Conflicts of Interest
"My God, Linna," Sylia gasped, looking through the window into the operating room where a team of green clad surgeons operated on the bloodied body of her unconscious employee and close friend. "How is she?" she said without turning to the senior doctor beside her.
"Bad, I'm afraid," the doctor said. "While her exterior injuries look bad they are superficial - little beyond bruising and abrasions, which should clear up in a month. However, her internal injuries are much more threatening."
"Do everything you can for her, understand? I don't care how much it costs. Just make sure she gets better," Sylia demanded, stony faced.
The doctor nodded. His profession didn't expect otherwise. "I'll make sure she gets the best treatment."
"Thank you."
Sylia lingered by the window for a few moments longer, feeling helpless. She couldn't do anything about Linna's condition, but she could do what was in her considerable power and vengeful nature to make whoever was responsible pay.
As she left, hard shoes creating resounding echoes down the overlit corridor, her phone started to ring. She fished it out of her suit-jacket pocket and put the cigarette-lighter sized phone to her ear.
"Yes?"
"Sylia."
It was Leon.
"I hope you have good news Mr McNicol, I've just seen Linna at the hospital and she is in a critical condition."
On the other end she heard Leon swear.
"Then there's no other way to say this but straight out. Daley's apartment has been blown up."
Sylia stopped dead in her tracks.
"What?" she said without comprehension.
"A bomb or something, the fire brigade is trying to get it under control. The whole block is cordoned off. Sylia, what the hell is going on?"
Sylia didn't know. Blankly she stared down the length of the corridor. Last night she had almost been killed, and now Linna attacked and Daley.
"Sylia?"
She didn't hear Leon speaking. She didn't hear the phone clatter and smash as it hit the floor slipping from her loose fingers.
/\/\ss/\/\
The phone went dead. Leon called into it a few times before grunting in dissatisfaction and hung up. Ahead of him a thick column of smoke rose into the air. Three Fire Engines were at work and another raced by his parked car to the scene. It was lucky the road was new and wide enough to handle the traffic, otherwise for sure the fire would have been able to spread and maybe cross the road, turning the whole block into a conflagration. The Japanese were terrified of fire.
"Jesus Daley, what the hell have you got yourself involved into now?" Leon said to himself, worried. Not for a second did he believe that the explosion had been an accident. Ever since Daley and Linna had returned from Sierra Leone he had been suspicious of his boss' motives. With all that was going on against Ms Stingray, it wasn't hard for him to be suspicious. Daley was a damn good detective - why he'd partnered up to the sometimes infuriating man in the first place - and Linna was one of Sylia's Knight Sabres, the best after Priss. Together the two would make quite a team.
"Maybe she was planning something like this all along? Dammit!" Leon smacked the steering wheel with the heel of his hand. His best friend could be dead, another acquaintance was seriously injured, and his own boss had been attacked on multiple occasions by increasingly deadly yet unknown opponents. And despite his position as the leader of the RRTs, there wasn't a damn thing he could do about any of it.
Not unless he started acting on his own. Knowing that there wasn't anything he could do sitting idle, Detective Leon McNicol started his car and sped out onto the road. He'd been a cop all his life. It was time he started acting like one again.
/\/\ss/\/\
Daley Wong felt as if he had been hit in the back of his head by something very hard and strongly swung, which was quite correct. It wasn't the first time in his life that it had happened, but it was a first to wake up seated - tied down to be more precise - across from a venerated old man with an incredibly long and white beard who sat with steepled fingers regarding him closely.
The old man's face lifted when Daley cleared his blurred vision.
"Good, good. You're awake," the old man said in Hokien Chinese, Daley's native dialect.
"Where am I?" Daley replied weakly. His jaw felt wired shut.
"Safe, I would like to think."
"Who are you?" Daley said without expecting a qualified answer. Limited as his vision was he looked around the ornate office.
"Just a humble businessman," came the reply.
"Really."
The old man shrugged, a faint smile at the corners of his mouth. "You might appreciate your situation more favorably if you knew that if you were not here right now, that you would be dead."
"What?" Daley narrowed his eyes and for the first time strained against the bindings.
"Oh, don't tire yourself. They'll be removed in a moment, when you settle down."
"What's going on?" Daley snapped, not at all liking the situation.
"Nothing much. Just a sinister game of deceit and death. Perfectly the kind of thing a good former police officer like yourself would be quite interested in."
The old man smiled again, warmly.
/\/\ss/\/\
"I demand to know what is going on! We all do." Itto exclaimed, thumping his fist on the elongated table for aggressive alpha emphasis. "Are we going to be next?"
Sylia wasn't at all impressed or cowed by her suspicious Marketing Director's bluster. In a way she was grateful. The meeting of the board had broken the funk that had hung over her for almost twenty-four hours.
"You can demand, Itto, but the continued safety of Genom and its employees - all of them regardless of level and rank - requires that details are kept confidential and on a Need-to-know basis," Sylia replied.
"Then I need to know -"
"I will judge whether that is necessary or not," Sylia cut Itto off. "And for the time being, Security will be solely responsible. The best thing you can do for Genom is to continue operating as normally as possible. Security is being stepped up at all facilities and we are in full cooperation with the metropolitan police forces, to help us find those responsible for the attacks on our employees, and to ensure that no more attacks occur. Distracting yourself with this problem will not help Genom. You will only do what our enemies want, and that is to ruin us."
"Which you are well on the way to doing, Chairwoman Stingray!" Itto shouted and stood up. "The majority of attacks have been on you and your clique, not Genom. Face the facts; you are the real enemy to Genom's survival."
Blood infusing her face with fire, Sylia shot up from her chair as well, both hands slapping down on the table with cracking force.
"Enough!" she shouted, near shrilly. "I am this corporation and the only reason why any of you are still here! You will do as I say or get out!"
The Department Directors stared in shock, then looked away wanting to avoid Sylia's merciless gaze. Not even Itto dared to look her in the eyes. Grumbling he stomped away and left the boardroom, soon followed by the others.
Candace lingered behind. Letting out a long breath she swiveled her chair towards Sylia. "That was. impressive."
"They're fools. Itto is a fool."
"You are right about Itto. He has a point, though -" Candace pushed.
Sylia snorted. Fatigued she slumped back into her chair. "Itto isn't going to be a problem for much longer."
Candace blinked, wondering if Sylia had really meant to share those words and the implications drawn from them, and her own knowledge of Itto's recent actions.
"As much as it's pointless to say, you need to clear your head for a while," the PR director offered.
"It is pointless. I was almost killed, Linna still might and there's a good chance that Daley has been."
"What's the latest?" Candace asked.
"Going through the rubble." Sylia rubbed an aching forehead. "We're already being hounded by the media and the council won't be too far behind."
"I'll take care of it," Candace answered. "Fielding questions would only make you. angrier."
Sylia stood. "Good. That is why you're here."
Sylia walked out leaving Candace along, thinking of the meeting she had had earlier in the day with the man who was most likely responsible for the recent attacks. Her new superior. Her lip curled.
/\/\ss/\/\
Sylia reached the elevator. Her finger hovered at the direction buttons, an idea that had been germinating at the back of her mind coming to the fore. She had been going to return to her office upstairs, but the idea made her pause. Still indecisive she held her finger between the buttons while her mind raced through the ramifications, and the advantages.
Without knowing it - at least fully - Itto had hit the nail right on the head and rammed it deep into the wood. She was the target, because she was the only person who could hold Genom together. The hits against her had failed so now her enemies were attacking her closest supporters. Linna and Daley had only been back in the country for a little while, most of that time getting the new Knight Sabres up and running.
Did that mean her inside problem knew about them? Sylia's mind charged down the tangent. Itto's words had increased meaning. The evidence Security was pulling up was building in his Department's direction. The constant opposition he made against her strengthened her mental position. But Itto didn't know about her connection to the Sabres. unless he had learnt something from the gratefully deceased Mason's files. That would have to be looked into. Something else to do. She filed the Itto issue back into her memory warehouse, near the front.
And returned to thinking of her new idea. With the attacks and her RRT's already spread thin, the one in Sierra Leone couldn't be recalled because the threats there remained from the rebels and neighbouring countries who were making a fuss about a corporation owning a whole country (wondering if they would be next, swallowed up by Ford or Pfizer). Tokyo still posed a problem as well. While it was still months away the tender decision for the TQZ reconstruction project was grinding closer and maintaining a strong presence in the city was required, despite the logic in having all the Grasshoppers protecting the Osaka facilities.
Taking care of the companies security was paramount as well. Even with the aid of the regular police, her own security force of ex-ADP officers would be hard pressed to make her tens of thousands of employees feel secure. It left her with practically nothing to be proactive and find the attackers before they struck again. Linna and Daley had been that force, quickly destroyed in two deliberate and professional attacks.
But she had to have a force. The Knight Sabre card was still good and hadn't been played yet. If she was going to survive, Sylia knew that she needed an ace up the sleeve.
The greater threat to herself, and as a consequence Genom, forced Sylia's wavering mind. She'd done a lot of hard things to destroy Galatea but none of them were as dangerous as her idea now. But she had to do it.
Sylia pressed down. She had to see Nigel and her brother.
/\/\ss/\/\
Anxious to hear about news of Linna, and Sylia not having returned any of her calls or email, Nene used her root privileges to access the security camera network and locate Sylia. She saw her in the R&D section, where Mackey also was. Nene hadn't seen Mackie in a few days, so busy with work and wondering what the hell was going on. She could see both of them at the same time.
Leaving her dark office and informing platypus to hold the fort while she was gone, Nene took the lift up to R&D and passed into the secure labs. First she went over to where Nigel and Mackie usually worked. They weren't there. 'In the meeting room with the Chairwoman' someone told her and she thanked them and walked over to the enclosed office, past all manner of boomer related projects. She shuddered. Even after killing Galatea boomers still made her cringe.
Nene stopped short of entering the closed office. Through the open blinds she could see Sylia and Nigel gesturing and yelling at each other.
"Oh no, what are they fighting about now? Poor Mackie, he has to watch it all." Nene said to herself. Around her work continued, either oblivious or not wanting to know.
Nene watched as the two adults argued until they looked like they were going to hit each other. Sylia had her back to her; it was easy to tell that she was in an old mood however.
The argument terminated abruptly when Nene felt Nigel looking at her through the glass. The contact was only brief, but the movement of the wearied man's eyes caught Sylia's attention. The silver haired scorn turned around. She was very pissed off.
The break saw Nigel exiting the office with a stiff face. He said nothing to Nene as he blew past for the elevators. Nene slowly turned to watch him go, feeling that something very permanent had happened.
She turned back to the office when she heard Sylia speaking.
"No Mackie, you stay here. I have to talk to you."
"But Sylia, Nigel is right. This is wrong -" Mackie said.
"Quiet! You will do this -" Sylia snapped.
Nene cringed hearing Sylia speak to her boyfriend harshly. Then she noticed that Sylia was looking at her again.
The office door clicked shut and with a twist of her wrist, the blinds closed. Nene felt very alone.
/\/\ss/\/\
The taxi dropped Daley off outside the Genom building.
Coat in hand, because his body was still quite hot from the interrogation and proposal with none other than the leader of the Japanese Triad, Daley walked up the steps at a fair clip, not trusting his feet to keep him upright if he walked any slower. It had been that kind of day.
Four Security Guards stood outside the wide front doors. That surprised Daley because there usually weren't any at all, no more than four on the ground level doing rounds at any one time. It was also strange the way they were staring at him. Recognizing one of the guards he called out: "Hey Kota, what's going on?"
Kota stumbled down a few steps. "Shit! It is you."
"I hope its me, too." Daley remarked.
"We thought you were dead. We -"
Daley held up a hand.
"Very slowly, Kato. Tell me what's going on."
When he was first told that his kidnapping had in fact been a rescue from death, Daley hadn't believed. When Kato spewed out what had happened while he had been in interview, that all changed.
/\/\ss/\/\
Daley's arrival into the security offices floor was no less surprising. Word having been passed ahead, a mass of men and women cheered and clapped when he was revealed by the opening lift doors. Under normal circumstances knowing that he had escaped death he would have felt the same way. Having been told of what had happened to Linna stopped any self-congratulatory notions from rising beyond the hardened expression he wore.
Standing at the front of the crowd was Leon.
"So you are alive." Leon stated.
The response Leon expected to hear, some wittism or other, didn't eventuate.
"I heard that Linna was attacked too, is that true?"
Leon's expression deflated. "Yeah. I don't know how she is, but the guys who saw what was left of her car said it was bad."
Daley only nodded.
"Okay everyone, back to work! No time to waste just because of a little good news, we're still an innings down against the fuckers who hit our people." 'Chief' Roland ordered as he pushed through the crowd.
"Shit, Roland. You need to tone down your tongue." Leon said.
"Like hell, lummox. When my people get hurt, I get angry. Dammit, Daley. I wouldn't let myself believe it until I saw you with my own eyes. Welcome back to the land of the living," the Chief shook Daley hard on the shoulder.
"Daley was just asking about Linna." Leon said with uncharacteristic tact.
"Ah yes. Damn shame. We'll get the bastards."
"I intend to." Daley said, earning surprised looks.
"We'll talk in the office. The Chairwoman's rightfully getting our asses into gear." Roland said.
"The guards outside? Doe she think that the building might be attacked?" Daley asked.
"Not going to take any chances. No ordinary punks blow up a whole floor and do a high speed drive-by. So where the hell were you, anyway?" Roland asked.
"I don't know where, but according to the people who took me, they were rescuing me from the explosion," Daley answered.
"How did they know about it?" Leon joined in.
Daley shrugged. "I'd like to know the truth, too."
Because if what the Triad had told him was true, there was a traitor at the highest level in Genom.
/\/\ss/\/\
Nene was back at her office when she started at the clearing of Sylia's throat. She hadn't heard Sylia enter, and the door had been shut.
"Uh, Sylia. I've been trying to see you," Nene stammered, a little afraid.
"I know. I've been planning to see you as well, but it's been a bad day."
"Yeah. How's Linna?"
Sylia sat on the edge of the desk, an act of deliberate informality. "She'll live. You know how tough she is."
Nene nodded. "She's like Priss. Nothing could keep them down."
Sylia agreed. Linna's resilience was something she was counting on. "Is that what you wanted to see me about?"
"Isn't it enough? Sorry. I was hoping I could go see her later." Nene's fingers idly touched her keyboard.
"She'd like that. It might be hard looking at her."
"I can take it. She's my friend."
Sylia touched Nene's shoulder. "That's good, Nene. Because Linna needs all the friends she has." Leaning closer: "You want to help her, don't you?"
"Of course I do, Sylia." Nene said.
"And find out who hurt her?"
"Yes."
"Then there's something you have to do for me. You know our internal investigations?"
"Yes."
"I want you to do even deeper. I suspect that the traitor is helping the people who attacked Linna and Daley. The faster he is found and removed the safer Linna will be - they tried to kill her. The normal investigation will take too long. I need you to tap into all communications and cameras and find him."
"Sylia, that could take forever."
"Do you want Linna's attackers to get away?" Sylia started to stand.
"No -"
"I don't care what you have to do, whose privacy you break. Linna needs this from you."
Nene paused for a moment before nodding her head and earning a gracious smile from Sylia.
"I'll do it for Linna."
"Good. She'll want the very best from you."
Sylia left, satisfied.
/\/\ss/\/\
The dangerous-looking man Daley and Linna had seen on the previous night's expedition into the ganglands sat across from the Wind Master, the expected traditional acts of reverence already accomplished.
"I find your plan most. peculiar Wind Master," the dangerous man said in a manner that belied the earlier submission.
"And why is that, Deng Chien? Do you not think that my plan will succeed?" the Wind Master replied with more than a faint hint of smile.
"It's success I do not doubt at all. It is the Way."
"What fault then, do you find with the Way?"
Deng shifted in his seat, letting his mind first formulate the words in the correct order and manner so he could articulate the intuition that drove his position.
"The task you have been given by the Abbot is plain in its meaning and there are many plain Ways in which it can be accomplished. The Way you have chosen is complicated and would take a long time. There is much motion against Genom; it is probably that the company will fall before your plan has time to complete."
The Wind Master nodded sagely to Deng's opinion. It was one he respected, for Deng, despite his youth - when compared to his own Confucian age - was a smart and learned man. Otherwise he would not be the Earth Master. "Perhaps I give Genom's Chairwoman more credit than others."
"Your knowledge of her, and her family, is unsurpassed. Yet with foes internal and external rallied against her; the attack earlier today demonstrates how weak her position is. If you had not intervened."
"Ah," the Wind Master exclaimed, leaning back in his ornate chair. "We arrive at the Crucible."
"Wind Master?"
"You wonder why I am helping her?
"It would seem contrary to what the Abbot has instructed, unless you have reference to some wisdom from Confucius or Sun Tzu that I have not been able to relate."
"No, no traditional proverb. But I do like the story of the turtle and the hare. There is no need for us to rush the situation. Genom still has capabilities that have yet to be utilized. It would be foolish for us to be the ones in her sights," the Wind Master said.
"So, you will let Genom and the foreigners weaken themselves first."
"In a manner. But you are quite right that Genom's enemies are stronger; that is why I requested your presence here."
"I was beginning to wonder why."
"No need for sarcasm," the Wind Master said affably, "I am sure you and your men wish to become involved with little delay."
"Idleness is not a trait we like to encourage," Deng said.
"Good, good. There will be work to do shortly, when this phantom the gwai loh have sent acts again."
/\/\ss/\/\
Candace strummed her fingers on the top of her pine desk.
She was in deep thought, mind devoid of any thoughts of the job everyone thought she was Genom for, solely concentrating on the job that a scant few knew was her true purpose. If those people had been privy to her thoughts, they would have been outraged.
At the base level, Candace: sophisticated and educated French businesswoman and seductress par excellence, felt betrayed and stepped on, simply because she was a woman. Her true employers, Francophile BMC, she felt, regarded her as little more than a body that was to be used to seduce and control the minds of powerful men, so they would do what she wanted, which was meant to be what BMC wanted. Candace always knew that was how many perceived her to be, and she played at it - how else could she have reached the heights she worked at without giving the very thing her superiors thought she did best, to them - but she also had felt that some saw her real talent and acumen.
Until now.
Until a man had come and taken control of what she had been in charge of for almost six months: the demise of Genom. Not only a man, but one who wasn't French, wasn't skilled. Instead an animal. A man who preferred to kill and destroy than to confuse and redirect; who was violent instead of subtle.
A terrorist who would destroy her chance of giving Genom to her grateful masters on a platter. The telex she had received from Paris had dashed any hopes that her plan could be completed. They didn't want Genom, despite the wealth of technology and skills a take-over or merger could provide, they wanted destruction, to see the company collapse and fall into the fire their agent would deliver unto it.
It was taking too long, they had said, thousands of kilometres distant. The objective has changed; a better means to and end has presented itself. Really, she could tell, what they were saying was that a woman couldn't do the job they wanted. If she had been a man, nothing would have changed.
Smirking, she wondered how the chauvinists were reacting to Sylia's resilience. She had almost told them of her success in seducing the Chairwoman. Not now, or ever, unless they valued her properly. How would it gall them, to know that a mere woman not even in her late-twenties was stalling their aspirations?
And what if it were two? They deserved it. She knew what they were planning; with whispers she could let Sylia know and embarrass them and their terrorist until they came begging back to her. Then she could decide, give them what they wanted, or keep the cake and its silver-haired icing all for herself?
/\/\ss/\/\
Sylia met Daley in her suite. It was the first time he had been there, at the top of the corporate building. Outside the sun was beginning to set behind the faux horizon of the tallest of the sky towers
"I'm glad to see you alive, Daley." Sylia said.
"I'm glad to be alive."
They would have laughed and smiled, if the occasion had not been darkened by Linna's condition or the threats that palpably hung over their heads.
"Still, I am worried as to the reason why you are alive."
Daley nodded.
"With everything that's been happening recently, I'm sure that you're suspicious about the people who saved me."
"And knew that you were in danger, where as we didn't. Did they know about the attack on Linna?"
"They didn't say. That means they could have, and chose not to, or couldn't do anything about it; or they didn't know."
"Who was it that you talked to?"
"An old Chinese man."
Sylia raised an eyebrow.
Daley took out a typical sized business card from his coat and handed it over to Sylia who took it and inspected both sides. A somewhat look of relief crossed her face before she guarded it again.
"This is possibly some good news," she said.
"We need it. I was wondering if there was a connection between today and the attack on you the night before."
"Most likely." Sylia slipped the card into her dress. "What else did you talk about?"
"Not a great deal, surprisingly. I don't think he needed to." Daley answered.
"Yes. I believe he is the kind of man who knows everything about you and what you do, before you meet him."
"He does know that we have a problem in the company," Daley said, at once feeling relieved and apprehensive about the step he had just taken.
Sylia pondered. It was obvious that she wanted to ask how, and whether he knew who, but kept silent to think, or give pretence of thinking. Daley didn't give any further details, not until he had been asked could he.
Sylia gave into her curiosity. If there was one thing she hated more than anything else, it was being left in the dark. She hated not knowing things that others did. For a mind that had to be in control, such conditions were maddening.
"And?"
"You're not going to believe who."
"Tell me his name."
"Hers."
/\/\ss/\/\
Daley let out a long ragged breath as the elevator thankfully took him down and away from his quietly raging boss. Outwardly she had taken the news with barely a twitch of an eyelash, inwards, in her eyes, he could see the coalescing storm clouds. Thank God he'd been dismissed.
The lift doors whisked open and Daley headed towards the outside. Obligations done, he wanted to see Linna. All day his mind had been frantically worrying about her. Finally he could see how she was, and give prayer that she would be alright.
/\/\ss/\/\
Nene was already at the hospital when Daley arrived. She was standing outside the operating room, looking in with tender concern at the sheet covered comatose Linna. Tubes and wires ran into the covering sheet.
"How is she?" Daley said, walking up to Nene.
"Still critical. They've stopped operating for now." Nene's voice was close to breaking.
Daley had to grit his jaw, seeing the woman his affection was growing for lying in serious injury.
"How long have you been here?"
"Not too long. I wish I could stay longer, but I've got work she'll want me to do." Nene said.
"Linna?"
"Sylia thinks that the people who are responsible are the traitors in the company. It makes me mad, Daley, that someone in Genom would try and kill you two and Sylia. Don't they know that if it wasn't for her -"
Daley took Nene into a hug. "It's okay, Nene. There are a lot of bad people out there, not just mad boomers. The ADP never had to worry about real criminals."
Nene sobbed into Daley's jacket. "It's not fun anymore. I don't want to see my friends get hurt. Priss' gone, and now Linna."
"We don't know if Priss is actually dead. And Linna's a fighter. When the doctors fix her up she'll be back and better than before."
"I hope so. When she does wake up I'll give her the best present she could want. The people who did this too her in prison, where I hope they'll rot forever!"
The blonde burst into uncontrollable tears.
Daley did his best to sooth the young woman.
"Let's get something to eat. I'm sure Linna wouldn't like us crying over her like this."
"Why does everyone think they know what Linna would want.?"
"Because she's the sensible one."
The cafeteria was lockated two floors down. Large and empty, a bored human manned the counter to charge for precooked and packaged meals. The uninspired food added to the uninspired decore.
They ate in silence, picking at the food, engrossed in their own thoughts. They didn't notice the approach of a stranger until a hand slapped down a small object on the table in front of Daley.
Both Nene and Daley looked up at the stranger, who was Chinese. The Chinese nodded his head in curt bown, and then walked away. The two pairs of eyes looked back at what had been placed on the table.
It was a half a coin. Circled on one side, brocken on the other. What was different about it from regular coins was that its middle would have had a square hole in it. Two sides remained along the break. Between the half square, and half circle an etched dragon twisted.
"What's that?" asked Nene, 'whats that all about?'.
Daley stared down at the coin long and hard. In one of his pockets were four more pieces like it and the one he had just been given would match with one of those four.
As if the broken coin had the weight of the Earth itself, Daley slid it off the table into the palm of his hand, ignoring Nene's inquiries.
/\/\ss/\/\
At night, lit, Osaka castle glowed.
The city was so unlike the jungle. The jungle was full of animals rarely seen unless you were quiet. In the city everything was visible, displayed. Unlike animals, humans, foolishly, did not flee when a predator came along. In the city, the prey thought they were safe.
He would show them, with animal cunning, how wrong they were.
/\/\ss/\/\
Sylia let her robe hang loose from her shoulders, fully revealing her fevered body. The cell phone lay on the glass coffee table next to the business card handed over by Daley.
Her doorbell rang.
She walked to it, the robe slipping further back. She opened it.
Candace gasped in surprise. "Sylia."
Without a whisper the robe fell.
As did their clutching bodies.
While true and fake passions raged, both calculating minds considered themselves the victor over the other.
/\/\ss/\/\
Nene, returned to work, alone, Daley stood at the operating room window, watching as the surgeons returned to work to save the life of a very important woman.
"My God, Linna," Sylia gasped, looking through the window into the operating room where a team of green clad surgeons operated on the bloodied body of her unconscious employee and close friend. "How is she?" she said without turning to the senior doctor beside her.
"Bad, I'm afraid," the doctor said. "While her exterior injuries look bad they are superficial - little beyond bruising and abrasions, which should clear up in a month. However, her internal injuries are much more threatening."
"Do everything you can for her, understand? I don't care how much it costs. Just make sure she gets better," Sylia demanded, stony faced.
The doctor nodded. His profession didn't expect otherwise. "I'll make sure she gets the best treatment."
"Thank you."
Sylia lingered by the window for a few moments longer, feeling helpless. She couldn't do anything about Linna's condition, but she could do what was in her considerable power and vengeful nature to make whoever was responsible pay.
As she left, hard shoes creating resounding echoes down the overlit corridor, her phone started to ring. She fished it out of her suit-jacket pocket and put the cigarette-lighter sized phone to her ear.
"Yes?"
"Sylia."
It was Leon.
"I hope you have good news Mr McNicol, I've just seen Linna at the hospital and she is in a critical condition."
On the other end she heard Leon swear.
"Then there's no other way to say this but straight out. Daley's apartment has been blown up."
Sylia stopped dead in her tracks.
"What?" she said without comprehension.
"A bomb or something, the fire brigade is trying to get it under control. The whole block is cordoned off. Sylia, what the hell is going on?"
Sylia didn't know. Blankly she stared down the length of the corridor. Last night she had almost been killed, and now Linna attacked and Daley.
"Sylia?"
She didn't hear Leon speaking. She didn't hear the phone clatter and smash as it hit the floor slipping from her loose fingers.
/\/\ss/\/\
The phone went dead. Leon called into it a few times before grunting in dissatisfaction and hung up. Ahead of him a thick column of smoke rose into the air. Three Fire Engines were at work and another raced by his parked car to the scene. It was lucky the road was new and wide enough to handle the traffic, otherwise for sure the fire would have been able to spread and maybe cross the road, turning the whole block into a conflagration. The Japanese were terrified of fire.
"Jesus Daley, what the hell have you got yourself involved into now?" Leon said to himself, worried. Not for a second did he believe that the explosion had been an accident. Ever since Daley and Linna had returned from Sierra Leone he had been suspicious of his boss' motives. With all that was going on against Ms Stingray, it wasn't hard for him to be suspicious. Daley was a damn good detective - why he'd partnered up to the sometimes infuriating man in the first place - and Linna was one of Sylia's Knight Sabres, the best after Priss. Together the two would make quite a team.
"Maybe she was planning something like this all along? Dammit!" Leon smacked the steering wheel with the heel of his hand. His best friend could be dead, another acquaintance was seriously injured, and his own boss had been attacked on multiple occasions by increasingly deadly yet unknown opponents. And despite his position as the leader of the RRTs, there wasn't a damn thing he could do about any of it.
Not unless he started acting on his own. Knowing that there wasn't anything he could do sitting idle, Detective Leon McNicol started his car and sped out onto the road. He'd been a cop all his life. It was time he started acting like one again.
/\/\ss/\/\
Daley Wong felt as if he had been hit in the back of his head by something very hard and strongly swung, which was quite correct. It wasn't the first time in his life that it had happened, but it was a first to wake up seated - tied down to be more precise - across from a venerated old man with an incredibly long and white beard who sat with steepled fingers regarding him closely.
The old man's face lifted when Daley cleared his blurred vision.
"Good, good. You're awake," the old man said in Hokien Chinese, Daley's native dialect.
"Where am I?" Daley replied weakly. His jaw felt wired shut.
"Safe, I would like to think."
"Who are you?" Daley said without expecting a qualified answer. Limited as his vision was he looked around the ornate office.
"Just a humble businessman," came the reply.
"Really."
The old man shrugged, a faint smile at the corners of his mouth. "You might appreciate your situation more favorably if you knew that if you were not here right now, that you would be dead."
"What?" Daley narrowed his eyes and for the first time strained against the bindings.
"Oh, don't tire yourself. They'll be removed in a moment, when you settle down."
"What's going on?" Daley snapped, not at all liking the situation.
"Nothing much. Just a sinister game of deceit and death. Perfectly the kind of thing a good former police officer like yourself would be quite interested in."
The old man smiled again, warmly.
/\/\ss/\/\
"I demand to know what is going on! We all do." Itto exclaimed, thumping his fist on the elongated table for aggressive alpha emphasis. "Are we going to be next?"
Sylia wasn't at all impressed or cowed by her suspicious Marketing Director's bluster. In a way she was grateful. The meeting of the board had broken the funk that had hung over her for almost twenty-four hours.
"You can demand, Itto, but the continued safety of Genom and its employees - all of them regardless of level and rank - requires that details are kept confidential and on a Need-to-know basis," Sylia replied.
"Then I need to know -"
"I will judge whether that is necessary or not," Sylia cut Itto off. "And for the time being, Security will be solely responsible. The best thing you can do for Genom is to continue operating as normally as possible. Security is being stepped up at all facilities and we are in full cooperation with the metropolitan police forces, to help us find those responsible for the attacks on our employees, and to ensure that no more attacks occur. Distracting yourself with this problem will not help Genom. You will only do what our enemies want, and that is to ruin us."
"Which you are well on the way to doing, Chairwoman Stingray!" Itto shouted and stood up. "The majority of attacks have been on you and your clique, not Genom. Face the facts; you are the real enemy to Genom's survival."
Blood infusing her face with fire, Sylia shot up from her chair as well, both hands slapping down on the table with cracking force.
"Enough!" she shouted, near shrilly. "I am this corporation and the only reason why any of you are still here! You will do as I say or get out!"
The Department Directors stared in shock, then looked away wanting to avoid Sylia's merciless gaze. Not even Itto dared to look her in the eyes. Grumbling he stomped away and left the boardroom, soon followed by the others.
Candace lingered behind. Letting out a long breath she swiveled her chair towards Sylia. "That was. impressive."
"They're fools. Itto is a fool."
"You are right about Itto. He has a point, though -" Candace pushed.
Sylia snorted. Fatigued she slumped back into her chair. "Itto isn't going to be a problem for much longer."
Candace blinked, wondering if Sylia had really meant to share those words and the implications drawn from them, and her own knowledge of Itto's recent actions.
"As much as it's pointless to say, you need to clear your head for a while," the PR director offered.
"It is pointless. I was almost killed, Linna still might and there's a good chance that Daley has been."
"What's the latest?" Candace asked.
"Going through the rubble." Sylia rubbed an aching forehead. "We're already being hounded by the media and the council won't be too far behind."
"I'll take care of it," Candace answered. "Fielding questions would only make you. angrier."
Sylia stood. "Good. That is why you're here."
Sylia walked out leaving Candace along, thinking of the meeting she had had earlier in the day with the man who was most likely responsible for the recent attacks. Her new superior. Her lip curled.
/\/\ss/\/\
Sylia reached the elevator. Her finger hovered at the direction buttons, an idea that had been germinating at the back of her mind coming to the fore. She had been going to return to her office upstairs, but the idea made her pause. Still indecisive she held her finger between the buttons while her mind raced through the ramifications, and the advantages.
Without knowing it - at least fully - Itto had hit the nail right on the head and rammed it deep into the wood. She was the target, because she was the only person who could hold Genom together. The hits against her had failed so now her enemies were attacking her closest supporters. Linna and Daley had only been back in the country for a little while, most of that time getting the new Knight Sabres up and running.
Did that mean her inside problem knew about them? Sylia's mind charged down the tangent. Itto's words had increased meaning. The evidence Security was pulling up was building in his Department's direction. The constant opposition he made against her strengthened her mental position. But Itto didn't know about her connection to the Sabres. unless he had learnt something from the gratefully deceased Mason's files. That would have to be looked into. Something else to do. She filed the Itto issue back into her memory warehouse, near the front.
And returned to thinking of her new idea. With the attacks and her RRT's already spread thin, the one in Sierra Leone couldn't be recalled because the threats there remained from the rebels and neighbouring countries who were making a fuss about a corporation owning a whole country (wondering if they would be next, swallowed up by Ford or Pfizer). Tokyo still posed a problem as well. While it was still months away the tender decision for the TQZ reconstruction project was grinding closer and maintaining a strong presence in the city was required, despite the logic in having all the Grasshoppers protecting the Osaka facilities.
Taking care of the companies security was paramount as well. Even with the aid of the regular police, her own security force of ex-ADP officers would be hard pressed to make her tens of thousands of employees feel secure. It left her with practically nothing to be proactive and find the attackers before they struck again. Linna and Daley had been that force, quickly destroyed in two deliberate and professional attacks.
But she had to have a force. The Knight Sabre card was still good and hadn't been played yet. If she was going to survive, Sylia knew that she needed an ace up the sleeve.
The greater threat to herself, and as a consequence Genom, forced Sylia's wavering mind. She'd done a lot of hard things to destroy Galatea but none of them were as dangerous as her idea now. But she had to do it.
Sylia pressed down. She had to see Nigel and her brother.
/\/\ss/\/\
Anxious to hear about news of Linna, and Sylia not having returned any of her calls or email, Nene used her root privileges to access the security camera network and locate Sylia. She saw her in the R&D section, where Mackey also was. Nene hadn't seen Mackie in a few days, so busy with work and wondering what the hell was going on. She could see both of them at the same time.
Leaving her dark office and informing platypus to hold the fort while she was gone, Nene took the lift up to R&D and passed into the secure labs. First she went over to where Nigel and Mackie usually worked. They weren't there. 'In the meeting room with the Chairwoman' someone told her and she thanked them and walked over to the enclosed office, past all manner of boomer related projects. She shuddered. Even after killing Galatea boomers still made her cringe.
Nene stopped short of entering the closed office. Through the open blinds she could see Sylia and Nigel gesturing and yelling at each other.
"Oh no, what are they fighting about now? Poor Mackie, he has to watch it all." Nene said to herself. Around her work continued, either oblivious or not wanting to know.
Nene watched as the two adults argued until they looked like they were going to hit each other. Sylia had her back to her; it was easy to tell that she was in an old mood however.
The argument terminated abruptly when Nene felt Nigel looking at her through the glass. The contact was only brief, but the movement of the wearied man's eyes caught Sylia's attention. The silver haired scorn turned around. She was very pissed off.
The break saw Nigel exiting the office with a stiff face. He said nothing to Nene as he blew past for the elevators. Nene slowly turned to watch him go, feeling that something very permanent had happened.
She turned back to the office when she heard Sylia speaking.
"No Mackie, you stay here. I have to talk to you."
"But Sylia, Nigel is right. This is wrong -" Mackie said.
"Quiet! You will do this -" Sylia snapped.
Nene cringed hearing Sylia speak to her boyfriend harshly. Then she noticed that Sylia was looking at her again.
The office door clicked shut and with a twist of her wrist, the blinds closed. Nene felt very alone.
/\/\ss/\/\
The taxi dropped Daley off outside the Genom building.
Coat in hand, because his body was still quite hot from the interrogation and proposal with none other than the leader of the Japanese Triad, Daley walked up the steps at a fair clip, not trusting his feet to keep him upright if he walked any slower. It had been that kind of day.
Four Security Guards stood outside the wide front doors. That surprised Daley because there usually weren't any at all, no more than four on the ground level doing rounds at any one time. It was also strange the way they were staring at him. Recognizing one of the guards he called out: "Hey Kota, what's going on?"
Kota stumbled down a few steps. "Shit! It is you."
"I hope its me, too." Daley remarked.
"We thought you were dead. We -"
Daley held up a hand.
"Very slowly, Kato. Tell me what's going on."
When he was first told that his kidnapping had in fact been a rescue from death, Daley hadn't believed. When Kato spewed out what had happened while he had been in interview, that all changed.
/\/\ss/\/\
Daley's arrival into the security offices floor was no less surprising. Word having been passed ahead, a mass of men and women cheered and clapped when he was revealed by the opening lift doors. Under normal circumstances knowing that he had escaped death he would have felt the same way. Having been told of what had happened to Linna stopped any self-congratulatory notions from rising beyond the hardened expression he wore.
Standing at the front of the crowd was Leon.
"So you are alive." Leon stated.
The response Leon expected to hear, some wittism or other, didn't eventuate.
"I heard that Linna was attacked too, is that true?"
Leon's expression deflated. "Yeah. I don't know how she is, but the guys who saw what was left of her car said it was bad."
Daley only nodded.
"Okay everyone, back to work! No time to waste just because of a little good news, we're still an innings down against the fuckers who hit our people." 'Chief' Roland ordered as he pushed through the crowd.
"Shit, Roland. You need to tone down your tongue." Leon said.
"Like hell, lummox. When my people get hurt, I get angry. Dammit, Daley. I wouldn't let myself believe it until I saw you with my own eyes. Welcome back to the land of the living," the Chief shook Daley hard on the shoulder.
"Daley was just asking about Linna." Leon said with uncharacteristic tact.
"Ah yes. Damn shame. We'll get the bastards."
"I intend to." Daley said, earning surprised looks.
"We'll talk in the office. The Chairwoman's rightfully getting our asses into gear." Roland said.
"The guards outside? Doe she think that the building might be attacked?" Daley asked.
"Not going to take any chances. No ordinary punks blow up a whole floor and do a high speed drive-by. So where the hell were you, anyway?" Roland asked.
"I don't know where, but according to the people who took me, they were rescuing me from the explosion," Daley answered.
"How did they know about it?" Leon joined in.
Daley shrugged. "I'd like to know the truth, too."
Because if what the Triad had told him was true, there was a traitor at the highest level in Genom.
/\/\ss/\/\
Nene was back at her office when she started at the clearing of Sylia's throat. She hadn't heard Sylia enter, and the door had been shut.
"Uh, Sylia. I've been trying to see you," Nene stammered, a little afraid.
"I know. I've been planning to see you as well, but it's been a bad day."
"Yeah. How's Linna?"
Sylia sat on the edge of the desk, an act of deliberate informality. "She'll live. You know how tough she is."
Nene nodded. "She's like Priss. Nothing could keep them down."
Sylia agreed. Linna's resilience was something she was counting on. "Is that what you wanted to see me about?"
"Isn't it enough? Sorry. I was hoping I could go see her later." Nene's fingers idly touched her keyboard.
"She'd like that. It might be hard looking at her."
"I can take it. She's my friend."
Sylia touched Nene's shoulder. "That's good, Nene. Because Linna needs all the friends she has." Leaning closer: "You want to help her, don't you?"
"Of course I do, Sylia." Nene said.
"And find out who hurt her?"
"Yes."
"Then there's something you have to do for me. You know our internal investigations?"
"Yes."
"I want you to do even deeper. I suspect that the traitor is helping the people who attacked Linna and Daley. The faster he is found and removed the safer Linna will be - they tried to kill her. The normal investigation will take too long. I need you to tap into all communications and cameras and find him."
"Sylia, that could take forever."
"Do you want Linna's attackers to get away?" Sylia started to stand.
"No -"
"I don't care what you have to do, whose privacy you break. Linna needs this from you."
Nene paused for a moment before nodding her head and earning a gracious smile from Sylia.
"I'll do it for Linna."
"Good. She'll want the very best from you."
Sylia left, satisfied.
/\/\ss/\/\
The dangerous-looking man Daley and Linna had seen on the previous night's expedition into the ganglands sat across from the Wind Master, the expected traditional acts of reverence already accomplished.
"I find your plan most. peculiar Wind Master," the dangerous man said in a manner that belied the earlier submission.
"And why is that, Deng Chien? Do you not think that my plan will succeed?" the Wind Master replied with more than a faint hint of smile.
"It's success I do not doubt at all. It is the Way."
"What fault then, do you find with the Way?"
Deng shifted in his seat, letting his mind first formulate the words in the correct order and manner so he could articulate the intuition that drove his position.
"The task you have been given by the Abbot is plain in its meaning and there are many plain Ways in which it can be accomplished. The Way you have chosen is complicated and would take a long time. There is much motion against Genom; it is probably that the company will fall before your plan has time to complete."
The Wind Master nodded sagely to Deng's opinion. It was one he respected, for Deng, despite his youth - when compared to his own Confucian age - was a smart and learned man. Otherwise he would not be the Earth Master. "Perhaps I give Genom's Chairwoman more credit than others."
"Your knowledge of her, and her family, is unsurpassed. Yet with foes internal and external rallied against her; the attack earlier today demonstrates how weak her position is. If you had not intervened."
"Ah," the Wind Master exclaimed, leaning back in his ornate chair. "We arrive at the Crucible."
"Wind Master?"
"You wonder why I am helping her?
"It would seem contrary to what the Abbot has instructed, unless you have reference to some wisdom from Confucius or Sun Tzu that I have not been able to relate."
"No, no traditional proverb. But I do like the story of the turtle and the hare. There is no need for us to rush the situation. Genom still has capabilities that have yet to be utilized. It would be foolish for us to be the ones in her sights," the Wind Master said.
"So, you will let Genom and the foreigners weaken themselves first."
"In a manner. But you are quite right that Genom's enemies are stronger; that is why I requested your presence here."
"I was beginning to wonder why."
"No need for sarcasm," the Wind Master said affably, "I am sure you and your men wish to become involved with little delay."
"Idleness is not a trait we like to encourage," Deng said.
"Good, good. There will be work to do shortly, when this phantom the gwai loh have sent acts again."
/\/\ss/\/\
Candace strummed her fingers on the top of her pine desk.
She was in deep thought, mind devoid of any thoughts of the job everyone thought she was Genom for, solely concentrating on the job that a scant few knew was her true purpose. If those people had been privy to her thoughts, they would have been outraged.
At the base level, Candace: sophisticated and educated French businesswoman and seductress par excellence, felt betrayed and stepped on, simply because she was a woman. Her true employers, Francophile BMC, she felt, regarded her as little more than a body that was to be used to seduce and control the minds of powerful men, so they would do what she wanted, which was meant to be what BMC wanted. Candace always knew that was how many perceived her to be, and she played at it - how else could she have reached the heights she worked at without giving the very thing her superiors thought she did best, to them - but she also had felt that some saw her real talent and acumen.
Until now.
Until a man had come and taken control of what she had been in charge of for almost six months: the demise of Genom. Not only a man, but one who wasn't French, wasn't skilled. Instead an animal. A man who preferred to kill and destroy than to confuse and redirect; who was violent instead of subtle.
A terrorist who would destroy her chance of giving Genom to her grateful masters on a platter. The telex she had received from Paris had dashed any hopes that her plan could be completed. They didn't want Genom, despite the wealth of technology and skills a take-over or merger could provide, they wanted destruction, to see the company collapse and fall into the fire their agent would deliver unto it.
It was taking too long, they had said, thousands of kilometres distant. The objective has changed; a better means to and end has presented itself. Really, she could tell, what they were saying was that a woman couldn't do the job they wanted. If she had been a man, nothing would have changed.
Smirking, she wondered how the chauvinists were reacting to Sylia's resilience. She had almost told them of her success in seducing the Chairwoman. Not now, or ever, unless they valued her properly. How would it gall them, to know that a mere woman not even in her late-twenties was stalling their aspirations?
And what if it were two? They deserved it. She knew what they were planning; with whispers she could let Sylia know and embarrass them and their terrorist until they came begging back to her. Then she could decide, give them what they wanted, or keep the cake and its silver-haired icing all for herself?
/\/\ss/\/\
Sylia met Daley in her suite. It was the first time he had been there, at the top of the corporate building. Outside the sun was beginning to set behind the faux horizon of the tallest of the sky towers
"I'm glad to see you alive, Daley." Sylia said.
"I'm glad to be alive."
They would have laughed and smiled, if the occasion had not been darkened by Linna's condition or the threats that palpably hung over their heads.
"Still, I am worried as to the reason why you are alive."
Daley nodded.
"With everything that's been happening recently, I'm sure that you're suspicious about the people who saved me."
"And knew that you were in danger, where as we didn't. Did they know about the attack on Linna?"
"They didn't say. That means they could have, and chose not to, or couldn't do anything about it; or they didn't know."
"Who was it that you talked to?"
"An old Chinese man."
Sylia raised an eyebrow.
Daley took out a typical sized business card from his coat and handed it over to Sylia who took it and inspected both sides. A somewhat look of relief crossed her face before she guarded it again.
"This is possibly some good news," she said.
"We need it. I was wondering if there was a connection between today and the attack on you the night before."
"Most likely." Sylia slipped the card into her dress. "What else did you talk about?"
"Not a great deal, surprisingly. I don't think he needed to." Daley answered.
"Yes. I believe he is the kind of man who knows everything about you and what you do, before you meet him."
"He does know that we have a problem in the company," Daley said, at once feeling relieved and apprehensive about the step he had just taken.
Sylia pondered. It was obvious that she wanted to ask how, and whether he knew who, but kept silent to think, or give pretence of thinking. Daley didn't give any further details, not until he had been asked could he.
Sylia gave into her curiosity. If there was one thing she hated more than anything else, it was being left in the dark. She hated not knowing things that others did. For a mind that had to be in control, such conditions were maddening.
"And?"
"You're not going to believe who."
"Tell me his name."
"Hers."
/\/\ss/\/\
Daley let out a long ragged breath as the elevator thankfully took him down and away from his quietly raging boss. Outwardly she had taken the news with barely a twitch of an eyelash, inwards, in her eyes, he could see the coalescing storm clouds. Thank God he'd been dismissed.
The lift doors whisked open and Daley headed towards the outside. Obligations done, he wanted to see Linna. All day his mind had been frantically worrying about her. Finally he could see how she was, and give prayer that she would be alright.
/\/\ss/\/\
Nene was already at the hospital when Daley arrived. She was standing outside the operating room, looking in with tender concern at the sheet covered comatose Linna. Tubes and wires ran into the covering sheet.
"How is she?" Daley said, walking up to Nene.
"Still critical. They've stopped operating for now." Nene's voice was close to breaking.
Daley had to grit his jaw, seeing the woman his affection was growing for lying in serious injury.
"How long have you been here?"
"Not too long. I wish I could stay longer, but I've got work she'll want me to do." Nene said.
"Linna?"
"Sylia thinks that the people who are responsible are the traitors in the company. It makes me mad, Daley, that someone in Genom would try and kill you two and Sylia. Don't they know that if it wasn't for her -"
Daley took Nene into a hug. "It's okay, Nene. There are a lot of bad people out there, not just mad boomers. The ADP never had to worry about real criminals."
Nene sobbed into Daley's jacket. "It's not fun anymore. I don't want to see my friends get hurt. Priss' gone, and now Linna."
"We don't know if Priss is actually dead. And Linna's a fighter. When the doctors fix her up she'll be back and better than before."
"I hope so. When she does wake up I'll give her the best present she could want. The people who did this too her in prison, where I hope they'll rot forever!"
The blonde burst into uncontrollable tears.
Daley did his best to sooth the young woman.
"Let's get something to eat. I'm sure Linna wouldn't like us crying over her like this."
"Why does everyone think they know what Linna would want.?"
"Because she's the sensible one."
The cafeteria was lockated two floors down. Large and empty, a bored human manned the counter to charge for precooked and packaged meals. The uninspired food added to the uninspired decore.
They ate in silence, picking at the food, engrossed in their own thoughts. They didn't notice the approach of a stranger until a hand slapped down a small object on the table in front of Daley.
Both Nene and Daley looked up at the stranger, who was Chinese. The Chinese nodded his head in curt bown, and then walked away. The two pairs of eyes looked back at what had been placed on the table.
It was a half a coin. Circled on one side, brocken on the other. What was different about it from regular coins was that its middle would have had a square hole in it. Two sides remained along the break. Between the half square, and half circle an etched dragon twisted.
"What's that?" asked Nene, 'whats that all about?'.
Daley stared down at the coin long and hard. In one of his pockets were four more pieces like it and the one he had just been given would match with one of those four.
As if the broken coin had the weight of the Earth itself, Daley slid it off the table into the palm of his hand, ignoring Nene's inquiries.
/\/\ss/\/\
At night, lit, Osaka castle glowed.
The city was so unlike the jungle. The jungle was full of animals rarely seen unless you were quiet. In the city everything was visible, displayed. Unlike animals, humans, foolishly, did not flee when a predator came along. In the city, the prey thought they were safe.
He would show them, with animal cunning, how wrong they were.
/\/\ss/\/\
Sylia let her robe hang loose from her shoulders, fully revealing her fevered body. The cell phone lay on the glass coffee table next to the business card handed over by Daley.
Her doorbell rang.
She walked to it, the robe slipping further back. She opened it.
Candace gasped in surprise. "Sylia."
Without a whisper the robe fell.
As did their clutching bodies.
While true and fake passions raged, both calculating minds considered themselves the victor over the other.
/\/\ss/\/\
Nene, returned to work, alone, Daley stood at the operating room window, watching as the surgeons returned to work to save the life of a very important woman.