The Decommission Agent

by Nash, Lisa

  Licking her swollen lips, Ms. Pope said, “It’s not a rape fantasy. I was in control the whole time.”

  “So, you’re saying you just like it rough.”

  “I’m saying I was in control. That’s all I’m saying.” She avoided eye contact with the chairman as she turned slightly in her chair and winced.

  Dr. Grant waved her off. “Let’s get off this topic, shall we? I’m more interested in a little matter we discovered going over last year’s decommission records.”

  “What about them?”

  “It seems that you did not decommission all the units scheduled for decommission. Can you explain how something like that happened?”

  Ms. Pope looked at her for the first time. “That’s not possible. I examine those logs myself every morning. I would have noticed a missed decom.”

  “That’s exactly why you’re here in the condition you are presently in.”

  “You think I doctored the logs?”

  Dr. Grant folder her arms. “I’m not sure what you did. All I know is that six female units missed decom, as you put it. You are the director. You signed off on the decommission logs. One and one equals two, Melissa. Don’t you agree?”

  “Why would I do such a thing? I’m the most loyal employee you have. I bleed for this fucking company!”

  “If it was not done on purpose, Melissa, then you are basically saying that you are grossly incompetent. Either way, you have received your last paycheck from Grant Bio-Synthetic Industries. This coupled with your frightfully stupid hiring practices…”

  “Those practices work. I’ve saved this company hundreds of thousands of dollars in training, overtime costs, and lost production. The people I hire complete their rotations.”

  “Be that as it may,” Dr. Grant said, “we now have a situation stemming from your cost-saving initiative that may cause this company irreparable harm, and I’m having a hard time believing that your two fuckups are unintentional. As little as I think of you, I don’t think you’re stupid.”

  As frightened and angry as she was, Ms. Pope almost appreciated the backhanded compliment.

  “It’s obvious that you could not pull off something like this alone, so I am curious to know with whom you are working?”

  Ms. Pope didn’t answer. Her eyes swelled with tears. She had wasted her life for Grant Bio-Synthetic and this was the thanks she got.

  “Melissa, you can tell me or you can tell our security team.”

  “I’m not working with anybody. I’m telling you the logs I signed off on showed 100% decommission. I swear it!”

  Dr. Grant stood. “Very well.” Turning to the darkest corner of the room she said, “Denise, see if Melissa performs better under your team’s questioning methods.”

  “No!” Ms. Pope yelled. “You can’t do this! I’m telling you the truth!”

  Denise stepped into the light carrying a leather bag. “Don’t worry, Ms. Pope. Our method is very simple. We give you control of the outcome. Answer truthfully and it’s painless and fast.”

  “I don’t know anything. Somebody doctored the records. That has to be the answer.”

  Denise set the bag down on the table. “Very well then, who would do such a thing?”

  Ms. Pope groaned and stomped her foot. “I don’t know, but I do know that it would have to be someone with a high level security authorization… higher than me.”

  Denise reached into the bag and pulled out a leather cat o’ nines tail. “That is something to consider. Once we’re through here, I’ll look into that.”

  Dr. Grant pulled the door closed behind her just as Ms. Pope let out her first scream. Strangely enough, it almost sounded like a scream of ecstasy.

  -49-

  The train pulled into an enormous station that looked like it hadn’t been used in decades. Thomas and Cora stepped off the train onto a crumbling platform and stretched their backs. Cora had a vague memory of her conversation with Thomas about the true nature of their relationship, but the details were so foggy she couldn’t be sure if it was a dream or not. Every doubt she had about him melted away when he took hold of her hand.

  They followed Duncan through a maze of debris to the back of the station.

  “Are you sure this is safe?” Cora asked Thomas.

  He nodded and said, “I’ll keep you safe.”

  Duncan opened a door to some stairs leading beneath the station. “Don’t let appearances fool you, a friendlier place you will not find.” He stomped down the cracked concrete steps and led his guests to a lobby with shabby linoleum flooring and flickering fluorescent lights. “Some people look at this place and see a rundown piece of shit. I look at this place and see a rundown piece of shit with potential.”

  “This is where you live?” Cora asked.

  “Live, work, rule the world. You name it we do it from here.”

  “Who’s we?” Thomas asked.

  “Me, the boss, a few others.”

  A door opened at the other end of the lobby and a nude redheaded woman with perky breasts and an hourglass shape entered.

  “Jesus,” Duncan said. “What are you doing, Angel?”

  The redhead stared briefly and then said, “Hello, Duncan. You have returned.”

  “I have, and what did we say about walking around here ass-naked?”

  She looked down at herself and then back at him. “You don’t like my body?”

  “Sweetie, we discussed this. How I feel about your body is irrelevant. You can’t go around like that.” Turning to Thomas and Cora he said, “I’m sorry, but we’re still having trouble scrubbing the conditioning.”

  “She’s a bio-synthetic?” Thomas asked.

  “They don’t make naturals like that, brother, that’s for sure.”

  A fully dressed, plump woman with disheveled hair entered the room behind the redhead. “Sorry, Duncan. She slipped out when I had my back turned.”

  “Hello, Amy?” The redhead said to the woman. “Do you like my body?”

  “Yes, Angel. I like your body. Everyone likes your body.”

  “Should we have sex then?”

  Amy grabbed Angel’s arm, “No, we shouldn’t. We should get you dressed and see what we can do to diversify that one track mind of yours.” She pulled the redhead back through the doorway and disappeared.

  “Is this some kind of weird sex dungeon?” Cora asked backing towards the stairs.

  “No,” Duncan said. “Although I’m not going to lie. I’ve gotten pretty weird with Angel and a few others. But this is more like a rehab center.”

  “Rehab?” Thomas asked.

  “Yep,” Duncan said, “And right about now you’re probably wondering why an organization dealing in black market organs would be… bothering with reconditioning our organ donors.”

  Thomas nodded. “I guess I am.”

  Duncan put his arm around Thomas and smiled. “It’s possible I lied about that whole organ donor business.”

  -50-

  He arrived unannounced as he always did. A senator, retired or otherwise, did his reputation no good by being seen entering the grounds of a company that deals with sex, no matter how therapeutic and legal the sex might be. People may get the wrong idea, which wasn’t, of course, wrong at all.

  Dr. Grant had been made aware of his arrival shortly after he entered the VIP lounge in the basement. She didn’t really have time to entertain dignitaries and play the political game. She was hoping she could help the good senator select a bio-syn of his liking and be on her way. She was a bit surprised that he would be on the Grant Bio-Synthetic campus at such a time. His son was running for leader of the free world. It wouldn’t exactly be prudent if he were caught dipping into the bio-syn pool.

  She entered the room and saw Senator Trelow examining photos on the wall of the VIP room. He stood in a trench coat, his left hand holding his right wrist behind his back, taking in images that represented the history of the trillion dollar company.

  “Senator Trelow,” she said, “
always a pleasure.”

  He turned and looked her over just as he had been examining the photos. “Little Judith Grant.”

  She detested the condescension in his voice, but she hid it.

  “You’ve grown up so well, dear. I remember you when you were such the little troublemaker… what were you, sixteen, when we first met?”

  “Seventeen I believe.”

  He nodded. “It seems ages ago.”

  “It was ages ago.”

  “Yes, well look at you now, running the empire your father built.”

  “It runs itself really…”

  He laughed. “You didn’t get that false modesty from your father. Excuse me for saying so, but the man was the most arrogant son-of-a-bitch I’ve ever met.”

  “And if you’ll excuse me for saying so, sir. He said the same thing about you many times.”

  He tilted his head in agreement. “I suppose that’s true. Probably why our relationship was so… explosive. But the years do soften even the prickliest of bastards. Your father died too young to realize that…”

  “I hate to rush you, Senator, but I’m afraid I have an issue I must deal with…”

  “Judith, sit won’t you? We have some things to discuss.”

  She didn’t immediately comply. It was a power move. She couldn’t just sit because he asked her to. She had to show him that she would sit when she wanted to, on her own terms. “What kind of host would I be if I sat before my guest?”

  “Very well,” he said taking a seat in a chair that sat facing a row of chairs. It was the focal point of the room. She immediately regretted letting him sit first and taking the power chair.

  Sitting in the row of chairs across from him, she asked, “How can I help you, Senator?”

  “I need to know how deeply rooted in the past you are here,” he said changing his tone from congenial to serious.

  “Sir?”

  “Certain… events… secret events took place under your father’s watch, and I need to know if he took those secrets to the grave with him.”

  She shifted in her chair to get comfortable. “My father had many secrets, Senator. I’m sure I don’t know all of them.”

  “Yes, well these secrets would involve me and some colleagues of mine. Secrets that we wish to remain hidden.”

  She continued to shift. “Do you have reason to believe that they wouldn’t?”

  He pulled the picture from his coat pocket and handed it to her. “I have reason to believe they are no longer hidden.”

  Holding the picture to her face, Dr. Grant said, “This is…” she hesitated. “I’m not sure what to make of this, sir.”

  “It’s your Jenna unit: Five foot seven, emerald green eyes, 115 pounds, gorgeous…”

  “I’m aware of the unit. What I’m confused by is that this model never went past the prototype phase. There hasn’t been a Jenna in…”

  “Thirty-five years,” the Senator said. “Give or take a few months.”

  “You seem to know a lot about this unit, Senator Trelow,” she said finding a position in the chair that was tolerable.

  “I should. I loved her deeply. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about Jenna.” He got a faraway look in his eyes.

  “I’m sure you thought you loved her, sir…”

  “I didn’t think anything,” he barked. “I loved her. You geneticists and biologists and whatever the hell else kind of scientists you have at this place try to boil things down into neat little chemical and neurological bundles that explain why people feel the way the feel. Explain it any way you want, but the goddamn truth of it is that love is love, little Judith. Love is love.”

  She forced a smile. “That aside, sir, I’m still confused by the picture.”

  “Welcome to the club, my dear. Your father and I made many agreements over the years, and one of our very first ones was that he never make another Jenna unit. Have you reversed that policy?”

  “With all due respect, reinstating discontinued models wouldn’t be very profitable for us, sir. Tastes have changed over the years…”

  “Then explain to me why that particular Jenna model is holding a recent photograph of my son.”

  She considered her answer before saying, “I can’t, Senator.”

  “She was not made in your facility?”

  “She was not.”

  He took the photograph from her. “You know about Reverend Toland?”

  “Reverend Toland? I’ve been in meetings since early this morning, sir…”

  “He’s dead. Suicide.”

  “Oh, my… I’m so sorry…”

  “He received a picture like mine. A different unit, but just as precious to him as Jenna was to me. A unit that had also been discontinued as per your father’s agreement.”

  Dr. Grant sat stunned.

  “And there are others. I’ve been getting concerned phone calls for two days.”

  “I can assure you, Senator. We had nothing to do with…”

  “That is of little assurance, Judith. Little assurance at all.” He sat back as if he were a king on his throne. “All this means is that someone outside of your facility is manufacturing bio-syns, and they’ve gone out of their way to make sure I am aware of it. You are going to help me find out who it is and what they want, understood?”

  “Understood.”

  “Good. Now, where do we begin?”

  She shifted in her chair once again. In her mind’s eye she saw Craig Anders’ face as he gushed at how brilliant Dr. Albert Green was. An uneasiness overcame her as she wondered just how brilliant the good doctor was. She much feared Senator Trelow’s problem was connected to the problem they had been dealing with all day. She settled in to tell him about her morning, and prepared herself for the first flames that would bring down the empire her father had built.

  -51-

  The man was elderly, but not feeble. He sported a thick shock of white hair and a beard to match. The blue hue of the fluorescent light gave his complexion a pale appearance, but under natural light he had a healthy, slightly tanned look. He wore a pair of khakis and white shirt underneath a long lab coat.

  Thomas and Cora stood holding hands in the room and watched the man suspiciously as he paced back and forth in front of them in a half-circle pattern. Most of the time he eyeballed the floor and mumbled, but occasionally he looked up at them and chuckled.

  “You want to tell us what’s going on?” Thomas finally asked.

  “A miracle, son,” the man said with a toothy grin. “An outright miracle, and I don’t even believe in such things.”

  Duncan stood near the door looking as perplexed as Thomas and Cora.

  “What is this place?” Cora asked. “Who are you?”

  The man stopped pacing. “Me? I’m Dr. Green, Albert Green.” He took in the sorry state of the room and said, “This place is our temporary headquarters.” He clapped his hands. “My manners, I’ve completely forgotten them. Would you care for a drink or food?”

  She shook her head.

  “Why did you bring us here?”

  “I didn’t. Mr. Duncan did.”

  Duncan stepped forward. “They were generating some heat, doc. I had to bring her in early, and I didn’t feel right leaving the kid hanging.”

  Dr. Green said, “Yes, right, right. The kid.” He clapped again. “My goodness the kid.” He approached Thomas and pointed at him. “Those eyes. It’s as if you stole them from her. My God, those eyes.”

  “What are you talking about?” Thomas asked.

  “Your mother, those are her eyes. I would know them anywhere.”

  Thomas went slack jawed. “You knew my mother?”

  “Oh my, yes. I knew her…” he drifted off for a second and then pulled himself back to reality. “I knew her well.”

  “Doc,” Duncan said. “You knew this kid’s mother?”

  Dr. Green turned to Duncan and laughed madly. “Indeed. Don’t you see, that’s the miracle.” Turning back to Thom
as. “That he is here. That I am here. That we are here together.”

  “I don’t understand,” Thomas said.

  “I do,” Cora said.

  Dr. Green turned his attention to her. “Oh and you, my dear, I am so happy they have not deviated from my design one iota.”

  Ignoring the crazy statement she said, “You’re his father, aren’t you?”

  He clapped again. “Wonderful. Wonderful. Did you see that, Duncan?”

  Duncan was too confused to respond.

  “She displayed intuition. Intuition from a bio-synthetic. Remarkable.”

  “Bio-synthetic?”

  Dr. Green put his arm around her. “Don’t mind me, dear. I spent a long time in a facility taking all sorts of meds. I still have my moments.”

  Thomas took a step back. “You’re… him?”

  Dr. Green smiled with his arm still around Cora. “I am! I am!”

  Thomas couldn’t speak. He just slowly shook his head.

  “It’s true.” He a laughed. “Now you see why I say this is a miracle. There are 26 billion people living on this planet that consists of 196,939,900 square miles. I travel less than 200 square yards on any given day. The odds that I would just happen across you are astronomical, unfathomable. Wouldn’t you agree?”

  Thomas still couldn’t speak.

  “Mr. Duncan, don’t you think this constitutes a miracle?” Dr. Green asked.

  “I gotta admit. It’s pretty freaky.”

  “Another word for it,” Dr. Green said excitedly. “A freaky miracle.”

  “You can’t be my father,” Thomas finally said.

  “I can,” the doctor said.

  “My father is in… a hospital.”

  “Was,” Dr. Green said. “I was in a hospital. I worked a long time to get out. It took me a long time to scrape together the supplies, but I did it.”

  “How?”

  Dr. Green approached Duncan. “I made myself an accomplice,” he said tapping Duncan’s arm.

  -52-

  They were unaware they had been labeled loose ends. They’d spent a stress filled day talking to management about what they knew. Talking to management anytime was a fucked up way to spend your day, but talking to management about a companywide shit storm compounded the tension to the nth degree. They had been questioned and prodded about every little detail.