Chapter Twenty-Three
A Slight Problem
Tyler looked up as Ben Watkins came into his office. He smiled and stood up to greet him. “I told you it would work,” he said.
Ben didn’t reply. He just closed the door behind him, walked right up to Tyler, grabbed him by the throat, and shoved him up against the wall, hard.
“You imbecile!” Ben snarled at his surprised victim. “You absolute, brainless idiot! I didn’t think to ask you when you told me what you’d done, but I didn’t think you could be so damn stupid! I thought you had just added to her memories by typing them in! Like you would on a computer! Like you described for the way you changed her language memories around! But you didn’t, did you? I don’t know how you did it, but you used somebody! You used Connors, didn’t you? Answer me, Tyler! You used Connors for the download to Jayne Middleton, didn’t you?”
“Yes, yes! It was Connors!” Tyler replied, trying to wriggle free from Ben’s grip without success. “There would have been far too much data to type in manually! We had to use a human source! What of it?”
“What of it?” Ben almost roared, thumping Tyler against the wall. “I’ll tell you what of it! Julia Connors is a field agent, you daft bastard!”
“That’s why I choose her!” Tyler shouted back. “Who could have been better as a source for information on the Corporation than one of its field agents? Let go of me, Watkins!”
“Not ‘til I get through that thick, ego enlarged skull of yours what a complete mess you’ve made!” Ben insisted, tightening his grip on Tyler’s throat. “Don’t you know what field agents do, Tyler? Have you any idea? Do you think they just steal secrets and patents from rival companies? Well, I’ve got news for you! They do far worse things than that! Things that people like you never get to hear about! Disgusting things! Illegal things! And I’m not just talking about wrecking financial institutions and destroying rival companies! I’m talking about de-stabilising complete countries! I’m talking about killing people! All for the benefit of the Corporation! Do you understand me? And that’s why you don’t want to delve into the minds of the Corporation’s field agents! It’s not a good idea, Tyler!
“Julia Connors and Sam Rawlston are the only two field agents that I know about working on this project! And one of them is working for Casarotto! Has to be! Unless there’s a third one I don’t know about! And God help us if there is! Because field agents that work for Casarotto are far worse than all the others! They’re the reason why everyone says, ‘Yes, Sir!’ and ‘No, Sir!’ and ‘Three bags full, Sir!’ at the board meeting! And that’s why Grant knew so much about the project without you or I having to tell him! And that’s also why Casarotto was able to deal with my ‘little’ problem before I’d even caught the plane home! Because she’s already got someone working for her on the inside!
“Do you understand what all this means, Tyler? Now that you’ve given Jayne Middleton Julia Connors memories, if she’s the one that’s working for Casarotto, then it’s odds on that Jayne is going to know damn well how and why her parents died! And a hell of a lot more, too! Get it now, you moron?”
With that, Ben let go of Tyler, who slowly sank down into his chair behind his desk. Tyler’s hands shook as he rubbed at his face and throat. “Oh God, I didn’t realise,” he muttered in a hoarse voice.
Ben went to stand in the middle of the office with his back to Tyler. He was silent at last, his outburst over. He stood there with his head down, and his hands on his hips.
Tyler was also silent. He was taking deep breaths, trying to calm himself down after his ordeal.
Ben was the first to recover his composure. “I knew it,” he said thoughtfully. “As soon as she called me Benjamin, I just knew it. How much of her memory did you transfer, Tyler?”
Tyler put his hands on his desk to steady his nerves. “It was only supposed to be her recent memories,” he said. “Just enough to make Jayne accept her situation when she awoke, like I told you.”
“Supposed to be?” Ben repeated as he turned to face Tyler once more. “What do you mean, ‘supposed to be’?”
“There was a discrepancy in the amount of memory space used by one of the Crays during the download, that’s all. I’m sure it didn’t mean anything.”
Ben stared up at the ceiling and balled his fists in dismay. “You idiot, Tyler!” he said in a raised voice once more. “You’ve probably given Jayne everything she needs to know about the Corporation! How could you be so stupid? And so damned arrogant? You’ve ruined everything, and you’ve probably killed us both, you do know that don’t you? And do you know why? Because you just got Grant to agree to an extension to the field trial! That’s why Jayne Middleton’s parents had to be killed in the first place! And before they’re even cold, we’re going to have to cut the field trial short once again! Marvellous, Tyler! Fucking marvellous!”
Tyler didn’t reply, he just sat at his desk rubbing his throat.
Ben shook his head and sighed. Dragging one of the spare chairs towards him, he slumped down into it and sat there in silence again, his head cradled in his hands.
Tyler eventually stopped rubbing his throat and looked up at Ben. “I’ll talk to Grant,” he said after a lengthy pause. “I’ll tell him that the experiment went far more successfully than we planned. He’ll accept it from me if I phrase it right, I’m sure he will.”
Ben now also looked up. “If you believe that, you believe pork sausages have flying licenses,” he said without humour.
“We’ll have to kill her,” Tyler went on, ignoring Ben’s remark.
“Yes, we will,” Ben said rather sadly. “And I know just the person to do it, too.” His voice took on a sarcastic tone as he continued. “This person has done everything from fixing the stock market to assassinating the CEO’s of rival companies. You would be horrified and amazed at the wealth of experience this person has at doing disgusting, underhand, and criminal deeds. And the thing is, I don’t even know the half of what she’s done in the past. She would be perfect for the job. But there’s one problem. Would you like to guess what it is, Tyler?”
“I don’t see why it’s a problem. If Julia Connors is that good, then—”
“—Jayne Middleton will be just as good!” Ben interrupted him. “Thanks to you and those damn computers of yours! That’s the problem!”
“That’s it!” Tyler exclaimed and stood up. Confident once more, he strode towards the door. “Stop panicking, man!” he said as he passed a bemused Ben on the way. “We both agree that the only problem we have will disappear as soon as Jayne Middleton is dead. We just have to decide which is the best way to kill her. Well, you’ve got Rawlston and Connors. And as you so rightly pointed out, I’ve got these!” Tyler threw open the door and indicated the computers outside.
Ben stood up and stared. “Of course! The implant!”
“Exactly! We’ve already succeeded in two out of our three objectives with this field trial. That’s why we have our current problem with Ms Middleton. Well, what I can put in, I can take out! I don’t know about you, Ben, but I think it’s time that we achieved our third objective. I think it’s time that we wiped Jayne Middleton out.”