Freedom Incorporated (80 page)

*

Sunday
, September 1
9
, 2066

UniForce
Headquarters

08
:
45
San Francisco, USA

Esteban sat
heavily. He stroked his stubble with one hand and gripped his
pistol with the other. He was too angry to express the feeling
properly. The thought of shooting James in the back of the head had
occurred to him, but that wouldn’t accomplish anything.
Wouldn’t it? Maybe it’d make me feel
better.
The frustration crawled under his
skin like a nest of maggots, sending him insane.

One bullet had
grazed his upper thigh, singing his skin. The burn painfully chafed
against his ruined trousers when he walked. But the bullet that’d
smashed through the periphery of his chest had caused much worse
damage. It’d agonisingly shattered two ribs and the doctor had
removed the fibrous bones, saying there was nothing left to repair.
He’d said Esteban was lucky the fragments hadn’t punctured his lung
and had done no major damage. But Esteban saw things
differently.
Lucky? What a crock of
shit.
If he’d been lucky, he wouldn’t have
been standing anywhere near the hailstorm of bullets that bitch had
fired. The only thing bringing a smile to his lips was the
knowledge that he’d killed her.

“
So, how’s it
going?” Esteban sounded pasty due to a haze of
painkillers.

James hadn’t heard him
enter and the unexpected question startled him. He spun to see
Esteban sitting in the spare chair, a thick bandage strapped around
his chest and a torn, bloodied shirt covering little of the gore.
“Jesus, what happened to you?”

Esteban grunted dopily.
“Apparently I was lucky.”

“
By the looks
of that you were,” James said, sharing the doctor’s
philosophy.

Why doesn’t
anyone understand?
Esteban wondered whether
he was the only UniForce employee with genuine intelligence. “I
wasn’t lucky. I got fucking shot.”

James hadn’t encountered
the product of violence so closely before and he stared with open
mouth at the wound. “Does it hurt?”

“
No,” Esteban
replied. The drugs were too effective for that. “I feel
wonderful.”

“
Did it hurt
when you got shot?”

What a stupid
question.
“What the fuck do you think?”
Esteban pointed at James’s computer with his gun. “What’s up with
the Raven?”

“
Glad you
asked,” James said. “I’ve found him, and he’s found
them.”

Esteban sat forward in
the chair, ignoring the doctor’s warning to rest his side.
“Where?”

James handed him the
address. “There. He’s waiting, apparently for some kind of sign.”
James snorted. “I’m not sure what, it’s cloudy. I’m not even
convinced he completely understands it himself. But he sure as hell
isn’t going to attack until he gets what he’s waiting for, and he’s
pissed that it hasn’t happened yet.”

But Esteban
wasn’t listening.
Now
I
have the element of
surprise.
A wicked gleam settled in his eyes
and he stormed from the room, leaving James alone with his
equipment.

Chapter
12

Two words to
remember – empires fall

Katharine
Ainger

Monday
, September
20
, 2066

03:02
Sydney
,
Australia

“
You ready?”
Simon asked, feeling nerves jingle in his extremities.

Dan nodded once then
looked at Jen.

“
Yeah, as
ready as I’m ever gonna be,” she said. “Do I get a
weapon?”

Dan cocked an eyebrow.
“Why, do you want one?”

“
Don’t worry,
I’m not planning on a shooting spree. I’d just feel safer, that’s
all.”

So Simon handed her his
backup firearm and quickly instructed her how to use it safely.
“And that’s all there is to it.” He flipped the safety back on.
“Leave it there unless you plan on actually firing it,
okay?”

Jen nodded, hid the
weapon, and they each took a turn in the portal. Dan was using his
next identity, Brent Bertrouney. Jen had to make do with one of her
old ones. She would’ve used one of Samantha’s, but didn’t think
anybody would believe she was Korean. Because although Dan assured
her it wouldn’t cause a problem at Australian customs, the
Americans would undoubtedly raise an eyebrow.

Christopher was on duty
at his usual station and Dan headed straight for him. “Hey,
Chuck.”

He brushed a
weary hand disbelievingly over his long face. “Are you telling me
you’re
still
at
this thing you’re doing?”

“
Yes, but it’s
nearly over.”

“
You must owe
me eight bottles of high quality scotch by now,” Chuck reminded
him, updating his mental tally.

Dan would’ve agreed to
20, 50, or even a 100. It was irrelevant. He needed to get past
irrespective of the financial cost.

“
No, better
make that 10,” Chuck corrected. “I’m going to start charging per
capita.” He winked as he waved his scanner toward Dan. “So, Mr
Brent Bertrouney is it?” He smiled, amused by the details on his
monitor.

Dan nodded, “That’s
right.”

“
Did you know
that in ‘addition details’ your profile reports a penile length of
30 centimetres and a girth of eight centimetres?”

“
What… are you
jealous?” Dan asked, somehow keeping a straight face.

Chuck held up
his hands, grinning. “Okay, whatever mate. Just show me your
guns.
Weapons,
” he
quickly corrected.

All three travellers
piled their weapons onto the counter and Chuck tagged them on Dan’s
profile. “Have a good trip.” Then he lowered his voice for Dan’s
benefit and added, “She’s a real looker mate.” He was referring to
Jen, and his half-hearted whisper carried to everyone. Jen had the
grace to blush, and so did Dan.

“
Thank you,”
Jen said, bravely accepting the compliment to save Dan from
stammering something even more embarrassing.

Dan was busy nursing a
sparkle of hope. He wondered whether they might actually succeed
and earn the chance to construct a new life. But as they approached
the international portals, his sparkle transformed into an inferno
of apprehension.

*

Sunday
, September 1
9
, 2066

UniForce
Headquarters

09
:
15
San Francisco, USA

Michele was nervous.
Jackie had postponed their meeting twice and eventually rescheduled
for Sunday morning. The waiting was becoming
intolerable.

It’d been
weighing on her mind all night.
Should
I?
It was an impossible question to answer
unless she could divine the future like a seer. But, to be safe,
she intended to go through with it. She needed to tell someone, the
stress of keeping secrets was too much. She hadn’t slept properly
in days. Michele was in such a bad state that not even the
colourful patterns on her glass wall or her promotional cube could
keep her entertained. She slouched in her chair, chewing her lips.
And waited. Impatiently. She needed Jackie to call and confirm the
time they’d tentatively set aside.

Her phone finally rang
and Michele leapt for the receiver. “Hello, Michele
speaking.”

“
Are you
ready?” It was Jackie.

Michele nodded into the
camera. “Yes, I’m ready.”

“
Okay,” Jackie
said with a catch to her voice. “Then come to my
office.”

They hung up and Michele
scuttled through the corridors to the nearest portal, popped up
several flights of stairs, and waddled into Jackie’s office. She
closed the doors behind her.

Jackie looked impassively
at her, trying to smile with her eyes so she wouldn’t stretch her
botched face-lift. She waved Michele to a chair. “Take a
seat.”

“
Thanks.”
Michele’s nervousness tripled and her stomach fluttered. It felt as
though someone had sent her to the principal’s office, despite the
fact she’d requested the meeting herself.

But Jackie was
in high spirits. She’d just stitched a deal to secure UniForce’s
future in the personal security market and she was therefore
feeling excessively pleased with herself. In fact, she’d
predetermined that Michele’s news wouldn’t dampen her
elation.
Besides,
she reasoned.
What can Michele
possibly have to say that’s so important?
But that was a trap. Many had fallen into it. Although stupid,
Michele could still bear bad tidings. “So what do you want to tell
me?”

Michele heaved a breath
and Jackie’s attention shifted to her plump breasts. Her allure was
a hundred times more powerful than that of Sasha, her rabbit-sized
dog. Besides, Sasha had recently grown bored with lapping up peanut
butter. A flush of excitement tingled in Jackie’s groin but she
ordered herself to concentrate.

“
Esteban
hasn’t contracted an assassin to kill Dan.”

“
What?”
Immediately Jackie’s attention snapped back to the
meeting.

“
He’s using an
assassin to kill the Raven,” – she shivered when that name passed
her lips – “but he’s doing the others himself.”

Dark red
splotches boiled through Jackie’s thick layer of makeup. “He can’t
do that.” She seethed with anger. “I revoked his field
status.”
I bet he wants to collect the
assassination fee himself.
She gritted her
teeth.
Well we’ll just see about
that.

“
I think it’s
because of his personal involvement,” Michele prompted, wanting to
rat him out completely. She needed to be on Jackie’s good side and
distance herself from Esteban, lest Dan resurface. At least then
she could stick by Jackie, who knew how to take care of
herself.

Jackie ground
her teeth and jaw muscles ripple under her skin. That was truly the
final straw. She’d taken as much insubordination from Esteban as
she could handle.
Now, what to do about
it?
She knew he was a dangerous man, but
it’d finally dawned on her that the problem was only going to
worsen with time. She needed to take swift, permanent
action.
And firing him won’t be
enough.
The prospect of assassinating him
was intriguing. She’d helped dozens of other companies dispose of
their awkward problems, why not do the same with one of her own?
She could contract an assassin to remedy the problem and dust her
hands of the issue.
Promote…
who?
That was her next problem. She didn’t
have enough staff to fill the vacancies.
Quality staff anyway.
She still had to
find a co-ordinator for the recently minted personal security
branch. And then there was Michele. Jackie couldn’t help rolling
her eyes. She now regretted promoting Michele as far as she had.
What UniForce needed was strong leadership.
True, Michele has improved revenue…
But Jackie had quietly uncovered her plot to oversell bounty
lists. Lack of business ethics had inflated the revenue stream, not
strength of leadership. She’d also discovered how much was missing
from the official records – that generous portion which had slipped
into an accounting black hole. She wondered who was hoarding
it.
Esteban, or Michele?

She reasoned
it was high time she received something in return. And she was in
the perfect mood for it too.
I can fix the
problem with Esteban later.
It wouldn’t be
hard; all it would take was five contracts.
The four that Esteban failed to set up, and one for Esteban
himself. But first…

“
Michele, you
look tense. Why don’t you come here and I’ll give you a massage?”
Jackie felt vulnerable soliciting her subordinate for sex, but she
wasn’t going to let a bit of discomfort stop her from experiencing
more pleasure than she’d had in months.

An invisible shudder
itched Michele’s back teeth. She’d detested the previous time with
Jackie and couldn’t fathom why it should be any better now. But
neither was she going to say no to someone above her in the chain
of command. So she nodded and played her part. “Okay, I have been a
stiff recently.”

She waddled to Jackie’s
chair and knelt on the carpet. It was difficult in her tight black
skirt and she tore a ladder in her stockings.

Jackie applied her
fingers to Michele’s supple neck and shoulders, massaging her
tenderly. Michele played along by parting her lips and moaning with
feigned pleasure. But she quickly tired of the exploratory backrub
and decided to hurry the distasteful experience along. She climbed
onto Jackie’s lap and kissed her, thrusting her tongue deeply into
Jackie’s mouth.