Justin
Describing BioTech as a problem for us was like describing The Pulse as a computer glitch. Understatement just didn't come close. I wasn't too sure what this paperwork was saying, but it was evident that they were heavily involved with Manticore somewhere along the line. It was a good thing that Zack wasn't around. If he knew that I had just walked Jhondie into the middle of an organization that supplied Manticore, chances were that I would be dead before I hit the ground. From his point of view, I wouldn't be able to blame the guy.
"Makes sense they would be dealing with Manticore," Jhondie muttered, and then pushed the folder in her hand under my nose. "Just nobody mentions me when this comes out."
I took the papers and looked over them, while she started flipping through what I had. It was not fair that she was covering half a dozen pages to my one. The contract, a picture of Uncle Justin, and some chemical formulas. This would probably be more ominous if I had any idea what the hell the formulas were for. But when I saw the highlighting on the contract, and put it with Jhondie's concern, I started getting a very, very bad feeling as to what those formulas were. This entire time, the one thing that kept nagging at me was that MedGen had no reason to kill my uncle for another four years. This was a crazy, risky maneuver. And now I started to think, what if it wasn't their move after all?
Jhondie was looking at me when I looked back up. "This one," she said tonelessly, lightly tapping one of the formulas "is a clear liquid that's odorless and tasteless. The drug causes a reaction similar to a heart attack."
All I could see for a moment was my uncle's gym bag. He had been playing racquetball earlier on the day he died. Wendy hadn't been able to empty it. Dad did it for her. He had poured out about an inch of water from a bottle. Bags being left in the open. Lots of people. It wouldn't be anything to dump in some chemicals and walk away.
"And now it would be real suspicious if the new owner of the patents dropped dead of a heart attack since he's only twenty-one," I said.
"So they have to send gunmen since you're not cooperating," Jhondie finished for me.
I nodded, things starting to fall into place in my head. "They want those patents bad. MedGen is staying just a hair out of reach. They have to be careful since they're dealing with things like Manticore who do not like publicity. If they set up MedGen…"
"Then the bad press is going to fall on them," Jhondie said, picking up on my train of thought. "And the stock prices drop like a rock."
"Even better," I countered, realizing the train of events. "They have some heavy government contacts obviously. The government seizes MedGen and then gives it to BioTech since it's going to help them supply Manticore better then. The contract was legal. MedGen would get the patents, and it would just be the CEO and President that ended up in prison for murder."
"But why did they make your uncle seem like a heart attack?" Jhondie asked, perplexed. She was looking over my shoulder. "It doesn't make sense if it was to be big news to do it so quietly."
I thought about it. She was right. I looked back at the contract, and noticed something. I had seen a copy of this thing a million times. Maybe that's why I noticed what Jhondie didn't despite her visual acuities. There was a line under the name Justin A. Carter. And then the final piece fell into place. "They knew," I said quickly. "They knew who really owned the patents. Kill Uncle Justin. That gets MedGen hysterical when it comes out that they weren't getting the patents. I suddenly get killed and then all eyes fall on MedGen. Prices fall, and they win. Son of a bitch."
Jhondie blinked, thinking about it. "If they're working with Manticore, then this has got to happen fast. The longer this takes, the more chance there is for exposure, and they do not want to get Manticore upset with them. Not with their group of assassins hanging around. There's no better incentive than that." She paused for a long moment. "You're proving to be very difficult to kill. Time is short. They have to go to a backup plan. Your family is in LA. That's too far away to be a commotion here. Who would be the equivalent of a warning shot?"
A warning shot? Actually, I wasn't the one doing the legal fighting and maneuvering.
Steiner was.
Jhondie
There seemed something so morally wrong with trying to save a lawyer's life. Granted, Justin liked Steiner, and said he was a good guy, but still it was hard to get over that whole ingrained thing that he's a lawyer. He needs to be eliminated. But that would be wrong. Screw doing the right thing for once. Manticore was involved and Justin was in danger. Getting the hell out of Seattle seemed like the best bet to me. But this was Justin on a crusade. There was no talking sense to him when he was in crusade mode. I didn't mind doing some crusading, but only when we could remain anonymous. Whatever. I was in it just as much as he was now. And we took the incriminating files with us. By morning, BioTech was going to be after Justin with a vengeance. Time was not on our side with this one.
We went to the second closest payphone that we could find, the absolute closest being the one that Justin had called from to get the guard to leave his desk, and it would have been a bad idea to keep hanging around the building, and Justin called Steiner. I could see from the frustration on his face that there wasn't anyone answering. Justin slammed down the phone.
"He's either a hard sleeper or dead already," he snarled. In a conversation with Steiner earlier, he had mentioned keeping water beside his bed if he got thirsty at night. I didn't ask how that came up, but I knew that was what Justin was worried about the most.
"Do you know where he lives?" I asked.
Justin nodded. "Yeah, but it's too far to walk. If he's sleeping, we won't get there before morning." I grinned. I bet he was thinking that transportation was going to be a problem.
"Come on," I said, thinking about the bar we had passed a little while ago. Chances were there were people there with cars, and they would be too drunk to figure out for a while that it was missing. With a little luck, we might even be able to return it before the owner could figure out that it had been borrowed.
"Since when did you learn how to hotwire cars?" Justin asked a little suspiciously once he realized what my intentions were. I scanned the parking lot. Near the end was what appeared to be a pretty good target.
"Since Dad took my car keys and tried to ground me when I was sixteen," I replied as we got to the car. I took a glance around. It was clear enough, and I slammed my elbow into the glass, shattering the back window. "Hotwiring and rewiring a security system is pretty much the same thing in concept." Justin seemed a little bemused at that, but he didn't complain about the fact that a minute later, the engine rumbled to life.
It still took almost twenty minutes to get to Steiner's place, and I was sure I was going to have to gag Justin by the time we got there. He was way more than impatient, and we had to be nice to the Sector Police when going through checkpoints. LA had city entry checkpoints, but once you were in the city, you were in. This stopping and waiting for entry was a bunch of crap, but we had to play it cool. At least I was trying to. Justin was glaring at them and showing his frustration. This was not a situation where you could show yourself to the enemy. Just for a second there I wished that Justin had some kind of training like mine so that he would know how to act.
I stopped the car several blocks from the house, and pulled over to the side. Justin shot me a questioning look. "BioTech probably has someone watching the house," I explained. "You're still the number one target, remember? Chances of you showing up there are rather high." Justin was still focused on finding out what had happened and bringing the killers to justice. My priority was protecting him. It was rare that we had such different priorities when we were out like this, but this time he was going to have to deal with me being more of a bodyguard than a partner.
"Okay," he said quietly. "We had to stop by his house the other day, and he forgot his key. He had to get a spare from one of those fake rocks in the backyard."
I nodded. Much less intrusive then pounding on the front door. We got out of the car, and I looked around, all senses on high alert. It was still quiet. I wasn't about to relax for a second though. Anyone that approached us was going to get the crap kicked out of them, no questions asked. I trusted Justin and myself. Everyone else in this city was suspect.
I hated having to creep through backyards, but there wasn't much of a choice. We were going to have to hope that nobody was awake enough to notice us in the shadows of the fences between the yards. There was a moment when a dog in an adjoining yard started barking violently, jumping against the fence and scratching at it. Justin grinned at me wryly. I wrinkled my nose back at him. Wasn't my fault dogs didn't like me. We moved out quickly, not wanting anyone to get up to find out why the mutt was howling.
We finally slipped over the last fence and landed in Steiner's back yard. I looked around carefully before standing up and signaling Justin to come over the fence. Was it quiet because it was two in the morning, or were there assassins setting their mark? I couldn't see anything suspect, but I knew I would feel better once we were out of the open. Justin slid over the fence and came up beside me.
"It's one of the ones by the steps," Justin whispered. We knelt down and started flipping over the rocks, looking for the fake. It was a little annoying that Justin didn't know exactly which one it was, but I couldn't really blame him. Things did tend to look differently at night then they did during the day. At least, that's what I had been told.
Justin picked up a rock, flipping it over, and then grinned. "Got it," he said, pulling out a key from beneath it. Light suddenly spilled into the backyard from the upstairs window. We both looked up sharply, instinctively getting lower to the ground until we realized that it was a light from inside of the house. Our eyes met sharply.
Water beside the bed.
That so better not be his daughter's boyfriend sneaking out.
There was a small overhand over the backdoor, and I didn't hesitate. I jumped up on it in a smooth motion, and then leapt again, grabbing the edge of the roof. I swung back, and then drove forward, crashing through the window. I had a moment to take in the view. Some guy was sitting up in bed, with the reading lamp on, holding a glass of water. A woman was struggling with a sleep mask beside him. Water. Water in hand.
"Don't drink it!" I screaming, diving across the room, and yanking the glass out of his hand. God, that was too close. "Let's just pretend we're in Mexico, okay," I said in almost a conversational tone. "Whatever you do, don't drink the water."
Describing BioTech as a problem for us was like describing The Pulse as a computer glitch. Understatement just didn't come close. I wasn't too sure what this paperwork was saying, but it was evident that they were heavily involved with Manticore somewhere along the line. It was a good thing that Zack wasn't around. If he knew that I had just walked Jhondie into the middle of an organization that supplied Manticore, chances were that I would be dead before I hit the ground. From his point of view, I wouldn't be able to blame the guy.
"Makes sense they would be dealing with Manticore," Jhondie muttered, and then pushed the folder in her hand under my nose. "Just nobody mentions me when this comes out."
I took the papers and looked over them, while she started flipping through what I had. It was not fair that she was covering half a dozen pages to my one. The contract, a picture of Uncle Justin, and some chemical formulas. This would probably be more ominous if I had any idea what the hell the formulas were for. But when I saw the highlighting on the contract, and put it with Jhondie's concern, I started getting a very, very bad feeling as to what those formulas were. This entire time, the one thing that kept nagging at me was that MedGen had no reason to kill my uncle for another four years. This was a crazy, risky maneuver. And now I started to think, what if it wasn't their move after all?
Jhondie was looking at me when I looked back up. "This one," she said tonelessly, lightly tapping one of the formulas "is a clear liquid that's odorless and tasteless. The drug causes a reaction similar to a heart attack."
All I could see for a moment was my uncle's gym bag. He had been playing racquetball earlier on the day he died. Wendy hadn't been able to empty it. Dad did it for her. He had poured out about an inch of water from a bottle. Bags being left in the open. Lots of people. It wouldn't be anything to dump in some chemicals and walk away.
"And now it would be real suspicious if the new owner of the patents dropped dead of a heart attack since he's only twenty-one," I said.
"So they have to send gunmen since you're not cooperating," Jhondie finished for me.
I nodded, things starting to fall into place in my head. "They want those patents bad. MedGen is staying just a hair out of reach. They have to be careful since they're dealing with things like Manticore who do not like publicity. If they set up MedGen…"
"Then the bad press is going to fall on them," Jhondie said, picking up on my train of thought. "And the stock prices drop like a rock."
"Even better," I countered, realizing the train of events. "They have some heavy government contacts obviously. The government seizes MedGen and then gives it to BioTech since it's going to help them supply Manticore better then. The contract was legal. MedGen would get the patents, and it would just be the CEO and President that ended up in prison for murder."
"But why did they make your uncle seem like a heart attack?" Jhondie asked, perplexed. She was looking over my shoulder. "It doesn't make sense if it was to be big news to do it so quietly."
I thought about it. She was right. I looked back at the contract, and noticed something. I had seen a copy of this thing a million times. Maybe that's why I noticed what Jhondie didn't despite her visual acuities. There was a line under the name Justin A. Carter. And then the final piece fell into place. "They knew," I said quickly. "They knew who really owned the patents. Kill Uncle Justin. That gets MedGen hysterical when it comes out that they weren't getting the patents. I suddenly get killed and then all eyes fall on MedGen. Prices fall, and they win. Son of a bitch."
Jhondie blinked, thinking about it. "If they're working with Manticore, then this has got to happen fast. The longer this takes, the more chance there is for exposure, and they do not want to get Manticore upset with them. Not with their group of assassins hanging around. There's no better incentive than that." She paused for a long moment. "You're proving to be very difficult to kill. Time is short. They have to go to a backup plan. Your family is in LA. That's too far away to be a commotion here. Who would be the equivalent of a warning shot?"
A warning shot? Actually, I wasn't the one doing the legal fighting and maneuvering.
Steiner was.
Jhondie
There seemed something so morally wrong with trying to save a lawyer's life. Granted, Justin liked Steiner, and said he was a good guy, but still it was hard to get over that whole ingrained thing that he's a lawyer. He needs to be eliminated. But that would be wrong. Screw doing the right thing for once. Manticore was involved and Justin was in danger. Getting the hell out of Seattle seemed like the best bet to me. But this was Justin on a crusade. There was no talking sense to him when he was in crusade mode. I didn't mind doing some crusading, but only when we could remain anonymous. Whatever. I was in it just as much as he was now. And we took the incriminating files with us. By morning, BioTech was going to be after Justin with a vengeance. Time was not on our side with this one.
We went to the second closest payphone that we could find, the absolute closest being the one that Justin had called from to get the guard to leave his desk, and it would have been a bad idea to keep hanging around the building, and Justin called Steiner. I could see from the frustration on his face that there wasn't anyone answering. Justin slammed down the phone.
"He's either a hard sleeper or dead already," he snarled. In a conversation with Steiner earlier, he had mentioned keeping water beside his bed if he got thirsty at night. I didn't ask how that came up, but I knew that was what Justin was worried about the most.
"Do you know where he lives?" I asked.
Justin nodded. "Yeah, but it's too far to walk. If he's sleeping, we won't get there before morning." I grinned. I bet he was thinking that transportation was going to be a problem.
"Come on," I said, thinking about the bar we had passed a little while ago. Chances were there were people there with cars, and they would be too drunk to figure out for a while that it was missing. With a little luck, we might even be able to return it before the owner could figure out that it had been borrowed.
"Since when did you learn how to hotwire cars?" Justin asked a little suspiciously once he realized what my intentions were. I scanned the parking lot. Near the end was what appeared to be a pretty good target.
"Since Dad took my car keys and tried to ground me when I was sixteen," I replied as we got to the car. I took a glance around. It was clear enough, and I slammed my elbow into the glass, shattering the back window. "Hotwiring and rewiring a security system is pretty much the same thing in concept." Justin seemed a little bemused at that, but he didn't complain about the fact that a minute later, the engine rumbled to life.
It still took almost twenty minutes to get to Steiner's place, and I was sure I was going to have to gag Justin by the time we got there. He was way more than impatient, and we had to be nice to the Sector Police when going through checkpoints. LA had city entry checkpoints, but once you were in the city, you were in. This stopping and waiting for entry was a bunch of crap, but we had to play it cool. At least I was trying to. Justin was glaring at them and showing his frustration. This was not a situation where you could show yourself to the enemy. Just for a second there I wished that Justin had some kind of training like mine so that he would know how to act.
I stopped the car several blocks from the house, and pulled over to the side. Justin shot me a questioning look. "BioTech probably has someone watching the house," I explained. "You're still the number one target, remember? Chances of you showing up there are rather high." Justin was still focused on finding out what had happened and bringing the killers to justice. My priority was protecting him. It was rare that we had such different priorities when we were out like this, but this time he was going to have to deal with me being more of a bodyguard than a partner.
"Okay," he said quietly. "We had to stop by his house the other day, and he forgot his key. He had to get a spare from one of those fake rocks in the backyard."
I nodded. Much less intrusive then pounding on the front door. We got out of the car, and I looked around, all senses on high alert. It was still quiet. I wasn't about to relax for a second though. Anyone that approached us was going to get the crap kicked out of them, no questions asked. I trusted Justin and myself. Everyone else in this city was suspect.
I hated having to creep through backyards, but there wasn't much of a choice. We were going to have to hope that nobody was awake enough to notice us in the shadows of the fences between the yards. There was a moment when a dog in an adjoining yard started barking violently, jumping against the fence and scratching at it. Justin grinned at me wryly. I wrinkled my nose back at him. Wasn't my fault dogs didn't like me. We moved out quickly, not wanting anyone to get up to find out why the mutt was howling.
We finally slipped over the last fence and landed in Steiner's back yard. I looked around carefully before standing up and signaling Justin to come over the fence. Was it quiet because it was two in the morning, or were there assassins setting their mark? I couldn't see anything suspect, but I knew I would feel better once we were out of the open. Justin slid over the fence and came up beside me.
"It's one of the ones by the steps," Justin whispered. We knelt down and started flipping over the rocks, looking for the fake. It was a little annoying that Justin didn't know exactly which one it was, but I couldn't really blame him. Things did tend to look differently at night then they did during the day. At least, that's what I had been told.
Justin picked up a rock, flipping it over, and then grinned. "Got it," he said, pulling out a key from beneath it. Light suddenly spilled into the backyard from the upstairs window. We both looked up sharply, instinctively getting lower to the ground until we realized that it was a light from inside of the house. Our eyes met sharply.
Water beside the bed.
That so better not be his daughter's boyfriend sneaking out.
There was a small overhand over the backdoor, and I didn't hesitate. I jumped up on it in a smooth motion, and then leapt again, grabbing the edge of the roof. I swung back, and then drove forward, crashing through the window. I had a moment to take in the view. Some guy was sitting up in bed, with the reading lamp on, holding a glass of water. A woman was struggling with a sleep mask beside him. Water. Water in hand.
"Don't drink it!" I screaming, diving across the room, and yanking the glass out of his hand. God, that was too close. "Let's just pretend we're in Mexico, okay," I said in almost a conversational tone. "Whatever you do, don't drink the water."
