3rd World Products, Book 17 (22 page)

Looking at me with a small, wry smile, she said, “I guess having to cope with cycles again isn’t such a bad trade.”

Sipping again, she was quiet for a time, then she said, “But I don’t think I’ll be going to work for 3rd World. At least, not right away. I want to see if I can do anything to help Stephanie and her legal group.” Turning to face me, she added, “In fact, I’m surprised you haven’t signed on with them.”

“To do what? Besides, I’m already recruiting for her.”

“Recruiting?”

“Yup. Her legal team. A lady astronomer. You. All of you were damaged in some manner. Now you aren’t, and you’re willing to fight the system that would have prevented your cures. Human suffering is an abstract concept to rich politicians and special interest groups; to them, it’s just something they can milk for money and power.”

Marie eyed me briefly, then said, “That sounds vaguely familiar. Have you become some kind of a revolutionary?”

Sipping my cup dry, I replied as I refilled it, “Depends on the cause, I guess. I kinda like this one.”

Taking the pot to top up her own cup, Marie nodded. “So do I. If they have a use for me.” She looked at me and said, “And for what they’re trying to do, I’d work for free, if necessary.”

The waitress arrived with our meals. I made some room in front of me and said, “I doubt it’ll come to that.”

We dug into our food in silence for a time, glancing at each other now and then. I flashed on a time long ago when we’d sat at another table, eating breakfast over photos and notes with Connie, Will, and Mike before making a run into East Germany. We’d be quizzing each other on details after about half an hour or so.

Marie chuckled, “I know what you’re thinking.”

“Think so, huh? Do tell.”

“The ops room. Everybody had a folder and a plate and about three hours to take a long last look before a mission.”

Nodding, I replied, “You got it.”

“I was thinking the same thing. How come you always sat beside me? You hated me back then.”

With a sidelong glance, I said, “Dislike, yes, but not hate. After our second run together, I knew I could depend on you.”

“Yet you told Linda never to team us up again.”

“After a year I did. By then you were pretty well established and I was ready to get the hell away from you.”

She gave me a ‘
well, fuck you
‘ look as she said, “Gee, thanks.”

I shrugged. “Hey, you asked. But that was then. Things don’t have to be like that now.”

Marie snapped, “They didn’t have to be that way then, either.”

It was my turn to give her a flat gaze. “Uh, huh. We all thought so, too, but after a few months, your fellow team members wished to hell you’d transfer out.”

“Mike didn’t feel that way.”

Sipping coffee, I said, “Not after you two got together. It was kind of amazing, really. One day he was trying to find a way to sell you to the Gypsies. The next, he was defending you when Connie was ready to go kick your ass. You really turned him around fast, ma’am.”

Her eyes flared with anger and her hand clenched around her fork as she hissed, “You
really
don’t want to go down this road, Ed.”

“Just correcting your misconception. Mike surprised the hell out of us, all of a sudden being in your corner like that. He rescinded his transfer request that afternoon. Linda called me in…”

Raising a hand to stop me, Marie sharply snapped, “Wait! He put in for a transfer?”

“Yup. Said he’d had enough of your shit. Anyway, Linda asked what the hell was going on. I told her you two had come to an understanding of some sort. When she pushed me, I said I hadn’t been there and wouldn’t guess. A couple of hours later she called Mike in.”

Marie sat very still for a moment, then put her fork down and picked up her coffee for a sip. After putting her cup down, she said, “That explains some things.”

“Thought it might. Linda was pissed at me for holding back info. I was pissed at you for creating a situation. Then I realized that what had finally pulled you and Mike together had to have been there all the time, itching you both like a bad rash. Not really your fault, not his. Just people stuff.”

Sipping my own coffee, I said, “After I talked things over with Will and Connie, I told Linda never to team me with you and Mike again. Her response was that she’d already arranged Mike’s transfer and was working on mine. She couldn’t transfer you, so she split up the team.”

“But you weren’t transferred. You quit and ran off to Israel.”

Forking up some steak, I said, “Don’t play with the details, Marie. They folded up our office just before the investigation started. You knew where I went, so you also knew why. And I wasn’t officially off the payroll until I came back.”

Her gaze narrowed. “You came back? When?”

“In ‘74. I took a short leave before I resigned.”

I continued eating as she studied me. After a moment, she also continued eating. There was silence at the table for the next few minutes. The waitress dropped by and hefted our coffee pot, then asked if we needed another pot. We shook our heads and she moved on. Our silence continued until we’d both finished eating.

Marie sipped coffee, said, “Back in a few,” and then got up and headed for the restrooms. I sat sipping coffee and watching the world go by outside the windows. Some minutes later, Marie returned and stood by the table.

She asked, “Are we finished here?”

Peeling a few bucks out of my money clip, I replied, “I know a hint when I hear one,” and set the bills on the table.

As I turned to head for the cashier, Marie said, “I’ve already paid. I invited you, remember?”

She headed for the doors and I followed. Looking both ways, Marie led the way between a couple of SUVs and called up her board. I called up mine and followed her again as she rose into the sky. When I caught up with her, Marie gave me a long glance, then slowed her board. I did likewise and when she stopped, I stopped beside her.

For a time we just stood there in the sky. Marie started to say something and her right hand rose as if to gesture, then it fell back to her side and she shook her head.

“No,” she said as if to the world in general, “Forget it. Just forget it all. I was wrong all these years and I’m not going to keep being wrong.” Turning to look at me, she pointed down at her board and said, “Let’s get started. What’s on today’s agenda?”

I said, “Just follow me,” and headed for a good-sized lake not far away. After telling her what to expect, I took us to the bottom of the lake. We scooted around underwater for a few minutes, then headed back into the sky. High, low, fast, slow. The edge of space, where we sat sipping coffee as she studied the sky and I studied her.

In a small voice, she asked, “How high are we?”

I consulted my core and rounded my answer up one when I replied, “Forty-seven miles.”

Looking down, she asked, “How do you know that?”

“I asked an AI.”

She faced me and asked, “How do you do that?”

“When you get a PFM, you’ll be able to do it too.”

Marie seemed to accept that answer as she continued peering around. Athena appeared between us and took control of our boards, moving us a couple of miles quickly. Marie had been startled as hell and now looked pretty shaken, but what happened next made her shriek and twist herself around.

A thin, short, bright line formed to our right. It seemed to stretch down toward us, widening and brightening, and almost instantly became a bright ball that flashed past us. A soft rumble followed it and an odd thundering sounded below as it hit thicker air. Marie stared after it, then turned her stare on Athena.

With a smile, Athena said, “If you’ll wait here a bit less than four minutes, two smaller ones will arrive,” and vanished. I linked to say, “Thanks, Athena.”

Marie’s eyes had widened even further. She turned to me and asked, “Two more?” Her voice was somewhat high-pitched.

I nodded. “That’s what she said. Wanna stick around for it?”

“Uh… are we safe? Really?”

“That’s why she moved us over here, ma’am.”

“Ah… well, okay, then. I guess. Was that Athena?”

Putting up a screen, I replied, “Yup,” and linked to my core to display the incoming rocks. Two rather vague objects appeared on the screen. I zoomed on them, but they remained vague. Zooming again, I realized why; they were spinning fast.

Marie moved closer and I turned us to face the impending show more precisely. The meteor had left a wispy smoke trail that was already dissipating and barely visible.

When I sipped my coffee, Marie seemed to suddenly remember her own and sipped as she watched the screen. Green numbers spun down as the minutes passed. With ten seconds to atmospheric contact, I pointed ahead and said, “Watch.”

Twin bright lines formed ahead of us. They seemed to diverge as they approached and shot past us, again brightening the sky fiercely as they found thicker air. Marie stared down after them as the rumbling and thunder raged and faded.

She asked, “Did they hit the ground?”

“No.” When she looked up, I indicated the screen. “They burned out ten miles above the Atlantic.”

Marie abruptly put a hand to her stomach and bent slightly. I didn’t bother asking if she was all right, I had Galatea appear in standard mode ahead of us with her bathroom field up.

Sliding aboard, I pointed at the wide column in the middle of the flitter and said, “That’s a bathroom.”

Following me aboard, Marie hurried to the column and stopped for a quick look inside before she entered. I plunked myself into the pilot’s seat and put my feet up on the console. Marie came out a few minutes later and took the seat next to me.

After a sip from her thermos, she said, “Thanks. I was wondering what the hell to do.”

I chuckled, “If it happens while you’re alone, just go up a few miles for privacy and pee over the side.”

She laughed softly, “Is that what you do?”

“Nope. I call up my flitter and take a leak in a civilized manner.”

We sat sipping for a time, then I said, “Before you toss the idea of working for 3rd World, I’d like you to meet a lady named Jessie. Ride with her through a typical day. She was issued a flitter for emergency work. Rescue, medical, all that.”

A moment passed, then she said, “Okay. Why?”

“Because as much as you’d like to try to help Steph and her team, they fight bureaucracy. It’s mostly paperwork, and I remember how you hated that. You need more action to be happy.”

Giving me an arch look, Marie retorted, “Oh, really? You’re going to tell me what I need in my life?”

I shrugged. “Talk with Steph. Ride with Jessie. Give it some thought and prove me wrong. If you can. Which I very much doubt. You’d go nuts in a legal office.”

Eyeing her from toes to nose, I added, “And try to come up with an appropriate costume. Maybe something close to a bikini, to show off that knockout figure. It’ll make a great distraction when you’re up against the bad guys.”

Her expression turned wry. “I’ll give that suggestion all the consideration it deserves.”

I gave her my best dejected expression and sighed, “That actually means ‘no’, doesn’t it?”

She chuckled, “Good guess. That’s exactly what it means.”

Sipping my coffee, I muttered, “Damn.”

Marie sipped and said, “Tell me about this Jessie person.”

Putting Jessie’s public bio page on a screen, I sipped coffee as Marie read. After a time, she looked at me and said, “She looks good for her age, doesn’t she?”

“Yup. Delicious, in fact.”

“And you think I could do what she’s doing?”

“Sure. You know as much as she did when she started.”

“I think I’d want her opinion about that.”

Pulling the screen back, I had it ping Jessie. She answered with a grinning show of vast surprise.

“Ed?! At this hour of the morning?! Did somebody die?!”

“Ha, ha, sweetie. If that was the case, I’d have gone back to bed. Got a minute to meet an old crony of mine?”

“A crony?” Her face looked slightly puzzled for a moment, then brightened as she asked, “Would it be that woman Lori told me about? Marie… um… Conner, was it?”

“That’s her. I suggested she might want a job like yours.”

In a cautionary tone, Jessie replied, “Uh… Ed, she’d have to be at least your age, I think.”

“Sounds about right.” Turning the screen, I added, “Here she is.”

Chapter Sixteen

Jessie and Marie marveled at each other for various reasons for some moments before Jessie said she was in Atlanta and could meet us for lunch.

Marie asked, “
Atlanta?
That’s five hundred miles… oh, hell. I’m still thinking in road times.” Turning to me, she asked, “Ed?”

“No biggie. It’ll take about fifteen minutes.” Looking at Jessie, I asked, “But before I say yes… Will you be wearing your Wonder Woman outfit today?”

Rolling her eyes, she exasperatedly sighed, “Sorry, this is all you get.” The view stretched to show us Jessie in a well-fitting and businesslike dark blue skirt and jacket.

I eyed her for a moment and said, “Well, I’m already feeling a little deprived, but yeah, okay. Lunch in Atlanta.”

“Great. I’m due at a meeting, so call me at noon and we’ll hit a buffet place. Good?”

“Sounds good. See you then.”

“Okay. Bye for now. Later, Marie.”

She poked her ‘off’ icon and I looked at Marie. She glanced down at herself and said, “I’ll need to change.”

“Why? It’s just a buffet lunch.”

Her gaze narrowed. It seemed to do that a lot for some reason.

“You don’t understand, so don’t argue. I want to change.”

Without further comment, she headed back to Tanya’s and I followed, wondering why she was in a hurry. It was only about nine-thirty. When we got there, Tanya wasn’t home. Marie called her as she installed me at the kitchen table and went to what I’d thought was Tanya’s bedroom. She emerged a few minutes later with clothes over her arm and ducked into the other bedroom, apparently still in a hurry.

I put some coffee on as Marie made another trip into Tanya’s room. She stopped in the hall, eyed me for a moment, and then moved on. I heard muttering and a couple of swear words.