. My fucktard of an ex must have been recording our holocalls as sex tapes.”
Joel shook his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. What went on in there?”
“Oh, we have some work to do if we’re going to survive this and still make an impact in this system. Let’s get back to base and I’ll tell you all about it.”
Joel, stunned and still thinking about the sex tapes, put the car into gear and lifted out of the city. He was still none the wiser about what this strange alliance between them was going to be, but this weird-ass girl had saved his life and given him something to focus on.
Right now, his heart told him this was the right team, even if his brain was telling him that it wasn’t. Fuck it, he was up for whatever trouble she’d gone and stirred up in Mac Kerr’s office just now.
Electrocution or not, he’d have her back.
Mac Kerr’s Office, Health Corp Building, Downtown Uptarlung
Mac straightened himself up behind his desk and stood up. Stretching, he felt a flood of relief. He was getting too old for this shit. He wandered idly over to the window.
Looking out on the cityscape, he considered what had just happened. This wasn’t what he had signed up for. He enjoyed the money–and the feeling of power this game gave him—but this was supposed to be an easy retirement for him. He swore to himself that he was done with the fuckery of his past endeavors. Yet something told him he should probably start taking more security precautions.
Composing himself, he hit up his holo, and selected Salon on his call list. The other end picked up after two rings.
“Elite Style Salon, Elise speaking, how can I help you today, Mr. Kerr?”
“I’d like to speak to the boss, please.” His tone was flat and routine. Yet this wasn’t a request.
“Just one moment.” The call was put on hold, and the chimes of the hold music oscillated through his auditory implant. Fokk he hated that music.
“Mr. Kerr, Mr. Andus for you…”
And with that the line was switched.
“Yes,” Mr. Andus answered on the other end. His voice was elderly but strong. Astute. And brusque. There were only certain conditions under which he could be contacted without dire consequence.
Thankfully for Mac Kerr, this was one of them.
“She came. Just as you suggested, Sir.”
There was silence on the other end, as the gentleman considered the new information.
“And what was her move?” he asked finally.
“She knew only about my past, and that my position at Health Corp was a cover. She threatened to expose me if anything else should happen.”
“And did you make her aware of the severity of the…situation?”
“Yes, Sir. Just as you asked.”
“Good.”
“And their location?”
“We haven’t managed to trace them to a base yet, but I have someone on it as we speak. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear from them.”
“Very good. I will await your call.”
And with that, the line clicked off.
Mac turned back to his desk and sat down. Looking at his holo again, he deactivated the jamming signal he used for just such occasions. He’d been impressed that Ms. Bates had thought to do the same.
Something told him she wasn’t going to be easy to crush, human or not.
Safe house, fifty kilometers west of Uptarlung
His elbows were on the table, “Okay, if we’re going to be living in the same quarters, we need to agree on something.” Joel had been working his way up to talking about this, and there was no way of doing it without having a painfully embarrassing conversation.
“Okay,” said Molly slowly, before taking another bite of pizza. They’d picked it up from the next village rather than have their location compromised by giving their address to their local fast food place.
Joel was still feeling pretty smart about that.
“It’s just that…I, erm…Okay, so there’s no easy way to say this. The sex tapes, and the 4077. I just...I don’t want to have to come in here and find you doing the wild thing with some Estarian.” He slapped a hand down on the table and then pointed it in her direction. “Okay. There. I said it.”
Molly swallowed hard, trying not to choke on her pizza while covering her grin so as not to drop food out of her mouth.
“You’re serious?” She practically hooted with laughter as soon as she had emptied her mouth.
Taking a swig of beer, she turned her head so she could keep her eyes fixed on Joel in order to maximize his discomfort. For someone who was socially inept, Molly had picked up a trick or two along the way.
“So…you think I’m a party girl, do you?” she said finally, regaining her composure but still grinning.
“Erm…I wouldn’t say party girl…” Joel practically stammered. His cheeks were flushing a little, and it wasn’t on account of the two bottles of beer he’d downed before broaching the issue.
“Well, what then?” asked Molly, her face suddenly straight, pretending to be serious.
“Well, I just don’t want to be in that position. And what, with you being newly out of the military, and young, and gorgeous, I know it’s only a matter of time before you start hooking up with civilians.”
Molly stopped with the bottle halfway to her lips, suddenly looking at Joel in a new light. “You think I’m gorgeous?”
Eyes down, he got up from the table to grab another two bottles, taking the tops off with his hands. He placed one on the table in front of Molly and took a swig of the other before sitting back down. Still avoiding eye contact.
“Look, Joel…I’m not that wild. And I have no interest in hooking up. I’m a geek, remember? We just don’t do that kind of thing. And we have a mission now. An important one.” Her teasing voice from before seemed to slide into one that was concerned.
She was letting him off the hook. The girl might make a leader yet, he would think later when he replayed the conversation in his head.
She took another slice of pizza and folded it up on her plate. “Besides, that would be a total breach of security. If I were going to be bringing Estarians back for sex, we may as well have had our damn pizza delivered while we were at it.”
Her eyes twinkled as Joel finally decided to look up. She smiled directly at him, watching for the effect that it might have.
“Well…er…that’s okay, then,” he said gruffly, taking another swig and dropping his gaze back to his pizza again.
How he had gotten himself into this situation, he’d never know.
Chapter 7
Mac Kerr’s Office, Health Corp Building, Downtown Uptarlung
The Estarian was sitting behind his desk when the call came in. He paid the communications device no attention as he answered, “Yes?”
“We lost them, sir.”
Mac ground his teeth, got up from his desk, and swiped across the holo to jam the recording devices in his office.
He was getting tired of this bullshit.
“You had one simple task.” he attempted to keep the irritation out of his voice.
His attempt didn’t work.
“Sir, I know. But they just disappeared.”
“Which direction were they heading?” he asked, feeling a migraine approaching.
“They came out of your building, did a few loops around the town, and then headed west. We suspect their base is out that way somewhere. We’re closing in on them.”
The voice over the holo was trying to sound confident, but Mac had been running ops for some time. He’d survived on his instinct. And this time his instinct was telling him that they were dead in the water with this.
“Okay, bring your team back in. I’ll be in touch.”
This was what yo
u got using Ogg teams for the task. They were all about following orders to a T. He’d need to find someone more creative to put onto this problem.
He walked back to his desk, swiped the holo call off, and closed the jamming patch.
Looking out of his floor-to-ceiling office window, he scanned the city beneath him as if that was going to somehow help him find Molly Bates and her new associate. He watched the streams of cars heading hither and thither on invisible trails. People going about their business. Their very existence and indifference to his problem felt like mockery.
And he didn’t like feeling mocked. Or threatened. Molly Bates may be safe from him for now, but eventually he’d find her.
Then he’d make her pay.
Safe house, fifty kilometers west of Uptarlung
“Hey!” Joel poked his head around the doorframe, then stood in the doorway and reached up to grab the top of the frame, showing off his rippling muscles.
“Hey, yourself,” responded Molly, barely looking up from her archaic handheld holo. She knew she must look like something from out of the old world with her external device, but that wasn’t her fault.
Since Oz the pain-in-the-ass AI had hijacked her military wristband holo, she had little scope to do anything on her own. He had taken up all the storage and processing capacity, and, via her bio-implants, taken up residence in some of her brain too. She would get around to doing something about that as soon as she could, if only to get her onboard holo storage back.
“So, erm…” Joel looked down at his feet and shuffled a little. “I’m going to hit the sack in a few.”
“Kay.” She didn’t look up at all. She was in full geek mode. Joel saw that and smiled.
He tried again.
“I’m glad we’re working together…”
“Me too.”
Realizing he was looking for something more, she looked up briefly. “You did a good job out there, Joel.”
She flushed, embarrassed at her lame-ass words. And not cottoning on to the fact he was trying to have a human conversation with her.
The Ascension Myth Box Set Page 6
