Mina Cortez: From Bouquets to Bullets (19 page)

“So what else do I have programmed in that
you can play Simon Says with?” Mina asked, a bit disturbed by the
thought, yet focusing on being grateful for it.

“Very little, I promise. Specifically,
nothing that will ever be used outside of emergencies. You have a
safe place to go?”

“Yes, but we—”

“Then I'm coming with you. Clearly this goes
higher than I thought. We need a plan, and we need to pool our
information.”

They hijacked a new car, then abandoned it
near one of the safehouses, before taking a circuitous route to the
excavation zone Dr. Kimura had suggested, where Miko assured them a
pair of sporting stadiums used to stand, and elements of them still
did in the underground. Miko showed them to her father's supplies,
letting them pick up low-light goggles, breathing masks, and
gloves. As they went deeper into the underground hollows, Mina
started investigating a few of the plaques.

“What is a Big Unit, and why did they have
one?”

“It's not a what, it's a who,” Miko answered
confidently. “It's just a nickname for one of their football
players back then.”

“Oh.”

Miko was able to navigate them reasonably
well through the underground remnants of the stadium until they
finally found a space that had apparently once been a food court.
While the plastic chairs were long since destroyed, some of the
rubble suited well enough for the trio to settle in.

“So, what now?” Mina asked the Director. “Is
there any other help we can call in?”

“Eventually, yes.”

“Eventually?”

“As soon as we get back to my offices, once
we figure out a course of action, it will take both of us signing
off on an emergency order to get more inquisitorial help. We need
additional agents we can trust.”

“Doesn't the FBI have security screening
procedures and loyalty aptitudes really similar to the AIA's? I was
pretty sure that was the cavalry you arrived with originally.”

“Yes, and so was I. There is something
extremely unusual in this case.”

“You don't say?” Mina found herself saying,
before she could cut off the sarcasm.

The Director fixed her with a glare. “You
should have remained laying low, wherever you were.”

“I'm getting that sense, yes. I just
needed—”

“You just needed to follow orders. Now we
have a civilian in the know, another one involved, and a lot of
chaos. This is what happens when agents fly off the handle.”

“You mean like you did in Everett?” Mina
finally found her voice to challenge a bit.

“Yes, like I did. I was lucky it didn't cost
me more than it did.”

“You brought me in on this because I have
direct knowledge of someone involved in the case! And I've
found—”

“We nearly didn't bring you in at all,” The
Director cut her off.

“So I heard. You recommended against my
induction, didn't you?”

“I did,” The Director agreed. “Had it not
been for Miss Lasko's ringing endorsement and Agent Park's
uncertainty overriding my objection, your applications would still
be in processing. Agent Park, much as he noted it was a dangerous
deviation from protocol, wanted to see Tommy Escalante's
granddaughter get her shot, and Miss Lasko thought you were the
strongest of our available candidates.”

“I'm glad they did.”

“If they hadn't, it's possible Agent Park
would still be alive.”

“A lot of things are possible. We just don't
have enough information.”

“I agree on that. Unfortunately, this one
lead you've been following doggedly from the beginning turned up a
dead end. Nicolas Bergen is a small-time thug. Black market ties,
yes, but most of his record has been on music discs, bootlegged
games, things like that.”

“Uhm, who is Nicolas Bergen?”

“The owner of that car. He was the body found
dead in it.”

“No, the owner of the car is named Raymond
Harper.”

The Director startled, looking at Mina with
renewed interest. “He certainly is not. Where did you find that
name?”

“In the University directory. He was the one
who put in for the University permit, and got it cleared without
entering much of anything into the records. It was like someone
just rubber stamped it.”

“That's because Raymond Harper is the
co-director of University security. He doesn't need to enter
anything to clear University campus passes.”

“So why didn't we talk to him, instead of
Fulton, back during the investigation?”

“We had already spoken with Raymond Harper.
He wasn't on duty at the time of the kidnapping. Fulton Hawkins was
the security officer on duty. Raymond Harper had to be called in to
consult with the Agent on the initial investigation.”

“Okay, so Harper still cleared the car with a
pass right near the labs. There's no way an electronics smuggler
with a record gets passed through like that. Wait ... so, just a
thought, but wouldn't bootleg data files and the like be about the
perfect place to hide—”

“All sorts of things, yes. Nicolas Bergen
also knew plenty of people. He had no record of violence, but some
of his known associates certainly did.”

“Okay, so someone silenced Nicolas Bergen. My
guess would be that unless Raymond Harper's higher up the chain, if
someone figures out that I pulled his records, he'd be in
trouble.”

“And one of our sources of information
disappears very quickly, yes. As much as I'd like to tell you to
lay low, I think this is going to take both of us. I'll call in
backup. As we saw previously, not every agent is corrupt. I'll just
need to make sure the call gets plenty of attention.”

Miko chimed in, “Mina isn't going anywhere
without me. She needs her sidekick.”

“Miss Kimura,” the Director began, “Your
involvement with this case ends right here and now. Whatever your
aptitudes and whatever you fancy yourself, you're not an
agent.”

“I fancy myself someone who has proven to be
a help already. What's more, I don't have a chip they already have
all the counters for. I take full responsibility.”

“As a minor, and a civilian, that's not
within your rights.”

“My father told me to stick with you guys,
and given that they know I'm involved, I might as well make myself
useful, right?”

“She has been useful. Some of these guys are
programmed to counter everything we do,” Mina agreed.

“Very well. There's no time to argue. I'm
going to call in backup and provide a distraction. You two need to
see if you can locate Raymond Harper and find out what he knows
about the death of Agent Hall, and possibly falsified reports.”

“Agent Hall? That was the hot one, right?”
Miko asked.

Mina shot her a withering glance. “Agent Hall
was one of the other agents. He was killed along with Agent Park,
the guy who was training me.” She glanced to the director. “Where
does he tie into this?”

“Agent Hall, under the guise of police work,
surveyed the building and gave all security, all exits, and all
personnel a pass. He was working with co-security director Harper
extensively, so either he was somehow fooled, or ...”

“Or Agent Hall was a traitor.” Mina
finished.

“Which should be virtually impossible,” the
Director said.

“Only slightly more impossible than two FBI
agents attacking you and two other agents and allying with black
marketeers?”

“Something like that,” the Director agreed.
“As soon as we secure Harper and find out what he knows, we're
going back to the offices and filling out an emergency order for
additional backup.”

“We?”

“Safety measure. As long as there's at least
two agents in the field, it takes both to declare a sufficient
state of emergency. I would say this qualifies.”

“All right, and if Raymond Harper knows
something about where the programmers are?”

The Director fixed her with a stare. “Send
communications immediately, and follow your instincts. It seems you
may be Tommy Escalante's granddaughter after all. So you get a
little bit of a leash. Don't push it. Give me a four-minute head
start, then find a vehicle and get to the University. We want all
possible attention, so feel free to trip some alarms once you get
close. I'll keep as much focus off you as possible, as the probable
higher-priority target and focal point for more agents
arriving.”

“Got it.” Mina assured her. As the Director
headed for the street level, Mina looked to Miko and sighed. “Why
do the hot ones always have to be evil?”

* * * *

The girls gave the Director her four minutes,
then headed for the street. They quickly found a car Mina could
hijack, then Miko took over the driving. She did her best to be
inconspicuous until they got near campus, then she found a spot at
one edge of the campus. Mina only had to think about the campus
layout to get an idea where the main security offices were at.

Mina was about to round a corner to the
entrance of the building when she picked up a faint hint of a
familiar scent. She froze for a moment.

“Why are we stopping?” Miko asked, glancing
about.

“Cheap cologne.”

“So we're stopping because we're back in high
school?”

“No, no, the Body Spray Wall has a completely
different kind of ugh-note. This one's less 'bro' and more 'brute.'
The guys at the sandwich shop, and at the apartment wore the same
stuff. It's ...not good. Could be someone else, but I don't think
we should go in the front door.”

“So let's not go in there at all.”

“We need to find Raymond Harper, though,”
Mina reminded her.

“Unless we can find Scott,” Miko reminded
her. “I have a hunch. The obvious information trail leads to
Raymond Harper, but what was it he did as far as his role in all of
this?”

“He was working with Agent Hall,” Mina
reasoned. “Investigating the computer center.”

“So if the thugs are split up between trying
to find the big, scary lady and dealing with Harper ...”

“Then there can't be many of them there to
stop us from taking a look,” Mina agreed, changing directions and
hugging the building as they backtracked to head for the computer
sciences and research center. She made her way in, seeing both the
heavily secured path she'd traveled before and other halls leading
about the sparsely populated building. Mina remembered the security
system and had a feeling that someone had locked out her access. An
idea struck her, and she headed for the first door to Scott's old
workplace. As she expected, her retinal scan didn't pass. She
settled in by the door.

Miko looked at her quizzically. “What are you
doing? Can't you just hack through it or override something?”

“I don't need to. I know the local basement
troll in residence, and he can get us through everything.”

A few moments later, Fulton Hawkins' head
peeked out the door. “Agent Cortez? What are you doing here?
Everything was cleared before.”

“By Co-Director Harper and the police,
right?” she asked.

“Well, yes. Is there a problem?”

“Numerous problems, if you haven't noticed
the number of security alerts going on upstairs.”

“Harper told me not to worry about
those.”

“Yes, he probably did,” Mina agreed. “I need
to take a look around this building. This is, uhm, Agent
Kimura.”

“Yes! A promotion!” Miko answered, quieting
when Mina shot her a look.

“She's new,” Mina explained. So, you can
access everything in the building, right?”

“Well, yes. Most of the work just goes on in
my center. We found some temporary backups to maintain the
necessities,” he explained.

“But there's more building. Did there used to
be more computer centers in here as well?”

“A lot more,” he agreed. “I'll show you.
There's nothing to see. They shut most of it down or moved
unnecessary programs into other areas, depending on the discipline
they worked most closely with, in order to be better able to keep
track of the chipping center.”

“I'm sure they did. Just show me the other
wings. And quietly. I don't want to set off any more alarms.
There's enough going on upstairs.”

“What's going on upstairs?” Fulton asked.

“Raymond Harper is being arrested for gross
violations of security code and aiding and abetting black
marketeers,” Mina explained. “Which would be why he told you to
ignore the alarms. I'd hate to have to bring you in as an
accessory.”

“Black marketeering? You're serious?”

“Dead serious,” Miko answered. “Now let's get
moving.”

The halls seemed to go on forever, with
numerous abandoned wings, some of them supposedly under
construction, with various danger signs. Poking around the first
few turned up nothing, but eventually, after what seemed like a
mile of twists, turns, and an elevator to another level, Mina
paused at one of the construction zones. “Here.”

“What's so different about this one?” Fulton
asked, clearly confused.

“No dust settled here, and there's an
elevator directly up to street level at the end of this hallway,
according to the directory.”

“Yes, but it's not up to code. They shut it
down ages ago when they decided they didn't need a half-broken-down
cargo elevator to empty hallways when they moved everything in this
wing to the archives building.”

“Which would make it perfect,” Mina answered,
passing the 'Danger' and 'Hard Hat Zone' signs, continuing to
follow her nose and the lack of dust until she picked up on signs
of greater habitation, and then light peeking out from under a
doorway. She gestured, looking sternly at Hawkins.

“There shouldn't be anyone here,” he
explained lamely.

“Precisely,” Mina agreed, looking to Miko.
“Ready?”

“As I'm ever going to be,” Miko agreed as
they approached the door.

Mina readied the gun she'd taken off the thug
earlier and moved towards the door. Fulton nervously moved up to
the retinal scanner, entering his security codes and pressing his
eye to the scan. Fortunately, his clearance apparently was still
good for this section, and the door unlocked. As soon as she opened
it, Mina was hit with the scent of a lot of people in close
quarters, most of whom hadn't had a shower in far too long. A dozen
sets of eyes turned towards her as the door opened. Picking up on
motion out of the corner of her eye, she ducked back just in time
to avoid a shot that cracked off the reinforced plastic frame of
the open door.