Chapter 3

Electa's good mood had soured. She was headed towards the bar to meet with Jenny, who hopefully had a really good job. When Electa made it home a notice had been nailed to her door, an eviction notice. It stated in cold uncaring terms that she was no longer employed by Green Corp, the company that owned Elysium Cleaning, and as such she would have to find other accommodations and any belongings remaining on the premises by o’ sex hundred the next day would be disposed of.

Jenny was the best information broker around. She worked at The Broken Bottle, “Men spill all their dirty secrets once you have them sweaty and naked.” It was Jenny’s excuse for her work as an exotic dancer and courtesan. Electa was sure she made plenty of money batting her eyelashes at rich men and women, but her real job was as Electa and Kirk's information source and strategist. She found the marks, got the relevant information, formulated a rough plan and left the rest to them. Kirk was the thief, he could pick any lock and had a sharp eye for appraisal. That left Electa, a bodyguard. Her job was to remain unseen and if Kirk got himself in trouble, ‘Clean up.’

I wonder if Jenny would know anything about this Personal Advancement System. Hopefully she has something, it would be my luck to have gotten sucked into some corporate political game.

Electa winced as she pushed open the door to The Broken Bottle and it let out a loud creak. It took more strength than one would expect, the hinge was so tight and unoiled the door creaked from when you started to open it until you stopped, then the door just sat there until you pushed it closed again, creaking the entire way. Bert, the owner of the bar, had told her that he never oiled the hinge so nobody could sneak in when she asked once, another time he had told her it was so the wind wouldn't blow the door open, she figured he was just too lazy.

The Broken Bottle was filled with people, every battered chair had someone in it and more stood around drinking out of chipped glasses. An old jukebox sat in the corner dutifully spitting out ancient music while its speakers crackled and popped. A raised stage stood in the opposite corner where women danced. The bar itself was a mismatch of wood and metal sheets nailed together and mostly level, behind it stood Bert.

If you weren’t paying attention when you looked at the bar, you might assume Bert was just a slightly overweight man frantically serving drinks, when you actually looked at him was when people noticed his height. Bert was short, very short. The floor behind the bar was raised a full two feet above the floor of the rest of the bar, and Bert was still only eye level to the average patron. On top of that he carried enough weight on his frame to make him look more ball shaped than anything, his arms were barely long enough to reach around his belly. Bert spent his entire time at The Broken Bottle sprinting from one end of the bar to the other serving drinks pausing each pass to shovel chips into his mouth or take a swig from a beer glass. At the sound of the door opening he looked over and waved his hand spiritedly before filling another glass.

Kirk leaned against the jukebox and laughed at something a purple haired woman in a heavy coat was saying while Electa walked around tables to meet them.

“Evening Kirk, Hi Jenny.”

“El!” Jenny spun and looked Electa up and down. “Ohh brooding today, it’s a sexy look on you. Want me to make you forget all your problems? I’m wearing something nice, just for you.” She winked and opened the side of her long jacket, revealing way too much skin. Black leather belts wrapped her chest and her toned abs were bare.

“Ahh come on Jenny, you said you wore that for me when I showed up. Quit teasing.” Kirk practically whined. He was wearing the same clothes he had at the office with the addition of a messenger satchel and looked completely out of place among the rough men scattered around the bar.

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“It was for you, but then Electa showed up. You know what her eyes do to me. Looks like she saw something she likes too.” Jenny faced Kirk and backed into Electa. She grabbed Electa’s hands, wiggled her butt against her, and wrapped her arms around herself so Electa was hugging her.

“Still not interested Jenny. I got fired today.”

“Fired? Finally kill someone?” Jenny’s tone instantly changed from seductive to curious as she looked over her shoulder..

“Nope, had a run in with Frank, literally. Rolled my cart into him as I got off the elevator.”

“Damn, I’m surprised he just got you fired and didn’t try anything.” Kirk adjusted his glasses, pushing them up his nose as they slid down.

“He did, started a fight and then ran with his tail between his legs. I didn’t know I was fired till I got home and found the eviction notice on my door.”

“Well, you could always come work with me.” Jenny teased, she pushed Electa’s hands into the pockets of her jacket and wrapped Electa’s fingers around a plastic stick. A flash drive. Then she pressed Electa’s hand against her crotch and rubbed herself with a moan. “Think about it sweaty, you could make a lot of money here with your exotic looks.” She pulled away, turning to the jukebox she hit a few buttons to change the song and headed towards the stage. “You kiddos have fun, it’s time for me to work.” She blew Electa a kiss over her shoulder and hopped onto the stage. As the jukebox started playing, Jenny dropped her coat to the stage and started to dance.

“She never changes, does she.”

“I hope she never does.” Kirk prayed before he shook his head, adjusted his glasses and turned back to Electa. “Alright, work. Come on, I already told Bert we would be using the back room tonight.”

“Why haven't you asked her out yet?” Electa asked as they headed towards Bert.

“Ohh I did, but she had me come to her place. She pulled out a whip, beat me black and blue while she rode me and then charged me her regular rate for the date. Two drinks Bert!” Kirk yelled, his cheeks blazed red as he acted as if he wasn’t embarrassed “I haven't had the guts to ask her out again. Pretty sure she knew I didn’t mean a paid night when I asked last time and that was her way of saying that I don’t have a chance at the real thing with her.”

“It’s on your tab.” Bert wheezed as he dropped to beers in front of Kirk, took a swig of his own drink and then rushed off down the bar again.

“Or she’s playing hard to get, maybe she wants to make sure you want her for more than just…” Electa waved her hand to Jenny dancing. She saw them looking and unbuttoned one of the belts covering her breasts, dropping it to the floor as she bit her lip and made a come hither motion.

“Yeah, I doubt it.” Kirk shook his head again, pushed his glasses up and turned to head behind the bar. Had he not been worried about disappointing Jenny by not getting the work out of the way first, Electa knew he would have spent all night watching Jenny dance and talking to her between her songs. Jenny might boldly flirt with anyone and spend the night with anybody who had the money to buy her, but the only person Electa had ever seen her laughing with and actually relaxing around was Kirk. Electa sighed and followed Kirk into the back room.

Electa scanned the room as they entered. A door lay across a pair of crates and acted as a table while a half dozen barrels were arranged around it. The back room could be rented out by anyone for a fee, however Jenny got a discount as an employee. The walls of the room were covered with shelves and stuffed with supplies for the bar.

“Let’s see what Jenny got for us today, yeah?” Kirk pulled a laptop from his satchel, opening it on the table. Passing the flash drive to Kirk, Elekta pulled a barrel closer to where he sat to watch. The flash drive contained a folder with neatly labeled files. A handful were marked blueprints, others security detail and the final was simply labeled target. Kirk clicked on the target file first. An image of a man was pasted at the very top of a long pdf, his name directly below.

“Julian Hek,” scrolling through the document Kirk began reading off bits of information. “Orange Industrial Corp, cyber security, recent rise to position, forty years old, no family. Hmm, lives in the OI Corp headquarters, does she expect us to break into OI Corp?” Kirk wentback to the flashdrive and started opening blueprint files. Pictures detailing a nightclub's layout popped up. “Okay, so not OI Corp, that's good,” Kirk returned to the target file. “Looks like an infiltration job, just need to leave a bug on his phone. What do you think of it El?”

“What’s the pay?”

“Ten thousand credits, that's decent.”

“Alright im in, when’s the operation?”

“Looks like he goes out clubbing every Thursday. That gives us three days to prepare.”

“Good, read up on Jenny’s plan and you can brief me tomorrow night?”

“You got it El. What’s your plan for housing?”

“I don’t have much to pack up and I have enough saved for a new place. Don’t worry about me Kirk, Jenny will get jealous.” Electa winked as she got up and headed for the door, with a wave over her shoulder she left the backroom. Sending another wave to Jenny as she walked through the bar, Electa left The Broken Bottle and headed home.