Ripped Open (The Infected: Ripped to Shreds Book 2) Read online

  It very nearly left her wondering if dying would have been the better plan.

  Then, Cin ignored that thought and buried herself in work. There were things to do, and people to impress. If she could.

  It wasn’t really going to be all that easy, she didn’t think. The people there were all old hands after all, so it might take a bit to impress them.

  Chapter three

  As it turned out, impressing the IPB team heads wasn’t actually that hard to do when it came down to presentations. Even on short notice it hadn’t been hard to find out, from each of their stories, exactly what they were going to want to know about the various projects. Interestingly, Cin did that, got them to address different questions, by just printing the basic ideas onto blank pages of their books. Magically asking them to respond to what she wanted to know about. Except with Chris Poures, who would know that she was doing it if she tried.

  The move was a new one for her, and a thing that she would have never expected to work in the slightest. Just imagining the words she wanted, in the form of a question, as long as she focused on the work in front of her hard enough, got answers. Real ones, that seemed to be completely honest and unfiltered. Thankfully, what they really wanted on the various projects wasn’t all that hard to come up with. It was mainly that the things would be simple enough to be put into play, and that she illustrate a few points with graphs or pictures, so that things wouldn’t be mind-numbingly boring.

  That meant ripping off a few copy-written images from the internet, but the truth was that no one in the world was going to see the presentation she was making, other than people on the base. Not even that many of those, so she didn’t feel too bad about her abuse of the law. Not that she really ever did.

  In the end she was standing at the front of a good sized room, and talking smoothly, as the large projection screen played the slides that she wanted them to see, at about eight that evening.

  “In the main, this is about keeping morale up. The training benefits really are worth the effort, though. In similar situations, studies have shown up to a thirty percent improvement in military forces, if they understand the jobs of those around them. That should translate to our situation here.” Cindy had gone over everything pretty clearly for them, including handing out the names of the project leaders, along with contact data for each of them. Not all of them had cell phones yet, so she’d put in where they normally were each day, along with who was likely to be around them that did have a phone all the time.

  After that, the people that were up for the various jobs were supposed to speak. Now they did not have nifty pictures or handouts for things. It left her looking better than them. Which was a good thing in her book. The only person that seemed to have an honest to god prepared speech was Georgia, who seemed very professional, when it came down to it. Her voice was smooth and face smiling already, even if she was just covering the new schedule being made up for her.

  “So, any volunteers are welcome! Remind people not to feel shy about getting in on this. We can put up some sign-up sheets, for each team?” That was her goal, Cindy understood.

  Having ten friends was a good thing, but having a hundred would make her life pretty easy. Almost like she was in the real world, where getting people to have sex with was simple for a woman that looked like her. Even better, Kerry was the one doing the actual hard work of making certain everyone was on board with things. Still, the point was a good one.

  Pixie loved the idea of being slightly more organized and accessible to all and sundry. What was going on over her head, in a rather nice lavender print, was all about how much this would expand her list of friends. Oddly, Marcia was a bit less than pleased about that part of the plans.

  “Is that really the kind of thing a government organization should be wasting time with? I mean, you’re a grown woman, and can get things like that for yourself.”

  Everyone went silent for a moment then. No one else was actually that bothered by the idea of a schedule for things like that. The main reason was clear as well.

  Smiling, Cindy decided to run with what everyone else was thinking, since it should give her some backup, and leave her seeming like she actually cared about other people. It wasn’t true and she wasn’t lying to anyone about that kind of thing. This would still influence a lot of them to kind of forget about her lack of empathy. If she did the whole thing correctly.

  The trick would be in speaking without seeming mean or snotty. Luckily she’d practiced that kind of thing for years at the library.

  “Except that we’re the IPB? That means we need to start looking out for people’s first modes a bit more. We kind of… I guess the best phrase for it right now would be forgive and forget? That’s great, but over half of the people here don’t go around having combative problems with anyone at all. No, their first modes are softer, but still cause problems for them. Most of the time we can’t do much about them, except try to be understanding. The rest of the time we should step up and do what we can. With Georgia… Well, she has needs that most of us don’t. Making sure that doesn’t become a problem for her protects the rest of us from her having a problem.” She nearly added something to be funny, then actually did, not knowing how many people would get it on the fly like she was working. “For instance, providing me with people to kill on occasion? That’s a good thing to do, too. Not that it’s a mode issue, now.”

  That got a lot of people to look at her. Most even understood what she was saying on both levels. That the treatment was working on her, a woman. Also that she’d been the one to serve the Death Warrant earlier that day. True, the killing was done by Rachel Chambers, but that wasn’t what would be on the record there. She was the one that had been in control on the ground. The new girl.

  Really, that was kind of a huge thing, given that most of the time they passed the warrants to the Agents to be served, unless it took powers to get things done. In that case…

  Most of the time Marcia took those herself.

  That information surprised her, more than a bit. After all, the whole world knew that Impulse was the massive super killer. That the older woman, and Marcia was that, pushing fifty something, for all she could have passed for a college student with the right outfit, did it anyway. To protect the rest of them from having to have nightmares about her decisions too often.

  Only now there was her. A wonderful psycho that no one would buy as being one, who wouldn’t have any problems with death at all. Not that Hobbs or the others couldn’t have taken care of things for them. Not Denis, actually. That took a bit of looking up, but he actually would be having some problems over the torture that he’d helped with. Haunting screams in the night and all that good fun. He’d also have done the same thing again the next day, if a pedophile had to be put down. Even if it eventually killed him from the inside out.

  Instead of arguing the point, Marcia actually just waved at her. That was due to the fact that over half the room had started to nod then, more than not wanting to argue with Cin’s impeccable logic.

  “Fine. Let’s just make sure it’s never a problem? I don’t really want to have to explain to the President how we run a Pixie sex service.” She grinned a bit, and then let her face relax.

  “So, that, cross training, and the things with the cooking show? Wilson and Young have the new program with the other agencies. If they need anyone, try to get them as quickly as possible? If it’s not… Then a good substitution should be recommended. We all have our own jobs, but it really won’t hurt to have a bit of good will being generated.”

  Everyone nodded, and smiled at the papers in front of them then. Or, to be far more exact, they looked down, trying not to start a conversation, which would keep them all in place for longer than was needed. Marcia was the kind to want to go over everything. Three or four times, if using different words. For massive projects, or complex things that was a great idea. Not that anyone loved it most of the time. These people, in particular, weren’t into long meetings, on
the whole.

  Charles was the best of the team leaders that way on the surface, which was a bit surprising. Christian Poures obviously wanted to leave the space, but that was a clear cut first mode thing. Cindy could see that floating above her head almost constantly, even as she worked as hard as she could not to be a bitch about it. That was even in there, too. A nearly constant refrain that came up every paragraph or so for the woman.

  The Team One chief honcho was more interesting. He’d taken notes to begin with, so felt that going back over things like they tended to do was mainly a waste of time. One that could be filled with more important work. Even just getting to what had been talked about would be superior as far as that went.

  The man was decent looking, in a well-dressed and fairly bland way. He had on a suit, which looked more dapper business than dressy night time meeting. Interestingly, he wasn’t just infected, but actually a fairly famous super hero. One that she hadn’t come across a lot, but as soon as Cindy got her mind wrapped around the idea, images started to come into play over the man’s head. Ones where he was guarding the President, or standing back behind Prime and Argos in photo shoots.

  The thing there was that the man did not want to be sitting in the room they were in at the moment. Even if it had been the most productive meeting for him in a while. Most of the time they went over things that didn’t affect Team One at all, since they did the public relations work most of the time. Today for the first time in months, his people were being looked after. Both by being included in the cross training, and Georgia actually being treated like a real person. Finally. That was important, and a thing that he’d tried to get to happen before, himself. The big difference here was that people from other teams had done it.

  That meant they could enlist almost everyone willing to take part without it being him overstepping bounds, personally. That was dicey for him, given that it involved sex in this case. After the one time that he’d had relations with Karen, everyone had started to treat him like a deviant on the subject.

  It pissed him off, even as he understood it.

  Cindy didn’t really care, but put the whole thing together. The man was the one that had slept with Karen, breaking up her and Proxy in the first place. Even if that wasn’t exactly what had really taken place. The real issue had been about Becky. The dead girl that lived in Chris’s head now. That was plain in her story. Which, Cin noticed, she could look at without bugging the telepath at all. Thinking about Christian was bothering the woman, but doing things with the other woman was fine. That was interesting. It was obvious that the ghost was just a picture that was put into people’s heads after all. Still, she also had a real presence that was separate and all her own.

  The red headed lady looked at her and waved a bit, standing across the room, being visible to everyone there, but not sitting in a chair, not actually being invited to the meeting, even if that was a mistake. Clearly. Cin winked at her, which had the ghost wondering if she was being flirted with. Which was different, since, while it left her uneasy, she also kind of reveled in it.

  Attention was still a fun thing for her, apparently.

  Turner sighed, looked around and waved at them all.

  “Go then, you lazy, lazy cadre of command. I think we covered everything, anyway. If you have any questions get with the section’s leaders. For anything else… Check with Mableton first. Make sure they have your data, Cindy.” Then, acting as if putting the crazy people in charge was a good decision, she left. Only going back to her office, which was about fifty feet down the hallway, but it meant she had to scramble and start writing things out by hand.

  That always looked sloppy to her, but no one seemed to mind all that much. On the great side, all she had was a single email account. The only real difference would be that now she’d have to check it at least once a day.

  Chris, looking tall and blonde to her, as well as decently stately, if not actually refined at the moment, being a bit too sexy for that, stomped off the instant that she had the email address. It was actually a quick walk, but there was real effort behind it. That wasn’t even totally about her, which was nice to see. The words over her head spoke of being just about to lose control and yelling at people, if she couldn’t get free from them. There had been twelve people in the room, and that was about ten more than she could really hang out with.

  ~So, it isn’t personal. ~

  The words in her head were probably meant to be shocking to her, but given everything it seemed more or less fair. After all, Cindy really was getting info from the cool blonde woman. The one who after that just kept moving away. It was hard not to read up on her, but it seemed that it was the preferred way of dealing with each other at the moment.

  As in, outside of needed issues, they stayed out of each other’s minds as much as possible. Not that she had anything left to hide of note. There had been one big thing… And some jay walking in her past. Now that was all out in the open. Whatever Chris had going on was her own look out, and not even possibly that bad.

  It was really tempting to try and find out what that might be, but doing a direct reference search would probably tick the woman off. Now, if she could find an encyclopedia, and go through that, it might work pretty well.

  Smiling, she nodded to herself. After all, she had one of those. It was called Trivia. The woman that knows everything. If she knew it, then it was more than possible for Cin to know it as well, just reading up on things. All that was needed would be bringing the lady’s book up, and then indexing over to… Anyone, actually.

  If they were alive, they could be found. Even if they were just in living memory, that should work for her. It was exciting to think about, since it really did mean that she kind of had access to everything. All information.

  That meant she could blackmail so many people. It wasn’t what she’d been thinking of, but she had been considering ways to make money not too long before. Though, if she wanted to be a bit more on the side of law and goodness doing some insider trading could work out as well. Bridget had suggested something like that once. The trick would be in losing enough cash to make it seem like she was really successful, but not using Infected powers to cheat. Even if she totally was.

  There were a few sheets of paper left, but everyone leaving had one in their hand. Even the people that were starting their new jobs the next day. They filed out, with Karen hanging back, pushing Brian to go on ahead, if gently.

  It was fishy seeming, but the copper headed woman hung back, her face a bit concerned. Her mind was too, and not about anything sane at all. She, being a font of compassion, was actually concerned that she’d stolen Brian away from Cindy. Using sex as a weapon.

  She waited for the woman to get there and went wide eyed.

  “Except the part where I literally told you to do it? If I was really going to have a problem with you and Yi getting together I would have sent you off and done it myself. We’re good. So stop that… Whatever you call what you’re about to try and do.”

  The look on the other woman’s face was a combination of relief and annoyance, which wasn’t what she was actually feeling inside. No, she was worried about how incredibly hard things must be for the new woman. Having had her ability to kill people stolen away like she had.

  Karen grinned after that however.

  “Good. I was worried about that. Do you… I know that you mentioned sharing him…”

  The words above her head were kind of panicked then, because it was going to get really messy if she had to juggle Brian, Georgia and Cindy at the same time. Even just having her friendship with Pixie had caused problems. Brian wouldn’t, but everyone would think the wrong thing if she came up with yet another close female friend. The press loved to accuse her of things after all.

  All of them, at the moment, and they were looking for things along those lines.

  So Cin waved the whole thing away.

  “You’re good going back to work? I know that you volunteered to be Dave’s assista
nt… That isn’t a real problem for you, is it?” It hadn’t seemed like it before, but she might have been having a first mode moment.

  “Not even a tiny bit. David can be in charge of that one. We need more people that look… Interesting, to be in charge of things. For a long time, under Director Moore, we kind of tried to present the pretty people all the time. Even the average looking ones were held back, more or less. I mean, when Brian got here they tried to hide him at first. He was a little heavy back then, but not ugly or a strange color. Even that was considered too much of a risk. Now… I think we should stop doing that. I mean, Dave is attractive even. Have you ever noticed his eyes?”

  They were pretty cool, having rings of different shades of blue inside of them.

  “Yes, I have. So, we don’t have to go into some kind of big meltdown thing? That will save time. Right now I need to go and…” She had nothing at all to do. It was about eight-thirty, if not earlier, and her job was done for the day. It was only the yawning that reminded her how exhausted she was.

  “Right. I didn’t sleep last night. That’s a good reason not to go into things about Brian, don’t you think?”

  Instead of smiling, the woman acted like it was a huge deal.

  “You didn’t sleep? I… Here, let me walk you back to your room? You must be ready to fall down. Do you need me to…” It was her turn to be at a loss, thankfully. Though, if she were going to be honest, Karen was doing a better job of it than Cindy would have been able to.

  It actually seemed like she might honestly care.

  “Not really. I can walk back home alone. I’m pretty sure. See you around? Probably tomorrow?”

  That, it seemed, was a good enough answer. Not that the woman didn’t try to covertly follow her back, after she got outside. Brian was there as well, meaning that both of them trailed along behind her at a distance that wasn’t covert at all. At first she thought that it was simply that one of them had a room in her building, but when she brought around their books, that simply wasn’t the case.