“You want me to purposely mind control you?” I asked, totally confused. “Because of pen users?”
“Yeah. I do.” He shrugged. “That will make me almost a billion dollars. I have way more than that, and yet, while my kids are in Jamaica with my wife, I’m here working. And you can make more than what I’ve made with a stroke of your pen. The end game is clear to me.” He held his wrists out together. “My life is like a pair of handcuffs that get tighter the more I make, and the whole time, I’m just walking the plank toward oblivion.” He tapped his forehead. “I know this, and yet, here I am, trying to decide if I want to take you on anyway.”
“Okay …” I took a deep breath and then took his proffered papers. As I paid off my remaining debt, I nodded. “You’re happy with what you have.” There was a ping in my ears, and Arthur Modi’s entire demeanor changed.
“I feel better already,” he said, and he walked out whistling. “Good luck, Mr. Stevens. Though, I suspect you won’t need it.”
“That was very strange,” I murmured. Then I glanced at the bank manager. “Say, can you do me a favor?”
“What would you like, sir?” He was already moving to leave while also waiting for me to be done.
“Bring me the loan documents for everyone who has a home loan and hasn’t missed a payment in the last year or more.” I grinned. “I want to pay them off.”
10
As I walked back to the limo, I was in no mood to deal with the six messages Shelley had left me. After all, she had the penchant to keep calling until I answered, even for innocuous things. Besides, I’d be at the Medallion in a few minutes. She could wait until then.
I just needed a few minutes to clear my head since I was still feeling out of sorts from dealing with Arthur Modi. Sure, he’d had a point about playing a rigged game, but that wasn’t the problem. After all, I wasn’t about to stop using my infinite money cheat anytime soon, but at the same time, his other words bugged me.
It was the story about the old lady with the pen who’d died with it. What had happened to it, and moreover, what other pen users were fucking with guys like Arthur?
I rubbed my chin. I knew it couldn’t be many, but I also knew what I could do if I really set my mind to things, and well, I was a sociopath. I could crush armies beneath my heel. I could rule the world. I hadn’t, but what if someone else had? What if the whole world was ruled by a shadowy cabal of pen users?
“No.” I waved off the thought right before I pushed the door to the bank open and stepped into the sunshine. “Wayne and those guys had been around forever, and they never managed to do more than hunker around in their bunkers and count their gold like draconic Scrooge McDucks.” I made a fist. “Things will be okay.”
The moment my phone rang, I knew I shouldn’t have said that last line out loud. After all, the only thing more powerful than my pen was Murphy’s Law.
As ‘Rollin’’ by Limp Bizkit filled my ears, I made a mental note not to let Cami anywhere near my phone again.
“Can you take me back to the Medallion?” I said to the driver as I slid into the limo. As he nodded his assent and shut the door, I answered my phone. “What’s up, Cami?”
“I found something interesting, and I need you to make a purchase,” she said, and I could hear the barely suppressed delight in her voice.
“Are you happy because you changed my ringtone or because of what you found?”
“A little from column A, and a little from column B.” She must have shrugged because I could feel it through the phone. “Mostly though, you won’t believe what I just found.”
“What’d you find?” I asked, leaning against the seat of the limo as it took off. “And can it wait until I’m back at the casino?”
“So, Skye sent me some information about some treatment plant you wanted to buy?” She took a breath. “She asked me to tell her what the technological standard is, and here’s the thing, you need to buy it.”
“Buy the plant?” I asked, confused. “I just wanted to buy the piping.”
“Well, here’s the thing. That plant is super fucking profitable, but that’s only because the contracts it has are redonkulously profitable. Like, someone wrote them to straight up rape the populace.” Cami took a huge breath, and as she did, I got confused.
“Right, and I can see why that’d be concerning, and I’m fine figuring out why, but this isn’t, um, your area of expertise.” I left my question unsaid, namely, why she was telling me about it instead of Amy or Skye.
“Because the tech is so bad, Roger.” The way she said it made it seem like there were several expletives in her statement. “I could retrofit the damned place with spare parts out of the city dump and make it profitable without the terrible contracts. Imagine what I could do with a real overhaul.” Her voice got hot and heavy. “That plant has the capability to replace the one they’re building right now with a few million in upgrades.”
“Oh.” I didn’t have to say more because it made sense. Well, it almost all made sense. “Who owns the new plant that is getting built?”
“I have no idea,” Cami shifted uncomfortably. “Why?”
“Because something about this whole system is fishy, and part of me thinks it’s because someone is purposely fucking everyone over … like someone in the government. Even the people running the state can’t be this dumb.” I tapped my fingers on my knee. First a simple fix on some pipes, and a plant that was only over capacity because it wasn’t maintained. “Because the idea that they could spend five to ten million and be up to snuff, and they are instead opting to spend a couple hundred million makes no damned sense.”
“Then this is going to make you really upset.” Cami was practically gleeful as she said it which seemed like entirely the wrong emotion. “When I told Amy about what I’d found, she had Skye pull a list for almost all the local utilities. Power, garbage, recycling.” She let her words hang in the air for a moment. “It’s all the same. There are projects to build more stuff when simple upgrades are far and away better, and I say that as a throw it away and buy a new one kind of girl.”
“Why am I thinking we’re going to be going into the power and garbage businesses in addition to water?” I asked as we tried to pull up to the Medallion and found ourselves backed behind crazy traffic.
A moment later, I realized why. A crowd of protestors with signs depicting all sorts of nonsense was blocking the entire street. “Actually, I need to let you go. Some protestors are blocking the entrance to the casino.”
“Right. Anyway, I’ll have this all worked out when you get here, okay?” Cami clicked off without waiting for a response. That was fine though.
“Can you get through them?” I asked, lowering the window between the backend of the limo and the driver.
“Only if you want me to run them over, sir.” I caught his eyes in the rearview. “Each one is fifty points, and I am looking to up my score. Just saying …”
“Let’s hold that thought,” I said as I dialed Shelley, but my call went straight to voicemail … which was also when I heard the bullhorn.
“You have three seconds to disperse, or I release the hounds!” Shelley cried, and I caught sight of her and a ton of SWAT-looking guys standing in front of the casino with, I shit you not, a bunch of goddamned dogs.
“Please tell me she isn’t going to actually release hounds on the protestors,” I murmured as I threw open the door to the limo and leaped outside. The moment my shoes hit the pavement I was running forward.
I hit a wall of humanity a moment later, and as I tried to weave through them, I found their accusations a bit ridiculous. For one, I’d never used baby slave labor. And for two, no, we didn’t sacrifice puppies to our dark god.
That wasn’t the worst thing though.
No. The worst thing was that our little water pipe thing hadn’t gone unnoticed. Somehow, word of our ‘treachery’ had been enough to get this mob frothing at the mouth because, well, we were gonna shut off water to the poo
r and rape them by hiking prices. Then we’d cancel the new plant being built … it was a whole thing.
“Get out of my way,” I said, and as the words pinged in my ears, the crowd parted like the red sea. I pushed past them and found myself standing in front of Shelley a second later.
For her part, she looked surprisingly calm despite the lewd things the protestors were saying to her.
“I guess I should have called you back,” I said, waving a hand at the crowd. “What’s going on?”
She probably responded, but I didn’t hear it because a bullet smashed into the back of my skull, pitching me forward right before the crack of a high-powered rifle filled the air.
11
I stumbled forward as the nanites shielding my body distributed the force of the impact along my entire body so that I didn’t snap my neck from the impact, but even still, I would have fallen if Shelley hadn’t grabbed me.
Her own nano-suit had come to life, sheathing her in a thin skin of grey steel that gave her enough enhanced strength to deal with my sudden fall. Crazier still was the non-small fact that even though the whole thing had taken only a few seconds, the nanomachines returning to their normal clothing form before anyone got a good look at what had happened, I’d actually seen my life flash before my eyes.
It was almost worse because while I was used to assholes trying to take me out, usually it involved them wanting to get at my pen. Only killing me would render it useless.
That meant that whoever had attacked me either didn’t know or didn’t care, and something said it was the first. And it also meant they were likely to try again.
The thing was, I was pretty sure I knew exactly who had done it. Chet.
He seemed to be behind everything thus far, and this would not stand.
Sure, I’d take everything from him by way of payback, but something was different now. As I pulled myself back to my feet, ignoring the crowd scrambling all around me, I turned so I could try to see where the shooter had been.
A new realization hit me. Guys like Chet thought they could kill with impunity to get what they wanted, they thought they ran the world. So far, I’d been sort of bumbling around, but now? Now I wanted to really fix things.
Taking a deep breath, I focused on the nanomachines swarming over my body and, with a quick flick of my risk, summoned them onto my face. To the average onlooker, they looked like sunglasses, not that it mattered because, between the mad scramble of bodies and my security shielding me from contact, I doubted anyone was looking at my face.
“Help me find the shooter,” I said, triggering the onboard AI in the suit, and in an instant, I saw it pull telemetry from Shelley’s suit to compare with my own. Then it marked a list of probable locations for the shooter. Focusing on that direction, I issued a simple voice command. “The shooter doesn’t move.”
I was already running toward the most probable spot when the command pinged in my ears. I had to smile. Whoever had hired this guy wasn’t a pen user, and therefore couldn’t immunize him to me. That was either unfortunate or fortunate depending on how you looked at it.
“Roger! Where are you going? It’s not safe!” Shelley called from behind me as I sidestepped my own security and leaped off the sidewalk and into the crowd.
“I’m going after the shooter.” I waved a dismissive hand over my head as I shouldered by a hippie who had probably never showered. “Spin this.”
“Right,” she said, nodding as news helicopters began to circle overhead and the sounds of sirens filled my ears. To my right and left I saw news vans swinging around the corner in a way that made me think they were already on their way. That pissed me off. This was way too set up for it to be a coincidence. Or, well, they were coming for the protest.
That thought made me groan. I’d have been willing to bet Chet had called them in to film the protest, and they’d just happen to be there when I got killed. Then he could use me as an example when he talked about not fucking with him.
“Get out of my way,” I snarled at the throng of people cluttering the street like a bunch of headless chickens. There was a ping as they all moved by some unseen force, and thanks to my pen-enhanced speed and stamina, I was able to sprint across the boulevard in only a few moments.
Without stopping, I shouldered through the double doors at the entrance, surprising the receptionist at the lobby. She started to say something, but I silenced that with a command. Spinning on my heel, I hit the doors to the stairs a second later and began to sprint up the stairs.
Part of me had wanted to use the elevator, but the stairs were closer to where the jackass was supposed to be, and besides, it was only six floors.
I took them two and three at a time, and as I reached the sixth-floor landing, I found the bastard standing stock still. He didn’t even blink as he saw me, and I waved a hand at him.
“Hi,” I said, taking a step forward while sucking in a lungful of air. “That was a pretty good shot.” I rubbed the back of my head. “Left quite the mark.”
Part of me wanted to be angry at the asshole, but as he stared at me with his cobalt blue eyes, I couldn’t help but get the vibe of mercenary. He was dressed such that he would blend into a crowd and had one of those forgettable faces. Hell, even his brown hair wasn’t memorable. The only thing of note was the guitar case he held clenched in one hand. I suspected it held a rifle.
He didn’t respond. Instead, he stood there, and as I studied him, I realized this wasn’t the place to have this conversation. No. Presumably, police and everyone else would be coming up here soon. Then I’d have to use my pen to talk with him. It’d be much better to have that not happen.
Meeting his gaze, I nodded once. “Follow me to my lair.” Admittedly, I felt a bit like a spider talking to a fly as the command pinged in my ears. “And answer all my questions. Don’t speak otherwise.”
I turned on my heel and started down the stairs. The shooter followed, and as he did, I realized I could have probably commanded him to just walk to me anyway. Only, I’d never quite been as good with my pen as that. Presley had told me I could do more with my pen than I had thus far, that I’d barely scratched the surface of my potential, but even still, I’d never gotten really good at that whole across large distances things.
“Who hired you?” I asked as we reached the fourth floor and the sound of people coming into the stairwell filled my ears. Without stopping, I pushed open the door and stepped through, knowing he’d follow me.
“Q-Ball.” The man’s voice was gruff and well-worn, like a tired Chris Hemsworth.
“Is that a codename or something?” I replied as I tried the doors to the closest office and found it locked. “Open.”
“Yes,” he replied as the knob turned easily in my hand and I stepped inside before ushering him inside. Then I closed and locked the door.
“Sit,” I said, pointing at one of the chairs in front of the big oak desk in the mid-sized office. As he complied, I pulled out my pen and paper and scribbled a note so I could see if the letters started to fade.
No one finds us.
The line stayed, and though it was fading, it gave me a good gauge of how long we’d have. An hour at least.
“Do you know who Q-Ball is or suspect who it is?” I asked, taking the seat next to him and leaning back in it as I studied the ceiling.
“No to both.” Silence stretched between us, and I decided to try a different tactic. Pulling out my cell phone, I saw that I had almost a hundred texts from my girls. Oddly, none of them had called.
Taking a moment to call Skye, I watched my new friend. “What’s your name?” I asked as the line started to ring.
“Chad.”
“Glad it’s not Chuck,” I said with a grunt. “I know too many of those.”
“Roger, are you okay?” Skye said breathlessly into the phone. “Everything is going crazy.”
“I’m fine. I caught the guy. Give me a second, I’m going to put you on video.” I hit a button, and Skye’s worrie
d but beautiful face appeared on my screen. Behind her I could see Amy and Gail, both looking equal parts concerned and delightful. “There he is.” I pointed the phone’s camera at him so they could see.
“I’ll run facial recognition …” Skye murmured, and I heard her start tapping at the keys.
“It doesn’t matter who he is,” I said, waving a hand before turning my attention to the asshat. “Tell her the bank account routing info, anything that will make it so we can find Q-Ball.”
12
An hour later, I’d sent the hitman to the police station with express instructions to turn himself in and confess to every crime he had ever committed, and strangely, I felt pretty good about it. Sure, I’d used my pen to mind control his ass, but fuck him and the horse he rode in on.
The only thing that niggled at me was, despite the guy singing like a goddamned canary, we’d found absolutely nothing. Q-Ball was clearly too smart to identify himself easily, and while I’d wanted to use my pen to just figure it out, I wasn’t quite sure that I knew how to do that.
Besides, I had a pretty good idea who was responsible. Chet. Sure, he may not have pulled the trigger directly, but that all these things happening now couldn’t be a coincidence. Hell, if I hadn’t had my pen, I’d have been penniless ten times over by now.
Unfortunately for that jackass, I did have a magic pen, and I was going to show him just how effective I could be.
So, as I took the elevator down from the Medallion, I was formulating a plan in my brain. Especially since I’d already taken care of Arthur Modi. Yeah, okay, I guess I could have done the same thing to Chet, but it’d be a lot more satisfying to beat him at his own game. After all, Arthur had been shady, but he hadn’t turned hospitals into soul-sucking pits of despair.
“Can I get an update?” I asked a few minutes later when I entered what I liked to call the conference room. It wasn’t really that since it more resembled the bridge of a starship with places for each of my girls. A few spots were conspicuously empty, like Shelley’s and Ronnie’s, but those both made sense. Ronnie’s entire job involved wining and dining asshats in the government, and Shelly was still trying to bolt patches over the hole in the casino after what had happened earlier.
To Vegas with love Page 6
