Chapter 3

"What's up?" Tom asked.

"I don't want you to get sold a pig in a poke. Vickie is nobody's fool, but she's also a mother -- and as callous as she sounds about this..."

"Yeah." Tom grunted. "Still, it takes a lot of moxie to say, 'will you get kids on my teenage daughter?' She's gutsy -- and you have a good eye."

"She knew we were here several minutes before everyone else did -- and she was stopping women at the register -- without causing a fuss -- so they would have a chance," I told him. "That's SERIOUS guts."

Tom rubbed his jaw. "Damn straight."

"We still have a problem," I told him. "The kid isn't here. Even if she was, she couldn't get through the field."

"Fuck."

"Well, I might be able to bend the rules a bit, but it will be dangerous. We have everything under control right now, but to get her we'll need to release the field -- while we're still here -- and go outside and collect her and transport out. Those being left behind aren't gonna be happy about that -- things could get serious. At the moment, I'm willing to risk it -- but I'm gonna put her through the wringer, first. And ultimately, it's your call -- you're being cool about it, but you don't have to do anything about her kid."

"Yeah, I know."

"If you take her, you WILL have to fuck her -- or give her to someone else who will," I pointed out. "Personally, I think it's a good thing -- you need one really young one in your stable and I know you've been dragging your feet..."

Tom merely grunted.

Vickie was coming back, at the trot, her purse in her hands. Her chest had developed a delightful shimmy. When she stopped, I figured that her nipples might have dropped an inch or so, but that just argued that they were all real. She produced a picture, and yeah, daughter was a babe -- a sultry brunette with a pout, even in a school picture. "Do you have her ID number?" I asked.

"Yes, give me a second..."

While Vickie dug in her purse, I turned to Bet. "Give me that thing," I told her, and she surrendered her data link to our AI in orbit.

Bet shook her head. "When are you gonna learn?"

"I'm not," I replied. "If you do shit by the book all of the time, you miss opportunities."

"Opportunities to kill or injure selectees," the AI muttered into my implant, "if I understand your plan."

I sighed. "Are you telling me no?"

"I cannot stop you," the AI declaimed. "Besides, you have been highly successful, to date. And, as you have indicated, the introduction of an occasional random element tends to increase efficiency."

I reached for the address book Vickie was holding out while she watched me with her head cocked. "Pretend I'm wearing a headset," I told her. "I am -- you just can't see it."

"Ah." She looked mildly relieved that she wasn't dealing with a crazy person who talked to himself. I do, though, of course.

I input the ID number into the data link and pulled up the girl's data -- and a picture, which I compared with the one Vickie had produced, to make sure we weren't being sold down the river. She was on the up and up. "Kid has good numbers, in general," I noted, handing the link to Tom, who held it gingerly while glancing over them.

"Like her mama," he muttered. I hadn't seen her ID, so I leaned over and punched a couple of buttons. Vickie had a six point one. The AI murmured in my ear, "You DO have a good eye. This is an excellent specimen, from a number of perspectives."

"Thanks," I muttered under my breath. Tom flicked me a look, but said nothing. I turned to Vickie and let Evil Me have the reins, handing the link back to Bet. "Okay, I'm being asked to break the rules, here," I announced. "Your kid is outside, and can't get in. That presents a serious problem. Right now, nobody can get in here and disturb us, and we have control of what is going on. Normally, when that control ends is when we transport out. What you're asking for is for me to release the field and get to your daughter somehow and THEN transport out -- in the uproar that is gonna occur when we release the field. Teams have been shot, knifed, trampled -- you name it -- while trying to operate under those conditions."

"So the answer is no?" Vickie looked crestfallen.

"Actually, it brings us to a question," I replied. "What's in it for me? Why should I risk my skin, breaking a perfectly good protocol, for one uppity sixteen-year-old?" I leered at her. "We can try to make this work, but she's going to have to pay her fare. I'm gonna allow you to use your cell phone, briefly. At the current rate..." I swept my eyes over the room, where the guys were doing God knows what -- but not selecting any women, apparently. "She has twenty minutes to appear in the parking lot. She needs to be here when the last of the others transports out, because the longer we wait, the worse it gets, outside and in. If you get her on the phone, you need to impress upon her that she CANNOT be fashionably late -- if you catch her coming out of the shower, she should arrive here naked and wet -- got me?"

"Yes." Vickie nodded warily.

"If she gets here, I'll collapse the field after the last of the others transports out, and we'll take a run at collecting her -- but I won't let any of us get killed, so it's not guaranteed. If we succeed -- and you need to make this clear to her on the phone, it's her one decision in this matter -- she pays me, personally, for the privilege by allowing me to collect all three of her cherries -- or however many of them are left, anyway." My eyes bored into Vickie's. "And since you got her her discount ticket, you get to watch."

Vickie turned green. "That makes me a sorry sonofabitch, doesn't it?" I asked her rhetorically. "Actually, there's a method to my madness. Tom, here, is likely to get chivalrous and avoid doing what he's supposed to do -- screw the little bitch and produce some kids by her. But if I remove the various barriers of her chastity, he's more likely to get around to it. Besides, my women are a month away, and I haven't been laid in a while." This was a lie, but I didn't expect Bet to argue.

Vickie opened her mouth and I raised a finger. "Don't," I told her. "In the first place, you no longer own your holes -- he does -- so you need to go through him to make that offer. And in the second, I've already told you the OTHER reason I'm doing it."

Vickie stepped back and nodded. "So it's up to you -- you can call her, and we can go through this rigmarole and she can pay the price of her ticket, or you can pass." I held out my hands, making like a balance scale, "So, death, or a fate worse than death?" I tipped back and forth, pretending to weigh the options.

Vickie eyed me. "You're a bastard all right -- but you're not nearly as bad as you want everyone to think." She flipped open her phone.

"Bet, open the channel," I directed.

"Done," Bet replied. "you old softie."

"Hey!" I protested.

"I'm not telling her anything she doesn't already know."

"I'm gonna fuck her!" I insisted.

Vickie looked up as she put the phone to her ear. "And she'd better tell everyone in sight how great it is, or I'm gonna slap the shit out of her. And after that, when you've recovered -- if he says it's okay -- I'M gonna fuck you." She turned away to concentrate on the phone. "Kellie? Where are you? Drop your girlfriends like a hot rock and get to the restaurant as fast as that hybrid Toyota will go!" There was a half-second pause for jabber. "Shut up! There's a pickup going on right here, right now -- understand? A Confederacy pickup -- THAT'S what kind of pickup! No, I'm NOT lying -- MOVE YOUR ASS!" More jabber. "What about them?"

I put my hand on her arm. "Girlfriends?"

"Three."

"Get 'em moving, we'll negotiate on the way."

Vickie turned back to the phone. "Get them into the car. Let Becky drive -- she has a lead foot. MOVE!" There was a pause. "Are you moving? Good. No, she can't -- do you have any idea how difficult this is?"

"Put it on speaker," I told her, and pointed her at a corner.

She did so. "Yes I do, Mom," poured from the speaker, "that's why I'm having a hard time believing you! Tina got caught outside a pickup -- they use some kind of field, and you can't get in or out!"

"I'm going to try to get you after the field is released," I said into the phone. "No promises -- and if I manage, you'll owe me, BIG time, all of you -- but your mama is gone, whether you make it or not!"

"Who is this?"

"Names wouldn't matter to you, but I'm running this circle-jerk," I replied. "Are you peddling your little pink butt over here? When all of the acts are over we're folding the tent and saying bye bye -- and if you aren't here..."

"We're coming! We're coming!" someone screamed in the background. "Five minutes!"

"I'll leave the delicate part of the negotiation to you," I told Vickie. "Their asses are all mine, to dispose of however I see fit -- except your daughter's -- and I'll be seeing THAT, too!" I walked away.

Things were proceeding 'way too slowly. I wandered over to Hugh, who was walking the first row -- again. "What's up?"

"I've seen the scores, and I've got a couple of favorites, but..."

"But what?"

"I don't want to get in anyone else's way."

"Somebody's got to start it," I pointed out. The good news was that Martin and Dolly, hand in hand, were working Row Two -- and talking to some woman who seemed to be going to some effort to put her tale across. "Stop being so damned considerate."

"Some of them..." Hugh shrugged. "I could be getting a pig in a poke."

"Have 'em skin down, then. Get what you want -- it's what we're here for." I moved to discover what Martin and Dolly had run into.

"We're a couple," the little redhead was saying, "And I'm two months pregnant. That's Tim there..." She pointed at a decent-looking sort. "He doesn't know..."

"So, what do you want?" I asked, cutting to the chase from behind the couple.

"A miracle, I guess," the young woman said, lowering her eyes. "I want to go -- and I want to take Tim. She can do that..."

"Yes, she can," I agreed. Turning to Dolly, I asked, "Do you have any inclination to interview this Tim?"

"We've agreed that Martin gets to choose the women," Dolly murmured, "but I get a veto. Likewise..." She glanced at Martin.

"You can't win if you don't play," I grunted, "and nobody is playing yet. Martin, this one already has a bun in the oven, which is a plus. Even if you don't want the sperm donor, she looks half-assed decent to me. Are you interested?"

"Well, yeah..." Martin glanced at Dolly.

"Good. Honey, show the man your tits while I drag your boyfriend down here for Dolly to look at." The girl gave me a blank look. "Now, or I withdraw my support." She started hauling at her blouse.

"This is embarrassing," Dolly muttered.

"It's necessary. We're at a dead stop here," I told her. "Do you want to see the kid she's hung up on?"

"Yes." Dolly was looking at Red's exposed chest.

"Don't worry, whatever dairy farm she comes up with, tell 'em you want twenty-five percent more," I chided. "Hey, which one of you weenies belongs to Red, here?"

There were a couple of liars, so I got Red to point out the right one. "Get down here, beside her, and interview with the lady." While he climbed down from his perch, I whispered to Martin, "When he gets here, feel her up."