Jennifer Government Part 37

"John? General Li NRA to see you."

"Ah." He relaxed. "Send him in."

The Pepsi kid smoothed out the map: he had creased it down the 110. "Can I stick around? I can give you good strategy."

"No," John said. General Li stepped into the office.

"Aw, come on on."

General Li looked at the Pepsi kid. John said, "General Li, this is..." He realized he didn't know the kid's name. "The PepsiCo Liaison."

"A pleasure to meet you," General Li said.

The kid shook Li's hand with enthusiasm. "Same, man. I love all this war s.h.i.+t."

"All right, now p.i.s.s off," John said.

"I'll be real quiet."

"Go!"

"All right, all right." The kid threw John a sour look. He closed the door hard behind him.

"Tough day?" General Li said.

John sighed. "Just a couple of Liaisons making trouble. Things were much simpler when I didn't have to listen to other people, Li. Democracy is a pain in the a.s.s."

Li sat. "In the military, we have always had a healthy disrespect for democracy."

"I can see why," John said. "All right. Now let's talk about tanks."

"Before we begin," the General said, "I should bring a matter to your attention. You remember our failed a.s.sa.s.sin, Billy NRA?"

"Is he dead yet?"

"I'm afraid not. Billy was held on a Government base for several days. We've only just reacquired his location. He's on a United Airlines flight to L.A."

"Well, you take that little p.r.i.c.k out," John said, then stopped. "L.A.? Why is he coming here?"

"I don't know."

"If the Government was taking him anywhere, it'd be Was.h.i.+ngton..." He snapped his fingers. "Billy got away. He escaped!"

Li cleared his throat. "I believe not. According to United, he's traveling with Jennifer and Calvin NRA. We're sure those are false names."

For a second he couldn't speak. "Jennifer's coming here?"

"Excuse me?"

"Leave me," John said. "I need to think."

Li looked at the map. "Sir, if you want to coordinate a military campaign, we need to"

"Out!"

General Li withdrew. John pressed his fingers against his temples. How could she still be after him? The Government took months to organize a bake sale; with their top executives making an unscheduled splashdown in the Atlantic, they should be in chaos. How did they get two agents from London to L.A.?

But he knew: it was Jennifer. He'd been kidding himself, thinking he'd done enough to protect himself. Jennifer would chase him to the end of the earth.

There was a piece of paper on his desk, with a person's number. He found it and studied it. "Violet ExxonMobil," he said softly. "What do you want with me?" He thought it might be worth finding out.

He didn't get out of the office until eleven, and then he was so wired he stopped in at the hotel bar to unwind. He was staring into his scotch when someone sat beside him, brus.h.i.+ng his arm. He looked up in annoyance. It was a thin girl in a light dress. She smiled awkwardly. "You're John, right? John Nike."

"Who are you?"

She hesitated, then stuck out her hand. "Vanessa Fas.h.i.+onWarehouse.com. I hope I'm not bothering you."

He was tempted to tell her to get lost, but she was young and nervous and there was a possibility she might be about to offer to sleep with him. "Not at all."

"I supposeyou probably haven't heard of Fas.h.i.+onWarehouse.com. We're a content provider and on-seller for several major labels." She searched his eyes.

"Uh-huh."

"Iwe applied to US Alliance a few months ago, but they rejected us. They said they only took companies with revenues of a hundred million plus. But we're new, and high-growth, and I was hoping you could...make an exception."

John felt amused. There was no way Fas.h.i.+on.com or whatever p.i.s.sant company this girl ran out of her bedroom was going to be accepted into US Alliance. "You'd have to make a pretty good case."

Her smile stretched. It was almost painful to watch. "I might be able to do that." Awkwardly, she pressed her body against his arm; he felt a small breast on his shoulder.

"Sir? Excuse me?" the barman said. "Phone call for you."

John blinked. "Why are my calls coming down here?"

"Reception noticed you were visiting the bar, sir."

"Oh." The Sofitel was big on customer service; sometimes it could get a little creepy. "Who is it?"

"Violet ExxonMobil."

"I'll take it in my room." He stood.

Vanessa said, "Are you coming back? After your call?"

He looked at her. "Sorry. I'm busy."

"But"

"Sorry," he said, and walked away. He felt cheated. Jennifer was ruining his accomplishments, souring his victories. What was the point of success, if he didn't have the time to screw a girl like that? He stared at himself in the elevator mirror. "What am I becoming?" he said, and his reflection looked back at him.

"Violet."

"John."

"Let's get something clear." He pulled the phone to the window, so he could see the illuminated Hollywood sign. Columbia had bought it a few years ago and now there was a gigantic Pegasus above it; it was a big improvement, in John's opinion. "If you're hoping to blackmail me over one dead ExxonMobil CEO, save your breath."

"That's not why I'm calling."

"Then maybe you want to apologize for sticking a gun in my face and putting my friend into a coma. Is that it, Violet?"

"I knew I was right to call you." She sounded excited, so either had a screw loose or was one of those people who didn't know when to quit; either way, John was interested. He had uses for people like that. "We have a common enemy. Holly T.A. We can help each other."

"Last I saw you, you were sitting next to Holly T.A."

"Sh.e.s.h.e" Her voice tightened. "She owes me a lot of money. She owes me a lot lot."

Uh-huh, he thought. He was tempted to ask Violet if she was nuts, but that was a dangerous question, and besides, he thought he already knew the answer. "You want me to collect your debts?"

"I can give you information on Holly, I can tell you"

"Screw that. I don't need help with Holly, I need help with Jennifer Government." His life was filled with domineering women, he realized: if it wasn't Jennifer, it was Holly.

"Who?"

"Don't bulls.h.i.+t me, Violet, it would be very bad for our relations.h.i.+p. If your little friend Hack hasn't spoken to Jennifer, I'm Ralph Nader. Ask him about her. Then get her daughter."

Pause. "You want me to kidnap someone?"

"You got it first time. You get me that kid and we're in business."

"I didn't...that's not...I thought I could just give you information"

"How much does Holly owe you?"

"Three million. She owes me three million dollars."

"Well, that's a lot of money," John said. He made himself hesitate, as if he was really thinking about it. "Okay. Get me the kid, I'll get your money."

"Andand when you get it, you'll tell Holly it's from me? Can you do that?"

"Sure," John said. "I'll really rub it in."

"Okay," Violet said, excited again. "Okay, I could probably do that. I don't have to hurt the girl or anything, right?"

"Uh, right," John said. Yep: deluded. "Of course not." He checked his watch. "One more thing. Don't even think about betraying me." He didn't know why he bothered; they were probably each intending to betray the other and it was just a question of who would get in first. "You've got my number." He hung up.

No doubt, Violet was flaky, very flaky. But sometimes that was the kind of person who got results. Even an unsuccessful attempt to grab Jennifer's kid would send a message, and maybe that would be enough. If he bought enough time, it wouldn't matter how dogged Jennifer was. Li and the NRA would put her out of a job.

64 Buy

Two days and no reply from John Nike. Buy called the P.A. again. "Oh!" she said. "The flowers are lovely, thank you so much! Has John been in touch?"

"No, he hasn't."

"Oh, d.a.m.n. Look, um, I shouldn't do this...but do you want his cellphone number?"

"That would be great," Buy said, and wrote it down. "Thank you again."

He dialed John's number. While he waited, he surfed the internet for Virtual Animalz. He didn't know what these were, exactly, except that Kate was in love with them. She wanted downloads.

"h.e.l.lo?"

"John Nike? This is Buy Mitsui, a.s.sistant Liaison. I don't know if you got my message, but"

"How the f.u.c.k did you get this number?"

"Your P.A. gave it to me."

"That b.i.t.c.h!" John said.

"Anyway," Buy said. He had the feeling he wasn't going to like John Nike. "I'm calling because Kato Mitsui, Liaison, has asked me to make myself of use to you."

Pause. "You want what?"

"No, no," Buy said. "I'm here to help you."

"Help how?"

"I don't know. Whatever you want done."

"Oh," John said. "Well, um...where are you, anyway?"

"Melbourne, the Australian Territories."

There was a pause. "Okay, sure. Sure. Get in touch with the local McDonald's office, find out who's been throwing toxic sludge around their stores."