Those They Betrayed

by Q J Martin

  He looked around. There was a table in the middle of the room, surrounded by couches and chairs. There were bookshelves covering two-thirds of the walls, with paintings in the place of windows. The Senator was sitting at the desk. Her short white hair and wrinkles served to evoke the impression of a wise and sophisticated older woman. She was intently focused on the holo in her hand. She bit on the edge of her stylus as she read what was on the display, mumbling along with its contents.

  No doubt she’s preparing for her speech on Friday, Logan thought to himself. He walked up in front of the desk and stuck his hand out to her. “Good morning, Senator Johnson.”

  Senator Johnson continued to read whatever was on her holo screen. She didn’t seem the least bit interested in diverting her attention away from her work to interact with him.

  Logan took a deep breath, trying to resist his more aggressive impostors impulses, and continued. “My name is Logan Turner,” he said. “I’m looking forward to this opportunity you’ve given me to work with Keanu to ensure your safety.”

  “Are you modded?” the Senator finally asked, without even bothering to look up from her holo.

  Logan wasn’t sure how to respond. “Well, ma’am,” he said after a moment’s contemplation1, “as I’m sure you’re aware, it’s illegal to discriminate on the basis of genetic modifications.”

  She slammed her PH on the table. “Are you really preaching to me about gene mods?” she shouted in disbelief. “I was working on legislation for gene mods when you were still in diapers!”

  “I meant no offense,” Logan said, holding his hands up protectively.

  The Senator rose from her chair and walked around the desk. She stepped right in front of Logan and looked him straight in the eyes. “You already have the job. Mr. Kai saw to that. Personally, I don’t want you. I don’t think we need you. But I’ve deferred to Keanu’s professional opinion for years, and he’s never let me down. So here you are. Which leaves the question, how would laws about discriminating on the basis of gene mods in the hiring process apply here? Please, enlighten me.”

  Logan kept any comments he might have had to himself. The Senator stood there impassively, waiting for his response.

  “Well, it seems like you have quite the opinion worked up about me already, whether I’m modded or not, don’t you?”

  “I have opinions about everyone. I’m not a dawdling child, waiting for my parents to tell me what I like or don’t like, what’s right and wrong.”

  “Well, as a professional courtesy, I guarantee that I will not let any of your preconceived notions about me influence the decisions I make in my efforts to keep you alive.” Logan turned to Keanu without even waiting for a reply. “I’m going to need to be given a tour of the locale. I’m going to be analyzing the placement of men, barricades, and body scanners. I’m going to need background checks on all of your security personnel, and I’m going to need to examine the threats made against the Senator to determine their validity.”

  Keanu looked to the Senator for approval. She sneered and returned to her desk without saying a word. Keanu seemed to take that as permission, then turned to Logan and said, “We can do that. Just come right this way.”

  Keanu walked to the door and reached for the handle. Right at that moment, though, another man came barreling into the room and nearly knocked him off of his feet, which was quite an accomplishment in itself considering Keanu’s stature.

  “Sorry I’m late!” the tall, portly man muttered. He stuffed the last remnant of a donut into his mouth, then straightened his tie over his unbuttoned collar and ran his fingers through his salt-and-pepper hair.

  Logan gave him a silent reprimand, then turned to the Senator and said, “Ma’am, allow me to introduce my partner, Randell Hamilton.”

  The Senator looked up from her holo just long enough to offer a scoff, then resumed reading.

  Logan turned back to Randell and glowered at him. “You see this look on my face?” he hissed as they walked out of the room. “Take one guess why I’m giving you this look.”

  Randell shrugged, and Logan shook his head and ran off to join Keanu, leaving his friend to catch up.

  ⌬

  Logan walked in circles around the locale of the press release. He was examining every nook and cranny, looking for anything that might afford a terrorist or a violent protestor the opportunity to slip in and carry out the threats directed against the Senator.

  Randell and Keanu were right behind him the entire time. Normally Randell would drag behind, choosing to play on his PH or find some other method to distract him. This type of prep work wasn’t his thing. However, this time, Logan saw him chiming in with as many suggestions and notes as he himself had. There were so many potential risks that anyone could see how dangerous it would be to hold this assembly in the middle of downtown Minneapolis.

  “Right here,” Randell said, pointing at a building ahead of them. “What is that place?”

  Keanu pressed a couple buttons on his PH. “It’s an apartment complex,” he said finally. “Built in 2027. It’s divided into 3000 one-bedroom units.”

  “It looks like half of them have windows facing our stage,” Logan sighed as he struggled to see the top of the building. “That’s a lot of square footage to cover.”

  “It’s worse,” Randell called out.

  He was no longer where he had been just a few seconds ago, gaping at the building with the rest of them. Logan hadn't noticed when he ran off, so it took him a moment to pinpoint where his voice was coming from. Finally he spotted him, standing in front of one of the doors of the apartment building.

  “What do you mean?” he replied, racing to join him. Keanu trailed close behind.

  Randell leaned over and opened the door, gesturing for Logan to look inside. He glanced in and saw a long hallway full of apartments. Every so often, the hallway opened up to reveal a common area with synth-grass, pools, and food stands. The hallway, however, continued to stretch on, all the way to the other end of the building, where another door exiting to the front of the complex was situated.

  “Crap,” Logan huffed.

  “What is it?” Keanu asked, looking through the door with him but not comprehending.

  “Anyone could walk through this apartment and completely bypass our security checkpoints,” Randell explained, shaking his head. “They’d come out right here in the middle of the assembly, no bag check, no facial recognition software, no nothing.” He put his hand on his hip and sighed. “It’s not too late to switch venues,” he offered. “We could go out into the farms. Set up the whole thing on an upper level of the synth-corn fields. We’d be in full control of ingress and egress.”

  “If only,” Keanu said, then scoffed. “But I know effector exactly what she would say. ‘This is too important to be standing out in a field of dirt and manure.’”

  “Well,” Logan scrunched his face up as he contemplated. “I’d say the only solution is a lot of grunt work. There’s no way around it. We need to set up facial recognition cameras at every door,” he said, pointing down the line towards each one individually, “that exits within our perimeter. We need to assign security guards to watch each one of these points of ingress.”

  “Ok. How many?” Keanu asked, jotting down notes on his PH.

  “I’d say,” Logan said, looking up and down the street, “we need one security guard for every two doors. If we spread them out any further than that, it would be too easy for someone to slip past without being noticed.”

  “Ay,” Keanu moaned. “I’ll do my best, but I don’t know where I’m going to find the numbers for something like that.”

  Randell raised his hand. “I know a few people that would be happy to help.” He paused for a second, then added, “If you have the budget to take on a few extra pairs of hands for the day.”

  “We can do that,” Keanu said, his words expressing resolution. His tone, on the other hand, was much less confident.

  “Good,” Logan said,
choosing not to address Keanu’s apparent reservations. If he wanted to protect the Senator the right way, there was only one manner of doing so. He pulled out his PH and brought up a map of the area. “I think we need to divide the blocks from Washington Ave. to 7th St., Marquette to Portland, into about a dozen different zones. We assign a team leader for each zone, and they report to us directly. If they notice anything out of the ordinary, they let us know right away.”

  “That’s what I was thinking, too,” Keanu nodded. “Perhaps we could split the zones radially from the stage. I figured we could designate them to match the hours of a clock. Zone twelve would be directly behind the lectern, and zone six would be directly in front of it.”

  “Easy to remember. I like it. We also need to designate areas for peaceful protestors to gather. I was thinking behind the barriers on the corner of 3rd Ave. and 7th St..” Logan pointed, indicating the direction he was referring to..

  “Or we could just put them under citizen’s arrest for the duration of the release,” Randell suggested, laughing.

  “They can have whatever opinion about gene mods they want. And they can express it. As long as they’re out of the way, and not putting our people in danger.”

  Keanu pulled out his PH and jotted down a few notes. “Ok, I’m going to go get with my senior security assistant to see about divvying up zones. Then we’ll come up with a plan for discretely directing protestors to the designated area.”

  Keanu turned and ran off. Logan started walking in the same direction, towards the epicenter of the whole event, city hall, yet he walked at a much more relaxed pace. Randell walked along beside him.

  “Man, I can’t wait for this release,” he said excitedly. “If the Cure is even half of what they’re saying it is, we’re all going to be immortals soon.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re really taken in by all that.”

  Randell shrugged. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. I totally understand how you feel about mods. But the idea of getting this one has crossed my mind.”

  “Well, I sure as hell won’t be in line,” Logan said, turning a critical eye towards the banners and decorations that workers were adorning the area with.

  “To each his own, I guess. So how are the children, LT?” Randell asked. He pulled a candy bar out of his pocket. Its wrapper broke the silence between question and answer before Logan could even get a word out.

  “They’re good,” Logan said finally, sighing. “They’re just… They’re growing up, you know what I mean? Glenn is already ten years old. And Roselyn is eight! Can you believe that?”

  “Man,” Randell mumbled as he took a big bite off of his bar. “You gotta start keeping an eye on them. Pretty soon, they’ll be sneaking out, spending the night with disreputable company, if you know what I mean.” He winked and took another bite.

  “That was you,” Logan corrected him. “My children inherited only the best genes from me. I was a perfect angel. Just ask my grandmother.”

  “Grandmother's have to say that about their grandchildren, man. You know that.”

  “I guess they do. Either way, the point I’m trying to make is this: Don’t. Corrupt. My. Freakin’. Children.” Logan paused on every word, poking Randell in the shoulder for added emphasis. “Got that?”

  “Hey now, man. You know me better than that.” Randell sighed as he looked longingly at the now empty wrapper in his hand. “I’d go to the ends of the earth for you and your family.”

  “Just as long as Elizabeth doesn’t find out,” Logan said, laughing heartily.

  “She never did much like ol’ Uncle Randy.”

  “Can’t say I blame her.” Logan winked.

  Randell swung his arm up and wrapped it around Logan’s neck, putting him in a headlock.

  “Come on!” Logan grunted, struggling to get free.

  “What? You afraid that all these professional security peoples will see you getting totally owned and they’ll stop looking at you like you’re God?” Randell ruffled Logan’s hair.

  “We need to focus on the matter at hand,” Logan groaned.

  “Finding a decent cup of coffee,” Randell said excitedly as he released Logan from his grip.

  “Protecting the senator against terrorists, you mean.”

  “Yeah, that too.”

  Section II

  “Wait, wait, wait.” Logan leaned against the car door. He turned his head towards the window so Elizabeth wouldn’t see him stifling a laugh, but she smacked him anyway.

  “Don’t make fun of me,” she commanded him playfully.

  “You mean you were serious?” Logan said, uncovering his grin for her to see. “There’s no way. No way at all!”

  Elizabeth turned red, but she was laughing with him all the same. “It’s the truth. I promise you.”

  “Ok, fine. I believe you.” Logan leaned in and gave her a short, sweet kiss. “It’s your turn.”

  Elizabeth sat in her seat contemplating.

  “Come on.” Logan waved for her to get going. “I don’t have all day.”

  “Fine. If you wanna be that way, then: never have I ever… taken drugs.”

  Logan cringed, then shook his head from side to side.

  “Oh my God!” Elizabeth said, covering her mouth with both hands. “You’ve taken drugs!”

  “It was one time!” Logan emphasized. “A long time ago. Randell was trying to hook me up with this girl from school. He figured she’d think I was cool if I offered to smoke pot with her.”

  “I see.” Elizabeth narrowed her eyes and gazed right into his soul yet again. “So did you?”

  “I tried. I threw up, actually,” Logan groaned.

  “No!” Elizabeth gasped.

  “All over her. She punched me in the face.” He shook his head shamefully as he massaged his temples.

  “Wow!” Elizabeth threw her hands to her mouth to stifle her laughing. “I bet that date ended well.”

  “She never spoke to me again, and then her boyfriend got off a few hits on me, as well. I kid you not,” he said, pointing to both of his eyes, “I had black eyes for the rest of the month.”

  Elizabeth shook her head in disbelief. “Shoulda just said ‘no.’ Ok. Your turn.”

  “Let’s see. I gotta get you back for that one.” Logan closed his eyes, deep in thought, and then he said, “Never have I ever… had a one night stand.”

  Logan had seen Elizabeth’s face turn red before. Several times that morning, in fact. But he had never seen it become quite this shade. She looked like a ripe tomato, if a tomato was unbelievably attractive.

  “Seriously?”

  “Well,” Elizabeth moaned, “it was one time.”

  “Thus the term ‘one night stand.’”

  “Heh.” Elizabeth did a halfhearted smile.

  “Come on, Liz.” Logan put his hand on her shoulder and smiled mischievously at her. “You have to tell me! That’s the rules.”

  “Fine, fine. It was a guy I went to college with. Scott Spencer. We spent the whole night studying in my dorm for our finals, and we could both hardly see straight. Our brains were fried, and we—well, we just needed a little reset.”

  Logan choked on his spit. “Wow. Um, ok. Was it a good reset?”

  “Well,” Elizabeth said, clearing her throat. “He had quite a few interesting mods, so…”

  “Ugh. That’s good.” Logan held up a hand. “I don’t need any more details.”

  “Ok, then. Well, now,” she said menacingly, “it’s my turn.”

  The console in front of Logan lit up, and beeps echoed through the car. “We’re getting close,” he said, silencing the alarm. He looked out the car window to make sure that Elizabeth wouldn’t be able to see his surprise yet.

  “Saved by the bell. How convenient.”

  “I know, right. Honestly, though, after all this, my brain is just fried. Maybe,” he grinned mischievously, “we can have a little reset after we get home.”

  Elizabeth punched him in the arm again.
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  “Ouch! You know my arm is going to bruise if you’re not careful. Well, close your eyes. You’re not supposed to know where we’re going.”

  “But you didn’t say ‘Simon says!’”

  Logan rolled his eyes and grabbed her hands, hoisting them up over her face. They drove a couple more blocks. Logan was watching to make sure that her fingers stayed over her eyes. Slowly but surely, they started to separate, and Logan could make out the brown of her irises.

  “No, no, no!” Logan yelled. “Keep your eyes shut!”

  “Fine!” Elizabeth shut her eyes again and brought her fingers back together.

  “You’re going to like it,” Logan said, patting Elizabeth on the leg. “I promise.”

  The car pulled to a stop, and Logan hopped out and ran to the other side. He looked around at the view in front of him. The sky was blue. There was hardly a cloud in sight. Everything was vibrant and crisp. The trees were green, and the birds in them were singing excitedly. Everything was perfect.

  He opened the door for Elizabeth. He allowed her to lower one of her hands so that he could help her climb out of the seat. Then he began walking her up the stairs in front of them as the car went to park itself.

  “Let me guess,” Elizabeth said. “It’s a comic book store.”

  “Liz! You disappoint me,” he said as he walked her up the last step. “That’s what you think my special surprise for you would be?”

  Elizabeth giggled, still keeping her eyes shut.

  “Ok,” Logan said. He stood Elizabeth still and oriented her to make sure she got the full effect of the reveal. “You can look now.”

  Elizabeth lowered her hands and opened her eyes. Before them stood the doors of a huge library. “This…” she trailed off.

  “One of only five physical libraries left in the country.” Logan smiled. “The only one in the Midwest. I thought you would like to spend the day here.”