Gene Drifters: The Clone Soldier Chronicles-Book III (30 page)

“What do you need the money for? I thought your corporation already
held control of all racketeering on Hong Kong and as far inland as Chengdu. I
mean how much do you need? And besides, the rebels would never give you their sat-hack
code access. The sat-hack controller is very special, a unique individual. It
takes practice to sat-hack without getting tracked back to the source.” Roxanne
looked carefully into the face of the weary Dragon Master of the most powerful
Triad in the region, and she saw sadness, worry, but not an ounce of
resignation.

“You don’t understand, do you pretty lady? You have a safety
net; with your union and rig-ryder license, and with the rebels watching over
you and your family. You’re protected from them, from the Incs. You can just
call up your all-knowing, magical rebel leader from wherever he is to hack you
whatever you need. Do you think anyone bought this place for me, for my people?”
Shih stood up and paced to the door, stopped, turned around, and pointed a
scarred finger at Roxanne. “You have no idea. You’ve never been without a net;
without protection from the Incs.”

“I’m sorry; you’re right of course. But if you tried a
sat-hack into bank accounts, they would track you, and sweep in for the kill.
Have you forgotten what they did that time, when they flooded one of the bubble-stops
just because they wanted stocks? I was there in the tunnel, watching through a
viewing portal; I watched them drown, Shih. You can’t fight the Incs. They have
too much power. All you can do is get by, stay out of their way, and grab what
you can. If they shut your turf down and bring in the drones, you’re over. You
must know that.”

“I won’t give in to the Incs. If your rebels won’t cut me a
better deal, you’ll be sent back to Leo. I can get billions in ransom vouchers,
buy up those custom cars and the race track betting tables, and when we have
major control of track racketeering, we bleed what we need to survive. If you have
a better counteroffer, speak up now.”

Roxanne was quiet, weighing the pros and cons. “I’ll need my
bot-com back for that,” she replied. She was not sanctioned to negotiate for
Dorian; she had to contact him directly for any counteroffer. After several
seconds Shih handed the bot-com to Roxanne, and left the room. She told the
guards to watch the prisoner closely, and she’d get back right after Roxanne
finished her com to the rebels. If Leo won the bidding war, she’d order her
guards to return Roxanne to Songtain in the morning, once the ransom was
delivered. Then Shih contacted Max, told him she was keeping his money for the
Triad, and if he ever went cheap on them again, he’d be dead. Shih offed the
com and started to return to her bingo game when one of the guards informed
her, “Smoot has something else to say, Master.” Shih turned, and went back into
the holding cell.

Just outside the huge stone wall of the Triad fortress,
Michael hid behind a broken mound of left over Li Keqiang statues. There were
remnants of this sort all over Hong Kong, destroyed when the WME culling
patrols marched in with their laser drones, and took over the world’s
economies. Michael was dressed in black, ninja style, and he was not alone. Segev
usually worked alone, but this time Rose had insisted on watching his back.
And, as far as Michael was concerned, she and Darcy would be charming compliments
to the ever-roaming team of Triad German shepherds, mastiffs, and pit bulls
watching the compound.

While Michael, Darcy, and Rose scouted the perimeter, Roxanne
was explaining her offer, or rather the rebel offer, to Ching Shih, who sat
staring at a mound of perfect diamonds. It was not more than she’d ever seen,
just more than she’d ever been offered for something so simple. On her part,
Roxanne decided that chancing another escape from Leo was not worth the
diamonds. He’d probably double the guards on her to prevent another Triad
kidnap, and she’d never get out of the Opus.

Shih smiled, something better left undone. “So, let me get
this straight. You have stolen Leo Songtain’s crap load of diamonds. And now,
you tell me that the toxic nutria-blend was part of an even bigger project, by
Max and the now dead Nutria-blend Inc. CEO, to accelerate the WME plan for
replacing human workers with robots. Did I get that right?” Ching Shih was
incredulous. Even the regulation WME Incs would not just kill people off, oh well,
send them to mines or sweat shops, but not kill them off outright.

“Yes, I think it initially started, the poisoned
nutria-blend, as Max’s idea to kill me off. But his type doesn’t know when to
quit. The rebels can give you access codes to his safe; you’ll probably find
those custom car and track stocks that you want in his safe, but you’ll also most
likely find a major holding in robots. That’s what the rebels suspect. And you
know when that happens, when robots take over, you won’t be able to skim gambling
takes, not from a robot. But if Max owned the robot Incs, he could skim
whatever he wanted. You would be left out,” Roxanne explained.

Dorian gave the counteroffer to Roxanne when she commed him.
It was simple. Give Shih the safe codes to access Max’s vaults, and let them
steal the stocks and whatever else they wanted, plain and simple. But when
Dorian found out about the stolen diamonds he told Roxanne to throw them into
the offer. It was the easiest way to deal with the Triad Don; Dorian did not deal
in real assets, just sat-hacks coding for paper transfers. The Triad boss would
know how to best financially benefit from a crap-load of diamonds. And, Dorian
and his rebels would win a future ally.

Roxanne called Shih back, after getting the offer from
Dorian. Of course, Shih did not know who Dorian was, had never heard of the
rebel master-mind. Otherwise she might have asked for more. On her part,
Roxanne was not unhappy with Dorian’s offer either, because the thought of
going back to Leo did not seem worth a boot full of diamonds, or some stupid
formula for facial transplants. Plus she knew the Triad code; booty offered for
a deal was on the table. And, you did not take from the table until the deal
was made. So Ching Shih would not take the diamonds from Roxanne unless she
agreed to let her go. It would be an easy way for Roxanne to track the progress
of the negotiations, and to ask Dorian to modify her exit strategy accordingly.

“Does Songtain know about any of this? Is he in on it?” Shih
asked, while glancing at the pile of diamonds and mentally doing a tally. She
figured their value would be close enough to Leo’s ransom offer. And now she
would be given access codes to Max’s safe vault, to get the stocks she’d
originally been promised. Plus this new bit of information on Max’s poisoned nutria-blend
and possible robotics monopoly, if true, would be ideal as a blackmail weapon,
worth much more than diamonds. Shih knew the rebels had made the highest bid.

“No, I don’t think so. Leo has this obsession with me, so I
don’t think he’d try to slip toxic nutria-blend to the rig-ryders. It might
kill me. Besides, Leo may be a merger-minded CEO weasel, but he’s not a
murderer. Maybe you should tell Leo about the hobbies his chief legal has taken
up. See if Leo has a few unique offers to add to the rebels’ offer for my
release. I know he’ll be really pissed when he discovers Max’s little hobby,”
Roxanne replied.

“Well I’ll think on it, but I have to consult my
lieutenants,” Shih said as she lit up a cigar, and offered one to Roxanne. She already
knew they would agree, given the alternative of having to listen to Leo whine
over the amount of a ransom bounty. Leo’s whine gave her a headache. Dealing
with the rebels would give her a stash from sale of the diamonds, and she’d get
access to whatever Max had in his vault, maybe stock receipts. That’s what she
really wanted, ownership; she wanted her Triad to be part of the upper strata.

“If you get me back to Aberdeen harbor and out of Hong Kong
jurisdiction, you keep the diamonds and the rebels will get those access codes
to you. If you see me safe passage, that’s the deal. Once I’m out of Hong Kong
territory, the rebels will send you the vault codes,” Roxanne said. But, she
said nothing about the stolen
Stem-wads
® formula, now in the hands,
well, in the brains, of the #5ers. That deal was only for her little sis in #5,
so she’d be okay.

“You know, I am beginning to see some possibilities in your
deal. But I have to discuss this with my lieutenants. It will have to come out
better than Leo’s bounty offer, and my tribe will have to agree. They’ll have
their input. I’ll get back to you. In the mean time you keep the diamonds. It’s
our code. Oh, and I am going to inform Leo of Max’s little sidelines, as you
suggested; see if Leo has some nice party plans for his wayward legal counsel.
That was a good idea. You’d make a good Triad negotiator, Roxanne Smoot.” Shih
left the large pile of diamonds on the cot next to Roxanne, which she also left,
untouched.

Michael could not hear what Roxanne and Shih said. He hung
by a wire outside the window, but the glass was sound-proof, and if he broke it
the alarm would go off. He free-climbed the stone wall of the compound after
smearing himself with some proprietary Shin Bet gunk that masked his smell to
those slobbering giant mastiffs, pit bulls, and German shepherd guard dogs.

Rose was back at the wall, trying to blend in. Each time she
managed to lure one of the guard dogs away with a sexy look, Darcy waited in
ambush, using a mouth-activated and silenced stun gun. So far they’d sent about
a quarter of the canine entourage to sleepy time.

Once Michael reached the roof, he’d had to unceremoniously
and not figuratively, break a couple of necks, and then he used a silent flash
bomb to destroy the door leading off the roof to the floor below. He rolled
inside, checked the area for prey, and then crept down three flights of stairs
to where Roxanne sat on a cot, eating her shark and bourbon soup dinner.

Shortly after, once Ching Shih placed that call to Leo and
had her lieutenants vote on which offer to accept, Max sat in his legal counsel
office in the Songtain Building, drinking his more job-appropriate legal
counselor nutria-blend special, and going over the merger agreement contracts.
He was feeling much better, even though he did notice even more grey hairs and
heart palpitations when he had sex with Bitbuns. Once he’d finished his work,
and just as he was about to contact Bitbuns for another go at it, because he
was not sure where she was, he got a chime from Leo.

“Yes sir, how can I help you, Mr. Songtain? Yes, I’ve gone
over the merger offer. Everything looks fine, and it should be ready for your
signature in the morning. What? Someone stole your Stem-wads® formula? How
could they get access to your safe? I’m the only other individual who has that
access, and you can be assured that I would never do such a thing. This is
terrible news, sir. You want me to what! Mr. Songtain, I assure you, I have
never been there and do not intend to go there. Can’t you send my assistant,
sir? I mean he’s more expendable. What, oh yes, of course. Yes sir; goodbye
sir.”

Now Max truly felt like he’d just had a real Fueblaster
enema. Leo Songtain, his chief client just received a message that the
residents of bubble-stop #5 had stolen the secret formula for
Stem-Wads
®
Inc right out of his safe, and now wanted a ransom payment for silence, big
time. Leo wanted Max to go into bubble-stop #5, personally, to speak with their
onsite, walking, living copy of the formula, so that Max could determine if
they did, in fact, have the actual formula. Max was to copy it down as dictated,
and bring back another hard copy for Leo.

Max had not even remembered to ask how much the ransom would
chip off of Leo’s substantial portfolio. No, Max was mainly concerned about
travel into #5, the home of the un….!

“Oh god, I have to go there; I might even meet one! It might
be contagious!” Max did the only thing he could think of to shore up his
confidence; he had a double shot of CEO nutria-blend, and went to pack.

Leo offed the bot and went to his vault. He’d already gotten
the call from someone named Stephen, the mayor of bubble-stop #5, claiming that
Max, his legal counsel had stolen the formula and some diamonds from his safe. He
opened the safe and saw the framed lacrosse t-shirt, removed from the wall. Leo’s
tiny heart sank. He would never have guessed that Max, his trusted legal and
the only other person with a key to his safe (in the event of Leo’s death, Max
had said), would stoop to such a level. This was even below legal snake level.

But to make matters far worse, Max had conspired to kill his
beloved Roxanne Smoot, had arranged for the Triad to kidnap her. Indeed Leo had
just had a ransom conversation with the infamous Ching Shih, only a minute ago,
confirming this treachery. Poor Leo was so upset; he’d had to chime his
assistant to dress him all in black.

“This is unthinkable. How could a corporate legal snake
stoop to such a low level? Max stole my formula, conspired to have my Roxanne
Smoot killed, and now my diamonds are missing. I was going to give them to
Roxanne as a wedding present. Max took them. I know it! He’ll pay for this,”
Leo ranted to Shih over the com. Shih paused; she asked Leo to repeat what he
had said. The stolen formula was another new piece of information. Now Shih
knew Roxanne was holding back information. Roxanne Smoot had not told her
everything. It made her smile. “I like this woman. She’d make a good Triad
member,” she thought to herself while listening to the rest of Leo’s rant.

Leo wanted to have Max flash frozen for life, but Shih had
another suggestion, a nice little side trip to bubble-stop #5 would be just the
thing. The rebels had suggested it. Indeed, they had almost demanded it. Maybe Shih
could get a piece of Max’s fortune, and Max could end up stuck in #5, forever.
Leo was angry enough to agree. So, Shih commed the rebels, though she knew they
were not actually in Canada, and agreed to a little #5 vacation for Max. As it
happened, they’d been planning such a trip…and so had the Shin Bet baker.