Justin



Dad's flight was late morning, and it took a good hour of arguing to get him on the plane. He didn't want to leave me to the lawyer wolves, but he had business at home to take care of. I finally reminded him that he had two underage children to think about, and he needed to be home with them. Also, I had asked Jhondie not to tell them what had happened with the will. Dad needed to explain that to them. Had it just been my decision, I would rather they not know anything. Those little extortionists were going to raise their rates for finding dead birds dramatically the next time I needed something from Birdy.

I managed to get him out of there, and then headed to an electronics store that one of the investment guys had mentioned when I asked the day before. He was the same guy that had arranged for me to have a car and a full-city sector pass while I was in Seattle. There was one major thing I liked about having some serious cash. People really started being a help and not a hindrance for a change. In any case, I had told him that I wanted a good laptop, and he told me of one of the few places that you could still get one like I wanted in this city.

He thought that I wanted to keep track of the financial situation and things like that. That was partially true, but I also needed a way to communicate with a certain other person. I wondered what he would say when I told him that I was in Seattle. I couldn't help but to imagine him wanting to meet me face to face. I knew that he had to remain anonymous even to his operatives, but the thought alone was cool.

The day before, I had been given access to check cards, pass codes and all the other stuff to an account with the "liquid" assets. Basically, there was slightly over a million dollars in cash in there. It was hard to think along those terms. Two days before, and a thousand dollars was a lot of money. Now, I plunked down five times that much for something I wanted, and that didn't make a slight dent in one account that I had. Damn, it was going to take time to get used to having money like that.

I ran back to the hotel and got online for a few minutes. I told the boss that I was in Seattle, and needed to know if he knew anything about MedGen that wouldn't be known by the general populace. I told him that I couldn't go into details, and it had nothing to do with anything I was researching for him, but if he had anything, please let me know. It was very important to me personally. Maybe that was practically advertising my name and address to him, but I felt like I could trust him even if he did know who I was. He could have found out if he really wanted to. I felt that if he had something, he would let me know. After all that we had done for him, he owned me a favor or two in return.

Then it was time to meet back with lawyers. MedGen had done what they promised and were filing injunctions against me, and were trying to file suit to get the patents. But they were doing it very, very quietly. I had grabbed a copy of "Streets of Seattle" that morning, and there wasn't anything in there, which was odd in light of the fact that the information about the take-over had been in there. MedGen knew that they wanted to keep this quiet. If there was a whisper that they were going to lose those patents early, then their stock would drop and BioTech would own them by tonight. Steiner was encouraging me to threaten a public spectacle to get them to back off, but I wasn't sure just yet as to what I wanted to do. I wanted to see if Eye's Only had any information on them first. There was still something that wasn't right, and I couldn't figure it out.

I told Steiner not to get nasty just yet. He wasn't happy, but he knew better than to try and push it. Amazing what money will do. People just want to do what you say when you say it. It was decided that they would quietly fight the injunction while I decided if I wanted to sell the patents or keep them or what. One of the investment guys had four different graphs each showing a different possibility. I sat there watching them, and I had to wonder if this is what he imagined doing when he was a little kid. I remembered sitting with my friends and we talked about being policemen or astronauts or jet pilots. Well, my career wasn't exactly that, but I don't remember anyone saying that they were going to compile statistics showing various economic trends (both foreign and domestic of course).

In the meantime, Jhondie e-mailed me the information that she had compiled earlier. She knew I was going to be in meetings all day and would need something interesting to keep me awake. I got something interesting all right. There was one e-mail from her with the subject line of "Future Agenda / Points of Interest". I was very, very glad I was alone in an office, the usual occupant having been kicked out while I was there, when I opened that one. She had gotten her hands on my camera it would seem. And the points of interest that she had photographed were very much on the future agenda. I knew she was flexible, but *damn*. I flipped through the pictures slowly, realizing that I had taken off my jacket at some point. It was rather warm in there. I didn't even notice the other e-mail I had received from a rather anonymous location.

The other e-mail was one of those ones with a subject line that you would immediately delete upon seeing. It said something about meeting new people. You know the type. It's usually an ad for a porn site. For some reason, I didn't think I was going to need such a thing. But then I noticed the address. I opened the e-mail immediately. It wasn't a porn site.

The boss said that an informant would be meeting me at a place called Lizard's. I was to go to the bar and wait at the end. The informant would be there at eight, and would have some things for me that he had picked up about MedGen. He added that he wasn't actively working on anything about MedGen, but BioTech had caught his interest over some things. If I needed some help, let him know. It was weird. Eye's Only was actually offering to help me. That was a switch.

I e-mailed Jhondie that I was going to get her back for the pictures. I would have called her, but with the mood we were both obviously in, it was not something I wanted to do when just anyone could walk in. Now if the office had a lock…no, it was better this way. I still had to talk with one of the bankers about getting everything transferred to LA. They weren't going to be happy, but I didn't want to have to be communicating by phone all of the time. Dad had made the suggestion, and it sounded good to me. When they don't have to see you face to face, they sometimes forget that they aren't the ones that own the money. It made sense, but I still kept getting an odd mental image of an old cartoon character, Scrooge McDuck, swimming in all of his money.

The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to get rid of people so that I could get out and get to Lizard's on time. This was the first time I ever met another operative, and I was curious as to what kind of other people worked for Eye's Only. I had an early dinner with Steiner and another lawyer whose name I couldn't remember, but he seemed rather twitchy and went to the bathroom four times during dinner. I was glad to get away from them. I went back to the hotel and Dad called to let me know that he was back in LA, and he had the twins in custody. Jhondie's house was still standing, and her mother hadn't been driven to drinking just yet. Dad said that he told Mrs. Harris he was going to take her to dinner to thank her for letting them stay over there. It was probably more to get them both away from all kids for an evening, but I didn't say anything. I was going to have to come up with a way to thank Jhondie. I could figure out something that she would appreciate.

In the meantime, I had a meeting to attend. I changed out of my suit and into jeans. For some reason, I figured that I would blend into a bar crowd better in jeans than a nice suit. The bar was only a few miles away, and it wasn't too hard to get to. There was a sector check, but my pass let me go anywhere in the city. It pissed me off to think that there were people that were confined to certain areas and they didn't have a choice in the matter. If it wasn't for the money, there would have been no way that Steiner would have been able to secure an all sector pass like this one from the sector police. If my visit had accomplished one thing, it cemented my resolve to help Eye's Only. This had to end one way or the other.

I got to the bar about ten minutes early and went in. There was a dance floor with a few couples dancing, and some tables where people were gathered. A couple of guys were shooting pool at a battered looking table in the corner. It wasn't too crowded, but there were enough people that a stranger wouldn't be noticed. Not a bad place at all. I wondered how many of his meetings had been held here before, in public, but in perfect incognito. I wandered to the end of the bar and sat down. I ordered a beer when a surly looking bartender asked me what I wanted. I wasn't really in the mood to drink, but he probably would have thrown me out if I asked for water. Judging from the taste of what he served, that's pretty much what I paid for at any rate.

At a few minutes past eight a blonde man sat down beside me. The place wasn't packed and there were other places that he could have sat. My heart started beating faster. Either he was the informant or he was about to hit on me. I was hoping for the former. The bartender came over, and actually gave him a smile.

"What'll it be?" he asked congenially. When he asked me that same question, it had sounded more like a threat.

"Beer for me," he replied, saying nothing else until he got his drink and we were relatively alone again. He was a little older than most of the patrons here. They were all mid twenties, and he seemed to be in his early thirties. I wasn't sure if the glasses made him seem older or younger. He looked directly at me, his bright blue eyes seeming to size me up. I still wasn't positive if he was the informant or going to hit on me.

"LA?" he asked in a low voice.

I put down my glass. You see scenes like this in movies all the time, but when it's real, you have no idea how to act. Asking him something like "who wants to know" just seemed way to melodramatic when you considered that only two other people would know to refer to me as LA, and I didn't think Jhondie was around to tell him anything.

"Yeah," I replied. "And I really hope it was Eye's Only that sent you."

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a CD. "I just hope you're the person I'm supposed to give this to," he replied. "He said that if he gets anything else, he'd let you know."

I took the CD, sliding it into my jacket's inner pocket. "Thanks," I replied, standing. "You wouldn't happen to know if he's doing a hack soon, would you?"

The informant shrugged. "I don't know until I see it like everyone else. I don't think he allows live studio audiences at the taping though."

I let out a breath of laughter. "I've never gotten to see a Seattle focused one," I explained.

He shrugged. "You never know about him. He's got a lot to talk about in this city."

"No kidding," I replied dryly. "Well, good luck to you and your work." He gave me a curt nod and I left quickly. I wanted to look over what was on here, but I already knew that was going to come in second to making another phone call to Los Angeles. I couldn't wait to get back there. I missed Jhondie, was sick of lawyers and it was starting to rain yet again as I left Lizard's.

I got back to the hotel as quick as I could, plopping down on the bed and grabbing the phone. I pulled off my jacket as I dialed Jhondie's number. Kayla picked up on the second ring.

"Hello?" she greeted huffily as if I was interrupting her at the absolute worst time possible. Got to love teenagers.

"Jhondie around?" I asked. She sighed, that long drawn out breath to show that she was considered a secretary and she was also quite unappreciated in her own time.

"Hold on." She moved the phone about two inches from her lips and then yelled her sister's name at a volume that could have drowned out a jet engine. Jhondie may have responded, but my ears were ringing, and I didn't hear again until Kayla shouted out "it's Justin!". Great. Inherit thirty million dollars and then have to spend it all to have my hearing redone. Kids.

Another phone picked up almost immediately. "I got it," Jhondie said.

"I'm expecting a phone call from Ginny," Kayla said pointedly.

"Good for you," Jhondie replied cheerfully. "Now hang up and expect it somewhere else."

Kayla let out an indignant gasp and slammed down the phone. Jhondie let out a sigh of disgust. "I have no idea what has gotten into her the last few months," she said. "The worst thing that child ever did was turn fourteen." She let out a little growl, and then I had her attention again. "Hello my love."

"Hey Sexy," I replied. She laughed. I stretched out on the bed, relaxing. God, it was good to hear her voice. The day after tomorrow, I reminded myself. I could go that long, and then she would be back in my arms. We were going to have a lot to talk about then. But it could wait till I came home. We had plenty of time.

Jhondie



That whole "absence makes the heart grow fonder" thing sucked. Sucked in ways that I did not know things could suck. I missed Justin. I wanted to be with him right now. The scary part was that sex was only a part of it. Yeah, I missed having sex with him, but I missed having my best friend with me too. He was so much a part of my life. I was really starting to hate going to bed and not having him with me. We didn't get the chance to sleep together like that often, but the rare times that I slept, it was usually with him, and right now I missed having him pressed against me.

I had swiped his camera the day before when I had to run Britt back to the house for something that she had forgotten. Then I just got a little creative. From his reply to my e-mail, I thought that he must have liked the results. He said that I better pick out a closet with a lock on it at the airport when I went to pick him up. If not, we would probably both end up in jail.

I almost squished Cody and broke my leg trying to get to the phone when Kayla yelled that Justin was on the phone. Great show of genetically engineered grace and coordination there. She actually thought that I was going to cut it short with him? She was going to get to see her little loser friend tomorrow at school, unless Ginny cut classes again. Whatever. I could deal with her later. I could deal with anything to hear Justin's voice say "Hey Sexy," in that low rumble that said he was feeling frisky.

"Does that mean you liked the pictures?" I asked with a laugh.

He growled at me. "I only had to wait about ten minutes before I could leave that office when I was done looking at them."

"Poor baby," I teased. "Now if I was there, it would have been about half an hour."

"If you were here right now, I wouldn't need nearly that long. At least not the first time."

I shivered. I wanted him so much right then. "I take it that you're really coming home then."

"You better believe it," he replied. "Not much else I can do here anyways. I think I might just sell the patents to MedGen and be done with it. I was thinking about the timing of the will and stuff, and it might just be coincidence and I'm being paranoid. Maybe he saw the company he spent twenty years at getting ready to be bought and changed, and that makes him think about the future and all those "what ifs". So he makes the will, and then it just happens. I have one more thing to check out, and if it checks out, then I'll tell Steiner to make a deal with MedGen. There's plenty of money already, and I don't need any more headaches." He laughed. "That's what I have you for."

"Hey!" I protested with mock indignation. "Just wait till you get home. Then we'll see who has the headache."

"Yeah right," he replied. I could hear the grin in his voice. "All I'm going to have to do is kiss you and you'll be mine."

"Well, you might have to do some other things too," I replied, feeling my heartbeat increase.

"Oh really?" he almost purred. He paused for a moment, and I barely heard "What the…?"

"Justin?" I asked, wondering what the problem was.

"Nothing sweetheart," He replied. "Getting back to where we were, what things might that be?" He was using "that voice". Not fair. He knew what it did to me. Was my door locked? Now I was glad I could move fast. It was shut, locked and I was back on my bed in a flash. After he had been at that workshop for a couple of weeks, we were talking and things had gotten rather passionate on the phone. God, I wanted him there. Phone does not even come close to having him really there.

I opened my mouth to reply, but the sudden noise cut me off dead. With sickening ease, I recognized the sounds.

Glass shattering.

Gunfire.

Silence.

"Justin?" I gasped into the phone. Nothing. "Justin!" I said louder, waiting for an answer that I instinctively knew I wasn't going to get.

Another burst of gunfire, and the line went dead.