The Athena Factor (45 page)
Authors: W. Michael Gear
“Is that what this is, softening up?”
“Well, it's not a full-body massage, but it helps.” April slicked the water from her face and pulled her wet hair back. She could have passed for Ursula Andress in
Doctor No
. “You want the truth?”
Doctor No
. “You want the truth?”
“Sure. Not that I'm betting I'll get it.”
“Genesis Athena is a huge, bulky, and often unwieldy corporation. Sometimes management makes decisions that people in the field don't approve of. In your case, my bosses panicked. Hank didn't help matters any. He gave them a full report on you. Gretchen made a mess of the Manny de Clerk collectionâand right after that you walked into the answering service in Colorado. God knows how you put that together, but it blew everyone's minds. They had convinced themselves that you were going to be motoring up to the
ZoeGen
in a Zodiac boat and doing some sort of GI Jane commando raid by the next morning.”
ZoeGen
in a Zodiac boat and doing some sort of GI Jane commando raid by the next morning.”
“Good idea. Anything explosive around here?”
“Just reality, Anaya. And sometimes that's more volatile than any chemical. Management didn't think that the public at large was ready for our reality to become common knowledge, and you might be the one to spill it. We want to introduce Genesis Athena in warm drips and drops, not scald the world with the whole giant corporate pot. We'll let people get used to the idea, and then reveal a little more of our capability. By the time ten years have passed, people will be as comfortable with our abilities as they are with space flight.”
Christal pushed off, sidestroking. April matched her pace. The woman seemed half porpoise. Where Christal had grown up, the deepest water was the chocolate-colored stuff that ran during the summer in the waist-deep acequia.
“What about the guys McEwan has locked up downstairs? They part of the business plan?”
“They'll be compensated.”
“Uh-huh, how? Just like Nancy Hartlee?”
April pulled up, treading water in the deep end. “How did you hear about her?”
“Read the paper. The
New York Times
placed her story just under the fold. You know, wondering how she'd gotten from California five years ago to a watery grave off Long Island.”
New York Times
placed her story just under the fold. You know, wondering how she'd gotten from California five years ago to a watery grave off Long Island.”
April jackknifed and dove; Christal splashed as she paddled around and started back for the shallow end.
April rose like Aphrodite in her path and sleeked her water-dark hair back with slim shining hands. “You check the followup?”
“What do you mean?”
“About her family? The insurance?”
“Never heard of it.”
“No, probably not. It didn't make the news that Nancy Hartlee had an unknown insurance policy. Assuming you decide to take our settlement, check it out when you get back.” April pointed a hard finger, looking as dangerous as she ever had. “I know what you're thinking. No! We didn't drown her, throw her overboard, or anything else. It was her decision to go over the side. She was the one who tried to swim ashore. The miracle is that she made it as far as she did.”
Christal stood, water coursing down her sides. “So what? I'm supposed to think Genesis Athena is run by a bunch of angels? Bullshit!”
“Angels? Not on your life, Anaya.” April cocked her head, water running down her tanned skin and dripping from her breasts. “We're a business. An international corporation worth billions that's struggling to be worth trillions. It's about global power and competition to be the world's foremost in biotech.”
“And that justifies kidnapping? Stealing people's lives the way you stole Nancy Hartlee, Brian Everly, and the others? That gives you the right to humiliate Sheela Marks and terrify Manny de Clerk?”
“Look, I don't agree with everything they're doing. Just like I'm sure you didn't agree with everything the Bureau has done, is doing, or will do in the future. You've been around the block, Anaya. You're not some simple Pollyanna
hick from New Mexico.” She chuckled then, as if laughing at herself. “Look, we're a lot alike, you and me.”
hick from New Mexico.” She chuckled then, as if laughing at herself. “Look, we're a lot alike, you and me.”
“Don't count on it.”
“Oh yeah? You were with the Bureau, one of their young hotshots. I was with LAPD. You got bounced by bad luck, coupled with a bit of bad timing.”
“You seem to know a lot about me. Hank tell you all that?”
“My case is somewhat similar. I didn't get caught with my pants down. Instead it turned out that my superiors were more interested in my body than my brains. With Genesis Athena I can get as far as my wits and looks can take me.” Challenge filled her eyes. “What about you, Christal?”
“What about me?”
“Genesis Athena could make you a very rich woman.”
“As long as I didn't mind overlooking some things like kidnapping, extortion, theft, conspiracy, and a few niggling little ethical concerns?”
A faint smile graced April's perfect lips. “Nothing in life comes without compromise. But don't make that decision now. Take your time, hear what our people have to say. Then you need to think seriously about it.”
“What, being bought off or dropped overboard?”
“We're not going to kill you.” April leaned forward, stroking in a circle as Christal leaned back to float. “But you'd better know, if you force us into it, we'll ruin you to protect ourselves. Paying you for your silence is the second option; but the first, the one we'd prefer, is that you consider a change in employment.”
“Go to work for you? After what I've seen.”
“Yeah. That's just what I'm saying. You're talented. You wouldn't have to do anything you didn't want to. Stealing DNA just happens to appeal to me personally, but we've got to provide security for clients, do research, lots of things that would suit your skills. I'm not trying to whitewash some of the things Genesis Athena does, but on the other hand, you could retire in twenty years with stock options and a couple of million in the bank.”
“Just as long as I don't mind bending a few principles along the way.”
April twisted sensuously in the water. “You'll bend them no matter what you choose concerning us. Life does that to peopleâforces them to compromise between utopia and reality. I'm willing to bet your tax dollars go to fund programs and policies that you find ethically reprehensible, but I don't see you leaving the United States.”
Christal slipped sideways in the water. “There's nothing I can do about what the government does with my tax dollars.”
“Bullshit. You've just made that particular deal with the Devil, Christal. You're comfortable with it. You get to live in familiar surroundings with certain services and protections, knowing at the same time that your government is buying off reptilian dictators, propping up sadistic governments, and hiding international murderers because they back us in the war on terrorism or turn over drug rivals or sell us cheap oil. Every day we make international criminals into millionaires and give them credibilityâpeople that we'd arrest, convict, and lethally inject if they were on our streets. Or didn't you discover that during your days at the Bureau?”
“You're telling me it's the same thing with Genesis Athena?”
“Right down to the charity gene treatments we do for poor kids.” April turned onto her back, spreading her arms, floating with her face and breasts out of the water. “Genesis Athena is like your beloved American governmentâdown to the last moral compromise. We do some bad things, some neutral deeds, and a lot of good stuff as well.”
“Right.”
“By the end of the next decade no person on earth will have to be born with a genetic disease. That's twenty million lives lived without mongolism, trisomy G, Huntington's, cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs, PKU, sickle cell, or thalassemia. No more ALS or muscular dystrophy.”
“For a price.”
“You ever been to the emergency room? There's always a price.”
“I still don't think you're angels.”
April kicked and regained her feet. “We're not.” She waded close, where she could look into Christal's eyes. “But keep something in mind while you think about it. You're right. The cheapest thing would be for us to tie a chunk of metal around your ankle and drop you overboard, but you know what? We're not going to do that. We're offering to make amends, settle for the inconvenience.”
“Why?”
“Because you've still got a surprise or two coming. Time's about up. You've got a meeting.” April climbed out of the pool, striding for the shower room.
Christal flipped back her wet hair as she waded for the steps. She wiped water from her olive skin and stared thoughtfully at the wet footprints she followed.
A business. Did she believe that? That Genesis Athena was just a huge amoral Goliath crashing its way through people's lives?
April was already under the shower, rinsing the chlorine away. She turned her back to the spray as Christal walked in.
“Here's the deal, Anaya. Somewhere down the line Genesis Athena and its personnel will be held responsible for their actions. Time and money, along with charitable actions, can lessen the blow, dull the sharp tongue of censure, but we'll still have to face the music.”
“Damn right.” Crystal twisted the knobs and rinsed under the warm water. She felt truly clean for the first time in days.
April shut off her faucet, water trickling down her tanned skin. The beads of it glistened in the bright overhead lights. She stood defiantly, head back, breasts high, her firm thighs slightly apart. “We're not fools. Everything that we're doing now will eventually come out. At least, that's how we have to plan for the future. Knowing that, it will serve us in the long run to make amends for our mistakes now.”
Christal turned off the water and walked over to face her. “Is that what you told Nancy Hartlee? What about the other slaves you've got locked up down below?”
April stepped over and pressed a tile beside the mirrored wall.
Christal jumped as warm dry air began blowing out of
slim vents artfully fitted between the sections of mirror. She braced herself, squinting into the warm rush. In awe she watched her mirrored reflection. Her skin was moving as if under an invisible caress. As the jets changed, her breasts slowly lifted and rolled. The pressure sharpened her cheekbones, outlined her abs, and lifted her black hair. As it dried, it began to flow out behind her in a raven wave. She had never seen herself like this: a Native goddess, firm and slim, brown and muscular.
slim vents artfully fitted between the sections of mirror. She braced herself, squinting into the warm rush. In awe she watched her mirrored reflection. Her skin was moving as if under an invisible caress. As the jets changed, her breasts slowly lifted and rolled. The pressure sharpened her cheekbones, outlined her abs, and lifted her black hair. As it dried, it began to flow out behind her in a raven wave. She had never seen herself like this: a Native goddess, firm and slim, brown and muscular.
“Quite the thing, isn't it?” April asked beside her. “Lean into it. Shake your hair out. If you turn, it will slick the water away.”
Eyes slitted against the wind, Christal studied the woman as she posed before the mirrors, her actions slow, graceful, almost like tai chi. Copperhead laughed aloud as the waves of air rolled over her body.
Christal tried to match her movements, turning slowly, trying to balance gracefully against the pushing air. It felt great. No wonder the rich lived like they did.
April touched the tile again; the warm air vanished as if but a memory. She was looking Christal up and down as if she were a prize racehorse rather than a security risk. A faint smile curled the woman's lips. “Bottom line: It's business. We'd prefer to fix the problem now rather than take the loss in the long run.”
Christal walked into the locker room, gaze fixing dismally on her grungy clothes where they lay on the redwood bench.
“Put on the new ones.” April might have been reading her mind. “Leave those. I'll have them laundered and delivered to you later.”
As Christal inspected the locker's contents, she found a new brassiere and panties, still in packaging. When she dressed in one of the new white blouses, she wasn't surprised to discover it was her size exactly.
Fix the problem? Take the loss in the long run? Just what, exactly, was Copperhead after?
Fix the problem? Take the loss in the long run? Just what, exactly, was Copperhead after?
“What would it take?” April asked as she hooked her bra clips. “Our terms, once you boil down all the bullshit lawyer
talk, are that you drop any and all charges, that you sign a nondisclosure agreement, and that you never reveal any of the things you have learned here or elsewhere about Genesis Athena.”
talk, are that you drop any and all charges, that you sign a nondisclosure agreement, and that you never reveal any of the things you have learned here or elsewhere about Genesis Athena.”
Christal considered for a moment and said, “Five million.”
April laughed. “Not a chance.”
“So, what's your counteroffer?”
“Two hundred thousand.”
“What makes you think I wouldn't take it and spill my guts later anyway?”
April's gray gaze cut like diamond. “Because we're a business, Anaya. You have a basic understanding of our capabilities, resources, and resolve. I think you know that we'll use them if we have to. We'll keep our end of the bargain only as long as you keep yours.”
“I'll think about it.” Christal pulled the classy gray skirt up and zipped it. “Let's go have this meeting.”
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