In less than three
seconds, there was a *beep!*, and Brick was party to Xandra’s
conversation. “-averall never knew what hit him.”
Then Xandra’s
voice: “How badly was he hurt?”
“Ah, I didn’t bang
him up that badly. A nasty sideswipe, he thinks that he has a broken leg, maybe
some broken ribs. And I was very apologetic, told him that the Cab company
would pay for everything. Even got him a nice private room, on the company
tab.”
Xandra chuckled, “Gawd,
am I glad that you aren’t pissed off at me!”
“Remember that,
Boss Lady, when you’re passing around bonuses.”
“So, when will
Mister Haverall wake up?”
“Chelsea is all set
up to be his nurse; she’s gonna give him a stimulant that will wake him up with
a clear head, with about three hours to meet the window of opportunity.”
“And the phone in
his room?”
“Rigged to tape and
trace, no prob; we’ll know who and where he’s calling, even before they do.”
“And what about
Panacea?”
“The security
guards are gonna be particularly obvious tonight, taking names and faces, as
befits a high security research facility.”
“And Haverall’s
special little bolt-hole behind the dumpster?”
“Got a motion
sensor set up that an ant couldn’t find. The minute the rat goes into that
hole- *Snap!*”
Xandra sighed, “IF
the rat goes in that hole.”
The voice on the
other end paused and said, “Hey, Foxie - are you SURE about this? I mean we are
pulling a LOT of really hairy stuff t’night, and it’s all on your say-so. I
mean, you've got a lot of stuff, but it only hooks up b’cuz you say it does.”
“Gideon, I am
telling you that the ‘Fast Forward’ approval process is just screaming to be
abused. And ‘THX-1138’ is just too good to be true. I’m telling you, someone’s
gonna try a last second swap, and it’s gonna be tonight.”
“Yeah, so you SAY.
But no one at Panacea’s list’n’n to you, Babe, so there’s no way to prove
it.”
“Only one way,
Gideon - catch ‘em red handed. By the way, are there any openings still left on
the Rat Pool?”
“ah, Yeah. The
HowChem CEO’s Executive Assistant’s Secretary, the Third Seat R&C chemist,
and the Skanderberg AG Pharm Div Senior Veep’s Girlfriend.”
“Put me down for
Five each on the Secretary and the Girlfriend.”
“What? Not on the
Chemist?”
“Cherchez la femme,
Mister Trueblood, cherchez la femme.”
“If’n you say so,
Boss Lady. So, how’s the reunion going?”
Before Xandra could
reply, Brick cut the link. Damn. It was so close, so CLOSE! He schooled his
features into bland pleasantness, despite the fury and desperation that were
sending his blood pressure through the roof. He leaned over the Tally, “Scuze
me, Hon - pit stop.”
Brick headed to the
Men’s Room, but blew past it, and through a door leading outside. Once in the
cool night air, he pulled his PTN out of his pocket, set the MilSpec chip to
‘Encrypt/Decrypt’, and hit the speed-dial for a number that would blow right
past any number of receptionists, assistants or other intermediaries.
Unfortunately, he
still got nothing. He tried another number and another, and still got nothing.
Then, finally, he had only one number that he could call, and still save all
their hash.
He hit the speed-dial,
and waited on tenterhooks. Then, finally, there was a pick-up. “What is it?”
snapped an obviously impatient voice.
“It’s me, Dalton.
There’s been a major complication. Haverall’s been compromised.”
“What? How do you
know?”
“I got it straight from Xandra Fox.”
“XANDRA
FOX? How the hell did YOU-”
“It turns out that I
went to High School with her.”
The voice on the other
end went wary, “You never told me that you knew Xandra Fox.”
Brick gritted his
teeth, “Hey, she wasn’t Xandra Fox back then; Hell, she wasn’t even a SHE back
then!” Brick took a deep breath and got back on the track. “Listen up, somehow,
she managed to get wind of this deal, and she’s suspicious. She fingered
Haverall, and got him put in a hospital somewhere, so he can’t pull the switch.
AND, she has his phone line wired so that if he calls anyone to tell them what
happened, they’re fingered, too.”
The voice was wary
again. “So, Xandra Fox just came up to you at your High School Reunion, and
told you all about her high-stakes game?”
“NO! I overheard her
talking to her crew!”
“She discussed
this, just where you could conveniently overhear it.”
“No,” Brick said
through gritted teeth, “I used that crypto-chip - the one that you said you
paid an arm and a leg for, and said couldn’t be broken by anything less than a
Kray™ Mainframe? - and used it to intercept her phone call. I recorded
it." Brick hit the playback option, and sent the conversation to his
secret partner.
After listening to the
exchange, the voice on the other end said, “It sounds like Fox is just
sniffing in the wind. She suspects, but she doesn’t have any real proof. Best
of all, it sounds like Panacea doesn’t really believe her. We can still go
through with the deal. Call-”
“Do you honestly think
that I’d call YOU, if I hadn’t called everyone else already? Nobody’s picking
up!”
The voice on the other
end swore. “Very well. You’re going to have to make the switch.”
Brick thumped his fist
on the stucco wall in frustration. “What the HELL are you talking about? I
can’t leave! This is my 30th Reunion! And Xandra Fox is right in
there! Do you honestly think that she wouldn’t get suspicious if I suddenly
went running off, right after she discussed her big game with her people?”
The voice was
grudgingly accepting. “You’re right, that’s exactly the sort of thing that
she’s supposed to pick up on.” He went wary again. “But, I wonder why
she’s at a stupid reunion, with such a big play going down?”
“Probably for the same
reason that _I_ am; she wants anyone who might be watching her to think that
she’s here, doing one thing, while her people are somewhere else, doing the
important stuff. So, you have to get one of your people-”
“That...would be...problematic...” The voice drawled back, obviously on the defensive. “You’ll
have to risk it-“
“What?” Brick had to
choke down a shriek. “Are you KIDDING?”
“If you hurry, you
could make it.”
“Yeah, I could make it
- if this were a race course! IF I could get a coeleopter here in five minutes,
and get onto a semi-ballistic without a snag, I COULD make it - and leave a
trail of freaking flames in my path! Oh, that would be REAL subtle, now
wouldn’t it? No Way that Fox would spot anything like
THAT!”
“Listen up, it isn’t
that big a risk - from your recording, Fox only knows about Haverall's secret
entrance, but not about Myrdal’s trap door into the parking lot-”
“WHAT? If you
remember, I’ve never even been to the Panacea R&D lab in Rocklynn; heck,
I’ve never even been to Rocklynn at ALL! And I know absolutely bupkiss about
Panacea procedure. That was part of the reason why you brought me in on this!
No connection to anyone, at all! And, I don’t even know where the docs and
samples that are supposed to be switched are!”
“They’re
right here. You can come here, pick them up-”
“You’re expecting me
to go roaring across three time zones, pick up the samples, travel to a ‘burb
that I’ve never been to before, find an R&D lab that I’ve never seen
before, find a HIDDEN door, go to a security room, switch no less than six
documents and samples - which HAVE to be in exactly the right place, or it’s
all a wash - get out and get back here before people notice that I’m gone - ALL
WITHOUT BEING SPOTTED? You don’t ask much, do you?”
“Oh, you expected
to make 25 Million dollars for just sitting around and playing golf?”
“Do NOT give me that!”
Brick snarled back. “I have busted my ASS making this deal work! I’ve done all
the work, made all the contacts, everything! You are right there, in the right
Time Zone, you’ve got the samples right there. Put one of those Spooks that
you’re so proud of on it. Hey, I just saved everyone’s hash -
it’s your turn to take one for the team. And remember, I might want this to
happen, but you NEED this to happen, just to stay alive!”
The voice was
resigned. “You’re right, Dalton. It would be stupid for you to come
screaming all this way to handle it. I just don’t like getting this close to
it, just at this time.” The voice sighed, “No, you’re right, Dalton, you
did good. Tonight, you showed that you’ve really got the stuff. Way to keep
your head in a crisis. Not to worry, I’ll keep my end of the bargain. Your
Senior Veep position will be waiting for you.” Then the line closed.
Brick folded up his
PTN and tucked it away with a deep sigh of a Job Well Done. Yep, the Man
himself had said it - Way to keep your head in a crisis, Bricker!
Brick went back into
the hotel, feeling very pleased with himself. As he rejoined the Reunion, he
spotted Xandra, still chatting with a smaller group of women. Probably bragging
about her latest Big Game. He grinned to himself. Well, Hotshot, you don’t know
it, but the Brickster just knocked the wind out of your big move, AGAIN.
He strutted up to the
giggling group, as Stacy was making veiled inquiries as to whether Xandra might
be convinced to pass along anything interesting. “Please, Ladies!” he boomed
good naturedly. “If there’s going to be any insider trading, I’M going to be
the one getting the dirt!” He offered his arm to Xandra and showed her onto the
dance floor.
After a few turns of
slow dancing, Brick asked, “So, what’s the scoop with this smart drug? I mean,
they’ve been coming out with ‘smart drugs’ for decades, but to be honest, all
that ‘promotes cerebral activity’ crap sounds more like marketing than
science.”
Xandra smiled, “Well,
you’re right, most of the ‘smart drugs’ on the market work more by suggestion
than by actual chemistry. But THX-1138 has actual measurable effects on learning,
memory and creativity. But then, you already know that? After all, that’s what
you sold Myrdal, isn’t it?”
Brick looked down into
Xandra’s lovely face as he might at a viper that was suddenly coiled on his
chest. “What are you talking about?” he wheezed out.
“Oh, I’m afraid that I
told a teensy white lie,” Xandra gloated. “But then, that’s what you do at a
reunion, isn’t it? You lie about how those were the ‘Good Old Days’ - though, I
guess for YOU they were, hunh? You tell people how good they look, even
though they’ve obviously been drinking too much, and exercising too little.
Stacy says that her marriage is just sailing along, despite the fact that
Jeff’s been seeing Quinn on the side, and she knows it. And you tell everyone
that you’re a big wheel at Howell Chemical, despite the fact that you’ve jumped
from six jobs in the last twenty years, and you’re still only a crummy Junior
Vee Pee. And you’re all curious about Total Upgrades, even though you have a
fully paid appointment for one. Oh yes, and the fact that you’re using HowChem
as a cover to sell DRJ-46/D, a compound that Skanderburg AG developed and
scrapped as dangerous, to Lazlo Myrdal at Panacea, which they will register as
THX-1138, their new wonder drug. You see, MY little lie is that I just patch up
holes in procedure and such. Well, the story about my Upgrade was true, and so
was the story about Chet Locklear, as far as it went. But I’ve moved on to a
more exciting, more lucrative field; I’m a bounty hunter. I catch petty crooks
with big job titles with their hands in the till, and I get BIG money for doing
it.”
Brick steeled himself.
“Oh, really? Is there a lot of money in that?”
“Oh, definitely,”
Xandra smirked, “and I’m going to make a bundle, bringing YOU in.”
Brick smiled down at
the woman. Yeah, the man was right on the money - she was sniffing in the wind,
and she was trying to shake him. If she really thought that her ‘rat trap’ was
going to work, then she wouldn’t be here, she’d be at Rocklynn for the kill, if
only to make sure that Gideon guy didn’t hog all the glory. But, play along a
little, “Really? What have _I_ done to be worth anything?”
Xandra reached into
her clutch bag, pulled out her PTN and flipped it open. “Gideon, would you play
back what we just taped, for Mister Dalton?”
She held the PTN to
his ear and he heard: “What is it?” “It’s Me, Dalton. There’s been a
major complication. Haverall’s been compromised.” “What? How do you know?” “I
got it straight from Xandra Fox.” “XANDRA FOX? How the hell did YOU-”
Brick goggled at her,
“How did you...?”
She smirked back at
him, never losing the tempo of the dance. “I’m Xandra Fox - it’s what I DO.”
“That’s Illegal--”
“I have a notarized
copy of the surveillance writ, signed by a Federal Judge, right here in my
purse, if you really want to see it.” Brick said nothing, but kept dancing
numbly. “Oh,” she breathed, “you’re not worth much on the hoof, but LORD, the
satisfaction!”
“Why are you doing
this? What did I ever do to you?” Brick whined.
“WHAT did you ever
DO?” Xandra’s eyes and voice went cold and hard, her face screwed up with
anger, and her fingers dug into Brick’s arm like claws. “What do you THINK?
Junior Year, three days after you blew the Regional Championships. You and your
buddies were drunk on school grounds; you all grabbed me and dragged me into
the locker room. You started spouting some bullshit about me coming on to
Tally, and trying to use your failure to split you two up. Then you spent all
of fourth period beating the crap out of me! Everyone could hear me screaming,
everyone knew what was going on, but nobody did SHIT! After all, it was Golden
Boy Brick Dalton! Even the teachers just looked the other way, while you dumped
me in the trash! Do you know what you did to me? A broken jaw, two broken arms,
SIX broken ribs, and both kneecaps! You burst my spleen, mashed my right
kidney, and ruptured my right eye!”
“Well,” Brick choked,
“you were all right when you came back in February...”
“THREE MONTHS of
regenerative therapy! Do you have any IDEA of how PAINFUL Regen was back then?
I was tanked to the gills, and I _still_ was crying for my mommy! And do you
know how Expensive Regen was back then? They had to pay for it
out of my College Money! It wiped out all the money that my parents had been
saving, and it even took a big bite out of their retirement accounts! I had to
go into the Army to get Vet’s benefits to go to college! While you were being
the Golden Boy at University of Chicago, I was a foot grunt in Malaysia! I was part
of the holding action in Kuala Lumpur! I waded through some of the worst street
fighting since Stalingrad, while you were chasing cheerleaders! I got hit when
a smart grenade zipped into my position. And all because YOU couldn’t handle
the fact that you screwed up a fucking football game!”
“I – I’m sorry---“
“Oh, you’re sorry!”
she sneered. “Oh, that makes it all better. The Golden Boy is sorry. Well, that
still doesn’t make up for the fact that you’re trying to foist a dangerous
toxin off on Panacea, as a safe learning drug, and you’re going to slip it past
the FDA as safe.”
“What are you talking
about?” Brick asked incredulously. “The guys at Skanderburg AG turned in a
doctored report on DRJ-46/D, saying that it was dangerous. So Skanderburg filed
it away as useless, and I bought it for a song. A little sleazy, but it’s just
business as usual.”
“Dalton,” Xandra said
warningly, “DRJ-46/D is dangerous. At first, it does everything
that it’s supposed to - promotes clear thinking, increases short term memory,
speeds up the transfer from short-term to long-term memory, stabilizes the ‘In
The Zone’ mindset, the whole schmeer. But after a while - seven years in
adults, five years in adolescents, and three years in children - it starts to
‘callus’ the neural receptors, so that overall intelligence DROPS. The tests,
the REAL tests, show that adults who would have taken it long enough for those
‘calluses’ to form would require an agent to bypass those calluses FOR THE REST
OF THEIR LIVES. Teens using it would develop serious neuro-biological
deficiencies, and kids would be so severely screwed over that they’d need
constant care for the rest of their lives. Oh, and newborns? The literature for
‘THX-1138’ suggests that using it while pregnant would pass the benefits along
to the baby; it would - the baby would be born a vegetable. Given Panacea's
projected marketing for ‘THX-1138’, I figure that if you’re getting 25 Million
for this, then you’d be ruining lives at a rate of roughly 25 cents a head. But
then, that’s about par for the course with you.”
“That - that’s
impossible. Skanderburg-”
“Hey,
Brick-for-brains,” Xandra sneered, “think about it. If you had a
ground-breaking, industry altering quantum shift breakthrough like ‘THX-1138’,
would YOU sell it to your competition for a measly cut of 50 Mil, or would you
ride it for everything that it was worth?”
Brick stopped short.
“Oh, and one more
little thing,” Xandra added, “my sources tell me that Skanderburg has a
treatment, that agent that bypasses those calluses, that has already passed FDA
tests. But, there’s no condition around for it to treat. Convenient, no?”
Xandra sighed, “Well, I doubt that whoever they send to pull the switch will
drop the dime on whoever’s calling the shots over at Skanderburg. I guess I’ll
have to settle for my usual 10% take for the return of the $50 Million that
Myrdal was going to pay-“ she looked up at him with a predatory grin, “-oh, and
bagging YOU, of course.”
Then a realization
seemed to cross Xandra’s face. “Y’know, there IS one other benefit, now that I
think of it.”
“What?”
Brick asked desperately.
“Tally,” Xandra
purred. She turned and smiled over at Tally, who was sitting at a table,
chatting with an old friend. Tally smiled and waved back, and then returned to
her conversation. “Man, look at her! Forty-Eight years old, and she still looks
like a teenager playing the matron.”
“What?” Brick blurted.
“But I thought – you – you’re a-”
“Oh, I am,” Xandra
grinned. “But I swing both ways. And y’know, I had the biggest crush on Tally
back in school. Not that she would ever even look at me, not beyond the whole
‘just friends’ thing. But things are different now - hey, maybe Tally swings
both ways, too!” Xandra drifted off, her face a cat-that’s-been-at-the-cream
smirk of sensual speculation.
“NO!” Brick grated.
“Not TALLY!
“Why not? This time
tomorrow, you’re going to be in a Federal Marshall’s lockup, with a bail set at
amounts that would give the Federal Reserve palpitations; you’re not going to
have any say in it. And after that, all your sexual needs are going to be taken
care of by your cellmate. And with the charges that you’re looking at, there’s
no way that they’re sticking you in some Club Fed. Nope, it’s Leavenworth for
you, Brickie-boy!” Xandra sighed happily.
“Do you honestly think
that Tally would take up with the FREAK who put her husband in jail?” Brick
snarled.
“Well, when the word
of what you tried to pull hits the media, Tally’s going to need all the friends
that she can get! Y’see, Brickster, the ‘Fast Forward’ approval process is a
very hot potato in Washington right now. The media’s gonna jump on this like a
pack of starving wolves. And the way that it’s set up, it’s all about YOU. Like
you told your buddy, you busted your hump to make that deal. You made all the
contacts, you cut all the deals, and you bought DRJ-46/D and peddled it to
Myrdal. For the next nine days, you are gonna be the Corporate Sleaze that
everyone loves to hate, the fallen Golden Boy who tried to screw over millions
to make his pile. God, the snarky jokes just write themselves! And Tally and
your kids are gonna be right in the line of fire with you. She’s gonna need
someone who can hide her from the media, someone who knows that
she had nothing to do with it.” Xandra grinned ferally, “Guess who.”
“Tally loves me.”
Brick held onto that like a life preserver. “She’d never throw me to the
wolves.”
“You’re right about
that. Tally’s just the sort to ‘stand by her man’ in the middle of a crisis. Of
course, there IS one little thing that no woman, not even Tally, would be able
to forgive. And I know all about it.”
“What are you talking
about?”
Xandra flashed her
vulpine grin again. “That Total Upgrade appointment that you got three months
ago? The Upgrade that Zanderburg AG’s paying for? It’s for ONE. And I really
doubt that you’re the type to go through all of this, just so that your beloved
wife can have a second chance at youth. Nope, you were gonna leave Tally behind
in the dust, and she’s gonna know it.”
“How did you find out
about that?”
“Hey, I’m Xandra Fox!
It’s what I do! And, it’s the way that I twigged to all of this - I mean,
there’s no WAY that an Nth-rater like you could ever scare up the cash for a
Rejuve Upgrade, so I knew that something fishy was going on.”
“She’ll never believe
you.”
“So, I’ll arrange for
her to find out about it on her own. Once it all goes down, she’s gonna be
trying to find out everything on her own, so I won’t have to lift a finger.”
Xandra paused to consider Tally again. “Y’know, that Rejuve Upgrade at Panacea
is fully paid for - I’m sure that I could talk them into transferring it over
to Tally personally before everything that you own gets confiscated. Can you
imagine Tally with an Upgrade? All the youth, beauty and vitality of her prime,
AND the wisdom, grace and polish of her maturity... And she’ll need someone to
stand by her...and provide comfort and support...” Xandra trailed off
suggestively.
“OKAY!” Brick snapped.
“Enough already! So, let’s make a deal!”
“Hey,
Brick-for-Brains!” Xandra muttered. “In case you haven’t noticed, you don’t
have anything to deal with! We have you dead to rights! Once your buddy steps
through the hidden door into Myrdal’s office, we’ll have you ALL dead-bang! You
can’t even get away to warn them! All the lines and frequencies to this hotel
are being monitored - if you use a phone, we’ll block it.
“And getting away? Not
an option. Outside this hotel is a van with seven trained enforcers, armed to
stun and restrain. Santos, the guy I came in with? He’s not just arm candy -
he’s a Green Beret trained bodyguard; his suit is armored, and he’s carrying a
gun loaded with Shock rounds. He can miss with eight out of nine shots, get you
and still not have to worry about the misses.
“And finally, up close
and personal, there’s ME. My Upgrade didn’t just make me young, gorgeous and
female - I’m stronger, faster and tougher than you are! I’ve been spending the
last thirty years training in Hapkido - what have YOU been doing since College?
Golf? Racketball? Hell, do you even JOG? Go ahead, Brick, TRY and get away! I’d
love an excuse to bounce you off the walls!”
Brick paused, even as
they kept dancing. Finally, his last scruple gave way. “Oh, I have something to
bargain with.”
“Oh?” Xandra looked
up, a curious tilt to her eyebrow.
“Achillas
Serentidias.”
Xandra stopped dead in
her tracks. “Serentidias? The ‘Modern Pericles’?” She let out a low whistle.
“What’s a minnow like YOU, doing swimming with a shark that big?”
“Serentidias isn’t the
only shark in the ocean. He and Lillian Jellicoe are duking it out for control
of Skanderburg AG. He needs forty Million to come out of the blue, at just the
right moment, to clinch a much larger loan at just the right time.”
“Forty Million?”
Xandra raised an eyebrow. “But, Serentidias’ cut of the take should be only 25
Million, if that.”
“I’m going to lend him
the balance that he needs, out of my take.”
“Brick,” Xandra
hedged, “it’s not that I don’t believe you - this really is more Serentidias’
kind of game than yours - but it’s your word against his. His lawyers will cut
you to shreds, he’ll walk, and you’ll still take the fall, just like he
planned.”
“I kept records of
everything.”
“You did?” Xandra
looked at him, impressed for the first time. “Well, it’s about damn time that
you did something smart!” She gave him a hard look. “WHY did you do it?”
He looked at her
offended, “What, you think that I’d just assume that a barracuda
like Serentidias would pay me back, and come across with all of his promises,
just because he gave his Word?”
Xandra gave a gusty
sigh. “Well, it looks like it isn’t solid wood between the ears - there must be
some sawdust.” She fixed Brick with a no-nonsense glare. “So, are you willing
to drop the dime on him?” Brick nodded sadly. Xandra pulled her PTN out again
and hit speed-dial. “Sasha? Is Pauling there?” She handed Brick her PTN. “Wanda
Pauling from the US Attorney General’s Office is on the other end. First, you
give her a micro-deposition over the phone. Don’t worry, it’s scrambled, and
even your crypto-chip couldn’t break this cypher. Then, you go talk to Wanda
personally, and give her a more detailed deposition.”
Brick woodenly took
the cell phone and gave a bare bones description of his involvement with
Serentidias, with a few dates and details. When he was finished, he folded the
PTN and handed it to Xandra. As he was handing the phone back to her, a flicker
of realization crossed his face. “Hold on - how did you tap into my
conversation with Serentidias? My PTN has a MilSpec cryptographic scrambler
chip!”
Xandra gave him a
fox-smirk that made him want to wipe up the floor with her. “Yep, a Skototech™
Langely Special, Model # 15073-J-436. Bubbie, who do you think SOLD him that
crypto-chip in the first place?”
Brick’s face fell.
“But that means-”
“That we’ve been
listening into everything that you artful dodgers have been saying to each
other over those ‘secure’ links, for the past six weeks.”
“You knew about
Serentidias all along.”
“Yep.”
“You were really after
Serentidias. You’ve been playing me.”
“Pretty much.”
“Why? If you had all
those wiretaps-”
“Because we need YOU,
Brick. Yes, you actually have value. Recordings are only worth so much in a
court of Law; Serentidias’ lawyers could play absolute hob with electronic
evidence. Now, a witness, on the other hand - it’s real hard to pish-tosh away
a witness, especially with the recordings backing them up. And you are the very
best witness that we could hope for - Serentidias was going to use you for the
fall guy, which was why he had you do so much of the actual hands on work of
the scam. You had to have your fingerprints all over it. But that also means
that you can testify as to almost every aspect of it.”
“But Serentidias’
lawyers will just pull out the old ‘He’s just turning State’s Evidence to save
his own skin’ argument.”
“True.” Xandra allowed
herself the indulgence of a twirl to the music. “That’s why we timed it so that
we put the squeeze on you BEFORE Serentidias falls for the trap. This way, you
can honestly say that you were only made aware of DRJ-46/D’s dangers minutes
before talking to an Assistant Attorney General, and the phone logs will back
you up. You gain tons of credibility before a Grand Jury, and the US Attorney
General’s Office doesn’t take as much heat for offering you immunity.”
Brick stopped and
looked hard at her. “Why are you doing this? You just got through venting about
how much you hate me - why are you giving me an out?”
Xandra’s smirk faded
into wry bemusement. ”I hadda spook you, in order to get you to roll over on
Serentidias. I dragged out that piece of old news, because a guy like you would
believe that I’d still hold onto that grudge, after all these years. Y’know,
they say that some people graduate from High School and go onto better things,
while others just stop going to classes. Me? I grew up. You? Way down where you
make your reality, you’re still the captain of the football team, and you’ve
had a lonnnggg losing streak. And, if it means anything to you, you’re not
really to blame for that beating.”
Perplexity covered
Brick’s face. He began to worry that it would stick. “What are you talking
about?”
“Serentidias wasn’t
the first one to play you for a chump, not by a long shot. Hell, even Coach
Halevy used you.”
“HEY!” Brick’s face twisted up in rage. “You watch what you say about
Coach! He was like a second Father to me!”
“Oh?” Xandra’s face
quirked into an amused half-smile. “Would a father poison his own children,
just to make a buck? Would a father set his own kids up for a fall, just to get
ahead? Would a father turn his kids into killers, just to cover his ass?”
“Talk sense, damn
you!”
“Okay, the Elementary
School version. Coach Halevy was fixing the football games."
“How do you fix a
football game?”
“Well, you either pay
off one side to lose, or you feed them steroids and amphetamines so that they
win. Not enough to produce serious results, mind you, just enough to give you
that ‘winning edge’. Halevy had an arrangement with a bookie. The coach used
the steroids and hormones to build you guys up into a Regional powerhouse, in
order to stack the odds. And then, on the day of the Regional Championships, he
just didn’t give you your usual fix; you weren’t out of it, you just weren’t up
to your usual game, and lost in a stunning upset. Coach’s bookie buddy made a
bundle, and shared it with Coach.”
“But the Team Doctor-”
“Who do you think
supplied the steroids?”
“Okay, even IF all of
this is true - what does it have to do with us beating the crap out of you in
the locker room?”
“The reason that you
assholes all got together and beat me up, was that I was nosing around asking
questions about steroids and such. I was on the school paper, remember? It
struck me strange that ‘Good ol’ Bronto’ went from the pudgy kid that he was in
Junior High to a wall of muscle in little over a year. I was fool enough to ask
Coach about it, and the next thing you know, ‘Good ol’ Bronto’ is wheeling a
keg into the team locker room and talking trash about me and Tally. Beer,
disappointment, teenage hormones, and steroids, all in one batch - I’m amazed
that you yutzes didn’t kill me!”
Brick shook his head.
“No, wait - we WON the regionals the next year!”
“Well, of course! The
‘smart money’ was on you guys to choke again, so Coach and his bookie friend
made another killing. And besides, Coach wanted to keep his job.”
“You’re guessing all
of this.”
“Nope - ‘Good Ol’
Bronto’ showed up in my hospital room, and let it slip that if I kept poking
around in the team’s business, that I wouldn’t have to worry about getting
beaten up again - I’d have to worry about my house getting fire-bombed. It
seems that besides getting free steroids, Bronto was also doing a little
leg-breaking work for the bookie.”
Brick looked at Xandra
with fear in his eyes. “Did—did you have a hand in what happened to Bronto?”
“If I HAD been gunning
for anyone, it would have been Coach; he was the one who was calling the shots,
and he was the one raking in the bucks. No, Bronto and Coach did themselves in.
Bronto kept using drugs that he KNEW were gonna kill him some day, and Coach
tried the same trick on the next batch of beefy young idiots that came along.
But this time, he did something wrong, ‘cause he mysteriously dropped out of
sight, just before the Regional Final Four.” Xandra speared Brick with a
glance. “ODD, that you didn’t know that about a man who was ‘like a father to
you’.”
Brick cleared his
throat. “Okay, so, you got the drop on me. It’s still going to be touchy.
Serentidias’ spooks are very good; they might spot the trap and pass on it.
Hell, they might even manage to pull it off!”
Xandra quirked that
fox-smirk of hers. “True, and IF we’d left it up to them, that might have been
a problem. Again, the timing. The reason that you couldn’t get in touch with
any of your partners in crime was that they were all off, giving themselves
iron-clad alibis, like you were. Serentidias would have been in Crete, doing
the same, but we, ah, arranged for a few last minute crises and
delays that kept him in the states, just in time for your phone call. Anfinsen,
his right-hand man, is already in Crete, and having a few problems with the
Khania Police. Patel and Nyeveksi, his other two goons, are parked in a rented
car down the street from your house, and are observing radio silence. My guess
is that they’re waiting for 11 PM, when the switch is supposed to happen, and
then they’ll go in and either grab all those records of yours, or just torch
the place. Not to worry, a team of Federal Marshals are watching them,
nothing’s gonna happen.”
Utter confusion passed
over Brick’s face. “So, who’s Serentidias going to get to pull off the switch?”
Xandra’s smirk went
positively Evil. “Nobody. That’s why he was so amped to get YOU to pull off the
switch. Getting anyone else to do it would mean an unacceptable risk. He’s got
to do it - HIMSELF. And he may be as slick as shit in the boardroom, but he’s
no cat burglar. We’ve got a team tailing him, from his condo, to where the new
samples are stored, to Rocklynn, videotaping him every step of the way. The
second that he steps through Myrdal’s secret door, we’ve got him red-handed,
with the real ‘THX-1138’ samples in his hands.”
Brick recoiled. *Eeewww…*
“You’re really covering all the bases for this.”
“Of course!
Serentidias is a multi-billioniare; he can afford the very best defense
possible. With someone that slippery, you nail down ALL the options.”
Then the PTN in
Xandra’s hand beeped. She held it to her ear. “Good. I’ll get him moving.” She
flipped it shut. “My surveillance team just reported that Serentidias just
entered the secure warehouse, where the production samples are stored. We only
have a few hours before Serentidias’ coeleopter gets him to Rocklynn. You have
to make an official deposition to Wanda Pauling, covering as many points as
possible, before Serentidias enters the Panacea R&D facility. Then Pauling
will have Due Cause to send the Federal Marshals in to bag him.”
Brick sagged where he stood. “So, where is this Pauling broad?”
“She’s in a suite on
the Third Floor, waiting for you with a stenographer and a notary public. Go
with Santos, my escort; he’ll make sure that nothing bad happens to you on the
way there.”
Brick squared his
shoulders, and tried to not look like someone who was about to sell someone out
to save his own hide. As he stepped away from her and strode across the dance
floor to the door where Santos was waiting for him, Xandra could see Brick
begin to rationalize the situation to himself. By the time he was out the door,
he was a courageous citizen, going to do his civic duty by cooperating with the
Authorities in bringing in a dangerous criminal. At least, in his own mind, if
nowhere else.
Chuck Ruttmer quickly
stepped up to fill the vacuum that Brick left, smoothing back the thinning hair
that had been like red steel wool in High School. "So...where’s the Bricker
off to, in such a hurry, hmmm?” he sleazed.
“Oh, I cut him a deal,
and he’s hurrying to clinch it.”
“What?” Chuck hooted.
“You cut a deal with BRICK, but not ME? After what he did you in-”
Xandra fixed him with
an icy glare. “As I remember, YOU were in that locker room as well, Weasel.”
Instinctively knowing
when he was outclassed, Ruttmer scuttled back into the crowd. Xandra looked
around the crowd. Despite their efforts, she and Brick hadn’t been anything
like discrete. But then, when you’re shedding that much hostility, it’s hard to
keep a lid on it. There was a low buzz of speculation, with revenge, greed and
lust being the main possibilities being considered. Xandra wearily wondered if
it was the reunion tripping them back to their High School selves, or if they,
like Brick, just never really grew up on some level.
Well, there were
people who’d attended Daria M. whose good opinion she cared about, but Xandra
didn’t see any of them around. So, she left them to their rather juvenile
sport.
Tally wasn’t anywhere
to be seen, so she must have gone to the powder room. Well aware that almost
every eye in the ballroom was on her, Xandra slinked off the dance floor,
making a show of it, and headed to the powder room.
Tally was in the
powder room, seated at the makeup counter, enduring Sandy, Stacy and Tiffany’s
‘consolations’. “Gee, I’m SURE that there’s nothing there,” Sandy said with
patent insincerity. “I mean, so WHAT if she’s young, and gorgeous and has
enough money to sink a river barge?”
“I am SO SORRY for
you!” Stacy squeaked. Even thirty years after graduation, she still clung to
the strongest person in any group like a vine. “To be HUMILIATED! At your
REUNION!”
“This is SOOO
WRONNNNGGGG...” Tiffany murmured. She’d been honing her sycophant skills as an
Executive Assistant to a demanding boss (her husband insisted that she work) so
she was in good form. “You should leave him, and-”
Tiffany’s opening shot
in her campaign to get Tally to sabotage herself was cut short when Xandra
loudly cleared her throat. "Excuse me, ladies. Could I have a few minutes
alone with Tally?” Xandra’s lips were curved in a polite smile, but her eyes
said, ‘SCRAM!’ They looked at Tally, who was rising up from the makeup counter
with murder in her eyes, and lost no time skittering out of the room.
Xandra checked the
stalls, and then put a chair against the door. If anyone wanted to use the
facilities for the next bit, they’d have to go elsewhere.
Tally stared Xandra
right in the eye. “Do you have any idea of what you’ve done?”
"After what you
did in High School, nothing else would do.” Xandra reached into her more
commodious than it would appear to the untrained eye clutch bag, and produced
something that looked like a very high tech cigarette lighter. She twisted the
top. “White Noise Generator. It will garble any attempts to eavesdrop.”
Tally came up, putting
her face right up to Xandra’s-
-and wrapped her arms
around Xandra. “Oh, Thank God! It’s finally over!” Tally disengaged herself and
collapsed onto the bench in front of the makeup mirror. “You have no idea of
what I’ve been through for the past six months!” Tally looked up at Xandra.
“You really saved my life!”
Xandra sat down on the
bench next to Tally and looked at their joint reflections in the mirror. “Hey, De
Nada! Even if you hadn’t saved MY life, back in high school, I’d have
jumped at the chance to bag Serentidias anyway!”
“Does he have any
idea?”
“Not a clue.” Xandra
grinned. “As far as Brick was concerned, he was well and truly sandbagged by
Xandra Fox, International Woman of Mystery!” Xandra mugged a farcical pose in
the mirror. “Man, I wish that I could have taped the whole scene with Brick! I
could use it as part of a video brochure. God, I looked like fucking
SuperWoman! Y’know, normally I have to work a LOT harder than I did tonight.
It’s nice being six steps ahead of the opposition for a change. Usually I’m two
steps behind, and I have to sucker one of their underlings into thinking that
they’re gonna be tossed to the wolves, to find out what’s really going on.”
Tally worried a nail,
“Do - do you think that Brick will be all right? I mean, he put so much into
that idiotic deal – did we break his heart?”
Xandra let out an
amused noise. “Brick? Are you kidding? As he was going to talk to Pauling, I
swear that he already had himself convinced that he was being the concerned
citizen, coming forward to do his duty. By this time tomorrow, he’ll be
thinking that it was all his idea to trap Serentidias, and be bitching about me
‘stealing his prize’.”
Tally let out a rueful
laugh. “Boy, do I know about that!” Then she let out a long sigh. “Brick never
did really understand what business was about. On some level, he thinks that
after the dust settles, that the two sides should shake hands and say ‘better
luck next time’.”
Xandra looked at Tally
exasperatedly. “God’s teeth, Tally, why do you stay with him? I mean, you’ve
been carrying him since High School! The only reason that he’s lasted this long
in business is that you keep following after him, cleaning up his blunders, and
sweet-talking his bosses! You just plain deserve better.”
Tally just gave a sad
sigh. “Xandra, it just comes down to I love him.”
Xandra went deadly
serious. “Tal, he arranged for ONE Rejuve treatment. He was gonna ditch you,
and go chasing twenty-year old bimbos.”
Tally shook her head.
“Alex, you just don’t understand Brick-”
“Oh? Am I really
supposed to think that Mister ‘Look Out For Number One’ was really going to
hang around, once the dew was back on the rose? I mean, you are DAMN good
looking for Forty-Eight, Tal, but how long would he be willing to have Mrs.
Robinson on his arm?”