Freedom Incorporated (66 page)

Jen consumed the news in
silence, wishing Adrian would leave her alone.

“
I’m no saint,
but I didn’t want her dead,” Adrian confessed. “I tried to talk him
out of it, but he wouldn’t listen.” She was giving him less
feedback than a couch or a refrigerator, and he began to wonder
whether he should leave. “Once he’s made up his mind, nothing can
stop him… it’s scary.”

She suddenly snapped out
of her trance and turned to face him. “Then why do you stay here?
Why didn’t you shoot him?”

“
Cross
Esteban?” Adrian’s eyebrows shot up incredulously. “No way. That’d
be a death sentence.” He grunted nervously. “I don’t know why I
stay. I suppose because it’s easier than getting out.” His voice
sounded dreamy, as if he were imagining things that could once have
been. “I don’t even know how it happened. One thing led to another
and before I knew it, I was in the crew. We were doing small things
back then, shifting packets of drugs on campus and other minor
stuff. Esteban was the tough and he intimidated anyone that stood
in our way. Once, we were busted for selling amphetamines, but
Esteban beat the crap out of the security guard and threatened to
kill the man’s family if he didn’t turn around and walk away. The
guard sensibly applied for a transfer the next day.” Junior frowned
as he recounted the course of his life. “Pretty soon we were doing
bigger things and got clear of the drug scene altogether. It only
leads to one place, and it isn’t pretty. So we began moving people
instead. It’s amazing what desperate people will pay to have
someone smuggle them out of one country and into another. Anyway,
corporations snapped us up after college and we used our new
connections to join a people-smuggling cartel.” He shrugged with
his hands. “Eventually Esteban was invited here and he took us with
him.”

“
Why are you
telling me all this?” Jen didn’t really care to hear it.

“
I just want
you to understand where I come from,” Adrian replied. “It all
started because I needed a little extra cash at college. My parents
were rich, but that didn’t mean any of their money trickled down to
me. From there I was just swept along.”

It didn’t vindicate
anything as far as Jen was concerned. “So? You could’ve said
no.”

He nodded, regarding her
carefully. “I know.” Eventually he had to look away, unable to hold
her gaze without feeling intense shame. “Better late than never
though, right?”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
You want to
escape, so I’ll help you do it.”

“
What about
the others?” Jen asked, equally concerned for their
wellbeing.

Adrian shook his head. “I
wouldn’t know how to find chips for all of them.”

“
How do you
intend to find a chip for me?”

“
I know where
Esteban put that little device of yours.”

“
It has six
chips inside,” Jen said eagerly. “So that’s six people.”

“
I can’t do
anything for the others,” Adrian repeated unapologetically. He was
already putting his neck on the line for Jen and, as far as he was
concerned, that was enough. “And I want to do this without him
finding out it was me.”

“
How?”

“
Don’t worry
yourself about that, just don’t tell anyone. Deal?” He scoured her
face for signs of betrayal. He wouldn’t help unless he decided to
trust her.

“
If I said
anything I wouldn’t get out, would I?”

“
Good point.”
He shoved off the table and headed for the door. “I’ll be back
within four hours. Wait for me here, okay?”

She kept
nodding until he left the room.
Now that’s
bizarre.
She didn’t trust him any further
than she could spit, but she had to acknowledge that he represented
her best chance of escape.
For six of
us.
Then she made a vow that she intended
to keep:
And I’ll come back for the
others.

*

Saturday
, September
1
8
, 2066

1
0
:20 San
Francisco, USA

Michele wore thick makeup
to conceal her sleepless night and resultant baggy eyes. She’d
deactivated the video component of the phone. “I’m telling you it
was him.”

“
Okay, careful
Michele,” Esteban warned in a threatening voice. “Don’t say
anything stupid on an open line.” Sometimes he wished he could
smash her skull like a melon, or throttle some sense into her
brain.

“
I won’t,” she
retorted, nearly hysterical. “Where are you?”

Esteban rolled
his eyes.
Oh Lord, you fucked up when you
put this bitch together.
“How stupid do you
think I am, Michele? Look, calm down, everything’s going to be
fine. I’m sure you just made a mistake. Maybe you dreamt
it?”

Her tone was becoming
whiny. “I wasn’t dreaming, okay? Why won’t you believe
me?”

“
Just meet me
in the office.” He’d had enough.

“
No. I’m not
going back there. He said-”

“
I’ll be there
in a second,” Esteban said, cutting her off before she said
something Echelon would archive, giving him the added hassle of
having to delete records. “You’ll be safe with me there. I’m
approaching the portals now. I’ll see you in a minute.” He hung up
before she could protest.

Michele pouted
and reluctantly replaced the receiver on the public phone. She was
spooked enough to distrust her mobile because she didn’t understand
what was and what was not possible in the mystical land of
technology – she lived with the myths Hollywood fed her. She looked
up at UniForce headquarters. She hadn’t gone far; she’d been too
scared to go home.
Does he know where I
live? Does he expect me to leave the company? The city? The
country?
She kept trying to replay the
conversation in her mind but fear had distorted her memory to the
point of worthlessness.

She’d filled
‘a suden ilness’ into the necessary form as her reason for leaving
the building – spelling wasn’t her strong point – and fled as soon
as Dan had left. She knew of a hotel in Nevada
that had a 24-hour reception desk and she’d checked in there
for what had remained of the night. The vibrating bed had been
nice, but it wasn’t as enjoyable as she remembered – probably
because she’d had the company of two adoring men on her last
stay.
I didn’t get much sleep then
either,
she thought with a childish
giggle.

She did as Esteban bade
and sought the nearest portal. A flash and a heartbeat later, she
was standing in the foyer of her floor at UniForce headquarters.
She marched to her office and found Esteban sitting on her
desk.

“
Close the
door.”

She obediently
complied.

“
Now what’s
this shit about Sutherland?”

“
He was here
last night,” Michele repeated for the fourth time. “He came right
up here, past all the security, and threatened me.”

Oh yes, past
all our ‘quality’ security.
Esteban scoffed
at the pitiful excuse UniForce headquarters had for security. The
guard training programs were behind schedule so they’d outsourced
all the quality guards to other companies. “I just checked his
movements and as far as PortaNet’s concerned he hasn’t left
Australia.” He shrugged sceptically. “So unless international
airlines have reopened for business in the past few days, I don’t
think it could possibly have been him. Maybe it just looked like
him?”

Michele threw a tizz.
“No! You’re not listening to me. It was Dan Sutherland! I know what
he looks like.”

He still
thought she’d dreamt it, but let it rest for now. “Okay, I’ll go
and check the parameters on my scan if it’ll make you happy.” But a
hum of doubt had started tickling the back of his mind.
He has been waiting an awful long
time.
Esteban had expected the legendary Dan
Sutherland to be stalking him by now, but he was still messing
around in Australia. He shrugged the feeling off by roaming his
gaze over Michele’s body. Sure, she was built like a penguin, but
she could work small miracles with her mouth. And since he wanted
to wait with Jen, Michele was his only option. “But first… there’s
something I need from you.”

She knew what he wanted
but she wasn’t in the mood so she twisted away from him with an
exasperated grunt.

“
I won’t take
long.” He unzipped his fly and pulled her closer, making her kneel
in front of him.

Michele grudgingly
started caressing his flesh, kissing him softly. Before long they
were in the ecstatic throes of passion – or at least Esteban was,
Michele was merely bored. She wanted to rest and was thinking about
whether it’d be safe to sleep in her office when Esteban orgasmed.
She spat into a tissue.

“
I told you
I’d be quick.” Esteban grinned at her, satisfied now that she’d
slaked his desires. He could see from the look in her eyes that she
hadn’t been expecting it. She’d nearly choked. Reducing the
pressure on his explosive libido also gave him the opportunity to
think more clearly about Sutherland.
Hmm…
what if he’s using someone else’s chip?
It
was a startling thought.
Then he could be
anywhere. He could still be in the building!
Esteban zipped up his fly and reached for his gun, scanning
the room with suspicion.

“
What is it?”
Michele’s eyes opened wide with a fresh onrush of fear.

“
Nothing,”
Esteban snapped. “Just stay here.”

“
Where’re you
going?” Michele asked, sounding desperate.

“
To check on
Sutherland.” Esteban approached every corner as if it might hide
his enemy, wary now that he realised Dan could be hunting him while
electronically cloaked. The confidence he’d derived from his
hand-held monitor had evaporated now that he suspected Dan could
traverse the portals without raising an alarm. He felt
blind.

Michele shrugged when he
left the room. She logged into her computer and filled out the
necessary forms to notify the system of her return before curling
up on the couch and closing her eyes.

*

James’s head came up with
a start. “What?” It came out as a croak, his vocal cords too
fatigued to form the word properly.

“
I said, wake
up!” Esteban shook him harder, trying to rouse the information
technology co-ordinator from the deepest slumber he’d achieved in
days.

James rubbed the numbness
from his face and removed the sleep from his eyes before focussing
on the intruder. “What is it?”

“
You have work
to do,” Esteban said cruelly, having no comprehension of how hard
James had been working already.

James waved at the
monitor. “I can’t find the holes. My team’s working on it.” He
snorted. “The ones that came in today anyway.” None of the original
volunteers was willing to spend that much time at work, but others
had stepped forward to fill the ranks and he’d had a steady stream
of fresh minds working on the problem, so far with little
success.

“
I don’t care
about that,” Esteban growled. “I want to know what the Raven’s up
to.” He hoped the cyborg had an insight into Dan’s mysterious
appearance in San Francisco the previous night.

James shook when a
frisson ran through his body. “That man’s an animal.”

Esteban nodded. “Yeah,
but he gets results.”

James arched an eyebrow.
“You didn’t see what he did to some poor Australian doctor.” His
head was spinning with fatigue and over-reliance on stimulants. His
legs were aching from too many days in his chair, and he’d been
forgetting to wriggle his toes to avoid deep vein
thrombosis.

“
Doctor?”

“
Yeah, some
guy in Brisbane.” James grimaced. “He made a real mess.”

“
Let me see.”
Esteban pushed forward to squint at the tiny font on James’s
monitor. “Why’s he tracking Tedman Kennedy?”

James shrugged. “I don’t
know. I can’t download everything or he’ll know I’m here. It
started after he mutilated the doctor. Maybe he’s a friend? Someone
that’ll lead him to the others?”

Esteban shook
his head and swore a long string of curses under his breath. “I
doubt it.”
He’s changed chip.
“Where is he now?”

“
Uh…” James
sent sluggish commands through his implant. “Hang on a second.”
Esteban waited impatiently, tapping his fingers against anything
nearby in a fidgety display of nerves. James ignored him and busied
himself with the Raven’s thoughts. After all, they required some
measure of interpretation – thoughts were a very individual thing.
What one man intended to be funny, another would find insulting.
And so it went with every thought that passed through the Raven’s
computer. “I think he’s in Sydney.”

“
You
think?
” Esteban was far
from impressed.

“
It’s not an
exact science.”
You should be thankful I
could get anything.
James was getting
annoyed with Esteban’s lack of understanding. But he couldn’t be
bothered educating the swine, especially while so sleep
deprived.