Background
Laura has helped Andrew Christmas to expose the Guild. Andrew testifies to a committee.
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They didn’t look like Secret Service. Maybe that was the point. Maybe they weren’t even official Secret Service, but they were certainly close cousins. One looked like a bouncer crossed with a wrestler. His suit had to be a custom job. No store in the world would carry that amount of material off the peg. The other looked like someone’s grandpa. Laura could picture him producing coins from children’s ears at Christmas. It had worried her at first, but to get that old in that job you would have to be good. They stood with all the patience of statues, the wrestler beside the door of the apartment, the other beside the window.
“Do you think he’ll be all right?” she asked.
The wrestler shrugged, an act that moved enough flesh to feed a family for a month.
“The committee room is the safest place in the city,” said the older man. “Besides, every major network has a camera in there.”
“So why am I stuck here with you? Wouldn’t I be safer there? No offence meant.”
The older man smiled. “He needs to be there. You don’t. In fact, the fewer people who know about you, the safer you are. And no offence taken.”
On the TV the committee filed into the room. Laura switched on the sound. The two bodyguards ignored the picture, as though the end of the world as everyone knew it wasn’t about to fall tumbling around Laura’s ears.
Andrew looked different in a suit. Though the few days in a budget hotel had helped to unknot her stomach, he looked more uneasy in the committee room than she’d ever seen him.
The chairperson adjusted her mic and leant forward.
“Mr. Christmas? I understand you have some information relevant to this hearing?”
Andrew cleared his throat. “I do indeed. But first may I just say that I have been helped by various people and agencies to gather this data. One person in particular. I’d like to make it clear to this committee and anyone who may be watching this; I have information that is not relevant to this hearing, information that can be very damaging to individuals and organisations. I have every intention of protecting that information. However, if anything happens to those people, that information will become very public very quickly.”
“Mr. Christmas, I don’t respond well to threats.”
“I understand that. I don’t mean any disrespect to you or the committee, and I don’t wish to threaten anyone. I have been informed that my testimony today may well result in criminal proceedings against me, both here and elsewhere. If that’s the price I have to pay, so be it. But any attempt to punish innocent people will not be without a price. It’s not a threat to you, but a warning to others to respect the findings of this committee.”
“He must like you,” said the wrestler.
“Sorry?” Laura’s eyes were fixed on Christmas. He looked so ill at ease, like a Doberman caring for kittens.
“Him. He must really like you.”
Laura tore her eyes away from the TV to look at the bouncer. “What do you mean?”
“You don’t make threats like that in public. You tell that to people in rooms with no windows. You tell people that to stop them breaking your – “ He stopped and coughed, embarrassed. “You tell people that to protect yourself in secret, is what I mean. If he’s playing that card for you, he must really like you.”
Laura snorted. “No. We were – I mean, he pretty much kidnapped me. Well, at first. No. No, he’s just being a decent human being. Isn’t he?”
She looked at the older man for confirmation. He broke away from his surveillance of the street outside and shrugged. “Don’t ask me. I’ve been divorced three times.”
Laura returned to the screen. No, it was stupid. They made a good team, sure, when he wasn’t being a complete asshole, but as to liking her? No, it had all been about this moment, all about getting to the committee, all about the job. Okay, he’d got her out of the Guild, but who wouldn’t, right? He was just protecting an asset. Not that she was much of an asset once she’d hacked the Guild. No, that was stupid. What would a wrestler and a three-time divorcee know?
Besides, he was a Normal. Normals never felt comfortable around a Listener, right?
The car pulled up to the kerb. Grandpa sat at the wheel, the wrestler beside Laura. The wrestler leant across her and opened the door as Andrew fought his way through the press of journalists outside the hearing.
“Let him see you,” said the wrestler. Laura stepped out of the car and waved at Andrew.
“Laura! No!” Andrew pushed forward. “Get back in the car.”
Behind her the world exploded, the solid wall of sound slamming into her ear and stunning her. Bewildered, she saw the red spray from Andrew’s chest, his face contorted with pain as he fell backwards. Then something punched her hard in her back and the world turned black.
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