by Heskett, Jim
“What’s that?” Zach said.
“A job offer. It’s time to stop flirting and get down to business. The contract is two years on-site in Rancho Cordova. Your salary is one million a year plus a relocation stipend. After ninety days, you gain access to health, dental, and company car.”
Despite everything Zach knew, he couldn’t help but feel astounded. “A million dollars a year?”
“For the first two, as per the contact. And that ninety day thing? Don’t worry about it. We just have to put that on paper for the HR people, but we’ll set you up for success from day one. Your secretary will make sure you get whatever doctor or dentist appointments you need and we fiddle with the dates after the fact to make the insurance people happy.”
“My secretary?”
The Firedrake man ignored the question. “Naturally, we will renegotiate salary near the end of your second year. If your work helps us get to our goal, I could see you getting upwards of a million-five after that. It’s all dependent on outcomes, of course. We’re not running a charity.”
“What are you running?”
Thomas donned a wincing smile. “I know you have all manner of crazy theories bouncing around in your head. I know you think I’m some sort of G-Man in a suit, implanting microchips in peoples’ brains or other science-fiction stuff like that. I’m anything but. If you sign this job offer, then you’ll find out soon enough I’m here to make your dreams come true, Zach. Firedrake wants to save lives. We have a groundbreaking, life-saving technology developed by one of the sister companies in our portfolio. It involves a trial in Africa, as well as a component in a national park in the US. The national park part isn’t under your purview, but you might hear things about it. It’s going to be big. It’s going to get people’s attention. And it could also fail horribly. That’s partly why it’s such a generous offer — and why we’ll require subtlety and discretion.”
“What happens if the big thing fails?”
“We might miss out on our opportunity. That’s why we need you, Zach. We need you to develop a robust and well-tested alternative. I have concerns about some of my colleagues, that they might pervert our philanthropic plans for their own gains.”
“You’re not making it sound like a company with a bright future.”
Thomas frowned. “On the contrary. With people like you as key contributors, we will knock this one out of the park. I’m sure of it.” Thomas took a hefty pen from his briefcase. “Your lab coworker Wanda has already accepted and is in the process of moving, as we speak. She starts real work on Monday.”
Zach took the pen and turned it over in his hands, finding a tiny storage of courage from somewhere deep inside. He pushed away the dollar signs lingering behind his eyes and addressed the elephant in the room. “I think you tried to have my girlfriend killed.”
“That’s ridiculous. Why on earth would I do that? We’re a family company, Zach. If your partner is interested in relocating with you, we can help connect her with the best headhunters in California to find work for her, as well. It’s part of our holistic approach.”
Zach realized he knew almost nothing about this supposed attack on Ember from a few days ago, other than what she had said. The surprise on Thomas’ face seemed genuine.
But he had to remember, these were the same people who dropped a folder full of child porn pictures in his kitchen after he’d poked his nose somewhere they thought didn’t belong. And again, that in itself was conjecture. He had no proof they had been the ones to do it.
“Did you beat up my roommate and force him to move out of our apartment?”
Thomas chuckled. “Now I feel like you’re just teasing me. We’re not what you think, Zach. We’re a force for good in the world. Nothing else. But how will you know for sure until you step off the plane in California and give us a chance to prove it to you?”
Zach looked over to Helmut, standing as still as a statue, hands clasped over his waist as a light breeze ruffled the bottom flaps of his suit coat.
Thomas pointed at the pen. “Don’t miss out. Don’t make a mistake you’ll regret for the rest of your professional career.”
Zach pushed air through his nose, feeling lightheaded.
“If you walk away from this bench,” Thomas said, jaw clenched behind his fake smile, “the offer is null and void.”
Zach swallowed, his heart thumping. He handed the pen back to Thomas, stood up, and then marched toward the sidewalk.
Chapter Eleven
EMBER
Ember spent the morning poring over Niles’ notebooks in a private office in a coworking building in Louisville, just outside of Boulder. She hadn’t known him well, but the inside of his mind turned out to be a fascinating place. So much anger, so much resentment toward everyone and everything. Niles had kept detailed accounts of his contracts, something forbidden by the Club bylaws.
Six months ago, Niles had taken on what Ember referred to as a “corporate contract.” He had been tasked with a scare job in Seattle. A man there had cold feet about completing a massive tech merger, and the company on the other end of the deal had hired Niles to terrorize this man’s wife to make sure he would go through with it and sign on the dotted line. Except Niles had gotten carried away and had killed the woman in question. The then-widowed man took the hint and signed the deal, so the person who’d hired Niles considered the contract completed in full. Never mind that an innocent civilian had been needlessly killed.
“You were a full-on piece of shit, Niles,” Ember mumbled as she turned the next page in his notebook.
He had dozens of accounts like this. All the way up until his last contract, the one that put him on a course to collide with Ember that night in Rocky Mountain National Park. No notes at all about that one, which didn’t help Ember. What had been his goal that night in the park? Did he really have cancer and hope to go out with a bang? Something big that might invigorate his Branch into starting a war with the other Branches? Or was it simply a careless clerical error that had put both Ember and Niles on the same contract?
Not knowing gave Ember a rumble of queasiness in her stomach.
She sighed and flipped to the next page, a hand-sketched blueprint of the Westminster Post Office. There was nothing in any of these notebooks that had constituted explicit evidence Five Points was planning to launch a war against any other Branch, but there were plenty of circumstantial nuggets leaning in that direction. Lots of theoretical plans and data collected on the strengths and weaknesses of the other five Branches.
Ember didn’t know what would happen if she turned all of this over to President Wellner and the Review Board. Maybe nothing, maybe a lockdown on the Branches. There had to be some obscure bylaw to direct them how to handle a potential civil war like this. Or, maybe, as per the usual complete and total unpredictability of the Board, they would shrug and order the notebooks to be destroyed because of the illicit notes Niles kept about the contracts.
Ember heard a car door shut, and she stood to glance out her south-facing window. All morning, she’d had eyes out for a Latina woman who matched Ember’s other physical attributes. According to Isabel Yang, this woman—Serena Rojas—was sent on a mission to kill Ember, hired by Marcus Lonsdale. As if Ember needed another complication to distract her.
The person exiting the car in the parking lot was a heavyset white guy. Not a contract killer coming after her, most likely. If this Serena person was as good as Ember suspected, she wouldn’t park in the front lot, anyway.
No, Ember expected she wouldn’t see her coming.
Still, Ember kept her Nighthawk Enforcer pistols within reach at all times. If she had to use them, then everything would change. Playing these games in the world of the Denver Assassins Club was one thing; killing an assassin drew no attention, since they were people mostly invisible to society. This Serena Rojas person probably wasn’t like that.
Ember sighed and lifted her phone from the table, then placed a call.
“Hey,” Za
ch said.
“Afternoon. You keeping yourself busy?”
“Um, yeah.”
Ember tapped her teeth together a couple times. Something in his voice didn’t sound right. “You okay?”
“Sure. I’m good.”
“You’re not still at the motel, are you?”
“No, I went out to do a couple things. I had to see my advisor, to see if I could salvage my semester.”
“In person? Do you think that was a smart move?”
He grunted, and she could picture his cute face all scrunched up and angry. “Maybe not, but I can’t sit around like a dog waiting for you to come home after work.”
“Ouch. That’s not what I think about you.”
“Okay, that was harsh. I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry, Zach. It’s… it’s been a weird week. Three weeks. Hell, I don’t even know anymore.”
“Everything is so frustrating. I can’t believe this is my life.”
“I know how you feel. There’s so much going on right now, I would rest a lot easier if I knew where you were. If I knew you were safe and somewhere they can’t get to you.”
“I’m starting to think a place like that doesn’t exist.”
Ember sighed. “There is a way to get out from underneath all of this. I don’t know what it is yet, but I’m working on it.” She resisted the urge to add, it’s one of about a half-dozen other life-and-death things I’m working on at the moment.
“For right now,” he said, “I’m safe. I’m on my way back to the motel. I can’t promise you I’ll stay there. Despite everything going on, I can’t grind my life to a complete halt.”
Ember tightened her grip on the phone and let out a labored breath. Maybe Ember could have Fagan keep someone on Zach, watching out for him? That would mean she would have to tell Fagan all about him, which would not be a pleasant conversation. Maybe it was one she needed to have, though. His safety was more important than a stern look or a lecture from her mentor.
“I understand. I disagree, but I understand. I miss you.”
“I miss you, too.”
“Just stay in touch with me, okay?”
He hesitated a moment. “Okay.”
“I’m going to see you soon. I promise.”
Zach mumbled something and ended the call, and Ember frowned at the dark screen on her phone. She owed Zach a lot more than she was giving him, but she didn’t know how to keep all these bowling pins in the air. He had living, dynamic thoughts and feelings, not a movie she could pause and unpause whenever she felt like it.
She had to do better. Be a better girlfriend. Be a better protector. A better communicator.
Her phone lit up with a message from Fagan:
Still working on former addresses for Niles. Nothing yet.
“Damn,” Ember said, pursing her lips. If they didn’t find out where else Niles had lived soon, the next bomb could go off.
Chapter Twelve
ISABEL
The FBI Agent strutted out the front door of Illegal Pete’s with a Big Fish burrito. She knew it was terrible. She knew she was carrying an entire day’s worth of calories wrapped in foil. She knew this was the fourth one she had purchased since she had started the back-and-forth trips to Colorado about a month ago.
Also, she didn’t care. The Big Fish was amazing, and it was the only thing managing her stress level right now. She wasn’t much of a drinker, and she had no desire to partake in any of Colorado’s legal weed trade. On or off-duty. So, she would mow down this burrito like it had offended her somehow, and then pat her swollen belly when it was done.
She turned to the left of the brick building, up 15th Street, since there was no parking on this part of the Pearl Street Outdoor Mall. The side street led to an incline, parking meters and generic holiday decorations. A neighborhood full of small but expensive old-money houses sat one block beyond the shopping district of Pearl Street.
Another small side effect of these frequent visits out west: she had become enamored with this little college town of Boulder in a way she hadn’t expected. Isabel thought about her former mentor, Jacob, encouraging her to flee DC and take a job in a field office. Maybe Colorado could become a suitable landing spot for her. Once this current mess was all over, of course.
Five steps up the sidewalk, she sensed something was wrong.
The woman emerged from the back alley of the restaurant and into the path of the sidewalk. Dark hair, dark eyes, dark jacket. Serena Rojas. Thirty feet in front of Isabel, head down, approaching in a slow but deliberate manner.
Isabel spread her feet to establish her balance. She kept her left hand on her burrito and reached one back toward her service weapon. Before she could get a grip on it, Serena lifted her hands into the air, palms facing forward. She didn’t stop, though, and kept moving in her direction. Her steps were even and careful.
There were other pedestrians out at dusk right now, shuffling about the walking mall, getting into cars parked along the curbs, doing other pedestrian things. No one had yet paid any attention to these two women, as they probably didn’t outwardly appear to be the types who had the power to light up the street with gunfire.
“I just want to talk,” Serena said as she drew within ten feet and stopped. “Please don’t do anything rash.”
Isabel lowered the hem of her jacket and let her free hand dangle to her side. She tilted her head toward the brick side of Illegal Pete’s and took a step over so she was under the awning. Serena, hands still up, shifted forward to join her. They had at least thirty feet of buffer between them and the nearest civilian.
“I expect you’re angry with me,” Isabel said.
Serena’s eyebrows raised. “Not only did you stop me from accomplishing my mission in Lyons last week, you had me arrested. Getting out of that was not easy. In my line of work, keeping a low profile is probably the most important thing I can do on a daily basis. Going to jail in Colorado makes that hard for me, understand?”
“I had to do it because you wouldn’t listen to reason. My boss Marcus wants Ember dead. I can’t let that happen. There’s a lot more going on here than you know about, and if you don’t slow down, you won’t see it.”
Serena shook her head. “None of this is my problem.”
“You can stick with that 'I’m the hammer, not the person swinging it' argument, or you can listen to me. Actually listen, not like you did in the park last week. Like a human would, not this whole Matrix-style robot thing you’re desperately trying to pull off.”
The discussion last week hadn’t gone any better than this current one. Isabel, Serena, and Layne Parrish—Ember’s condo neighbor—talking in a blizzard-drenched park across town. That meeting had been brief, tense, and had ended with no resolution. Yet Isabel still surprised herself by how angry she’d become. This entire case had felt overwhelming, on the verge of impossible.
And now it occurred to Isabel that Ember still had no idea who Layne actually was. Isabel hadn’t thought of bringing it up yesterday when speaking with the former FBI Agent at her condo during Ember’s surprise sneak-attack act of contrition.
“Okay,” Serena said. “You were clever enough to get the drop on me, so I respect that. It’s earned you a couple minutes of my time. What is it you want me to listen to?”
Isabel leaned a little closer and lowered her voice. “Ember Clarke’s real name is Allison Campbell, and she’s been on an undercover assignment for the FBI for the last three years. That part, you probably already knew. But what you didn’t know is that Ember and Marcus had an affair a few years ago, and he’s been pining for her ever since. At least, that’s my theory. It’s hard to put anything concrete on him. Marcus is very careful, and he’s extremely well-liked in just about every social circle in Washington.”
Serena narrowed her eyes. “That’s not nothing, but it’s not exactly something, either.”
“There’s a reason why the FBI at large doesn’t know about this operation. There’s a reason wh
y Marcus won’t force Ember to come back, even though he could, or simply have her arrested and charged. There’s a reason why he tasked me with that job… partly because he knew I would fail. He just didn’t expect I would ferret out that he has an ulterior motive. He thought Ember’s management would wither and die with me at the helm.”
“Okay, so what is this devious motive? Are you sure he’s still hung up on her? She rejected his advances after realizing that hooking up with him was a mistake. That’s not a surprise. I’d probably regret sleeping with him, too. Then she came out here to live by the mountains, and now he wants her out of the picture, if he can’t have her? Is that what you’re saying?”
“I don’t know how it connects. I’m working on it. I mean, it could be as simple as that. I think his marriage ended over their affair. It could have wrecked his FBI career, but he survived it somehow. I’m trying to follow the money to find a financial angle, but it hasn’t gotten me anywhere yet.”
Serena frowned and crossed her arms. “I’m not sure if I buy it. He seemed like a straight shooter to me.”
“I’m just asking you to give me time. That’s all. Just back off for a little while so I can sort things out.”
“In a perfect world, Agent Yang, what would you have me do?”
“Help me. You can understand that I don’t have the resources of the FBI at my disposal when I suspect my boss of inappropriate behavior. There’s not a person in the Bureau I can talk to about any of this because he’s so well-connected, he may as well have his picture up in the lobby of the Hoover building.”
“I’ve known powerful men like that,” Serena said. “They build up a wall of credibility and social proof, then it makes them nearly invincible.”
“Exactly. I had one friend on my side, a retired agent, but he’s fallen ill and can’t help me at the moment. And I’m out here in Boulder, trying to keep tabs on you. There’s not much investigative work I can do on Marcus Lonsdale. So what I’m asking you, Serena, is to help me understand what’s going on and why all of this is happening.”