Something fluffier today...
May
Max walked down the hall with Mole at her side. Fred and Barney were walking with them as well. The two wolfish transhumans were still her go-to bodyguards, despite their injuries at the Senate hearing. They'd healed quickly, and as was always the case since her pregnancy, they'd taken to following her everywhere whether she liked it or not, even inside TC. She'd griped about it to Alec, but he just shrugged. He was all for some extra security.
Ever since the hearing, things had been tense. It had stirred up the anti-transgenic sentiment and they'd had several people try to get in. Most had been stopped before stepping a foot inside the gate, but one had been smart enough to get past. He'd tried to plant a bomb, but been caught in the act. Mole had offered to kill the guy and hide the body, but they'd decided to go with a more respectable route since they were trying to run an upstanding business these days. The man, the device, and video of the incident had been handed over to the sector police.
Mole stopped at the door to the conference room and opened it for her. He stood aside for her to go first, and then followed. Inside, the man and woman who'd been sitting at the table stood up.
"Hello. I'm Max. This is Mole."
They moved to the table and Mole pulled back a chair for her to sit. She raised an eyebrow at the unusual behavior, but shrugged it off. She sat and Mole sat down beside her. Fred and Barney took up positions behind her while the two guards who'd already been in the room exited.
The two people simply remained standing, staring at Mole. This was a pretty common problem when dealing with Ordinaries for the first time, which was why Mole rarely did this sort of meet and greet. Alec was on a mission, however, and wouldn't be back for another day, so Mole had offered to step in.
"You two gonna sit?" he growled. "We ain't standing on ceremony."
The two jumped and quickly plopped into their seats, alternating between staring at Mole and pretending like they weren't staring at Mole. Max took it as a good sign that Mole hadn't threatened to shoot them yet. He was mellowing.
"Maybe you could introduce yourselves?" Max prompted, and once again they were startled. Max wanted to roll her eyes. It wasn't like he was snarling at them or anything.
The man cleared his throat and straightened in his chair. "I'm Roger Stephenson, CEO of FarmGene Technologies. This is my COO, Cynthia Barclay. We've come to hire you."
"We figured you weren't here for lunch," Mole said, still miffed.
"Not like we have time to eat anyway," Max muttered.
Mole glanced at her. He pulled out his phone and typed something into it, then put it away. He returned his glare to their guests. "Now, what can we do for you two?"
The gentleman ran his hand through his hair, clearly flustered, and Max almost wanted to take pity on him. He was a pretty typical looking businessman in his forties. He was wearing an expensive suit that didn't hide that he'd put on some pounds around his middle. His hair was thinning and he was going with the comb-over to hide it.
"We would like you to help us retrieve a set of files that were stolen," his partner said. Ms. Barclay seemed to have recovered faster. She was platinum blonde, cut in a bob, and dressed like a rich banker lady, or what Max imagined a rich banker lady would look like. She was in her fifties, Max guessed. Her little black dress was accented by a silk scarf clipped to her dress with a brooch.
"What kind of files?" Max asked. "This would have been a lot easier if you'd told us some of the details before you got here. We could have already been setting something up."
"This matter is too delicate to discuss over the phone," Ms. Barclay replied.
"Is it safe to discuss these matters," the man, Stephenson, cleared his throat again and his eyes darted back to Mole, "in front of… I assume this is your… bodyguard?"
Max did roll her eyes that time. People who came to them for help and then treated them like animals, especially the Transhumans, were her pet peeve.
Mole chomped on his cigar a little harder, but all he said was, "Get on with it before I get annoyed, will ya?"
"Mole is our third in command. He'll most likely be running your op, so don't tick him off."
"Oh," Stephenson said, turning bright red, "I apologize. We… this is all very new to us."
"Look, we're busy people. What do you need?"
"We need you to find a set of files that has been stolen by a company called Agri-Genome, which I believe you are familiar with. They specialize in genetically modified produce like our company does. We believe they have placed a mole, er…," he glanced worriedly at Mole, "a spy in our research division. We want them found and removed."
Max wanted to bang her head on the desk. If this was about that stupid genetically modified potato again, she was going to cry.
"We can't help you," Mole said. "You're right that we know Agri-Genome. They contacted us about the theft of their potato files and we traced the theft to you. We have a non-compete clause in our contract. We don't retrieve stolen property and then let the thief hire us to steal it back. Not going to happen."
Stephenson shifted uncomfortably in his seat, while his cohort pursed her lips in thought. "We know Agri-Genome hired you because Andrew Rafferty called us personally to brag that he'd paid you to get his files back. Honestly, we don't care about those files. We verified that Agri-Genome is behind the game and the files were useless."
Max sighed heavily. "So?"
The door opened abruptly and Sig walked in. Sig was a bulldog of a guy, not a transhuman, just built big and mean and ugly. He'd come to a truce with Max and Alec, but he was still a mass of testosterone that had to be kept on a tight leash.
"Here." He set down a plate with several sandwiches on it, some chips and an apple. He set down a bottle of water next to it. "Mole said you haven't eaten. Do it or I'm telling Alec."
Max's mouth opened and closed, but she wasn't sure what to say. Finally, she settled on, "Ok."
Sig nodded and walked back out, sparing a snarl for Fred, as was their usual habit. Mole ignored them and pushed the plate closer to her. "Eat," he ordered. Max realized she really was hungry and picked up one of the sandwiches. Sig had arrived so quickly, she wondered if he'd got the message and just brought his own lunch to give her.
"So the files you stole were useless," Mole said, as if they hadn't been interrupted. "Agri-Genome got 'em back. They're happy and you don't care. So what do you need us for? You can't figure out the spy in your research department?"
Ms. Barclay nodded. "Files related to our tomato plants were downloaded by someone in that department and the log was cleared. We don't know who did it, but we need the files found and we need the spy removed."
"We might have to put one of our people undercover in your lab," Max said. She finished the first sandwich and picked up a second. "Can you arrange that?"
Stephenson frowned. "They'll know your person is a fake. I don't think it will work. That section is bio-genetics."
"One," Mole said, "our people are pros at faking it. We do extensive research before sending anyone in, and maintain contact so we can assist with needed technical assistance or info. Two," he chomped on his cigar, "you'd be surprised how much we know about working in a genetics lab."
Stephenson and Barclay looked at each other and finally he nodded. Barclay pulled a flash drive from her pocket and handed it across the table. She shrank back slightly when Mole reached out, but finally dropped it into his waiting palm.
"That is all of our employee files, as well as a description of what was taken and the logs that were tampered with, etc."
Max split the apple with her bare hands and took a bite, savoring the sweetness. "Ok. We'll have our lawyers send you the contract as soon as it's drawn up. It shouldn't take more than a few hours. As soon as you sign and we receive payment, we'll get started. We'll need remote access to your systems as well so we can monitor computer usage. We have a tech team that can do that from here. That's easier than sending someone in, so we'll try that first while we get our person ready to go undercover."
The two businesspeople nodded. "Very well. We're staying-"
Mole stopped him. "We know. We'll send the stuff to the hotel by courier."
They looked from Max to Mole, stood, and hurried from the room as if the hounds were nipping at their heels.
"Apes are so twitchy," Mole grunted. "One talking iguana and they get all bent outta shape."
"It's the cigar," Max answered. "Nobody likes smokers nowadays."
"Whatever. Come on. I gotta get this info to Command."
Max stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Thanks for the food, by the way."
Mole looked embarrassed, which was just weird. She was used to all kinds of things: angry, disgruntled, pissed off, annoyed, bored, exasperated. She'd never seen embarrassed.
Max took the flash drive and threw it to Barney. "Get that to Command, will ya? I'll be right behind you."
Barney nodded, and grabbed Fred to drag him along out of the room. If she had to guess, they wouldn't be far, but they would give them a little privacy.
"You want to tell me why you're sending out an emergency page to get me food?" she asked. Now she thought of it, he was also holding doors for her and pulling out chairs.
Mole clamped his mouth shut around his cigar. He shifted from foot to foot, and then finally nodded. "Cause I'm gonna make sure as I can those kids you're carryin' are good and healthy."
"Didn't know you cared," she said, without any sarcasm. She genuinely hadn't thought it mattered to him, one way or the other.
"The people like me been talking to the docs. You X-Series have freaky genes and it's gonna be hard to have kids. Us transhumans? Not gonna happen. Ever. There's no way to make it happen." He worried the cigar between his lips. "The only way I'm ever gonna bounce a kid on my knee is if I'm the grumpy old uncle." He pointed at her belly. "So I'm gonna make sure you get fed. You got a problem with that?"
"Nope," Max answered. And for the first time since she'd met him, she kind of wanted to hug him. She let the feeling pass. Must be the pregnancy hormones.
"Stop lookin' at me like that," he growled. "Come on. Let's get to Command."
"Sure thing, Uncle Mole."
Mole huffed as they walked toward the door, but unless Max was mistaken, there was a tiny, tiny smile on his face.
More tomorrow…