Binding Foxgirls II

by Simon Archer

  “Okay, fair enough,” he relented. Then, giving me a pleading look, “What exactly is it that you want from me, Mr. Joch?”

  “I want information,” I said flatly. “Sit.” I pointed at his desk chair, which was leaning haphazardly against the wall beneath the window. He shot me another pleading look.

  “If they find out--” he started, but I cut him off.

  “They haven’t bugged the office, have they? They hate technology,” I argued. “And even if they had, how exactly do you think this could get any worse for you?”

  “Fair point.” He sighed and made his way over to the chair, removing it from its position against the wall and sitting down behind his desk. He looked even smaller that way, somehow. I grabbed one of the chairs strewn across the floor and set it in front of the desk before taking a seat.

  “Okay,” I told him. “Talk.” I crossed my hands in my lap and waited patiently as he glared at me.

  “It’s not that simple,” he tried to argue, but I held up a hand for him to stop.

  “Why don’t you start with when and how this man first contacted you?” I said, making an effort to keep my voice pleasant. He stared at me.

  “Mr. Joch, I could lose--” he started, but I cut him off again, my hand still in the air.

  “You will lose everything if you don’t start talking,” I said. “Now.” He studied me closely for several seconds and then gave another long sigh, crossing his own hands on his desk in front of him and staring down at it. Then, he seemed to make a decision.

  “I first heard from them yesterday morning,” he began. “Was it really only yesterday morning? It feels like so long ago…”

  “It does,” I acknowledged. “Please continue.”

  “Very well,” he sighed. “I came into my office early to prepare for the proceedings. It was the first session, after all. I wanted to get things right.”

  “I’d say you made a real mess of that,” I interjected, unable to help myself.

  “That is… a fair assessment, I suppose,” he said. “As I was saying, I was here preparing for the proceedings when I heard a strange buzzing sound emanating from beneath my desk.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “From beneath your desk? Show me.”

  “Here.” Halit pulled out his bottom desk drawer. I rose from my seat and crossed over to the other side of the desk before scrunching down and peering where he was pointing. It looked like a perfectly normal empty drawer to me.

  “I don’t see anything,” I said flatly, wondering if he was pulling my leg.

  “No, I suppose you don’t,” Halit says. “But it is there, taped beneath a trick compartment I had no idea existed before.”

  “Well, I’ll have to see that for myself,” I said, reaching to find whatever he was talking about. But, to my surprise, he grabbed my forearm hard. He had surprising strength, or maybe he was just that scared.

  “No, don’t!” he cried, practically yelling now. Without releasing me, he clapped his other hand over his mouth, having surprised himself with the outburst. He cast his eyes wildly around the room again, as if expecting some of those tunnel goons to materialize out of the very walls of the office.

  “Why not?” I asked, rather annoyed as I writhed my arm out of his grip.

  “I don’t know… I don’t know if you could set off an alarm, alert them to your presence, or something like that,” he stammered, his voice shaking and a bead of sweat dripping down his temple.

  “Well, I’m going to need to take it,” I said as if this should have been obvious to him. It really should have.

  “No!” he cried again, and then clapped his hand over his mouth once more, this time using both now that my arm was free. “I mean, what if they need to get in contact with me again?” He said this part through his hands, and the sound came out muffled and somehow even more scared. I bit my lip, considering this.

  “Fine,” I mulled over the various options, “but the second they call, you tell me, you hear?”

  “I don’t see how I could possibly do that,” he scoffed. “They have people monitoring all communications, I’m sure of it. The only way I could possibly get out of this conversation alive is if they haven’t found a way to monitor in-person conversations yet.”

  “I thought they hated tech?” I said.

  “The underground operatives do,” he said, lowering his voice so that I could barely hear it now, “but they have people up here, too. It’s how they convinced me it wasn’t a hoax. They had my bank records, my parents’ address, everything. There’s nothing they don’t know. Or very little, at least.”

  “Interesting.” I crossed back over to the other side of the desk and sank back into my chair. “Yes, that does track, I suppose.” And it did match up with our suspicions and theories. I didn’t want to reveal too much to Halit, but these above ground operatives sounded just like Beaufort and that other guy, the one who had taken Kinley.

  “Alright, so this buzzing happened,” Halit started again, “and then I was looking around, trying to find the source. Then I finally located it. The burner phone, I mean. It never stopped ringing or buzzing or whatever. When I opened it, I had several missed calls.”

  “Did it say from who? Were there any previous calls listed on there?” I asked, leaning forward on the edge of the desk as I listened intently.

  “No,” Halit said, shaking his head. “It didn’t. I think it was new. Or wiped, at least. Anyway, it seemed clear it wasn’t going to stop, and I didn’t know what else to do, so I answered it. I suppose I regret that now. Not that it would’ve made any difference, I suppose. They would’ve found me one way or another. They made that much very clear.”

  “Don’t worry about that now,” I said hurriedly, wanting Halit to get on with the story. “What did they say? Who was it?”

  “I have no idea who it was, really,” Halit said, shaking his head, an almost bewildered expression on his face. “It’s still so strange… Anyway, it was a man, a man with an almost silky voice, a very calm demeanor. That’s all I can tell you about him, really. He didn’t reveal much about himself.”

  “What did he say to you?” I asked.

  “Just what I told you,” Halit answered. “Well, first, he told me that I was going to vote for this new bill, the one attached to the motion Gersen introduced, and to vote against Oris’s, the one you wrote, Mr. Joch. Of course, I laughed at him. I told him that things were different now, and Termina was changing, TelCorp was moving in a different direction. But then he laughed at me, and that was just strange…”

  “He laughed?” I asked, shaking my head in confusion. “Why?”

  “Well, he said that Termina only looked like it was changing, that it never actually changed without their permission, without them being behind it all,” he explained.

  “But who is they?” I pressed. “What did he tell you they were? Who did he tell you they were?”

  Halit shrugged. “Just that they were a secret organization below ground that’s been controlling the city for decades.”

  “No name, no anything?” I asked, trying not to show my disappointment.

  “No, nothing,” he continued, shaking his head. “Of course, I didn’t believe him. I thought it was all so strange, told him I was going to call you straight away and get this all cleared up. But that’s when he proved it to me with all the personal information. You wouldn’t believe what they know, Mr. Joch. The man basically read my entire life back to me like a book. It was… chilling, to say the least.” Halit shivered as if struck by a literal chill.

  “Alright, so is that how they got you to go along with it? Was this an explicit threat?”

  “No.” Halit gave a short, humorless laugh. “I don’t think these people do explicit, Mr. Joch. It’s not their MO. I kind of wish it was, honestly. It would have been a bit less terrifying if they’d just come out with it, in my opinion. This… this was more sinister. More subliminal.”

  “Okay,” I said. “So you just decided to go along with
it. Just like that?”

  He stared back at me blankly.

  “They read me every personal detail about my life, my parents’ lives, my grandparents and great-grandparents, and my last three girlfriends, even,” Halit said flatly. “They didn’t need to do anymore, Mr. Joch. That was more than enough on its own. That and everything else they knew…”

  “Everything else?” I asked. “What do you mean, everything else? What else did he say to you?”

  “He basically read me the book on everything and everyone else in Termina, too, yourself included, Mr. Joch,” Halit said. “Gave me all the personal details about the other Parliament members, the binding corp CEOs. Even gave me one of their passwords. I got into his bank account.”

  “One of whose passwords?” I asked, my heart beating faster and faster in my chest. “What did he tell you about me?”

  “Oh, don’t worry so much, Mr. Joch, he didn’t have nearly as much intel on you,” Halit said, running a hand through his hair wearily. “Though it was still enough to give me pause, I might add. Anyway, it was one of the other binding corp CEOs. I don’t even remember which one. Everything’s been such a blur. As soon as I got into his account, I exited out of it. I didn’t want that kind of power.”

  “What did he tell you about me?” I asked again, louder and firmer this time.

  “He read your entire personal history, basically. Girlfriends and things like that,” Halit said. “Listed details about TelCorp and its subsidiaries, though now that I think of it, the information dated back to when Elias Berg was running things.”

  “Good, that’s good,” I said, leaning back in my chair and calming down slightly, though my heart continued to thump almost painfully in my chest. “Malthe’s still got it, then.”

  “How do you mean, Mr. Joch?” Halit asked.

  “Nothing,” I said, waving away the question. “What did he say next?”

  “Well, he told me exactly what was going to happen in the Parliament session,” Halit continued. “Told me he’d gotten everyone else on board already. He heavily insinuated that I had to play along. And then, well, you saw the rest. I got in there, and it all happened just the way he said.”

  “Right, okay.” I nodded slowly. “Did you talk to any of the other members about it? What did they say?”

  Halit gave another cold laugh. “No, we didn’t talk about it,” he scoffed. “We never dared talk about it. Why do you think this place is so empty? If they’d bothered to stick around, a conversation might have sparked up after not too long. And then where would we be? Well, I suppose they’d all be right where I am now.” He stared down at his shaking hands.

  “You’ve done the right thing, talking to me,” I assured him. “We can protect you now.”

  “Can you?” He peered over his spectacles at me. “Can you really?” He didn’t sound convinced. Not in the slightest. But then again, he was talking to me. Something I’d said must have gotten to him.

  “We’ll do everything we can,” I assured him. “We blew up one of their tunnels, didn’t we? That has to count for something.”

  “It certainly does,” he said with a small smile. “And as I said, they seem to have considerably less information on you…”

  “Look, these guys have never even tried to contact me,” I said. “That counts for something too, I think. They’ve never once tried to bring me into the fold. Every other time that we can find that these guys have interfered blatantly above the surface, it’s been in the shadows. And even though the public doesn’t know about them yet, this whole thing is very not in the shadows, if you ask me. It’s all very obvious to everyone who’s paying attention that something sketchy is going on behind the scenes.”

  “Yes, I was afraid of that,” Halit sighed. “That first session was rather canned, wasn’t it?”

  “So was the second one,” I informed him. “I hate to break it to you, but you and your members aren’t looking so hot right now. And the only reason the press isn’t having a total field day with this and ripping the whole thing to shreds is that they’ve been scared into submission, too. Everyone knows something’s up. They’re just not saying it out loud if they know anything about it. And the people who don’t know anything about it… Well, let me just tell you that they won’t shut the fuck up. Even my air car driver knows there’s more to this story than meets the eye.”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Halit said, leaning back in his chair and covering his eyes with his hands, letting out a long, low groan. I was genuinely surprised. He was such an uppity guy, and I’d never once heard him curse before.

  “You doin’ okay there, fella?” I asked him, concerned.

  “Are you kidding me?” he yelled through his hands, seeming to have forgotten that he didn’t want to alert anyone to our presence there. “These people are gonna kill me if I join you, and you’re gonna kill me if I don’t.”

  I sighed and shook my head. “I’m not going to kill you. I’m not like that. If you haven’t figured that out by now, I don’t know what to tell ya. But I will throw your sorry ass in the Void and make sure you don’t see the light of day again for the rest of your natural life if you don’t cut this shit right this second.”

  “I’d take a cell to death,” he said, still not removing his hands from his face.

  “Would you really?” I asked him. “There are some fates worse than death. Plus, you’ve already made your decision.”

  “I have?” he asked, peaking an eye through his long fingers.

  “You’re talking to me, aren’t you?” I shot him another small smile, and he stared at me for a moment before shrugging and letting his hands fall to the desk.

  “I suppose that’s true,” he admitted. “Before, I thought you didn’t have a chance in hell at fighting these guys. At least now, I think there’s a small chance, even if it is slim.”

  “Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said dryly.

  “Anytime,” he shot back, “it’s been eating me up inside, the whole thing. Just make sure you fucking catch them.” Two f-bombs in one conversation. He was freaked out.

  “And make sure that you don’t go crying to them the second they call,” I said.

  “I won’t,” he promised.

  “You’re damn right, you won’t,” I said, pulling a small device out of my pocket and sticking it under his desk. He stared at it, his eyes wide again.

  “What is that?” he asked, pointing at it with his still shaking hand.

  “It’s what’s gonna keep you honest,” I said, shooting him a pointed look. “Everything you do and say is going to be fed into my office, and here. Take this one and keep it on you at all times. If you don’t, we’ll know.” I handed him another device, and he stared down at it, open-mouthed.

  “You really expect me to carry this around with me?” he asked.

  “If you know what’s good for you,” I said. “And no exceptions. Even when you’re pissing.”

  He continued to stare at me, altering his gaze between the device and myself. “You can’t be serious?”

  “Face it, Lucianus, you’re going to have to earn my trust back,” I said, standing to leave. “And this is the way to do it. They won’t know it’s there. Just like you said, they don’t have intel on my TelCorp, just Elias’s. My guy can do anything, including monitor you without being detected by them. You’re safe with us.”

  “And who’s keeping you safe?” Halit asked.

  “Good question,” I said. “I’ll keep you updated on that. If anyone such as blinks sideways in your direction, you let me know, you hear? Just hit that button in the middle, and we’ll send someone your way.”

  “Someone?” Halit asked, his voice shaking again.

  “Me, I’ll come personally, if that’ll make you feel better,” I said, sensing what he wanted me to say.

  “Okay, I guess,” he said, dropping his hands to his desk and shaking his head.

  “I’ll be in touch,” I said as I opened the door and turn
ed to leave. “And watch yourself, Lucianus. God knows we are.”

  19

  Gunnar waited for me outside in another alley to avoid detection. As we flew above the heart of the north side, I noticed more and more people packed in the streets.

  “What’s going on?” I asked as I peered out the window and down at the crowds.

  “I dunno, Mr. Joch,” Gunnar said, worriedly following my gaze down below. “I’ve been waitin’ for you all morning. But I do know it makes me uneasy.”

  “Yeah, me too, Gunnar,” I said, still watching the streets intently. “Me too.”

  Gunnar pulled in a different alley behind TelCorp headquarters this time, just in case anyone had caught on to us before. The crowd was bigger around the building, but since we weren’t up close, it had been difficult to make out what was going on around there.

  “Do you think it’s just the media still tryin’ ta hound ya?” Gunnar asked hopefully when we were safely tucked behind the alley.

  “I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “The media’s been there most of the day, and I don’t remember it looking that bad before. Be careful today, Gunnar.”

  “Oh, don’t worry, Mr. Joch, I will,” Gunnar said, and I gave him an even bigger tip this time.

  “I’ll let you know if I need you again,” I told him as I swung my legs out of the vehicle. “Otherwise, try to stay out of sight and out of mind. No reason to get mixed up in all this unless you have to.”

  “Hear hear, Mr. Joch.” Gunnar gave me a quick salute as he swept back off into the atmosphere.

  From there, I climbed up on TelCorp’s windows and pulled myself through a third-floor awning, trying to avoid detection. The place appeared deserted, more so than I would expect at this hour. This floor was supposed to be tech support.

  I made my way to the elevator and rattled all the way up to the top floor, where I hoped the foxgirls and the other binders would be waiting for me.

  To my surprise, when the doors slid open, the place was packed. It seemed like the whole building had made their way up here for some reason and stuffed themselves all in one place. To top it all off, they all seemed to be talking at once. No one seemed to notice that I had arrived. I craned my neck to see past the crowd, maybe catch a glimpse of one of the foxgirls or other board members. But it was hard to see over all the tall men in the room, most of them binders.