Danger Money

by John Van Stry

  "There was no love lost between us, true!" I laughed, "But I never really thought he'd take me up on it. I'd been hoping to do something like that to him for years, and to be honest, I think he got away cheap. Things are getting real strange around here."

  "Coming from you that is pretty surprising!" she said smiling. "But don't worry about it, Holt told Rieselle when he saw how mad she got. Figured she should know I guess. Also your reputation is intact with everyone else here, they all think you're just as crazy as ever. Which considering the place, probably isn't a bad idea."

  "So what's on the docket?" I asked leading her back to my room, I was pretty tired and wanted to go back to bed.

  "Nothing yet, but we expect something soon. Something local."

  My ears perked up, "Local? What makes you say that?"

  "Easy, they're turning all of the jobs that are out of the solar system to the others. And there have been quite a few too!"

  "Really?" This was a curious development, things had been slowing down until recently. Five to eight a month had been the average in the past, though I had noticed the palace had seemed a little empty the last few weeks. "Just how busy?"

  "About twenty this month, and another twelve planned for the next month already."

  We were in my room by now I and I started to undress her, pausing to kiss her body every few seconds.

  "Umm, that feels good," she sighed. "We all missed you Jotun," she moaned even louder as I moved lower.

  I looked up, "I missed you too Az, I missed you too." Then proceeded to show her just how much. It's a good thing the rooms are all soundproofed down here, we both made quite a racket that night.

  Azelett stayed for a couple of days, and both Rieselle and Shotoon showed up a few times over the next week to keep me company. With so many of the 'inmates' here suddenly out on assignment for a change, it was a lot more relaxed inside. I was still being very cautious however, it seemed the company was on one of its rare, and highly resented, bug planting sprees. At least they were keeping out of our private quarters. I think the Techs were too afraid of what we would do if we caught them in there.

  I complained to Siedman about the whole affair and he apologized, saying that it was the fault of an over-zealous subordinate. It sounded kind of hollow to me, but the plants did stop. I let it quietly be spread about that I wanted one bug left in the Cafeteria, and another in one of the bathrooms. Mind games were an established tradition here, and I thought we should play a few on the brass for a change.

  I conferred with Rieselle on my inability to find out anything on just who or what our last Target was. She found it a little strange herself, and told me she'd check a few of her private sources.

  My next assignment came a few weeks later.

  "Greetings Jotun," Siedman said as I entered the conference room.

  "Good morning Mr. Siedman," I returned. I looked around as I took my seat, both Harold and Jaime were there and I nodded at each.

  Neither said anything.

  "Well Sir, what is the assignment?"

  "This is another highly classified operation," he began looking over me and my team. "Your target currently resides on Earth, on the North American continent. He is heavily defended, and must be considered dangerous. This mission is of the highest priority to the corporation. You will be given an Alpha clearance."

  I sat back and thought about that for a moment. Earth was normally off limits for most corporate encounters. Those that did happen were usually handled by luring the target off, or hiring a local Human contractor. I looked at the others, and could see my questions reflected in their eyes.

  "The Corporation cannot afford to hire this one out," Said Harold surprisingly. "The gentleman in question controls way too much money and influence. Any local contractor would gladly sell us out for the money, and possible favors, such a move would bring."

  "Hey, I just work here!" I smiled disarmingly, I didn't like the fact that they might suspect my concern, even if their explanation made perfect sense. Earth jobs did happen after all, they just weren't common.

  "So, Who, What, and Where?" Asked Rieselle.

  "And Why, if that's allowed." Added Shotoon.

  "The reason I'm afraid, is still under wraps," replied Siedman as expected. "But Jaime will give out the particulars. Now if you'll excuse me, I have other things I must attend too. Good luck, and good hunting Jotun!"

  We all stood as he got up to leave and sat after he departed.

  "Well Jaime, what have you got for me?" I asked looking over at her.

  She tossed me a packet, and handed the others theirs as well. I picked mine up off the table as she activated the room's displays.

  "Black male, age one hundred and six. He is currently out of town, but is expected to be at his house on the twelfth of April. The hit must take place there, this is extremely important! Intelligence has been working very hard to insure that this hit is overshadowed by certain events that will come about around that time. So you must hit on that day as well." She looked up at me, "Assuming you can of course."

  I ignored the sarcasm.

  She waited a second to see if I'd take the bait, then continued. "We have pictures of him from every angle, including those others you like," she sneered, "and several articles of his with his scent on them. Is there anything else you want?"

  "How about a date?" I smiled back at her. I was getting tired of her attitude. But this was not the time or the place to deal with it.

  "Go screw yourself!" She snarled back and left the room. Harold started to get up and follow as well.

  "Not so fast there Harold!" I said sharply. He stopped and looked undecided for a second.

  "Sit!"

  He sat.

  "Okay, we'll need a few things and you're going to have to handle that now that Holt's gone okay?" I pinned him with my gaze. "And you're not to tell anyone about that, understand?"

  He nodded, "Of course Jotun, I understand that."

  "I also mean Jaime, I don't want a third rate operative like her getting in the way. Now go and see if you can get us a set of train and bus schedules for the entire North American continent."

  "The entire Continent?" He asked surprised.

  "Of course, call me when you're done. Now go!"

  He got up and left somewhat confused, once the door had closed we all started laughing.

  "Bus schedules! Oh man, he'll be busy with that for days!" Azelett said laughing. "Why'd you send him for those?"

  "I figure he'll tell Jaime everything I said, and my insult combined with that bizarre request should keep her from interfering with our actual plans. At least I hope so!" I sighed.

  "You're gonna have a show down with that one alright," said Shotoon, "and it isn't going to be pretty either. I don't trust her at all. Even if Siedman is putting it to her on a regular basis."

  "He is huh?" I asked interested. I had suspected it of course, but there was no way for me to find out.

  "We've been doing a little spying of our own lately," supplied Rieselle. "She's got a thing going with Siedman, so she figures she's got all the power that comes with it. Siedman for his part encourages her, she's been with him quite some time."

  "But he's got a few other love interests," Shotoon picked up the slack. "So he does keep her a little off balance at times. For example, he won't give her any real authority over you, and so she resents you!"

  "Really?" I was surprised by that. "What else did you all learn?"

  "Well, still nothing on that last target. But I did find out this morning that three of the Newbs got tagged on their missions, and that half of those that went off were pretty messy."

  "What makes that important?" I asked uneasily.

  "They were all easy hits Jotun," Rieselle said. "You know the others, they shouldn't have come off so bad."

  "So why did they then?"

  "We don't know." Azelett admitted. "Something's going on though."

  "Well, we all know that I think," Shotoon said and we
all nodded in agreement. "But the question is: What?"

  "Well, we do our jobs, but keep our eyes open too." I picked up my envelope and opened it with a well sharpened claw, "Back to the job at hand. Let's see what our own little problems are."

  Jaime had actually done a thorough job. We had good pictures of our target, including some of his medical records with file photos. We had the plans of the house, and an assessment by the local intelligence ops as to what changes had probably been made. There were extensive maps of the surrounding area, a few pictures of the local staff, and even a shirt!

  "Not bad, maybe she's better than I've given her credit for," I remarked surprised.

  "I wouldn't have expected Siedman to have a slackers riding on his coattails Jotun. I would suggest you remember that!" Warned Rieselle.

  "I will. So what do the rest of you think about this?"

  "Well, I guess getting into the local area won't be too bad. This whole place is just wilderness, we can walk in. Or at least to the House's perimeter." said Shotoon.

  "Extraction shouldn't be too difficult," noted Azelett. "You've got the New York City metroplex within a hundred miles of that park there." She pointed to the wilderness area on the map. "Once we hit that, we're pretty much home free. They might hate us with a passion in its environs, but the place is a veritable rabbit's warren. Most of the subsurface routes aren't even on the maps anymore, and it contains four major spaceports and fifteen minor ones."

  "So the house is our biggest problem," I confirmed looking around at their faces. "Good, I can give that my full attention. I'm going to want a lot of special equipment for this one. We can't afford to believe the security assessment on this, it's probably incomplete.

  "We don't have too much time for this job either. It's the twenty ninth of March today, so we have to be ready to leave here in four days if we're going to be in place in time. I want to have at least five days to scope that place out before hand."

  We started going over equipment lists then, I wasn't happy with the amount of stuff it looked like we might need. This whole affair was going to be tight.

  The next few days were very busy ones and I found myself getting more and more frustrated as much of the equipment I would like to have had was unavailable by our leave date. My temper was getting shorter and shorter, and even my team was beginning to get upset. I finally took matters into my own hands and went to see Siedman.

  "Mr. Siedman, I have a problem," I began bypassing his Secretary and walking right into his office.

  He was in there with several people, none of which I recognized. Jaime burst into the office right behind me, I hadn't seen or smelt her in the office, but she had obviously been nearby. I tripped her, and let her momentum carry her into the edge of the table.

  "Opps, sorry." I said, making it obvious I sure as hell wasn't. Everybody looked quite shocked as her head made a very loud 'thunk' on the table.

  "What is the meaning of this Jotun?" Asked Mr. Siedman, obviously unhappy about my interruption.

  "Sir, I need to clarify a few things with you. It would seem that there is a problem with the current task."

  "Wait here gentlemen," He said and got up. He walked around the table and led me out of the room, motioning for Jaime to follow as she picked herself up off the floor.

  "Now just what the Hell do you think you are doing?" He glared at me.

  "Sir, I am not being given any of the equipment I need to complete this mission. Somebody is delaying all of my requests," I looked pointedly at Jaime. I wasn't sure if she was behind it, but she was handy, so I pegged her anyway. "I cannot guarantee that I will be able to do the job, on time, at the specified place, if this problem isn't cleared up now!"

  "What's a matter? Can't handle the hard ones?" Sneered Jaime.

  I spun and punched her in the face, hard! She went down and didn't get back up.

  "And that one is off of my team. I see her again, I hurt her, Bad!"

  Siedman had looked like he was going to explode, but when I hit Jaime and knocked her out cold, he blanched a little. I was shocked by that, he acted like he had never seen violence!

  "I'll see what I can do Jotun," he started off a little shakily, but quickly gained control and carried on. "But this job is of the highest priority. You must hit this target, period. That is imperative! As for the date and place, those are both highly important too."

  Jaime groaned suddenly and he looked over at her again. I could see he was worried, and maybe even a little afraid.

  "This behavior is unacceptable, but I can't afford to punish you at this time. There is too much at stake!" He looked back at me, "That goes for you too Jotun! Now go!"

  I left, heading down the hall away from where Jaime lay.

  "I'm gonna make a rug outta' that damn cat!" I heard her swear quietly.

  I couldn't hear Siedman's reply as he bent over and helped her up, but I really didn't care. I still had a job to do, and a lot of equipment still had to be gotten.

  "Well, we got most of it," sighed Shotoon as we got ready to leave the next morning. "But nowhere near as much as we could have used."

  "Ah that's always the problem with these rush jobs," I griped. "Never enough of what you need. We'll just have to play it by ear for the most part, and hope it all goes according to plan."

  "What plan?" He retorted. "This thing is so full of holes I'm not sure we can pull it off Jotun! This is Earth we're talking about, not some backwater planet with lousy security!"

  "So?" I asked looking at him cockeyed, "What does that have to do with it? We do as we're told, so this time it's local, who cares?"

  He shook his head, "I don't know, this whole thing seems unreal somehow!"

  I laughed, "This 'whole thing'! My whole life is unreal!"

  We finished with our packing, got everybody together one last time, then headed out. We went down to Earth on three separate company shuttles. Not too difficult when you considered the amount of materials that get shipped back and forth. But it was still six hours until we were able to rendezvous and continue our mission.

  The next step was actually fairly simple, we simply got in an automated truck, and when it passed by our destination, we jumped out the back. We had rigged the truck not to know we were in the back, and to slow down for an imaginary deer that was standing in the road. So traffic control never even noticed a problem.

  It was well after midnight by the time we jumped, and there was no traffic on the road to speak of.

  "Well, that went off with out a hitch at least!" Shotoon said with a sigh. "Now it's just a matter of walking in. I hope this forest isn't wired!"

  "Oh, quite worrying so much!" I groaned. "We both know that the environmentalist lobby would never let them wire a National Park! Even if the government could justify the funds it would cost, they'd spend it on votes, not wiring a forest for sound." And I headed off into the woods after examining the small Nav unit strapped to my wrist.

  "Yeah, really, put a damper on it!" Rieselle grumped and followed me as well. He brought up the rear.

  We hiked the remainder of the night, and a good part of the morning as well. Then found a secluded spot to sleep until the evening. We were pretty far from any of the busier parts of the Park, so were undisturbed. When dusk did start to fall, we were on our way again, and had reached our destination by dawn.

  We set up our equipment then, and started to watch what went on in the house.

  "Not much in the way of activity," mumbled Rieselle looking through the thermal scope. "You sure we got the right place?"

  "What do you mean?" I asked looking over. I had been busy rigging up the listening gear.

  "I only see a low level of heat throughout the place, I know it's early and all that, but it's only about fifty degrees in there."

  "Maybe they're still in bed. How many of the bedrooms can you see?"

  "Well, according to the layout we have, four of them should be visible from this side. The Servants' quarters and the other guest bedroom
aren't visible from this angle."

  "I'll go check," Shotoon volunteered grabbing the other thermal scope. "If there's something wrong, the sooner we know the better."

  I turned to Rieselle as he snuck off through the underbrush and trees. "What is it with him anyway?"

  "I'm not sure Jo, he's been worried about this mission."

  "It's not like him though."

  "I know, and it's beginning to worry me too, but things have been a little strange lately. Even you have admitted that!"

  "Well, yeah, that’s true. But I've seen even stranger stuff during the Leverage conflict. So I'm really not that worried yet."

  "Well I think it might be safe to humor him a little bit, and be just a little more careful this time," She grinned over at me as I finished my work.

  "I'll try," I grinned back.

  "It's cold over there too!" Said Shotoon a few minutes later as he came back through the brush. "I don't like this!"

  I thought about it a few minutes while he and Rieselle both looked at me. "This could be a bonus you know," I started and they both looked quizzically at me.

  "How so?"

  "Easy, tonight I can go in and look the place over good. See what kind of alarm systems and such they have. Then when they show up for whatever it is they're gonna be coming here for, we'll have a better advantage."

  "What if they don't show?" Asked Rieselle.

  "Then we get to go home after a few days of rest and relaxation," I laughed.

  "What if it's a trap?" Said Shotoon.

  "Relax, ok?" I sighed, "You know I'm careful. And stop worrying about traps. Nobody knows we're here."

  "We hope." He muttered.

  I just sighed and went back to work.

  It took us all day to get things set up like I wanted. It's not that there was very much, it's just that we had to be very careful, the house was only a half mile away from where we were staked out. As dusk started to approach, I started to get ready for my little reconnaissance mission.

  "You got all your gear?" Shotoon asked.

  "Pretty much, do you think I should take anything else?" All I had was a pair of non-metallic binoculars, a non-metallic lock-pick kit and an accompanying kit of small security tools that should get me by any alarm systems I'd likely run into.