Cog by K. Ceres Wright Read Free Book Online Page B

light. The woman next to him shifted to her side, surprising him. He had forgotten she was there. The ebony of the sheets blended with her hair, but contrasted with her skin’s saffron undertone. The swell of her breasts aroused him, even through his groggy consciousness. He reached over, then a call came through, chiming in his periphery with jarring flashes. Call from Meloi Ghio . He swung out of bed and walked out onto the balcony. Closed the glass partition.
    His skin tingled with the warmth of Narara Island. A wide expanse of blue ocean lay beyond. He was far away from everything and everyone, and he had wanted to be as far away as possible when the news hit the media.
    He answered the cog. “Tell me what’s going on.”
    Meloi held up a glass in a mock toast. He was sitting in an armchair next to a Great Dane. Behind him was a large batik print of a war scene outside the Great Wall.
    “Hello to you, too,” he said.
    “I thought we were past idle chit-chat,” Wills said.
    “Common courtesy never goes out of style. Now, as to your question…Chris asked Nicholle to take over. She agreed.”
    Wills turned around, as if Meloi were sitting behind him on the balcony. “What? She hated working there.”
    “I know. But apparently Chris convinced her. Told me he used the guilt trip about people losing jobs if there’s no family continuity.”
    “Shit. I didn’t want her in the picture,” Wills said.
    “Too late. The company also sold some commercial paper and furniture and fixtures to an upstream supplier to keep the ratios up.”
    “Predictable. Does she know about Perim?”
    Meloi shrugged. “I’m assuming she does by now. He told the whole world that she and Chris embezzeled twenty billion. She’s probably on the run now. I’d say he’s got the company presidency in sight.”
    “Shit! I knew I shouldn’t have put anything past that bastard.”
    “You want me to off him?”
    Wills paused, stroking his goatee. “No, that would bring more police scrutiny. She can take care of herself. She’s been on the street before.”
    “Yes, me bwana. How go the clinical trials?” Meloi clawed the air with index and middle fingers when he said, “clinical.”
    “I’m meeting with Rob and Douglas today for an update. I’ll let you know.”
    “All right. Anything else?”
    Wills shook his head. “No. Not right now. I’ll cog later. Sayo.”
    Meloi faded to the ocean waves breaking on the shore. The balcony door slid open and the woman whose name Wills hadn’t remembered stood in the doorway. The curtains swirled around her bare form.
    “I’ve got an eight thirty conference call,” she said in accented English. She raised one eyebrow in a beckoning gesture and approached him. Her hands feathered his muscled torso and a smile caught her lips.
    “Bagus sekali,” she said.
    He didn’t know much Indonesian, but he knew that was good. Wills prided himself on keeping in shape. His body was something he could control with absolute certainty, and he paid particular attention to it.
    “And I’ve got a meeting, so we’d better make the most of the next hour.” Wills ran his hand down her back, savoring her silky skin. He led her back into the bedroom.
    b
    Holographic data screens filled the middle of the room, with numbers scrolling from the top to the bottom of gridless squares. Bodies lined three of the four walls, each on a readout bed. Data hovered—recipient name, donor name, vitals, brain maps, and some other graphics Wills couldn’t make out.
    He crossed his arms and surveyed the lab with a rare sense of wonder. He silently thanked Thia Wayan. Without the information he’d stolen from her node, none of this would have been possible. And to think he’d just been sniffing around, hoping to find an angle on a foreign client. Instead, he’d stumbled on preliminary studies on consciousness transference.
    A few white-coat-clad attendants moved among the patients, adjusting data and dosages.
    “Good