Jezebel's Ladder (15 page)
“Why?” Jez asked. When Claudette
held a hand mirror up to her, Jez was a bit startled by what she saw. “Oh. I
see. Thank you. I didn’t think what I must look like now.”
“You’ll be beautiful to him, hon’.
But people tend to take photos around us, and you don’t want to make the cover
of any magazines without pre-treatment. Those haunt you for years. You need a
travel dress; pants will be too difficult. You’re shorter and about twenty
pounds lighter than I am. Hmmm, probably that younger body. I’ll send my
personal shopper to Stonebriar Mall for you.” Just when Jez thought her head
couldn’t spin any more, the starlet added, “And we’ll need a cover story for
your injuries.”
“I can’t lie.”
“My PR agent will do all the lying,
duck. You just smile and wave. It’ll be better if you don’t even read the press
release. When someone asks you a question you don’t feel right answering, just
say something vague like ‘I’m just glad to be back in one piece,’ or ‘I missed
LA so much.’” Claudette stood next to her, holding the hand mirror like a
microphone. “Let’s practice. Miss Johnson, how long have you been having sex?”
“A lady doesn’t talk about those
things with strangers.”
“We hear you work for the same
employer. Was Mr. Hollis using his power and influence to get favors?”
She smiled at this. “Mr. Hollis has
always been a gentleman, changing duties when it became clear we were attracted
to one another.”
“How did you both get injured?”
“Mr. Hollis saved me from a serial
rapist at great personal cost.”
Claudette sighed. “We’ll work on
it. Always count to three before answering. It will give my people a chance to
intervene. This also helps to obscure those times you need to think hard. It’s
just like testifying in court. Be consistent.”
“You’re good at sneaky,” Jez
complimented. “Could I get your help on one more thing?”
“Anything, hon’.”
Jez bit her lip. “I have no right
to ask this, but I feel I have no choice. Since you’re working with us on the
Project now, I need a way to trap the mole. Otherwise, we’ll keep hemorrhaging
information and the next mission could finish us all. By surviving and
capturing one of their pages, I raised the stakes.”
The starlet shrugged. “Simple. You
use Elias as bait.”
They spent the rest of the night
hammering out details.
Two days later, they sat in Claudette’s jet at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. Claudette argued with her as Jez texted Daniel.
She told Daniel about the
wheelchair they’d needed to get her out of the hospital and to the plane. He
texted back, “No excuse to skip exercise!”
The starlet was harping on the same
topic. “I still say you should have let the doctors run more tests. Your ribs
are taped, you have more bruises than birthdays, and your spleen was damaged by
the abuse.”
“
May
have been damaged,” she
countered. “They refused to do the MRI.”
“You have pins in your right ankle
that set off the metal detector. They didn’t want them coming out in the
imagining chamber before the bone sets.”
“Another day won’t change anything,”
Jez countered, not glancing up from her keyboard. She was frantically typing
notes on her laptop.
“The psychiatrist there said you
might be suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and you refused to fill
out her questionnaire.”
“That’s the pot calling the kettle
black.”
“I have weekly appointments with a
therapist of my own, a well-respected man who… Are you ignoring me?” Claudette
asked. She had on large sunglasses and a wig in an attempt to hide her scar. An
expert at plastic surgery in LA would be consulting with her the next morning.
Jez explained, “I’m outlining the
plan of action for my latest idea. When Swami Rama has his preliminary
clearance, I want him to read the OOB page. We need to increase Eye Corps to
four divers, one for each branch plus an extra for vacations and emergencies.
He has several qualified followers who would volunteer for the Collective
Unconscious paragraph. That way, we can pair each eye with a filter. Oobie can
train them in a week or two.”
The stewardess announced, “We just
got clearance to taxi, ma’am. Could you please stow your computer and phone?”
Jez didn’t seem to hear. “Oh, and
Ethics might help regulate Ragnar’s swings.” Claudette reached over and clicked
SUSPEND. “Hey!”
“Hon’, those men keep knocking you
out for a reason. You are exhausting. Sit back and relax for a few minutes.”
The starlet pulled out a sleeping mask and ear plugs.
Jez felt too nervous to sleep. She
wanted to hold her new Taser during the flight like a security blanket, but it was
stowed in the hold. The idea of using the same weapon as Maverick had repulsed
her at first, but the fear of no weapon at all made her stomach churn. She
refused all offers of food and drink on the trip.
Jez examined their plan from
several angles. So many things could go wrong. She took notes on the puzzle
page of Claudette’s trade magazine. Instinctively, Jez reached out to borrow
some planning smarts from the others aboard the plane, but it was like sucking
a thick milkshake through a thin straw. As she scribbled notes, her vision
blurred a few times, from sweat and strain.
She began to see probabilities in a
flow diagram, chaining together. Nausea clawed at her empty stomach and into
her throat. She couldn’t cover all the outcomes. It was harder than chess, more
pieces with fewer rules.
The stewardess broke her trance. “Ma’am,
I’ll go get you a tissue. Use this drink napkin until I get back.”
The puzzle was spattered with blood
from Jezebel’s nose.
Claudette took off her mask. “Are
we landing?”
As she stanched the nose bleed, Jez
blinked. Her eyesight was still blurry.
When the starlet noticed the red
stains blossoming through the napkin, she snapped, “What happened?”
Jez tore out the magazine page
covered with random notes and mathematical symbols. Claudette set her jaw in
anger. “I can’t leave you alone for a minute. Benny warned me you would push
the envelope, but I didn’t think…”
“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”
“Do you
want
to die?” the
starlet nearly shouted.
Tears flowed from Jez’s eyes. “No,
but I don’t want anybody else to either. And it’ll be my fault if they do.”
The stewardess arrived with a
handful of tissues.
Jez blotted the paper, her nose,
and then her eyes. “So much for the makeup I just put on.”
Claudette made her play Gin till
the landing.
****
When Jez’s guard wheeled her into
the public-access area, Benny was the first one to greet her. To hide her
injuries, she wore a plaid blanket over her legs like an old woman. He leaned
over to give her quick greeting peck, but it turned into a long, deep kiss. “Soft,”
he murmured when they parted. Tasting salt, he asked, “Have you been crying?”
She nodded, but remained silent,
gesturing to someone taking their photo in the corner.
Benny had a silly grin on his face
as he posed for the shot. “Sorry, it’s been a while.”
Claudette came from the baggage
claim with three guards and about six bags. One hard case was particularly long
and had a special tag.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“My daddy’s favorite shotgun,” the
starlet said. “He used it to kill skunks and other vermin out at the ranch.”
Benny laughed, unsure if she was
serious.
Nena squealed as she ran to hug
Jez. She wore business attire and a lab coat. The photographer snapped a shot
of her as well. “I’m so glad you’re safe. Danny wasn’t allowed to come.”
“My orders,” Jez admitted. “Too
risky.”
Nena pushed Jez’s wheelchair all
the way to the armored van because Benny couldn’t use his arms. When they were
inside, Jez handed over a list of handwritten orders to him. He read the first
couple out loud, “Move the arc lights from the corporate ball field into the
apartment parking lot. Buy out the lease of the first row of storage garages
against headquarters fence.” He folded the rest and put it in his pocket.
“I have to mitigate the hazards,”
she explained. “Thank you for wearing your bulletproof vest like I asked.”
Carl, the guard beside them,
started making calls to implement her suggestions.
“What’s this all about?” Benny
asked the women. “Security is going nuts and nobody will tell me why.”
“You didn’t have a need to know,”
Jez said, agonizing over the secrets.
Claudette whispered, “Elias is
flying in tonight.” Everyone in the vehicle was on instant alert.
“Insanely dangerous,” said Benny. “Why?”
Jez explained, “I wanted to explain
to her why Fortune acts the way he does, how the pages are responsible.” The
starlet squeezed her hand to stop the flow.
“Whoa, Jez told you about Ladder?”
“I asked. She told me–everything.
Miss Johnson knows things about my ex none of the rest of you do. She’s been
giving herself nose bleeds trying to find another way, but I know how to deal
with Elias.”
Jez bit her bottom lip in an effort
not to talk.
“What did he do?” asked Benny.
“He found another page, one he’s
keeping to himself,” Claudette lied. Jez was doubled over, holding in the
denial. “It only made sense in context with Wannamaker’s mistakes on Seth.
Dear, what did that e-mail of his say at the top?”
Jez burst out, “Preventing
Replication Loss in Successive Cellular Generations.” After spewing several
lines of bio-techno-babble, she managed to clamp down again.
“How have you been reading the boss’s
emails?” asked Nena.
“I’ve been intercepting them for
years, Claudette explained. “She’s just been the first one to be able to
decrypt the ones on Project Ponce de León. And what she saw in them has been
eating her alive. Some of those experiments were horrors. We don’t know how,
but he did it; Dirt Bag has found his Fountain of Youth.” She paused to let the
message sink in. “When I told them what was happening, Crusader and a quarter
of his men left.”
Benny said, “That's going to leave
us critically short staffed tomorrow.”
Jez blurted, “The price is too
high!”
Claudette put a hand over her
mouth. “Hush, dear. At the meeting tomorrow, I’m going to stop him.”
****
As thanks for convincing Jez to
come home early, Benny stopped the caravan to pick up lunch at Claudette’s
favorite bistro. By the time they arrived at the apartments, everyone was
gossiping about Fortune’s impending arrival. Normal operations were suspended,
and all resources were being redirected toward making his stay secure. Nena
wheeled Jez into a first-floor room at the corporate apartments. Benny had his
guards put the food bags on the kitchenette table. “I knew you didn’t want to
stay in Ward Seven, so I had adjustable beds set up here for you.”
“Thank you. Nena, could you go up
to our room and get me a nightgown, clean underwear, and a tooth brush?” Jez requested
in her best, helpless-invalid voice.
When she was gone, Jez asked, “Did
you bring it?”
Benny said, “Reach into my pocket.”
Jez grinned at the opportunity for
innuendo, and pulled a jewelry case out of his jacket pocket. She found her
butterfly pendant inside, and cooed over the new, gold-plated chain. Once she
fastened the clasp, she purred, “I felt naked without it.”
“I wanted to be the one to put it
on you, but…” He wiggled his arms in their slings. “Listen, I leaked the story
like you asked, but there are holes in the lie big enough to drive a truck
through. It won’t stand up for long. What’s really…?”
“Please don’t ask her,” interrupted
the starlet. “Not telling you will cause her extreme discomfort, even pain. Do
you trust me?”
“Yes,” he said quietly.
“Do you trust her judgment more
than Elias’s?” asked the starlet.
He nodded.
“Then give her a day on this, I beg
you,” Claudette asked.
Jez stared at the floor. When he
was silent, she said, “I really enjoyed our first kiss. I’m hoping to get
another one.”
“That’s hitting below the belt,” he
murmured, leaning over her chair.
“Not yet, but we can hope,” Jez
said huskily, wrapping her arms around him for another long kiss.
Nena cleared her throat on
entering. “I just had to grab the emergency bag you keep by the door. Do you
need condoms?”
Benny coughed. “No, I’m just on my
way to finish my girlfriend’s shopping list.” His voice was deeper than before.
As he stumbled out, he bumped the doorframe with his elbow. The girls looked at
each other and laughed.
By nightfall, the apartments were abuzz. Jez had ordered
that everyone on the first floor of the far wing be relocated to other quarters
until Fortune departed. She sat in her wheelchair next to Benny at the table. “It’s
only eight people,” she explained. “And only for one night. Fortune gets here
at 10:30 tonight. If someone launches a rocket, I don’t want anyone else
getting hurt. I’ve seen people moving in the halls. What’s the problem?”
Benny took another bite from the
piece of pizza he held by two fingers. “Dr. Poldark just got off his shift an
hour ago, and he’s pissed. Why worry about rockets? We already cleared the
storage facility and the rooftops nearby.”
“Our organization has about an 80
percent chance of surviving till tomorrow,” Jez said, grimly. Finished eating,
she put her communications headset back on.
“Up from 70 percent this morning,”
Claudette said gaily. “Progress.”
“I can get it to 90 percent if they’ll
let me move the meeting location to Fortune’s room here,” Jez said, as her
phone beeped. She glanced at the text. “Tan has the package. Lockdown starts in
fifteen minutes, at eight o’clock. I need you to go home, rest, and be safe.”
Claudette stuffed several full
folders into Benny’s sling as Nena waltzed in. Jez explained, “If we don’t
survive the meeting, those notes form the seed of a new project. Once you get
the pages, you’ll be able to start again in a place of your choosing. Don’t
tell me where.”
Nena was dressed in sheer, black
hose, and a short, tight, black dress that left little to the imagination. When
she squeezed her purse under her armpit, Benny glimpsed the edge of a nipple
before he jerked his head away.
Claudette raised her eyebrows. “Wardrobe
malfunction.”
“Oops. I’ve gained a little
bust-line since the pageant days,” the blonde said, casually adjusting her
wardrobe. “I just got back from dinner. Danny took me out for sushi. The guards
practically pulled a gun on our waiter to get the bill quicker and broke
several traffic laws getting us back. What did you need so badly?”
“I need Oobie to ring this parking
lot constantly between eight and four this morning. Box the compass once a
minute. If you make the dives about thirty-five minutes each, it should be no
problem for him. When the convoy arrives, have him follow it into the parking
garage. He has sole access to channel two if you find anything suspicious.”
“Why don’t you tell him yourself?”
Nena asked.
“Because I don’t want him to see me
like this. The last two times he saw me hurt, he was unable to dive for a
prolonged period. I can’t risk that. Oobie adds over 20 percent to our odds of
survival,” Jez explained.
Nena grew chilly, and walked out. “Congratulations
on the promotion.”
When Benny kissed Jez goodbye and
stepped out a minute later, the former beauty contestant was still standing by
the stairwell a few doors away. “Problem?” he asked.
The tiny woman stood much closer to
him than necessary to ask, “Mr. Hollis, you’ve been with a lot of women. Am I
sexy?”
His mouth felt dry as he squeaked, “I’m
two-and-a-half times your age, twice your height, and my girlfriend is
currently controlling a team of men with guns.”
She smiled coyly and turned back
and forth, giving him a better view of the wardrobe malfunction area. “Not for
you, silly, for Danny. He’s the first boy I’ve ever liked who hasn’t tried to
bang me like a bass drum on the first date.”
Benny took a deep breath and
inhaled warm, vanilla perfume. It didn't make him feel any less aroused. He
tried very hard to maintain good eye contact.
When all else fails, use the
name of your girlfriend in the conversation.
“Jez has been coaching him. I
think the working theory is that the longer it takes to get there, the longer
the relationship will last.”
“Jez likes it slow, but I want it
fast,” Nena pouted. “Can I show you something up in the room?”
He tried to loosen his pullover
collar. “I have someone waiting for me in the parking lot.”
The girl smacked his hip playfully.
“Relax! A few of the guards got a copy of Jez performing as a showgirl. She’s
wearing a lot less than I am now. I’ll show you on my laptop.”
“Sorry,” he said, sliding around
her toward the exit.
She sighed and took a memory stick
the size of a lipstick tube out of her purse. “Fine, take my copy. I think you
need to be prepared. The press is going to find it soon.”
Reluctantly, he accepted the device
and ran out the door into the dark as if he had stepped on a mound of fire
ants.
****
Precisely at eight, Nena reached
Daniel’s door. She handed a coffee mug to the older guard seated in the chair.
He smiled and thanked her. To the younger, she said, “I’m heading in for my
shift. Jez said that I count as the second guard tonight. We’re shorthanded,
and they need you downstairs for the arrival prep.”
He nodded and left. Daniel was
already sitting on his bed, in a gray University of California sweatshirt and
pants with a “Joe College” Snoopy logo on the front. He was proud of his new
status and wanted to look more mature. She didn't have the heart to tell him
that Snoopy spoiled the college-man image.
She tripled-bolted the door and
made sure all the windows were covered. He had one hand on the swing bar
mounted from the ceiling to make it easier to sit up. He watched her every move
through the room with relish, the dessert they had been too rushed to order.
She placed her purse on the bed
table next to him as she told him in sultry tones, “I have good news and bad
news.”
Nena could have told him anything
and he wouldn’t have blinked. Everything sounded sensuous in her soft, Dutch
accent. Daniel had already given himself the facilitator injection for the
night and felt more mellow than normal. He didn’t want to speak and ruin the
buzz.
“Bad news,” she announced. “I just
talked to Jez. Because of a last-minute glitch, the operation has been delayed
till tomorrow morning. You have tonight off.”
“If that’s the bad news, what’s the
good?”
She slid closer to him so he could
smell the warm vanilla mixed with cherry lip gloss. He clenched the swing bar
so tightly, he thought it would bend. “Oh, with the evacuation of the first
floor, everyone has to double up rooms tonight, including you.”
“What poor slob am I sharing a
bedroom with tonight?”
Her hot breath tickled his ear as
she whispered, “Me.”
His heart monitor went wild, and
she disconnected the power strip to all the monitors with her high heel. Then
she kicked her shoes off. “I hope that’s acceptable.”
The room was completely silent for
a long moment while he struggled to find any coherent thought in the flood of
hormones, like a man grasping for flotsam in a capsized ship. He heard himself
stammer, “Would you like to start by kissing? I’m supposed to do it till you
moan.” He was prepared to bang his head against the bar to knock himself out as
penalty for his own stupidity.
Then she slid against his side like
a cat asking to be stroked. “Yes.”
The first kiss made him
lightheaded. He gripped her neck and locked his fingers in her hair, pulled her
tighter so the exchange would continue. She made yum sounds like she was
enjoying him more than the $200 meal they’d just finished. A taste of the
champagne she had ordered stroked the tip of his tongue, and he felt drunk.
They devoured each other for twenty
minutes before there was a loud thump outside the room door. “What was that?”
Daniel asked. When he pointed to the door, he noticed he had makeup smeared on
his little finger.
“Hush,” she said. “Close your eyes.
This is going to be a formative experience in your sex life, the encounter
against which all others will be measured. I want it to be as memorable as
possible.”
As soon as he shut his eyes, he
heard her say, “Phase two.” Then he heard the rustle of silk hose sliding down
her legs. He gripped the bar again and sucked in a panicked breath.
“Hold perfectly still,” she
commanded. The tingle that her voice caused was still traveling down his spine
as she tied his hand to the bar with her stocking.
He asked, “What…?”
As she tied the other hand to the
same bar, she said, “No explanations. Tonight, you are allowed two words only:
more and stop. You may only use the second word once and the evening is over.
If you trust me, I can make this last all night.”
“More,” he gasped.
Nena straddled him on the bed and
tucked her head through his arms. He could feel her heat through his thin,
nylon sweatpants. Not being able to grab her and throw her down was driving him
wild. She set a slow, measured pace, sliding her body across his as they
resumed their frenzied kissing. When she bit the place where his shoulder and
neck met, he moaned incoherently. She chuckled and pulled back to examine him
again.
“I think you’re ready for phase
three,” she announced.
****
Benny was halfway home before he
tried the memory stick in his laptop. His specialized antivirus software came
up immediately, but the screen was already flashing with activity. He had to
pop out the battery to kill the unwanted program. He cursed and hit the speed
dial button for Jez.
“Miss me already?” He could tell
her attention was divided between multiple headsets, radios, scanners, and
phones.
There was a knock at Jezebel’s
door. After checking the peep hole, Claudette undid the chain and greeted their
guest. “Dr. Poldark, so glad you could come.”
“Someone is handing out cylindrical
memory sticks with nearly naked movies of you to the guards,” Benny said
without preamble.
That got Jez’s attention. “Is
Trench Coat trying to undermine me again?”
The head psychiatrist pointed at
Jez and whispered angrily to Starlet.
“It’s a Trojan horse,” Benny said.
Jez cursed. “It’s probably a bug as
well. Dump the damn thing in water as soon as you can.”
Jez overheard the tail end of
Poldark’s tirade. “Paranoia, irrational orders, and magical-thinking. She hasn’t
been cleared for command duty. That outpatient has no right kicking me out of
my room or giving anyone orders around here.”
The woman in the wheelchair ignored
him as she tried in vain to reach one of the guards from the control room.
Frustrated, she dialed a cell phone number from memory. Still no answer. Her
third attempt picked up. “A virus is attacking our computers. It’s riding the
memory sticks with my movie. I don’t care if you watched it, just don’t use
them. And find out what’s going on in the control room. Tell them I'll roll in
there and kick their asses if they’re sleeping.”
Poldark was livid. “You will do no
such thing. You will accompany me to my clinic for a substance-abuse
evaluation. I have already filed a complaint, and the agent in the hall has
agreed to drive you there.”
“So I missed my AA meeting. I’ve
been kind of busy,” Jez said, punching in another phone number.
Claudette said, “I’m going to my
room to change into something more comfortable. I’ll let you two work this out.”
Her expression shouted,
I told you so
.
Poldark leaned over to examine Jez’s
eyes. “Are you taking the meds you stole? They’re extremely dangerous in the
wrong dosage.”
“I’m not high, but I am suffering
from a twelve-day menstrual cycle.” She didn’t mention that the stresses of
over-computing brought it on. Her fuse was too short to sit through another
lecture. “What meds and when did I supposedly steal them?” she demanded.
The psychiatrist said, “You took
all my Thorazine, an assortment of narcotics, and Lord knows what else. Your
access card opened the pharmacy at 12:45 today, immediately after you demanded
the additional clearance.”
Jez was flummoxed for a moment. “I’ve
been in the Dallas area for almost a week. I lost my badge at… Hell.” Over
channel one, she broadcast, “Don’t eat or drink anything! We’re being poisoned!”
That common delusion was the last
straw for Poldark. He reached out for her arm. “We’re going to get you help,
Miss Johnson. Guard!”
When the lights went out, she instinctively
fired the Taser hidden under her blanket, knocking Dr. Poldark out.
****
Nena grabbed the ends of Daniel’s
pants and tugged. He chinned himself on the bar to make the removal easier for
her. “Close your eyes again,” she said, standing at the foot of his bed.
He obeyed the letter of the law,
but slipped out of his body to watch the former beauty queen wriggle out of her
dress like a snake leaving its skin. When she bent over to pick her favorite
dress off the floor, he almost shouted hallelujah. She was wearing only a black
thong that stood out in stark relief against her pale skin. Her curves were
perfect and he wanted this moment to last forever so he could adore her from
every angle. More than her body, her desire to make him happy and the pleasure
he saw in her face excited him like never before. This feeling was the part the
magazines could never give him.
This is the happiest moment of
my life
, he thought.
Her hair slid aside to reveal cute
freckles on her back. Then the transformer at the corner of the parking lot
detonated. Every light in the building went out, along with most of the
communications.
That’s when he saw her cluster of
freckles glow. Pressure built in the back of his brain. The pattern reminded
him of something important—the dogs, Seth, and all Wannamaker’s clones. The
glow patch was his signature, how he knew the experiment worked. The tidal wave
of horror swept over him.
Nena was an enemy agent who had
access to almost anything on the project as his secretary, an agent he had let
tie him down. The Fossil invasion was starting two hours early.
