by Michael Todd
Dan laughed and raised his glass. “Ain’t that the truth. They let us think we have something to rule, but the women pull all the strings, no matter what we might try to tell ourselves. Are you feeling better?”
JB glanced at Holly, who winked. “Yeah, but I’m forcibly restrained in my office dungeon until Doctor Doolittle and her partner over there deem me healthy enough to work.”
Dan cleared his throat when he caught a look from Paula. “Well, you better go back because it’s obvious they are not playing today.”
JB looked at Holly. “I’m gonna head upstairs to my place and get some rest in my bed.”
She nodded as she poured a drink. “I’ll check on you in a bit…don’t forget your meds.”
JB pulled the covers up to his chest and leaned his shoulders against the headboard. He coughed and covered his mouth with a tissue. As he removed it, he noticed some blood. He wiped the rest from his lips and shook his head before he tossed the tissue into the wastebasket.
From a nook in his nightstand, he pulled an old photo album and rested it in his lap. “Paper doesn’t go dark when you run out of battery.”
He flipped it open and a small smile played at the corners of his lips. “Although you were on top of the world here, weren’t you, Gabbie?”
JB chuckled as he looked through the pictures one page at a time. Afterward, he drew a deep breath and leaned his head back against the headboard. “Fifteen seconds later, we were running and gunning for our lives. That’s when the big fucker burst through the brush a little farther down the valley. It didn’t take long for it to turn and bolt toward us…”
His voice trailed off as his mind replayed the memory in his head. He trailed his fingers slowly across the photographs and wished things were different.
Chapter Two
Amanda sat at her workbench with a magnifying piece to her eye. The table lamp shone directly on her hands. Carefully, she used her tweezers to move one of the wires to the side before she clamped the metal ends and twisted them. She picked up a small plastic cover and squinted as she placed it slowly on the twisted ends. Once she’d tucked them inside, she let her shoulders relax as she finished the small amount of work remaining on that piece.
With a deft movement, she twisted the cap on, smiled, and spoke in a low voice. “Good job, Amanda.”
She feigned pride as she put the part back together completely. “Why, thank you. It’s all in the wrist.”
Amanda stood and put her loupe on the table. She walked to a suit propped up on a medium-sized mannequin, clipped the piece back in place, and drew the large armor covering over the chest. Fumbling in the back of the suit, she located and pressed one of the switches. The suit immediately began to make a purring sound and a small green light flickered on the outside. Amanda stood back, gave it a quick study, and ran her finger over the place where a divot had once existed but was no longer there.
She brushed her hands clean and stretched to click the suit off before she grabbed the HUD, placed it carefully in a cushioned box, and sealed it up. The sticker on the outside read, Heavy Metal Special Order. They usually did their own stuff, but every once in a while, they came to Amanda for something specific. She sat at the table and pulled her paperwork closer to make notes on the sheet. As with every order, she took meticulous notes so that if there was a concern, everything was well documented.
“I know,” Amanda said and continued with her paperwork, “that locks are merely inconveniences to you. I know they are simply little round circles that stop you for only a moment before they allow you to enter a room with or without permission. It must be such a hassle.”
Hickok smirked and leaned against one of the mannequins. “You have no idea. Sometimes, I wish I could simply burn all the doors down.”
Amanda smiled, signed her name at the bottom of the paper, and slipped it into an envelope. “But I can imagine that you walk in on your fair share of things no one wants to see. For example, I could have been on a hot date whom I was taking good care of during my lunch break. In you walk and see us in the throes of passion beside the hot metal rods all around us. It would be quite embarrassing for you. For me? Not so much. I’ve always been something of an exhibitionist.”
Amanda looked at Hickok with one eyebrow raised. Billie shook her head and ran her finger down the chest of the mannequin. “You haven’t had a date, much less a hot date, for three weeks.”
The armorer’s mouth hung open and her eyes narrowed. “What do you call bringing Jennifer home on Friday night?”
Hickok waved her hand back and forth. “All right, I guess she counts. If you leave after breakfast, then I would say it was a pretty successful date. Especially if you leave looking like twisted hell. Shoes on the wrong feet, shirt on backward, something.”
Amanda smiled and shook her head. “You’re a nosy bitch, that’s what you are. Did you take any video? Because I’ll pay good money for it. I was spectacular that night.”
Hickok raised both eyebrows and yawned. “If you say so.”
She stopped, stood, and turned toward the other woman. “I was magnificent. Don’t even try to act like I wasn’t. And you didn’t answer me about the video.”
Billie cleared her throat and walked to the pile of boxes stacked at the side. “Man, that’s a lot of work. Are these finished or waiting to be serviced?”
Amanda pursed her lips. “Finished. You did videotape us, didn’t you? You sick bitch. I bet you play that shit while you walk around in the Zoo. To the right in your HUD is a list of man-eating creatures and to the left is me, performing my master dance.”
Hickok looked at her slowly. “You are really full of yourself. Besides, if I did that, it would be broadcast to my whole team. I would never do you like that.”
For the next ten minutes, she skirted the question and never actually revealed whether or not she’d taped Amanda and her date. The armorer didn’t think she would do something like that, but then again, she was as sneaky as hell and had nothing to do with her time. Hickok finally sighed and nodded toward the box in the corner labeled Bitch.
Amanda laughed. “You know, I had to label it something inconspicuous.”
Billie nodded. “Right. They would have simply thought it was a box of your stuff.”
She faked a belly laugh, walked to the box, and flipped the lid off. “Your shit is fuuuucked up, sister friend. Just saying.”
Hickok smacked her lips together. “Yeah, we went over that before. Crazy hard to fix and I gotta find a secret co-op to do the repairs. So, what did you find out?”
Amanda glanced at her and bit the inside of her lip. “I’ll tell you if you tell me where the video is that you taped of me and Jennifer. All you got to do is reveal the truth behind those lying eyes.”
Billie sniffed. “I know I don’t have lying eyes. I was trained to pass any test given by any entity. These eyes are completely clear. How is your conscience these days? You seem awfully worried about that video.”
The armorer cleared her throat and snarled. “I have a fine conscience. Things simply didn’t work out with her, that’s all. Nosy bitch.”
Her companion chuckled. “Seriously, what did you find out about the suit?”
Amanda sighed and sat at the table. Her voice lowered automatically as she talked. “I was able to talk with Salinger Jacobs privately. And trust me, he won’t tell anyone about the armor.”
Billie narrowed her eyes. “I assume not since I already spoke to him.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I know. Anyway, Salinger explained to me some of what I need to know to fix the armor. They let me borrow some of the advanced tools.”
Hickok rubbed her hands together. “Good, then you got this, right?”
Amanda put up her finger. “Not quite. I still need to take the armor over to Heavy Metal to do the work. It’s way too much for my machines.”
The woman groaned. “Where any number of guys will roll around and poke their heads in. They see armor like this and they wil
l instantly want to know who it belongs to. They gonna want to touch it and shit. I can’t have people asking questions. I’ll have to mull this over.”
Amanda stood and put her hands out. “Look, I know you’re freaked out by this. You have every right to be. You’ve stayed hidden for a really long time. But I swear your armor is safe with me. And if it comes down to it, I’ll die protecting it. With Salinger knowing how important this is, he will have my back too.”
Billie began to pace as her mind raced. I know you would kill me for doing this. Hell, you’ll kill me when I come back online and tell you I let someone fuck with your baby. Hickok wasn’t stupid. Her ops guy would lose his mind. Unfortunately, though, there was absolutely nothing he could do for her now. He couldn’t fix it himself and she couldn’t go into the Zoo without it. The tracking had stayed on, and for all her people knew, she was there on some secret mission. Her ops guy covered up the rest.
After several moments of contemplation, Hickok nodded. “All right, I’ll let you do it. The only thing is, while you work on it, you must be careful. If you have to disconnect the locator system, it can only be offline for exactly twenty-three minutes. When it reaches twenty-four, a silent alarm goes off to people way higher than my ops guy. He can’t cover for me then. They won’t understand why I would be here in the first place, and secondly, why my gear is being worked on.”
Amanda furrowed her brow. “Okay, I’ll write that one down. So you are okay with me doing this? It shouldn’t take long once I get it there.”
Billie gave her a side glance for several moments. “Yeah, get it done. I have to get back into the Zoo as soon as I can. In the meantime, I have other ways to conceal my identity.”
The armorer clapped her hands. “Good. I haven’t had anything to test my skills on since I left Heavy Metal.”
She turned her back and began to walk toward the box. “Sometimes, you need to be in the right place at the right time. Just like JB and Gabby were when you stumbled out of the Zoo…”
Amanda didn’t turn and there was nothing but silence. “You think you’re all-knowing. I’ve heard the stories. Sometimes, things work out right, and I think this is one of those times. Don’t you?”
When she did turn, Hickok had gone. She looked right and left before she dropped her hands to her sides and shook her head. “Damn. That bitch better have locked the door on her way out.”
She sighed and went to check the door which was, in fact, locked. Once she’d dimmed the lights in the shop, she pulled Billie’s armor out and laid it across the table. She ran her hands over the dents, rips, and divots in the armor plating. She had never seen a material like it before. From the outside, it looked like steel, but when she held it in her hands, it was malleable.
Still, it had sustained severe damage. “Damn, that duo bear must have been a monster. Or, like so many other times, they adapt right before our eyes.”
Amanda moved her hands down to the belly armor and peeled it back to check the suit beneath it. Everything there was still intact. As she went to put the armor down, she paused when she noticed some kind of writing on the fabric. She grabbed her magnifying glass, clicked the light on, and tried to get a better look. It was handwritten, not etched in, and really, really small.
She muttered quietly as she tilted her head back and forth in an effort to read what it said. “Some secret to unlocking the potential of the universe, maybe?” she mumbled in irritation. “Billie’s true identity like the way dudes write their names in their underwear?”
Using the larger magnifying glass now, she continued to study the writing. Her brows pulled together, and she looked around the shop to ensure that Billie hadn’t snuck back in. Printed by hand under the armor were the words Marcus & Isabelle 4-Ever.
Amanda stood and scratched her head. “Who the fuck is Marcus? And who the fuck is Isabelle? I wonder if that’s Billie’s real name. But wait, her name is actually William Paula Hickok… This shit keeps getting weirder and weirder.”
She lowered the armor once more and decided that keeping the lovebirds on the armor to herself was probably the best idea for everyone. It was doubtful Billie knew they were there and whoever Marcus was, he hid it well.
“I can’t wait for a fucking vacation.”
Chapter Three
Holly rolled her neck to ease the stiffness as she stood behind the bar and faced the register. Paula walked up and put some money in the drawer. “Re-stock and clean some dishes for me and you can roll. You are working your ass off at a job you actually weren’t ever hired for. You are a hero, girl.”
She chuckled and rubbed her wrists. “Are you staying longer?”
Paula nodded. “I checked on JB a little while ago and he was fast asleep. I didn’t want to wake him, so I figured I would push through—at least until he stomps down and demands that I go home.”
Holly looked at the schedule. “But that means you’ll work all the way until tomorrow night ʼcause you’re on the floor tomorrow.”
The woman shrugged. “I called in one of the other girls. It shouldn’t be too crazy during the daytime tomorrow. I’ll get some sleep and come back in tomorrow evening for the night crew.”
Holly nodded. “Well, if you need anything or JB doesn’t come down, call me and I’ll come back.”
Paula smiled at her. “I appreciate it and might take you up on it. For now, I’ll wolf something down in the kitchen before you leave. You got this for a minute?”
She nodded. “Hell yeah, go eat. There is barely anyone here right now and Old Man Tuttle is passed out on the bar again. I’ll leave him there for now.”
The barkeep chuckled. “Probably a good plan. He gets handsy when you try to move him.”
Paula walked into the back and Holly turned as three gentlemen entered the front. They were all dressed in khakis and polos with Shou Industries on the front. She smiled, not knowing who they were. “Hey, guys. First time here?”
One of them smiled. “Yeah. We are from the Chinese side. We heard this was the place for a drink.”
She nodded with a grin. “What can I get you?”
All three ordered a beer and she emptied the bottles into glasses. As she brought them over, the guys talked amongst themselves. “It’s very different over here. I can see why someone would want to steal priceless information from us.”
The guy beside him shook his head. “Yeah, but this was a professional. The only reason we knew about it was because of that extra security measure we put on the sensitive information. Anytime someone takes a download off that server, it prints a report. We don’t usually get reports since downloading is by executive order only, so this one stood out.”
The third man took a sip of his beer. “And no one was caught on video. It’s insane.”
Holly tried to listen without being obvious. She knew exactly what information they were talking about. Billie must have gone to that side to gather the intel she needed for the salve. But what were they doing on the French side? Did they have leads?
She took the payment for the beers and set the change down. “Are you boys thinking of switching to this side?”
They chuckled. “No. We work for Shou Industries. We’re only here to do some research of sorts.”
One of them narrowed his eyes. “You’re a bartender. I bet you hear all kinds of stories and gossip back there. Did you hear of anyone stealing any top information from our side?”
Holly chuckled. “No. And with the clientele that we get in here, I can’t see anyone actually pulling that off.”
The men looked at Old Man Tuttle as he snorted and shouted before he fell asleep again. Holly lifted an eyebrow. “Case in point. But if you’re here for a while and I hear anything, I’ll definitely let you know.”
Just then, Paula entered and Holly smiled before she moved casually away and packed several glasses on the shelf. She went about her duties, washed the rest of the barware, and filled the beer cooler. When she was done, she grabbed her bag from the cubby in
the hall and looked toward the door that led up the stairs to where JB lived. Part of her wanted to check on him, but if he was resting, that was a good thing. Besides, she knew Paula wouldn’t let too much time pass before she went to make sure he was okay.
“Call me if you need me,” Holly said as she walked out from behind the bar.
Paula waved. “Get some rest, honey, or you’ll wake up looking like me.”
She laughed as she opened the front door and glanced back over her shoulder. “My hair never has that kind of volume.”
Holly hurried through the streets toward her apartment, exhausted. She unlocked and relocked the entrance door and jogged up the steps. The front door was locked, so she figured she would be alone but that was definitely not the case. As she opened it, she saw Billie sitting at her desk studying.
She rolled her eyes and closed the door. “Honey, I’m home.”
Hickok put up her hand but didn’t look up. “Sorry, do you need the desk?”
Holly yawned. “Nope. But I do have an interesting story to tell you.”
Her visitor raised an eyebrow and looked warily at her. “Oh yeah? What?”
She sat on the edge of the bed with her hands in her lap. “I was finishing up behind the bar and three guys came in wearing Shou Industries polos.”
Billie blinked and turned back to her work. “Oh yeah? What were they doing over here?”
Holly laughed. “I think you know. Someone stole sensitive information from the company and they were only able to figure it out because a secret security measure tripped when the person downloaded the information off the secure servers. It printed out a report, but no one saw it until they came in. They said they will install alarms linked to that now.”
Billie grumbled. “If Marcus had been in my ear, those securities would have been taken care of.”
Holly smirked. “Are you still mad at your ops guys?”
“Guy, and yes. The asshole could have helped me, but he was too much of a pussy.”
