Secondary Considerations
Jane could feel the waves of anger radiating from the man beside her, pouring off of him in roiling bursts that buffeted her in the passenger seat of the car.
“Jim,” she said sharply, “slow down. I know you’re angry, but I for one don’t want to die on this god-forsaken road.”
He grunted, but took his foot off the accelerator. “Sorry.”
There wasn’t much she could say to that. Jim had gotten the short end of the stick, no question, but she wasn’t about to let him put her life in danger, no matter how badly the company had treated him.
“Look,” he said,” slowing the car down further for a sharp corner. “I appreciate you sticking up for me. You know, with Markowitz.”
Jane nodded, and did her best to hide a grimace. It had been the right thing to do, but she wasn’t happy about it, since it had meant her job and the prospect of being trapped with Jim in car until they could get back to the airport. Jim wasn’t great with personal hygiene to begin with, and the last few months had put it at the bottom of his priority list. That, and the older scientist had always given her a bit of a strange vibe – not creepy, exactly, but not normal, either.
“You were telling him the truth,” she said softly, “but he just didn’t want to listen.”
“I know!” Jim burst out, punching the accelerator hard again until she shot him a dirty look. “Damn weapons-man. Markowitz has always been that way. It’s been twenty years, and he’s never been able to see anything beyond dollar signs, anything beyond what his superiors told him to. Asshole!”
Jane had to agree; while Jim gave her a slight case of the creeps, Markowitz had all but undressed her with his eyes the first time they met. The short, balding man oozed smarm and lechery, and if he hadn’t been the one in charge of the entire Alaska facility, she would have slapped him silly on more than one occasion. This time, she’d let herself go, let herself get carried away in the moment. She couldn’t abide liars.
She forced herself to think through the events of the day one more time. There wasn’t much chance that she was going to come up with a solution she’d missed, but it kept her from staring at the trees that whipped by and the cliff that was just outside her door, since a sudden wrong move from Jim and they’d be over the edge. It was too cold out for her to survive for anything more than an hour to two, and she doubted anyone from the facility would be coming to rescue her, let alone her companion.
It had started when Markowitz called her into his office, and once she saw Jim standing in front of the little man’s desk, hands clenched at his sides, she knew what had happened. Jim had been talking about the problems he was having down in Alpha lab over the last three months to anyone who would listen, and it had only been a matter of time until someone higher up decided to do something about it.
“Doctor Lally,” Markowitz had said in his too-smooth voice, “please, come in.”
She hadn’t bothered to reply, but stepped inside the plushy carpeted space to stand next to Jim.
“You’ve worked with Dr. Ungal in the past, correct?”
She’d nodded, but it wasn’t as though Markowitz needed confirmation – he had access to the schedules of everyone in the facility.
“And how did you find his conduct? Were there ever any instances in which the results he reported were incorrect? Misleading? Outright fakes?”
It had all gone downhill after that. Markowitz had a case to make, and wanted her to help make it. The implications were clear; if she helped him get rid of Jim, she’d get the older researcher’s spot, to say nothing of the fact that he had a vastly different area of expertise. It was no secret that facility was making weapons, but most of those inside its walls only saw the basic components of each one – Jim saw the total package, and obviously hadn’t liked the end result.
The company was making Biologics, that much was clear, in outright defiance of the last five treaties the country had signed. Backing up Jim hadn’t been something she had a choice in, though she could feel her career slipping through her fingers as she spoke. Jane was surprised Markowitz had let them go at all – and use a company van to get to the airport, fifty miles distant.
Jim cut around a large washout in the road, the hard swerve of the van pulling her back to the present. In the back of the van they’d been given she heard the distinct sound of metal on metal, and sudden fear shot up and into her throat.
“Jim,” she said slowly, “does it seem strange to you that Markowitz let us take this van?”
“What?” He said, trying to keep his focus on the road. “No, why?”
“Did he make you sign it out before you left? Did you have to check in with security?”
“No,” Jim said more slowly, hands relaxing on the wheel. “He didn’t.”
“Doesn’t that strike you as ood? The goons that run the place are particular about knowing who has what, and when.”
“I…” Jim hesitated as he took another sharp corner, and the sound of metal on metal rang out again.
“Jim,” she said quietly, “pull over.”
“What?”
“Pull over!” She screamed. “They let us go on purpose, and without tracking us, so they could get rid of us, permanently! We need to get out of this thing, now!”
He jammed on the brakes and she leapt out of the van, running to the back door and throwing it open, her fears confirmed. A small canister was loose inside, jarred from its straps by Jim’s aggressive driving. She knew what it was; she’d been making cases for them since she first started at the facility.
They were in serious trouble.
- D
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