Tony was nothing if not a showman. A real natural at the theater of running the Company. He winked like he knew I was thinking that, and that sliver of human cleverness made the machinelike façade of his face all the more terrifying.
“Nice insurance policy for the status quo, too,” I said.
Tony grinned. “I thought so too.”
I sighed my satisfaction at successfully closing another contract. My bank account was bigger. My boss was happy. Life was good.
“What about you, Stacks? I’m feeling generous today. You got paid, sure … a bonus, maybe, or…”
He left the air empty for me to fill it with a favor. I thought it over. Whether he had a real desire to reward me or recognized an opportunity to do me a kindness he’d ask to be repaid one day, I wasn’t sure. I decided it didn’t really matter.
“Well, there’s one thing.”
Tony waited.
I cleared my throat. This would be tricky. “The marshal. Darrow.”
“What about her, Eugene?”
Gah. Not a good start.
“She was a big help. Without her, I’d never have found Blalock. And even if I had—we were outnumbered and out-teched. I hate to see her rotting in a cell, stripped of her badge, for only doing her job.”
Tony frowned. “She disobeyed a direct order from me. She’s lucky to be alive.”
“You asked what I wanted, Tony.” I shrugged like it didn’t really matter to me, like she hadn’t saved my life while I reveled in Ra’uf Erkennen’s pain. I hoped he’d buy it. “Up to you.”
Tony Taulke eyed me for a moment: a hint of the cold blue mixed with the businessman’s calculated stare. “If she’s so good, maybe I should hire her, then, and pack you off to Planitia Prime.”
It was an empty threat. I was the best corporate enforcer in the business, and Tony knew that. It’s why I worked for the Taulkes and not one of the other factions.
“Retirement on Mars? Me?” I made a joke of it. “That’ll be the day.”
He held me in his steely stare a moment longer, then burst out laughing. “All right, then. I’ll see that she’s reinstated—only as a special favor to you, Stacks. But there need to be consequences for her disobeying orders.”
“I reckon so.”
“I’ll leave that up to the Service to decide. Nothing career-ending, though.”
“Fair enough.” I rose and gathered my coat and hat. I’d have to get a new MESH set made, and soon. “See you around, Tony.”
I left the boss’s office and headed for The Slate to shoot the shit with Mickey Stotes and have a Scotch and a beer. Or maybe six. Quality downtime was something I’ve begun to appreciate more and more since passing the half-century mark. It’s the sunnier side of becoming less patient with bullshit as you get older.
Maybe, after I slept off today’s revels, I’d hop the Hearse back to Darkside and visit Minnie. She’d seemed anxious to have me spend some quality downtime with her. Up and down time, actually.
Yeah, exchanging pleasantries with Minnie might be just the thing—a pleasurable distraction until Tony called me in to execute a new contract.
Pun intended.
Love “The Erkennen Job”?
Stacks Fischer returns in Valhalla Station, Book 1 of The SynCorp Saga: Empire Earth. | Order Here
Sign Up for the SynCorp Mailing List…
Sign up for the no-spam SynCorp Saga newsletter and get exclusive, early access to new SynCorp releases, extras (like deleted chapters), Company swag, signed paperbacks, and other cool stuff!
Discover How the Syndicate Corporation Began…
Twenty-five years before the events in “The Erkennen Job” and 30 years before Valhalla Station—Earth’s governments are struggling with chaotic climate change while humanity suffers monster hurricanes, freak sandstorms, and roasting wildfires. The New Earth Order, a mysterious league of reactionary activists with sleeper agents around the world, pursues its own agenda: the subjugation of mankind to nature itself. Meanwhile, a collective of corporations led by visionary entrepreneurs combines talent and resources to save our planet and humanity from extinction…
Discover the story of how SynCorp came to power with The Lazarus Protocol, voted one of the Best Indie Books of 2018 by ReadFreely. | Order Here
About Chris Pourteau
Chris Pourteau is the bestselling author of the sci-fi corporate thriller novels of The SynCorp Saga (co-authored with David Bruns). If you loved the character of Stacks Fischer in “The Erkennen Job,” he shows up as a major character in the Saga’s second series, which begins with the novel Valhalla Station (http://mybook.to/valhallastation). A full-length Stacks Fischer novel, O.R.P. (Optional Retirement Plan), is currently under contract with Aethon Books.
Chris’s first novel, Shadows Burned In, earned the 2015 eLit Book Awards Gold Medal for Literary Fiction. The Lazarus Protocol, the first novel in The SynCorp Saga’s first series, placed in the Top Ten in Read Freely’s 2018 50 Best Indie Book of the Year contest; it was the highest-rated Sci-Fi novel in the contest.
Want to know more about Chris? Sign up for his newsletter to find out when new books are coming out (and get free stuff!) at https://chrispourteau.com/newsletter and join his Facebook fan page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/842647879401279/.
Chris lives in College Station, Texas, with his wife, son, and their carnivorous zombie alert system (two dogs).
The Erkennen Job Page 5
