Chapter 8 Olly Turner

  Olly suited up, pulled the diving tank over his shoulders onto his back and took a deep breath from the regulator. He slipped the goggles over his eyes and jumped into the water. He sunk into the depths and looked around. The water was dark and it was hard to see. Lights on the coffin sized black container blinked. He snapped is focus towards the container and watched it drift away, he estimated the distance to it and hooked the carabiner onto the platform. Pulled, by his estimate, out twenty feet of rope. He jumped, the line trailed behind. Drifting, He remained perfectly still, swimming was not allowed. He had to reach that container and pull it back to the platform with out kicking his legs, not even a little dog paddle would be tolerated. As He drifted across the pool he noticed the rock shoot through the water. The thrusters fired and moved him downwards such that the rock skimmed over his head. He had fired the thrusters too long, he was about to hit the floor of the pool. He rolled over, fired the thrusters and chased after the container again. The jerk of the line pulled him back away from the container. He tried reaching out and the container slipped past his grip. Buzzers in his suit rang out. In defeat he swam to the surface. “Clara, reset the objective, and next time use a smaller rock, maybe slower too. That thing looked like it would kill me”. Olly turned around and swam back to his starting point. He settled down at 15 feet below the surface. He looked for the container, where the hell was it? The rock slammed into his back and his suit buzzed again. Winded from the rock, he lost the air hose. His suit monitored his vitals and inflated, lifting him to the surface. He gasped for breath and spat up water. He floated on his back in the pool and coughed.

  Walking to the edge of the pool, Clara glared down at him. “Way to go Olly you killed me and yourself, we are going to die, just die.” She turned around and stormed away.

  Catching his breath, he dropped the heavy diving equipment. He cleaned up a bit around the pool to calm his nerves before he search for Clara. He found Clara at work on her plant sequencing in the sun room. The look on her face made him take a step back. “Clara, I’m training my best here, this underwater thing gets to my senses. We will get this done.”.

  “It’s not that. The samples that I’m making, 10% at best. That’s not good enough.” Clara waived to the one limp sapling, “Unless we want to eat only radishes, my garden is a complete failure.” Clara looked back at him, “I know the fix to this. We just need the top of the line Bio printer, this middle grade one just introduces too many contaminates.”

  “We discussed this, I can’t buy a military grade machine without raising red flags and a serious audit. Besides, the lead time is too long. We don’t have the time to wait for it to arrive”.

  “What if we just took one, took one and didn’t need to answer pesky questions?”

  Olly Turner

  ***

  Clara and Olly walked into the bar, a loud place. A large Russian guy was at the center of the noise, the British gal next to him looked out of place. Laid out across the bar were 4 shots of what could only be Vodka. The Russian raised his fist and slammed it on the bar, picked up the first shot, then the second. At this point Olly turned away from the crowd to look for a quiet corner or a back room. Surely they were meeting in a back room. He couldn’t see where though. Clara not noticing his absence was walking straight up to the Russian. Olly turned around in time to see Clara hanging from his bear hug. Running over a bit of concern in his voice, “Excuse me, do you mind setting my friend down.”. The Russian looked him over from head to toe and laughed. He set Clara down and whispered something in her ear and they both laughed. Clara turned to Olly, “No need for the hero act here”.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  The Russian said, “Well, What’s the job?”. Olly responded “Shouldn’t we discuss details in a more private setting?”. The Russian’s voice bellowed out across the whole room “I’m stealing some more stuff, everyone!” turning to Olly, “Don’t make an elephant out of a fly. Sit down.” he waived to the bar stool beside him. “Drink”, it wasn’t a question. Olly took a seat at the bar. The British gal sat on the other side of him. One of the guys walked over and punched the Russian in the arm. “Max, You don’t pay for anything except the drinks here”. He sat down next to the British gal and ordered a pitcher of beer and 5 glasses. Clara leaned over and said, “Olly, meet my friends Max and Arnold, and ...” she glanced at Max with questioning eyes. Max responded “This is Maggie, only one in this place who can keep up with me”.

  Olly picked up the pint glass. When in Rome do as the romans do or more appropriately when in a shady bar do as the loud Russian orders. The others smashed their glasses into his. “Cheers!”

  Clara dug right into her issue. “Max, I find myself needing better equipment. We need a top of the line printer. I know where we can get one.”

  Max said, “What do you need with the shiny toys? You always exceed and never go for the shiny new thing.” He glanced at Olly as he spoke.

  “I find that in this case, I have no room for error. I need the best and don’t want any trail left behind.” She handed Max the Wick Industries business card.

  Max looked over the card. “This could be trouble.”

  “They have exceptional security and scanners.”, Arnold said.

  “I should be able to provide you a virus that would delete all records.”, Olly said.

  “Well that won’t get us into the building.”, Arnold said.

  Max said, “I have heard of someone who has an incredible knack for getting things. I could send out a message and see if they could get an access card. That should get us in the building.”

  “It could be pricy.”, Maggie said.

  “We can pay.”

  Max

  ***

  Max and Clara waited at the coffee shop. They caught up on past times and got lost in their discussion. The lady, dressed in the finest attire and looked like a million, stumbled, rolled her heel. Max reacted quickly and jumped out of his seat to assist her. She thanked him like he had just saved her baby and swooned over him too. To get rid of her he said “ “ and leaned in to Clara, he was waiting for a meetup and did not need the extra company regardless of how she’s dressed. He turned back to Clara, Max striked up the conversation again, “Can you believe that lady, what timing, it’s almost time for our contact to make an appearance I hope she didn’t spook em”.

  The lady walked back up to their table and placed her bag squarely on the table and leaned in. It was clear she wasn’t going anywhere. “Larissa, Larissa Brock is my name, your wait is over.” she said eyeing Max, and licking her lips. Confused Clara and Max exchange glances, what was this lady playing at? Larissa, held up a watch and looking at Max said “Reach into your coat pocket.”

  Max pulled out an access badge for Wick Industries. In a tone suggesting he wasn’t pleased with her games “You would hang noodles on my ears??”, He grabbed his watch, “Explain yourself”.

  Larissa said, “Nothing to explain, darling, just having a bit of fun. Do you have any idea how hard it was to lift the access card, It’s the real deal, nice doing business with you, do it again soon”.

  Max looks to Clara flashing the card, “The matter is in the Hat, head home”.