An Eighty Percent Solution (CorpGov) (54 page)

“Denny Towers
, P
enthouse
T
wo
,
Seattle
.
”

“Figures
.
That bitch loved status
.
Denny Towers
.
Rubbing elbows with all of the who’s who of the government, film industry
,
and business
.
She has to
be
wallowing in that lifestyle.”

“One more corpie wannabe.”

“I think she may have bypassed the corpie stage and
gone
right to owner, but we’ll see
.
Denny Towers, eh
?
How convenient for me
.
That
’
s only about one
Tri
M
et
hop from here.”

“I thought you might feel that way
.
Security codes to the building and
her
flat coming on separate line to your handheld.”

“
Thanks
.
Talk to you later when I have something.”

“
Time for a late night visit
?”
Gregori
asked
from the darkness
.

Tony flipped on the light to find one of his bodyguards sitting in a chair on the other side of the room.
“Where did you come from?”

“You don’t think Sonya just pulled two people at random out of the woodwork, do you
?
Can’t protect someone from another room.
”

“
Yes, you are quite good
.
I expected you were
,
or you wouldn’t be welcome in the Family
.
But I’m off on Greenie business now
.
Why would you want to stick
?”

“Two reasons
.
One, we were hired to protect you, whatever you were doing
.
And two,
while we work for the
F
amily
,
our sympathies lie with your organization
.
Who do you think introduced Sonya and Jamie initially?”

Tony smiled.
“
OK
, Greg
.
Are you up for breaking some laws?”

“
Just tell me which ones, sir
.
Will we need my partner
, Tuan
?
”

“
Doubtful
.
For that reason I’ll probably not need you
, either,
but
always
nice to know I have some backup.”

“Yes, sir
.”

“First stop is an
all
-
night bowling alley,” Tony said
,
getting up and dressing
, s
o intent he missed the odd look he got from
Gregori
.

* * *
 

“How can we come to a compromise?” Augustine asked before Andrea and
Frances
even got seated
.

Sonya thought a meeting of the key members of both sides might break things free
.
She vowed
to herself
not to speak
.
Even as she did she hacked hard enough to
cough up blood
.

“You do know all we have to do is wait,” Andrea said as sweat rolled off her brow
.
She mopped it about ever
y
three seconds
with a damp towel looped over the back of her neck
.

“Wait for what?”

“
The first one that dies
will break the deadlock.”

“That’s gruesome.”

“What the hell, I’ve got it too. Besides I don’t see that
there’s
any middle ground
.
You want Tony to lead
.
We don’t.”

“Even if he
’
s innocent?”

“
We’re
split on that
,
but
there’s
no way he could possibly prove it.”

“Actually
,
we have a source that may prove it.”

“No chance!”

“He
’
s after
it
tonight.”

Frances
held up an
arm to interrupt
.
She got it in spades
.
Her long-sleeved shirt slid up
exposing pox
covering a good portion of her arms
.
Sonya reached out for
the diseased limb
,
but
Frances
flinched away.

“That puts a new spin on things,” Augustine said
.
“You want us to choose someone to lead us
who’s
likely to die?”

“Who doesn’t have some symptoms?!”
Andrea
barked
.

“
Martin
came down with a fever and muscle aches last night
,
and
Jackson
is in his bed shaking with chills
.
That only leaves you, Augustine, and Christine that haven’t shown any signs.”

“I have a suggestion,” Sonya croaked
.
Her voice wouldn’t stand the strain
.
As it was she could taste the blood at the back of her throat
.
She scribbled something down on a small whiteboard and handed it to Augustine.

“She says for us to pick someone without the disease as interim leader
.
If Tony can prove his innocence
,
then we have another vote.”

“Well, we aren’t going to vote in a lunatic, as much as I love Christine
.
That only leave
s
you, Augustine
.”

Sonya nodded profusely
.

* * *
 

The laughing outside the door announced
their presence
long before the electronic chirp approved entry
.
Carmine and a couple staggered in, wearing as little as the public would
tolerate
.
Carmine’s
tiny blue crochet dress made
6
centimeter
-
wide bands down her body until they met at her crotch and then flared into a tiny skirt
.
The other two wore less.

“Noth mush of a housekeeper are ya, Carmine?”

“What happened?” Carmine looked around at the contents of her living room strewn around the floor
.

“I guess that would be me,” Tony said from a chair in a
still
-
shadowed corner of the room
,
like something out of an old dime-store novel
.

“Tony?”

“Whoz t
’
is Tony fella
?
Thought we was going to have some fun,” the drunk man said, slapping Carmine on the ass
.

“Shut up.”

“
For once I have to
agree with her
.
Why don’t you both just be on your way
.
I have nothing I want from either of you.”

“You Nil,” the
other
woman screeched
.
“Get outa here
!
” 

Tony
slowly revealed
his hand from around the edge of the seat to show
his
flechette pistol
.
The couple disappeared faster than free food at a mission
.
Carmine edged her way over toward the door as well.

“Don’t, Carmine
.
I don’t mind killing them both to get at you
.
I also don’t mind cutting your legs off to get at what I want
.”
Her eyes met his
as if searching for a cue
.
Tony heard the ding of the elevator
.
It
open
ed
and close
d
before Carmine made her choice
.

Her emotions opened up like
a
flatie to him
.
The thought of seducing him discarded itself almost immediately
.
“You’ve grown tough, Tony.”

“A lesson you taught me.”

“Likely true
.
So if you want to kill me, why haven’t you?”

“I’ll be honest with you
,
Carmine
.
I only want information
.
You give me what I want and I’ll walk out and never come back.”

“Do I have much of a choice?”

“Well, you could keep me talking
,
hoping your bodyguard
will
come in here and protect you, but you
’
d be waiting a long time.”

“Killed him, eh
?
”

“Nope
.
He’s just
incapacitated
.
You don’t have to worry about your deposit on him.
Since he’s not around, I suppose next y
ou might think about edging over to the cupboard for the shotgun
or maybe the laser behind the bar
.”

“No chance, eh?”

“I don’t think so, but you might surprise me
.
You did once before.”

“Well, can I at least sit down
?”

Tony tilted his head in assent
.
Just as she started to sit on the couch, Tony spoke
.
“Not there
.
Over on the Windsor chair.”

“Boy, you don’t trust anyone, do you?”

“Yes I do, Carmine
.
I just don’t trust you specifically
.
Trust is earned
.”
The seductive way she stretched her legs reminded him of other times.

“I’m dead if I tell you, Tony
.
These aren’t the kind of people you metro on.”

“If you tell me
,
you can run
.
It can work.”

“And return to living like a Nil?”

“Or I can start torturing
you
now
.
I could just kill you outright, but that doesn’t get me what I want.”

“I can’t turn and you know it
.
Isn’t there any way we could make some kind of deal
?”
Her hands sensuously stretched down her fishnet stockings and back up
,
lifting her
tiny
skirt
.
Tony’s gun went off almost before the
dull
glint of the
ballistic
plastic
barrel
came out from underneath
her skimpy clothing
.
Carmine’s body reflexively
jerked
,
firing off
a single shot as she died, gouging a hole a meter in diameter in the ceiling
.

Gregori
slammed through the outer door almost in time with the shots
.
Tony watched as it took several seconds for him to gestalt the room
.
Finally
,
the shoulders loosened, and his stance became more dignified and less professional.

“Damneditalltohell,” Tony said all in one breath
, idly waving the end of his gun around
.
As bad as Tony’s aim
had been
, he
had
put th
irteen separate tiny projectiles through her torso
.
“I thought I could convince her to give up the information
.
I guess
we’ll
have to try it the hard way
.
Get the cleaver from the
kitchen.”