Mina Cortez: From Bouquets to Bullets (23 page)

Deb—Deputy Mayor Lasko—was looking at her
with passionate frustration, so Mina answered flatly. “Lots, I'm
sure. Which is a perfectly reasonable explanation for killing
people.”

“You aren't getting it. We couldn't even
bring in more civil servants to work around things. They wanted the
whole thing forgotten. Politicians talk about movement towards a
less authoritarian state, that we're moving back towards the world
as it was in some mythical golden age, and then following that up
by making sure the AIA can't do its job effectively.”

“So you started kidnapping people? Let the
black market get hold of the agent-killer chips?” Mina started,
angrily. “The Inquisition wasn't as awesome as it used to be, so
you sabotaged it?”

“The chips were being managed. It was the
black market being sabotaged. The cops and FBI agents had the only
chips that weren't designed with catastrophic failure and rejection
in mind. Very tragic for the crooks, I'm sure. I had it under
control.”

“Uh-huh,” Mina said. “Sure. So you weren't
trying to destroy the AIA?”

“I was trying to save the AIA! Once the
emergency order was signed off on, things would have gone back to
the way they're supposed to be. The chips would have been tracked
down, the black market around Seattle—and plenty of other criminal
enterprises—would be shut down cold, and there would be no question
that four active agents hadn't been enough. A couple of extra chips
being missing would have increased paranoia in other regions, seen
their funding and recruiting pick back up.”

Mina shook her head. “So you were playing the
criminals and all those other agents?”

Miss Lasko shook her head. “The other agents
were true believers. People I'd worked with, or people whose
families, profiles, and history I knew well enough to be convinced
that they'd see the necessity of a state of emergency to wake
people up.”

Mina shook her head. “How could they be that
crazy? Their profiles—”

“Were of great benefit. It led me to just the
right people.”

“People like me?” she couldn't help but
ask.

“Yes and no. You were a legend's
granddaughter, who'd follow the leads put in front of her. Not the
one we were looking for, but I hoped you'd do. We needed someone,
particularly someone with your connection to the victims.”

“Not the one you were looking for?”

“This wasn't supposed to happen yet, we
weren't ready. You were supposed to be in Russia right now.”

Mina caught on. She glanced at Miko a moment.
“You were waiting for ...”

“For Miss Kimura, yes. High aptitude tests,
rapid learning curve, physically fit, and absolutely no initiative.
Same connection to the victims, and very little chance of defying
orders. The same way she follows you around like a puppy now. Once
you left, she'd be lost.”

“Hey!” Miko started, pausing just as quickly.
“Okay, so maybe.”

Miss Lasko smirked. “No maybe about it.
Plenty of vetting just to be sure. For one thing, I must have
signed up for every committee even remotely related to your
father.” She looked back to the rest. “We just had to wait until
Miss Kimura was of age to handle chipping. No one would blink at
her getting an early chipping date. We'd have our agent, and
everything was in place to ensure Mina was long since off to
Russia.”

Mina was taken aback, but as the words
processed, had to admit some of it sounded right. Especially with
Agent Park involved. She was pretty sure, between Miss Lasko and
Agent Park stepping in as a mentor, Miko probably would have made
more of the agent they were looking for. “So I was ...”

“An accident. We couldn't wait for Miss
Kimura, and you fit the profile. Not perfectly, but we hoped to
make it work. I'd already done my best to vet you in case worse
came to worst, and having Tommy Escalante's granddaughter as a
worst-case back-up didn't seem like a hardship at the time. I
really did admire him.”

“So, what happened to change the plan?”

“Your friend's boss got greedy. Not for
money—that type of greed in a profile doesn't get his kind of job.
When we were compromising University security anyway, he got greedy
for information. He tried to use Raymond Harper's disruptions to
build back doors into the school's systems. After all, if they were
the ones doing the real chip programming, what else might be going
on there? I'd worried he might get sloppy like that, but when this
whole thing began, I was still trying to conserve assets. Get
sloppy he did, though. So the emergency back-up it was. And as if
that wasn't enough, then Agent Park had to be too smart for his own
good.”

Mina bristled.

Lasko continued, that sad look in her eyes
all the more enraging in Mina's opinion. “We had to get Agent Hall
more involved than we'd have liked. His partner noticed something
was off and started poking around at the edges of our operation. I
promise you, Miss Cortez, I regret having to have them killed. They
were good men and good agents.”

“Agent Park was, anyway,” Mina agreed.

“You'll have an opportunity to ask any
remaining questions later,” The Director told her, getting some
help from a young FBI agent to get around until she could get her
arm rebooted. “For now, I'm going to join a full security team in
taking her to secure holding. You should get some rest—you've
earned it.”

* * * *

Mina made sure she got to work a little early
the next morning, even if she'd started out from a spare room at
the FBI headquarters, while her apartment window was being
repaired. She'd have to do the rest of the tidying herself. Of
course, once she arrived, her parents were already there and
working: her mother putting out arrangements in the refrigeration
units, and her father double checking orders.

“Good morning, sweetie. Are you sure you're
all right to be back so soon?” her mother asked, looking up as Mina
came in.

“The doctors said so,” Mina said, adding, “No
riding my bike, no heavy lifting, regular breaks—I need to take it
easy for a couple weeks, but I'm actually kind of looking forward
to getting back to a bit of a routine.”

“Good. We're behind,” her father added.

“Really, honey, Mina has been through a lot.
I mean, your daughter got shot. Are you positive you're ready,
Mina?”

“I promise, Mom. Scott is back, the FBI
caught the kidnappers, no one is after me. I'm just ready for
everything to get back to normal for a little while.” She meant it,
too. She was pretty sure with the AIA, there would never be a
proper normal, but she'd had enough excitement for a while.

“We can talk about it over breakfast,” Mina's
father responded, with a sigh. “We really are glad to have you
back, but ... “

“I understand, I've been out for a while and
everything is behind.” Mina said, cutting off any further objection
from her mother by fetching an apron and going to the back to start
bringing some flowers forward to start putting together bouquets
for display, and filling some of the arrangements. “Like I said,
I've missed this place, especially when I wasn't sure I was going
to see it again any time soon.” Once again, it didn't take much for
Mina to project absolute sincerity. She might be not telling them a
lot, but she did miss the routine, after everything that had
happened.

Despite her father's urgency and her mother's
concern, they had breakfast together as a family, with very little
discussion of flowers or landscaping. Instead, they wanted to know
all of the details. Mina told them what she could, using the
official cover story provided by the Director to fill in for some
details. By and large, she was able to stick fairly close to the
truth. A burglar had broken in, tied in with people who thought she
might know something associated with Scott's kidnapping. She left
out everything having to do with car chases, detective work, or the
University. Her mother continued to express concern for some time
thereafter, wanting to make sure that Mina was certain she felt all
right, and was safe, and to make sure she knew she could come stay
at the house again if she wanted to.

“That's okay, Mom, seriously. I kind of want
to really focus on things getting back to normal for a while. That
means finishing moving in and getting on with my new life.”

“Miko will be by after her lessons, and will
bring some more of your things from the house. Dr. Kimura even let
her drop French for a little bit so she could have more time to
help you out.”

“As long as she doesn't drop aikido.” Mina
replied, with a small grin. Seeing her parents' blank expressions,
she quickly added, “Miko really, really likes her aikido lessons. I
know they're very important to her.”

“Oh, well, all right then.”

With questions answered, and Mina trying to
express just how much she didn't want to relive the past few days
more than necessary, which her mother seemed to eventually
understand -- what was left was mostly work. Despite her previous
impressions of impending doom due to an overload of flowers, Mina
found herself getting back into the routine. She spent her breaks
reviewing some of the current park proposals, despite her mother
reminding her she didn't have to.

“I didn't think you cared much for the parks
& rec projects?” her Father inquired, quizzically.

“Oh. Well, I kind of got to know one of the
city liaisons on these a little bit. I'm kind of curious exactly
what we're doing. Besides, eventually Scott is going to be doing
more with his family's charity efforts and all, and I'd like to do
my part.”

“Well, there's a few projects I could use
some help on, if you want to start taking on some supervisory work
outside the shop too? Any preferences from the files?”

“Oh, um, while I was in protective custody,
apparently something came up at the University. I guess there was a
lot of damage. After all they did for me, I'd kind of like to help
with the restoration as soon as it's budgeted.”

“The University project? Sure, I'll pull up
everything for that. Dr. Kimura will be helping a lot with any work
there.”

“I know, which is part of it, too, I admit,”
Mina replied. “Miko will be helping out, too.”

“Amiko? I didn't think she had a lot of
interest in landscape restorations.”

“She doesn't, but it's something the Kimuras
can do together. I got a chance to talk to them a little when he
came to the FBI HQ last night. I guess she's going to do that, and
he's going to start up cello lessons and pick aikido back up, so
they have some things they can do together again.”

“Well, then, I'm glad to hear it. Kind of
like us all getting to work together here,” he replied in good
cheer.

Mina paused, a few different comments passing
through her brain, before finally answering, “Yeah, kind of like
that.”

Miko showed up with Vlad, still dented and
badly scratched up, but seemingly running fine. She came into the
shop, helping out with the last few clean up details Mina needed to
see to before the girls headed out. Mina took some extra time
saying goodbyes for the day and waiting until both parents had
their hands free to give each a hug before they left.

“Tired of flowers and ready to get back to
car chases and spycraft yet?” Miko asked as soon as they were
underway.

“Flowers are kind of appealing right now,
actually. Maybe once I can walk without limping around. Besides,
you know very well I can't tell you anything about any more cases,
whether one is on or not.”

“Pft, like you can hide anything from me.
Besides, the Floral Avenger needs her trusty sidekick.”

“My boss would be about ready to shoot me if
she knew I was even humoring this conversation. I really, really
don't like getting shot.”

“Deny it all you will, that was kind of fun.
Besides, she was already talking to me about clearances and maybe
getting put in for consideration to join, or at least become a
liaison in whatever I do.”

“No. Getting shot was not fun,” Mina answered
with a smirk. “And second, joining anything won't be 'til at least
next year when you get chipped. Until then, you're not supposed to
be involved with anything for the AIA.”

“Not the getting shot, duh. Seriously, at
least admit the car chases were awesome.”

“Depends. Can we drop this whole line of
conversation?”

“Not a chance.”

“All right, all right. Can we at least put it
off' til later? Right now, I just want to get unpacked, put my
kitchen back together, get some real food, and just be normal for a
little—” He comm buzzed for her attention. Mina cringed, but
checked it. “So, never mind. Can you drop me off somewhere I can
get a lift to the University? I need to do some follow up at the
labs real quick.”

“Forget that. I have time, I'll take you
myself.”

Mina sighed. “I can't talk you out of this,
can I?”

“I know the University better than you do,
you'll get there much faster, and—”

“Okay, fine. Can we just get going then? They
aren't expecting any big drama. It's just some following up, then
we can go to the apartment and get to unpacking.”

Miko wasn't listening, but adjusting her
fedora and tipping her bobblehead's nose while they were stopped at
a red light. “It's 106 miles to Chicago. We've got a full tank of
gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing
sunglasses.” she said, looking to Mina expectantly.

“You don't smoke, and what does Chicago have
to do with anything?”

“Hopeless. Totally hopeless.”

About the
Author

Jeffrey Cook lives in Maple Valley,
Washington, with his wife and three large dogs. He was born in
Boulder, Colorado and has lived all over the United States, but
Washington has long since become home. He has been immersed in
storytelling since very long car rides when he was six.
Mina
Cortez: Bouquets to Bullets
is his fourth novel and first YA
novel. He is the author of the
Dawn
of
Steam
series of alternate-history/early-Steampunk epistolary novels and
has contributed to a number of role-playing game books for Deep7
Press out of Seattle. When not reading, researching, or writing,
Jeffrey enjoys role-playing games and watching football.