His thoughts went back to Slade and his decision to kill him. He knew now it was the right thing to do. There was no chance Slade wouldn’t have given them up. He could have easily let Jacob go when he saw him in that hallway, but he chose not to. Still, Slade’s death bothered him more than the guard in the loading bay. He told himself it was no different and that Slade would have done the same to him, but that didn’t matter. What did Kat say about shooting someone? You learn to live with it. He was sure she was right, but the learning part of that equation didn’t feel good.
Sandy’s phone dinged.
“What does she say?” Jacob asked quickly.
Sandy read the message. “I’m fine. The attack was focused on another part of the building. Are we still on for dinner?”
There was some relief in that.
“I responded, ‘Thank Nic Cage. I’ll see you later.’”
Jacob put his leg on the floor and rubbed it. He steadied himself and stood, putting a little weight on the leg.
“You should take it easy,” Sandy said.
He grimaced. “I’ve got to meet with Johnson. I’m going to have to walk for that, so I might as well get used to it now.”
He grabbed his phone and messaged Johnson, “Tonight 9 at DeSoto’s.”
Chapter 59
Jacob limped his way to Johnson’s armored sedan. For a moment, he stood next to the open door. This was almost over. The thought didn’t give him the sense of freedom he imagined it would. Almost over and over were two different things, he told himself as he got in the backseat and closed the door.
“Mr. Quince, it is so good to see you again,” Johnson said with a smile.
“Johnson.”
The sedan pulled away from the curb and merged into the traffic.
“I assume everything went well?”
“A few scratches, but we got the job done.”
“Excellent. Congratulations are in order then.” He opened the wet bar in the compartment divider and poured each of them a drink.
“Thanks,” Jacob said, taking the drink. With his other hand, he opened his backpack, taking out a code deck. He handed it to Johnson. “The code is on this.”
Johnson took the deck and put it on the seat beside his leg. “And the chip?”
“It’s still implanted in Two-Step. We didn’t want some Steamer to do a hack job taking it out. I figured you could help us with that, and maybe get Two-Step a new replacement.”
Johnson nodded. “A very wise decision. I can arrange for an appointment this evening. In fact, I will arrange for it now. We can pick him up after our conversation.”
“I’ll message him to be ready.”
While Jacob messaged Two-Step, Johnson made a quick call.
“Now that that is out of the way, we should talk about the future,” Johnson said.
“What about our credit transfer?” Jacob asked.
“As soon as we have the chip, of course.”
“Of course.”
“Now, about the future. My employer has permitted me to offer you and your team a place in our enterprise.”
“I’m banned from corporate work, you know that. And I don’t think anyone else wants it.”
Johnson laughed. “What would lead you to believe we are linked to a corporation?”
Jacob looked at him. “You can cut the cloak and dagger bullshit,” he said.
“Well, believe what you will. We are willing to offer you an ongoing opportunity to work for us. A sort of on-call position, if you will.”
“So we just jump when you call? That doesn’t sound too promising.”
Johnson took a slow deliberate drink, then placed his glass on the seat. “Mr. Quince, this is not just a job offer, this is also an offer of protection. I’m sure you saw the news feeds today. Your adventure is all the talk. I am sure you also heard Ms. Bintu announce her corporation’s intentions going forward. Do you truly believe that you and your friends will be able to withstand the full force of one of the largest multinational corporations in the world for long?”
Jacob was silent.
“I thought you would agree. If you work with us, and yes, I said with us, you would have our resources protecting you. I think your friends would agree. We can ask them later when we recover the chip.”
“I guess I’ll ask the same question I asked before, why us?”
“Let me just say that we have plans on the horizon that would benefit from your skills. And to be honest, your involvement allows us a certain level of anonymity.”
“We do your dirty work?”
Johnson laughed his smug laugh again. “If you would like to see it that way, then yes, you do our dirty work. And why not? You are good at it, and we will pay you well. Besides, I think there might be a part of you that enjoys it. You get to stick it to the man, as they used to say. I am sure you enjoy that idea.”
What a bastard. Jacob hated him. But he also knew that everything Johnson said was correct. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he had to. Working for Johnson would also give him a chance to figure out what was going on with NirvanaWare and the outbreak of overloads. He intended to find out anyway, and being on the inside would make it a little easier.
“I’m sure everyone else will be in,” he said. “I just need to ask them.”
“Of course. Now, shall we get us our chip and get you your credits?”
Chapter 60
The week following the meeting with Johnson was hectic. In his will, Gomez left Retro Media and its assets to Jacob, Two-Step, and Kat, with the stipulation that one-fourth of the profit from the store be sent to his mother. After receiving the credit payout from Johnson, Jacob transferred most of his share to Gomez’s mother. He didn’t need it since he wasn’t going to Botswana anytime soon. He couldn’t. He
