Ice Cold

by Mark Graham

  “Okay Talon, it’s your turn,” Stu said smiling and looking at Talon the Eagle.

  “This stuff ain’t working worth a shit with me, they see me coming and rush off. I tried to smile but you know how that goes. I have no idea of how to get my mouth to smile. I looked in the mirror before coming here, smiled, or at least thought I was smiling, and it was just about the opposite and actually scared the shit out of myself.”

  “Maybe we can use him as a threat,” Nick interrupted smiling.

  Jack took off with that, “Yeah threaten whoever we think might know something or anybody that won’t play around we’ll assign to Talon. Hell, I say let him continue on but maybe start assigning his assignees to the rest of us. Hell, one or two more wouldn’t bother me.”

  “What do you guys think?” Stu asked.

  It took a minute but the rest of the men nodded, but didn’t commit to anything.

  “I nominate Dorothy” Ice said with a grin. “If we all agree, she probably isn’t our suspect. I know I would have more success with somebody else.

  “Hell,” Stu said, making a management decision. “This Dorothy is getting old and I see she doesn’t have much education. Her job was as a clean up person and trash remover. But, we do have the guys outside to ding a background check on her, and will find out everything she’s been up to. Then if we find out she’s clean Talon can just go over and smile at her every day. If she remains a problem we can kind of trap her in the corner and kind of make her play checkers or something.” Stu laughed as did the rest of them.

  “Brian, how about you?” Stu asked. Brian was a tall thin man with a great personality. The kind of guy everybody likes the first time they meet him. With his job though he could probably be the meanest and cruelest, except in comparison with Ice.

  “I pretty much agree with the rest of y’all,” Brian said in his Texas drawl. I need to meet the rest of these people and cover the assignees I haven’t approached yet. I agree that we should continue to use a soft hand until we decide otherwise. Basically these people are typical citizens. However, I guess we believe one of them has done something to to cause all this.” Brian’s nick name was Flame. He got his nickname early on when he set an entire biker bar on fire, killing everybody in side. From his youth he was amazed by fire. He wasn’t the kind of person who really wanted to set things a blaze. But he did use it to his benefit if it was fitting.

  “Okay Ice,” Stu asked, “what you got?”

  Ice got up and pulled his chair around so that he could see everybody there, and sat down, after which he shoved his chair back a little more. He then looked at his six brother agents. Stu had pushed a chair over by Nick so that he was part of the group Ice would be addressing.

  “As you already know, I’m the agent who pulled the trigger on this last massacre. Some of you hooray me for it. Well, from my own lips, I think Brian used to be the record maker with his sixty something in that bar thing. Well Brian, your time is up and I am the new lawman in town!”

  The rest of them cracked up, some just laughing. A few gave him a happy thumbs up. To understand this group a person had to be part of it. Most of their humor was gruesome, and regular folks would just not understand.

  “But anyway, with my mission I worked with a lady who was the go between me and the scientist. She was a cop, and even made detective when younger, so has a few years street duty behind her. That woman is this Joyce Weathers.”

  “You hittin’ that M&M?” Henry the Ho asked smiling.

  “No, I’m not hitting that, nor do I intend to. She is a professional, but not a scientist. In fact she stays in her office in the front of the lab and doesn’t ever socialize with any body there except the receptionist, who is also kind of a secretary and filer.”

  “But anyway,” Ice went on, “after working with her for several hours and learning as much as I could I thought she would be a possible good candidate to recruit.”

  “What the fuck?” Stu hollered like one of the boys. “Of all people you have always shown you hate newbies, and generally vote no on anybody else. This is so hard to believe that you, of anybody, would even think about recruiting someone!”

  The others just smiled and watched waiting for something to happen. They were actually kind of in shock too.

  “Yeah, I know,” Ice said, “and it goes along with the saying of never say never. This woman is as sharp as a tack and has two doctorates, one of which is in psychology. She also asked a few questions that could have lead into her possibly be looking for another job. I know she was bored with her job where she worked.”

  “In fact, I was going to approach the Director on this when this Art Exhibit thing went down. A few days ago I thought I would kind of put her on the back burner involving this but the stove blew up. I think she can be a real asset to us. We don’t really have any profiling experts, or people who can approach things from a totally psychological view. Figure in the law enforcement and I think she would make a pretty good agent.”

  “I agree,” said Talon. He would of course agree with anything Ice wanted. For some reason Ice had gotten himself elevated to almost a god with Talon.

  “I really have no problem with it either,” Stu said, “Ice still has to approach the matter with the Director before we can do anything else.”

  “I agree too,” said Cynthia. “I can see your point Ice, and hell, we need more women in our agency.” She laughed and was joined by two or three others.

  “You do realize Ice,” Henry the Ho stated, “if you recruit her that you will probably be her mentor for a year. That’s a big responsibility.”

  “Yes, I do know that Henry,” Ice said with a smile. “Just think about a woman who becomes just as successful as me, and goes for the kill more times than not.”

  “Scary thought,” Jack said putting his two cents worth in.

  “Definitely that!” Stu said, with Cythia nodding her head.

  “Okay,” Stu continued. “Let’s call this meeting over and get on with whatever y’all want to do. You’re free to visit the building any time of night or day. I know there are some night owls over there, and some just awake from fear. If going over during after hours, we do request that a second agent be there too, even if he or she just falls a sleep in a chair.”

  “And for you Ice,” Stu continued. “I have a face-to-face conference call with the Director tomorrow morning at ten in the morning. You can be here and go over what you just talked to us about. I know if he goes along with it that she would probably be activated immediately. If this thing goes down bad she would have to be taken out of the loop immediately.”

  Understand,” Ice said, “I’ll be here.

  The next morning Ice started his day with several cups of coffee and a breakfast he found to be quite good.

  When he was ready, it was still quite early, but he had seen two of the other agents go over so he felt free to go and start talking to some of the people. He was hoping he would get to watch as Talon the Eagle introduced himself to Dorothy. To himself he thought, “the old bitch!” He still had over two hours until he needed to go back and have the conversation with the Director.

  When entering the large room he spotted Joyce in the corner and again reading a book. He saw it was a different one, realizing she must be quite the reader. She looked up and waved. He walked over to her and sat for a moment.

  “Joyce, I need to talk with four people today. Could you please point them out?”

  “Sure, I’d be happy to,” Joyce said, putting the book down and smiling.

  “We all have several people assigned to us. I’ll tell you about it later but you have been put in my group.”

  With that Joyce broke into a big smile and kind of clapped silently. “How’d you do that?”

  “One of the guys you talked to yesterday thought it best that you be assigned to me since you actually requested it. We are trying to make it as comfortable as possible,” Ice said, joining her with a smile.

  “Great!” she sa
id happily, “who do you want me to point out?”

  “Let’s see,” Ice said as in pulled a small card from his pocket.

  “I’d like to tell you the names, then you can point to them and tell me something about them, okay?” Ice stated and asked.

  “Okay,” sounds good to me Joyce stated turning into her professional being.

  Ice named them off, “The first is Beth Durnan, the second is Peter Fox, the next a Samuel Carlson, and the next is Brett Ward, and the last one I just got and that’s a Sandy Johnson”

  “Okay, let’s see,” Joyce said looking around. “Half the people aren’t even out here yet. In an hour or so they, whoever they is, will herd them out, then everybody will be out here. Your first name is that red head over there sitting and talking to those two older women. Beth is a lab tech and very personable. Seems like a caring kind of person. Her position is to assist with the scientists with mixing stuff, checking microscopic chemicals, and other lab type work. Hell, I don’t know. To be honest all I know is she’s a lab tech and it’s said she could be a lesbian.”

  “Peter Fox?” Ice asked.

  “He’s not here right now,” Joyce responded. He’s a Korean I think and believe he changed his name legally back whenever. He’s a full fledged scientist, assigned the chemicals that you used. He’s not very talkative but I have found that he deals best with direct questions. He really is not a people person and probably doesn’t even care if he even meets people.”

  “Well, at least I won’t have to wait around until he’s free,” Ice said smiling.

  “Brett Ward can be a real ass-hole,” Joyce said seriously. “He doesn’t know where the line is, and can be quite obnoxious. We’ve received a few complaints on him for sexual harassment. He straightens out for a while then he’ll try something else with another person. I don’t know if he’s ever been successful in his quests. He just came out of the door over there heading for the coffee pot. He’s another scientist but more of a quality assurance kind of guy who re-tests almost everything.”

  Ice turned and saw a middle aged bald man with a little belly sticking out.

  “The last person Sandy Johnson is right over there with her back to Beth,” Joyce said pointing. “She’s on the management team and is responsible for all the people and their administrative needs. She’s actually my boss. I probably know her best of all of them. She seems like an honest person and quite competent. She is definitely administrative material. As with Brett, if there is any disciplinary action, she is involved with me. She can be a real hard ass, but can be one of the nicest person you’ve ever met. You didn’t ask, but in my opinion she doesn’t seem to be a good candidate in what you’re looking for.

  “She spends all of her time in the office, but does go out for lunch and meets with various people. She knows nothing about the lab work, just what is ordered, how many, and how much it costs. Sandy is the person who okays and justifies our budget.”

  “Great,” Ice commented as he got up, “I need to check these out then I will get back with you?”

  “Oh,” Joyce spoke loud enough for Ice to hear her and turn around. “Peter is that Korean looking guy . . . duh . . . over there playing chess by himself.”

  Ice figured he’d take the person he thought might be the most difficult so walked directly over to where Peter was and sat across from him

  “You want play Chess?” the oriental man asked very seriously.

  “No, not right now Peter,” Ice stated working at being nice. “I’m here to help people be comfortable, find out what’s going on, or just plane available.”

  “Well as concerned as I am you can just go some place else to be available,” Peter said with neither a smile or a frown. At that point Ice knew it would be hard to be able to use his talents with facial expression or body movement. This guy sat straight, grasped his hands together placing them in front of him, and continued with a blank look.”

  “To be a little more expletive, it’s my job to learn about you, what you do, and what you might know about your organizations failure.”

  “We don’t fail,” the man said, still looking the same.

  “Do you know anything about the catastrophe we had when a bunch of folks died,” Ice asked.

  “Yes, but as far as I know it did what it was supposed to do,” the man said seriously.

  “What part of the whole thing do you work in.?” Ice said wondering. This guy couldn’t be read at all, Ice thought.

  “My job is to create substances that can kill, others that knock people out, and one that makes people forget. I also come up with the neutralizers of each. That’s all I do.”

  Ice wondered about that, but the guy seemed honest in his forthrightness. “Okay,” he said carefully, getting out of his seat. “I’ll see you again Peter. Hope your day goes alright.”

  “Will you at some point play chess with me?” He asked, being honest in his question.

  “Perhaps Peter, but it’s been a long time since I’ve played.

  He spotted Beth standing by herself pouring her self a cup of coffee, so headed right over to her.

  “Beth?” he asked as he approached her.

  “Yes?” she said responding to him.

  “Do you have time to talk to me for a few minutes?” Ice asked politely.

  “Sure, it seems I have a lot of time,” she said, “we can sit on that couch right over there.” She pointed to a couch halfway along the wall.

  After they each took a seat, each at their own end of the couch, Ice explained, “I’m one of the people here who will be working to find out what happened that caused such a stir involving chemicals that came from your organization.”

  “Yes, I am aware of that tragedy, and hope they find who is responsible for this,” she said matter of factually.

  “I’ve been told that you’re a lab tech. What do you do at work and is anything you do possible to be part of this particular chemical?” Ice asked in what he thought was a nice personal attitude.

  “Basically, I’m just a lab tech. I help with insuring the right chemicals are used to make other chemicals. Chart stuff, and a helper where needed . . . about the other question, the chemical in question was put together by the other, larger lab. My lab was working on a chemical that would cause a person to be truthful. It kind of makes people impossible to lie. Kind of a cool subject but we’re a long way from coming up with something concrete. We have experienced a little success, but not enough to put it out there yet. Perhaps a year or two as long as our funding continues.”

  Ice thought about that and was going to ask her one more question when they heard a loud scream, and a woman seeming to come apart.

  “Excuse me for a moment Sandy, I have to check this out,” he said as he turned giving his full attention at the thing going down, and actually getting a kick out it.

  It appeared as if Talon had approached the woman and had actually got himself sat down before she would even pay attention to him. Evidently when he did her mind snapped or something. She was laying on the floor kicking swinging, hollering, cussing like a sailor, and had completely lost control. Ice observed she had also lost control of her bladder and her bowels. The smell hit him, and the woman continued to wail. Thank God there was the orderlies. They gold clean up the mess. One of them along with Talon put the woman on a table one of the other orderlies had grabbed and dragged to where Dorothy lay. They brought her out the entry door to the room and across to the opposite wing of the building. They could hear her howling for about two minutes then dead silence. Ice knew they had hit her with something that would more than likely put her out for a long time. They had more worries than some crazy woman. Ice was actually surprised that there weren’t a few others acting crazy too.

  “Well, anyway Sandy,” Ice said as he turned back toward her, “do you know of anybody who might have changed the solution, or replaced it with another one?”

  “No I don’t,” Sandy said as she felt she was just offended. “I don’t know of
anybody who would do such a thing. It was terrible. We’re scientist and here to help people in some way or another. I know we manufacture some nasty chemicals but we aren’t the type who would ever try it on humans. We just aren’t!” Sandy pulled a tissue out and wiped her eyes.

  “Okay Sandy,” Ice responded kindly. “I didn’t mean to imply any of your people were behind this. We’re just trying to put things together and find out what did happen.”

  Sandy looked up at Ice with tears spilling down her cheeks, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to take it out on you. I know you are here to do your job. If I think of anything though I will definitely let you know.”

  “Thanks,” Ice said as he rose. “We’ll talk again once you’ve found yourself, in these terrible circumstances. I know it’s hard for all of you, but it’s one of those things we have to do.”

  Ice looked at his watch and saw he had about twenty minutes to get back to the administrative building. On the way out he talked to two people who appeared they were willing to talk. He stopped and spoke with both of them, trying to make them feel comfortable in their situation. When asked, he promised all would end well, so all they had to do was play the waiting game with everybody else and hopefully they would get this ended in a day or two.

  When walking toward the administrative building he saw a helicopter had landed a little ways a way from the building. He saw what appeared to be the pilot, and an agent he recognized. Both were just talking and it looked like they were enjoying a good cigar. He knew it had to be the Director. He was known to give very high quality cigars out on occasion.

  When he walked in the room he saw the Director and Stu sitting in two of the chairs that they had sat in the night before. Both were jovial, and the Director even had a big grin on his face. To be that way, Ice knew, the Director was in a good mood.

  “Well, speak of the devil,” the Director said as he rose and shook Ice’s hand. “I hear you got a new nick name?” the big man said chuckling.

  “Yes sir,” Ice responded, “I don’t know if I like it or not but what the heck, I already have so many names I have to keep a file on who I am.”