Call Me Mr Smith, page 4
part #6 of The Fallen World Series
“It’s no wonder,” she said as she walked back over with a loaded syringe.
“Just a minute now. What’s that?”
“Something to dull the pain. This is going to hurt; I’m going to have to explore to figure out what’s been damaged.”
My defenses lit up. This would be a perfect opportunity for Bethany to get rid of me if that’s what she wanted to do. On the other hand, the doctor’s reaction told me my wound was probably worse than I thought.
I looked at Bill and Ted. “That Bethany bitch doesn’t get anywhere near me. Clear? I have a feeling she doesn’t see the wisdom of my presence.”
They glanced at each other and nodded in unison. “We don’t answer to her, Mr. Smith.”
I got the feeling they didn’t much like her either; this could be good. I nodded and carefully lowered myself down and rolled onto my stomach. I sighed. “I loved this shirt.”
I felt the needle in my arm, and then nothing.
* * *
I woke up some time later, and the room was mostly dark. I was on my back and still groggy. That injection had to have been more than morphine. I felt the IV in my hand and nodded to myself. That must have just been an initial dose. She had put me on something after that to keep me out, which meant she was trained in how to handle people like me.
I raised my head and saw Bill and Ted standing inside the door. Then Dr. Adwani came into my field of view. Damn, I must still be pretty groggy if I didn’t hear her coming.
“Mr. Smith, you’re an incredibly lucky man.”
I let my head fall back. “How’s that?”
“It’s only the density of your muscles that kept the bullet from reaching one of your kidneys. It stopped about a millimeter short. It did manage to graze your spine though.”
I mentally cursed myself for being so sloppy. I’d been in the bunker way too long to think I could just jump back into operations. Idiot.
“But, you should be back on your feet within a week.”
“A week?” I raised my head and stared at her.
“Yes, a week. Based on what I’ve seen with other Agents, that’s about the right length of time for your spine to recover enough for you to get back to what you do, Mr. Smith. I’m well aware of your capabilities, having been one of the people who administered the nanites some decades ago.”
“I’m impressed. Thanks.”
She sniffed. “I don’t care if you’re impressed. I just want you to survive.”
I furrowed my brows. “Why?”
She let out an exasperated sigh. “Not everyone thinks only in terms of death, Mr. Smith. I actually meant it when I took an oath to help people, and based on what I’ve heard, you might actually care too.”
I chuckled weakly. “Damn, don’t let that get out. It’ll ruin my reputation.”
“Get some rest, Mr. Smith,” she said before she walked away.
Bill walked over. “I assume the guy who did this is no longer a problem?”
I grinned. “Come on, Bill. Yes, he’s dead, but there are more of them out there. I found out Jacob and most of his crew are holed up in the old aquarium. I figure if you can get a sniper up on the EdgeWalk on the Tower, you can get some intel on their movements.”
He nodded. “I’ll talk to Jonathan. Scotty is our only sniper.”
“Well, anyone with binocs could get the intel. You need numbers, times, and so on. Do you really need to get Jonny boy involved?”
“Unfortunately, yes. Scotty’s pretty loyal. Anyway, I’ll pass the suggestion along. Anything else?”
“Yeah, I found Jacob’s people in a warehouse full of solar panels that look to be in perfect shape.”
“Huh. Where?”
“Not far from the CN Tower.” I smirked. “Your executives have done a shitty job.”
He looked around the room before he spoke. “We’re finding that out quickly now that you’re here.”
I raised an eyebrow. That was interesting and potentially useful. “It shouldn’t have taken me for you to see that.”
He shrugged noncommittally. “I’ll let you get some rest. Ted will stay while I go find Jonathan.”
I nodded and closed my eyes. Suddenly, I was tired again. “Thanks, guys.”
* * *
I woke up what I thought was probably a few hours later to the smell of food. Ted was rolling over a bedside table with a plate of fried fish and hand-cut French fries on it. I inhaled deeply; it smelled delicious, and I knew I needed to eat, but I shook my head.
“There are some MREs in my backpack, give me one of those.”
“Are you nuts?”
I shook my head. “Take that outside and give it to the first person you see walking the streets. Tell them it’s compliments of Mr. Smith.”
He narrowed his eyes. “What are you doing, Mr. Smith?”
“Hearts and minds, Ted. Hearts and minds.”
“You’re one dangerous bastard.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere. Now do it.”
He shrugged and handed me an MRE from my pack. I really didn’t like them—no one did—but I had to start thinking about the long game. I tore it open and sighed as I quickly wolfed down the contents. It was supposed to be chicken and rice, but it didn’t quite make it, and the best way to get it down was to do it quickly. I washed it down with a few cups of water from a pitcher on the table.
Ted came back about twenty minutes later and set the empty plate on the tray. “I found a woman walking with her kid. I figured that’d be about right.”
I nodded. “Good.”
He shook his head. “They acted like they hadn’t eaten in months.”
“They may not have, Ted; that’s the problem. We can’t eat like this in here, while people out there are suffering and dying.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “You actually do care about them, don’t you?”
I closed my eyes. “Go away, I’m tired.”
I heard him walk back to his post at the door, and I considered what he’d said. Maybe I did care, a little, but there’s a reason for everything. If they wanted to think I was being selfless, that worked for me. The fact that he used the term ‘them’ told me volumes about how things were run. They really did see it as an us-versus-them situation, and I had been no better once. Now, time would tell.
* * *
For the next few days, the routine remained about the same. Doctor Adwani would check on me, sometimes changing my bandage. Thankfully, after the first day, she let me get up to use the bathroom on my own.
Every meal, Bill or Ted would bring me something simple, like a sandwich, and the fully cooked meal that was actually meant for me would go to the streets. After only one day, a group started gathering around the corner. Word had gotten out, and people waited and hoped to be the one picked for the real, cooked food. Apparently, there was even a concerted effort to keep the fact that it was being done from the executives. Several of the door guards had come by to check on me and gave me a little wink and a nod about the food.
Once, Ted told me, a fight broke out among people who said they needed the food. He chose to give it to the person who took the worst beating, because he was apparently the one who needed it the most since he barely had the strength to defend himself. He’d also snuck out some medical supplies for everyone who’d gotten hurt in the dust up. From that day on, there had been no more fights.
More than a few things bothered me about the whole situation, but I couldn’t really do much more from my bed. I was surprised when, on the afternoon of the fourth day, Jonathan and Jeremy walked in.
I had inclined the bed so I was sitting upright. “What can I do for you two?”
“Thanks for the heads up on Jacob. We’ve got the aquarium under 24-hour surveillance, and you were right. We’ve cataloged at least fifty different people going in and out of there, but Jacob, himself, has only shown his face once,” Jonathan said.
I nodded. “More than I thought.”
“Us as well. We knew he was a street thug but didn’t think he had that much influence. We also know there are children in there, but Bethany wants to proceed with an assault, using one of our assault teams.”
I grimaced. “I’ve seen what your assault teams are capable of. They’re good for coordinated destruction and death, screw the collateral damage.”
“Let’s not pretend any of us used to care about collateral damage, Mr. Smith, unless you intended for Carl Aviers’ waiter to die too,” Jonathan said.
I wondered if Carl was the only target they were sure of. They’d used that information to try to get to me the first day we met when they asked me to disarm the nuke, too.
“Touché, but times are different, and I was never in the wholesale slaughter department.” That wasn’t exactly true, given my work on nuclear warheads, but I hoped they wouldn’t bring that up. Besides, I never thought they’d actually be used.
“At least I think about it differently now. I went out there to find out what the hell was going on instead of sitting on top of the ivory tower and throwing scraps to the peasants.” My voice grew in volume as I spoke, and I sat up further in bed. Dr. Adwani cleared her throat from her desk in the corner and stared at me with a ‘don’t make me get up’ look. I’d seen it on enough doctors’ faces over the years to recognize it easily.
“You’re right, Mr. Smith,” Jeremy said.
I stared at him and blinked. I wasn’t expecting that.
“We’ve been reacting to what we’ve considered emergency situations, but we haven’t really been managing anything or acting proactively.”
I leaned back on the bed and stopped myself from wincing. My back still hurt a bit more than I’d hoped. “Huh.”
“That’s why we’re here,” Jonathan said.
I shook my head. “I only do small unit tactics in video games. I’m more of a…” I paused to consider the right words…“person-to-person kind of guy.”
He nodded. “I know, but Bethany isn’t really the kind of person to think about surgical precision in an assault.”
I looked at Jeremy. “So, order her to. You were two levels above her in the structure before the war.”
“I’m going to do that, Mr. Smith, but I want you involved.”
I tilted my head to the side as I considered what he was asking. Part of him might have wanted to complete the operation without unnecessary casualties, but I felt like a bigger part of him wanted to be able to blame me if things went sideways.
“I’ll think about it.”
“That’s all I can ask. By the way, we checked around and found the building where you got shot. They’d set an ambush, thinking you’d come back, but we went in with a bit more force than they anticipated.”
“Shit…”
“Unfortunately, some of the solar panels were damaged or destroyed in the firefight.”
I sighed audibly and shook my head. “You idiots would use a jackhammer to put in a thumbtack.”
“We’ve checked the old records and found several other warehouses nearby with a lot more panels though. It was a good find.”
“Something you should have thought of years ago.”
“Look, we can go back and forth all day about the past, Mr. Smith,” Jonathan said, “but we need to look forward.”
“Right now, I’m looking forward to getting some rest. We’ll talk when I’m back on my feet. See if you can hold Bitchany, I mean Bethany, back until then.”
Jonathan snorted as he tried not to laugh and nodded. “We’ll do our best.”
They left, and I took a deep breath to center my mind and closed my eyes to meditate and consider. Before I could get far, I heard Dr. Adwani get up from her desk and walk over. I opened my eyes and looked at her before she could say anything.
“Yes?”
“What’s your game, Mr. Smith?”
“I’m sorry?”
“I can’t figure you out. I got a tiny briefing on your background, but I haven’t been permitted to see your full file. Best I can figure, you were with Teledyne, not Obsidian.”
“Right so far.”
“Assassin?”
“Among other things.” I shrugged. It was interesting how that word in any other place would evoke fear and hatred; around here it was just a job title.
“How old are you?”
I grinned. “That’s a rather impolite question, Dr. Adwani, and one I’m not going to answer. I doubt anyone still alive knows the answer to that other than me.”
“So, are you really going to help the people out there?”
I took in a breath and let it out slowly as I considered how to answer her question. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“People keep asking me that.”
“So, what’s the answer?”
I shrugged. “I’ve spent the last two decades alone in my bunker, and I was just fine with that. I’d prepared for it. Being out among people again is something I’m still getting used to, but I know I can’t go back to where I was. They know where my bunker is now, so it’s not safe. I might as well make myself useful.”
She nodded; her voice was softer this time. “A few more days, and you should be good to go back to your normal daily activities. Now, let me change that bandage before you rest.”
Sometimes you still find compassion in this Fallen World.
* * * * *
Chapter Five
As promised, I was back on my feet and in my own apartment in a few more days. Unless I was crazy, which was possible, Dr. Adwani had been a bit gentler in her bandage changes after our little conversation. She could be an ally when the time came.
I’d only been back in my apartment for about an hour, which was enough time to shower and get dressed—which I still had to do a bit slowly—when there was a knock on the door. My back was going to be tender for a few more days, and I was still pissed I’d allowed myself to get shot. That couldn’t happen again.
I answered it, surprised to find Bethany standing there. “Ready?”
“For what?”
“Today is the day we evaluate the people who want to work for us, or have you forgotten? I can handle it without you if you’re not up for it.” It wasn’t concern in her voice.
“Oh, I’ll be fine. Let’s get going.”
We went to the basement level and into the underground PATH system. It had always bugged me that PATH didn’t actually stand for anything, other than that there’s a pathway underground.
Bethany had brought along a squad of fully armed and armored soldiers. They certainly didn’t act like the PATH was safe as we made our way to Rogers Centre. They cleared every corner like they expected an ambush.
“I thought you folks said this was safe?”
“I like to be a little overcautious,” Bethany said.
“Uh huh.”
It looked like most of the structure was still in good shape. This was one of the last sections of PATH built, and though it smelled slightly of urine and human desperation, it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected. The one thing we didn’t encounter was people. Sure, the underground wasn’t glamorous, but I expected some to be set up down here.
“Why’s it so empty? It’s shelter.”
“We keep the tunnels around the plaza clear.”
I shook my head. “They’re never going to trust you, if you don’t start trusting them.”
“You’re an odd person to talk about trust, Mr. Smith.”
“Trust was everything in my line of work, Ms. Evans. I had to trust my sources, trust my handlers, and trust my informants. Without them, I couldn’t have done my job.”
“I rather took you as something of a lone wolf.”
I shrugged. “Mostly. Only a small number of people knew all the parts of the machine. Hell, even my handlers didn’t know who my informants were. But there was still trust.”
“Do you still have informants in the area, Mr. Smith?”
“Not sure. I’ve been sticking to myself for a while. I was happy just to survive.”
A few minutes later, we emerged into Rogers Centre. We walked out at field level, and I was surprised at the turnout. There were about a hundred people in the stands around the field. There was just enough lighting to see around the stadium, and as I looked through the crowd, I saw plenty of people who were way too young to have been a part of the police force or the military.
We walked up to the pitcher’s mound, where a microphone and a loudspeaker had been hooked up. Our escorts formed a circle around us as Bethany walked up to the microphone and tapped on it to make sure it was live. I looked around again as I realized this would be a great time to get shot. Virtually everyone in the stands had a higher angle and a clean shot, if they chose to take it. I hoped they’d all been searched. If my guess was right, at least a handful of the people in the stadium were part of the Anarchists Legion. That suited me. I wanted them to know people would be armed and looking for them.
Bethany started a standard ‘rah rah’ corporate speech, which made me yawn. I shook my head and walked over to stand beside her.
“Why don’t we just get to the point.”
She blinked at me, surprised, but stepped out of the way. I could feel her fuming as I took over.
“Okay, folks. I’ll keep this simple. If you have actually served in the military or on a police force, please make your way to the outfield. I see a lot of you who are too young to have done either of those.”
Quite a few started to make their way down the steps and into the outfield, funneled and watched by Obsidian security, but a few started coming toward me, with younger people in tow. They were stopped by the guards, but they just stood there and stared at me.
I made my way over and pushed the guards out of the way. “What can I do for you?”
“These are our kids. You want us? You get them too.”
I looked up as the seats continued to empty, and it seemed like every person I thought was too young was related to someone we might want. They weren’t really kids though. They all looked to be at least 18, so they’d grown up in rough times.
