Where There's Fire: Panopolis #2 (Panopolis Series) by Cari Z

Author:Cari Z [Z, Cari]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-11-25T16:00:00+00:00

5

Chapter Five

Say you’ve run a red light and hit another car. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you find out someone’s hurt? Do you apologize? Do you acknowledge your mistake and call an ambulance? Do you fill out a police report like a responsible citizen and take your punishment, knowing it was deserved? That’s what society expects out of you, and ostensibly of all of us. If you hurt someone, you pay for it, monetarily and possibly judicially. It’s only fair, right?

Well, that’s how it works for you and me. Not for GenCorp. When they hurt someone, they go on a charm offensive, parading their past successes in front of you like a shield while they spread money around behind the scenes. Lawsuit? No, no, there’s no need for that sort of thing, and the affected families have already agreed to settle in the case of this terrible accident. Investigation? Our methods are the best; we test everything a bazillion times; here, admire all our awards! Faking our results? It’s an aberration, a bad apple, we would never, hey look over here at everything else that we’re working on!

Does anyone really think that this dog and pony show is a good corporate policy? Ask the families of the seven people who died last week.

Vibro took me to the apartment she shared with her brother, which was within spitting distance of #5 and surprisingly secure and well equipped. My care package took the form of a brief shower where I washed the worst of my day away—the soot and smoke and last few remnants of makeup. That was followed by a nondescript pair of jeans with enough pockets for my Chap stick tube and gemstones, a long-sleeved shirt that would cover the worst of the burns on my arms, a gauzy hipster-esque scarf, and an umbrella, since it seemed like it was going to rain. There was also a secondhand smartphone that could at least access the internet, and a thumb drive that Vibro handled like gold.

“Plug this into a computer in GenCorp’s main branch and it will automatically log in and download all the information on its hard drive. It cost an arm and a fucking leg, so be careful with it.”

I gazed blankly at the innocuous little blue drive. “Are you sure it’ll work?”

“It’s guaranteed. My contact has ways of breaking into the computer systems of every major corporation and government facility in Panopolis,” Vibro bragged. “Each one requires a different program, hence the price . . . And shit, you’re about to fall over, aren’t you.”

“I skipped breakfast,” I said numbly. “Lunch too.”

“You have to keep your blood sugar up,” Vibro told me as she left and rummaged through her fridge. She came back with a glass filled to the brim with pinkish sludge, handed it over, and crossed her arms. “Go on. It’s strawberry banana, it’s not going to kill you.”

I sipped unenthusiastically. The last time I’d had anything smoothie-like, it had been Freight Train’s Nutrigro sludge, which fell somewhere between vomit and mushroom tea in flavor.

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