Read Online The Media Candidate by Paul Dueweke - Free Book Online Page A

you. Also remember that your decision won’t go
beyond this room if you choose not to participate. You may have
some time to think about it, but if you know the answer now, I’d
appreciate it.”
    Jenner glanced over at Sherwood who maintained
intense eye contact with the Asp. Before the Asp’s words had fallen
from his lips, Sherwood responded, “Yes sir, I can handle those
conditions.”
    Jenner followed with an, “I can too, sir.”
    “I appreciate your support,” the Asp continued.
“I knew I could rely on you, and you won’t be sorry. This is a
tremendous opportunity for you to grow within COPE. We remember all
deeds, both good and bad—even though we may not record it in your
personnel file.”
    The Asp stood up and motioned them toward a
small conference room adjacent to his spacious office. “Let’s
continue our conversation in here where we can be more
comfortable.”
    This is it, Sherwood thought as he walked
in front of Jenner. This is the room where he briefs his secret
agents before their missions. His mind ran wild with a flood of
famous spies from his past. Images of Jade Fist and The Sniffer
surged within him. At last, he thought. At last .
    The interior room was adequately proportioned
and suitably illuminated with indirect artificial lighting. Naked
walls faded into vaporous shadows. The chairs were alluringly
comfortable, inviting exhaustive discussion, soliciting detail.
They lowered the artificial boundaries usually installed between
human hierarchies. The oval table lacked chairs at its two ends. This place is made for doing business , Sherwood thought, and measuring secrets.
    The Asp closed the door behind them without
fanfare. A discrete but clear flashing red light above the door
reading UNSECURE changed to a steady, green SECURE and was slowly
exiled to oblivion as the discussion began.
    The Asp sat down next to Jenner and across from
Sherwood. He seemed to be occupied by another task, relegating
secrets to the back burner for a moment as he withdrew a filigreed
pipe from a carved cherry pipestand containing three pipes. Six
eyes watched a match erupt into flames, then watched the fire being
sucked into the bowl of the pipe.
    Sherwood allowed his eyes to follow that first
cloud of smoke as it rose and obscured the Asp for a moment. He
studied the smoke, then studied the man who’d created it. His eyes
then snapped back to the pipe rack where he noticed an empty recess
carved into the wood at its top. He measured that recess in an
instant. It was just large enough for a lighter.
    Leaning back to the squeak and crunch of
leather, the Asp began. “We need to redirect the mission of our
spiders. Until now, we’ve used them for reconnaissance, and they’ve
performed admirably. They have generally done what any average
agent could do in very covert situations. On many occasions, we’ve
teamed a spider with one of our autonomous T-11 cars to carry out
surveillance and minor espionage functions without arousing
suspicion and alarm that a spider alone would certainly do. The
spiders seem to evoke a fear among people. But, as you know, the
octoped, low profile configuration is the most stable and
efficient. In any event, we have limited our spiders to rather
routine missions.”
    Sherwood’s instinct for inscrutability
suppressed his excitement. Jenner leaned forward with an audible
swallow.
    “Now, however,” the Asp continued, “I want to
capitalize on its strengths—stealth, intimidation, and the agility
of a cat burglar. I want to expand its role so it can perform
missions that only our most experienced agents can perform. This
means you’ll have to study every aspect of its proposed missions in
preparation for the upgrade. You see, what I want our spiders to be
able to do is to attack a human target and be equipped to inject a
lethal dose of a nerve agent, GX-37. They must be upgraded with the
required hardware and controls, and their reliability and
identification accuracy must be