Quick by Steve Worland Read Free Book Online

recommend but I know he wants to hire someone with recent operational experience and you —’
     
    ‘— haven’t been in the field for five years.’
     
    ‘Yep. Since, well, you know. But, if you work a high-profile case, like this one, solve it, that will seal the deal.’
     
    The Frenchman takes this in, then shakes his head. ‘I’ve been driving a desk for a long time. I’m too rusty for field work.’
     
    ‘It’ll come back to you just like that.’ Marcellus clicks his fingers.
     
    ‘I’m not so sure.’
     
    ‘It will.’ Marcellus takes a moment. ‘Don’t you miss it?’
     
    ‘No.’
     
    ‘Christ, I do. Every day.’ The German looks out the window again, a little wistfully this time.
     
    ‘I don’t miss being dead.’ Claude turns and nods at the iMac. ‘So what does this have to do with the Australian?’
     
    ‘We need to get proactive with this crew—we really should give them a name by the way—before somebody gets hurt. Just waiting for them to screw up isn’t going to cut it. So I want someone on the inside and this guy fits the bill.’ Marcellus turns and studies the computer screen. ‘He has the right background and there doesn’t seem to be anything about his career as a police officer online, though I’ll get the boffins in the lab to scrub anything that might show up.’
     
    ‘How do you even know that he’ll be suitable?’
     
    ‘I have a gut feeling.’
     
    ‘Really? A gut feeling?’
     
    ‘Just like the one I had when I hired you.’
     
    ‘Point taken.’
     
    ‘We’ll get him in for a formal interview to be sure. But before that you need to agree to be his partner.’
     
    Claude studies his German boss for a long moment. Going back into the field. Is it really something he wants to do? There’s a much higher chance of dying in the field than there is sitting behind a mahogany desk, and as dying is something he’s already experienced he’s not keen on a repeat performance. Of course he lied when he told the old man he didn’t miss being in the field. He does. A great deal. He misses the hunt, misses tracking and smoking out criminals. He has yet to find anything else that’s quite as satisfying, but is that a good enough reason to override his sense of self-preservation? He shakes his head. ‘No. I’m not doing it.’
     
    Marcellus stares at him for a moment. ‘I’m sorry, I mustn’t have been clear: it wasn’t a request.’
     
    ‘Sounded like one to me.’
     
    ‘Actually, you’re right, it did, but then you said “no” so now it’s an order.’
     
    Claude is stunned. ‘Is this—are you joking?’
     
    Marcellus shakes his head. ‘You’ll thank me eventually. Now, if I can have the room, I need to see if I can organise the other part of this investigation.’ Marcellus picks up the phone and dials.
     
    The Frenchman turns and walks out, takes a seat at his desk. He’s extremely annoyed at the old German. But, he realises, he’s also a little excited at the prospect of getting back on the horse.
     
    ~ * ~
     
    Marcellus knows his old friend Dieter Wolfe is always looking for a new marketing angle. After all, marketing drives his business. When you make highly caffeinated fizzy sugar water for a living, and sell over two billion cans of it every year, you don’t spend much on research and development. It’s just highly caffeinated fizzy sugar water after all. There’s nothing to research and develop, and you certainly don’t screw with the formula. (New Coke anyone?) So what do you do with all that profit? You build the brand so you can sell three billion cans next year. And how do you build the brand? You market it to young men who drink more highly caffeinated fizzy sugar water than any other demographic. And how do you market it to young men? Well that’s easy. Ever since young men were young Neanderthals living in caves trying to impress the young lady Neanderthals by beating up the gang of uppity monkeys who kept