Replica (Original Work)

Chapter 15 - Final Prep

April 18th, 2076. 06:32 hours.

I awoke early the next day, near dawn. I spent most of the early hours either pacing my makeshift quarters or staring out the plate glass windows in front of the building. Hexadyn maintained perfectly manicured and landscaped grounds in just about every direction outside, the simple fact that they had procured so much real estate a standing testament to the company's power and influence.

It made for quite a striking sight when the sun was just gleaming past the towers of uptown and out over the field of flowers and fountains. Gradually, more life began to fill the building, and by the time I decided to get to what needed doing, it was abuzz with activity.

I settled into my office, propped myself behind the desk, and set to work. At some point that day, I was going to be acting section chief. It was time for me to play the part. The first thing I did was arrange for our transport to the hyper rail station. Thanks to the obvious security concerns, I didn't want us rolling around in company cars. No, I wanted something more durable than that. I opened a line to material requisitions and arranged for us to be trucked out by armored personnel carrier. The company had several on hand in the heavy equipment facility just outside of town, and riding in those would ensure we weren't going to get fragged by anything short of an advanced anti armor rocket.

Second, I called in Peirce. The man was clearly languishing under the weight of exhaustion. Apparently reassuring his family hadn't afforded him the luxury of a good night's rest. He collapsed into the chair across from my desk, rubbing his forehead.

"Long night?" I asked.

"You don't know the half of it."

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to rest on the train. I called you for a reason, it's about Boones."

He eased back up in the seat. "What about him?"

"In the time since he transferred to SID, have you noticed anything odd or strange about him?"

He closed his eyes and shook his head, tilting it downward. "Odd? You mean besides the fact that he comes off as a bit of a prick?"

"If it came to it, do you think you could take him out?" I maintained a calm, even tone.

That question got his attention. He snapped his head back up, wide eyed. "What the hell kind of question is that?"

"Dunlap found something that may or may not have implicated him. I'm pairing you with him on the Texas operation as per our usual setup. If he tries to pull anything less than kosher, I want you to incapacitate him."

He just looked at me for a moment, then nodded. "I understand. Listen, I'm not sure I can do that, ethically or physically. Maybe Cutter would be better?"

"I'm bringing Cutter in as primary fire support. I need to know if you can handle it. If not, I don't want you on the op at all."

He put his hand back to his forehead, and just stewed on it. I reached a hand across my desk and set it in front of him. "Peirce, if you can't it's fine. We can manage without you." I said.

"No, no. I can do it. I'll keep an eye on him." Perice was loyal to a fault, but if it came between the rest of us and his partner he'd side with us.

"Do you still use that old forty-five revolver over the standard nine millimeter?"

He nodded. "It's what I shoot best, but why is that relevant now?"

"Because I want you to carry less lethal ammunition. Might be easier to find some for a nine. Regardless of what he does, Boones is a member of the team. I don't want you to kill the man."