by Michael Todd
“How the hell are you doing?” Young asked as he ruffled Sal’s hair. “Last I heard, you was in business for yourself.”
“Yeah, I opened my own company,” he said with a laugh as he fumbled to restore order to his hair with his fingers. “If you’re not a gunner, they merely milk you dry when you work for the military. I got out of my contract and started running jobs for myself. It’s mostly research stuff like testing out the new armor, but Kennedy and I have ached for a Zoo run for a while.”
“Yep, yep, the former Sergeant Kennedy filled us in on that,” the sergeant replied and winked at Kennedy, who grinned and shook her head. “After that very profitable trip that the five of us had together last month…” He indicated three other members of his team, whom Sal remembered were called Sousa, Ito, and Carson. “We’ve ached to take another trip with the two of you. Although now you work for yourself, we were worried that you wouldn’t take any more trips into the Zoo.”
“Well, that’s not true.” Kennedy patted a seat that she’d saved for Sal. “But it’s a little more difficult for us to find jobs that need personnel. Are you guys playing that research trip that starts tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” Young replied as he followed Sal’s example and took a seat. “Big money is backing an excursion for the lab geeks to look around. We’re actually in need of a couple more specialists and wouldn’t mind a couple more gunners too. Despite the amount of money funding this, most of it’s going into R&D instead of boots on the ground, so we’re actually short on staff.”
“Hey, no need to ask us twice,” Sal said and raised a hand in mock-surrender as he looked at the glass that Kennedy had put in front of him. She’d gotten Diet Cokes for both of them, he thought with a twist of his mouth. He supported the idea, but not the choice of drink. He took a sip anyway.
“I can’t promise a full wage for freelancers, but that’s not why most folks have joined this field trip anyway,” Young continued. “There are a lot of incentives. Bringing in new specimens gets a bonus. The more details involved, the bigger the bonus, of course. Plus, we’ll head into Pita-rich territory, and there’s always money in that.”
Sal nodded. “No one pays freelancers full-wage, sadly, but we don’t mind. We’re in it for the incentives. Plus, we can use our specialized company tech to find the Pitas easier, which means more incentives. Also, the small matter of the bounties on the flowers—that will be split evenly across the whole team, right?”
“Bullshit,” Kennedy interjected. It was a back-and-forth that they’d worked on to help the teams see what they would gain by letting the freelancers come with them without actually putting it out there.
“Come on, it’s only fair,” he explained and tried not to be too theatrical about it. “I mean, it’s their mission to begin with. We’re simply along for the ride.”
“Well, we appreciate the gesture, believe me,” Young said. “I have a little one who’ll start college in a few years that I’d like to be fully paid for with my time here.”
“Who are you to call anyone little?” Ito asked, grinned, and yelped as Young’s hand flashed across the small table to smack her across the head.
“I’ll call you little if I please it, Ito,” Young retorted good-naturedly.
Sal and Kennedy laughed and clinked glasses before taking a celebratory sip of their non-alcoholic beverages.
“So what time do you guys plan to take off tomorrow?” Kennedy asked once the tussle between Ito and Young had died down.
“Well, the idea is to start at sunrise, close to around oh-five-thirty, but with the amount of non-military personnel involved, I’d say that we probably won’t leave before oh-six hundred.” Young drank deeply from his beer.
“We’ll be there at sunrise, then,” Sal said. “If only to keep your opinion on specialists from dropping too low.”
Young chuckled. “We all know you’re no specialist, Jacobs. Sure, maybe you are, technically, but with a shooting arm like that, I’d say that you’re more of a gunner. Besides, after the fighting that we forced you to put up with the last time, you’ve earned the right to be a little late, specialist or no.”
“Please,” Sal said. “That little skirmish with the bounty hunters was nothing compared to the shit we ran into on my first trip into the Zoo. I think I told you that story when we got back, right?”
Young nodded. “That was one hell of a hazing stunt Kennedy and her people pulled on your first time, no lying. Still, I’m glad they did, elsewise you would have simply been another soft geek when we met up, and we would have never come to know the badass that lay underneath.”
“No need to butter his ego up any more than it is already,” Kennedy protested and shook her head.
Sal grinned in response. “I don’t think my ego has ever needed that kind of lubrication anyway.” The team laughed, and she groaned.
“Let’s change the subject,” Young said. “Please. I really didn’t need that mental image. I wanted to talk to you anyway, Jacobs, before we left. We had a couple of run-ins with some new and interesting wildlife on our last run into the Zoo. Sadly, though, our specialist died in the field before he could punch all the shit into the server. Unfortunately, that means our team lost out on the bounty that usually goes into that. It’s not much in the way of cash, but if you’d like some quick spending money, you’d get the full specialist cut on it.”
Sal nodded. “If you send it over to me, I can have it turned in before we take off tomorrow.”
“You’re the best, Jacobs,” Young said with a laugh.
“Come on, Young.” Kennedy shook her head. “Sure, it makes you feel good, but I’m the one who has to work with him when he’s riding the compliments like a fucking sugar high.”
“Hey,” Sal said. “I can take a compliment without getting all uppity about it.”
“You might want to try it once in a while,” she said, almost under her breath but not quite.
Young laughed. “So, why are the two of you only drinking the virgin stuff?”
Kennedy shrugged. “I don’t know about him, but I’m coming off a rough bout from earlier today. I need something to take the edge off, and something without alcohol seemed like the right thing.”
Sal looked at her oddly. Now she simply laid it out for everyone else to see? It seemed odd, considering how much she protected her image in front of these guys. Or wanted him to protect her image, anyway.
He shook his head. He would probably bring it up when they were alone, but it was something that could wait.
“Well, considering that I still need a couple of active brain cells for when I spend most of the night putting all this data into the local server, I think that not drinking is the way to go for me,” Sal said with a small smile.
Young shrugged. “I’ve got to say, I admire your resilience. While I’m fairly sure I don’t share it, if you do plan to put a real drink in you, the first round is on me. For the both of you,” he added and winked at Kennedy again. She chuckled and patted his cheek.
“I might take you up on that, Young,” she said with a grin, “but I have some work I need to get done. You ladies can walk into the armory and walk out with some subpar equipment. Us freelancers need to pay for our subpar shit.”
“Hey,” Ito interjected as she flicked her hair back. “I take offense to that. They’re the only ladies on this squad.” She indicated the rest of the men on her team.
They laughed at the joke but instinctively straightened their postures and puffed their chests out at the comment.
“Well, now that the testosterone is suitably pumped up in the room,” Kennedy said with a raised eyebrow, “I think I need to go and make sure that we’re all stocked up for tomorrow.” She patted Sal’s shoulder. “I’ll meet up with you tonight for an inventory check.”
He nodded. “I’ll get started on those specimen reports too.”
“Well, I didn’t mean to bring the mood down,” Young said, not happy that they were leaving. Sal suspected it
was because the man had something of a crush on Kennedy. He could see why, of course. He chuckled and pushed from his seat.
“You didn’t,” Sal replied as Kennedy had already headed toward the door. “Us freelancers need to work odd hours. It comes with the territory.” He patted the man on the shoulder, and after a moment of hesitation, mussed his hair up too.
“Revenge is a dish best served cold.” He laughed as Young slapped his hand away. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow morning.”
The team raised their glasses in response, and Sal broke into a jog to catch up with Kennedy.
“You’re going to see Boulos then?” he asked when they reached the parking lot.
“Yeah, he’s still working on my armor,” she said. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll bring all the equipment to the take-off point at o-dark-thir—”
Sal raised his eyebrows, and she shook her head.
“Sunrise,” she explained. “I’ll bring the equipment at sunrise.”
Sal nodded as she turned and walked to the JLTV, but after a moment, he called her back.
He needed to talk to her. Ground rules needed to be put in place during a real talk. This was fun and all, but he felt like some things were spiraling, and he wasn’t sure that he had it in him to check the fall on his own.
“What’s up, Jacobs?” Kennedy asked as she retrieved her sunglasses and slid them on.
It didn’t need to be now, though.
“I’ll see you later.” He shook his head. Kennedy knew there was something on his mind, but she was almost as bad at approaching stuff as he was. They both needed to get better at it. Later.
“Yeah,” she said with a smile. “I’ll come around to your place after I’m finished at Boulos’.”
“I look forward to it.” Sal forced a smile in response.
Chapter Twelve
She knew there was something bothering him. He’d also grown more and more protective of her. It wasn’t that she didn’t approve. For once, she didn’t mind that there was someone out there who cared about her, mostly because he didn’t force his care on her. He showed it, kept his distance, and made sure that she wanted it first.
Sal was weird in all the right ways. She’d never thought that brainy would be her type. Then again, there were a couple of things that she had learned about herself that had been a surprise. Not all of them were pleasant, but they weren’t necessarily unpleasant, either.
She smiled, maintained a firmer grip on the wheel than she usually did, and eased her foot off the gas pedal. It wasn’t like these damn vehicles could move that fast anyway. She’d grown up driving cars that her father had “improved” and tried them out with her brothers. They always broke down after a couple of miles, but they could rush those miles faster than most cars could.
There was probably some sort of gem of wisdom that she could glean from that little nugget of information from her past. She might even be able to figure it out later. For now, though, she kept her mind focused on the tasks at hand. Maybe after a couple of beers and some time relaxing with Sal.
Provided that their relaxing didn’t take the rest of the night.
She smiled at the thought as she pulled to a stop outside the armory, yanked the parking brake on, and hopped out. It was only a quarter past four, so the place would still be fairly busy considering that there were a couple of patrols heading out the next day as well as the field trip, as Young had put it.
If she was honest, she felt cooped up when she simply hung around the base, even if it was the safer option. They made decent money for their part in testing the new suits and new weapons. Since companies now used the Zoo as a test and display ground for their new popular products, that was a cash cow that would pay indefinitely if they wanted it.
Still, she wanted to be out in the Zoo. It wasn’t the easiest work, but it did have a sense of realization that came with it. Like she did something for the betterment of mankind. Well, protecting folk that were doing something for the betterment of mankind by shooting hostile creatures in their very exotic faces.
It was the best job in the world, Madigan thought with a grin.
She moved through the aisles of armor and noted the inventory officers who rushed around and checked off the various items that they needed. Their needs kept the folks working in the store busy. If she knew Boulos, though, he would hang out in the back and pretend to be busy. Folks with budgets were assholes, she knew that all too well.
Oh, to have a budget paid for by somebody else. She paused to think about how nice that would be for a few seconds before she moved to the back of the armory. Her gaze swept the store in search of where Boulos might hide his massive bulk behind a tiny laptop to pretend that he was too busy “filling orders” to help those who needed orders filled out in person.
She found him where she’d expected to. He was hunched over a small pad that was propped up against a couple of RPGs in the very far corner.
“Boulos?” Madigan asked.
“I’m filling some orders,” he said without looking up. “I think Albie can help you. He’s at the front desk.”
“Right,” she said with a grin and leaned against a shelf. “I think you’ve used that a few too many times since there’s nobody at the front desk anymore. You do know that it’s a prime sales day for you today, right?”
He looked up from his pad and blinked. “Oh, Kennedy. I didn’t realize you were coming today.”
“Well, some shit came up,” she explained, moved in closer, and peeked at the display on the pad. She made a face when she finally saw it. “You know, I hear that the dialogue in these movies is the worst.”
“It’s not like there’s a wide variety of choices out here,” Boulos argued but hastily removed the porn from the screen. “I’d kill for a satellite internet connection—and not only for access to decent porn.”
Madigan shrugged. “Hey, I’m with you on that. Although people like you and me are probably the reason why they decided to skimp on the satellite connection and forced us to use the highly regulated base server instead.”
Boulos laughed. “Well, I’m glad to know that I’m not alone here. But enough about hypothetical porn access. What can I do for you today, Kennedy?”
“Well,” she said, “it looks like Jacobs and I are going into the Zoo again sooner than expected, so I’m really here in the hope that you’re done with my armor so we can get it out there.”
He nodded. “It’s basically finished. I only need to tweak the sensors a little. I saw a couple of problems that came from buggy hardware, so I fixed that. I’ll finish it off and have it over to you tonight if that’s okay.”
“That works,” Madigan responded. “I also hoped that you could fix me up with something for Jacobs.”
Boulos tilted his head. “I thought he already had a specialist suit?”
“He does,” she replied. “But I wondered if you had something that worked more like a hybrid. Folk expect him to take on the responsibilities of a gunner more and more, and while he’s shouldered it like a champ, I have to keep his ass alive—at least until I get the big payout that I joined his company for.”
The store manager nodded and turned his attention to his pad. “I think I have something for you. It has some power armor functionality, especially an armored gun arm that’s fitted for some of the newer, bigger assault rifles that they make, but it’s still relatively nimble. It’s as close to a hybrid as I have within your budget. How will you pay for this, by the way?”
“Put it on the company’s bill,” she said. “I’ll talk to Jacobs about it, and if he doesn’t want it there, I can eat it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Madigan shrugged. “Again, all the costs that I end up paying myself are considered investments in the company, all of which add up to the percentages that I’ll receive when we make it big.”
Boulos looked impressed. “It sounds like you have all the business details figured out.”
“Well, I have the getting paid
part figured, anyway.” She grinned at him. “After that, all the decisions get a whole lot easier.”
“That’s basically it in a nutshell, to be honest. I’ll have all the stuff delivered to your place in the mor—” He paused when she raised an eyebrow. “This evening. I’ll have it delivered in a few hours.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear, Boulos.” She winked at him. “See you on the flip side.”
“You’d best survive this trip, Kennedy,” he said as she walked away. “You and Jacobs are my best customers.”
“Best?”
“Well, favorite, anyway,” he conceded. “Good luck.”
“You too.”
Chapter Thirteen
Sal leaned closer to the screen and studied the display. About six months ago, if he’d been shown a picture like this, he would have immediately called bullshit. Something about that kind of cranial structure had no place on Earth—nor something of that size, either. For a moment, he was forced to wonder what kind of life he would now live if he hadn’t come all the way over there to risk his life at the cutting edge of biology.
Well, his sex life had certainly received a jump start since he’d arrived. He also exercised a lot more, so that was a bonus.
But all in all, this was the stuff he lived for. The first picture was incredibly blurry and made defining what he looked at difficult. The eyes were spread like a praying mantis’, but the animal had an endoskeleton and bone structure that told him that whatever the goop was, it liked to mix and match various kinds of animals and plants together. It almost seemed like it tried to find an ideal creature—evolution mixed with genetic splicing. In most western countries, this kind of experimental shit was illegal, which in turn explained why so many people were interested in the results.
He leaned back, rubbed his eyes, and shook his head. A couple more pictures were somewhat clearer and revealed a projection of the torso that was segmented like an insect’s but also furred like a mammal’s. It only had four legs, though. Comparing sizes was a little difficult.