3rd World Products, Book 16 (47 page)

I left the probe in her phone. Sure enough, it rang immediately and a man asked, “What the hell was
that
all about? He made it sound like he was trying to pick you up.”
 

“I’m not sure, but Tanya turned herself in. Maybe he will, too, if I can convince him it’s in his best interest.”
 

Galatea registered no lie in her voice, but noted there were gray zones in her inflection.
 

“What’re you gonna do if he comes on to you?”
 

“I’ll handle it. He doesn’t have a rough reputation.”
 

“The
hell
he doesn’t! Didn’t you read his file?”
 

Elgin said, “Not with women, he doesn’t. Didn’t
you
read his file? He practically worships women.”
 

“Elgin, I
don’t
think this…”
 

She cut in, “Harris, I can handle it. He
won’t
hurt me. Now let me go so I can get ready.”
 

After a pause, Harris said, “Just be careful, Elgin.
Real
careful.”
 

“I
will
, okay? Gotta go. Bye.”
 

My probe traced Harris to a room below and to one side of Elgin’s. You never know what a guy will do if he thinks a woman might be in danger. As we neared the deadline, I waited until he turned from the window to reach for something, then I stunned him lightly. He staggered to the bed and sat down, shaking his head. I stunned him again as he sat straight to take a deep breath and he fell backward, out cold.
 

Elgin appeared at her window a bit early. Putting Tea in standard mode and moving her to the balcony rail by Elgin’s door, I created a short flight of emerald steps between the flitter and the balcony deck. Elgin’s eyes got big, then she left the window and her door opened. She wore a mid-thigh denim skirt, three inch heels, and what looked like the upper half of a gray parka.
 

Looking up, she pointed at the steps and asked, “Do you really expect me to come up there on these?”
 

Moving Tea down two steps, I leaned out of her field hull and asked, “How about now, ma’am? Do
you
really think I’d want to kill a gorgeous NIA lady tonight? How well does that track with what you know about me?”
 

She laughed, “Not too well, you’re right about that.”
 

I said, “Then take a chance, ma’am,” and quietly told Tea to silence all of Elgin’s bugs and her phone.
 

Looking down at the glowing steps again, Elgin seemed to steel herself, then lifted her magnificent golden legs one at a time until she stood at the top of the steps.
 

Faced with Galatea’s apparently-stainless-steel hull, she asked, “Now what? How do I get in?”
 

“Just walk forward, ma’am. You’re invited. She’ll let you in.”
 

“Who’s ‘
she
‘?”
 

“My flitter. Galatea.”
 

Elgin goggled briefly and grinned.
 

I said, “Please don’t tease her about her name. It’s my fault, not hers. Are you coming aboard or not?”
 

“I’m not sure yet. Why won’t you show yourself?”
 

Letting Tea’s hull field drop, I said, “Just wanted to see if you had nerve enough to trust me a little.”
 

As I said that, I made all the steps but the one she was standing on disappear. As expected, Elgin bridled and gestured behind herself as she asked, “
Nerve
enough? Didn’t I just come up these…” and then she saw the steps were gone and she was apparently standing on a deep green emerald about two feet square.
 

Her eyes got big, her pulse hammered visibly, and for some moments she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the courtyard below. When she could, she hurriedly stepped off the green block and onto Tea’s deck.
 

I grinned and cheerily said, “Welcome aboard, Agent Vicky!”
 

Eyes still wide, she screeched, “What the
hell
was that trick about?” as I quietly asked Tea to put her in stasis.
 

Tea said, “I need to know why, Ed. She’s an agent of the US federal government, ostensibly aboard to try to arrest you.”
 

Ah. Okay. I asked, “Agent Vicky, are you here to try to arrest me? My flitter wants to know whether she should place you in a stasis field or not.”
 

“A
what
field?”
 

“Stasis. That’s where you can’t move or do harm to others.”
 

“No! Tell it
no
, I’m definitely
not
here to arrest you.”
 

“Okay, thanks. See, Tea? How about now?”
 

“I still need to know why, Ed.”
 

Again quietly, I said, “This is a character and psychological test, Tea. Just put her in stasis, please.”
 

“With great reluctance and under protest, Ed.”
 

“That’s fine, ma’am. I completely understand.”
 

Tea then established a stasis field around Elgin. I walked over to her and thumped lightly on her black leather purse, then hefted it briefly. Yup. A gun and the rattle of cuffs. Probably a can of pepper spray in there, too. And, of course, her badge and ID. I ignored the derringer the backs of my fingers felt through her jacket pocket when I hefted her purse.
 

Using a tiny field, I tack welded the steel ball nibs at the top her purse so they wouldn’t part. She’d have to rip it open to get stuff out until the evening was done.
 

Stepping back with a sigh, I said, “And such a fool was I, so thoroughly bedazzled by your beauty that I stood before you innocent as a lamb, helpless as a baby, a victim to your perfect loveliness, enthralled to your utmost pleasures, milady.” With another sigh, I said, “Tea, let her go, please.”
 

Elgin wobbled slightly and caught her balance as Tea said aloud, “Thank you, Ed. I felt most uncomfortable restraining a law enforcement officer.”
 

“Altogether understandable, Tea, but it was for a good cause. Now I know I can trust her a little.”
 

“Because you welded her purse shut?”
 

Heh. Elgin quickly tried to open her purse and failed. Her gaze narrowed to glare at me.
 

I said, “No, Tea. Because she had the guts to come up those steps and onto your deck fully prepared to arrest me if an opportunity presented itself. She might not
like
doing it, but she’s honor bound to try, which means she’s a woman of courage and honor. Now take us straight up, please, and if you have any other such questions, please wait until later. I need to discuss some things with Agent Vicky.”
 

“Okay, Ed.”
 

Elgin growled, “
What
things?”
 

“Well, first, what’s the highest you’ve ever flown?”
 

“What?”
 

“How high, ma’am?”
 

She shrugged. “However high commercial planes fly.”
 

“About thirty thousand, then. How’d you feel about that?”
 

She peered at me and asked, “What do you mean ‘how did I feel’? I felt just like everybody else, I guess.”
 

Nodding, I turned to walk to the gin bottle as I said “Well, you won’t feel ‘just like everybody else’ after tonight, ma’am.”
 

Elgin had followed me. I took the gin and a bottle of bitter lemon to the seating area and sat down, using another seat as a table. Elgin took a seat near mine, set her purse down, and watched me open and pour two drinks.
 

Sending a green tendril to each glass to make ice, I said, “We’ll go up to twenty miles if you have the nerve. Maybe higher.”
 

Taking her glass, she said, “I’ve read flitters can go higher than that. Up to a hundred miles, I think.”
 

“Are you up for that?”
 

She retorted, “I have to show up for duty tomorrow. How long would it take?”
 

“About as long as we want it to, ma’am.”
 

She shook her head. “Give me an answer I can use.”
 

“Okay. From a very few minutes to an hour. Your choice.”
 

Elgin sniffed her drink, then tasted it. “Mm. Good.” She moved her purse near another seat, a
motion that dragged my eyes over her lovely legs, of course. Then she unnecessarily smoothed the side of her skirt. I mean, come on, lady. It’s denim. If you stretch it a bit, it’ll bunch up here and there. You can’t smooth it, so pretending to try is either nervousness and damp hands or an attempt to guide eyeballs.
 

But I looked anyway, as expected, and when I looked up, she sipped and fed me a steady gaze, also as expected. It was an ‘
I’m not afraid of you
‘ look.
 

I said, “Your bugs and phone are dead while you’re on this flitter. That’s because I want to show you some things. First up is this; a pic of Myra Berens.”
 

Calling up a screen, I put Myra’s agency bio on display and said, “She’s helped other people get out of the NIA and into the NSA. One only had about half the FBI course, but Myra set up the other half as OJT. I don’t know what bits you might be lacking, but if there are any, she can probably help you get them.”
 

Putting up a pic of Angie with her 3rd World bio, I said, “She’s my 3rd World Products handler, even now that I’m technically retired. I’m still available to her for odd jobs. As head of security, she can probably help you, too.”
 

Thumbing left, I said, “And now look over the side, ma’am.”
 

Elgin did, and she turned pale. Her hands trembled and she noticed, but there was nowhere to put her glass. I reached for it and she gave it to me, then clenched her hands a few times to strain them a bit. Flexing them, she watched for tremors and found nowhere near as many.
 

Handing her glass back, I nodded. “Good. Now relax, have your drink, and enjoy the ride. That’s really all it is; a ride. A few minutes in a place where we can talk freely.”
 

“Talk about what?”
 

Trying to look surprised, I replied, “
Me
, of course. Didn’t I mention I’m the center of my world?”
 

She chuckled, “No, but I did get that impression.” After a sip, she asked, “So… what about you?”
 

“Well, you already know I have no patience for political crap. I’m not sure it matters a flying damn who wins an election anymore, except to the high-rollers and fat cats who govern money and the economy and suck the Treasury dry. I also don’t care about the current laws that say Amaran medical treatment is illegal within certain countries. That’s just other fat cats trying to control the money and power involved in the health industry.”
 

When I took a sip of my drink, Elgin sipped hers again and said, “Bad laws are still the law until repealed.”
 

“Tell that to accident victims. To cancer victims. To the guy who’s mother is dying of something Amaran medicine could cure or the woman whose child is hurt or sick. To put it as plainly as possible, Agent Vicky, I truly don’t fucking care about those laws and we should be arresting and imprisoning the greedy bastards who forced them on us.”
 

Sitting back with a grin, I dusted my fingernails on the shoulder of my shirt smugly and said, “Besides, I’ve found a way around them. It’s a technicality, but it’ll work.”
 

She grinned back at me and crossed those gorgeous legs. I covered my eyes and laughed, “Gawd, that’s distracting. Gimme a minute to get my head back together, ma’am.”
 

Elgin snorted a laugh and asked, “So what I’ve heard is true? You’re a total leg man?”
 

I sighed, “Yeah, it’s true. I mean, faces, arms, legs, shoulders, lips, and hips are all wonderful and some are truly special, but a really great set of legs… like
yours
, for instance… well, I just get all warm and fuzzy inside, y’know?”
 

She laughed again and sipped as she pretended to try to push the hem of her skirt down half an inch with her fingertips, then laughed as my eyes tracked her attempt.
 

Canting her head a bit, she asked, “What about your little friend Miss Connor?”
 

“She sort of dumped me, ma’am. Something happened tonight that made her see me in a new light, I think.”
 

“Really, what was that?”
 

“I think it might be better to show you than tell you.”
 

That made her eyes harden and she stiffened slightly. I put up a three-foot screen and started things where the two suits had started talking. Elgin held up a hand.
 

“Wait. What am I watching and how did you get it?”
 

Pausing the display and running it back to the start, I asked, “You know anything about flitter probes?”
 

“A little. You can monitor remotely without having to place devices, right?”
 

I nodded. “These guys were at Marie’s clinic earlier, when all hell broke loose there. Did you know about that?”
 

“We were temporarily put on alert, but we weren’t told why.”
 

“This is probably why. You’re watching Galatea’s recording of our activities aboard her during events that blew a hole in the wall of that clinic this evening. Ready for more?”