Kat glanced up as her limousine came to a stop in the armored car port. Guards stood everywhere. The part of her brain that was still an infiltrator couldn’t help but note and track their positions: five by the entrance to the fortified garage, two of them sporting visible cybernetics; four pairs of two patrolling through the parked cars; and eight protecting the doors to the building itself, including a pair in APEX armor.
Whippoorwill’s elbow found her side, digging gently into Kat’s ribs.
“Are we going to sit in the car all day?” Whip asked. “I didn’t really want to go to this party, but if we’re already here anyway, I want to go inside and get something to eat.”
On the far side of the car, Emma popped open the door and the swelling sound of violins filled the cab. A second later, Whippoorwill opened her door, breezing past the flustered corporate security that was frantically rushing over to let them out.
Kat did her best to hide a smile as she took in the worry and frustration pouring off of the tuxedoed security guards. Being a shareholder might mean that she needed to have security around her at all times, but it would be a cold day in hell before she let one of them actually open the door to her car and help her out like she was one of the delicate maidens in the entertainment vids.
Emma rushed forward, her eyes wide as she took in everything. Apparently someone had made an effort to decorate the otherwise drab concrete and steel that made up the armored entrance to the compound. Polished copper plates covered the walls, their only blemish small, bulbous ports that hid cameras and defensive weapons. The ceiling was painted with murals depicting famous events in GroCorp history. They were painstaking and beautiful, but the paint couldn’t quite cover up the bullet holes from some gun battle that had rocked the parking garage in the past.
“Party of Shareholder Debs,” Emma said happily, her head swiveling back and forth as Kat and Whippoorwill walked up to the guard station behind her.
Past the guards, Kat could see a wood paneled hallway. Almost immediately she identified the mines built into the walls that would collapse the entire thing if someone tried to force an entrance.
With a little bit of concentration, she was able to hear the conversations in the coat rooms and great hall beyond. Half of the chatter was nothing of consequence, empty flattery and gossip about things that didn’t really matter. The other half barely mattered. People whispered about schemes that were so far beneath Kat’s notice that they barely registered, erroneously counting on the music to cover up their furtive conversations.
“Debs party of three, entering now.” Kat could even hear the armored guard whispering into his radio as the man motioned them inside.
The three of them walked into the wood paneled hallway. There weren’t any visible guards, but Kat could feel the eyes of at least a half dozen watchers monitoring them through cameras and other less common surveillance mechanisms such as thermal scanners and vibration monitors.
No one stopped them and none of the traps triggered so they moved onto another hallway. This hall had a honeycomb of small rooms branching off from it, each about eight by eight paces. They were meant as walk-in safes, places for important guests to deposit their coats and other valuables, but Kat could hear at least a dozen executives taking advantage of the relative privacy of the coat rooms to chat with each other.
The three of them walked into an open room and Kat rolled her eyes at the naivete. Of course Belle would have recording devices in the coat rooms. The snake probably had more there than anywhere else at the party. Everything about the rooms, from their slightly rounded corners to the dull pink coloration was designed to relax their occupants and put them at ease. Even if Kat’s practiced eye couldn’t spot at least two of the snooping devices, it went without saying that Belle would be monitoring any ‘non threatening and private’ place like a hawk.
Emma chattered away happily. Kat was pretty sure that the girl was asking Whip and her questions. It hardly mattered, Emma would buzz on to another subject before either of them got a chance to respond, giving them the opportunity to shed their coats and take in their surroundings in relative peace.
After just under two minutes, during which Emma had managed to mention at least five other executives that she had been meaning to catch up with, the three of them left the coat room, sealing it behind them. A half step ahead of their entrance to the great hall, a PA drowned out the string orchestra.
“Shareholder Debs, party of three.”
Disappointment flickered across Kat’s face before she suppressed it. So much for making a quiet entrance.
Almost every head in the great hall turned to look directly at her as they walked in. Of course, Emma didn’t notice. More, she noticed but she was reveling in the attention.
On the other hand, Whippoorwill seemed to shrivel up under their gaze. Kat reached out, gently taking a hold of her girlfriend’s bicep a little squeeze. Whip took a deep breath, and Kat gave her a secretive smile.
“Just keep your eyes on me,” she whispered. “There will be a lot of people and they’ll all want to make stupid small talk, but I doubt any of them will bother you.”
Whippoorwill nodded quickly, her left hand touching down atop Kat’s for a fraction of a second. For a moment, it seemed like the orchestra stopped playing. There was only silence and the warm softness of Whip’s hand atop hers.
Then, the guests were upon Kat like piranhas swarming a particularly slow and juicy cow. She turned her attention back to them, a vaguely plastic smile on her face as they peppered her with compliments.
Apparently her dress fit her perfectly and was in fashion. Kat made a note to thank Emma for the hard work she’d put into selecting it. Multiple other revelers were raving about how deftly she’d handled some of the more recent power struggles. One was even trying to pitch a new product line of consumer electronics to her.
Without her enhanced hearing, Kat wouldn’t have been able to make out any of the individual words through the cacophony of noise and fake smiles. Before she could make up any meaningless pleasantries of her own, Belle Donnst’s voice cut through the din like a lightning strike on a cloudy night.
“Shareholder Debs! So good to see you. I’m glad that you were able to take time out of your busy schedule for my wedding.”
The crowd parted in front of her like the Red Sea, none of the sycophants wanting to get caught between the two shareholders as Belle approached. She was wearing a knee length red dress. Kat wasn’t sure exactly how many credits it had cost her, but she was sure that the number was both astronomical and a drop of water in the ocean compared to the absurd wealth amassed by all of the shareholders.
“Charming outfits for both you and Ms. Whippoorwill,” Belle continued, them both a smile without any true emotion behind it. “Pierre Diore designs unless I miss my guess. A bit daring, but that just means it matches the two of you all that much better.”
“I’m sure you’re right,” Kat said, mimicking the older woman’s empty smile. “Emma picked out a half dozen dresses for the two of us, and I just picked the ones that gave me the most freedom of movement. Just in case.”
“Same,” Whippoorwill chimed in, her voice tight. The crowds were taking a toll on Whip, and Kat silently made a promise to make it up to her later.
“Well your friend has impeccable taste,” Bell responded approvingly. “Expensive taste to the point of decadence, but when you have as much money as we do, half the point of any purchase is to flaunt it.”
Kat smiled back, unsure if she’d be able to keep the discomfort from her voice if she replied verbally. She knew exactly what Belle was talking about, conspicuous consumption was the name of the game in most executive and shareholder circles. The use of a product came in distant second to how exclusive it was and how much jealousy being seen using it would induce.
Understanding didn’t mean that she had to like it. Innovation was a good thing, after all, the current generation of her infiltration suit would have baffled Earth’s top scientists two years ago, but at the end of the day, if something worked, it worked. She was still using the same knife that Xander had given her when she first graduated from being a runner. It was sharp, sturdy, and had a sure grip. Everything after that was just glitz, and at the end of the day glitz didn’t win fights.
“How do you like my dress?” Belle asked, stopping and giving a brief twirl. “I picked it because it matched my favorite shade of nail polish.”
Her lips quirked upward in a mischievous smile that was as cold as the Antarctic night as she leaned closer to Kat.
“I even had my grooms dye their hair to match it. After all, I couldn’t have the color coordination be off at my wedding. People would talk.”
Kat glanced past her at a pair of miserable looking men, both in crimson tuxedos with hair to match. They were seated at a raised table overlooking the rest of the party with drinks sitting untouched in front of them. Notably, a quartet of guards stood silently behind them. Whether the security was there to protect the men or stop them from making a scene was anyone’s guess.
“I take it you received my gift?” Kat asked. “This shareholder business is hard because everyone more or less has limitless money and it's impossible to gift the only things we are actually struggling for, power and social leverage. I tried to find something that you’d want but-”
“Oh it was lovely dear,” Belle replied, her eyes sparkling. “You might not be able to directly give social standing, but an armored hover car that isn’t available for purchase? That’s a bauble worth flaunting over our peers. Even if it wasn’t worth as much as I suspect it is, simply having something that others want but cannot have is a tremendous gift. I can already imagine the barely concealed jealousy at our next board meeting.”
“I’m glad you liked it,” Kat said lightly. “This is the first wedding I’ve been to as an adult. After all, most of our peers don’t like us, and the executives under me are too terrified to invite me to one of their events for fear of seeming forward and committing a faux pas.”
“Good,” Belle responded approvingly. “Your people should be afraid of you. Respect and favors are good levers to control your subordinates, but they tend to rust and break under the mildest amounts of torture. If your underlings know deep in their bones that you will do worse to them than anyone else, even the thug in front of them holding a bloodstained set of pliers, that is the only way to ensure true loyalty.”
“That’s a bit of an unsettling response given that we’re about to enter a business partnership,” Kat replied, keeping her expression as open and cheerful as Belle’s. “You’re making it sound like I should be threatening you or something.”
“Oh there’s no need for that,” Belle said, waving a hand dismissively. “I already know that if I wrong you, you’ll kill me in some sort of awful way. The rest of the shareholders might not be as familiar with your work as I am, well aware that you aren’t so much a proponent of ‘surgical strikes’ as ‘a magical howitzer that will destroy me and everyone around me if I push you too far.’ Financial benefits and a business partnership are more than enough to ensure that we will be linked arm and arm for a long time.”
As if to accentuate her point, Belle slipped her arm through Kat’s. Both Kat and Whip stiffened at the same time. Kat’s fight or flight reflex kicked into overdrive. She wasn’t the best with letting potential threats get close enough to touch her, and Belle was nothing if not threatening.
“Plus,” Belle continued, “I practically think of you as my daughter. With every passing month, I’ve watched you become more devious and conniving. The way you forcibly transformed Blake Daniels from an enemy into a loyal servant, even if he didn’t last as long as either of us would have liked, brought warmth to my heart and a tear to my eye. It reminded me of myself in my youth.”
“Didn’t you let Anna take the fall for you?” Kat asked morbidly, glancing skeptically at the other woman out of the corner of her eye. “I seem to recall that we more or less met due to the downfall of your daughter.”
Belle rolled her eyes and laughed, a carefully controlled sound that almost perfectly mimicked actual mirth. Kat could almost see the older woman practicing it in a mirror, a terrified acting coach cowering behind her.
“Flesh and blood can be so disappointing sometimes,” Belle said breezily. “The girl let her arrogance get the better of her more times than one. Ultimately, it was her downfall. You on the other hand thrived on the streets, and the minute you were thrust onto a larger stage, you thrived there too. Miss Debs, many executives spend their entire lives jockeying for power without fully understanding the rules of the games that they’re playing. You learned the rules you liked and rewrote the rest in a matter of months. Simply exemplary work.”
“Thanks?” Kat replied, not quite sure how to take the statement. It was clear that Belle was being complimentary, but she wasn’t quite sure that a compliment from the other shareholder was a good thing. It was like an alligator admiring your ability to latch onto prey and drag it into a swamp.
“Come,” Belle continued, dragging Kat along with her. “Let me introduce you to my new husbands. Then we can retire to a conference room to focus on business before the reception dinner begins in earnest.”
The crowd parted in front of them. None of the executives were willing to get in Belle’s way, let alone two shareholders at once. No matter how highly placed they were in GroCorp, that was a good way to get fired and disappear into the night.
Whippoorwill stalked along after them. Kat could track her girlfriend by the swish of her dress and the angry beating of her shoes against the marble floor of the great hall. She wasn’t entirely sure what was upsetting Whip. It might have been the size of the venue, but her steps sounded mad, not anxious.
“I have some leads on the purchases,” Belle continued, leading Kat up a set of three steps toward where the tables for the most important guests, including her husbands, were. “Unsurprisingly, the isotopes were bought through shell companies. What actually piqued my interest is how well the buyers managed to cover their tracks. As soon as my agents started closing in on a suspect transaction, the company would fold before we managed to make contact. It was like they had a mole on the inside. Either that or they could read minds.”
“Maybe it was an actual mole,” Kat said thoughtfully. “The stallesp have assured the Consensus that they don’t have any more agents on Earth, but they’ve lied about literally everything so far. I’d be astonished if they actually stopped meddling over something as minor as getting caught and fined.”
“I thought of that,” Belle said dismissively, pulling gently at Kat’s arm to redirect her. Kat tried to not pay attention to the angry clacking of Whip’s heels against the floor. “I used that gas your lab developed to unmask spies, and when that didn’t work I ran a good old fashioned electric current through the entire investigative team. I couldn’t find any signs of extra terrestrial tampering, and I have the lot of them too terrified to take any initiative against me on their own. It isn’t anything from the inside which leaves the second option.”
“Mindreading,” Kat replied with a frown. “Maybe it’s hacking?”
She turned slightly, looking at Whippoorwill over her shoulder as they walked
“Whip, what do you think the odds are that someone managed to hack Mrs. Donnst’s network and leave a back door of some sort behind? It would have to be-”
Kat trailed off. Whippoorwill wasn’t anxious in the slightest. Her face had gone beyond sour. Whip was pissed.
“I don’t know,” Whip said acidly. “Maybe you should talk to your big important friend up there. She’s the expert after all.”
She winced. Kat wasn’t sure what she’d done wrong, but it was something, and she was sure that she would be apologizing for it later.
“Possible but unlikely,” Belle responded. Either the woman hadn’t noticed the brief spat, or more likely she had filed it away for later and was pretending not to notice out of politeness. “If someone managed to infiltrate one of my data relay centers and apply a physical data tap it is certainly possible, but we had a team sweep all of them. I don’t like it when a third party seems to have the drop on me. It goes beyond discomfort. I take it as an affront, a challenge.”
“Don’t worry Miss Debs,” she continued. “Before, this was business. Now, I personally want to track down whoever is doing this and pick their brain for techniques before dropping them from an airplane without a parachute.”
The three of them reached the VIP seating for the wedding. It was at an angle some ten paces away from the table where Belle would be sitting with her husbands once dinner began. Kat’s enhanced vision easily let her find the small placards for Jasper Haupt and Iris Leander. More humorously, there were already a pair of figures occupying seats at the table.
Josiah Daniels, Blake’s heir and son, sat perfectly still, his hands under the table and sweat pouring down his face while Dorrik leaned close to him, an upper arm draped around the smaller human’s shoulder. Kat caught the tail end of a question from Dorrik about human mating rituals, specifically regarding wedding nights, before the lokkel spotted her and waved excitedly with one of his other arms.
Kat waved back.
“I remembered your friend’s penchant for asking a million and one unpleasant questions, so I seated him next to Shareholder Daniels,” Belle said, noting Kat’s interaction with Dorrik. “It helps to keep Daniels off balance and in his place.”
She paused for a second, pursing her ruby lips.
“Plus,” Belle said with a twinkle in her eye. “Watching him squirm is the most fun I’ve had in months.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.