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10
Jack was getting tired of being growled at. He looked at Bal and Gee to see their opinion of the idea. Both gave him a brief head shake.
“It seems that’s not going to work. You see, this morning there was an attempt to assassinate me and they are a little sensitive to me being out of their sight. That said, they are very quiet and as my sworn protectors they cannot divulge anything they hear in my presence to anyone without my permission. That should take care of any confidentiality issues,” he bluffed.
The Director was looking a little agitated as were the security men. After a moment of consideration he nodded. “Very well, follow me.”
The security men led the way deeper into the office and stopped outside a conference room. They took up positions outside of the room and the Director went inside. Jack followed Bal and Gee brought up the rear. Bal and Gee took positions on the wall opposite the door and Jack took the chair between them also facing the door. The Director took the chair at the head of the table closest to the door. They’d just settled in when the Director’s phone chirped. He looked at it.
“I have to take this. A moment please,” he said and left the room.
A few moments passed then Gee quickly walked to the door and looked back at Bal. More body communication went between them but in his mind Jack pretended he could hear what they were saying:
Gee: “It’s locked.”
Bal: “I’ll look for alternate exits.”
She was scanning the walls and pointed out two ventilation ducts with her eyes.
Bal: “The vents.”
Gee: “No good for the fat human.”
Jack felt oddly giddy as he watched them and chuckled to himself until he found his head slipping forward to thump against the table surface. He was unable to move his body and felt his mind sliding into darkness. Before he went under he felt Gee step close and force her hand into the front of his pants. Something cold touched the underside of his cock where it rested against his balls.
He thought that was rather rude, her touching him like that but… darkness took him before he could say something.
He was drowning! He gasped for breath as water splashed over his face and chest. He sputtered then winced as sharp pains shot through his head. Man, he had a killer headache!
“Time to wake up,” said a calm voice.
His surroundings slowly came back to him. He was soaking wet and chilled to the bone. He couldn’t see anything in front of him as three intense spot lights shone directly on his face. The light stabbed into his brain and he looked down to avoid the pain.
When he could open his eyes he saw he was strapped down to a… barber’s chair which felt like it might be bolted down. The floor was grey, concrete?
“What happened? Where am I? What happened to-” he almost mentioned their names. “Where’s my escort?”
“That’s quite enough questions from you. What we need to hear now are some answers,” a new voice said, sharp and angry. Younger than the first voice, maybe. Male at least.
He tried looking towards the voices again but he couldn’t see beyond the bright lights. His body felt strange and he definitely had some bruising he didn’t have before. Jack hoped Bal and Gee were alright. He’d play along to buy time but he had no idea what was going on or how much time he had.
“OK, ask me a question,” he croaked.
“Who is rejecting our products?” barked a third voice. Loud, angry and definitely male. Older.
“Geez, can you be a little more specific? There are a lot of products submitted for approval on Altaria,” he groaned.
There was a muted sound of arguing then the first voice came back. This one was more unsettling due to its calmness.
“The military contractor products are all being systematically rejected. We’ve also noticed a pattern in your work as the Altarian Ambassador. You’ve prevented some very lucrative relationships between the Altarian Colonies and certain allies of ours. These relationships correlated to certain products we’ve been trying to convince the Altarians to adopt for those worlds.”
The voice was smooth and hinted at an expensive education. He caught an accent. A certain crispness on the consonants and a strange stretch to the vowels. Too bad he was useless at placing accents. What he could get from the voice was a sensation of deadly intent. He felt his gut tighten.
Jack racked his memory for what the voice was talking about then something clicked. The desert warfare weapons package a contractor insisted was the perfect option for the Altarians on Callosephia. His radar had gone off like crazy when the vendor was so insistent that they’d be specifically suitable to be used for the new colony. He HAD rejected that AND he’d rejected the Sanosian’s request to set up a ‘resort’ in the desert of that planet.
“The Altarian Trade Commissioner is the ultimate authority over these decisions. I’m the Trade Representative for Earth. If the Commissioner feels the product isn’t suitable that’s that,” he said frankly. Sweat began to bead on his forehead as the hot spot lights beat down on him and his nerves strained. He started to miss the bucket of cold water he’d met earlier.
“You see, this is where the issue lies. We simply don’t believe you. We think you are making those decisions,” the cold voice said with a deadly calm.
“Wow. If that were true I guess that would make me a really important man,” he said.
“Indeed it would,” the voice said with just the slightest humor in it.
“But even if it wasn’t you seem to be missing a vital and publicly available piece of information. Proving you are colossally dumb.” There was a sudden sound of chairs being shoved back and someone being restrained.
Jack pressed on. “Earth finally has access to billions of consumers. A virtual goldmine for generations to come. And you are threatening that for your own greedy little corner of it? The Sanosian assassin? How did that make any sense? If he had been successful then Earth would have been back to sending delegates to try to open the market.”
“Why? We would have just sent a replacement.” The angry voice was back.
“Which would have been rejected. They explained it pretty clearly but you obviously didn’t understand their intent. I’m Earth’s Trade Representative. Without me, specifically me, there will be NO trade. Read the contract. It’s available online. It doesn’t generically say Earth’s Trade Representative. It says Jack Danner. Which comes back to you being really… really… dumb. There are a lot of people, Hell, countries whose livelihood you are fucking around with right now. They will not be… pleased if you screw this up for them. The Altarian Security Ministry was notified that I was recalled to Earth. My escorts work for them. They will be expecting me back… soon.”
There was silence for a time. Jack sat quietly and waited. Time was on his side. He hoped. Sweat trickled down his temples which had begun to itch terribly.
“What made them choose you?” the calm voice was back. A new ploy?
Jack chuckled. “Really? You want me to tell you the secret to having the Altarians pick a replacement for me? Dumb.”
A chair behind the lights toppled this time and a beefy man rushed up to Jack from behind the lights and swung a mighty punch at his face. Time weirdly slowed as he took in the details of his attacker.
Tall. Ex-military. Buzz cut grey hair. Enormous muscles. Old, faded tattoos on his arms. Hate in his beady little pig eyes. Badly set flattened nose. Grimace of rage on this thin lipped mouth. Spittle? Ugh. Spittle.
The incoming fist looked like a sledge hammer as it came in to crush his face. Jack leaned his head into the punch and took the hit on the side of his forehead by his temple.
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Jack’s head rocked from the impact but he didn’t go out as he’d expected. The chair’s tight restraints kept him from moving. He hoped he might buy some time by passing out. The punch hurt like hell and his head rang like a bell but he snapped back to focus far faster than he expected. He opened his eyes.
The man was clutching his wrist and screaming in agony at the three broken bones sticking out of the back of his hand. The mangled fingers dangled at unnatural angles.
Jack’s eyes went wide with shock.
A younger man wearing a kerchief mask came forward and gathered the injured man, leading him back behind the lights. There was the sound of a door opening and closing. The cold voice came back.
“Obviously you won’t volunteer the answer. Of course we know that but you have to know there are ways to get the information from you. Methods far more effective and efficient than those demonstrated by our hasty compatriot.”
There was a sudden sound of a gunshot.
“Our late, hasty compatriot,” the voice got just a little colder.
He heard the sound of the door opening and closing once more. Jack assumed this was the masked man returning to join the interrogation. His stomach got a little tighter.