Who Hunts the Hunter (27 page)
“All this began,” she says, “because the audit staff is questioning a number of items that were purchased but apparently never used. I conducted a survey of the Metascience databases, but twenty-seven items remain unaccounted for."
"That sounds like a clerical glitch,” Hill remarks.
“Yes, it does,” Amy agrees, “but that’s just where it starts. I also discovered a hidden file on the Metascience network. It looks like a record of payments. The dates and nuyen amounts agree with the missing twenty-seven items, but the payee names shown in this file do not agree with the corps named on the Purchasing reqs or in the Payables records.” Hill gazes at Amy for several moments, then says, “I’m a little puzzled. What do you mean?”
Amy stares back for several moments, then says, “To the audit staff, it could suggest fraud.”
Hill coughs, then sneezes."I ... I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
Bandit wonders if that’s a lie. If he’d been able to bring certain items with him, he could probably find out. But he’s forced to keep things simple. To watch. Observe. Like a suit. An auditor.
“The suggestion,” Amy says, “is that the corps listed in the Purchasing and Payables datafiles are not actually the corps who sold us the twenty-seven items. Those corps merely channeled the money to the corps listed in the hidden files on the Metascience network. That in itself brings up the question of liability, if the items don’t perform to spec, but I went a step further. I checked on the corps named in Purchasing and Payables records as well as those in the hidden file on the Metascience network. I discovered that all these are related, and all of them, both sets of corps, are no longer in business.”
“Well,” Hills says, “corporations do go out of business."
"Every corp that sold us one of the unaccounted-for items? That seems a bit coincidental.”
Hill rubs at his brow. His aura shows that he’s somewhat more disturbed than before."Excuse me if I fail to grasp all the intricacies of this,” he says."But let me point out that, as you know, some of the materials we buy originate with, well ... unusual sources. Some of the people and corps we buy from are only in business long enough to market a limited quantity of a particular substance, then they move on to other things.”
“Perhaps you refer to shadowrunners,” Bandit says.
Hill hesitates."I’m not sure what you mean."
"Shadowrunners have been known to market limited quantities of merchandise, then move on to other things.” Hill’s disturbance increases. His face seems paler than before. He sneezes, or coughs; one or possibly both."Damn allergies,” he says. He looks to Bandit, and says, “Well ... I’m sure Ms. Berman’s people make every effort to be sure we only buy from legal sources.”
“Yes, we do,” Amy says."Prospective vendors are routinely investigated. What concerns me is the possibility that those investigations may have been a little too routine, and that we’ve paid out money to corps that exist only in name."
"But if we received the actual merchandise ...”
“I’m not so certain that we did. If our records of payment are wrong, our receiving records could be inaccurate as well. And if something fraudulent is going on, it’s entirely possible that whoever’s responsible for collecting things off the loading dock is part of it, by which I mean a paid accomplice.”
“Don’t you think—” Abruptly, Hill turns aside in his chair, coughing harshly, like he might be choking. His face turns bright red. His aura is in turmoil.
“Dr. Hill, are you all right?” Amy asks.
“I’m fine,” Hill says, recovering, nodding his head."I was just going to say ...”
“Perhaps you should explain,” Bandit says, “why you have an account with UCAS Bank. A very large account. Totaling almost three million nuyen.”
Hill’s expression becomes composed. The reddish hue to his face fades into paleness. Yet, his aura churns with emotion. The dominant emotion seems like fear. Quietly, looking only at Amy, he says, “I wasn’t aware that an audit of Hurley-Cooper includes a detailed probe into its employees’ private finances.”
“Ordinarily, it does not,” Bandit says.
“Am I being accused of something, Ms. Berman?”
Amy stares at the floor, then at Hill. Her aura shows almost as much turmoil as Hill’s."No,” she says."Let me apologize for Mr. Hatsumi’s abrupt manner. No, you’re not being accused of anything. All I’m hoping is that you can shed some light on what we’ve been talking about."
"Including my personal finances?”
“It’s your decision,” Amy replies. Her aura reveals her conflict, the clash between feelings of determination and softer feelings, sadness, sorrow, sympathy."As I said, no accusations have been made. I apologize if anything I’ve said or done gave you that impression. If you can tell me anything that would help clear things up I’d greatly appreciate it. So would Mr. Hatsumi.”
“Yes,” Bandit says.
Hill sneezes."Well,” he says, “as for the irregularities in the records, I don’t know what I could say. I don’t know anything about it. If you think there’s been some misconduct on someone’s part, then by all means it should be looked into. Personally, I find it hard to believe—”
“So do I,” Amy says softly.
This is really hurting her, Bandit realizes.
Hill hesitates, glancing at Bandit, then says, “As for my account at the UCAS Bank, it’s not really my account. It’s my wife’s account. My name is on it because, well ...” Hill’s aura ripples with emotion. Fear, uncertainty."My wife is very ill. She’s not.... really capable of managing her own money. She inherited the money. It comes from a trust account that pays off in installments. My wife’s family was very well off ...”
Amy stares, blinks her eyes. She seems astonished.
Hill has another fit of coughing, then slowly gets to his feet."Could we continue this later? I’m not .. . feeling very well.”
Bandit pushes his spiritual self onto the astral and follows Hill out of the lab, down the hall and into a lavatory. Hill stumbles into a booth, bends over a toilet, sneezes, grunts, and then vomits. He goes on coughing and choking for several minutes. Bandit returns to his body. Amy’s shaking his shoulder and urgently whispering his name.
“My god!” she exclaims softly."I thought—”
“Hill’s yarfing up his guts.”
“Oh, god.”
Amy’s very upset.
“Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Bandit supposes they might just as well. They’ve found out what they most need to know. Hill’s probably guilty. His astral response to questions about the UCAS Bank account more or less proves that. He’s afraid of being revealed as a thief. Probably that stuff about his wife was a lie, too, an explanation invented on the spot, with no basis in reality. It’s in the nature of most thieves to lie, when necessary. Thieves don’t like to be caught.
Amy leads Bandit out of Hill’s office and through the lab to the door to the hallway."Oh ... Dr. Phalen. Good morning.”
“Good morning, my dear.”
The slag who meets them at the doorway is tall and slim, gray-haired, and looks maybe sixty. He smiles in greeting Amy and seems very pleased to see her. Bandit takes a look at his aura. What he sees almost stops his heart.
The aura of a magician is distinctive, immediately distinguishable from the aura of a mundane. All the more so in the case of an initiate, but an initiate can veil his aura, conceal his arcane powers and so “appear” mundane. It becomes second-nature, keeping secrets, veiling the truth. It comes without effort. Only another initiate can see through the veil.
Bandit shifts to his astral perceptions and looks across the astral terrain at Phalen, and finds Phalen looking back at him. In that instant, Bandit sees through the veil and assenses an aura unlike any he’s ever encountered. It’s brilliant with power, more power than one man should be capable of possessing, and almost wholly devoid of emotion, like a chair or a rock or some other inanimate object. So great is Bandit’s surprise that he hesitates, captivated, before catching himself and casting a deliberate mask about his own aura.
Almost simultaneously, Phalen’s aura is also deliberately masked, shrouded in a mundane guise that would take strong magic to penetrate. Bandit shifts back to his mundane senses. He finds Phalen gazing at him and smiling “This is Mr. Hatsumi,” Amy says."He’s with the KFK audit staff.”
“Yes, of course,” Phalen says, still smiling."An auditor. I’m very pleased to meet you, sir.”
“Yes,” Bandit replies."Very pleased.”
The subtext is blatantly obvious. Phalen must know that he’s looking at a magician, maybe his equal, maybe not. Bandit wonders what the game is. What does Phalen intend?
Phalen looks to Amy."Is there anything I can do for you, my dear?” he asks.
“Later, perhaps,” Amy says quickly."But Dr. Hill may need some help. He ran off to the lavatory. I think he may be ill.”
“Yes, you’re quite right,” Phalen replies. His smile turns sympathetic."I was there when he came in. The poor man hasn’t been feeling well all day. I think I may send him home.”
Interesting.
Phalen wasn’t there when Hill stumbled into the lavatory. Bandit was there and he saw that no one else was in the room. Why would Phalen lie about something of so little consequence?
Could he be hiding things, too?
They’re back in the rented Toyota Elite and heading along Jerome Avenue before Amy’s heart stops pounding. She was absolutely convinced that Dr. Phalen would see right through her stupid ruse and recognize Scottie as an intruder. She’ll never do anything this risky ever again! Never!
“Hill was scared.”
Amy glances across at Scottie. He looks as calm as a bowl of soysoup, completely unaffected."You’ve done things like this before.”
“It’s in the nature of shadowrunning.”
“I can’t believe we actually got out through the gate."
"Raccoon can escape any danger. His paws are cunning, and he knows many tricks.”
Just what she needs at a moment like this: shaman-talk. Amy hardly knows what to make of what he’s saying. She thrusts it all out of mind because this isn’t the moment for it."You said Dr. Hill was scared. What do you mean?”
“I mean Hill was scared.”
“Scared of what?”
“He started feeling fear or something like fear when I asked him about the UCAS Bank account. His aura was very turbulent. He seemed disturbed from the start. I think he’s hiding things.”
“Do you think he’s guilty of fraud?”
“Probably.”
“Well, was he lying?”
“Almost definitely.”
“Scottie ...” This is frustrating."From the way you were talking about your abilities, I thought you’d be able to tell me definitely. All you’re saying now is that Dr. Hill might be guilty of something or he might not. I knew that going in! If you can’t tell me, if you don’t know ... why did we take this risk?”
“You’re upset.”
“Of course I’m upset!”
“You’re shouting.”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry . . .”
“Magic isn’t science,” Scottie says."Some people call it art. I could have done some things to Hill to make him give up his secrets, but that would have been dangerous.”
“So what are you saying? Tell me again.”
“I think Hill has things to hide. He was scared. He probably lied.”
“So what do I do?”
“You’re the suit. What would a suit do?”
“Hand everything I know to the executive VP.”
“So do that.”
“I don’t want to do that, Scottie. I want to get to the bottom of this myself. At least I thought I did. I kept hoping that Dr. Hill would say something to clear everything up. Do you believe that story about his wife?”
“I don’t know.”
Amy exhales heavily, feeling not just frustrated but incredulous, too."Well, I can clear that up for you right now. It’s a lie, or a fantasy, or I don’t know what, but it isn’t the truth. Dr. Phalen’s wife is terminally ill. Dr. Hill doesn’t have a wife. He never married!”
“You’re shouting again.”
“I know, I know. I’m just ...”
“How do you know Hill has no wife?”
“It’s in the personnel files.”
“Maybe the records are wrong.”
Amy can’t believe that. Prospective vendors might be investigated only routinely; prospective employees are investigated in depth. Dr. Hill never had a wife. He was lying. There’s just no room for any doubt about it."No,” Amy says, shaking her head."I just can’t understand why Dr. Hill would say something like that, something so obviously false, when surely he must know that I could check it out in an instant if I didn’t already know.”
“Maybe he couldn’t think of a better explanation.”
What other answer could there be? The big account at the UCAS Bank is his guilty secret. He’s been skimming off Hurley-Cooper and she’s found out and now he knows that and so naturally he’s scared."I just can’t believe he’d do something like this. He’s such a nice man. He’s a
respected
scientist
!”
“What about Phalen?”
“He lied, too. About being in the lavatory when Hill went there. Phalen wasn’t in the room.”
