Dues of Mortality (10 page)

“
We’ve
been through this before, senator. Shit happens. It’s a
dangerous world and it’s getting worse every day.” Ross
paused, setting the cheese in his lap. “And you and I both know
it's only going to
get
worse
before it
gets better.”

“
I
was promised we could do this
my
way
—
without any
collateral damage!”

Ross
sprung from the bed, flinging the block of cheese to the floor.
“Collateral damage is a fact of life! Besides, it's not like I
was
trying
to kill
him.”

Beaumont
split his brow. “Really?”

Ross
walked up to the senator, clenching his fist hard enough to make his
knuckles pop. “You said it yourself, Shane. We’re not
dealing with the Boy Scouts here! I’ve been doing this a lot
longer than you have. Trust me; sometimes it takes things just like
this for your enemy to know you mean business.”

Beaumont
offered no response.

Ross
sensed the trepidation. “Your parents were Lebanese, right?
Arabs? You’d probably be first on the list...next to blacks, of
course. I mean there’s nothing more traditionally American than
killing blacks...except maybe Native Americans. Whew, we had a ball
trying to erase them, didn't we?”

“
You
don't need to remind
me
of what the fight is about,
Ross.”

“
Don't
I?” Ross turned sour. “These anti-human bastards start up
more labs faster than we can take them out. They cook up their
tailor-made babies and secretly stockpile their 'purified' DNA for
purposes only half of which we've even imagined. And the public just
lines up to suck them off for the smallest taste, not knowing it’s
all a setup. Don't forget that you’re in the minority, senator;
an army of one. The rest of your capitol frat brothers are too busy
getting rich from these human traitors.” Ross giggled. “Even
I’ve got to give them credit; the strategy is almost flawless:
tend to their uber-race like an earnest farmer, until it’s
tall, ripe, and ready for harvest. And do it just slowly enough so
nobody pays attention.” Ross stuck his finger in Beaumont's
face. “Well, I don’t
care
if the moronic masses choose to
live in ignorance anymore. I’m not going to wait for a country
full of sheep to finally wake up and smell the stink coming off the
shepherd. I’m
going
to stop these traitors by
any
means necessary
.”
Abruptly, the eyes set deep in Ross's skull became like cannonballs,
exploding straight at the senator in a quiet rage. “And keep in
mind that even though you know the truth as I do, you're still one of
them. You're still part of the cadre of corruption, arrogance and
irresponsibility that has ripped apart the lives of people who are a
million times more fit to live. Collaborating with someone like you
violates almost every personal conviction I've ever held since I was
ten-years-old. The fact that you're going to leave here in one piece
is a consummate act of discipline on my part.”

Beaumont
averted his eyes. He was ashamed that he had so little bravery with
Ross. “You don’t understand what this means,” he
said unassumingly. “People are panicked. They’ve been
buying guns in record numbers for ten years straight. They may be
aware that the corporations have dug their own graves, but they won’t
tolerate innocent people getting killed. You’ve just made it
that much harder for us.”

Ross
blinked, trying to shake off his disbelief. This imbecile did realize
he'd just been threatened, right?

“
I've
made
it what it needed to be since the
first day you came with your hand out,” Ross said. “I've
made it a war! And people have to take sides in a war! They straddle
the fence trying to have their cake and eat it too, they become
casualties. They
have
to choose!”

“
This
was supposed to be our ace-in-the-hole,” Beaumont said, tasting
futility. “Our way of circumventing the system and doing what’s
right when it failed. This isn’t what I intended at all.”
He manhandled the base of his skull, pulling at the hair. “Maybe
I was wrong. Maybe I should’ve gone to the press, made public
statements.”

Ross
laughed. “With what? Tell me one name of these sources of
yours. Name one who would actually step forward and corroborate your
evidence. Even
you
are too scared to take on your buddies from the Armed Services
Committee. It would be all they would need to browbeat you through
the next election. You’d be finished.”

Beaumont
pushed the heels of his hands deep into his temples.
“
This
was never part of my plan. I just...”

“
Part
of your plan?” Ross said rhetorically. “Part of
your
plan?” He folded his arms
and set his face just inches from Beaumont’s. “Boy, you
really have lost your perspective there, haven’t you?”

Beaumont
started to say something but Ross severed it, shouting, “You
wouldn’t be getting shit done if it wasn’t for me! It’s
my actions that give you your goddamn credibility! I do what you're
afraid to do! I'm the one who steps out on faith, putting my ass on
the line to save this country from itself! You just shuffle behind a
podium all day talking
down
to people who might otherwise listen to you and then you wonder why
they won't!”

Beaumont
buckled, shaking his head. “I should’ve known dealing
with you was a mistake. You’re like a Rottweiler without a
leash.”

Ross
eased back, looking amused. “
Yet,
here you are. And why? Because you know better. You know better than
I do what they’re up to, what they're capable of. You knew if
you continued to sit on the sidelines you’d be allowing the
enemies of this country to tear us apart from the inside out and the
human race would soon be unrecognizable.” He halted, gauging
the senator’s reaction. “You know what they really
want...don’t you?”

Beaumont’s
chin dropped like a stone. Ross was absolutely right. Biotech had its
claws far too deep in the capitol’s flesh. Their money was
everywhere, and the promises of their experiments were pervasive, yet
well-kept secrets. He hated to think what could have come about if he
hadn't let Ross have his way against human sellouts like Jenetix and
Thurman Industries, bombing their labs, threatening their researchers
and even kidnapping their executives. And Beaumont didn’t have
one shred of evidence against them that couldn’t be disputed as
cuckoo theory, or that could be exposed without linking him to a
federal crime. They would bring him down with no more effort than
blowing their noses.
Good god
,
the senator thought and felt his tail coiling between his legs.

“
How
am I supposed to argue for the cause like this?” he wondered
aloud. “I just lost one of my best contributors, on top of it.
What am I supposed to do?”

Ross
plopped his butt onto the corner of the closest bed and rested his
forearms on his thighs—who-gives-a-shit body language. “You're
still chummy with Chad Maguire. I'm sure he'll do his utmost to keep
you employed. Since you delivered the package without a problem,
maybe I can get junior to put in a good word.”

“
Waste
of time, anyway,” Beaumont sighed. “He'd be an idiot to
talk to you.”

“
It's
not like I have a lot of choice. You certainly haven't been adding to
the collection plate.”

“
I'm
a United States senator, for God's sake! Do you have any idea the
kind of precautions I had to take just to make
this
little trip
?”

“
It
wasn't my idea,” Ross reminded him.

“
It
was like boarding an Israeli airbus! Showing up with the kind of cash
you were asking for would have set off too many alarm bells.”

Ross
watched as Beaumont started in with that crap where he just stands
around sighing and running his hands over every part of him from the
neck up. One second longer in his presence, Ross thought and he would
end up giving Beaumont a beating something fierce.

“
What
am I going to do?” Beaumont asked.

“
Do
what you’ve always done,” Ross replied snarky. “Follow
the example of the preachers and televangelists during the abortion
debate. Disassociate yourself from the violent extremists on your
side of the aisle while simultaneously encouraging their actions
through divisive speech.” He ominously leaned forward. “And
don’t bother me with this kind of bullshit again.”

Beaumont
stood still for what seemed like hours, desperately searching for his
errant traces of dignity. Finally, he turned and opened the door.

“
Oh,
and senator,” Ross said smiling.

Beaumont
cocked and ear.

“
Have
a
capitol
day.”

No
sooner had Beaumont left, when Ross flipped open his computer and
established the secured connection. The recipient popped to life on
the screen and Ross distastefully looked him down. His hair was a bit
longer and looked uncombed. His plain vanilla face, with uninspiring
eyes, was a trifle more pale than Ross remembered; apparently,
staying out of the spotlight was as simple as staying out of the
sunlight. Ross figured those narrow, threadbare shoulders would show
some signs of wear, having borne the weight of the last eleven
months, but overall, he simply hadn't changed much since the trial.
The man on the screen was, by most evidence, still the same sorry
little twerp Ross had met two years ago.

“
Richie
Rich, it's been too long,” Ross said, pulling out a smile.

“
I
shouldn't be talking to you,” Maguire reminded him. “It's
dangerous for me.”

In
more ways than one
, Ross thought. He'd played with the
idea of actually going over to Thaddeus Maguire's house and
beating
the money out of him. Necessary or not, it would have relieved a lot
of tension. And Ross had tension up the wazoo thanks to Beaumont,
Trineer and all the downgrading. If Trineer's student code cracker
was legit, Ross could get inside Case Western's protocols and do
quite a bit of damage. However, farting around with computer systems
was still bush-league bullshit no matter how big a happy-face he
painted on it. If Ross was going to make the kind of hit PHANTOM was
known for then he needed some
real
cash. He could forget all about getting an inexpensive five ton truck
full of ammonium nitrate and blasting gel through one of BioCore's
checkpoints or garages. Any explosions worth the effort had to happen
as deep inside that monster as he could get; that meant using devices
that were both
portable and
powerful
. It meant Ross would have to avoid buying from
easily traceable sources, which would limit him to one or two
suppliers who haggle endlessly. It meant not doing it on the cheap.

“
Some
things are worth the risk, Tad.” Ross said. “Didn't Beth
teach you that?”

Maguire
looked away from the screen. “You didn't call me to talk about
Beth. You're calling me for more money.”

“
I'm
calling you about both. Because it's not as if they both don't still
mean something to the cause. Beth knew that things would have to
continue
with
or without her
.
And so do you.”

Maguire was speechless.
Beth!
I miss you so much!

“
Make
no mistake though, I'd take her back in a second over you. If I could
have her back here fighting alongside me, I'd gladly step out on
faith for my next dollar. She had a way of making things happen even
when I couldn't. She...”

“
Stop,”
Maguire said finally. “Just stop.” He continued to stare
off-screen. He thought of how his father had picked the wrong morning
to start tearing into him again, about how he'd tainted the family
name. Today was the anniversary of when Beth and Thaddeus first met
and Thaddeus was
not
in the mood
.
And what Chad Maguire still refused to take into account, was the
fact that as much as his son loved her, Beth Sullivan was
never
the sum and substance of
Thaddeus's reasons for funneling money and information to Calvin Ross
and PHANTOM.

Thaddeus
Maguire absolutely hated his father
. Despised him. Wished
all manner of ill outcome upon him. Fantasized about raising both
hand and weapon against him. Some of which he supposed he'd
accomplished in the past year, albeit at his own expense. Maguire
took one of those long deep breathes like his doctor was always
demanding at checkups and then looked back at the screen. He guessed
it didn't much matter anymore whether the demands of true love or the
obsession of abject hate had played the greater role in his exercise
of treachery. It's not like it would change his answer to Ross
anyway.