(eng) Mackey Chandler - April 07 by They Said It Would Be Easy

Author:They Said It Would Be Easy [Easy, They Said It Would Be]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

"Special delivery for Mr. Singh," the FedEx guy said at the entry.

Jeff went to take the box there, instead of telling the house to let him in. He and Walter had things on the screen he didn't want seen, much less recorded with someone's spex.

The package was suitcase sized and had a folding handle, which meant it was over six kilo. But it didn't need a hanko, a scribbled signature on the pad was sufficient.

Jeff brought it in and weighed it, then put it on the small table they kept clear for coffee and when they ate lunch in. He rolled it over slowly both ways and made sure it hadn't been slit, and the tamper proof tape was all intact. His pad sniffer didn't detect the common boomies. It weighed exactly what the shipping notice said and looked intact. He was expecting it, so he went ahead and opened it. An unexpected package would have been sent to be x-rayed and maybe remotely opened.

"You're really paranoid," Walter said. He was amused, and that offended Jeff a little.

Jeff pulled off his t-shirt. Walter had never seen him bare chested. He always undressed and dressed again in the bath to maintain some formality.

"See the scar?" Jeff asked him, pointing it out, high on his shoulder, with his finger.

"Yeah?" Walter looked a little upset in the sudden change in behavior.

"A Chinese assassin shot me in the cafeteria. It's not paranoia when anybody is really out to harm you," Jeff assured him. "A hundred years ago it would have probably killed me. Thirty years ago it would have left me with a damaged shoulder, that would never be one hundred percent again."

"And I've sat right next to you there and never realized," Walter worried.

"Professional assassins have really good aim," Jeff assured him. "They're very unlikely to waste shots and hit you by accident." He shrugged his shirt back on.

"I can't tell you how reassuring that is."

"On the other hand, if it's a bomb you might not make out so well," Jeff said.

Jeff's opening of the package suddenly took on a more personal interest.

"But as I expected, it's my holographic seals," Jeff said, "this time."

"Good, are you going to get them in circulation soon? I can take part of my pay in them and start using them if you want," Walter volunteered.

"I'm waiting on the card stock from the moon to put them on. I wanted to use our local product. It's another small check on authenticity too, because our card stock is easily differentiated from Earth products. It would be a major pain in the butt to set up making soy and beet paper specifically to try to counterfeit small denomination bits. It doesn't seem like it would be worthwhile."

"How many?" Walter asked, frowning at the exposed packets of seals. It looked like a lot.

"Twenty thousand. I'll have more soon if these seem satisfactory. Want to count them for me?" Jeff asked. Walter didn't dignify his odd humor with a reply.

"That's going to be a lot of work, sticking all those seals on the cards," Walter said.

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