ABC - Penance

Wonder Bar Factory, Westborough Industrial District

“My apologies for that unfortunate accident, Detective Alvarez” Ms Prendergast told me over her expensively suited shoulder. “Most of our employees are attending a new product launch in the conference room, so there was no one monitoring the factory floor”

“It’s Inspector Alvarez” I corrected her. “No need to apologise, I just got lost looking for the Ladies room”

The bitch stopped, turned to face me and ran her eyes up and down my squat body, short dark hair and men’s cut suit.

“The Ladies room? Of course, do you still require such amenities?” she enquired politely.

“Nope” I replied. “I’ve smelled enough shit for one day”. I walked past her, looking with interest into the windows that overlooked more manufacturing chambers. “You run a lot of research labs down here, don’t you?”

“The market is always demanding new products so we have to constantly improve them” she answered smoothly. “Let me show you our new line”

I was expertly manoeuvered into an elevator and it took us up two levels. The funk had soaked its way through my coat and clothing, probably into my skin, yet Ms Prendergast seemed unconcerned as we stood together in the enclosed space.

“So, I was here to ask about one of your employees” I began, speaking over the chirpy music being piped into the elevator car.

“Mr Fong, Jake Fong, wasn’t it?” she answered. “He was a minor Accounts manager for our Research Division as I recall. Mr Fong has left our employment a few weeks ago I am afraid”

The car doors opened on another corridor, this one carpeted in pale grey with cream walls. My host escorted me from the elevator and led me to a set of double doors. She opened them, revealing a large open room with tiers of seat rising up at one side. Maybe fifty people were seated there, watching a slick man in a well cut suit giving a presentation.

A holo-screen was playing over his head, showing happy young men and women living an enviable life of playing sports, working in clean offices and laughing at social gatherings. In every situation, they would pause and eagerly unwrap a Basic Bar, chomping down on the brown log with cheerful expressions.

I didn’t see one of the actors actually chew and swallow the damn things.

“This is the new Basic Bar” the spokesman declared, mimicking the tag line displayed in the promotional video. “All the great nutrition and taste you remember, but now it’s Basically Better!”

The presentation ended to a scattering of applause, which Ms Prendergast enthusiastically joined in. I just stood there and surveyed the crowd, seeing a mix of workers in their white coats and office staff in business suits and smart office clothes.

None of them looked like Jacob Tan, also known as Jake Fong. I could not see anyone that resembled my attempted assassin either but I didn’t have a clear enough memory of her to be sure.

We waited to the side as the staff got to their feet and filed from the room. At the doorway a young woman had a small table set up, offering the passing employees a sample bar of the new product. Only a couple of workers took one, the rest shying away politely.

I scanned them all as they passed, hoping at least to identify my woman from the tank. Still no hits, so I sighed and went to leave the conference room.

“Excuse me, Detective” piped up Ms Prendergast. “Would you care for some samples of the new Basic Bar?”

The young woman at the table looked so hopeful I nodded my agreement. She handed me half a dozen, barely denting the stack she had remaining.

“Thanks” I muttered to her and stuffed the wrapped bars into a pocket of my coat. Maybe I could palm them off on Minke as a treat.

Ms Prendergast took the lead again, taking me past various closed doors and offices until we went down another set of stairs. The door opened into the other side of the Reception area, where a smiling Myles beamed at me from behind his counter.

“I am sorry we could not be of more assistance, Detective Alvarez” the Prendergast bitch told me smoothly.

“Inspector Alvarez” I reminded her automatically. “Can you provide me with details of his role while under your employment?”

“My apologies, Inspector, but that information is commercially sensitive” she countered easily. “All I can offer is an extract of his Personnel File. Perhaps the contact details in there may be of use?”

“Sure” I agreed reluctantly. She took a slim datapad from her inner jacket and tapped a few commands, then held the device towards me. I dug out my phone and set it to receive a data packet, which Ms Prendergast duly transmitted to me.

With that done, I walked from the premises, my feet squelching in my boots as the steam from the tank dripped its way down my calves.

I went to my bike, still parked where I had left it and waited for Ghost’s call.

“You look like a drowned rat” he suggested into my earpiece. “What the hell happened in there?”

I shrugged my shoulders, letting loose another cloud of wet fug that drifted around me like a sloppy fart. I knew everything I was wearing needed to be professionally cleaned and perhaps burned.

“Somebody tried to kill me I think” I replied. “It seems a pretty extreme response to asking a few questions”

Ghost pondered his own response, watching me I was sure through the sights of his rifle.

“Don’t be too surprised, Alvarez” he cautioned me. “Most people want to kill you as soon as they meet you”

I raised my middle finger in his direction, then got onto my bike. It started instantly without exploding, so I took my helmet from the locking device and jammed it onto my wet hair.

There was only one consolation I thought as I twisted the throttle, accelerating the electric bike out onto the road. I couldn’t smell the sewage plant anymore.

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Alvarez Apartment, South Bank District

There was a pretty blonde girl in a red jacket and stone-washed jeans waiting outside the parking lot of my apartment building. She stood as I rode up to the keyed gate and it took me a few moments to make the connection in my head.

“Minke?” I called out. “Hot damn girl, you look great!”

This close I could see the scars around her neck and on her hands, but she was still stunning. She smiled coyly at me, brushing her long hair over her shoulder.

“I thought I deserved some new clothes” she admitted and I could see a new backpack at her feet as well. The retail therapy had improved her mood I could see and I smiled back at her. Then a breeze carried my new perfume to her nostrils and she gagged, threw her hands over her mouth and nose and backed away to a safe distance.

“Yeah, sorry about that” I apologised. “Someone tried to boil me in shit an hour ago. I only came home to shower and change”

Then the thought hit me.

“Why are you waiting out here, Minke?” I asked her. “I gave you a spare key to the apartment”

“It’s that building supervisor” she confessed. “I was going to go in the front door, then I saw her talking to that Mr Liu in the foyer”

Ah yes, the Dynamic Duo, Guardians of the Foyer. Even us legitimate residents dreaded getting past that pair of watch dogs.

“Okay, come on up with me now” I told her and keyed the security gate open. She followed my bike to the parking space I was allotted, then together we snuck into the elevator from the basement. The gods were smiling on me for once and the car bypassed the foyer level and pinged open on the third floor.

Minke let out a big gasp as we exited and I suspected she had been holding her breath the entire ride up four levels. I was starting to feel quite self conscious about this so I hurried to the apartment and let us in.

I left Minke in the main room while I got into the bathroom. All of my clothes went into a washing bag, right down to my socks and boxers. I fished out the Basic Bars and laid them on the wash basin, with my pistol and holster to the side. My phone and earpiece joined them and I was ready for some serious scrubbing!

=====

I soaked my body under the running shower for a good thirty minutes, shampooing my head twice and shaving every tuft of hair from the rest of my body, excluding my eyebrows. At the end of the process I felt like a brand new person and I hoped that smell had gone for good.

In my haste I had not brought any spare clothes into the bathroom, so I wrapped myself in a bath sheet and went out into the living area. Minke was on the couch and glanced up from her new phone to give me a friendly grin so I grinned back. I was getting to like having her around I realised.

Jan and I were still taking our relationship slowly, spending one night a week at one of our places. Amy was often with us so when we stayed here, she slept in the bed with both of us. It meant the physical relationship between Jan and I was definitely taking some time to grow, not that I minded too much.

It did leave me feeling very horny at times though, so being squeaky clean and naked except for a towel sent some dangerous sensations rushing through my body.

“You must have scrubbed really hard” Minke observed. “You are bright red!”

Yeah, that was only partly due to the shower. I went into the bedroom and located some underwear and a set of casual clothes. My next visit for the day was kind of official yet would not require me to dress that way.

I went back into the living area in black jeans, white t-shirt and my leather bike jacket, the one with light armour weave under the material. Minke whistled appreciatively which pleased me no end, so I gave her a wave as I went to the bathroom. In there I wiped down the pistol and holster with toilet paper, then slung it under my left armpit.

The Basic Bars and my phone got a clean too, then I hoisted my bag of dirty clothes in one hand and went into the living room again. I dropped the washing bag next to the doorway and sat down next to Minke.

“Okay, these are for you” I said and handed her the protein bars. “They gave me some at the factory so I thought you might like them”

Minke eyed them curiously, checking the packets and giving one a sneaky sniff when she thought I wasn’t looking.

“Thanks, Luisa” she said. “I prefer the Wonder Nut Bars but these are good too”.

She went back to fiddling with her phone, so I got mine out and held it next to hers.

“Do you want my phone number?” I enquired. She nodded quickly so we exchanged numbers using the digital connection facility. I was amused to see she had bought herself the latest model of the phone that I used. Like a fool I commented on how we shared similar tastes.

“Huh?” she replied. “This was just the cheapest model they had”

Yep, that described me in a nutshell. The cheapest model available.