*
Saturday
, September
1
8
, 2066
World Economic
Forum
1
6
:
02
Washington
DC, USA
Weekend
sessions never had a high turnout and Jackie liked to think that
her attendance would win brownie points for UniForce. It was
important that she do everything in her power to enhance her
company’s chance of winning extra seats. And turning up to every
session was an essential step towards that end.
I could be watching the new Kane movie.
It was sometimes hard living at the top. Sacrifices were often
called for. Irritatingly, she knew none of the other weekend
participants would work every day next week. They’d take a flexiday
to compensate for their lost leisure time.
But not me.
Still, today’s session
was important for more than one reason. She needed the floor and
was waiting in the queue for her turn. Saturday was always an open
forum day. Dignitaries collectively declined to lecture on weekends
because they knew attendees didn’t have the patience to listen to
their prattle while golf courses and grand finals beckoned. WEF
dignitaries were typically terrified of yawning audiences that
glanced longingly at the clock every few seconds.
She’d already
sat through tedious explanations of opinion polls and trade
relations from companies she considered unimportant.
But – no pain, no gain.
She gritted her teeth and forced herself to look
interested.
At least I’m
next.
She wasn’t prone to catching a case of
the nerves, but the calibre of the people in the room made her
knees tremble.
Snap out of
it!
she chided herself.
You’re being silly. Either they’ll agree or they won’t. No
harm done whatever happens.
Jackie didn’t
intend to pass over an excellent opportunity to spearhead UniForce
into private security. And the opportunity was ripe; she just
needed the balls to grab it.
The man at the
podium was talking about crime and
that
was an interesting topic. Making
money from crime kept UniForce afloat. Much of their income came
directly from the WEF, the organisation with the largest economic
incentive to reduce criminal activity – particularly white-collar
crime. The speaker was putting an interesting spin on the topic,
incorrectly using a double-edged sword analogy. “On one side”, he
said, “reducing crime directly oils the economic wheels. And now
we’re seeing an additional pattern emerge. On the other side of the
sword, a recent study suggests that reducing crime makes people
more comfortable and therefore prone to spending more money. So as
you can see, it cuts both ways.”
Several
attentive members of the audience wondered whether the speaker
understood what ‘cuts both ways’ meant, but Jackie wasn’t one of
them.
Perfect,
she
thought with glee, fighting hard to stop a smile creeping across
her cosmetic lips.
I’ll use
this.
His speech turned even
better a few moments later when he raised an acclaiming hand to
Jackie’s seat. “And we owe a lot to UniForce for the benefits we’re
all feeling. Their tireless pursuit of felons underpins much of our
economy.”
There was
general agreement among the spectators with a few cheers and –
rather British, Jackie thought – “here, here’s”.
Now that was unexpected.
A
soft patter of clapping rippled around the auditorium and Jackie
stood to acknowledge the praise, nodding to the left and right and
trying her best to look appreciative without smiling. She would’ve
preferred to scold them for daring to clap at her – she wished that
custom would expire. But scolding would be unseemly, so she settled
for a pained look of modesty.
Finished his
speech, the man at the podium left the platform and the chairman
waddled ponderously forward to take his place.
Fucking lard,
Jackie couldn’t stop
herself from mentally stabbing the man. She insulted everyone in
her mind, why should she exempt the exercise-challenged?
“
Jackie Donald
from UniForce,” he wheezed into the microphone before puffing away
to resume his seat, which groaned in protest under his considerable
mass. The sound of his rasping breath stirred a black memory –
something she’d worked hard to forget and refused to admit was true
upon unwelcome resurfacings. That rainy summer evening when she’d
been strolling home through the park and three men had knocked her
to the ground, tearing at her clothes. They’d raped her in the
open, but nobody had been brave enough to acknowledge her screams
for help. They’d worn hoods pulled tight over their heads and had
huffed and puffed with the thrill of the illicit fuck. She’d
blotted all trace of their faces from her memory, so thoroughly
that not even a hypnotherapist had been able to reconstruct them.
But she remembered the sharp pain from when they’d forced their way
inside her. It wasn’t something she liked to dwell on so she flung
the memory back into her psychological abyss, hoping it would stay
there.
Jackie strode to the
podium amidst another round of applause, which abruptly ended when
she adjusted the microphone amidst a squeal of feedback. By the
time she was ready to begin, she’d forgotten all about the
unmentionable crime, though it tortured her unseen from the shadows
of her subconscious. Jackie was good at forgetting, she’d had a
lifetime of practice.
“
By now I’m
sure many of you have heard about the heinous attack terrorists
have committed against my company.” A deathly silence settled on
the room. She integrated a lengthy pause with her speech, knowing
it would stretch their nerves to breaking point. “And for the
benefit of those who haven’t, a terrorist organisation has
assassinated UniForce’s public CEO.” It was a common practice. Many
men and women in the room used puppets to vie for public affection
and take the heat when things turned sour. Though few would suspect
their public counterparts were potential assassination targets.
“Furthermore…” Jackie held their attention, making it dance in the
palm of her hand. “We have sustained persistent attacks upon our
network from the same organisation.” She held up her hands, calming
her audience like an accomplished orator. “But before you panic, I
want to assure you that they have not – I stress,
not
– penetrated our
network. They will never access our data.” It was a lie, but she
couldn’t tell them the horrifying truth. Many of them were
customers and frequent patrons of UniForce’s covert assassination
branch. If they even suspected an outsider could hack into
UniForce’s network and lift copies of assassination contracts,
they’d bay for blood.
“
What does it
mean then, exactly?” The question came from someone in the front
row. Jackie didn’t know his name, but suspected he was an
assassination customer and therefore had much to lose.
Jackie
answered confidently, having prepared for the question. “Our
network has sustained the attack in fine form. But, if these
terrorists grow in sophistication, our information technology
department may need to suspend some network services. And
that
would be bad for
business. For everyone.” She watched several members of the
audience relax. She’d told them what they wanted to hear: that
UniForce would suffer monetary loss rather than harm future
business prospects by exposing their colourful history to
outsiders. Whatever happened, the deals were safe. Or so they
assumed.
“
What I want
from you, ladies and gentlemen, is to permit me – permit UniForce –
to protect our way of life by extinguishing the terrorist
threat.”
“
What
dispensations are you looking for, specifically?” It was someone
from Xantex who smelled a rat.
She knew Xantex had a lot
at stake. They’d been one of UniForce’s best customers. “We have a
reaction team standing by and they’re working on a
minimum-disruption solution as I speak.” She jotted a mental note
to get an update. Her team had been suffocatingly quiet of late.
James had done a superb job keeping her informed, but she hadn’t
heard anything from the others for days. Jackie hated tardiness. “I
don’t believe the specifics of their proposal will be relevant when
we consider the ramifications of failing to act. Be assured that
we’ll only do what’s necessary to bring the enemy threat under
control.”
Hook, line
and sinker.
She started to reel them in.
“Over the next few days we may need to operate outside the law,
which is why I am here today – I need sanction.” She needed more
leeway than the criminal division of the WEF had commission to
grant. For something of this magnitude, she had to go to open
forum. “So, if there are no more questions, I suggest we
vote.”
She was
gratified to note that all attendees reached for their control
panel and dug a thumbnail into whichever button they thought most
appropriate. Jackie held no illusions about the result; there
couldn’t be more than a handful of scruples in the room. But she
needed their approval all the same. Without it, UniForce would come
under political fire – something she could ill afford. The results
soon splashed onto the screen behind her. Eighty-nine percent voted
to enact the sanction. Five percent voted against, probably because
of the obscure nature of the request, and six percent failed to
vote.
Perfect.
“Thank you for your careful consideration,” Jackie said,
drawing blood on the inside of her lip to snuff a victorious
smile.
Her high heels clanked on
the platform when she left and the chairman sighed because he had
to stand again. He felt as if he were in the gym, lifting weights
each time he stood.
Jackie had
spent two days concocting the perfect plan, and phase one was now
complete. Next, she had to make a very public example of the
terrorists.
And if I play my cards
right…
Jackie hoped to prove UniForce in the
public arena and use the hype to slingshot her infant security
branch onto centre stage.
Chapter
10
It is only to
the individual that a soul is given.
Albert
Einstein
Saturday
, September
1
8
, 2066
UniForce
Headquarters
1
2
:2
5
San
Francisco, USA
Adrian checked
his watch – it was getting late.
Damn…
He still had so much to do and
time was fast slipping away. He’d promised Jen he would be back in
four hours, so he had only one and a half to spare. He wasn’t
familiar with the layout of UniForce headquarters, he’d only been
there twice, both times with a competent guide. It was quiet on the
weekend, nothing like the hubbub over at PortaNet. But then,
UniForce had a much smaller employee base and fewer reasons to keep
staff working on the weekend. They dealt with apprehensions and
kept the clockwork of sanctions oiled, but those logistics were
nothing compared to PortaNet’s daunting daily regime.
Esteban’s door was
closed. He tapped a polite rhythm with his knuckles and waited
patiently for a response. Nothing happened. He knocked again before
turning the handle and entering. One step into the room, he found
the barrel of a gun pressed firmly to his temple.
“
Jezus fucking
Christ!” Esteban breathed an exasperated sigh of relief. “What the
hell are you doing? I could’ve killed you.”
A shiver of panic
resonated through Adrian’s body. He’d hoped Esteban would be
elsewhere and thought it was cruel for fate to allow his hopes soar
only to dash them on the rocks a few seconds later. “Don’t point
that thing at me.” He gently brushed the barrel of Esteban’s weapon
aside. “What’s got you so nervous?”
“
I’m not
nervous,” Esteban snapped. “I’m just being cautious. Sutherland’s
removed his chip so we won’t know when he leaves
Australia.”
“
Which means
you think he’s here already.” Adrian nodded
understanding.
“
Maybe.”
Esteban clicked the safety on his weapon. “I know he’s using Tedman
Kennedy as an alias. Do you have any idea how many Tedman Kennedy’s
there are?”
“
Lots?”
“
The Kennedy’s
are prolific and seem to have a genetic predisposition for the name
Tedman. There are too damn many to keep track of, and besides, if
he has one false identify he may have more.”
“
Fantastic,”
Adrian drawled, scanning the room and trying to look natural
despite his racing heart. “So the Guild is the safest place to be
then?”
Esteban nodded. “Yeah.
I’m going to wait for him here; he’ll come eventually. What the
jolly-fuck are you doing here anyway? I told you never to come to
my office.”
Adrian’s prefabricated
excuse sounded weak under the circumstances. “We hadn’t heard from
you for ages and wanted to make sure everything was okay.” Another
shimmer of panic passed behind his eyes, temporarily blurring his
vision. With the mounting time pressure, he’d forgotten to
manipulate Junior into corroborating the story. Now, if Esteban
became suspicious and talked to Junior, he’d discover Adrian had
been missing for two hours already. “And we needed beer. We’re
out.” He shrugged. “Under the circumstances it seemed safer to get
it from here rather than Liquor-Time.”