An Eighty Percent Solution (CorpGov) (38 page)

“I do ask that until this item is resolved
,
we meet weekly.”

“Agreed.”

“Yes, by all means.”

The meeting ended as the communications links broke, one by one, terminating the images like soap bubbles landing in the summer grass.

Nanogate
sat quietly for ten long minutes
,
ignoring the insistent flashing of his door and the neural rasps of his
percomm
.

* * *
 

“
Jonah
,
Frances
,
and Colin, you don’t happen to have your Metro uniforms still, do you?”
Tony said, leaning back
and
picking his teeth
after a group potluck
.

“Frak
,
no
.
I left that life behind
,
”
Jonah said with the relaxed attitude of someone long away from such a painful memory
.

“We still have our ballistics,”
Frances
said for herself and her
domestic and action
partner
.
“
They lojacked all of the bio-enhancement suits
,
so those had to go, of course
.”

The rest of the group stopped talking to listen in
.
Tony had become their number one planner
,
and if another epiphany struck him
,
they knew it meant a worthwhile mission.

“Yes, that’s all I mean
.
So if we did some minor alterations
,
you could pose, at least for a short while
,
as if you were Metros.”

“Yeah, but anyone doing a routine scan would find our badges deactivated
,
and our heads on the wanted list
.”

Tony ran his fingers through the thick brush of hair on his chest
as he
star
ed
off in the distance
.
“And how do we make people careless?”
he
asked absently.

“Kill
’
em quick
?”
Several people chuckled.

“Bore them silly
.
Let Andrew talk to them for an hour
.
They’d all fall asleep
.”
Andrew pushed Jonah off the couch with a playful shove to the arm
.

“Yeah,
t
hanks for noticing me
,
” Tolly offered
,
mimicking
an infamous donkey’s droll tones.

“Show them what they want to see?” Sonya offered
seriously
.

“Exactly
.
The great part of this plan is that in-depth scouting isn’t necessary
.
This is a swashbuckling job
.
So
here’s
what
I’m
thinking…”

* * *
 

“C’mon
,
you green bitch,” the Metro said, pushing Suet’s form
ahead of him
into the light of the security gate of
Nanogate
Storage Facility Sixteen.

“Stop!” called the security guard, drawing his sonic club, his hands already pressing the local panic button.

“We
are
stopped, you rent-a-cop,” the second Metro said, his own pulse pistol in the green woman
’s back
.
“We found this number playing fast and loose with your fence about thirteen hundred meters down the way
.
She had this toy on her as well,” the Metro said
,
tossing the man a small block of explosives
.

The
Nanogate
security guard jumped
,
but realized, belatedly
and a little sheepishly
,
that
the device was
little more than
a featureless clay-like block
without a fuse or detonator
.

The
facility’s
four
other guards pelted up
almost simultaneously from different directions
, wheezing as they ran to respond to the panic button
.
With Greenies going after
Nanogate
facilities
,
they all
looked
tense, but they relaxed at the
sight of the
Metro uniforms
.

“What the fuck?” the
ir
leader
demanded
between labored
gasps
.

“They found this one trying to cut through the fence
,
”
the first explained, poking at Suet, who j
ust looked angry.

“
OK
, so what
?
Why don’t you tote this bitch away?”

“Do you have the slightest idea how much paperwork is involved in an arrest
?
”
the taller male Metro offered
.
“Look
,
I thought you might be willing to take this
punta
off our hands for the reward bucks
.
Make you look good
.
Hell
,
we even put a binder on her arm implants.”

“Yeah,” the shorter female Metro said
.
“This
way me and my partner don’t have to spend the rest of the night doing computer entry and booking.”

“You could turn her in yourself
.
Why the free money
?
”

“You idiot
!
Metros can’t get reward money
.
You a
Nil
or something
?
When did you get your private security license
?
Yesterday?”

“Oh, yeah
.
Sorry
.
OK
.
We got us a detention cell in here
.
Come this way
.
Mike, stay here.”

“Y’all see the game last night?”
Frances
asked as they entered the building
.

Suet waited patiently until they were beyond the
gate’s
monitors and
inside
the
structure
.
Excreting a lubricant from her pores, one tentacle slipped out of the wrist binder like it didn’t exist
.
One of her arms wrapped around the neck of one security guard, lifting
.
The spine snapped instantly
.
Another arm swept the ground, catching one other guard unawares, taking his legs from beneath him
.
The first arm now did double-duty, lashing bloodily across the
chest
of
the third
guard with speed enough to crush a trough in his ribcage
.
Colin’s and
Frances
’
s
hand weapons
, from their Metro façade,
finished the standing cripple and the other stunned man
.

“Jesus, Suet
!
Give us a chance for some fun, too.”

“I nuke fas’
.
No s’ow up for you.”

“Whatever.
Let’s plant these charges quickly
.”

Five minutes later they all gathered back together
.
“Can I do the honors?”
Frances
asked.

“By all means
.”
Suet nodded.

Frances
sent a coded signal
.
Detonators didn’t need to be visible to work
.
The supposedly inert explosives in the guard shack
vaporized
the remaining
guard, Mike
, as well as a
30
meter section of fence and all the sensing equipment
,
leaving a
gaping
hole for the trio to stroll
through
before the real fireworks began
.

* * *
 

Only a single light shining down on the desk held away the darkness
.
The corner windows showed only full night outside, one with no moon
.
Alone, late at night
,
Mitch Anson leaned back in his leather executive chair
dictat
ing
a memo, eyes rolled up to the ceiling
.
His nostrils flared
.

“It
’
s clear that the ubiquitous nature of your failings
proves
you cannot be trusted at your current rank
.
Thus it is my duty to inform you that you are demoted two ranks
, with a commensurate reduction
in pay in the amount equal to eleven point four percent.
Sincerely, Mitch Anson
.”
His breath raced and a flush covered his face
.

Orgasm was the only word to describe Mr. Anson’s demeanor
.
Mr. Marks thought to himself
that s
ometimes one’s work truly delighted one
.
He watched as Anson’s respiration slowed to normal.

“Excuse me,” came Mr. Mark
s’s
quiet interruption
.
Anson
,
startled
,
sat bolt upright in his chair
.
He looked about wildly for the source
of the voice,
but found none.
“Lights
!
”
he demanded insistently.

“Unrecognized voice command,” came a soft feminine voice
.
“The Portland Metropolitan Police have been notified.”

“I’m very sorry, Mr. Anson, but I’ve already disabled your computer access.”

“Who are you, you soon-to-be-unemployed
Nil
?
This is not a place for practical jokes or hacking
!
” 

Mr. Marks stepped forward into the arena of light around the desk
.
Anson’s face lost its color
.
His mouth dropped open
,
only exceeded in size by the wideness of his eyes
.

“Cancel emergency call.”

“Call cancelled, Mr. Marks.”

“I
…
er
…
I’m sorry,” Anson stammered.

“Sir, I’ve come to deliver a message,” he said in silky tones.

“B
-b
ut
I didn’t do anything.”

“Sir, you needn’t bother with the
scatter
-
pistol built into your desk
.
This shouldn’t be that kind of message.
I do
, however,
have to inform you that
Nanogate
won’t be needing your services in the future.”

“What did I do wrong?” Anson
demanded
, slamming both palms down on his desk
as he stood to face Marks
.
“I’ve given everything to this corporation and now
you’re
firing me?”

“Oh, you mistake me, sir
.
I’m not going to fire you. You’re
going to resign.”

“What?
!
There is no way I’ll resign
!
”

“You
will
resign, sir, or
we’re
going to go on
to ‘that kind of message.’”

Mitch sat back down
.
“Why
?
What did I do
?
I don’t understand
.
I’ve done everything our corporation has asked for and more.”