An Eighty Percent Solution (CorpGov) (57 page)

“Suet was a solid friend and rock in our sea of constant change
.
She will be missed
.”

Tony panned the camera over to the casket just as others began to file by
.
He never would’ve recognized the
plain,
mahogany
-
haired girl cradled in
jade
-
colored silk
.
She was the iconic girl next door
.
She was t
he one never beautiful in a sophisticated way
,
but
still
wholesome
.
Through his watering eyes, Tony managed a laugh
.

“Wholesome
!
What a description of Suet
.
She
would’ve
roared laughing if she heard that
.”
Tony remembered some of the less than wholesome activities they
had
shared
.
He remembered her breaking the neck of one security guard with her fast-as-lightning tentacle
by wrapping
it right on around and
lifting
.
He remembered her tender lovemaking
.
The strength and ruthlessness of her body rendered gentle and tender, even if it was
just friendly fornication
.

He also remembered her attempts at bowling
.
She couldn’t decide whether to wrap her tentacle around the ball or try to bowl with just a tentacle in one hole
.
But
either way
she had fun trying
.
Tony lay down
on his bed and consciously
gave in to one final fit of self
-
pity
.
Even though it would be his last for Suet, it would
n’t
be his last with so many more friends left who wouldn’t live another two weeks.

“Goodbye, my friend
,” he managed through the sobs.

* * *
 

“Colin just passed,” Augustine told Tony over
his per
comm
.

He barely reacted
.
Jonah and Beth yesterday, Tolly this morning and now Colin
.
Numbness overwhelmed him
.
So often did he
now
remotely attend services he didn’t bother removing his black suit
.

“I also have found the proof you and I have been looking for
,
”
Augustine added, almost as an afterthought.

“Really
?”
Tony made an effort to come out of his lethargy
enough
to care
.
Too many of his friends dead
.
All
his
dreams shattered
.

The front door to his suite opened
.
Christine entered
.

“Hello, Christine
.
Welcome
.
You want a drink
?
I’m thinking about getting drunk myself
.”

As usual the slight woman said nothing, but sauntered
right
in
like she owned the place
.

“Tony, how did Christine know where you were staying
?
I don’t even know that,” Augustine
whispered
over the
per
comm
.

“Don’t know.
” He turned his attention to his guest.
“If I remember correctly
,
you drink Dewars on the rocks, Christine
.”
Tony poured
.

Christin
e
walked
over with her left hand cupped to receive the glass
.
A twinkle in her eyes
made it look
like she was laughing
.
Tony didn’t
understand mirth with all the emotional pain they shared.

“Tony, I don’t like this,” Augustine commed
.
“I’d be very careful if I were you.”

Tony caught only one glimpse of ravening silver as he handed
over
the drink
.
He felt the blade bite in his gut
.
His breath stole away
.
The pain radiated outward
.
The glass fell
.
He gasped.

Time slowed to a crawl as ice cubes and orange liquor spilled from the tumbling glass
.
His own blood sprayed all over Christine’s front like red dye bursting
from an overfull
balloon
.
Slowly her arm withdrew the blood-coated knife
.
An i
ntellectual
side of
Tony
’s brain managed to be detached enough to find
the knife fascinating
.
He
’d
seen its like
—
only two centimeters wide but a full seven long, faintly curved and sharp on both sides
.

More random thoughts filled his head as t
he smell of
his own
bile filled the air
.
The glass hit the carpeted floor and bounced slowly like something out of
an
off-world
film
.
The liquid shot off to either side, denying that it could be absorbed by the fabric.

“Christine!” Augustine shouted
as the link between Tony and Augustine suddenly included
the assassin’s
percomm
.
Tony
couldn’t understand
Augustine’s
anxiety
.
Christine’s
second thrust caught him just between the first and second rib
.
The knife, so smooth and sharp
,
didn’t grate on his ribs but rather slid smoothly
between them
like
they were
two tour
guide
s
.

“Christine, he didn’t do it
!
I have the proof
!
”
Augustine shouted.

Nerves pounded
Tony’s
brain with emergency messages
that
it continued to ignore
like an ostrich with it head in the sand
.

A new voice began playing
over the percomm
.

“Summation of minutes of meeting October
.
New plan to use and discard an unwitting employee to destroy Green Action Militia approved.”

Christine looked puzzled, withdrawing the knife, her hand
coated in a red glove of blood
.

“That
’
s from the personal log of the chairman of
Taste Dynamics
.
No doubt
.
One hundred percent proof positive
.
I just found it today.”

For Tony t
he pain couriers finally found their destination
.
Time exploded to normal speed as he fell over into the arms of his attacker and friend.

* * *
 

From her medi-chair Sonya
looked
down into the room where a doctor performed brutal and ancient invasive surgery on a
covered body
.
“He has to make it,” Sonya said, her voice harsh and barely over a whisper.

“He’s
a fighter
,” Augustine said
.

Sonya could see her own dark, rheumy eyes reflecting off the gallery glass
,
wondering how long she could continue her own losing fight
.
“I hope he
’
s tough enough,”
her
voice rasped again. “What did you do with Christine?”

“
I have her locked up in the
new
safe house we were just setting up
.
No one knows about it except me and Linc
.”

Sonya just nodded.
“He has to make it.”

* * *
 

The message, almost as old as computers itself, “Are you sure? Y/N
,
” blinked on
Nanogate
’s desk terminal
in the dark
.
He’d waited until everyone cleared the building before doing his own bit of corporate sabotage, this time to himself
.

His finger hovered over the Y button on his terminal
.
Just one stroke away from erasing any proof of his collusion with the Greenies
, and
yet he hesitated
.

He couldn’t remember how many years it had been since he felt good about anything he did for a living
.
His personal credit numbers soared
.
His
power over those around him grew
.
He gained satisfaction
from
these things
,
but they didn’t make him happy or
feel
good
.
Smug was the closest
emotion he could really compare
.

In fact
,
he couldn’t ever remember being happy about anything, except his brief work with the GAM
.
At the time he thought he felt relief that he
’d
saved
Nanogate
.
But it was more
.

He resolutely smashed the Y key
.
Personal survival
.
Feelings came a distant second
.

Snarling
,
he
shoved
everything from his desk, ignoring the crash
of the irreplaceable Chihuly lamp
.

* * *
 

“She must not have liked you, Tony-boy,” Augustine said to Tony as
he
struggled to
regain consciousness
.

He looked around to see
Sonya
lying
in the bed next to
him, Linc sweating profusely in an overstuffed chair in the corner
,
and the re
mains
of the action committee crammed in, standing or sitting around in a bedroom he didn’t recognize
.

He tried to say something but
no sound came
from between his
chapped lips
.
Christine handed him a
cup
of water
.
H
e hesitated only a moment before taking the
rose
-
colored plastic cup
.
He’d already be dead if she’d wanted him to be
.
He nevertheless watched Christine’s eyes as he drank.

“Sorry,” Christine said
.

Tony started at this
.
Christine didn’t apologize for anything
to
anyone
.

“Yeah, Christine
’
s an artist with a blade
.
She never misses her target
,” Augustine expounded
.
“
One thrust to the heart or the liver and the target is done
.
She only tortures those she really hates
.
She caught you through the intestines and into the kidney, but you were luc
ky
—
the damage didn’t require an organ
replacement
.
Her second thrust punctured your left lung.”

“Sorry,” Christine repeated
.
Every head in the room turned toward her
.
 

“
G
rrrk
,
” Tony croaked and
sipped
the water again
.
Carl
chuckled
.
“Thank you for coming
.
What
’
s the occasion
?
I’m sure I’m not nearly in as bad shape as some of you.”