Thirty-Six #2
With what he hoped was a convincing moan of lustful desperation, he struggled out of his shirt with an abundance of flailing, making sure that he worked his badge over his head in the process and palmed it in his left hand while cupping Addy’s chin in the other direction with his right and kissing her hungrily.
He slid the badge into his back pocket as he worked his pants off and kicked them into a corner of the room.
She didn’t notice anything—either it was too dark, or she was too preoccupied getting her own clothes off.
Martim’s pulse was racing more from the close call and the terror of his own incompetence than from actual desire.
On the bed, he concentrated on making out with Addy enthusiastically, boxing up his anxiety, bringing back that fragile other-Martim.
She moaned and squirmed and told him to give it to her, give it to her hard.
He went down on her—it was the least he could do, he figured, and by the time she came, he was genuinely and impatiently horny again.
She wanted him to fuck her from behind, so he did—why not, he wasn’t going to be picky, and when he came, it was with shatteringly joyful relief and the feeling like he’d never worked so hard for an orgasm before in his entire life.
She got up to pee, then snuggled into him and fell asleep.
Martim wished he could do the same, but even with his muscles slack and his brain wiped empty, it was too early in the night for him to fall asleep easily without a sleepstim.
He had one in his jacket pocket, but finding it would mean moving a slumbering woman off his arm, getting out of bed to wander around naked in the dark in a stranger’s apartment to search for where he’d discarded his outerwear somewhere near the entryway.
Again, a complication he’d failed to account for.
What the hell am I doing?
He fell asleep, finally, thank God, and ended up sleeping okay—not great, but past dawn, longer than he usually was able to, even on a Freeday morning. When Addison awoke, she gave him a contented, lazy smile and slurred, “Good morning, handsome. That was a good time.”
He pretended that he, too, had just woken up and gave her a kiss on the head. “Sure glad I met you.”
“Ugh, I’m so hungover, though.” She extricated herself and wobbled out of bed. “I need a shower.”
“Do you know what time it is?” Martim asked innocently.
She dug in the pile of discarded clothes on the floor to find her screen. “Nine twenty. You want some breakfast?”
“Sure, I could eat,” he said agreeably. He was jonesing hard for a boost, and lying very still was the easiest way to keep his hands from starting to twitch uncontrollably. “Take your time, though, I’m good for now.”
Addy disappeared into the bathroom. He waited until he heard the telltale ping of the water meter starting up behind the closed door before scrambling out of bed and diving for his pants.
For a second, he was terrified that he’d somehow lost the equipment, but it was still there, along with his black badge, right where he’d left it in his pocket: a wafer-thin external hard drive and connector.
“What would it take,” he’d asked Crater, “to spy on the Board of Directors?”
The subcon had been silent for some time. “I don’t like where this is going,”
“Theoretically speaking,” Martim had pressed. “Indulge me.”
“You’re on your first contract, so I’m going to explain this to you simply.
Other than the Sweetsea and the Genebank, the assembly hall of the Bridge is the most secretive place on the planet.
Security goes through the chamber with a fine-tooth comb before and after every Board meeting; that rules out any sort of recording or transmission device.
The floors and walls are shielded against surveillance.
Every attendee is confirmed with bioprint or synthmarker verification, so good luck trying to crash the party and get away with it.
You don’t think anyone’s tried to spy on the BoD before? ”
Martim had to admit Crater’s assessment did not sound promising. “The Board members must have records or transcripts of what goes on. There have to be agendas, notes, detailed meeting minutes circulated.”
“Sure, but it would be up to each director to designate the aides in their inner circle who have security clearance to be on those lists. You’d have to hack into the systems of the individual divisions to search.”
“How long would that take you?”
“Sorry,” Crater said flatly. “I don’t mess with BoD-level stuff.”
“But this would be—”
“There’s only so far I’m sticking my neck out.
And no offense, you’re still the new kid on the block, not one of my longtimers.
Too much likelihood of conflict of interest. The best way to get to what you’re looking for would be to go digging through the files of other atiers, and you don’t think some of them are also my paying clients?
” When Martim responded with disappointed silence, Crater said, “Drop the idea. Or at least don’t involve me in it. ”
So Martim had been forced to find another way.
He connected the device to Addison’s screen. Nothing happened at first, but then the screen flickered, turned blue, and a progress bar displayed the files being found and copied.
It would take five to eight minutes, Crater had told him.
He prayed that Addison liked to splurge on her showers.
He left the cloning program running and dressed as fast as he could, then retrieved his jacket from the stairs, fumbling and shaking like a damn junkie until he found the packet of amp tablets and tossed two of them into his mouth.
He ground them to powder with his molars, gagging on the bitter taste as he forced a swallow and raced back to the bedroom.
The program was still running, crawling toward completion.
The water meter pinged again and shut down.
Martim heard Addison humming as she moved about in the bathroom.
Never had he hoped so badly for a woman to spend more time getting ready.
Crater had allowed himself to be talked into Martim’s plan, but he hadn’t liked it. “I think it’s a terrible idea, but it’s your funeral.”
“It’s my only choice,” Martim had pointed out resentfully. “Since you won’t help me.”
“You do have a choice: You could not do it .”
Getting the names and personnel files of the secretaries of all the members of the Board was easy and unobjectionable to Crater—basic research subcon work.
He’d also arranged an anonymous package drop for Martim with an advanced rip-and-clone program that would break through most types of encryption.
It wasn’t as if rivals in the Company didn’t try to spy on and steal from one another all the time.
Crater had no issue with providing hardware so long as he couldn’t be personally linked to any of Martim’s actions.
That left Martim with the task of figuring out how to get access to someone who’d have the agenda and relevant files related to this week’s upcoming Board meeting.
He narrowed down who might be a weak security link by ruling out the older, more experienced staffers; anyone who was a veteran assistant to a Board member was bound to be tough and wary.
Peregrine Addison happened to be a six-month fill-in while one of Director Savannah Minto’s regular secretaries was on maternity leave. She was young and seemed most likely to be gullible enough for Martim to get close.
Crater’s program blinked completion. Martim ripped free the wire and data wafer and shoved it back into his pocket just as the bathroom door opened and Addison stepped out, wrapped in a bathrobe, her skin pink from the shower as she wrung out her wet hair with a towel.
“You’re already dressed?” she noted with disappointment.
“I’m so sorry, I just got a message. Something came up at the warehouse—it’s an emergency.
I’ve got to go.” He threw on his jacket and shoved his feet into his boots.
No need to pretend to be flustered when he was already sweating and frantic to leave.
Addy stood in the doorway of the bathroom, chewing her lower lip and looking uncertain about whether to believe his story or to assume she was being summarily rejected.
“Hey,” he said, conciliatory, because even in a situation like this, he hated the thought of someone being mad at him.
“I had a really good time last night. You’re beautiful and funny and I wish I could stay.
I’m not just trying to blow you off, I swear, I’m not that kind of guy, but I really do have to go.
” He gave her a sweet little kiss. “I’ll call you. ”
“Sure,” she said dubiously, but smiling a little, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Martim kissed her again and hastened out of the apartment before she could pick up her screen and notice anything amiss.
He wasn’t going to call. He wasn’t going to see her again.
Being ghosted would be the least of Addy’s concerns; if the security breach was discovered, she would be fired.
A mistake like that on her file would make it hard to land another position.
You’re a manipulative asshole , he told himself as he burst out onto the street and caught a stinging lungful of frigid air.
No, worse. It was one thing to pragmatically eliminate obstructionists who’d committed crimes, or even a former wageman like Elm Anders who was threatening to harm Martim’s client and his division.
But Addy was an innocent, someone who wasn’t connected to SoCon GasPro at all.
She was just a young woman who went home with the wrong man and might have her life ruined because of it.