Paolo Bacigalupi - The Doubt Factory

“Williams and Crowe, for sure,” Moses said.

“Yeah.” Alix wondered if Lisa was down there somewhere. Death Barbie incarnate. Coming for them.

“I must say I hate those guys,” Moses said with a sigh. “Well, we might as well make it a big event.” He picked up the office phone and dialed.

“What are you doing?”

“You remember how Williams and Crowe came in for me the last time? The only thing that keeps us safe right now is if this turns into something public.” He turned his attention back to the phone.

“911? This is Simon Banks. I’m at Banks Strategy Partners on K Street, and I’m seeing what look like gangbangers on the street.”

“What are you doing?” Alix hissed.

Moses shrugged. “Confusing the issue.” He went back to talking into the phone. “They’ve got… it looks like they’ve got automatic weapons of some kind. I don’t know who they are or what they’re doing, but we need the cops here, right now! Send SWAT! Hurry! It looks like they’re trying to break in!”

Alix peered out the window. Vehicles were converging around the building now. Moses rolled his chair over and peered down. “Looks like Williams and Crowe isn’t worried about us noticing them now.”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll need to watch out for snipers,” Moses said. His voice was oddly flat as he pointed at the buildings across the street from them. “Once they get set up, they’ll be looking to shoot inside for sure.”

“They aren’t actually going to shoot us! Who would authorize that?”

Moses gave her a look. “Williams and Crowe would probably do anything to get a clean shot at me.”

He peered out the window again. “Sure wish the cops would get here.”

Alix didn’t like how calm he sounded. No, not calm— resigned .

Alix pulled out her phone.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to try to buy us some more time.”

The phone started ringing. “Pick up,” Alix whispered. “Go on. Pick up. You always have your phone.”

She peered down at the increasing activity as Williams & Crowe set themselves up around the building. “This is real, isn’t it?”

Moses glanced down at the lights as well. “Getting more and more that way.” He glanced over at her. “Not like the last time we threw a shindig like this.”

Alix swallowed. “No. The bad guys have the right address this time.”

The phone picked up.

“Alix?”

Dad’s voice.

“Alix?”

Lisa turned. Mr. Banks had his cell pressed to his ear.

“Mr. Banks?”

He cupped his palm over the phone’s receiver. “It’s Alix!”

Lisa held out her hand. “Let me speak to her.”

Banks ignored her and turned away. “Are you okay, honey? What are you doing?” Lisa pressed close, listening in. When he tried to shake her off, she glared at him. Finally, he relented and let her listen.

“I’m fine, Dad.”

“You’re in my office, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Alix. I don’t know what that boy’s been telling you—”

“How could you, Dad?”

“How could I what?”

“You killed people, Dad.”

“That’s not true.”

“It’s true, Dad. I’m looking at the files. All the companies you’ve worked for have been letting innocent people die. The drug companies and the asbestos companies. The lead companies. The chemical companies. It’s like every big name is here.”

“Alix—”

“They knew people would be dying, Dad. Kimball-Geier knew. You knew. You helped them with their strategy. People are dead because you helped them!”

“It’s not like that, Alix.”

“Dad, if Williams and Crowe tries to come in here, I’m going to make sure this goes on the news. I can send things out that only you would believe. You know what I’m looking at.”

Banks waved at Lisa. “You need to back off! She’s threatening to release client files!”

Lisa tried to get her hand on the phone. “Let me talk to her.”

Banks shook her off again. “I’ll handle this!’ he whispered fiercely. “You just figure out how to get her out of there.”

Lisa didn’t back down. “Your phone isn’t secure. You don’t know who else is listening. We have clients—”

Banks brushed her off. “I know my business. Take care of yours. Get Alix out now. We don’t want to be the story here.”

Lisa spun away, scowling. George Saamsi joined her as she strode across the lawn to her teams.

“Do we have a problem?” he murmured.

“Banks’s daughter is up to her neck in this. She’s not a kidnap victim this time. She’s the one who’s driving this.”

Saamsi’s gaze went from Banks to Lisa, then to the response team.

“She’s threatening to release client files,” Lisa said.

In the distance, sirens wailed. Saamsi swore. “They’re going to try to turn this into a media circus. This is exactly what they love to do. In about ten minutes we’re going to be front-page news.”

“Banks is trying to talk to her, but…” Lisa made a gesture of frustation. “I think we’ve got ten minutes before everything goes wrong. Our best bet is to hit them now. The longer we wait—”

Saamsi cut her off. “I understand. It’s time to cut our losses.”

“And that means?”

Saamsi looked at her fiercely. “Protect our clients.”

The sirens were growing louder.

“And Alix?”

“You can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved. Just make sure our clients stay out of the news. I don’t want a single whisper of our clients leaking out.”

The first police department squad cars were arriving, along with ambulances.

“This is going to turn into a jurisdictional nightmare in about two minutes,” Lisa warned.

“So get it done.” Saamsi turned and started striding toward the police and rescue vehicles, holding up his hands with authority. “I’ll handle the cops,” he called back. “You just handle those kids.”

Lisa was already jogging toward her team, thinking about how it needed to happen. She crouched down with Timmons, her strike leader. “What’s our situation?”

Timmons said, “We’ve got all exits blocked. Elevator locked. Stairwells locked. We’ve got them bottled.”

“I want you to go in.”

“I’ve got thirty split in three go-teams—”

“No.” She pulled Timmons closer. “This has to be quiet. Quick and fast and quiet.”

Timmons frowned. “There are risks.”

“There are more risks if you’ve got a lot of witnesses.”

Timmons’s eyes widened. He hesitated. “These people armed?”

Lisa gave him a hard look. “That’s the assumption. We’re proceeding under the assumption that these are unstable terrorists with knowledge of explosives, and we need to stop them, fast. We’re sure a fast resolution will save lives.”

“A fast resolution,” Timmons repeated.

“You understand?”

He nodded sharply. “Elam and Mint and me, then. We can do it.”

“Quietly.”

He gave her a look of irritation. “I know my job.” He glanced over at Simon Banks. “The boss okay with this?”

Lisa glanced back to where Banks was still on the phone, pleading with his daughter. Still under the impression that he could use all his persuasive skills to get her to undo decisions that had already been made.

“He’s not the most important consideration anymore,” Lisa said. “As far as we’re concerned, we’ve got two armed intruders on BSP property who intend domestic terrorism. For all we know, they could have a suicide device. The next time I see them, I want body bags.”