Senescence (Jezebel's Ladder Book 5) (11 page)

“I am. A fully established field is
at least ten meters across. A field capable of destroying LA would be over a hundred
across. Just substitute the word yards for meters. Does that sound right?”

“I suppose. Mr. Parrish?” she said,
glancing at the prosecutor.

The prosecutor flipped through
several screens of information before decreeing. “Close enough. So stipulated.”

“How big was my craft?”

“I don’t know.”

“Guess from your radar image.”

“A small car.”

Definitely prepped. They read
all my testimony to her.
“So my ass would have been how many meters from
the field?”

“Four to eight feet.”

“The cloud was made of what, Captain?”

“Water.”

“I’m mostly water, too. Why didn’t
I explode one meter away?”

“I don’t know.”

“If I admitted that the fields were
smaller, would that solve the problem?”

“Yes.”

“Then by your own testimony, I
didn’t have an Icarus field,” he concluded.

“But you made the cloud explode.”

“That I will agree to, but FAA
rules state that a pilot making an emergency crash landing is liable to the
land owner. Who owns that cloud?”

“Screw. You.”

“Who did I hurt?”

“My plane!”

“Which a better pilot who wasn’t
part of a conspiracy could have saved.”

Enright jumped out of her chair and
shook a fist at Stu. “You and me, right now.”

Two bailiffs had to hold the woman
back.

Stu taunted her again. “If you
still had your sidearm, you’d use it, wouldn’t you?”

“Damn straight!”

Turning to the jury, Stu asked,
“Which of us do you think behaves more like a murderer?”

After excusing the second witness,
Stu sat on his table again. “How would you guys like to get home early for
dinner? Because I can tell you how the final supposed witness is going to go.
He’s going to say that the moiré patterns on my cracked windshield could only
be caused by an Icarus field. I’m going to point out that no established Icarus
field can shut down in less than thirty minutes. How could I have used an Icarus
device on the cloud without it exploding in the ocean a minute later?” Stu let
the jury ponder this for a few moments before answering. “Because the type of
field I employed lasted less than a millisecond, like the spark plug in one of
your gasoline engines. An Icarus field is the equivalent of an atomic weapon.
If you jail me for igniting a spark plug, then every car driver in LA has to be
arrested too. I apologize for using the emergency brakes, but I did so to
save
lives.”

Walking toward the door, Stu said,
“I’m done with this farce. Torture me again if you’re going to, but be honest
with yourselves about your motives. Admit who the real killers are.”

Before dinner, the jury found
insufficient evidence to charge Stewart Llewellyn and dismissed the case.

Red-eyed from crying, Laura
strode from her corporate jet toward the Dublin airport. About halfway to the
terminal, she spotted the other Fortune jet with a staircase leading up to its
open door. Because customs took so long, she decided to avoid passing through
twice.
Maybe the pilot can put me in contact with Hans. He’s not answering
his link.

When
she flashed her ID, the steward at the bottom of the steps escorted her inside.
The entire crew of Ballbusters, except Artemis, was incognito. Laura laughed
for the first time in days. “Let me guess: the customs agent recognized Artemis
and said something that offended her.”

The
huntress grunted an obscenity.

Laura
said, “Didn’t you already do a show from this place? The chief of police
claimed the women in that episode weren’t raped because they’d been drinking.”

“And
he refused to be shamed by our airing of the tape,” Artemis complained. “It’s
worse than that Italian judge who ruled that the woman couldn’t have been raped
because her pants were too tight for the man to remove without help.”

Hans,
disguised in glasses and a lab coat, said, “We could have talked our way
through for the rape-kit show as a medical-equipment sales team. If you’d just
worn the damn burka and let me interpret for you—”

Artemis
flipped him off.

Grant
Thisbe, the Devil’s Advocate, said, “The local officials are claiming that the DNA
equipment we brought isn’t suitable for import for police use because it’s not
properly labeled in both Celtic and English. The whole episode is ruined. We
wasted a week of planning and background. It’s a cluster—” Glancing at Sif, he
paused in his profanity.

With
surprising timidity, Laura whispered, “Maybe we could help each other.”

“You
want a favor?” Artemis guessed.

“It’ll
boost your ratings,” Laura assured.

Several
crew members made raspberries and heckled. Hans stopped them. “Ms. Zeiss has
been a very generous sponsor. We should do her the honor of hearing out her
request.”

“Whore,”
Artemis shouted. “Sellout!”

The
insults struck Laura like a dagger. She began crying anew.

The
nurse, Evangeline, elbowed Artemis on the way by to comfort Mori’s
granddaughter. “Now see what you’ve done, you big bully.”

“I
meant Hans, the big, corporate kiss-ass,” Artemis said.

Grant
patted the director on the back. “Hey, at least she calls you a
big
prick.”

This
made Laura giggle. “Stop it, you guys. I’m serious. I screwed something up badly,
and I need your help.”

People
threw wadded-up barf bags at Artemis until she said, “Fine. What did you do?”

“I
offended a unicorn,” she replied, sitting on the edge of a seat. “This guy was
home-schooled by his mom and a dozen astronauts for eighteen years. He’s the
sweetest, most earnest freak you’ll ever meet, and he’d be perfect for your
show.”

“Astronaut?”
asked Grant. “
The
astronaut? Ambassador Llewellyn?”

Nodding,
Laura said, “He wants to make a difference like you do … and see the world. His
membership on your panel could boost ratings by 10 percent. Governments watch
his offhand speeches, hoping to learn something about
Sanctuary
.

“The
UN won’t have the hearing on
Sanctuary’s
request to be recognized as a
nation for at least another three weeks. I need you all to help keep him alive
until then.” She looked down. “For me.”

With
an arm around Laura, Evangeline asked, “What did you do to him, hon’?”

Laura
covered her face. “Mostly, I gave him mono or something … from another guy.”

“Ooo,”
Artemis said with a wicked smile. “In bed, together?”

“No.
He refuses to have sex with anyone but the woman he marries,” Laura said.

“You’re
joking,” Artemis said.

This
time, Grant elbowed the huntress. “We’d be glad to help. It’s a sound business
decision.”

Several
others, including the director, agreed.

“Where
can we find him?” asked Artemis, resigned.

“Today
he’s visiting the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. Tomorrow afternoon, he’ll be at
the San Diego Zoo. He’s never seen animals in captivity before.” Laura blotted
at her eyelids. “I wish I could be there to cushion the blow about the rhinos.”

Evangeline
patted Laura’s back, glaring at her girlfriend for starting the waterworks
again. “It’s okay, girl. We’ll protect him. Maybe we’ll even arrange for the
two of you to run into each other again.”

“You
think that would be possible?” Laura asked.

Grant
gazed at Sif from across the plane. “You have to hold out hope.”

Artemis
whispered into Hans’ ear. “Zeiss could be manipulating us all with Empathy.
Even I want to freaking cry, and that never happens.”

Hans
sighed. “I’ll call Ms. Hollis and ask permission.” He texted the LA number with
the subject line Stewart Llewellyn Ride Along.

“It
may take a few hours or even days before she replies. Mira’s a busy—” His cuff
dinged, and he blinked at the reply. “Board-level authorization. The Golden
Goose approved the idea. Because he is a significant stockholder and asset of
Fortune Enterprises, this kid is our new priority.”

Laura
wrinkled her brow at the stockholder comment and did a subtle search on the
topic.

The
CEO’s former bodyguard, Freya, spoke. “If that bitch thinks we’re going to drop
everything and cater to some tourist, she is sadly—”

Hans
interrupted, “She’s offered us carte blanche.”

“I’ve
always wanted to meet a man from outer space,” Freya finished.

“Whore.
Sellout,” Hans said with a chuckle.

Freya
punched him in the shoulder. “I won’t be able to hear your jealous whining in
the soundproof Mercedes I’ll be renting to drive to the zoo.”

Reading
her wrist, Laura discovered something her grandfather had neglected to mention.
The man he had ordered her to sleep with and offend possessed her birthright.
Nobody had told her that Conrad Zeiss had willed his share of Fortune
Enterprises to any child born after his departure. The company bylaws even had
a name for the bundle used to break ties—the conscience vote.
Damn the old
man. He’s controlled billions in my name for years.
When Laura had signed
her employment contract, she had agreed to allow Tetsuo Mori to vote inherited
shares in exchange for her free room and board, medical treatment,
transportation, and bodyguards.
I thought those shares were Mom’s measly
stock options. This is 2 percent of the most profitable company on the planet.

According
to the media, Stewart now held those shares instead. After her promiscuity had endangered
his life, the crew of
Sanctuary
wouldn’t return those shares to her
keeping. By sending her on this mission, Mori had prevented her from ever holding
her rightful power and wealth. She tried to work out a way that she could
regain control of her own legacy.
According to the will, I inherited
everything when Dad was declared dead. Even if he’s still alive, as a convicted
criminal, he’s not allowed to profit from his crimes. Conrad Zeiss didn’t have
the legal right to assign those shares to Stewart. I could have Stewart’s proxy
invalidated before the next board meeting.
A quick search of public court
filings revealed that her grandfather had already filed the very same paperwork.

As
an afterthought, Laura asked the Ballbusters crew, “Do you think I could get a
job on the crew and a disguise so I could be near him?”

Evangeline
said, “Oh, honey. You’ve got it bad.” She considered for a moment. “It has to
look like he was sucked into a sting accidentally. You know, like when we run
morality checks on politicians and off-duty cops. We’ll film a day of the same sting
in other bars to shore up our alibi.”

“How
do we accidentally meet him at the zoo?”

The
nurse gave her best innocent look. “The Naval Medical Center and several
tourist attractions are also in Balboa Park. The Tar Pit bar has a VIP party room
where you can smoke cigars.”

Hans
said, “Great. We’ll run the standard gag where some guy coerces an extremely
drunk woman into leaving with him. She’ll say no several times, but the actor
will insist. We’ll record Stewart’s reaction to the situation and see if he
intervenes to prevent the rape. Laura, you can come along, but we’ll need to
change your look.”

Plucking
her brown contacts out, Laura revealed her natural blue eyes. “How’s this?”

“Wow,”
Evangeline said. “Quite a start.”

“Why
do you need contacts?” asked Hans.

“They’re
designed to interface with an electron microscope when I check DNA splices.”

“Sounds
like you’ll fit in fine with a techie disguise,” Evangeline said. “We’ll dye your
hair blonde and trim it to make you look even yummier. Maybe we can get him to
fall for you without knowing you have billions.”

Grant
shook his head. “If he liked you enough to kiss you, he’ll still recognize you.
The makeup team will need to work you over. We may even want to film the
transformation.”

Laura
grinned impishly. “This sounds like a Shakespeare play.” She stepped to the
door. “I’ll bring my mom and the luggage over. Thank you so much!”

In
a manner of minutes, she was clipping her seatbelt on the Ballbusters plane,
waiting to return to the US.

****

The long flight gave the
crew plenty of time to film Laura’s makeover. Jealous of the attention
Evangeline was lavishing on the event, Artemis sulked in her bunk, refusing to
participate. After the hair dresser gave Laura a clip and a new color, the
special-effects man tucked subtle implants into her mouth to change the contour
of her cheeks. “These are Freya’s spare shapers. Holy crap, you could pass for
her daughter.”

Freya
glared at the stylist. “I’m not that old.”

Ever
the diplomat, Hans switched topics. “She needs a stage name.”

Seeing
her bold, new look, Laura used her middle name. “Salome.”

Evangeline
laughed. “What? You belly dance?”

“I’ve
been professionally trained,” she replied.
Well enough to overcome
any man’s resolve.

Kaguya provided the crown jewel of
the disguise. As a former musician and inventor of voice sculpting, she gave
her daughter a choker necklace, plus a module for her back molar implants. The
electronic interference blurred the edges of Laura’s voice, giving her what the
team called a “whiskey edge.”

“Very sexy,” Evangeline said, with
a hint of lust.

Kaguya warned, “If you’re within a
meter, someone who knows you might be able to detect the modification.”

Evangeline chuckled throatily.
“Honey, if that boy gets within a meter, she’s not going to be talking. He’ll
be hooked.”