Jhondie
For the last ten years of my life, I had been focused that Manticore was the enemy. They were the ones that did bad things to small children and were the ones that wanted me dead or alive. I didn't think too much about others, but they had to be out there. Manticore wasn't a new and unique style of thought. It was just a successful one. Building a transgenic biosynth was not an easy task, and to whoever did it, such a thing would be worth millions. They would have orders for thousands of them to be built and sent off to dozens of countries for training and development. I knew that billions had to have been spent on Manticore and making me. I knew I was supposed to be a soldier. I just had never thought of myself as technology that would be up for sale.
"They've probably been trying to get an in with Manticore," Justin continued in a low voice. "Maybe McGinnis is low on cash or something and can sell them blueprints on the side."
"Maybe," I muttered. "He could be point of contact for trading. Manticore got the whole package to work. BioTech might have upgrades in some areas, but they can't get the whole thing to work."
I couldn't help a shiver. Technology. That was all we were to guys like this. What would they do if they knew about me? That would depend on how fast they could get me on a dissection table. For the first time, I wished I hadn't come here at all. Justin must have been able to read my thoughts for a moment. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me tight against him. This is what I came here for. Him. I was starting to not be worried about him, and scared for myself.
"You're safe," he whispered in my ear. "Nobody has any idea. You're still a dream to Winston, and BioTech doesn't know you exist at all. Manticore isn't about to tell them that there's twelve free prototypes running around if you can catch one." He pulled back, and looked me in the eye. "And don't worry about Steiner. You're just an LA punk to him. All LA punks know how to do what you did."
I leaned back into his arms, grateful for his warmth. It would be so easy to forget myself. Pretend that I was a normal person and that I didn't have to worry about black helicopters or overly ambitious scientists. I wondered if Justin wished that I could be a normal girlfriend. Someone he could take out and have fun with and not have to wonder if she was going to be there the next day. Someone that he didn't have to think of as a partner as well as a lover. Bad timing for me to get all introspective all of a sudden, I know, but I couldn't help it. For that moment, I was just glad he was there to hold me and let me know without saying anything that I was far more than really cool technology up on the market.
"I've got to stop his research," I said, thinking about how close Winston was. A year, two at the most, and he was going to have a transgenic immune system. "It's bad enough to have one group making transgenics, but at least they're trying to keep it a secret. Researchers like him have no idea when to say it's enough and not go any further."
Justin appeared to be thinking about something. "Promise me you won't do anything rash," he said.
I blinked. "Anything I do will be very carefully calculated." It would be. You have to be precise when setting explosives. Zack. I wasn't the best with explosives. Syl was the one that had loved munitions drills. Any excuse to blow something up was a good one for her. Zack would get her to do this even if he didn't want me to be a part of it.
"Jhon…"Justin said warningly, but Winston interrupted us before Justin could try and question me further.
"It's glowing," Winston announced flatly from the door. He blew out a breath. "You were right. There's someone trying to kill off everyone involved."
Not really. But that wasn't something he needed to understand. Best to keep him afraid. It would work out better later when all of his research went up in smoke. In any case, we went back into the lab and saw for ourselves the blue particles glowing amid the pink. Steiner and his wife were roughly the color of bleached paper as they realized what a close call it had been.
Steiner had said earlier that he filtered his water and left it in the fridge for his middle of the night needs. "It had to have been done today," I said, looking at Steiner and his wife. "You would already be dead if it had been poisoned any earlier."
"But…I was home all day," Mrs. Steiner protested. "We didn't have any repair men or anything like that show up. Not even a salesperson." She looked at her husband. "And your clients never left your office, right?"
Steiner glanced up. "My business office was being sprayed for bugs today, and I can't stand the smell," he explained. "I had to work out of my home office, but all of the people I saw came in and out. None of them went into the kitchen though."
I rolled my eyes. Yeah, the person going to poison the water was really going to ask if he could go into the kitchen and get a drink all alone. That wouldn't be suspicious at all. "What you think they did and what really happened are two different things. Who have you picked up as a new client since BioTech first started going after MedGen that was there earlier?"
Steiner blew out a breath. "I didn't see many people today," he said, trying to think back on the day. "I don't like seeing new clients out of my home. Anyways, it was mostly paperwork trying to deal with MedGen's legal maneuvers. The only clients that I saw have been with me for years. Mrs. Harker came to see if it would be legal to sue cows, and then Miss Riddle came to collect what Dr. Carter's left her." He pursed his lips slightly, still thinking. "Those are the only two that haven't been with me for at least ten or fifteen years."
"Wendy was there?" Justin asked quickly.
Steiner smiled slightly. "Yes, but I don't think she's exactly threat material." He obviously didn't work for our boss. Anyone can be a threat if they want to be. And it would seem that he also believed in the theory that girls were never dangerous like men. It was a double-edged sword sometimes.
Justin blinked, thinking about something. "She couldn't bear to touch Uncle Justin's gym bag," he said. "She could live in his apartment with all of his things, but she couldn't touch his bag. She asked Dad to empty it."
"Was the inside wet?" I asked. "If she was worried about the water spilling, or the chemicals coming out through his sweat onto a towel…"
"You can't believe that Wendy is a killer," Winston interjected. "I've known the woman for over a year now. She still cries at the end of Charlotte's Web. This test tube is more dangerous than she is."
"The test tube holding enough poison to kill us all?" I asked pointedly. "Packaging is very often deceiving. Trust me on that."
Justin looked up at Steiner. "Why did my uncle redo his will?" he asked. "I know it was just a couple of months ago. It was to include her, wasn't it?"
"Well, that was part," Steiner admitted. "Dr. Carter said that the main reason was to make sure that you knew about the patents. You weren't supposed to see the earlier version, just your father. Dr. Carter thought you were too young to really understand what had happened."
"So why did he change his mind?" Justin fired back.
Steiner shrugged. "He felt that it was time…just in case that he died before you turned twenty-five. He said that you were mature enough to handle things on your own now. But he had been thinking about it for a good six months that I know of."
I thought about the dates on the Manticore contracts. Justin and I looked at each other and he was thinking about it too. They were dated for seven months ago. "How long had she been living with him?" I asked.
"About seven months," he replied flatly. "They had been dating since last year." Score one for the blonde bimbos of the world. Chick had been planning this for quite a while. So who was she really and what was her connection to BioTech?
"She moved in with him, convinced him to let me know in his will, and then killed him when the mission was accomplished," Justin said quickly.
"But that was months ago," Winston protested, but weakly this time. He was starting to see how things could have gone.
"He put her into the will as well," I said. "It would look funny if he died right away. Since the other person involved in the change was also going to die according to her, it was better that she wait and let things go on like normal."
"I can't believe she had the audacity to come into my house and collect the money," Steiner spat.
A pneumatic hiss caught all of our attention. We looked up at the door as it slid open and a blonde walked through with a pistol in her right hand. A silencer crouched evilly on its end. She smirked at us and pulled an earpiece away from her ear.
"I didn't ask him to do that," she said coldly. "But since I was the one that had to screw him for a year, then I'll accept it as combat pay and move on. But first, the loose ends." The pistol came up rapidly, a single shot making a dull thud ringing in the room.
For the last ten years of my life, I had been focused that Manticore was the enemy. They were the ones that did bad things to small children and were the ones that wanted me dead or alive. I didn't think too much about others, but they had to be out there. Manticore wasn't a new and unique style of thought. It was just a successful one. Building a transgenic biosynth was not an easy task, and to whoever did it, such a thing would be worth millions. They would have orders for thousands of them to be built and sent off to dozens of countries for training and development. I knew that billions had to have been spent on Manticore and making me. I knew I was supposed to be a soldier. I just had never thought of myself as technology that would be up for sale.
"They've probably been trying to get an in with Manticore," Justin continued in a low voice. "Maybe McGinnis is low on cash or something and can sell them blueprints on the side."
"Maybe," I muttered. "He could be point of contact for trading. Manticore got the whole package to work. BioTech might have upgrades in some areas, but they can't get the whole thing to work."
I couldn't help a shiver. Technology. That was all we were to guys like this. What would they do if they knew about me? That would depend on how fast they could get me on a dissection table. For the first time, I wished I hadn't come here at all. Justin must have been able to read my thoughts for a moment. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me tight against him. This is what I came here for. Him. I was starting to not be worried about him, and scared for myself.
"You're safe," he whispered in my ear. "Nobody has any idea. You're still a dream to Winston, and BioTech doesn't know you exist at all. Manticore isn't about to tell them that there's twelve free prototypes running around if you can catch one." He pulled back, and looked me in the eye. "And don't worry about Steiner. You're just an LA punk to him. All LA punks know how to do what you did."
I leaned back into his arms, grateful for his warmth. It would be so easy to forget myself. Pretend that I was a normal person and that I didn't have to worry about black helicopters or overly ambitious scientists. I wondered if Justin wished that I could be a normal girlfriend. Someone he could take out and have fun with and not have to wonder if she was going to be there the next day. Someone that he didn't have to think of as a partner as well as a lover. Bad timing for me to get all introspective all of a sudden, I know, but I couldn't help it. For that moment, I was just glad he was there to hold me and let me know without saying anything that I was far more than really cool technology up on the market.
"I've got to stop his research," I said, thinking about how close Winston was. A year, two at the most, and he was going to have a transgenic immune system. "It's bad enough to have one group making transgenics, but at least they're trying to keep it a secret. Researchers like him have no idea when to say it's enough and not go any further."
Justin appeared to be thinking about something. "Promise me you won't do anything rash," he said.
I blinked. "Anything I do will be very carefully calculated." It would be. You have to be precise when setting explosives. Zack. I wasn't the best with explosives. Syl was the one that had loved munitions drills. Any excuse to blow something up was a good one for her. Zack would get her to do this even if he didn't want me to be a part of it.
"Jhon…"Justin said warningly, but Winston interrupted us before Justin could try and question me further.
"It's glowing," Winston announced flatly from the door. He blew out a breath. "You were right. There's someone trying to kill off everyone involved."
Not really. But that wasn't something he needed to understand. Best to keep him afraid. It would work out better later when all of his research went up in smoke. In any case, we went back into the lab and saw for ourselves the blue particles glowing amid the pink. Steiner and his wife were roughly the color of bleached paper as they realized what a close call it had been.
Steiner had said earlier that he filtered his water and left it in the fridge for his middle of the night needs. "It had to have been done today," I said, looking at Steiner and his wife. "You would already be dead if it had been poisoned any earlier."
"But…I was home all day," Mrs. Steiner protested. "We didn't have any repair men or anything like that show up. Not even a salesperson." She looked at her husband. "And your clients never left your office, right?"
Steiner glanced up. "My business office was being sprayed for bugs today, and I can't stand the smell," he explained. "I had to work out of my home office, but all of the people I saw came in and out. None of them went into the kitchen though."
I rolled my eyes. Yeah, the person going to poison the water was really going to ask if he could go into the kitchen and get a drink all alone. That wouldn't be suspicious at all. "What you think they did and what really happened are two different things. Who have you picked up as a new client since BioTech first started going after MedGen that was there earlier?"
Steiner blew out a breath. "I didn't see many people today," he said, trying to think back on the day. "I don't like seeing new clients out of my home. Anyways, it was mostly paperwork trying to deal with MedGen's legal maneuvers. The only clients that I saw have been with me for years. Mrs. Harker came to see if it would be legal to sue cows, and then Miss Riddle came to collect what Dr. Carter's left her." He pursed his lips slightly, still thinking. "Those are the only two that haven't been with me for at least ten or fifteen years."
"Wendy was there?" Justin asked quickly.
Steiner smiled slightly. "Yes, but I don't think she's exactly threat material." He obviously didn't work for our boss. Anyone can be a threat if they want to be. And it would seem that he also believed in the theory that girls were never dangerous like men. It was a double-edged sword sometimes.
Justin blinked, thinking about something. "She couldn't bear to touch Uncle Justin's gym bag," he said. "She could live in his apartment with all of his things, but she couldn't touch his bag. She asked Dad to empty it."
"Was the inside wet?" I asked. "If she was worried about the water spilling, or the chemicals coming out through his sweat onto a towel…"
"You can't believe that Wendy is a killer," Winston interjected. "I've known the woman for over a year now. She still cries at the end of Charlotte's Web. This test tube is more dangerous than she is."
"The test tube holding enough poison to kill us all?" I asked pointedly. "Packaging is very often deceiving. Trust me on that."
Justin looked up at Steiner. "Why did my uncle redo his will?" he asked. "I know it was just a couple of months ago. It was to include her, wasn't it?"
"Well, that was part," Steiner admitted. "Dr. Carter said that the main reason was to make sure that you knew about the patents. You weren't supposed to see the earlier version, just your father. Dr. Carter thought you were too young to really understand what had happened."
"So why did he change his mind?" Justin fired back.
Steiner shrugged. "He felt that it was time…just in case that he died before you turned twenty-five. He said that you were mature enough to handle things on your own now. But he had been thinking about it for a good six months that I know of."
I thought about the dates on the Manticore contracts. Justin and I looked at each other and he was thinking about it too. They were dated for seven months ago. "How long had she been living with him?" I asked.
"About seven months," he replied flatly. "They had been dating since last year." Score one for the blonde bimbos of the world. Chick had been planning this for quite a while. So who was she really and what was her connection to BioTech?
"She moved in with him, convinced him to let me know in his will, and then killed him when the mission was accomplished," Justin said quickly.
"But that was months ago," Winston protested, but weakly this time. He was starting to see how things could have gone.
"He put her into the will as well," I said. "It would look funny if he died right away. Since the other person involved in the change was also going to die according to her, it was better that she wait and let things go on like normal."
"I can't believe she had the audacity to come into my house and collect the money," Steiner spat.
A pneumatic hiss caught all of our attention. We looked up at the door as it slid open and a blonde walked through with a pistol in her right hand. A silencer crouched evilly on its end. She smirked at us and pulled an earpiece away from her ear.
"I didn't ask him to do that," she said coldly. "But since I was the one that had to screw him for a year, then I'll accept it as combat pay and move on. But first, the loose ends." The pistol came up rapidly, a single shot making a dull thud ringing in the room.
