VENGEANCE IN RED

The third part of a new fiction tale by Nate Machado



(EPISODE THREE)

Reaching the elevator, I began my descent back to the lobby and my two fun loving escorts. The ride was uneventful and boring, much like the men and women who were involved with the company. Peering over at the small computer terminal located in the elevator, I noticed how it appeared to be inoperative. This struck me as strange, considering how ship-shape McCain kept everything running. Fidgeting with it for a moment, I realized there was in fact nothing wrong with the terminal, except that its power had been cut off.

At first, I didn't understand. but then, like a laser between the eyes, it hit me. Apparently McCain had remembered what had happened during my last visit, when I cross-connected the sprinkler system program with the lavatory subroutine., thus causing every toilet in the building to erupt like Old Faithful. It was one of my better "outbursts", as McCain liked to call them, and it caused quite a ruckus with all of the staff. And, as was typical, the humor of the moment was lost on everyone. Everyone except me.

If I remember correctly, the computer hacks the company employees still can't deduce how I accomplished that little number. And I'll never tell either. I guess McCain wanted to make sure I left this time peacefully and quietly, since I had used an elevator terminal to pull off that memorable little stunt. Damn, talk about overly cautious. Like I would try the same trick twice. he should at least give me some credit for originality. Boy, does that man need a serious blowjob.

Arriving at ground zero, myself and the two "crew-cuts" exited the lobby and made our way to the waiting limousine. With a boisterous "tallyho", we sped off towards the airport and my waiting first class ticket aboard a Delta 787 bound for Los Angeles. The ride was brief but it gave me the time to watch more post game highlights on the All Sports Channel. It was great watching all Bruins hug one another and spray each other with champagne After this assignment is over, I'll have to get in touch with Cam Jr . so we go out and really celebrate this victory.

Before I knew it, we were back at the airport and the two agents escorted me to my waiting plane. As I walked down the gangplank, I turned back and looked at my two best buddies in the whole wide world. there they stood: straight backed with their hands cupped together forming a triangle with their arms. God, looking at them you'd swear they were cardboard cut-outs. Seizing an opportunity, I rushed back to them, arms wide and with fake tears in my eyes. Clutching them together with my arms, I squeezed them together as hard as I could and then cried out so the whole airport could hear. "Oh God! I'll miss you guys! But don't worry...I'll be alright! I promise to write everyday and to keep eating my vegetable! Just look after Auntie 'Em for me, okay? And don't worry because I'm gonna make it after all!"

And, on that mark, I jetted back down the gangplank. Peering out of the corner of my eye, I could see then start to laugh and lose that stoic composure McCain had drilled into them. For one brief moment, they were human again and I knew my job was done. Taking my seat, I waited for the plane to depart.

After a brief fifteen minute wait, we were airborne. Tilting my seat back, I relaxed in the plushness that could only be First Class. It was times like these that I loved my job. Sucking down some fine champagne provided by my lovely stewardess, I pulled out the disc provided by McCain and loaded it into my personal hand-held computer. The green hue of the screen popped up and graciously asked for the password. thankfully, McCain hadn't provided me with the pass code before I left. Just one of the ways he tries to get under my skin: by attempting to make my job harder.

Pausing for a moment, I put my clever little gray matter to work and, within seconds, had deduced McCain's password. Effortlessly, I typed in the words 'grow up' and the file cleared, allowing me access to information on the now dead Senator Thomas. It started off pretty mundane, giving me age, date of birth, current residence, and that other boring stuff. The kind of information one could get from your average daily newscast.

Pressing onward, I finally got to some information that might be useful. The Senator graduated top of his class from Princeton with a Master Degree in Political Science. From there, he jumped into politics and used his family's moderate fortune to win a seat in the House of Representatives. He served three successful terms before jumping to the big time and making it to the Senate. Initially, he served on the insignificant committees, attempting to impress his superiors and finally move on up to the powerf ul committees.

Into his second term, he finally made the grade and was assigned to the Senate Finance Committee. It didn't take him long thereafter to ultimately lead the Senate Intelligence Committee.

It was information like this that lead to the making of enemies; usually powerful enemies with long memories who would eventually strike back when most opportune. Most times, it was usually some kind of blackmail or extortion: the kind of things politicians are good at. Murder, or in this case, assassination, was usually a rarity. But who knows what kind of enemies the Senator had made in his political life. maybe somewhere between the lines hid the truth. Scrolling downward on the screen, I by-passed some other information to glance at some of the personal information that had been gathered about the Senator.

Personally, the file indicated that the Senator was a private man who had been married and divorced. It had only lasted a year and there were no children. he made his alimony payments on time and there was apparently no animosity between himself and his ex-wife. Now there's a true rarity. Currently, the Senator was spending his free time with a blonde named Lisa Jordan. From the description of her on hand, the Senator was a lucky man. the file went on to indicate that he had no tendencies towards any kind of perversion: public or private. He was what I called a straight shooter across the board. Or he was so good as to avoid intelligence finding out about such things.

As I continued to look through the file, I determined that most of the information was pretty useless. I figured the agent McCain was attaching me too would have more pertinent information.

The file contained other pertinent information about Thomas' childhood and such, but I didn't think that would be of any use either. When I finally arrived at the kill sight and inspected that, then I could separate the info and decide what was useful.

Just as I was about to look up one more bit of info, I spied a cute looking redhead staring at me from across the aisle. her hair went down to her shoulders and was extremely curly. Her complexion was fair and her body hugged the shape of her seat like an Indy car does the race track. She was wearing a tight, short red dress, a white halter top, and a small burgundy jacket which covered what I could surely tell were smooth, silky shoulders. My eyes traced her all around starting with her legs and ending at the ends of her gorgeous red fingertips. She smiled at me again and without a second thought, I closed out the file and ejected the disc.

Waiting three seconds, the disc sizzled for a moment and a small pop erupted from it. The self-destruct device within it had done its' job. Putting my computer away, I turned my full attention to the lovely woman before me. Hoping that within a short amount of time, she would have me popping just like my disc.

God bless the company.

TO BE CONTINUED



copyright 1996 Nate Machado

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