The Cure

AUDREY BLACK WAS DRINKING IN HER office and having another stress-relieving moment when Mr. Jones arrived to meet with her. She had to call him several times and even threatened to tip off the police of his involvement in the smallpox bio-attack just to get him to show up. The office had been buzzing since that big terrorist event that occurred in Connecticut, but unlike her people, she wasn’t worried. She wasn’t stupid enough to use her own company’s samples to set the trap. Audrey had procured a sample from another company that a friend of hers wanted to royally screw over for buying him out. He gave her access to someone she hired to break in and steal the materials needed. When the government finally traces the strain of the pox back to that specific lab, that company will lose every government contract they have, and it will drive them right into the ground. The benefit of it was a lot of those contracts will likely go to her company, which would increase the quarterly revenue. It was a scenario that made both her and her friend winners when it was all said and done.

Audrey still needed to tie up some loose ends, which is why she had ordered Jones to meet with her once again. After a lot of swapped calls, arm twisting and an attempted extortion, Jones finally strolled into the room. When she noticed he was there, Ms. Black turned around and pointed at one of the chairs in front of her desk.

“Please take a seat,” she commanded.

“No,” Jones defiantly replied.

“Excuse me?” Ms. Black asked with a shocked look on her face.

“I said no,” Jones repeated, “Tell me what you want so I get the hell out of here as fast as I possibly can.”

“I have a situation that requires your immediate attention,” Audrey replied, “I know where Carter is going to be in two days. You need to be there to intercept and if necessary, take him out.”

“I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible.” Jones answered, “Because as of this moment, I no longer work for you.”

“You will fulfill your contract!” Ms. Black screamed at him just before taking her glass and throwing it against the wall.

The sounds of the glass breaking on the wall didn’t faze Mr. Jones a bit.

“Whatever you have going on,” Jone continued unfazed, “It will have to be taken care of by someone else.”

Ms. Black face had flushed red. “If you don’t do as I tell you…”

“You’ll what?” Jones yelled back, not caring if he interrupted. “Call the coppers on me. You seem to forget I have just as much evidence linking you to everything as you do on me. If I go down, I can promise that you’re going down with me, bitch.”

“How dare you speak to me like that!” Ms. Black barked back, wishing she had another glass in her hand to throw at him.

“I don’t care what you think,” Jones said, as he started to back away towards the door. “Right now, one of my men is being held by Homeland Security as an enemy combatant. When he realizes what he’s being held for, he’s going to start singing like a canary. I have no intention of being in the country when he starts talking. I suggest you make plans to lie low for a while too.”

“This is unacceptable!” Ms. Black roared back. “I need you in Washington to take out Carter before he gives what he has to the feds.”

“I’m not available,” Jones replied, as he kept backing towards the door. “I’ve got a flight out of the country leaving in less than two hours to a non-extraditable country. I’m not going to tell you what to do, but you might want to accept defeat and run for the hills while you still can. I don’t plan to rat you out, but if I get arrested before I make it to my flight, I’ll throw you and your company under the bus long before I let the feds get me anywhere near Camp X-Ray.”

“Get back here!” Ms. Black called from the other side of the room.

“Not a chance in hell, lady.” Jones replied, opening the door to the hallway. “I don’t work for you anymore. Get someone else do to your dirty work for you. Better yet, why don’t you get off your ass and do it yourself!”

“I’ll double what I’m paying you.” She called out.

Jones paused for a moment and then smiled. “I don’t care if you add a few zeroes, I’m not doing it. Have a nice life!”

Jones closed the door behind him, and Audrey watched through the various windows between the offices as Jones b-lined for the elevator and got the hell out of her building as quickly as he could. She couldn’t risk getting anyone else involved so she paused for a moment before finally picking up the phone. Good help was hard to find but she wasn’t ready to give up her pursuit of Carter and his cure. Not yet at least.