Furious

32

They cruised the back streets. Officially, their story for the town-car driver was that Kris and Jack were newlyweds, and they’d just landed jobs and were dreaming about buying a house. The driver didn’t seem to buy the story but every ten or fifteen minutes, Jack would produce another twenty, and the guy kept driving.

Jack, at least, had drawn out a wad of cash before he started his walk on the outlaw side. Smart man. Kris thought that one of many good reasons to keep him around.

The streets they drove edged farther and farther toward the south, so when Penny reminded the two lovebirds that they better not be late for work their first day, it was only a short drive to Longknife Tower.

The driver let them out at the first checkpoint, pocketed his last two twenties, and seemed happy for the exchange.

“You the new hires?” an overweight man with sergeant stripes asked. They admitted they were, and he arranged for an electric cart to take them to the next checkpoint. There, a dizzy brunette took their vitals off their fake Identacards, photographed them for their new idents, and took their fingerprints.

OOPS, WHY DIDN’T ANY OF US THINK OF THAT? Kris thought to Nelly.

BECAUSE NONE OF YOU HAVE APPLIED FOR A JOB LATELY, Nelly shot back. DON’T WORRY, IF I CAN’T PULL THE WOOL OVER THE EYES OF THIS COMPUTER, YOU CAN SELL ME CHEAP AT A GARAGE SALE. BY THE WAY, KRIS, I’VE COLLECTED THREE COMPUTER CERTIFICATES. THIS ONE AND THE TWO BELONGING TO THE FAT GUY AND THIS GAL. IF I NEED TO GET ON THE NET, I’M ON.

True to Nelly’s promise, the computer raised no red flags and did not report that the troublemaking Princess Kristine Longknife and her trusted sidekicks had reported for minimum-wage jobs.

That security checkpoint passed, they were ushered into a room with two other new hires and sat down to watch their new-employee orientation. Kris listened with only one ear as they were told how wonderful their employer was and how grateful they should be that it was providing them with the absolute minimum benefits the law allowed. Then again, maybe the two strangers sitting with Kris didn’t know that her father’s government had passed laws requiring that no employer could offer less health insurance than the rent-a-cop company was offering. Or that the contributions the firm was making into their retirement was the standard social-security package. It was almost enough to make Kris wonder if her brother, Honovi, who had chosen to follow father into the family business of politics, hadn’t chosen the tougher career.

Then Kris remembered the alien mother ship in her sights.

Nope. Brother might not have it easier, but he did have it safer.

Kris turned more of her attention back to the screen. It had just mentioned that there would be a test after the show. It would be a shame to find she couldn’t storm the castle, er, Longknife Tower, because she flunked a new-hire-benefits-package test.

Video done, they were handed a test. A paper test! It took Kris and company all of a minute to select the proper answers from the ten multiple-choice questions.

The brunette glanced at Kris’s paper for all of a second and gave her a hundred percent. Penny and Jack were smart enough to get one wrong, and somehow managed to pick a different question, so there was no question about cheating.

The other two were still laboring over the test as Kris and her team left.

An older ex-military type with two railroad bars on his collar was waiting for them. “Always nice to see fresh meat. You three are joining security, the only reason the rest of these slobs get paid. Follow me.”

They followed as he led them through a rats’ maze of cubicles. Most had techs watching screens. “These folks make sure that if you screw up, we know it. They watch everything you do, so make sure you’re doing what we pay you for and nothing else. You hear me?”

Yes, sir, Kris almost replied in proper military voice, but she caught herself, and mumbled “Yeah,” along with the others.

“Did you hear me?”

“We heard you,” Penny snapped. “You’re watching our every move. So how’s that different from my last burger-flipping job?”

“Here, my young, mouthy girl, we got people with guns backing you up. You make a mistake, and one of them might just shoot you. You hear me?”

Kris nodded like a bobblehead doll. Jack grumbled “yeah,” and Penny got big eyes and kind of shrank into herself.

Kris was ready to put her whole team in for acting awards.

NELLY, HOW WE DOING?

KRIS, I GOT HIS COMPUTER CERTIFICATE AND ALL HIS SECURITY CODES. HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT KIND OF TROUBLE HE’S GOING TO BE IN BEFORE THIS NIGHT IS OVER.

GOOD GIRL.

The next stop was uniform issue. Bins along the wall offered a selection that ran from too small to too large, with not much in between. Fortunately for Kris, too large was just what she needed.

Unfortunately, women sizes quit about two short of what would fit her.

“Why don’t you try something from the men’s side,” the captain suggested. “With that face, it’s about as close to anything man-wise you’re likely to get.”

With that snide remark, Jack offered her something from the bin he’d chosen from.

“What do we do about purses?” Kris asked.

“We don’t issue no purses.”

“What’s a woman supposed to do for her things?” Kris asked.

“Deary, lipstick is not going to help you.”

Kris tried to look like she was struggling to keep her temper. It was easy. She was. “Where am I supposed to keep my sanitary napkins and other stuff I need for my feminine needs.”

The captain suddenly looked a lot less sure of himself. “It that time, huh?”

“For me, too,” Penny added.

“What is it with you two? You shacked up together?”

“We don’t have to answer that question,” Penny snapped. “We can sue you if you make us.”

“Woman, you got an attitude problem,” the captain growled. “I ought to show you the door just for that crack.”

“Calm down, Penny,” Kris said, with pleading in her voice. “We need this job. Jack, you, me. We really need the pay.”

The captain really liked that comeback.

“Go change. Your shift starts in ten minutes, and I still got to get you there.”

Kris and company rushed off to change. As expected, there were cameras in the four corners of the ladies’ locker room. Kris gave one of them a smile. In her present disguise, any guy watching likely barfed up his lunch.

The uniform was tight where Kris normally didn’t have anything, but with the layers of disguise, she no longer could pass for a boy. Since she didn’t intend to spend a lot of time in it, she met her problem with a shrug. Their guns and several plastic flash bangs stayed comfortably nestled in both women’s bags, right under the feminine necessities that provided cover.

Unknown until the necessary moment, said feminine necessities were explosives with fuses.

Kris came out of the changing room looking as womanly as she could, struggling to make her uniform fit decently. That drew a grin from the captain. “Go through the metal detector and put your bags through the bomb sniffer.”

Kris did as ordered, and no alarms went off. She had to wonder how Grampa Al managed to stay so secure. It couldn’t be this security team.

The captain loaded all three of them into an oversize golf cart; Jack managed to take the front seat next to their putative boss. The ride was short. As foretold, their job was at the loading dock in the back of the tower. Here they were introduced to a hard case with a shaved head who wore corporal stripes.

“More fresh meat for you, Hanson,” the captain announced. “Don’t eat them all up tonight. Save some for tomorrow,” drew a laugh from the two with rank.

Kris tried to look scared while considering just how many ways she could lay the two of them out flat on their backs while they wondered what happened. Sadly, the situation didn’t allow for that, nor could she even permit herself a tiny smile of enjoyment at the thought.

The corporal got right to work messing with Kris’s life. A trash truck was just pulling away from a dock. Kris got the job of crawling under it to make sure no one was riding out. The only good thing about the assignment was that they had a board on wheels so Kris could just lie on her back and look up at the smelly and oily underside of the truck. No one lurked there, and the very basic electronic sensor Kris was given reported no activity from any bugs.

Nelly made sure of that.

THOUGH I DIDN’T HAVE TO, KRIS. THAT TRUCK IS A DEAD ZONE.

JUST BE GLAD YOU CAN’T SMELL, GIRL.

Jack offered Kris a hand up, but the corporal told her to stay down. A second truck was already headed their way. This one was full of shredded paper and plastic flimsies. It was just as filthy underneath but less smelly. Kris did her job.

And did it again when a truck that had brought in office equipment came through. It seemed like everything was leaving at that time of night.

That truck offered something different. Kris found an electronic bug nestled in among the four back-tire wells. That brought a visit from the captain and a team of bug hunters. They turned up two more bugs stuck inside the back of the van.

The driver and van got hustled away for further investigation, and the corporal got an attaboy and talk of a cash award. Kris and her crew, who had found the initial lead, got not even a nod.

“I guess that’s what it’s like to work around here,” Penny whispered.

That got her a scowl from the corporal, and further conversation wilted. The garbage truck brought the Dumpster back, and Kris got to go over its underside again. The corporal insisted she do it twice. By the time Jack helped her to her feet, even he admitted she’d taken on a certain air.

By now it was eleven, and traffic seemed to vanish as if it had been turned off at a switch. The corporal retreated to the loading dock and settled down behind a tiny desk. He pulled out a girly magazine and began to flip through it. Every once in a while, he’d glance up at Kris or Penny and shake his head.

STAY IN PLACE FOR THE NEXT TEN MINUTES, I’M MAKING A FILM LOOP, Nelly told Kris.

The three of them stood where they were below the loading dock. Kris shook her arms, stomped her feet, and looked miserable as the cool of the night proved their thin uniforms unsuited for outside work. The others did the same.

They said not a word.

I’VE GOT TEN MINUTES RECORDED. THE MONITOR DOESN’T HAVE ANY STORAGE ABILITY, BUT I’VE PLANTED A NANO IN IT. YOU ARE OFF THE SECURITY NET, Nelly announced.

“Where’s the nearest ladies’ room?” Penny asked.

“You peed before coming on shift,” the corporal growled without looking up. “You can pee when you’re off shift. The company don’t pay you to pee.”

“It also don’t want blood on its nice new uniforms,” Penny said.

The corporal looked up at that one.

Jack gave the guy one of those male-bonding looks and headed up the steps for a whispered consultation with the corporal. As Jack bent over, his hand dug his automatic out of all the foam flab at his butt.

The weapon came around. There were two soft reports, and the corporal was asleep before his head hit the desk.

Jack balled the guy up beneath the desk as Kris and Penny took the steps up to the loading dock two at a time.

Jack handed Kris the corporal’s comm device. The chatter on it was very much normal. As Kris pocketed it, she smiled at her friends. “Let’s go visit Grampa Al.”

* * *

Senior Chief Agent in Charge Foile stared across the table at the legendary General Trouble. They’d been staring at each other for the last fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes!

Foile had actually timed it.

Most normal people faced with dead silence felt com-pelled to fill it. Obviously, the general did not fall into the subset of normal people. Foile finally pursed his lips. He’d have to try another tack.

“Can you help me understand this situation we’re in?” he said, leaving the question as open as he could. Open in scope and almost desperate in its begging.

The general raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

“Your grandson, Billy Longknife, asked me to find his daughter before she gets herself, and a whole lot of other people, suddenly dead.”

That drew no answer.

“Doesn’t that worry you? My agent, Leslie Chu, is a fan of your great-granddaughter. She tells me that you helped sober Kristine up when she was just a kid. Cleaned up her act and got her headed into most everything she’s done.”

That got a smile from the old general. What man can stay stolid as a fence post when his kid is being praised?

“I think when the record is finally told, you’ll find that Kris never did anything she didn’t want or intended to do,” the man said.

“But her father really thinks she’s going to get herself killed this time. That’s the only reason I’m chasing after her.” Even Foile heard the pleading in his voice.

He’d never pleaded during an interrogation before.

The old man shook his head. “A lot of folks have tried to kill her. A lot of them are dead, and she’s still breathing.”

“I think this time it might be different.”

The troublemaker nodded at that. “You might be right.”

Foile waited for him to go on. When he didn’t, he found himself saying, “Do you want her to get killed?”

The look on the general’s face could have killed Foile. Very likely it had killed Iteeche and Unity thugs. Foile swallowed. “Won’t you help me at all?”

“I’d like a glass of water,” was all the general said.

As Foile stood up to get him one, his commlink came alive.

“Sir,” said Leslie, “there’s been a security breach at Longknife Towers. We’re not sure what’s going on, but they hired three new security guards tonight. A check of their personal files has come back negative, and the fingerprints that were taken have disappeared from the computer net. I have no idea who they hired, but I’ll bet my pension that we’ve found my princess and her two sidekicks.”

Foile turned back to the general.

He was smiling.

Foile left his hat on the table as he raced for the door.