Tunnel Rat

Chapter 245: Eric has Three Bosses

Traveling across Section E to Section H wasn't a problem. Butch and the gang had previously traveled the corridors and stairways, moving all over the section to attend swap meets for games and tournaments and just hanging out with other people their age. As long as you traveled in a group, stayed in the lighted areas, stayed out of some of the gang-controlled areas (Or asked permission. Respect went a long way.), and in general didn't do anything stupid, then there was about a 90% chance of a boring trip. The other 10% of the time, you ran when Butch or Brad yelled "Run!" or backed them up when they stood their ground.

Today was boring, and they arrived at the entrance to Section H and the access to the floors leased by Manpower Inc. and hit their first barrier.

"No tours today. We aren't hiring. You're too young. Scan the code on the wall and read about the program. Come back when you're older. Next!" The very bored voice that was connected to a very bored security guard behind a locked door gave the impression that they said that a lot.

Butch smiled at the camera and said, "I will certainly consider that, sir. But today, we have invitations to visit Belinda Sabbatino. She's expecting us."

The voice sounded less bored now. "Go away. Miss Sabbatino isn't available to talk to you, whatever grand idea you have about a game or anything else. Good day."

"She invited us to come over. You should have us on your list of people to let through security."

There was a moment of rustling. "Not seeing it kid. Not seeing anyone noted as needing to see Belinda Sabbatino."

Milo was busy tapping on his datapad and mumbled something to Butch, who smiled at him before looking back at the camera. "No problem, sir. I'm sure the email got lost somehow. My associate has just sent a message to Erik Kresthammer. You probably call him 'Boss'. He'll be down soon to personally remind you about our appointment. We'll wait patiently out here."

Min scoffed, "No way am I being patient. This is bullshit."

Butch put his arm around his little sister. "Sure is—corporate bullshit. You never get in quickly, but if you yell and scream, they decide to never let you in or call security. We won before we got here, and I'm just playing games with him. The longer he waits, the more he gets chewed out."

Min considered that. "Ok, I can be patient in that case."

For one reason or another, the door opened, and an annoyed-looking low-level security guard did his best to smile at them. "Come right on in, Kids. Eric is coming down to escort you to Belinda's rooms."

Butch held out his hand. "Thank you, sir. I know you have a tough job. We're just anxious to see her." The guard shook hands just as Eric came around the corner. His fast lost it's stern expression.

"Great, glad to see you're already inside. Thanks, Gerry." The trip to Belinda's rooms took five minutes. Milo was using his glasses to record everything. His security cameras saw a lot, but it never hurt to have more data and build a model of the facility. He might be coming here sometime without a polite invitation.

Milo hadn't realized how hungry he was until he smelled the food. True to her word, Belinda had ordered a buffet with all the food her friends had liked at the event. He was starving, and it wasn't just a figure of speech. He'd barely eaten in the last few days, and his normal nutritional habits barely replenished the calories he burned. It did not help that his abnormal metabolism demanded more from his stomach in times of high stress and enhanced mental activity. Milo had been in a state of high anxiety over talking to Belinda, and just as that ended, had come the discovery of the mysterious facility below the Habitat. The physical exertion of crawling through vertical tunnels and moving equipment burned even more. He'd be doing the same thing again tonight. After the visit to Belinda was over, he had to load some modified equipment onto a cargo mover and start his second trip down in time for his next game of chess. He was taking food and air supplies to begin a stockpile down there.

Everyone had noticed how thin he looked when he showed up ten minutes late. As they entered Belinda's rooms, he was flanked by Butch and Brad and escorted to a seat. Yumi and Min appeared a minute later with plates of food for him and themselves. Butch bent down and looked him in the eyes. "Sit. Eat. Or I will carry tales to Mama that you look like no one feeds you. And you know what she'll do then." Milo actually wasn't sure, but he understood a serious threat when he heard one. He picked up a corn dog and started eating. He didn't stop for a half-hour and four plates of food.

Min had left him in Yumi's hands when he started on the second plate and went off to trash her big brother at Squishy Humans. Belinda had started on her playhouse, complete with all the games the gang had won at the event. It had taken several conversations with her father to make sure they were all ordered, and in the end, she had done the work herself to make sure the right versions were on the list, along with the parts that burned out the quickest. She'd sent the email to Eric to handle, and he thanked her for doing the work, added his name to the order, and sent it on to the procurement office. If only everything were so easy. She was depending on Eric more and more and bypassing her step-father. She wondered if he even noticed.

"Dammit, Eric, I thought we agreed to cancel her play dates. What are those damned kids doing here?" John had only heard after the fact that Belinda had visitors.

Eric was sitting in a comfortable chair across from John's desk. Years ago, when he found out how long meetings with John could go, he'd ordered an overstuffed leather chair and put a minibar next to it with an expresso machine on top. John tended toward manic-depressive swings that produced lethargy for several days and then a sprint to make deadlines. When he was up, he was enthusiastic, smart, and could keep a team focused on a project. And when he wasn't having a good week, that was when Eric earned his salary. He wasn't sure what type of day today was yet.

"John, please, you want the girl to be responsible, right? She planned this out and has been trying to schedule time with her friends, and everyone else seems to be working against her. No notice about needing to run tests. Trying new drugs and not telling her how hard they will hit. I assume the doctors know what they're doing, but they don't tell me or Belinda a damn thing, and they're making it hard on the girl. Shit, the other day, they drug her out of the game because they used too high of a dosage, and the pod declared a medical emergency. She deserved a day off today. She worked for it, and I saw no reason for these mysterious memos from a doctor who doesn't talk to me that canceled her time with her friends."

John grimaced and looked slightly guilty. Eric was always polite, but he wasn't a fool. "I'm just trying to do what's right for her. She needs to get better by the time she's eighteen, or Victor will roll in here with a pile of lawyers, drag her off somewhere, and try to take over. The man is crazy and dangerous."

Eric tilted his beer back, drinking to stifle a few comments that came to his head about people acting crazy. "And that's what this new round of paperwork is about? Stopping Victor? Why all the pressure on her to sign stacks of things that no one will talk to her about?"

"Yes, it's about Victor. It's because I don't trust Victor. I don't trust his little private army of thugs or the four 'doctors' he has following him around, supposedly to look after his health. He's going to try something, and if Belinda will just sign the papers, I'll be named her guardian and keep her safe. Victor won't dare challenge a US court, not when he's already in trouble and supposed to be in hiding. As soon as those kids are gone. I need you to go down there and talk to her again."

Eric nodded. "I understand, John; I'll work on things. But I'm going to do it slowly. I'll review the paperwork, show her how it protects her, and why it's all in her best interest. She trusts me, John, and I can use that to get things done. Leave her alone for a few days, please? Give me a chance to close the deal."

John nodded. He didn't like putting pressure on Belinda, partly because it didn't work most of the time. Well, all the time, lately. "Thanks, Eric. Not sure what I'd do without you. What do we do about Victor?"

Eric stood up. Three beers in twenty minutes gave him some courage, as he'd hoped. It was dumb, but so was this whole situation. "Leave Victor to me. I'll buy us some time."

"So, Mr. Eric, right-hand man to my lazy nephew-by-marriage, what do you have to tell me today that is interesting. And is it a vodka or whiskey day?"

Eric appreciated some things about Victor; one of them was his bar. "Vodka. Whiskey is for sipping and relaxing. I'm working today, so I need vodka."

Victor laughed and wagged his bushy head in appreciation. "The way you work and drink, one would think you were Russian." From Victor, this was high praise. Eric slammed back the first shot of vodka, and Victor poured another.

"Let's see, today I did my best to sabotage John in Belinda's eyes. She will blame him for her friends having trouble getting in, and John almost remembers doing it himself; he's so worked up about it. He pushed her too hard again after I hinted you were 'up to your old tricks.' He screwed it all up, of course. Now, I will delay him for a couple of weeks while I 'explain' all the legal details and show her how John is trying to take control of her, take her money, and change her name to Sabbatino. She hates that name, by the way." He played a small audio clip of Belinda handling her stepfather and lawyer.

"Seimovich. You know my name. It's on all the paperwork you want me to sign. Belinda Seimovich. The same name as Uncle Victor. Have you met Uncle Victor? Do you talk back to Victor Seimovich? Of course not; you're still around."

Victorstarted laughing so hard that he began to choke, and his bodyguard pounded him on the back. "Enough. Enough! Thank you, Yuri. You have cured my coughs, but I will need an hour with my masseuse tonight for the bruises. No, no, I joke. More vodka will cure this. Listen to that girl?! Sick and in a hospital bed, yet she still handles them both. Please, play that again, Mr. Eric, and leave me a copy."

Eric continued a few minutes later. "John makes it easy. Belinda trusts you, and it won't take much to show her that having you as a guardian is just a family matter. We'll make the paperwork look different from the normal legalese but just as airtight. A clear, no-nonsense agreement between family members that will let you protect her."

Victor nodded; he liked the idea. "And what is it that Belinda wants? She is so young, it's hard to know. It's important to give people what they want."

Eric smiled. Victor knew very well what he wanted, and they agreed on the amount. "This is where John really screws up. Belinda wants to have friends and family. He just can't seem to let her have it. And most of her friends are in that game she loves. Instead of trying to control her, I suggest we let her play as much as she wants. She doesn't want to run a business and will appreciate her family doing it for her so she can be with her friends. Do you know she can walk and fight in the game? She told me about 'crushing skulls with her mace' and taking on a gang of thugs. She loves it in there."

That was excellent news for Victor. He knew all about that game, though he pretended not to. So be it if that was where Belinda wanted to live her life. Her Uncle Victor would be happy to manage the family fortune for her. Along with Eric, of course. The man was valuable. He'd told Victor what he wanted and what he would do to get it. And he knew how to drink! It was good to talk to people and drink. The vodka told you who they really were, and Eric Kresthammer was a man who was sick of working for his old friend, John, and wanted more money than John would ever pay him. Victor understood Eric.

Eric stood, an impressive feat. Victor couldn't feel his legs anymore. "Off to bed, my friend?"

Eric laughed, brushed off pretzel crumbs from his pants, and straightened his tie. When he spoke, only some of the vodka showed. "I'm off to visit with Belinda and her friends. I think they should come over a couple more times this week to distract John and slow things up until you're ready. It would help if you rattle his cage a bit. Pay him surprise visits or take him drinking. I'm sure you know what will make him nervous."

"A good plan. War on two fronts. Go, go. I must have Yuri haul this old man to bed while the young man goes back to work."

Eric popped into his office and went immediately to the restroom, where he used an inhaler and vomited up the contents of his stomach. The anti-alcohol pills he'd taken too many of before seeing Victor were working hard, and he'd pay the price with a migraine tomorrow. Dear god, the old man could drink! Twenty minutes later, he walked into Belinda's playroom, where several teens were screaming at the tops of their lungs.

Belinda was racing against Milo in a new game that was just out. Both players designed a heavily mutated cyborg hedgehog for one minute before racing through the forest, running over cute animals, and stealing their food. Milo was losing, but only by a little bit. Belinda hadn't told him she'd been practicing all week. Points were scored for the number of animals and people you knocked down and how much food you stole. They were racing side by side, but Belinda had the edge because of the strawberry layer cake in her food bag.

Rounding the last corner, Milo started accelerating down the final stretch, using his after-burner and venting flames out of his tail. Belinda veered off the track. "Oh, look. Cheese shop!" Milo spun his mutant hedgehog around and raced for the quaint little store a hundred yards off the track. He beat Belinda there by a full two seconds, which is why she wasn't hurt when the Cheese shop exploded in his face, stunning him. She casually walked to the finish line to the cheers of her friends.

Milo glared at her. "Exploding Cheese shops?"

She shrugged. "I have no idea how that got in the game." She saw Uncle Eric laughing at the end of the room. "You can play Min and get some practice in." She rolled over to Eric, who was chewing on a dried-up, cold corn dog.

"Any news?"

Eric nodded. "I've got them running in circles, but it won't last forever. John thinks I'll convince you. Victor thinks I'm stalling John and swaying you to his side. So be nice to Victor and mean to John, and we'll switch the week after. Part of the plan is to let you be with your friends more, but they'll have to come over here. Don't worry about the budget. Just tell your assistant to buy any food you need. Anything you need from me?"

She pointed to the room where her gaming pod usually was. "Yes, Daddy took my pod. Do you know where? I need it back."

"He said something about making sure it was working right. So it will be in Doctor Swinkler's lab. I'll work on getting it back. Now, go back and play with your friends, and I'm going to get some sleep. I feel like I have three bosses, and you're the only one I don't have to drink with."

She gave him a quick hug and went back to her friends. He noted how well she could move her arms in the special gloves. John was an idiot. Eric had checked out ClawMaster. They were a full-fledged research firm projected to have explosive growth and profits in several different markets. They'd just announced a five billion dollar deal with Rhebus, creating waves in the tech market. And little Belinda was one of only a half dozen people in their first playtest group, with an inside track to the company. The small kid, Milo, was the key. He was a step closer to ClawMaster—also a bigshot hero in Genesis, coincidentally on the same raid as Belinda. Eric didn't know where he'd come from before he showed up in the Habitat, but he'd known Belinda before the event here.

She'd been clever. Even he didn't know how she'd pulled off the coup for ClawMaster at her event, but it was obvious that the whole thing had been set up ahead of time. She was so much smarter than her father. She was making connections even as limited as she was and was putting together a team of people. She hadn't told him everything, and he didn't blame her. Things were too muddled right now. What he didn't know, he couldn't give away.

It was going to be a joy to work for her when she took over. He just had to hold things together a little longer for her.

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