Jennifer Government: A Novel (36 page)

She took her fingers out of her mouth and looked at them. The nails were broken and ragged. There was blood and torn skin under them. She leaned over and spat, but the taste wouldn’t get out of her mouth. She didn’t know why that courier girl had put up such a fight. Violet had only wanted her stupid jacket. People always had to make things difficult for Violet. They always had to screw her over.

She spat again and again. When she was done there was a sticky, red pool on the kitchen floor. Violet stared at it. Now she would have to clean that up.

Hack called Buy a few minutes before three. Hack was surprisingly trusting: Buy didn’t have to use any of the cover stories he’d invented. “Just turn up at the Chadstone Nike Town this Friday at six,” Hack said. “You can help me with the cans.”

“Okay,” Buy said. “Will do.” He hung up and looked at his notepad.
Nike Town
. He felt nauseous even looking at the words.

It would be better to get it over with. He checked the time and called John Nike in L.A., whose phone diverted to an assistant. “John asked me to get some information for him,” Buy said, and recited the details. “It’s important. Please make sure he gets it.”

“I will do that, sir,” the assistant said. Buy hung up. Next he called Kato Mitsui. Kato was very pleased to hear from him.

“But this is most
wonderful
, Buy. You have done work of great quality. I will proceed to make contact with John Nike immediately! This is a path to happiness.”

“Well, I hope so,” Buy said.

“I foresee great things for you, my friend. I will be in touch.”

“Thanks,” he said. He put down the phone, feeling pleased. He hadn’t had a workday this good since the incident.

H
e waited in his Jeep until children began streaming out of the gates. Kate ran over and climbed into the passenger seat. “Hi there,” Buy said.

“Buy! Guess what happened in school today?”

“You learned about quadratic equations?” He pulled away from the curb. “Or was it a new Barbie?”

“There
is
a new Barbie! How did you know that? But that’s not the thing. They’re having a Parent Day.”

“A what?”

“Your mom or dad talks to the class about what they do. It’s next…week, I think. I have a note.”

“Hopefully your mom will be back by then. I’m sure she will.”

“Yeah,” Kate said. “I hope so. If she’s not, will you go?”

He looked at her, surprised. “What?”

“You can…you know, go for me. Is that all right?”

“Of course,” Buy said. He felt his throat tighten. “I would love to.”

T
hey were sitting down to dinner when the phone rang. Kate leapt up; Buy winced. She had answered too many calls that weren’t from Jennifer. “Hurry back,” he told her. He spread a napkin on his lap and picked up his fork.

“Mommy!” Kate said. “Mommy, Mommy!”

He started. Kate was in the kitchen, the phone pressed to her ear, her smile enormous. Relief drenched him.
Thank God
, Buy thought.

He put down his fork and listened to Kate talk about things people had said, movies she had seen, meals Buy had cooked. When she was done, she skipped into the dining room and handed him the phone. “It’s Mom!”

“Thank you,” he said. “You are an excellent girl. Now eat your dinner.” He raised the phone. “Hello?”

“Hiya.” Her voice was surprisingly clear; it was as if she were right next to him. “How’s my baby-sitter?”

He felt a big, stupid smile break across his face. “I’m so pleased to hear from you. I was worried.”

“Oh, right, the shitfight in London. I just got into L.A.”

“L.A.? Why?”

“I’m arresting a perp tomorrow. Someone I’ve been after for a long time. Almost there, Buy. Then I’m coming home. How are you?”

“I’m…” he said, and realized the answer was:
happy. “
Things are good. Everything is good.”

“How’s work?”

“Interesting. Suddenly I’m working with bigwigs from all these different companies… I think I like it.”

“Great, Buy! That’s really great.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I can’t wait to see you, though.”

“Yeah,” Jennifer said, and he got the impression there was someone else in the room with her. “Ditto.”

“So you’ll be home soon?”

“Before you know it.”

“Excellent,” he said. “That is excellent.”

“I gotta go,” Jennifer said. He could hear her smiling. “I’ll talk to you soon, okay?”

“Okay. Miss you.”

“Same here,” she said. He put down the phone.

“That was Mommy!” Kate said.

“Yes,” Buy said. They were both grinning like idiots. “It was.”

T
hey were early the next morning, so Buy parked and walked Kate to the school gate. A notice was posted about the upcoming Parent Day, and Buy paused to read it. A young woman, a girl, really, stood by the gate. She smiled at him. Buy smiled back. “Hi,” she said. “Going to Parent Day?”

“Ah, yes, I think so.”

“Me, too.” Buy was surprised. She didn’t look old enough to have a kid in school. “I’m a veterinarian.”

“Oh!” Kate said. “I want to be a vet!”

“No kidding!” the girl said. She squatted to Kate’s level. “How about that!”

“Do you give the animals special medicine?”

“I sure do. I make everything better.”

“Off you go, Kate,” Buy told her. “Straight to class.”

“Aw,” Kate said. They watched her go.

“Cute,” the girl said. Her eyes were still on Kate. “She’s, what, seven?”

“Eight.”

“Such a great age,” the girl said. “I wish we could all stay like that. So we wouldn’t have to find out what assholes people are.”

“Uh…yeah,” Buy said.

“I used to think I was cynical about people. But then I realized you can’t be too cynical. People will do anything to get ahead. They’ll do terrible things.”

He looked at her. “That is true.” He stuck out his hand. “I’m Buy.”

She smiled. “Violet.” They shook hands. “I guess we have a bit in common.”

“I guess we do,” Buy said, and laughed.

John woke to a dark hotel room. It was five A.M. and the phone was ringing. He fumbled for it in the darkness. If this was that asshole stockbroker from Australia again, John was going to kill him. “John Nike.”

“Hello, John.”

“Who is this?”

“Don’t be coy, John. You know who I am.”

No wonder it took him a few moments: the man sounded as if he were talking through a mouthful of gravel. But then, what had he expected? It was a miracle he was alive at all.

“John?” he said. “Is that you, buddy?”

B
y the time he got to work, John was feeling pretty goddamn good, and there wasn’t anything a woman in an ankle-length skirt and brown glasses could do about it. He walked deliberately fast, forcing her to hurry alongside him. As he crossed the lobby, he saw people’s heads turning.
Look, it’s John! There’s John Nike!

“If you’ll just look at the report,” the Johnson & Johnson Liaison said. “Please, John, look at it. Public opinion is against any aggressive move. Firmly against it.”

They reached the elevator. He pushed for up. “That’s because our advertising hasn’t kicked in yet.”

“No, John, it’s not. People don’t want us to use military force against either the Government or our competitors. They say we must not attack.”

“Who said I was going to attack anybody?” John said, thinking:
The Pepsi kid!

A young woman with long legs and a US Alliance nametag ran up and asked him to sign her arm. He did, flashing her a grin. Her face lit up with adoration. The woman with brown glasses followed him into the elevator. She was unstoppable.

“John, if you continue down this path, there will be resignations. Nobody wants this to turn into a military conflict.”

“You know what?” John said. The doors opened on his floor. “It’s too late. Let them resign. I have the NRA and I’m going to use it however I damn well see fit.”

“But—”

“All right,” he said. “This is the part where I go into my office and you fuck off.” He closed the glass door. His P.A. handed him a sheaf of messages.

“I’ll be taking this up with Alfonse!” the woman shouted. He could hardly hear her through the glass.

“Good morning, John,” the P.A. said.

“Yes,” he said. “It is, isn’t it?” He read the messages on his way to his desk. The top one was from someone called Buy Mitsui.
John had a vague recollection of some junior executive calling to offer help, but that described about twenty people John had dealt with recently. Ever since his career-saving speech, every shiny-shoed Liaison in the Alliance had fallen over themselves to build favor with him.

He read the message. Suddenly he remembered: Buy was the asshole stockbroker. John had asked him to check out who was behind the McDonald’s attack. He saw the words: HACK NIKE.

John roared with laughter. His P.A. glanced at him, then away. John laughed until his stomach hurt.

H
e made some calls to set wheels in motion—important wheels, very important wheels—before his appointment with General Li. Li was the first in a long line of daily meetings for John; after him was the Liaison from News Corporation. There had been a few articles in the newspapers lately that weren’t as pro-NRA as John would have liked.