Chapter 02: Sexy Little went well. K led me into the dark-panelled room and sat me down, where I waited into the legal folks called oo speak. The proceedings were running under a media bckout – no cameras, no phones – and security was heavy. I doubt Steele even noticed me as I entered. There was no reason for him tnize me, another peon in his managerial hierarchy. Oher hand, I definitely reized him—for all the shadiness of his off-record activities, he maintained an open and curated media personality. He was a tall man, just uwo meters, muscur, and distinctively bald. He carried himself with a fidence, an arrogahat made a mockery of the proceedings, as though the procedure of human justice were just a mild invenience.

  Steele eyed me curiously when I was called to speak. There was something seriously disf about the way he watched people – like he was disseg them, frankly assessing their worth to him, or how he could profit from the breakdown of their po parts. There was something definitely unfortable in the way he stared at me, unblinking, during the ey of my speaking.

  Fortunately, I’m a pretty fug fident guy as well. I described what I saw precisely and suctly, and it went well. It helps that I’m a good-looking guy. I am—and I don’t mean that in a ceited way. It’s just an unforturuth that good-looking people get treated better; everyone knows that. The fact I was easy on the eyes of Steele’s wyer—that I could openly flirt with her—made driving these nails into Steele’s coffin all the more satisfying.

  So yeah, I get listeo and treated well and it’s not fug fair but there you have it. At 165 cm I’m a touder average fuy, but what of it? I couldn’t care less, and if some bitch thinks I’m too short to date then fuck her. It’s her loss.

  And I keep myself looking good. I’m not overly ied into the fashion thing but know where to shop and spend good cash to wear nice clothes. Dad was Japanese or something, a businessman of some kind if you believe Mom—which I don’t, and I’ve never met the bastard. But I got my good looks from both of them, I guess. From him, a smooth face; the best I manage is sh stubble after a week or so. From her: emerald-green eyes girls seem to love, flecked with grey. From him: the dark, straight hair, kept short and spiked. I look youhan my thirty-five years, and that boyish-charm thing manage wonders, in the bar, the bedroom or the boardroom.

  Ahing that works wonders is the body. I keep myself in good shape. What an uatement!--I keep myself in excellent shape. Some might call it obsessive. I guess some habits die hard. Slender and sy as a kid, I ed myself in muscle and nobody’s picked on me sinbsp; Doesn’t hurt that chicks love the abs of steel. Couple that with money and, yeah, I do pretty damn well at the clubs on a Saturday night; it’s a rare weekend that I sleep alone. The final fact that I’m pretty damn good at persuading people certainly helps as well. I’ve got a knack for uanding what they want to hear.

  And so, w that court over was easy. I didn’t lie, of course, but here were certaiails I wao omit. I had the courtroom hanging on every detail as I expined what I saw while hiding in that executive secretary’s offibsp;

  Perhaps I overdid it. I got carried away by my own eloquenbsp; It wasn’t the versation I overheard, or even the fight or the whole gun-to-head thing that set Jeremiah off. The man iion took my accusations very well. He sat behind his table, powerfully built and bald head gleaming in the camera lights, t head-and-shoulders over his team of wyers, and he seemed highly amused by the proceedings. The man could’ve been nervous as hell but hid it well behind this fug smirk the whole time. I think that’s what got me. That goddamn smirk. I hate arroganbsp; I really do. It pissed me off so much I added in a few details that I’d inteo hold back.

  Steele kind of lost it when I got to those sketchy implications. The wry grin disappeared. His eyes hardened. In the awful silence of the closed courtroom I swear I heard him coldly whisper: “You’re a fug dead man, Saunders” just before silently ung himself at me. It took half-a-dozeo hold him back from throttling me. Fr, that is. I don’t throttle easily. The man’s not small, tall and built like a brick shithouse, and the bastard reached the witness stand, bowling his way through the security, before they mao pull him babsp; Straining against the men who restrained him only a few feet from me, he locked his eyes with mine and hissed, “I’ll have yoddamn balls on a pte,” before they dragged him babsp; I wish we’d had at it then and there; I would’ve snapped his fug neck.

  Security rushed me out of the courtroom into a small side room. Agent K was waiting for me.

  “We have to get you out of here,” she said.

  “Hey, I’m feeling okay,” I said. “Thanks. Nice crowd, good security. I’m feeling pretty good about myself.”

  “Please try to focus, Mr Saunders,” K said. “You know what kind of man you are dealing with. If he has threateo kill you, you be sure he intends to follow through. Mr Steele is a very vengeful man. More importantly, he ot afford to look weak in front of her allies nor enemies. Especially sidering the nature of your accusations.” She hesitated for a moment. “Were they true?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Every word.”

  “You never mentio before.”

  “Didn’t think it was important,” I said, which was a lie of course. I’d inteo withhold those details to ensure my own personal safety. It was the kind of thing that made food bckmail.

  K sighed. “You embarrassed a very powerful man in front of many very powerful people, Mr. Saunders. Simply testifying was enough to put you in a very precarious position, but now . . . I fear Mr. Steele will stop at nothing to make an example of you. His words were not a threat; it was a death warrant.”

  She’s not so good at inspiring fidehis woman. I nodded. “So what do we do?”

  “First? We get you out of here. Then we relocate you, give you a new identity, and make you disappear. And quickly, before Mr. Steels has time to decre open season on you.”

  She walked over to a er of the room a down for a rge duffel bag. I ehe view as K’s tight skirt strained against the rounded firmness of her ass. The woman’s a real looker, even if she went for a real severe look, what with the past-the-knees skirt and mannish jacket and ky heels. Tall and slender, she gave an impression of tightly-coiled strength, somehow, and at a gnce you knew better than to fuck with her. She ale, with a long fad thin lips that seemed perpetually set in an expression of mild disdain. Her hair barely reached her shoulders and flipped up slightly at the tips, whiehow softened her look, an uedly femiou a woman who seemed eager to shed the outward trappings of her gender.

  “Enjoying the view?” she asked dryly. Sharp eyes, this woman. We’d only met a few times, in arranging for my court appearand in keeping me safe and hidden before the trial. There’s something very off-putting about her, to be ho. She’d proven a sharp judge of character, and there’s always a sehat she knows more than she’s letting on. The fact that she didn’t respond to my charms didn’t help either. I had this feeling that she didn’t particurly like me. Like I said, a good judge of character. At the same time I holy felt like I could trust her, which is saying something. I’m not a very trusting person. You could say I’ve got itment issues.

  “So how do I get outta here alive?”

  “With this.” She dropped the bag oable. It looked heavy but she moved it without much effort. She reached in and pulled out a colourful bundle of fabric.

  “A dress?” It was a sexy little number, red and tight. “What the fuck, yonna disguise me as a chick?”

  She looked at me oddly. “Please, Mr Saunders. That would be idiotibsp; She reached deeper int and hauled out a heavy vest--the non-standard issue expensive kind with STL-reinforced Kevr in it. “I think this would prove more helpful, would you not agree?” she said, handing it to me. “Unless you had your mi on the dress, of course. I have in here some heels to match.”

  “Very funny,” I said. I slipped on the vest, its weight familiar and reassuring.

  “There is a car waiting nearby. When I give the signal they will e around the side of the courthouse. We leave by a side entranbsp; You should be exposed for no lohan thirty seds. ents, dressed simir to you, will leave by alternate exits simultaneously, hopefully fusing anyone keeping watbsp; Once we reach the car it will carry us to a safe location where we begin to process your relocation and new identity.”

  I nodded.

  She handed me a heavy greeer from her bag. I pulled it ohe vest. It was a bulky Gap thing--nondescript, and it hid the vest. I wondered if they were evacuating Tom as well. He was a tough guy, but he didn’t have my background. I’m sure that I would have been shitting myself if I hadn’t been through sh times as a kid. I wondered where Tom was right now.

  Standing there just before K hauled me out of that room, with a higher-than-normal ce that I was about to get gunned down like some cy pigeon, my most pressing was that I’d never see Tom again. K was going on about procedures and I only listened with half an ear. I was thinking about my friend. Somehow I khe guy would be okay. He’s a good guy. But with this relocation thing, ces are we’d never meet each ain. I hate losing a real friends. It wasn’t the first time, you know? But it still sucks every time.

  “Are you ready?”

  K was looking at me expetly. Even in civilian clothes she looked like a fug federal agent. I took a deep breath. Calmed the jitters in my stomabsp; Focused. Nodded.

  She made the call. Pulled me forward. We walked quickly through the back corridors of the courthouse, our clipped footsteps eg through the narrow halls. Bnd white walls and flickering fluorest lighting. The hallways were spicuously empty. Then a solid metal door, red and pitted and cool to the toubsp; Another deep breath. Instincts long fotten and supressed began to awaken.

  God, I was loving this. I hadn’t felt this alive in years.

  We pushed through the door. The first bullet took me in the chest before I managed a siep.