by A. J. Mayall
“What is this about? What’s a guy like you want with a couple of men like us?” Donatello said, not particularly liking the lack of his bodyguards. He met Douglas’ gaze, who snorted.
“Gentlemen, I wanted to give my sincerest feelings to what the two of you have gone through. The harm to your daughter, Douglas. To your trusted confidant, Donatello. You have my sincerest apologies.” At the end of that sentence, the two crime lords arched their necks and leaned forward. “At least you never have to worry about Basseri anymore, isn’t that right?”
“Why the hell are you apologizing, Gemini?” O’Halloran inquired, gritting his teeth.
“Because I orchestrated it,” he said, matter-of-factly. “Just as I orchestrated getting your charges dropped. I will be honest, Maxwell dropping in the handcuffs threw a monkey wrench in the works.”
Donatello stood, face going red.
“Sit down!” Gemini said, drawing his body up, pointing to the chair. “What I just did was a polite warning compared to what I will do if you two do not sit down and shut up.”
Donatello looked to Douglas, before he nodded to Reginald and took his seat once more. The polite nervous demeanor of the short man returned immediately. He touched a button on his desk, a buzzing sound coming from a side door, and Todd Bennington entered, arm in a sling.
“This is Mr. Bennington, gentlemen. He was assigned to the project to ensure the safety and monitor the situation. Maxwell was kept under the impression his orders were coming from Basseri, and to be fair, the execution of Maxwell was a boon to both of you.” He grinned to Todd. “I believe you should take over the presentation and the offer to our guests.”
Todd nodded, stepping beside Gemini. “Gentlemen, it is our policy to offer recompense for injury on AGI property or due to issues with AGI products. Now, while you yourselves have not been directly affected, you have suffered emotional troubles, and in your case, Mr. O’Halloran, your child was injured. We have the following reparation package for the both of you.”
He paused as the two criminals gripped the arms of their chairs.
Todd continued. “Mr. O’Halloran, all medical care for your daughter will be paid for by AGI; this will be done publicly. AGI will also assist you in turning your businesses legitimate and above the board.”
“I ain’t interested in going legitimate, that’s Bella,” Douglas snickered toward Donatello who glared at him.
“There is not an option here, Mr. O’Halloran. This is a hostile takeover, done with as little hostility as possible. Your crime organization has no business here.” Gemini piped up and smiled pleasantly. “The rather rude comment toward Mr. Bellacino just cost you some opportunities for advancement. Understand this, Douglas. Understand it well. What happened to your daughter was tragic; the injury she received I will never forgive myself for, but I can live with it, easily. You are getting out of crime and going legitimate, just as Donatello has been trying to. In fact, you are now his new VP at Prescott Electronics.”
“I ain’t working with him, and if you threaten me again, I don’t care how rich you are, you’re dead.”
“I’m not threatening you,” Gemini said, all pleasantness melting from his gaze. “Show him the photos, Mr. Bennington.”
Todd left the room, returning quickly with a manila folder, tossing it on the table in front of Douglas. He cautiously picked it up, seeing images of his daughter in the Room of Light, time stamps showing the progress of her torment, once a day, her degradation. Tears welled in his eyes as Gemini stared down his nose at him. The final two pictures made him shudder. The first was a picture of Caroline in her hospital bed. The second made him look up and acquiesce.
The photo was of a new Room of Light, with the words “Max Occupancy: One. Location: Classified.” written underneath.
“I respected you for the lengths you went to to save your daughter, to protect her. Let me keep respecting that about you. Protecting your daughter is now the more profitable action; it will let her leave your home, to have friends, to not be hidden away. You locked her away far before I did, Douglas. So, how about it?”
Douglas nodded and Gemini perked up once again, dropping the photos in a small barrel by the side of his desk. Reginald struck a wooden match and lit the images on fire. He then nodded to Todd, who addressed Donatello.
“Mr. Bellacino, your crimes against your family to take over the illicit businesses is well known. We would like you to think of us as your new family. We also know you have made wishes to go legitimate, and we are going to assist with that. Your confidant and, shall we say, savant-level accountant, Emma, will have the remainder of her college paid for, for as long as she wishes. She will also be given any accounting job within AGI that she qualifies for, ahead of all other applicants. We see in her great potential, and we wish to fast-track her success. As Mr. Gemini said, you are going to be put in charge of one of our subsidiaries, Prescott Electronics. We think you’ll do well there. Mr. O’Halloran, again, will be your VP.”
He stopped and looked at the two of them. “Are there any questions?”
“What about Mr. Quick? He went fucking nuts in there.”
“Mr. Tanaka, yes.” Todd continued, “He’s going to be found not guilty on account of mental issues. We are going to pay for his treatment, no matter what the cost. Doctors do believe he’ll be himself in a good six months or so. I know he attacked people close to both of you, but really, it was not his fault, but ours. According to our records, you both work well with him; I would recommend an advisory position for him at your company if you’d have him. That choice is yours.”
Donatello and Douglas looked to each other. Then nodded and shook hands.
Gemini stood and began clapping. “Goodness, what a wonderful meeting. Crime will be going down, your agents in the police will no longer be yours, Basseri’s influence is gone, and better-run businesses will improve employment rates. I’d say this was a win-win. Don’t you? How about we open up the windows and look on a new Rouge Mal?”
As he turned around and reached for the button to open the automatic metal blinds, they creaked and flew open on their own accord.
Phoenix McGee glared down at them from the other side of the glass.
It took him all of five minutes to get to the office, Gemini having gestured that he was welcome to join them.
He nodded to Guess as he passed her desk; she didn’t look his way. “He’s expecting you,” she said as she swiped through her various agenda points.
As he entered the room, he passed O’Halloran and Bellacino as they were on their way out. They were followed after and escorted back to the elevator by Bennington, who went down with them. Only Todd was willing to meet the detective’s eyes, Phoenix noted as he walked into the office of Reginald Gemini.
“Mr. McGee, I wasn’t expecting to see you until our lunch date,” he said with a smile.
“I know what you did, Gemini.”
The shorter man’s smile went from pleasant to a resistance against melancholy. “I was worried that would happen. I truly, truly was. I had heard how good you were, Phoenix. I’d like to explain, if I may.”
“You can start with the Bentons. I read the email; you killed them because I had that damn HubKit installed.”
“Kill them? Why would I have two amazing talents like them killed? Their marriage was on the rocks, as you so publicly showed, and I gave them a second chance. They are in the Caribbean, under new identities, and heading up one of my new projects. I do believe this is what you need.”
Phoenix twitched as Gemini reached to his pocket and pulled out a check. He slid it over.
“This is your payment for services rendered. Your agreed-upon rate for Jeremy Benton, tripled due to the excessive effort you put in, my fee for your having found Mr. Bennington, and my first payment for your retainer.”
Phoenix looked down and picked up the check, and he had to admit it had been a long time since he had seen that many zeros. “Sorry for costing you so much.”
“No trouble at all, but I have a feeling you’re still angry.” He sighed, offering Phoenix a seat.
“I’d rather stand, if it’s all the same to you.”
“As you wish, Phoenix.”
“The bodies. Explain.”
“Our bio-engineering department has made significant progress. Jeremy and Margaret offered genetic material for testing and research some time ago, and we decided it was as good a time as any to use what we had. We got valuable research data and gave them a smokescreen to give them a chance to re-settle. They are doing quite well. Here, take a look.”
He smiled and reached into his desk, pulling out a small photo of the Bentons, standing on a beach and kissing each other. Phoenix twitched as he saw it. They were safe, thank heavens.
Phoenix twitched a bit at the explanation though. Clones? This explanation entered the realm of the strange and the bizarre, and he had seen creatures from outside reality whose presence can warp the fabric of causality.
“Do you really want me to accept…clones?”
“It’s the truth, part of our medical research. It should be ready in a few years; the bodies can be used to end the blood supply hazards for hemovores, flesh needs for mortis sapiens, not to mention a steady supply of organs for those in need of replacements.”
Reginald’s business-like demeanor told Phoenix that, as outrageous as it was, it was the truth. He looked once more at the check. He wanted to rip it to shreds, but there were bills, and he had closed shop a lot to handle this case, and some better equipment would be nice…
…And it was part of the Benton case, which he was owed for…
…And it was the most money he’d seen in a long time.
He pocketed the check, deciding to let his morals stew on the decision for a few hours, or at least long enough to deposit it at the bank. They could make the decision for him; he’d hand them the check and if they deposited it, it was meant to be.
Gemini smiled weakly, looking like a kid who’d been caught trying to sneak an extra slice of cake upstairs to his room.
“Caroline,” Phoenix said, unable to meet the gaze of the mogul, “was a kid. Kidnapping aside, the torture those people went through…Reginald, one of them had a psychotic break!”
“I know, and I’m never going to forgive myself that this project took those turns. I assure you, Mr. McGee, what Maxwell did, tossing in those handcuffs, was never a part of our plans for this. Utterly compromised it, and when he threw in that knife…I’m haunted by what could have happened.” He paused and looked up at Phoenix, turning his head to the side to meet his gaze. “When I wrong someone, I make sure I make up for it.”
“You mean pay them off for silence.”
“No! I mean…” he said, turning and pulling at his hair. “Yes, I have money, and that allows me to do things most people can’t do. But I’m using these resources to benefit people. Caroline will be cared for, she’ll go to the best schools now. I will make this right, she’ll be better for it!”
“She’ll have permanent damage. She’ll need therapy for fuck knows how long, Gemini. Don’t you dare play the ‘her abuse is a point of growth’ card.”
Gemini nodded, “My apologies, I shouldn’t have put it that way. You’re right, that concept is reprehensible. I assume you won’t be taking the contract with us, after this.”
“Yeah, no, not after this. What you did, what you were testing, if that’s going to the military, it’s going to violate every damn law on how you treat prisoners of war. Is that what funds AGI? All your talk about making the world a better place, and you turn three things that could benefit so many into a madhouse?”
“It was the dark side before I joined on. Mr. Ahkriman always had a penchant for military contracts, steady source of income. I’m trying to fix that. Believe me.”
“You tortured a child, why the hell should I believe you?!”
“Because things are better.”
“So the ends justify the means? It’s fine you tormented a man to insanity, held a woman like a rat in a cage, and kidnapped a kid and let her get stabbed. It’s perfectly fine because you had one of your people in there! You hired me as a damn smokescreen and looped me into this.”
Gemini sighed; the detective was right. “Basseri is not someone anyone needs to worry about, ever again. Two Mafia bosses are going legitimate, and corruption in the police force has been given a stab to the heart. What I did was terrible, but like it or not, there is a net gain here.”
“This isn’t business; this is just you wanting power.”
Gemini nodded a bit to himself, pulling a book from his desk and flipping through the pages, Phoenix wasn’t able to see the title, but did think no man worth his salt should read books bound in salmon and lavender. Gemini, like him, preferred to keep the dust covers off. He set it down and looked over at the red-haired man.
“Let me tell you about power, Mr. McGee. When true victims grow a backbone and demand balance, those who accept the status quo will rain hellfire and brimstone in the name of their own oppression. They know nothing of the plight of those they have kept down, seeing them only as The Other. Power is about tribalism at its worst and its best at the same time. The thing about power, real power, is that if you hold it long enough, people see the unbalanced scales as a horizontal line.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“There are people, like me, who are accustomed to using their money and influence to make the world a worse place, and they do so legally. I’m the counterbalance. This isn’t about me, it’s about them,” he said, pointing to the skyline of Rouge Mal. “This entire thing, this insanity, this corruption and cruelty. It needs to stop, Mr. McGee. You and I both know that. What I did was a small act, truly horrible, but it set the wheels in motion to make the world a better place. It was an inoculation against the cancer eating apart our society at every level. It was a justice vaccine.”
Phoenix rumbled. “It’s true what they say about how the bad guys love to monologue; never thought I’d actually see it.”
Gemini rolled his eyes and faced the window again. “I screwed up.”
Phoenix muttered, “And you’re going to pay for it.”
“You have no proof, the email is the only link you have, and it’s barely admissible. The truth of the matter would look like the conspiracies of a madman.”
Phoenix nodded and turned to walk out the door. “Whatever you say, Reginald.”
“Give me one chance. Let me make this right.”
He stopped and hissed, “How do you make this right?! People are dead, and it’s business as usual for you. Well, you don’t know what you’re dealing with. What I can do to you…”
Gemini paused, the emotion draining from his face as he saw the detective gather pinpoints of light along his silhouette. He narrowed his gaze and said words that chilled Phoenix to the bone.
“What are you going to do, use your Always Machine…GearWitch?” He stepped around the table and up to Phoenix, who felt his will drain from the shock.
“How…do you know…those words?” He shook his head in disbelief, “You’re normal. You aren’t allowed to know that. You can’t know that.”
“But I do, and it’s not your business how I know that,” he snapped, anger flickering in his gaze. “So, go ahead…do it.”
“What?”
“Use your Always Machine; re-write the events of the past few weeks. Go on, you do it and I won’t even remember it.”
Phoenix stepped back, Gemini was not only calling out his secret, he was calling his bluff. He remembered the last time he used his ability to re-write time, what had happened. Jim and Sarah. He just wanted to make things better, he never intended to hurt anyone, he didn’t want anyone to be in danger, he just wanted…
He just wanted exactly what Gemini had wanted, and Gemini, for all his wicked ways, hadn’t killed anyone innocent, not like him.
“Do it! Because I know things, Mr. McGee. I know how it works. Thi
ngs start the same, and they end the same. It’s the middle that’s altered. So, let me tell you what happens. You do this, and the Occam’s razor of reality changes it. Basseri is guilty of it, it was his idea and we both know it’s something he would have done. The court case is set in stone and the evidence we planted becomes fact. Everything I wanted to have come to fruition occurs, and I don’t even lift a finger to set it in motion.”
Phoenix took another step back as Gemini strode forward. He saw the smaller man ride his anger, like a knight charging into battle.
Gemini continued, “However, the most likely event to cause those two Mafia bosses to join forces and turn their backs on their past is going to be the loss of someone dear to them. Joel’s already convicted for his deeds and in an institution. I bet it would be for murder once you re-write it. Tell me I’m wrong, Mr. McGee. Tell me I’m wrong!”
Phoenix looked at his feet, “You’re right.”
He closed his eyes, and could only see the faces of his best friends, dying at his hand as they were eaten by the waves of churning causality because he didn’t realize the consequences of his actions. He had more blood on his hands, in the end, than the man before him.
“You promise me…you’ll make this right.”
Gemini nodded and hissed, “My. Solemn. Vow.”
“One chance,” he said as he looked toward the elevator. “But you aren’t cleared of this one yet. I thought Basseri tried to bomb Guess…”
Gemini shook his head. “Security precaution on our part, in the event Todd’s computer was removed from his house without Todd being there to oversee it, it’s to be assumed company secrets are in danger, and we need to scrub the area. Controlled demolition, and if there are any life-signs in the house, they do not go off. Jeremy and Margaret’s original suitcases and documents were upstairs, Todd oversaw their transfer.”
“There’s a thing called a police alert and cameras…”
“Would you have trusted the police with that information, knowing how many of them were in Basseri’s pocket? Now then, I have another appointment soon. I tell you, this is very Art of Madness.”