Mina Cortez: From Bouquets to Bullets (10 page)

“Oh ... I'll be sure to thank her. I can
handle packing. I would like to see it, though,” Mina agreed
readily enough. That much was true. In addition to just the thought
of having her own place, she was liking the thought of having
somewhere she didn't have to pretend to have her mind on flowers,
deliveries, and landscaping.

“Then get going. Your dad is waiting.” Mina's
mother hugged her. “Thank you for the hard work around the shop.
It's already making a big difference having you here, honey.”

The trip to the apartment wasn't a long one.
It only made sense, of course, that Mina should be within easy
biking distance of the flower shop. All in all, it wasn't a bad
place. Modest, certainly, befitting her supposed income. She'd
eventually get an upgrade if she got married and combined incomes,
or when she took over the business entirely. Until then, this would
be her home. The elevator took them to the seventh story, the top
floor.

“Seriously, Dad, I can help with stuff. I've
been making deliveries all day.”

“There's not a lot just yet, sweetie. Just
sit down at the window.”

Looking out over her little section of West
Seattle, she had to wonder if it was intentional that the chipping
center recommended a place with such a view. Most of the
neighborhood was older-style architecture, some of it dating back
over a hundred years, to the reconstruction. Few other buildings in
the area were taller than three stories, built in an era when
earthquake paranoia was at its height. The building was also at the
top of one of the region's many hills, giving Mina a fantastic view
in two directions from her corner of the building. Nothing in her
chip's knowledge stores indicated she had any particular lookout
duties here, so, she figured, it might just be that if they were
going to give their highly paid agent a lower-middle-class
apartment, they at least gave her one with a view.

Jim Cortez set down the last of what they'd
brought. “This was in the blankets,” he said as he handed his
daughter a note. Mina read it.

Mina,

Don't worry; I'll let you handle most of
packing your own room, but here's enough to set up your kitchen.
There's also some blankets and pillows so you sleep at the
apartment, if you want. Also put in the music player in case you
need to think. Some of us still have school, but Dad will partially
let me off practice this weekend for an unpacking sleepover!

Be seeing you,

Miko

After weighing the benefits of personal space
against having access to her computer and her own bed, Mina finally
assured her father she'd be fine for the night, and would be at
work on time the next morning, even setting her chrono's alarm five
minutes earlier to make sure she had plenty of time, while he was
there, watching. As soon as he left, Mina took a few deep breaths
and turned on the music player, trying to help herself relax enough
to process everything. She settled in at one windowsill, looking
out over the cityscape of her new home.

Somewhere out there was one of her best
friends. Her real employer had him at the top of a list of
suspects, though far from the only one, at least. Regardless of the
truth, he was now either working with or in the hands of someone
dangerous enough to have raided the high-end facility. She would be
given every chance to help discover the truth of the kidnapping,
but even Mina had to admit, the evidence looked quite strong that
an inside presence had to have been involved. Her chip helped her
run through the logistics, letting her perfectly picture the maps
and camera patterns of the area. Every scenario she could easily
come up with was impossible to execute within the time frame and
data they had.

Mina fidgeted with the drive. Scott currently
looked like the strongest case for an inside job, not that she
believed that for a second. To clear him, though, she'd still have
to follow all of the leads and take advantage of the one thing she
had that the other agents didn't—direct familiarity with one of the
victims. Even if he wasn't involved with the kidnapping, whoever
was almost certainly wanted Scott, and the others, for their
knowledge and computer skills. As such, her knowledge might still
be valuable in tracking them down if he had any access to systems
with internet access, or some way he might be able to plug into
something that did.

Despite her best intentions to eventually try
to make something of a bed for herself, Mina ended up falling
asleep in the windowsill, still trying to find the one detail
someone had missed. By the time she drifted off, she was still no
closer than when she started.

* * * *

Mina woke with a start. Only her newly
chipped reflexes kept her from tumbling out of the window. All the
chipping in the world wasn't going to do a thing about the crick in
her neck. She took her bike into work, arriving ten minutes before
her shift, and promptly reset her chrono alarm to five minutes
later. Any hint of smugness didn't last long, before her mother set
her to work arranging the display cases.

She'd only just finished with the displays
when the phones turned on for the day, and, as she expected, she
promptly got calls for three deliveries. As it turned out, use of
the van had been a first-day thing, since all the deliveries were
in biking range. She made the one legitimate delivery first, then
plugged in the code her chip gave her to hack her tracker and
falsify her location, then headed for the hidden gym. Agent Park's
idea of 'easy' was no kinder than the day before, but at least this
time she knew what to expect. What she didn't expect was how
quickly the program was taking hold. Even in just her second day,
she showed measurable improvement in her top speeds, and especially
her balance and greater ability to use her off-hand and off-foot.
The progress was almost distracting from her contemplation of the
case.

“Not bad, Cortez, but try to keep your mind a
little on the exercise.”

“Right. Sorry. Scott being a suspect is ...
just ...”

“—
a lot to take in for you, yeah,”
Agent Park said with a sigh. “There's a reason we have policies in
place to avoid that sort of thing. Don't take it personally, Mina.
I learned about taking cases personally the hard way. One of my
former partners—he was a good cop—an actual cop, not an agent. We'd
worked together about five years and were pretty close. Jonas was
the first time I got to be the one to give the
chips-are-a-tool-not-a-crutch speech.”

“There's a speech?” Mina said breathlessly as
she tried to keep up with the treadmill.

“Only among a few cranky old men. Chips never
replace instinct. Especially in our line of work. They're always
handy, but if you're the type to get the Inquisitor chip, odds are
good you have a good sense for things, and it won't always agree
with the chip. Usually I say trust your gut. Programmers are good,
but they don't do what we do and can't prepare for everything.” He
sighed, turning the treadmill off, calling a break while he got
back off the tangent.

“So, anyway, I'd been working with Jonas five
years. I got to be the cranky old man. He got a little too
enthusiastic and got himself hurt, bad. He didn't even see the
attacker, but I'd seen the M.O. I'd practically seen the same
ruined leg before, on Tommy Escalante.”

Mina was still trying to catch her breath.
“Abuelo ... the same people ...?”

“Not the exact people, but a related cartel.
I was sure of it. More sure, and more specific about who, the more
I looked into the case, and the Inquisition files. But I couldn't
prove anything, and trying to would have put the organization at
risk. The cops kept me away from the case, and the Inquisition gave
me an enforced vacation ... and it was the right call. I don't know
what I'd have done without some time in Florida to cool down and
get my mind right. We eventually got the guy who crippled Jonas,
three years later, on an unrelated case that I wasn't even involved
with.”

Mina nodded sympathetically, then said, “And
you think I ...”

Agent Park put a hand on her shoulder. “If
this case wasn't an emergency, they'd have done the same. Recruited
you, then had you trained somewhere else. They'd have found a way
to cover it with your parents. Putting you on this isn't policy,
but even if I disagree, I have to acknowledge that this is about as
bad as it gets.”

“Really?” Mina asked, trying to get her mind
off the personal level.

He nodded. “Sure, there's plenty of
black-market chips. Some of the good ones are even pretty
sophisticated, but having actual programmers hostage gives them
potential to produce things on a new level. Worse, in the short
term, those people handle the programming for everything. They can
access information on almost every security system on the West
Coast, or the inner secrets of the political machine, shipping and
travel schedules for everything and everyone going through the
region, plus the Inquisition.”

Mina blinked. “I hadn't thought of that.”

“Yeah. They've had access to data on how we
operate, how to identify agents. We have to get this shut down, and
fast. Not going to give you much time to learn or grow into the
job, I'm afraid.”

“Thanks for being honest,” Mina replied,
sincerely. She still wasn't entirely comfortable with what she was
being asked to do, after all. She hesitated a moment, pondering
approaches to trying to convince her fellow agent that Scott
couldn't possibly be responsible. She'd been brought in, after all,
for her direct, applicable knowledge, and that was one thing she
was sure she knew. She decided that wouldn't help her case any, nor
convince Agent Park that she could handle the unusual assignment
after all. “I'll do everything I can to help solve the case,” she
offered instead.

* * * *

Her next delivery was in the International
district. She was still restricted to her bike, since her father
had the van out on park business, but the district was readily
accessible by biking to the nearest light rail station, and taking
it a bit further north. After the intense workout, she was glad for
the opportunity to coast down the steep hills leading from the
station down to the shops, while simultaneously dreading the trip
back uphill.

This time, it wasn't about training. She was
supposed to make a couple of quiet deliveries to shops in the area
as anonymous birthday presents and the like, allowing her to
closely monitor the traffic around a particular teriyaki and pho
restaurant. Mina quietly reported in as soon as she reached the
correct block. “I can see Lucky Pho from here. You really think
they'd be keeping them at a restaurant, with all those people
coming and going?” she asked.

“Not our highest priority watch,” the
Director answered. Of course it wasn't, Mina thought. They wouldn't
put the rookie on those. “But it's still on the list. Delivery
trucks and large groups wouldn't draw attention. They shouldn't
have a basement, but the area reports suggest that it was built on
top of the older international district—a lot of which was
quakeproofed enough to still be stable if someone dug down to
it.”

“Okay, so supplies and potential places to
hide people. What else put them on your list, exactly?”

“This is part of a longer-term operation,
Agent Cortez. At least one of the Lucky Pho partners definitely has
a hand in some of the smuggling through the ports. We want to
figure out whom he's working with but haven't been able to get too
close.”

Mina nodded unnecessarily. Apparently, the
AIA checked in periodically on several similar suspicious places
all around the city. At such times as they had enough proof on
site, or they tracked down one of the higher ups through their
surveillance, then they'd get the FBI, local law enforcement, or
someone else involved to actually conduct a raid. AIA agents
themselves almost never got directly involved, except as part of
their day jobs. “Haven't been able to get close to a
restaurant?”

“Not in any meaningful way. We know the food
is terrible, the service is worse. They seem to actively discourage
too many customers, and yet remain open year after year. The story
on their taxes is that they keep getting bailed out by rich
relatives. We just wanted to figure out who, precisely, this rich
uncle is.”

“Understood. So no stopping in for lunch
between deliveries. Got it.” She could hear the Director's
exasperated sigh. Apparently she didn't take much to the efforts to
lighten the tone. Mina elected not to push her luck any further.
“Anything else I should be looking for?”

“We're pretty sure they're running protection
rackets through the area. Small-time stuff, trying to earn a little
money on the side. If you see them out and about taking up a
collection, don't let them get a good look at you. You're there on
legitimate business, but we'd rather you not be seen at all,
especially close to any of their operations.”

“Understood. Starting to move now.”

Mina went on comm silence. The Director could
check her locations if she wanted to, but otherwise, Mina was on
her own doing Inquisition work for the first time. The district was
busy. Small import shops, groceries, and Asian-language
vid-and-file stores lined the way along with a variety of
restaurants. There were plenty of other people on bicycles, along
with plenty of wandering college students, so Mina blended in
relatively easily. She took her time about the first delivery,
weaving through people to buy herself more time to keep an eye on
Lucky Pho.

She took the elevator for one of the
post-Decimation-era foot bridges spanning the street, then paused
midway across. There were plenty of others climbing the bridge's
steps, admiring the scenery, and reading historic placards.