The Wire Hanger

Chapter Twenty-three

Esau jumped up. “So what are we waiting for?”            

        Obadiah and David exchanged glances. “It’s not quite that simple, kid. Last night’s attempt was the result of months of planning. We can’t just go guns a-blazing.”

            “Right,” said David, with the barest glance at Obadiah’s hip, where I knew his gun must be hidden just out of sight. “Anyway, there are bigger issues at play here.”

            Esau opened his mouth indignantly but I was faster. “These are real people!”

            “So is everyone else in this godforsaken city,” snapped David. “We can’t rescue ten people and leave the rest of them to fend for themselves.”

            “But they’re fine,” said Esau.

            David scoffed. “That’s what you think. That’s the whole point. You have no idea what’s really going on because you’re right in the middle of it. You can’t see the world from inside your own ass.”

            “David,” said the Professor mildly.

            “So what are you talking about, then?” I asked. “What’s your big idea?”

            “What we’ve always been planning on,” said David. “This rescue-the-women thing, that’s just a side project. I mean, don’t get me wrong, we’ll get to it, value of life blah blah. But it’s not the point. None of this is the point. This isn’t your story, kid. You just appeared in the middle of it.”

            “What’s the point then?” asked Esau.

            David sighed huffily. “Are we doing Corporation 101 now?”

            “Might as well,” said Jezebel. “Did you have other, more pressing plans?” She stood up and looked at him with a blandly pleasant look, but I could sense the others backing out of the way ever so slightly. “Those of you without interest are of course welcome to leave. A good night’s sleep would be beneficial to all of us.”

            Almost everyone filed out of the kitchen, leaving me, Esau, Jezebel, the Professor, and Noah, who was still keeping a careful eye on Esau.

            “Hot cocoa?” asked the Professor. Esau’s eyes widened as he pulled out milk from the fridge.

            “How did you get –“

            “There are avenues,” said the Professor, “not entirely controlled by the Corporation. You could call it the black market if that would make things simpler. What you have to understand first is this: what the Corporation makes available is only a small fraction of what is available. Be this food, resources, jobs, what have you.”

            “So there’s actually milk? Like, beyond the wall?”

            The Professor shrugged enigmatically. “Perhaps. And there are more local venues as well. But the milk is not the point; the milk is an illustration of the point.”

            “Then what’s the point?” I asked. I didn’t know why Noah was here – surely he knew all of this already – and I resented that he was sitting around watching my unwitting ignorance.

            “It wasn’t always like this,” Jezebel said. “I mean, I remember when I was a kid and the Corporation’s power was solidifying, but my grandparents wouldn’t have recognized the city. But Pharma Saves got quite a lot of power. They managed to squeeze out the other medical companies and that was bad enough – gave them control over everyone’s health, from conception to death. But that wasn’t enough for them.”

            The Professor nodded. “The financial information Noah has unearthed has helped illuminate this point. With expanded buying power they were able to take over more and more businesses until they owned virtually every corner of commerce, and from there, well, they were easily more powerful than the government. In theory the government makes the laws – the curfew, the head scarves – but it’s the strong arm of the Corporation.”

            “They have the Protectors,” added Jezebel. “They’re not really a police force in the traditional sense. I mean, the boots on the ground are basically that, but the real power is in the Corporation’s ability to wield them like a fist. They carry out the Corporation’s will. Which brings us to your mother.”

            Esau was shaking his head. “There’s no way,” he said. “Our dad’s a Protector. He wouldn’t be involved in this.”

            “He may not have known,” said the Professor gently. “It has taken us years to gather this much information.”

            “Wouldn’t have been him anyway,” said Jezebel, her tone breezy. “It’s only the elite guard that would carry out high-stakes missions like that.”

            The air caught in my throat. I hadn’t had a chance to tell Esau about what I’d seen in the Centre, and suddenly I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Let him believe in our father for a little while longer.

            “Okay,” said Esau slowly. “But I don’t get it – what does it matter if they own everything? Life is pretty good, right?”

            “Occasional kidnappings aside,” I said.

            He ignored me. “But nobody’s starving, nobody’s stealing. That used to happen all the time. It doesn’t happen anymore.”

            The Professor said, “That’s true. But that comes at a cost. Everyone’s livelihood is tied to them, so they control the flow of goods. And the flow of money. You can pay someone whatever you want when they don’t have anywhere else to go.”

            “But they give out food,” said Esau. “You don’t have to buy food.”

            “And where does that food come from?” said the Professor. “Someone has to grow it, and has to manufacture it. The more heavily processed, the more people employed, the less they have to pay, the more control the Corporation has. It’s a snake eating its own tail. A self-perpetuating cycle.”

“Meanwhile they’re handing out food and kissing babies and looking like stand-up guys,” said Jezebel.

“What are the Tigers trying to do?” I asked. Esau gave me a funny look.

“Spread the word,” said Jezebel. “Same as the Bears, really. They want to come up with a way to tell everyone what’s really going on. Finding the women would have been a really good feather in their cap – personal testimonies, assuming the women are willing to talk. Like I said before, they’ve got different ideologies but they both want to, let’s say, burn the whole thing down. The Tigers somewhat more literally.”

“How’re they going to do that?” I asked.

Jezebel shrugged. “I don’t think they even know yet. I was able to convince some of them to come along by telling them about Noah’s tech prowess, which will definitely come in handy.”

Noah, in his corner of the kitchen, showed no real reaction.

“They need an emotional lynchpin. Something people will believe. But I’m sure they’ll come up with something else.” Her last sentence dripped with disdain.

“So what does this mean?” asked Esau.

“It means we sleep,” said the Professor, “and we consider the problem with fresh eyes in the morning. A great deal of progress has been made today but the stakes have risen, given the latest attempt. They will be watching for us. They know we’re coming for them.”

I couldn’t help but shiver.