Dreams in the Tower Part 2 by Andrew Vrana Read Free Book Online Page A

Mike was never supposed to let any of them go. This was just an elaborate way of cleaning up what remained of Silte’s hierarchy. The administrators, the reports—none of it mattered. “There was no evidence,” he said bravely. “Absolutely nothing in the report proved that Adelson had any idea what he was doing. We can get rid of people who might hurt the company, but we can’t remove model employees just for making mistakes. The ones we fired for no reason are already rioting.”
    “I know,” Leutz said. “And you did exactly what we wanted, though not what I expected. Just now you proved to me that you’re not like these other drones in the building. I could piss into a wine glass and every single one would praise the vintage. But not you. You think and act for yourself. You haven’t gone through the change yet, probably never will now that Unify is in motion.”
    She slid her data ring off her finger and held it up on the side of her smart glasses. “The truth is,” she said, “Lorne Adelson is an Anti-Corp agent. Many of the other cases are as well. We haven’t told anyone about this because we believe there may be agents or sympathizers in this very building and we need to keep them from getting scared i nto hiding.” She brought the ring down and held it over the input strip on Mike’s desk.
    “The Anti-Corp is here?” Mike had a hard time believing that. Even that some of the high-ranking members of the Silte family were involved in the activist group was hard to accept.
    “Yes, it’s become a bit of a clusterfuck, if I may be blunt. Something we didn’t completely prepare for. But that’s okay, we have you with us now. Lom.”
    “Yes, Monika?” The head of an older man with fluorescent white hair popped up in a virt ual secretary window next to Elle’s on Mike’s desk screen.
    “Mike,” said Leutz, “this is Lom, my own secretary. He’ll be working with you from now on.”
    “Doing what?” Mike asked.
    “What we wanted you to do from the beginning,” Leutz said, now preoccupied with something on the lenses of her glasses. “Find out who is working with the activists and what damage they’ve done. Carl Bellowe is your lead, but Lom will fill you in on that. I’m very busy right now.” She stood up.
    “You want me to spy on my coworkers? On Bellowe?”
    “We want you to do what needs to be done, Mike.” Her expression was serious, and she sounded almost exasperated. “We’re running out of options. You’re the only one who can do this. We need you.”
    This was something new, and Mike wasn’t sure he liked it. Was it Fear? Vulnerability? The indestructible diamond wall was showing cracks; for the first time, Mike wondered if he was on the right side.
    “Okay,” he said, “I’ll do whatever needs to be done.”
    “Good,” Leutz said. “Lom will give you access to much of the information you have so far not been privy to. But first you’ll approve that Adelson report so we can get him relocated.”
    Suddenly wanting to solve the biggest mystery of the past week, Mike asked, “Where are we sending these people.”
    “The Houston Warehouse,” Leutz answered languidly.
    “And what happens to them there?”
    “Well, Mike.” She uncharacteristically leaned over his desk, making Mike uncomfortably aware that she had left her top few buttons undone. “That’s something I still can’t give you access to.”
    Mike watched her go until his office door closed behind her.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    14
     
    They didn’t see any signs of the violence from the road, but they saw the news reports. Shots had been exchanged with private police in Dallas and Brooklyn. L.A. and San Diego were warzones—or so they surmised based on a few quick aerial shots, and the fact that the reporters were trying hard to ignore that part of California. They only showed Houston once and it had been strangely quiet. The protesters had shown up beneath the