I am quite sure that no-one had ever before dared to contemplate lighting a cigar in my office. I had never been fond of smokers, it was a disgusting habit.
"Put that out, Mr Cross," I said.
I don't know whether he was doing it out of compulsion or devilment. Either way, it was unacceptable. Perhaps he thought I couldn't see because I had his back to him. I would have smelled the sulphur dioxide from the match even if I had not seen the flame reflected in the window.
"Now," I commanded.
Mr Cross was still attempting to hovering with the match in front of the cigar when two of my security staff came in, one with a taser, the other with a bowl to serve as a makeshift ashtray. Mr Cross looked glanced at the man with the taser, annoyed, and flicked out the flame of the match before dropping it into the bowl.
"Where's Ashley Elliot?" I asked.
"I haven't got her in custody, yet," he said.
"Yes, I gather that."
"She managed to reach the transformer before I got to her."
"I expected better from you, Mr Cross."
"That's just because my track record makes your GS Agents look like losers."
That was an uncomfortable truth, and the reason I had decided once again to attempt to contract out the capture of new mutants.
"I won't argue with that," I said, walking towards him. "You are the best bounty hunter that I have ever worked with. That said, it is imperative that you understand Miss Elliot is unlike any new mutant you've ever tracked for me."
"We went over this when you took out the contract for her. You wanna use her as a weapon to wipe out an enemy's power grid, blah blah blah," Mr Cross said, walking around the room.
After Adam's recent performance of marching back into Genomex and assuming control, turning my last lieutenant to his side, and utterly refusing to allow me to liberate the cure for the new mutant infection, I had to find a way to retaliate, no matter how petty. It was a matter of principle.
"I suppose you can afford to be so cavalier, since we did agree to pay you a million-dollar bounty."
"This is because you realise you had no other choice. Your people would've never found her," he said.
It was true. After Mr Marlowe's defection and subsequent death, we were rather running short of GS Agents suitable for leading a mission. The ones who remained loyal and alive in the long term had an unfortunate proclivity to need clear directions from a superior.
"I expect you to execute our agreement. No more empty promises, no more excuses, no more delays," I said, approaching and glaring at him in order to chase him out of my sight.
"No problem," he said.
Mr Cross didn't let me down. He reported that he had successfully captured Miss Elliot, and was holding her in a secure location. I knew he would not release her before he had received his payment. I called upon a rookie GS Agent to carry out that task.
"Deliver this to Mr Cross and bring Miss Elliot to me, Mr Henshaw," I said as I pushed a briefcase towards him.
"I'll need clearance for a sub-dermal governor implant device, sir."
"But she is not to be damaged in any way. It is imperative that you carry no electrical devices on your person when you make the arrest. Make certain you are not within a fifty yard radius of any power lines, power stations, transformers, or any electrical unit emitting over 500 volts, and you'll be fine."
"But once she has a sub-dermal governor on her, she'll be neutralised," Mr Henshaw said. He was one of the agents who were very dependable when following the book, but inflexible in adapting to new situations.
"Miss Elliot is mutating, Mr Henshaw. It is impossible to say how effective a governor will be."
Mr Henshaw looked at me for a moment, then nodded. I couldn't be certain that he would heed my warning.
Mr Henshaw did not report back to me in the agreed upon timeframe, so I was already suspecting something had gone wrong. It was just as well I had only elected to part with half a million of company funds.
What I did not expect was a call from Mr Cross himself. "I've got the girl. You still want her?"
"I appreciate your persistence."
"And I appreciate your deep pockets. Two million, or no elemental."
"No new mutant is worth that much," I said. Two million dollars simply to get back at Adam? That was going a little far, even for me. Did I hate him that much? Well, yes. But there were other means of causing trouble for him that did not carry such a high price tag.
"Then the deal is off."
"How's the girl?" I asked.
"She's hungry. But I'm going to wait until the deal is made before I fill her up with her daily volts."
"She'll die if you wait too long."
"And that'd just be awful now, wouldn't it? Considering how much you want to meet her."
I closed my eyes to think for a moment. Of course the man did not care if someone in his custody died. He just looked at her and saw dollar signs. Reluctantly, I said, "Tell me where to send my men."
Eventually, Mr Henshaw returned and told his side of the story about how the bounty hunter had allegedly managed to get around him and recapture Miss Elliot.
"Mr Cross has become a liability," I said.
"I couldn't agree more, sir," said Mr Henshaw.
"How delightful to have your support," I said, approaching him. "I would like you to go out to station twelve."
"One problem with that, sir. Cross blames me personally for the previous incident and I feel-"
"I have no interest whatsoever in how you feel. Shoot Mr Cross, and for God's sake this time make sure he's dead."
He nodded and left. I sat down. As if it was not bad enough that Mr Henshaw had already failed me, now he was trying to tell me about his feelings. Sometimes it seemed people had no common sense at all. We had a perfectly good psychological team at Genomex that my staff could talk to if they required, something was sorely lacking in GS agent training if they instead saw fit to unload their baggage on me, their direct superior.
Unfortunately, Mr Henshaw did not get there quickly enough. When he arrived, Mr Cross was already dead, and Miss Elliot had escaped. Mr Henshaw informed me that he and his team had performed extensive searches, but failed to find her. I was impressed enough with Mr Henshaw for not attempting to lie about being responsible for Mr Cross's death that I allowed him to get away with a mere demotion. Sometimes I am too kind.
I wondered how Miss Elliot had slipped out of the bounty hunter's grasp. Perhaps she had been aided by Mutant X? Adam did seem to have a terrible habit of trusting unknown new mutants a little too easily, so perhaps now she was now causing chaos in Sanctuary unbidden. That was a happy thought. Well worth the loss of half a million.