“They recruited me right out of high school. I was a football player. I guess they needed a lot of body donors at the time. I started doing that, but after five years, they loaded a bunch of skill packs and started me in the field. They still upload more experienced Agents when they need to, but not since I got this gig about two months ago.”
I nodded and weaved through traffic. This part of the city was always an adventure to navigate.
* * *
The music in the club pounded in my ears. It wasn’t my preferred style of music. The flashing lights could easily distract someone, much like our boy, Dickson. I shook my head at the kid. I liked jazz and a little blues, not the electric pounding that seemed popular among the younger generation.
“Who am I kidding?” I asked under my breath. “Everyone is a younger generation.”
Rosalyn was gyrating amid a group of men. She liked to toy with them. I’d seen women like her before. I let my eyes scan the crowd, returning to her every so often. She ground herself against a guy for a moment, then she whispered something and walked away from him, laughing.
An angry look crossed his face, but it was fleeting. He stopped dancing and followed, at a distance, as Rosalyn worked her way to the back. She entered the restroom, and he stood outside for a moment before following her in.
I went through the door a second behind him and slipped in front of him faster than his eyes could follow. My hand settled at his throat and lifted him easily from the floor. I held him against the wall and looked back toward the third stall that was opening.
Rosalyn stepped out of the stall in nothing but her smile. She had a sex toy strapped around her waist.
“Down, boy,” she said, with a crooked smile. “He’s harmless. I told him I would take his if he would take mine. Equitable trade. Please let him down. I have something for him.”
I chuckled and dropped the guy. “Good luck, pal.”
I turned toward the door and paused. Looking back at the gasping clubber, I said, “She’s Management. She comes out of here with a scratch, I’ll tear you apart, piece by piece.”
She looked at me with a raised eyebrow. She wasn’t worried about her nakedness. I could see how Will was so smitten. The woman was as close to perfect as they could make her.
I stepped out the door and stood guard.
“Glad this is a short job,” I said.
“She playing with a new toy?” Derick asked as he leaned against the wall beside me.
“Yep. Kind of feel sorry for the guy after seeing what she was going to do to him. I don’t even want to know where she was carrying that.”
He laughed. “You really are that guy I was talking about, aren’t you?”
I shrugged.
“I knew it. No one has as little reaction as you did when they see Ros. That takes age and experience.”
“You don’t seem to have an issue,” I said.
“Been stuck working for her for close to five years.”
“She as bad as I think she is?”
“Worse.”
“Tell me.”
“I can’t. Orders.”
“I see,” I said.
“It’s gonna be a hard one tonight. She always starts with one of these guys.”
“Starts?”
“That’s about all I can say.”
I nodded and glanced back toward the door. I heard the guy in the restroom scream as Rosalyn did what she had told him she would do.
I let out a long breath. “Management. What are you gonna do?”
He just nodded.
* * *
The trip from the club to the hotel was much the same as the trip to the club. The divider was up, and Will kept looking into the mirrors.
“Keep your eyes on our surroundings, kid,” I said. “She’s Management. You don’t want what she’ll do to you.”
“What?”
“Never mind, kid.”
He shook his head and looked out the window of the limo. If he’d been in my squad back in the day, I would have slapped the back of his head. He’d been doing this for months. Derick needed to set the kid straight. I could tell he hadn’t been out on any missions. You lose that innocence pretty quickly when they drop you into a mob of enemy combatants. I could tell this kid hadn’t come out of one of those places covered in blood. Or, maybe, I had just come out of those places so many times, I had forgotten what it was like to be new.
I chuckled.
“What is it?” Will asked.
“Just trying to remember when I was as green as you,” I said. “It was a very long time ago, and I probably wouldn’t have listened to me either.”
“So which imprint are you anyway, Matt?”
“Mathew Kade, of course.”
He snorted. “Sure, you are, Mister Urban Legend. I asked for that one, I guess.”
I shrugged and grinned at him. I couldn’t help liking the kid.
“How’d you end up in that guy? If I looked like that, she’d be all over me.”
“Jeez, kid.”
“I know, she’s Management.”
“God, I don’t miss my twenties.” I turned on the cruise control as we merged onto the Interstate. “I miss Elena, but I don’t miss the twenties.”
“Who’s Elena?”
“She was my wife,” I said. “Lost her before I joined the Agent Program.”
“That’s rough,” he said. “I’m never getting married. Too many gorgeous women out there to settle for one.”
“You meet the right one, kid, and the others are just shadows.”
“She must have been pretty spectacular, then.”
“She was.”
“Never saw one I would give up the single life for, well, maybe…”
“Don’t even say it, kid.”
“I know, I know. She’s—”
“Management,” we said in unison.
He laughed, and I couldn’t help laughing along with him.
I turned the manual control back on as we took the off ramp leading to the Westgate. I pulled the car up in front of the building and stepped out. Will was already opening the door for Rosalyn.
“Hmph,” I grunted.
Derick stepped out on my side and shook his head.
“Kid’s got it bad,” I said, with a grin.
Derick didn’t answer, and he didn’t smile either. He turned toward me as we followed Will and Rosalyn into the lobby.
“You’re rear guard till we reach the room. Then, you’re done. Our other guys will be here in less than an hour.”
“Gotcha.”
I fell back and followed the trio to the elevator. I was the last to step inside, and I felt her run her hand along my back.
“Such a pity,” she said, just before the door opened, and I stepped out.
I sidestepped to let them proceed toward the double doors of the penthouse suite.
They reached the doors, and she turned to Will. “You, follow me. I think I want to play some more tonight.”
She walked into the room after brushing her fingertips across the kid’s chest.
He glanced back at me, with the goofiest grin I had ever seen, and shot me a thumbs up sign. Then he followed Rosalyn inside.
I chuckled until I saw Derick. He wouldn’t meet my eyes as he said, “You’re done, Matt. Enjoy the time off.”
I nodded. “Good working with you, Derick. Maybe we’ll meet again.”
He shrugged. “If orders allow.”
I got back on the elevator and took it to the lobby. At least, the kid would have fun tonight. I wasn’t sure how much fun, considering what she had done to the guy in the club.
I got off the elevator and left the hotel. There was a bar around the back that several Agents frequented when they were off duty. They were close by if needed, but out of the way of the Heads staying in the Westgate. It’s not like many of us had homes we could go to. There were some, but a lot of us were just imprints in donor bodies. I’d run into many of the imprints I was
familiar with from the database, but none of them remembered their time inside the computer. It used to be different, but they had found that people went crazy if they remembered. For some reason, I was okay. At least, I thought I was okay. Maybe I was crazy and didn’t know it.
I sat there wondering what I would do for five days. I could follow Will’s lead and look for company, but all my friends were inside the world I had built inside the database. Everybody thought I missed the time inside my body, but I didn’t care about that anymore. Sure, it was fun to feel physical sensation, but, usually, the sensation I felt when outside was pain.
Most of my time outside was on mission, and I was in the center of the war the majority of that time. Imprints specialized in their tasks. When they needed versatility, they called me. A hundred and sixty years of life experience, combined with the years of skill packages, meant I could do almost any mission they wanted. And they used me a lot.
So, I figured I would wander the streets and watch things from the shadows for a few days. I ate a decent meal at the bar and wandered outside and around the corner, where I leaned against a wall for several hours. I was just watching the bar patrons coming and going. It was pure chance I saw the van as it pulled up behind the Westgate.
I was immediately curious, so I stepped a little closer for a better view.
“Take him to medical,” Derick said. I saw someone lying on a stretcher. “Make sure they know to override this imprint with his last update.”
I moved to the side just a fraction to see who was on the stretcher. My left eye began to twitch. Will Dickson was unconscious, and I guess he was better off that way. He was unclothed and covered in blood.
Derick looked toward the dark area where I stood and lowered his head in shame.
I heard her voice behind Derick in the hallway. “I’m not sure if he’s getting better or worse. Perhaps, I’m just bored. Derick, be a doll and bring me a new one tomorrow. Perhaps, a woman. I know, bring me that new one…Chu, I think her name is. Be sure to back up her imprint beforehand. I might like her quite well. Women handle pain much better than men.”
I started to step forward, but Derick shook his head just a fraction.
He was right, this was not the time. I had to get back to HQ. I needed to warn Gloria.
* * *
“She’s Management, Mathew.”
“I don’t give a shit who she is. There are things that need to be stopped.”
Gloria sighed. “But we can’t do anything. She is very close to the top. The only thing I can guarantee is that Chu will have that update before she goes. It’s too late to stop it.”
My eyes narrowed. “Just put me back in the damned computer, Major Dans.”
She didn’t miss the fact that I didn’t use her first name. I had been working with her for years and had been calling her Gloria for the last four.
I walked out of her office and down the ramp to the imprinter.
I sat in the cylinder, then laid back. I said, “Put me back into the machine, Gina.”
“I thought you had a few days,” she said.
“Not anymore,” I said. “Nothing out here for me.”
She looked troubled but did as I asked and started the machine.
My virtual eye began to twitch as I sat across the chess board from Doc Bern. It was autumn in the park in the construct, and the trees were brilliant red, yellow, and orange. It was a beautiful scene, but I couldn’t enjoy it. The latest upload had been a doozy. And it had come with a plan.
“How much can the Admin codes you installed in me do?”
“That doesn’t sound good. What happened?”
“Hypothetically, could I interfere with an upload/download situation?”
“Yes. What happened?”
“I’ll fill you in in a minute,” I said and called up the virtual console.
They had just placed Chu into the imprinter for her update. No way was that girl going to the Westgate. As soon as they initiated the upload, I initiated a download. I pulled from Chu’s file and absorbed all her history. As I watched it play out in my mind, I knew I had done the right thing. I added the newfound understanding to the download and closed the console.
“What did you just do, Mathew?”
“Doc, there’s some shady shit going on out there.”
“Mathew, I just saw you override a download. I’m going to need a little more than ‘shady shit’ here.”
“I don’t think you really want to know, Doc. It’s bad.”
“Tell me everything.”
As I gave Bern the rundown of my last mission, I watched him become increasingly agitated. Finally, he had to stand up and walk away.
“This isn’t what my life’s work is supposed to be used for, Mathew.”
I watched him slowly walk across the park, and I said, “I feel you, Doc.”
I spent the next six hours stewing about what I could do, and I came up with very little.
My virtual body lurched as the upload hit.
“Wasn’t…supposed…to…”
* * *
I opened my eyes and glanced down and saw Chu’s body.
“At least, that worked,” I said, under my breath.
I accessed my memories of Chu and smiled at Gina. “I don’t know why I needed an update. I had one about three weeks ago.”
“Orders from above.”
“So be it,” I said. “Why am I back this soon?”
“I’m not sure. You’re supposed to meet with Major Dans, and she will tell you what’s up.”
“Thanks, R…Gina.” I had almost called her Red. Hopefully she hadn’t caught it.
I sat up in the imprinter. Chu was short, her feet dangled six inches from the floor. I jumped down, waved at Gina, and walked up the ramp to the locker room where I retrieved the clothes Chu had worn. Clothes can be worn in the imprinter, but it slowed the machine. For the fastest results, nothing but the body should be in the cylinder.
After dressing, I strode up the ramp where Dans waited with a familiar figure.
Dans gestured toward the man. “Chu, this is Derick Jacobi. He will escort you to meet with a VIP. Miss Danforth is visiting and wishes for someone to join her for dinner.”
“Really?” I asked. “That’s different.”
“Rosalyn doesn’t like imprints,” Derick said. “She prefers talking to someone with a little less programming.”
Gloria shrugged. “Take it for what it is, honey. Fine dining with the elite.”
“Sure. I’ve never met any of the Management before.”
I followed Derick out the door, and he opened the door to the limo. I slid into the seat across from Rosalyn Danforth and acted suitably impressed with her beauty.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”
“Perhaps,” she said. “Alpha romeo eight six four gamechanger.”
I felt my body slip into a relaxed state. I overrode it with my Admin codes, but I stayed relaxed.
“Do you affirm that I am Rosalyn Danforth?”
“Yes.” I answered as she expected.
She smiled a crooked smile that reminded me of a predator looking at a piece of meat.
“Good,” she said and repeated the phrase to release me.
I shook my head as if to clear it. “That was weird.”
“You have no idea, honey,” she said and patted the seat beside her. “Come here, my pet.”
I felt the compulsion to do as she said, and I let it proceed without my override.
I could go into sordid detail about what Rosalyn Danforth did to me, but I would rather not. I will say that I asked for more of everything she did. She wanted innocence, and I gave her just the opposite. I’ve been wounded in battle in just about every way a person can be injured, and none were any worse than what she did to me. And, every time, I asked for more. By the end of the evening, she was furious and reduced to pummeling me with whatever she could find.
The most infuriating thing I said was in response
to one of her questions. I think it was the one right before she unscrewed the bedpost. “Why do you think I wanted to be a donor? I can heal from almost everything.”
That evening, Derick pushed the stretcher out of the room and looked down at my bloody grin.
When the elevator doors closed, he said, “You’re not Chu.”
I spit blood. “How many times?”
“What?”
“How many times…has Dickson been through that?”
“Ten, before she got bored.”
“You just…kept bringing him back.”
“You are that guy we talked about,” he said. “You heard that code. You know we don’t have any choice. She won’t request Chu again. She said you enjoyed it too much. But she’ll find another, and it’ll happen all over again.”
“When…did it come…to this?”
“Been like this for years,” he said, his voice filled with bitterness. “Where have you been?”
“I’ve been out killing…” I coughed. “A bunch of people for these bastards.”
I shut up as the elevator doors opened. He pushed the stretcher to the waiting van. The trip to HQ was silent.
I was wheeled through the door, and Gina ran to the stretcher. “Oh, my God! What happened to her?”
Another voice spoke up. “This one seems to have been through one hell of a fight, Major.”
“She has, sir.”
“Well, what are you waiting for? Get this Agent uploaded and get a SitRep. Then she needs to go to the infirmary.”
“So much for not reliving that,” I mumbled.
“What did she say?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“Get her patched up and, maybe, we’ll find out.”
“Yes, sir.”
I cracked an eye open and saw General Kilroy facing Major Dans. Kilroy was the head of the Philadelphia division. I glanced toward Gloria. What were the odds he would be here at this moment?
Perhaps Gloria was craftier than I had thought.
They wheeled me down to the imprinter and placed me inside. Gina reached across me to attach a lead.
“Seen better…days, Red,” I gasped.
“Mathew?”
I gave her a bloody grin.
She said no more and pushed the upload button.
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