He sat at a cluttered desk. An old phonograph with a flaring trumpet-shaped speaker played a muffled classical tune. He lit a cigarette and blew smoke rings at the ceiling.
The phone on his desk rang. The boss answered it in Korean.
“That errander girl is here,” a woman’s voice replied.
The boss sat forward eagerly. He switched to English: “Good. Don’t let her out of your sight.”
“I’ll be keeping my eyes on her, of course,” the woman’s voice said.
“I want to be made aware of the slightest problem,” said the boss. “That that girl is trouble.”
“I’ll let you know the instant anything suspicious happens.”
“I’m counting on it.” The boss hung up. He sat back in his seat, blowing more smoke rings and wondering how things would turn out. It was all very interesting. Then again, most things the boss was involved in were interesting, to say the least.
ORIENTATION was scheduled for eight the next morning. But Jill woke up at five without an alarm. It took a minute to remember where she was, what had happened. The surreal feeling was still there.
So was the guilty feeling.
She should be waking up in jail; instead she was waking up in a warm bed and a nice room and about to start an important and fairly prestigious job. She sat up in bed, her mind involuntarily picturing a fifteen-year-old boy with shoulder-length red hair. She’d been dreaming about him. What was his name? She didn’t think she’d caught it on the news...
Jill tried to shake it off as she stepped out into the hallway. The lights were dim. Everyone else was apparently asleep or on night shift at HQ.
She went into the black-tiled bathroom. A leisurely hot shower felt amazing. Then she put on comfortable clothes and headed toward HQ.
The elevator lobby was quiet and empty. A line of light shone from under Director Holiday’s office door at the top of the stairs. Did he always work so early? Or had he even stopped working since yesterday?
She crossed the lobby and peered through the door into HQ. Even at this time of morning there was quite a bit of activity. About half of the cubicles were occupied.
Jill stepped out onto the concrete balcony that rimmed HQ, and headed around to the cafeteria. She was glad she hadn’t come last night. Mandy was right—too many strangers all at once. She still didn’t feel ready for that. It was good to be here early before anyone else had arrived for breakfast. Through the glass wall she saw the empty rows of tables. It was dark except for a little light from the back, where the kitchen was. She could smell bacon frying.
She tried the door. It was open. Muffled sounds of cooking and orders being loudly given came from the kitchen. She sat alone with her thoughts at a table in the dark.
The sounds of the kitchen grew a little louder, and the dim light a little brighter, when a swinging door opened. “Who’s out there?” It was a loud, demanding voice.
Jill stood up. “Sorry, I guess I’m early.”
“Early? Girl, you know what time it is? If you don’t have to be at work you ought to be snoring right now! I know I wish I was.” A light came on. Jill saw a big woman with smooth ebony skin and a ruffled apron.
“Sorry,” Jill stuttered. “When should I come back?”
“New, aren’t you?” the woman said in a softer tone.
Jill nodded.
“You got a name, child?”
“Jill Branch. Listen, I really didn’t mean to intrude. The door was open, and—”
The big woman gestured for silence. “You sit right back down there, honey. And don’t mind my complaining. I’m just a little grumpy, as usual. That’s what happens when my people feel like they can take their good sweet time instead of getting their work done.” She scowled exaggeratedly toward the kitchen. The next instant she was smiling a perfect pearly smile down at Jill. “My name’s Virginia, honey. Named for the place I was born, Earthside. Moved up here when I wasn’t old and fat yet.” She boomed a laugh that jiggled her belly beneath her apron. “Call me Momma Ginny, all right?”
“Nice to meet you,” said Jill. She held out a hand, but apparently Momma Ginny preferred hugs. Great big long hugs.
“So nice to have you here, Miss Jill! I hope you get to feeling comfortable around here soon. Now you just sit yourself right back down, there. How’s a big Belgian waffle with strawberries sound, hmm? And a little whipped cream on top? Scrambled eggs and bacon on the side?”
Jill said it sounded incredible.
“Give us another minute, honey, and it’s all yours. Oh, probably more like two or three minutes, what with all that fooling around going on back there.” She strode back into the kitchen, rattling the swinging doors and yelling as she entered.
Exactly two minutes later she emerged carrying a big platter with everything promised. “You like cream or sugar in your coffee, Miss Jill?”
“Um, I actually don’t really drink coffee.”
“Don’t really drink coffee,” Momma Ginny repeated suspiciously. “I see. Well. All right, then. A little orange juice, maybe? Just squeezed it myself. Someone’s got to get something done around here.”
“Okay,” said Jill.
SHE was almost finished eating by the time the other residents started filing in. Dizzie and Mandy, bleary-eyed and in their PJs, were among the first. They got their trays and sat down across from Jill.
“Sleep all right?” asked Dizzie with a sleepy smile.
“Sure,” said Jill. “You?”
They nodded. “I always sleep like a rock after an evening shift,” said Mandy.
“So,” said Dizzie, “orientation this morning!”
Jill nodded. “Me and the other new girl.”
As she said it, Amber Phoenix appeared in the cafeteria line. Most of the others were in their pajamas, but Amber had showered, dressed perfectly, and done her makeup. Her hair looked like she’d just walked out of a salon.
Jill looked away and tried not to appear irritated. “How does it work? Orientation, I mean.”
“It’ll be different for you than it was for us,” said Mandy, “since you’re field and we’re tech.”
“Oh great,” Dizzie muttered. She held a fork full of egg suspended in front of her mouth. “Corey’s not helping out with orientation, is he?”
“Yeah,” said Jill. “Don’t worry, it’ll be fine.”
“I hope so,” said Mandy. She tried to look as sympathetic as she could. “Dizzie told me about...well, the two of you.”
Dizzie finally forked the eggs into her mouth with an apologetic look in Jill’s direction. “There aren’t many secrets around here,” she said with her mouth full.
“Forget about it,” said Jill.
Amber came over with her tray. “All right if I join you?”
“Okay,” said Jill. She’d meant to sound more inviting.
Amber sat down next to her. “Ready for orientation?”
“I guess,” said Jill. “I’m not really sure what to expect.”
“Me neither. I’m kind of nervous.”
“Is that why you’re hardly eating?” said Dizzie, gesturing at Amber’s sparse tray.
Amber nodded. “I don’t know if I can even handle the little food I took.”
Out of nowhere, Jill felt a twinge of empathy. “I’m pretty nervous about it too. Don’t worry, we’ll survive.” She caught sight of Corey Stone at a table across the room. He was laughing and chatting with a few other guys at his table, not noticing her.
“Well, Miss Jill,” boomed Momma Ginny as she approached the table, “I see you already have a little entourage around here! Good choice of friends, too,” she said, putting one hand on Dizzie’s shoulder and another on Mandy’s. “Two of our department’s finest!”
“They’ve been really nice,” said Jill.
“And here’s another new girl,” said Momma Ginny, making her way around to the other side of the table. Amber introduced herself, and found herself suddenly snatched up into one of Momma Ginny’s h
ugs. “You girls come by and see me any time, you hear? I’ll be happy to get out of that kitchen and enjoy some good, civilized company for a change. You have any boys chasing you and you need someone to get rid of them, you let me know!” She laughed triumphantly and disappeared.
“Good old Momma Ginny,” laughed Mandy shaking her head.
“I actually did tell her about a boy who was stalking me one time,” said Dizzie, “some temp who worked in the cubicle next to mine for a month. Believe me, she’s as good as her word.” She broke into an amazingly accurate Momma Ginny impression: “‘Boy, you keep your filthy mitts off that girl, you hear? You so much as glance at her the wrong way and I will whip on your little white hind-parts so you can’t sit down ’til next Christmas, don’t think I won’t!’”
JILL and Amber got to Conference Room D a little early. For a few minutes it was just the two of them waiting for Holiday and Corey to arrive and get orientation rolling. It was more than a little awkward. At least, for Jill it was. Amber seemed fine. She had no problem starting off the small talk.
“How was your first night in your new room?”
“Not bad. I didn’t sleep the greatest, but, you know.”
“I hardly slept a wink! I’m like freaking out that I’m finally here.”
“You’ve been wanting to join the department for a while?”
“Months. I really had to talk Director Holiday into letting me sign on.”
That’s funny. He did everything possible to get me to sign on. Jill figured it wouldn’t be smart to say the thought out loud. “So you weren’t an errander before, were you?”
“How can you tell?”
“I just can. It seems like most people around here were into something shady before they got here, but not you.”
“I’m here because of my dad. He helped program Sherlock. Did they tell you about Sherlock?”
“Yeah, I saw it...him. So your dad helped build him?”
“Until he got cancer. He died two years ago. Dad never talked about his work, but I knew he was involved in something pretty big. When he got sick, I did all the snooping I could to figure out what he’d been up to. Slowly but surely I found out about this department.”
“So you’re pretty good at snooping.”
“Snooping and martial arts. Those are my specialties.”
And looking like Miss Freaking America. “So Holiday finally figured you’d be a good fit.”
“It was either let me join or I’d tell every newspaper in Anterra about the department.” She laughed. “No, I’m kidding. I wouldn’t have done that. Probably.”
Holiday walked in with Corey Stone in his wake. Corey smiled briefly in greeting and sat next to Amber. Of course.
“Let’s get right to it, shall we?” said Holiday with a more-cheerful-than-usual smirk.
The beginning of orientation consisted of basic household rules: Respect for department property, superiors, and peers. Absolutely no girls in the guys’ dorm or guys in the girls’ dorm—except on special prearranged and properly supervised occasions. “Call us old fashioned if you wish,” said Holiday. “I’ll only take it as a compliment.”
Corey smiled. “Don’t try to break that rule. If the resident supervisors don’t catch you, Sherlock will. Believe me, I know.”
Amber shook her head at him.
“Hey,” he said defensively, “I was new, and I just took a wrong turn. Totally innocent, really.”
Holiday cleared his throat to shut Corey up. “And,” he continued emphatically, “absolutely no romantic involvement between fellow department members. Be friends. Get to know each other. Learn to love each other as brothers and sisters in arms. But for heaven’s sake don’t date each other—or, if you do, keep it a secret from everyone else, especially me.”
“Sherlock might catch you at that one, too,” Amber muttered.
Jill laughed in spite of herself.
“I’m not going to bother going over the rest of our residence rules,” said Holiday. “Read the department handbook for yourself. Now, follow me, please.”
THEY went to the office next door. Holiday introduced them to Miss White, a stylish woman with short black hair. She cordially asked who her first victim would be. Jill volunteered.
Miss White led her back to a small room with a glowing floor and walls. Jill stood perfectly still when she was told to, and the floor and walls got brighter and hummed.
“What’s this supposed to do?”
“We’re creating a digital three-dimensional model of you. We’ll need a very precise measurement of all your body’s dimensions and joints.”
“What for?”
“For your uniform, of course.”
“Oh. Right.”
“Hold your chin up a little. We’ll get another scan of your facial features, just to make double-sure. We don’t want your mask to fit improperly.”
“Mask?”
“Holiday requires masked helmets during any mission where you’re not undercover. So what do you want on yours?”
“On my mask? Like, a design?”
“Yes. You get whatever decals or images you want on your mask. Bradley Park has the emblems from the Korean flag, not surprisingly. Corey Stone has a skull painted across his. How typically male and unimaginative, am I right?”
“What if I have no idea what I want?”
“Let me know later. It’ll be plain black until then. Okay, you’re done.”
She waved Jill back into the waiting area. A minute later Amber’s measurements were done.
“Your uniforms will be arriving in a few days,” said Miss White. “Sorry, it takes rather a long time to manufacture the polysynthetic exoskeletal protectant at such precise specifications.”
Jill frowned. “The poly-whaty?”
“The material used for the armor on the uniforms. State-of-the-art stuff. Light, flexible, bulletproof for all but the closest and most direct shots.”
Amber raised her hand. “Stupid question: Do we get shot at much?”
“Occasionally,” Holiday answered. “If it’s any comfort, the department is yet to suffer a fatality—or even serious injury.”
“Another stupid question,” said Jill. “Can we shoot back?”
The director gave a half-smile. “Follow me.”
THE Nexus happened to have the nicest indoor shooting range on Anterra. They watched from behind a glass partition as a couple of field agents peppered paper targets with holes.
“To answer your question, Jillian,” said Holiday, “yes, you’re allowed to shoot back. You’re even allowed to shoot first, if you must do so to prevent your enemy from harming you. Our field agents carry weapons at all times. Of course, our prayer is that they will never need to use them.”
“Just try not to aim for anything vital,” said Corey. “Our firearms are defensive, not preemptive.”
“In other words, be like the cowboys in the old movies and shoot the gun out of the other guy’s hand,” said Amber.
“If possible,” said Holiday.
The two shooters left the range, and Holiday led them through the partition. “Later this week you’ll be taking a basic weapons’ safety course. I realize some of us,” he eyed Jill, “are used to handling weapons. But please follow this department regulation with the finest of attitudes.”
“Will do,” said Jill.
“After the course,” Holiday went on, “your hours spent here, as well as your accuracy during each visit, will be logged. We’ll be keeping our eyes on your marksmanship.”
Amber gazed nervously at the range.
“Ever been shooting before?” Corey asked her.
“Once or twice with my dad. I’m better at kicking.”
“Speaking of which,” said Holiday, “Amber, here, will highly approve of our next stop on the tour.”
THEY went down some stairs into a large workout center—weights, exercise machines, and aerobic mats. A track circled the place. Several department members were using the gy
m. Energetic music blared from unseen speakers.
“You will be expected to keep in prime physical condition,” Holiday announced. “Each of you will be assigned a personal trainer who will regularly check up on your strength, endurance, and flexibility.”
The director led the way past the weight training area into a large, open room with a padded floor. “Welcome to The Ring,” a sign over the doorway said.
A Korean teenager and an old, impossibly skinny man were in the center of the room. They were fighting. At least, the skinny man was fighting. The kid seemed to mostly be falling down in various painful ways.
Holiday gestured to him and said, “Meet Bradley Park.”
Bradley didn’t manage much of a smile as he pushed himself onto his feet.
“And this is Bear,” the director added, indicating the old man.
Bear smiled widely. “Jillian Branch,” he said in an airy voice, “and Amber Phoenix, is it? I bask gratefully in your radiance!”
Jill couldn’t place the accent. Whatever it was, Bear sounded regal.
“Bear is Bradley’s personal trainer,” said Holiday. “And starting now he’ll be both of yours as well.”
“Such lovely young ladies,” Bear said with a slight bow. “Can two such beauties truly belong in the realm of combat?” He wheezed a laugh. “I will tell you a secret: It has been my experience that the more attractive a young lady is, the greater is her propensity for violence!” He laughed again. It seemed like he meant it as a compliment.
“In that case,” said Holiday, “they ought to be quite the matchup.”
Jill smiled ruefully. In that case, she thought, Amber’s going to kick my butt.
16
JILL was more right than she knew.
They’d hardly swallowed breakfast the next morning before they were into their workout attire and off to the training area. Bear squawked at them to come into The Ring first thing.
The Nexus Page 12
