An Eighty Percent Solution Part 9

"Yes, Officer, I understand that's normal, but I was told to report here to pick up something personal, as you can see on the pad." He put as much respect in his tone as he would for the CEO of a major corporation.

"Yeah, I can see. Lee Nguyen is on vacation right now and he didn't leave anything here. You have your databases crossed."

This didn't surprise Tony, as he'd accessed the publicly available Metro files for just such an absentee. "Well, I don't want to anger you, Officer. If you ain't got nothing, you ain't got nothing. I get paid either way. I better check with my office, though." He stepped away from the desk and spoke into his ring. "Triple Five, Eight Thousand."

"Stanford Courier Dispatch."

"Hey, I'm here at Metro..." Tony's luck finally played out. The air in the foyer compressed, stealing his breath. He didn't even hear the explosion.

"What was that?" Sergeant demanded. Tony's heart stuttered in his chest. Three full seconds silently pa.s.sed before sirens within Metro began to wail.

"This is Dispatch. What do you want?" Tony's ring comm demanded.

"Oh, they say they have no pickup from Nguyen."

"One second...I show no pick-up at Metro or from Nguyen. You must have a damaged pad or downloaded the wrong DB. Please return to base." This also didn't surprise Tony.

"Affirmative." He cut the connection. "I'm sorry, Officer. I seem to have a damaged pad. Can I get that back so I can get it fixed?"

"Here." Frantically coordinating some other action from his net link, the sergeant barely offered him a glance. Tony scooted out the door with a heavy sigh. The audit victim stood quivering at the landing platform.

"Did you hear that?" Tony asked as the TriMet number 6784 pulled up. His fellow traveler didn't say anything, but he had a blank stare and his skin bore a mottled paleness, not to mention the foul whiff coming from his pants. Tony felt he'd be just as happy to get away from this place.

Tony dared a look in the general direction of the Mercy Hospital to see a malignant gray cloud slowly billowing around the skysc.r.a.pers of downtown. The thick smoke didn't lose opacity as it expanded out and down. A silence that never existed in any city now cloaked Portland like the sheet pulled over the recently deceased.

Implement-Phase Four Back in his underground cell, Tony sat with a hangman's noose twisting his guts and Vise Grips on his vocal cords.

"...bomb went off at a particularly bad time as the s.h.i.+ft change in an operating room caught nearly twice as many heroic medical workers at their post," said a computer tablet sitting on an old-fas.h.i.+oned maglev table between him and Linc.

"The CEO of Colonization Unlimited, the parent company of Mercy Hospital, insists the perpetrators will be caught and punished." Linc leaned back in his disposable chair with half a grin.

The picture on the solido tablet panned across the blackened chairs, walls torn in half, and a melted desktop. A woman cradled her b.l.o.o.d.y arm to her chest, ignoring the fact that it no longer connected to the rest of her body. Two small children of indeterminate s.e.x, wrapped tightly in one another's arms, shuffled along through the gray rubble with blank stares on their face.

"This kind of barbarism isn't a form of warfare, but rather large-scale murder. None of these victims carried a gun. None of them threatened anyone." The scene switched to show a morgue, where a row of corpses lay in body bags, and then flipped back to a hospital emergency room, every surface covered in gray dust where people paced or sprawled on the floor, weeping and crying.

A vile taste crept into Tony's mouth. From never having even struck someone, to a multiple murderer in a single stroke. He regretted eating the soup before Linc picked him up. He regretted it even more when he doubled over and the contents of his stomach ejected from his mouth and nose onto the floor.

"In the end, however, it's only a matter of time and resources. We've increased our private security by seventy-five percent." The picture snapped to thousands of Pinkertons in s.h.i.+ny-gray riot gear receiving special weapons and instructions. "We will find them. We will try them. We will execute them."

"To wrap up here, the Green Action Militia has claimed responsibility for a bomb that killed seven and seriously injured twenty-seven in a midmorning bombing of Mercy Hospital. Updates as they arise. This is Cindy Bindle reporting for CNI."

"Thank you, Cindy. We return you to your regular programming currently in progress..."

Tony wiped his mouth on his sleeve as Linc stopped the solido playback.

"Congratulations. One of the best kill counts we've had from such a small device."

Brown plastic boxes piled at random acted as impromptu chairs and tables for a loudly debating quorum. Linc, Suet, and eleven others, none bearing any resemblance to the next, sprawled amongst the crates in a loose circle. Sonya sat on the floor in a perfect lotus, her simple white cotton dress loose around her.

"So he lai' one farging bomb. Anyone can 'o. I say he's a prob'em."

"He questioned the orders."

"He doesn't know anything about security procedures. Just let him go."

"Yeah, he's a corpie. Corpies can't be trusted."

"Vape him and let's get on with our work."

"How could he possibly have gotten away from the Metros?"

"Yeah, none get away from the peelers unless they are one..."

"Like I said, vape the..."

Sonya's slowly raised hand stopped all of the discussion cold. In a voice barely above a whisper, she said, "Andrea, did you not go to the police when we first met?" The redhead sitting behind Sonya blushed pink all the way down the v in her blouse. Sonya didn't even bother to look up at the people in question but rather stared blankly ahead, letting her comments do all her work for her. "And Linc, didn't you try to blackmail Suet? Jonah, weren't you a Metro when they framed you for murder?"

"That was-"

"And Beth, didn't you try for a corporate bounty on Jackson's head over there? My point is that very few of us started with trust in this organization. Trust must be earned in our business. Mr. Sammis earned his first piece today. And if that isn't enough, he's wanted by the Metros. Even if they didn't post his picture, you know as well as I do that they have him on one of the seventy thousand cameras in that building alone."

"But he can't handle the work. He left his tucker in the cell."

"And Andrew, how long did you retch after you shot Black Charlie?" Andrew squirmed under the full attentions. "How many nights of sleep have each of us lost for some of the horrible things we're forced to do?"

"What do you possibly see in him, Sonya?" Arthur asked.

Sonya looked at a matronly woman with eyes looking like solid silver b.a.l.l.s.

"My run on the nets show skills in first aid, explosives, and a stint with corporate security," the elderly woman said, not looking at anyone in particular. "His physical prowess alone likely can be honed. He demonstrated leaders.h.i.+p, individuality, and creative abilities in solving problems in his work."

"And, if you haven't forgotten already, he did save Jasmine before any of this happened to him," Beth said with empathy dripping from her voice. "He cares."

"I still say it's too big a risk."

"He has a furry."

"Enough," Sonya interjected before the discussion fed on itself. "How often have I been wrong? How often has a spy crept within our midst? Why do you think we don't use the formality of a straitjacketed cell system? You've all seen that I know about people. Enough of this," Sonya said softly. "It serves no purpose. I've made my decision as our leader. Unless you wish to proceed to a vote of no confidence, let Tony in. He has a right to be heard and give his voice to this council." Sonya looked around confidently. Two of the ten looked like they had more to say but chopped it off, in one case with the look of an obstinate child and the other in resignation.

Tony stumbled over the doorsill and staggered against a box that clattered loudly. Several members snickered.

"Sorry," Tony said pus.h.i.+ng the boxes back into place. Sonya stood with a silkiness of movement that belied the bones in her body.

"Welcome, Tony," Sonya offered warmly, extending her hand. "I'm sorry we couldn't have started on a friendlier note. I hope you understand."

Tony's mind whirled as too many changes. .h.i.t him one after another. "I do," he replied, gently taking her hand. Her palm, callused in an unusual way, still felt exactly like a delicate ice sculpture. Impulse took him and he lifted her hand and gently kissed its back.

"Very cavalier of you, sir," Sonya said only loud enough for Tony to hear. Then, louder, she added, "Let me give you some background.

"I lead our group in something similar to a parliamentary style. Everyone attending has an equal voice in decisions and a simple majority carries. As leader, I can change the decision by executive veto. If I do, the team can bring a vote of no confidence where a two-thirds majority would remove me from leaders.h.i.+p."

"How long have you been leader?"

"Since we began action, twelve years ago," she understated.

"Oh." A dramatic pause followed.

"Let me introduce you to the rest of our present team. You know Linc, but you may not know he was a private detective until he made the mistake of taking a domestic abuse case for the wife of a senior Metro officer. He's had a price on Linc's head ever since.

"To his right is Suet, who you also know. At the tender age of seven, a couple of corpie teens on a lark took their limousine through the ground neighborhood, shooting anything that moved with flechette guns, including her Nil parents. She learned quickly how to live on the streets. I'll let her discuss her enhancements when you get a chance to talk to her on your own time."

Tony waved tentatively at the emerald woman, who didn't respond or even glance in his direction.

Turning to her right, Sonya pointed to a slight, swarthy man. "As head ranger of Big Basin National Park, Andrew tried to stop the expansion of the San Fransisco development. He put together a team to sabotage the lumber clearing effort. Unfortunately, his number two man was a police mole. Andrew got away only by luck.

"Arthur is the small man to your left. His wife died from a lift car accident because of cost-cutting by megacorp executives. Beth, sitting next to him, was a model until some corporate alchemy went awry."

Tony looked closely, suddenly realizing why she seemed so familiar. Yes! You used to be the Bingo Condom Girl!"

"That was a long time ago," she all but purred.

"Ahem."

"Sorry."

"Now, Jonah, Frances, and Colin were all Metros."

Tony looked at the trio in surprise. He hadn't expected to find ex-Metros in this company.

Sonya smiled briefly and continued. "Jonah, the redhead with the six gazillion freckles, had his partner frame him for murder. Frances and Colin, partners, both tried to be honest cops. You know what happens to those."

"Tolly," Sonya went on, offering a hulking blonde Adonis for his consideration, "came to us as a liaison from another social engineering group down under. Things are no better there, but his group disbanded because of internal dissension.

"Martin wishes us to return as much of Earth back to nature as possible. Some would say he has the purest motives. Many of the rest of us are vengeance motivated.

"Christine, to your left, is one of the unusual ones amongst us." The pretty, unaugmented teen stood less than 150 centimeters tall and ma.s.sed less than 40 kilos. "Christine is what psychologists call a biological sociopath." Tony scanned Cristine's deadpan face and shuddered. "She enjoys killing and has a talent for a.s.sa.s.sinations. Her loyalty for the group has been tested and is solid, but don't have s.e.x with her.

"Across from you is Augustine. Tina is our resident icebreaker." Tony saw a woman who, if you removed the wetwire jack from her temple, looked like someone's great grandmother with silver orbs for eyes. "She's on the run from the time she almost got caught breaking into the NaBiCo executive database."

"I only wanted the Oreo recipe," she offered, smiling vacantly.

"Andrea," Sonya went on, pointing at what appeared to be a twelve-year-old girl with the natural flaming-red hair that women would kill to have, "was an exceptional professional thief-"

"I still am."

"My apologies. She is a gifted thief, until she accidentally left some DNA behind when she lifted a Norman Rockwell from a corpie bigwig.

"Jackson had the misfortune of being the valet for Goldstein of Goldstein, Hammons, Hammons & Funk fame." Jackson, an older, bookish black man, nodded. "He overheard something he shouldn't have and reported it to the wrong cop. He escaped only by the skin of his teeth.

"Carl can't attend tonight but you've already met him briefly. Carl had the misfortune of being the victim of a he-said-she-said rape case involving the daughter of a very high-level corpie. That's bad enough even if you're a regular slob, worse if you're a genetically engineered dwarf.

"I guess that sums up our action committee. There are many other members, but they aren't part of this executive staff. The less you know about those right now, the better."

"h.e.l.lo all," Tony said cheerfully. Silence greeted his wave. "May I ask a question?"

"Yes. Now that you've asked it..." Sonya said with a sly grin.

It took Tony just a few moments to realize he was being teased. He smiled back. "If there are support personnel, why did you put me with the action group rather than support?"

"We dug up your background. You know explosives. You know first aid. Both are skills vital to us here on the action side of things."

"Oh, OK." Tony leaned up against a nearby post, trying to look comfortable, but his stiffness betrayed him.

"Shall we get down to business?" asked Sonya, taking her eyes off Tony and glancing around the group. "Before we get to the agenda, let me just say the hospital bombing succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. Our hacks uncovered high level corporate communications on how aggrieved they are at their perceived vulnerability. We need to strike again soon to widen that even further.

"Now, we have two items on the agenda: a new safe house and our next target. Linc."

"Safe house Zulu-Bravo has been set up in the sub-bas.e.m.e.nt of Green's Supermarket. To enter, go into the produce department and through the service doors. Announce that you're from Petri Trucking and go down the stairs to the left. The combination to the door is seventeen left, fourteen right, eighty-eight left, and sixty-nine right. Everyone got that?"

"Seventeen, fourteen, eighty-eight, sixty-nine," Tony muttered.

"And I know you'll all forget it ten minutes from now, so I've created another nano implant. Zulu Bravo." Linc held up his wrist and it glowed with the combination. "It'll only trigger on the safe house name, just like the others. I'll pa.s.s around this lick pad. Suet, as usual, yours will show up on your right breast."

"Thanks, Linc. Anyone found a target in their reconnaissance?" Suet handed a notepad to Sonya.

"Sonya says that the Wintel corporate office building is too well guarded and has a state of the art air displacement scanning facility we haven't been able to penetrate yet." Suet nodded.

"We turned up what we thought was a weakness in the OldsTransport sensor net, but it only led to a loading dock. Beyond that, security increased beyond acceptable levels."

"I have a possible," Augustine put in. "My team and I stormed an ice list site. In it I found reference to an upper level management training facility in Ohio."

"That sounds promising," Sonya said.

"I thought it might. We raided their database last night. Tough security. Two of my people got injured, but nothing serious.

"The good news: The site houses anywhere from fifty to one hundred ten high-level managers training to be executives for any number of corporations." A collective gasp went round the room. "The bad news is that it's heavily fortified. The guard force payroll is over a thousand, and we found records for some heavy duty firepower, including mono-flyers, SCAP turrets, and much more." Another more dejected sound went through the group. "It's going to take all of us to make this one work, and probably not without a huge cost."

"Could it be a trap?" Colin asked.

"Doubtful. We hacked some serious ice. I've had easier runs into dedicated corp mainframes."

Sonya looked about the room. "This is almost too good to pa.s.s up. Any objections?" The room fell silent. "Let's move on that, then. Colin, you're chief of this op. My only requirement is that you include Tony. He must be part of our team."

"As you will, Sonya." Colin's brunette curls bounced lightly as he turned to look at Tony. The steel gray eyes gave no indication of what went on behind them.

"Is there any new business? Yes, Andrew."