“Hello, Doctor. You’re looking particularly well for a dead woman.”
CHAPTER 10: INTERVIEWS WITH A TYRANT
“I’d love to know how they talked him into going down there in the first place. Probably cashed in a lot of favors for that little jaunt.”
--Director Carceri, director of the Icon City MRB branch
“TO MISQUOTE SAMUEL CLEMENS, REPORTS OF HER DEATH WERE GREATLY EXAGGERATED.”
A flash of teeth. He looked... ordinary. A thin man in a simple black suit, wearing a bowler hat. Blonde, curly hair spilled out from under the bowler, and his face was sharp and narrow and flat, a knife wrought of flesh. Especially with that grin, that slightly unhinged grin that mocked as it writhed. The hat shadowed his face, just a bit. I could barely make out eyes on the tiny hologram.
“Bravo, then. Rather convincing, with the whole headless body left behind. And the DNA matching prior samples obtained earlier.” A faint accent underlay his words. British, I thought? Yes, something from that vicinity.
But what the devil was he talking about? A headless body? Nothing like that had happened. I reached up to rub my forehead, as my brain ached. Stopped when I remembered I was in armor.
“WELL, SHE DOES HER BEST,” I said, stalling for time.
“You can drop the third-person here if you prefer, Doctor. We’re alone on this link, I’ve taken pains to make it so.”
“PAINS THAT INCLUDED SENDING ONE OF YOUR MINIONS INTO HER OFFICE UNBIDDEN. TRESPASSING IS NOT AN AUSPICIOUS WAY TO OPEN NEGOTIATIONS.” Stab in the dark, that one, but I thought I had the right of it.
He spread his hands, as he bowed, slightly. “Alas, one does what one must. Time constraints necessitated... intrusive measures.”
“AND WHAT IS YOUR NAME, INTRUDER?”
“You may call me Maestro M. I’m a... foreign investor, of sorts.”
“WELL THEN, YOU’VE GONE TO A LOT OF TROUBLE TO GET HER PERMISSION TO INVEST IN MARIPOSA. GO SEE HER MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR, THAT’S ONE OF HIS JOBS.”
A flash of irritation, his grin wavering into an annoyed sneer, as hatred filled his eyes. Or perhaps I was imagining things, as he chuckled, and squared his feet, hands clasped behind his back.
“I’m afraid you quite misunderstand me. I already have holdings and business upon Mariposa’s shores, and you won’t find any of them listed in the Ministry’s records. Nor will you ever.”
“YOU UNDERESTIMATE HER INVESTIGATIVE POTENTIAL.”
“Not at all. Rather, I question the need for it. And I offer a bargain.”
“SHE’S LISTENING. FOR NOW.”
“Well then I’ll get straight to the point, shall I? The organization that I represent, as well as others I conduct business with, paid Presidente Corazon a great deal of money in order to do business upon Mariposan soil with no interruptions, investigations, or harassment. Our business is clean, quiet, and has thus far been entirely operating in the shadows. We would like to keep it that way.”
“AND THE NATURE OF YOUR BUSINESS?”
“I’m quite afraid that I can’t say. Part of the deal, you understand. Deniability for us, profit for you.”
“CORAZON NEVER ASKED?”
“He knew better than to do so.”
A subtle threat.
“AND HE NEVER ONCE TRIED TO INVESTIGATE YOU?”
“Ah, I never said that.” Maestro M’s grin widened. “But after losing enough good men on a fool’s errand, he decided that the money was good enough to avoid caring.”
I decided to try fishing. “AND YET HE FOUND ENOUGH THAT YOU HAD YOUR INVISIBLE ASSASSIN TAKE THE SHOT AGAINST HIM.”
For a second he stared, dumbfounded. “You think we... hahaha. Ah, no. No, that wasn’t us. Invisible assassin, you say? Not too many of those around. Ah, that clears up a little of my confusion. You didn’t mean to kill him, did you?” He tipped his hat, revealing more curls. “My compliments on your acting skills. Must have come as quite a shock when his brains blew across your mask.”
“IF NOT YOU, THEN WHO?” I wondered aloud.
He considered me, rubbing a finger along his cheek as he thought. “Who indeed? We could look into that. For a concession, of course. Call them mutual acts of goodwill.”
“THAT CONCESSION BEING?”
“There's a hero, that has caused me some trouble before. His name is Acertijo, and I expect he'll be no end of bother for you, as well. Deliver him to me, should be an easy feat for you, hm?”
“PASS. WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT?”
To his credit he didn't hesitate. “The agent that I used to get this hologram emitter into position... I’d prefer it if he wasn’t punished. One of my best men, you understand. Done me well in the past, I’d rather he continued to do so in the future.”
“DONE,” I agreed without hesitation.
Maestro M bowed again. “Then as a sign of my goodwill, and the goodwill of my allies and compatriots, we’ll look into this matter of an invisible sniper for you. Ta, dear Doctor Dire. I’ll phone once I’ve got information for you.”
And the hologram disappeared. I shut the briefcase, and considered it for a long moment. Behind me, I heard Alpha wink into existence.
“There’s no way in hell you can trust that guy,” he said.
“CORRECT.” Dealing with other supervillains was always problematic. Most of them were villains for a reason, often a very bad one. I’d made the mistake of clasping one to my bosom before, projecting upon her a friendship and goodwill that wasn’t reciprocated. In the end she’d gotten a better offer to betray me, and taken it. This man... he didn’t seem like a better risk than she had been.
“So what do we do about him?”
“DO?” I considered Alpha for a moment. “NOT A THING.”
“But...”
“WE’RE ALREADY RESHAPING THE PALACE INFRASTRUCTURE AND ELECTRONICS BIT BY BIT. THE FACT THAT YOU NOTICED THE GUARD’S ENTRY IS TESTAMENT TO THE INCREASED SECURITY THERE. ASIDE FROM THAT, WE CONTINUE OPERATING LIKE WE WOULD IF THE MAESTRO HADN’T REVEALED HIMSELF. PERHAPS HE’LL TURN UP SOMETHING USEFUL.”
“And how can we trust a word he says?”
“WE CAN’T. BUT IN NAMING THE CULPRIT, HE’LL REVEAL HIS OWN INTERESTS, WHICH IN TURN WILL GIVE US A CLUE ABOUT HIS OWN GOALS AND OPERATIONS.”
“So you’re going to leave the guard alone, then? Uphold your end of the bargain?”
I laughed. “OF COURSE. HE PLACES NO VALUE UPON THE GUARD. LOSING THAT ASSET WOULD NOT HINDER HIM IN THE LEAST.”
“Then why did he even ask?”
“TO MISLEAD DIRE. MAKE HER THINK THE GUARD WAS MEANINGFUL.”
“My head hurts.”
“YOU DON’T ACTUALLY HAVE ONE OF THOSE.”
“Fine, my code aches.”
“IF YOU’VE GOT A BAD CODE YOU SHOULD REST UP AND GET PLENTY OF FLUIDS.”
His groan made me laugh even louder, on my way to the bedroom. Finally I decanted from the armor, and considered my last few tubes of nutrient paste. “Running low on these. Going to have to start eating local food soon.”
“You haven’t been?”
“A bite here or there. Had to spend a lot of time in the armor. That changes tomorrow, thankfully.” I looked out the window, at the billowing clouds of gray that I was using to smoke the city. “Sadly, the timing’s bad. The people should be annoyed enough that poison becomes a possibility. Going to need a food taster. Ask Spetta to handle that discretely, would you?”
“Sure.”
“Ah, wait... also tell Ricio to move on Malo Verde immediately once his men are finished gearing up. It’s time to put some pressure on the rebels up North.”
This would test their mettle. If Damiano and his boys could tackle my army with the glaring flaws that I’d given it, then they’d be ready to handle taking over the country. If not, then they still had one more city to fall back to. I’d just have to keep overextending and be ready for an epic ‘fight’ when they finally moved on me.
But in the meantime, it was business
as usual. Doing more to get the populace to hating me as a horrible dictator, and preparing them for a less tyrannical form of government. It was kind of a reverse Machiavelli play, setting myself up to fail for the sake of puffing up the next Presidente.
Just had to make sure he or she was a good one. If not Damiano, then another rebel would suffice, so long as their heart was in the right place. Speaking of things being in the right place...
“Oh, and help Dire find some clothes, will you? She’s got an interview tomorrow.”
“Say what now?”
The next morning, bright and early, I smiled at Señorita Spetta from the other side of the office desk. I’d had to wake up early to sneak out of the fort via one of its escape tunnels, get to a safe point in the city, change into a business outfit, and bus in to my appointed interview at the Palace.
“So... Dorothy Gale?”
I nodded. “And you are?”
“Maria Spetta. It says here you were with the Peace Corps for the last half year.”
“Yes. Had to evacuate to the city when the rebels occupied our posting. It was all very frightening.” That was technically true.
“And it says here that you are fluent in many languages?”
“Six,” I lied. It was more like twenty. Super-genius, as it turned out, was an awesome shortcut for learning living languages. Had some trouble with the dead ones. Never quite sure if I was getting the pronunciation right, and the uncertainty irked my sense of perfection.
The rest of the interview proceeded apace, and at the end of it Spetta shook my hand, and took me around the palace to show me my work area. At one point I passed my own suit stomping by, loudly talking with General Ricio over the radio. Alpha was piloting that, for a change.
The biggest benefit for me, at the end of it all, was getting to have a proper lunch break in total anonymity. My usual mode of transportation precluded that, and had been a hindrance in investigating the city. I’d wanted to test the mood, hit the streets and see how people were doing, but I couldn’t do that while I was armored up. It was one of those cases where the experiment could not be conducted without influencing the outcome.
So I took in tapas at a small local cafe, enjoying the rich food. The windows were tightly shut and newly-sealed with plastic wrap to keep out the worst of the smoke, but the conversations were loud and boisterous, and I eavesdropped shamelessly, pretending to read a magazine I’d bought from a news stand on my way over.
They didn’t know what to make of me. Dire was a mystery to them. She’d come out of nowhere, usurped power from Corazon, but... well, I hadn’t ordered a single execution. And the midnight secret police raids had stopped. And taxes hadn’t gone up. Sure, I’d filled the capital with smoke, and that was worrisome, but it was for the weapons to fight the rebels, and they didn’t like the rebels too much. Especially after how they’d shot up the Barrio del Agua.
Disturbed, I sipped my coffee. I was being as oppressive and threatening as I could, without actually killing anyone or disrupting their lives more than I had to. And that was the problem, wasn’t it? They’d lived with the real deal for so long that my act wasn’t convincing enough. More to the point, the rebels didn’t have anywhere near the support that I thought they had. Not in this neighborhood, anyway. True, some of their supporters wouldn’t be talking openly in a place like this. Maybe there was hope.
I needed to change plans. Adjust them. And I wasn’t sure how I could do that without committing actual atrocities.
For a second I actually contemplated it, and then waves of disgust rolled up from my gut, and I nearly threw up all the delicious food I’d just eaten. What the fuck? What the fucking fuck? Here I’d told myself that I wouldn’t come charging in like some idiotic big white savior, here I’d told others and myself repeatedly that I wouldn’t be assuming that I understood their struggle or their hardships from a mere few months of observation, and now I was planning how best to manipulate and torment them?
These were not stupid people. These were just people who had the bad luck to be dominated by a Cold War monster who’d pretty much rendered himself indestructible through the combination of his ruthlessness and the unwavering support of the biggest superpower in the world.
Well, the biggest superpower above the ocean. I doubted Atlantis cared much about what went on up here in this particular spot.
But the fact was that I needed to up my game plan, needed to make myself look more monstrous and drum up support for the rebels so that they could depose me and take over. Without making people dead, or torturing them, or sending them to be raped by paying customers, or any of the other horrible brutalities that Corazon had visited upon them.
It was in that moment, contemplating the unthinkable, and wondering just how far I’d fallen that atrocities were tempting, that I saw Mitch for the first time in days.
He was wearing a white suit, leaning back in his chair on the deck outside. The only one outside, with the smoke billowing as it was. I almost didn’t recognize him, he had a dust mask over his face and mouth. But something about the way he moved jogged my memory, and when he turned his face to look at me, I knew he’d seen me first. Those eyes were wary above his mask, warier still when I took my lunch outside, and sat down across from him.
“Dorothy.”
“Mitch.” I turned to keep the wind at my back, keep the worst of the smoke off my face. “Smart move with the mask. Should probably invest in one of those.”
“I’d recommend getting one while you can, the price is only going to go up on them the longer you wait.” He twitched the mask aside, pulled a cigarette from his breast pocket, and offered it to me. I declined with a slight shake of my head, and he shrugged and lit it up for himself.
“Is everyone all right?” I asked.
“Last time I saw them, yes, more or less. Escala’s kid lost a hand, but I she mentioned something about you being there for that. Also mentioned something about you blasting down soldiers with golden light, but she was a little incoherent, I’m afraid. And my grasp of the lingo’s imperfect as is, so I could have misheard a few things.”
“She was correct. Had a one shot weapon from... the boss.”
“Would that be the same boss that’s currently squatting in the palace and stinking up Mariposan airspace?”
I shook my head. “Wasn’t working for her before today,” Technically true. “But thanks to acing an interview an hour ago, you’re looking at her new admin assistant and possible head of diplomatic protocol.”
Mitch’s eyes widened, and narrowed just as quickly. Again, I could almost see the gears turning behind his eyes. It was a dangerous game I was playing here, given his capabilities, and given who he represented. But the gains outweighed the risks, at least for the moment.
“Dorothy, I’m going to be honest with you,” he said, taking a swallow from his martini, “you’re in a hell of a lot of danger.”
“True.”
“Do you have an evac route planned?”
“Yes.” Though a lot of it was going to need to be adjusted on the fly, depending on when the rebels finally got their act together.
“Want another?”
I glanced around. We were alone in the smoke. Almost made the constant tickle in the back of my throat worthwhile. “Might be interested. Couldn’t hurt. What would you like in exchange for it?”
Mitch smiled. “I’ve got to admit it’s nice dealing with professionals for a change. Simply put, I want information. Specific information.”
“About what?”
He studied me, took another long pull of his cigarette. The smoke trickled from between his teeth, joined the gray morass that I’d imposed upon the city. I met his eyes without flinching.
And finally he came to a decision. “I want to know if she starts making plans to survey or investigate any of the hills in Central Mariposa.”
“There are a lot of hills in Central Mariposa.”
“Nonetheless.”
“Can you be mo
re specific?”
“I’m afraid not.” He took another pull, then ground the cigarette out in an ashtray.
I considered the request. Didn’t see any harm in it. Didn’t see any reason to go surveying hills right now. “All right. If that happens... can probably let you know. Guessing you want specifics on the where and when and how and all that?”
His smile was much warmer. “Got it in one. Here.” He pulled a blank card from his jacket pocket, wrote an address on it. “Stop by and drop off any information in a simple unmarked envelope. And if you need an evacuation through me, then mention the words ‘a new leaf’ in your conversation with the proprietor, and wait until I show up. Do you understand? Will you remember?”
I smiled back. “Easily. Now seriously, how is everyone?”
“Benny and Mary are in a hotel, waiting to be evacuated.”
“Oh. That’s a shame.”
“There’s a ticket with your name on it too, but you’d disappeared. It’s still good, if you ever want to formally reappear.”
I sucked my teeth. Bad idea. The Peace Corps would have questions, even if the CIA didn’t grab me on the way into the country. “Pretty sure the arranged evac is smoother.”
“Probably, given... your actual employer. Who’s got me really goddamn curious, but that’s neither here nor there.”
“Precisely. Colleen?”
“She’s fine. She notified the people she needed to notify when things went down. Oh, and you've got her thanks, for helping to save Escala.”
“Speaking of that, where are they now?”
“They left with the rebels, like most of the Chamis.”
“The Chamis joined the rebels?” I squinted. “Why? The rebels brought the army down on them.”
“Damned if I know. They were probably afraid that the army would send in more troops, go back for a second try. Your new boss put a cork in that idea, though. Pretty convenient, actually.”
I shrugged. “Don’t really know the particulars. Haven’t talked to her much yet. She’s rather to the point and very shouty about everything.”
Dire : Wars (The Dire Saga Book 4) Page 16