Chapter 16

Having reached a stage with Janus where she could get free access to him, Emily did not feel she could press him for details of his involvement with extremism without arousing suspicion. Whilst determined to spend more time around him, she refused to accept the only logical course of action that would bring them close enough to persuade him to draw her into his confidence.

Greg had come to the apartment that evening and Valerie had cooked dinner for them all. She watched as the pair flirted outrageously and felt superfluous. Whilst they did nothing to make her feel unwelcome, it was clear that they wished time alone so she made an excuse to leave.

She walked about a kilometre to the banks of the Belmont, trying to understand why Valerie's behaviour changed so dramatically in Bennett's presence; skittishness replaced her normally reserved and serious demeanour.

After passing the restaurant where she'd dined with Janus, she finally reached a decision that she'd been postponing and ordered a taxi. Twenty minutes later she stood outside Janus's house ringing the doorbell.

"Emily," Janus greeted pleasantly. "What a nice surprise."

"Are you alone?"

"Yes. I was just grading some papers."

Without waiting for an invitation, she marched inside and waited whilst he closed the door behind her.

"What can I do for you at this late hour?" Janus queried, but by the time he'd finished his question and turned to face her, Emily had already started to remove her clothes.

With her heart hammering hard, she faced him nervously. Naked and defenceless, she feared his rejection but the serene look of pleasure on his face as he approached and embraced her filled her with pride. With no further words necessary, he led her upstairs.

The following morning, Emily awoke with a weight pressing down upon her chest. Opening her eyes, she discovered a metal tray laden with food. Janus held it carefully balanced in place.

"I've made you breakfast," he informed her. "I've got egg, mushrooms, beans, fried potato plus some coffee if you want it."

"What about you?"

"I've already eaten. You were so peaceful earlier that I couldn't bring myself to disturb you."

Emily breathed in the delicious aromas and smiled, whereupon Janus speared a mushroom with a fork and brought it to her lips. She obediently devoured it then nodded her approval. He fed her piece by piece until the plate was empty then allowed her to sit up and drink the coffee. The sheet slipped down around her waist but she made no attempt to cover her modesty, letting him admire her naked beauty as she finished her feast.

Memories of the previous night filled her mind. Memories of how he'd explored her with his mouth, kissing her passionately for an eternity before moving lower and lapping his tongue over her breasts, squeezing the tender nipples between his lips. She'd gasped in shock as he'd slid lower and bestowed upon her a pleasure she'd never imagined possible.

They'd made love at various points throughout the night, each time seemingly more fulfilling than the last. She realized that it was a legacy of the treacherous Companion code that provided her with the facility to derive such pleasure. Her body had responded with a will of its own and intoxicated her with lust. She finally understood what Valerie experienced with Greg and wondered if either of them would be able to resist becoming completely addicted.

News of the apparently successful infiltration of the extremist group provided the CEO with a modicum of satisfaction. Emily had actually surprised him and he felt almost inclined to overlook her past indiscretions. The Infiltrator Beverly had filed a report about how close Emily appeared to the group's leader whilst making no mention of her own total failure in that regard.

His discussion with Henderson was interrupted by the hasty arrival of Hodges who dropped a stack of photographs on top of his desk.

"Natalie has just brought these to my attention," he stated in near panic.

The top sheet held two identical photographs side by side, graphically pornographic in nature.

"If I wished to view pictures of copulation, the MetaNet would provide me with an endless supply," he snapped irately.

"The picture on the left was found in the inbox of a chemist in Research and Development."

"Why are you bringing this trivial matter to me?" Simmonds asked impatiently. "If the guy is any good, slap his wrists and tell him not to squander valuable company bandwidth downloading this disgusting filth. If not, sack him and make sure he doesn't work in the industry ever again."

"The photograph on the right is taken from a well known pornographic MetaNet site."

"They're the same," Simmonds stated, wondering where this was all leading.

"Not quite," Hodges replied. "The colours are a little distorted on this one. I had Natalie perform a cryptanalysis and she discovered evidence of steganography."

"You're going to tell me what all that means?"

"Basically, you take a text message and pass it through a program that combines it with a picture or music file, introducing minute errors that are almost indistinguishable from the original. Once you know that there is hidden data, it's a relatively trivial matter to extract it. The security of the encryption lies in fooling the outsider into thinking there's nothing hidden in the first place.

"The man's been exchanging pictures with an anonymous mailbox for about a week now and we've retrieved them all from our server backups. The transcripts are there."

Simmonds flipped past the photographs to view a single printed sheet and paled significantly.

"Smoke help us," he gasped. "We pay these people a small fortune and they're vetted thoroughly. Why is he doing this for a mere ten grand?"

"I don't know. Maybe we should ask him?"

"Take a couple of HKs with you to intimidate him. Force him to give up the name of his contact. Once you're finished, make sure he's in no position to compromise us further."

The chemist glanced nervously at Hodges as he placed the photographs in front of him. The ominous presence of the two Hunter Killers standing behind him filled him with dread.

"I ... I can explain. My friend's been sending me the pictures for a joke. It's silly, I know."

"Give us the name of your friend and maybe we can overlook it this one time."

"His name? He's nobody. He's just somebody I used to know a long time ago."

"I think there's something you're not telling us."

"No. No, I swear."

"Give us his name, we can check it out then let you go back to work."

"Is this really necessary? It won't happen again. I promise," the man begged.

"The name," Hodges demanded. "Give us the truth because if we find out you've lied, we'll fire you and make sure that you never work again."

"His name is ... Pete Sands."

Hodges pulled a notebook computer from his pocket and typed in the name.

"Where does he work?"

"I ... I'm not sure."

"Where does he live? How old is he?"

"In New Arizona. He's forty something, I guess."

Nine pictures matching the description appeared on the screen and Hodges showed them to the chemist then asked him to choose.

"It's been a long time. The one in the middle I think," the man gulped.

"Let's see. Peter John Sands, detective with the New Arizona Police department. Does that ring any bells for you?"

"I ... I didn't know he was ... maybe it was one of the other guys," he babbled.

"We'll just download the MetaNet traffic profiles for his home at the time when the pictures were sent," Hodges stated, pressing a few buttons on the computer. "Hmm, it seems there is a ninety five percent correlation. What are the chances of that do you reckon?"

"I didn't know he was a cop, honestly."

"What other things have you been exchanging with him?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all. I'd never do anything like that."

Hodges had heard enough and decided to confer with the CEO on how best to proceed.

"I think we're finished here," he said as he prepared to leave.

"Thank the smoke that you believe me," the chemist sighed as he began to visibly relax.

Hodges gave an imperceptible nod to the two HKs before leaving the room and closing the door securely behind him. As he walked up the corridor, he barely heard the man's screams as he was torn limb from limb.

Sands waited for Valerie to leave for the day before catching Bennett.

"I've got some correspondence last night from the guy in Syntel. I think we may have hit the jackpot."

"What did he send you?"

"The stuff in the flasks from the club," Sands replied excitedly. "The guy said that he worked on the team that developed it."

"Syntel developed the compound?"

"That's what he said. It was all done as part of the SYLF project."

"What's it used for?"

"That's all he'd give us without the cash. Ten grand or nothing."

"Shit. It's not a lot to go on."

"But it puts Syntel in the frame. They've got the money and influence to make anything happen."

"Have they got a private army though?" Bennett asked dubiously.

"They have huge contracts with the military."

"Are you suggesting the government is colluding to cover up something that Syntel is involved with?"

"What other explanation is there?"

"Set up a meeting with him for early next week. I'll go and see the commissioner and see if he'll authorize the payment."

"I slept with him," Emily told Valerie over dinner.

"Just like that."

"I was getting nowhere so I had to do something."

"You seemed so adamant that you weren't going to follow that path," Valerie replied in surprise.

"I know but I did it and ... and I can't believe how nice it was. Those bastards at Syntel have really screwed us up. I was like a stupid Companion."

"It does seem to affect us that way."

"Are we destined to become nothing more than slaves to our virtual hormones?"

"I think humans also go through this stage early in their relationships. Once things settle down, I'm hoping that the emotions will become less intense. Claire seemed to be functioning pretty normally and she's been with her partner for several years."

"We should find a way of warning the others. Tell them what will happen so that they can avoid it."

"Would you have avoided it if you'd known in advance what would happen?"

Emily looked away guiltily, unable or unwilling to accept the truth.

"Then why deny them the opportunity?" Valerie asked. "It could well be a valuable learning experience for them."

"I'm not so sure."

"Let me ask you this," Valerie demanded. "Are you going to continue to see Janus?"

"He's my assignment."

"And if he wants to go to bed with you?"

"I ... I'll probably let him," Emily admitted. "Shit. What's happened to me?"

"This is a part of you, just as much as your tactical skills or your ability to spin up."

"I suppose so," Emily conceded.

"Talking of spinning up," Valerie giggled. "You might want to try that next time. It gives everything a whole new dimension."

"Valerie," Emily exclaimed in shock. Valerie started to laugh.

Bennett sat at his desk having been thoroughly chewed out by the commissioner. Not only was he unwilling to advance the money for the intelligence, he specifically forbade him from pursuing any line of inquiry that could have severe political repercussions. Looking for damning evidence on the largest corporation on the planet fell decidedly into that category.

He was faced with the prospect of either dropping the investigation entirely or defying his boss and facing possible disciplinary action if things went pear-shaped. Sands had yet to hear back from the chemist so he still had a few days to resolve things by other means before choosing which path to follow.

He'd asked Valerie if she had plans for the weekend and when she'd replied in the negative, he'd blown half a month's pay on a luxury Saragosan hotel suite. He planned to drop around to her apartment after work and whisk her away for two nights of passion and pampering.

"So the police are sniffing around and have connected us to the supplement?"

"So it would appear," Hodges informed the CEO.

"But they've no idea about the nature of the project?"

"The chemist was trying to make a little extra pocket money for himself but we also suspect Sands had some other hold over him. Something from his past."

"That's irrelevant now. We know who we're dealing with and can take appropriate action."

"What would you like us to do?"

"Keep the dialogue going with the detective. String him along and try to arrange a meeting. Get Valerie to find out how many other people know about this line of their investigation."

"Right," Hodges confirmed.

"When Sergeant Sands comes to the meeting, we'll allow a couple of HKs to tell him all he needs to know."

"Won't that create some fallout?"

"If the lieutenant continues to persevere after his colleague is killed then we'll get him pulled off the case and reassigned. I'm sure the senator can help us in this regard. He's got as much to lose as the rest of us."

"How are things going with the senator?"

"Initial trials with the Hunter Killers are going extremely well, I believe. He'll be moving to the next stage of his operation within the next few weeks."

"Weaver?"

"It's now imperative that the Vice President is removed from office. This will allow the senator to take over his role. Carlton is desperate. His ratings are the worst the party has ever seen. Selecting Payne as Vice President is a small price for him to pay to ensure our finance of his campaign and the guarantee that the machines will tally the votes in his favour."

"We're going to rig the election?" Hodges asked out of curiosity.

"If needs be. With all voting done electronically, there's no longer any physical check on the outcome. Everybody blindly accepts that the Quantums can't be compromised."

"Which they can."

"Exactly."

"You're going where?" Emily asked in astonishment as she watched Valerie cramming clothes into a large suitcase.

"One of the resorts on the Saragosan Peninsula," she panted excitedly. "Greg's booked a suite in a five star hotel. I'm leaving my mobile here so if Henderson calls, you've no idea where I am."

"Lucky you," Emily replied jealously. "I'll be thinking about you when I'm sitting here watching the tank with Felix."

"Or screwing Janus," Valerie teased. Emily stuck her tongue out at her.

Greg arrived thirty minutes later and carried her bags down to the car, struggling to fit them all into the vehicle's limited luggage compartment. It eventually required her to transfer half the clothes to a smaller bag and abandon the remainder entirely.

"We're only going for two nights," he moaned. "When are women going to learn the art of travelling light?"

"I don't know what I'll want to wear."

"Maybe not that much for most of the time," Greg muttered hopefully.

Emily chuckled at their friendly bickering but was sad when they finally departed. She returned to the apartment and fed Felix but was not minded to stay in on her own. A taxi was soon dropping her off outside Janus's house.

The house was silent and in darkness. Ringing the doorbell elicited no response so she sat sullenly on the outside wall to await his return. It was about an hour before he appeared and opened the door for her to enter.

"Have you eaten?" he asked.

"I've not had a chance. My flatmate's gone to the coast with her boyfriend for the weekend so I came over here on the off chance."

"You're welcome to stay until she returns."

"Really?"

"I have one or two errands to run but please make yourself at home."

He asked her what she'd like to eat and she indicated her partiality for bread, pasta, rice or potatoes. A risotto fit the bill perfectly and he proved himself a competent cook. Afterwards, he played her a selection from his extensive music collection and introduced her to the work of other poets. None measured up to Grant in her opinion.

When the evening drew to a close, she made no objection when he led her into his bedroom and undressed her. She took Valerie's advice and spun up during their lovemaking, enjoying every nuance of their movements and stretching the experience out over a lifetime. Finally, they curled up beside one another and fell asleep.