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Cain shook his head at Matt. “Don’t ever put your hand on me.”
Surprised, Matt replied, “Really? You’re going to threaten me? Damn. Stop with your macho bullshit. The last thing we need is for her to take any interest in us. Besides, she works with Jonas. Hell, that alone is enough for you not ...”
“I don’t give a fuck who she works for, Matt.” He rubbed his sore large knuckles.
“Well, you should.”
Cain laughed. “That old man? He should have stayed on Earth and retired. We don’t need him here, especially not for security.”
“Jonas is someone you’d best respect,” Matt said softly.
“Oh? And why’s that?”
“The majority of the guards hold the man in the highest respect. We’d be taken into custody before we ever get a chance to do anything.”
“Phht.” Cain shook his head.
“Don’t ruin this for us. We have a great thing going, and the last thing we need is for Jonas or that Asian chick to find out.”
“She’s more talk than she is fight.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“You saw how tiny she is. Hell, she’s no match for either of us. She’s only brave because she thinks she can hide behind Jonas.”
Matt sighed. “She’s a lot tougher than you might think. You didn’t see her apprehend the two drunk guards at The Vortex a couple of weeks back?”
“No.”
“Ah, that’s right. You were with Jessie that night, right?”
“Yep. She kept me more entertained than anything we could do at The Vortex.”
“I understand. I was with her the next evening, which is why I’m telling you not to ruin what we’ve got going.”
Cain nodded. “You’re right. Not too many female prisoners here that are chipped to be under a CAM-L’s control.”
“Precisely why we need to keep a low profile.”
“Gotcha.”
***
The door behind Dr. Lee’s desk opened. He turned with a start. A short, older Asian woman entered the room. She was five feet tall but her fierce eyes were enough to send chills down his back. She crossed her arms and frowned at him.
“Ah, Dr. Sheung,” he said.
“What did she want?”
“Boony?”
“Yes.”
Lee turned around in his swivel chair and faced Dr. Sheung. “She was asking questions about the Sleeper Chips.”
“Why is she interested in those?”
“She wanted to know why they’re malfunctioning.”
“That’s all? Did she ask anything else about the chips?”
Dr. Lee shook his head. “No. Nothing else. Why?”
She glanced toward the other door. “I don’t trust her or Jonas.”
“Her intent seemed sincere.”
“Perhaps. But she does work for Jonas.”
“So?”
“He marches around like he’s royalty, and he’s always poking his nose into everyone’s business.”
Dr. Lee offered a gentle smile. “It’s his job to know what is happening inside Olympus Mons. He’s the chief of security. As long as people aren’t participating in shady activities, no one has anything to fear. Right?”
Her eyes darkened and her jaw tightened. Her glare made him flinch and look away. “If she comes back, you tell her nothing.”
Lee nodded and refused to make any further eye contact.
She grabbed the door handle behind her without looking, pulled it open, and exited his office. When the door closed, he took a deep breath and wiped the sweat from his brow with a handkerchief. She had always made him feel uneasy, but he never quite understood why. Yet, he’d never felt terrified of her or what she might be capable of doing. Until now, he had never suspected she might have a secret agenda that he wasn’t aware of. Suddenly, he didn’t like sitting with his back to her door.
***
Night shift wasn’t always the quietest time to watch the camera monitors because a lot of the off duty guards and techs visited The Vortex. With a bit of quick research, Boony found which rooms belonged to Cain and Matt. They were in the C-corridor and their rooms were only three doors apart. She also discovered the tracer identity codes for their radio transmitters, so she could keep track of where they were during the night when they were off duty. Something about the pair didn’t set right for her.
Matt was in The Vortex, but she thought it odd that Cain was not. They seemed like close friends that seldom did anything without the other one tagging along.
Typing in Cain’s code, the computer scanned the floor maps until it pinpointed his exact location. He wasn’t even in the C-corridor. Instead, he was in the prisoner bunkers not far from one of the mining pits.
“Strange . . .” she said, zeroing in on his coordinates. “Jessica Hall’s room?”
She requested prison record information from the computer. The woman’s mug shots surfaced on the screen. Other than the weird tattoo on the woman’s neck, Jessica was an attractive woman.
“In prison for . . . murdering husband and his lover? Hmm, that doesn’t seem to be a bad enough crime for her to be sent to Mars,” Boony whispered.
Then she continued reading. The husband’s lover was a female judge and he was the bailiff. A bit more intriguing, but still not reasons she believed someone should be sent to Mars to finish out their prison sentence. But no more evidence came up. The rest of her records were sealed.
Jessica was a prisoner assigned to work in the greenhouse.
“Better than the mines, I suppose.”
Boony connected to the corridor camera closest to Jessica’s room. She could see the door, but she didn’t have any idea what might be happening on the other side of it. But that was where he was, according to the tracer chip on his transmitter.
She was ready to abandon her spying routine for the evening, but another idea dawned upon her. Most of the guards were equipped with body cameras. Since the Sleeper Chips controlled the prisoners, seldom did any higher-ups request to view what the guard cameras recorded.
Boony was interested in knowing what Cain was doing inside the female prisoner’s room. Knowing Cain’s lewdness, it didn’t take much imagination to guess what his inappropriate behavior might be. Matt’s statement earlier in the doctor’s office led her to suspect these two held secrets that they didn’t want any others to discover, especially not her or Jonas.
Boony searched through Cain’s files, trying to find a way to connect to his camera, but she didn’t have the clearance level to unlock the code and watch.
“Damn,” she whispered.
Jonas entered the security office.
Boony glanced over her shoulder at him. He offered a worried smile.
“Any news about Derek?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I’m putting together a search team. What are you working on, Boony?”
She sighed and turned in her chair to face him. “When I talked to Dr. Lee earlier today, I had a run-in with the two guards that Magnus had incapacitated.”
Jonas grinned. “A run-in? They were hostile toward you?”
“Cain was overly gender rude.”
“I don’t follow.”
Boony explained the insinuation that Cain had given and what Matt had said after she left the office.
“I can see how that’s more than disturbing. I hope you got his attention.”
“I did, but I think he’s up to no good.”
Jonas frowned. “Meaning?”
“Okay, I did some snooping and got Cain’s and Matt’s tracer codes to track their positions this evening. Matt is in the Vortex. Cain’s nowhere near.”
“Where is Cain?”
“I’ve tracked his position to a female inmate’s room.”
“What? Why would he be in there?” His eyes narrowed as he apparently had drawn the same conclusion.
Boony nodded. “That’s the first question that popped into my mind as well. The only problem I have is that I don’t have access to view through his body camera.”
Jonas walked over to her desk. “Here. Allow me.”
She slid the roller chair to the side. He typed in his security pass code and the information page popped up.
“There you go. Let’s see what’s going on,” he said.
Boony slid the chair back over and highlighted the camera icon associated with Cain’s badge I.D.
The camera footage immediately came into play on a small inset of the computer screen. Boony right clicked and zoomed in on the camera, bringing it to full screen.
Boony shook her head. “Oh my God. Unbelievable.”
Jonas’ jaw tightened. He turned and headed for the door. “Where’s he at? I’m busting his ass right now.”
“Wait,” Boony said.
“Why? What he’s doing is immoral.”
On the screen Jessica stood completely nude before Cain. She danced, swaying back and forth like a stripper. The things Cain was saying caused Boony to mute his mike. The prisoner kept dancing, oblivious of him or what she was doing. Cain fumbled with the zipper on his suit with one hand since his other arm was still in a sling.
Disgusted, Jonas said, “This isn’t right.”
“I know,” Boony said. “Quick question though.”
“What?”
“Is there a way to override his CAM-L? Is that even possible?”
“Yes. Of course. Why?”
Boony smiled. “I have a better way to punish him before you arrest him.”
Jonas took his master CAM-L from his jacket pocket. He typed in Cain’s information and badge number. On his screen, he tapped the “override” button.
“It’s all in your control,” he said, handing the CAM-L to her.
“Watch the screen.”
Jessica swayed her nude body closer to Cain. Her transfixed eyes stared into nothingness. She held her hands over her head and pivoted her hips back and forth. Boony unmuted his mike.
“Oh, yeah, baby,” Cain mumbled. “That’s what I like to see. Come closer, baby. I have something special for you. Like the other night . . . you know how to make a man feel real good.”
Cain leaned toward her. He stretched his good arm toward her, his hand rubbed her thigh, and he reached around to cup her ass.
“Now,” Boony said. “Let’s see how much you like this.”
A second later, Jessica backhanded Cain hard. The loud fleshy thwack made Boony and Jonas cringe.
“What the fuck!” Cain shouted, rising to his feet. He grabbed his CAM-L off the table and tapped a few buttons. But Jessica spun around and kicked him in the stomach. The CAM-L dropped to the floor. He groaned, desperately reaching for the control device. “Damn thing . . . isn’t working.”
Boony tried to suppress a grin as she typed more commands into Jonas’ device, and Jessica kicked Cain’s CAM-L across the floor.
Cain rose, trying to find his composure, partially stunned by what was happening. Jessica’s eyes remained distant, her mind still totally controlled by the chip. She continued to sway in her seductive dance that Cain had programmed for her.
“Calm . . . down,” he said, in a more hopeful tone. He eased closer to her. “Relax, baby. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Under Boony’s control, Jessica balled up the woman’s right hand into a tight fist and swung. The sound of cracking bone echoed. Cain grabbed his nose and seconds later, he held out his blood-covered hand.
“You little bitch!”
“Don’t let him hurt her,” Jonas said.
“I won’t.”
“I’m sending guards to her room now.” Jonas tapped his transmitter.
Cain positioned himself lower, like he was going to rush Jessica and pile drive her onto the bed. Before he moved, Boony made Jessica perform a harsh kick to his groin. He gasped with a high-pitched whine. The painful cry that left his mouth caused Jonas to wince and shake his head.
“Damn, Boony,” he said.
She shrugged. “Part of that one was for his remark to me at the doctor’s office.”
Cain collapsed to the floor. He fell on top of the camera and the screen went dark.
“Guards should be there any second,” Jonas said. “So do you think Matt’s a part of this?”
“I believe so. It’s how he tried to keep Cain from making any outbursts toward me. We could wait to see if he comes to Jessica’s room before we arrest him.”
Jonas nodded. “We could, but I don’t want to chance giving him any such opportunity. I’d like to know exactly how long they’ve been doing this. It really wasn’t something I ever expected anyone to do, but I suppose it shouldn’t really surprise me. I will demand better background checks in the future. We don’t need perverts having this kind of control over helpless people.”
“I agree. But you know, eventually someone was going to take advantage of doing something like this. There are some sick people out there.”
“I know.”
“And we really don’t know what these prisoners are capable of, either,” she replied.
“That’s why I’m glad we have the CAM-Ls.”
“At the rate the chips are malfunctioning, I am becoming more concerned.”
Jonas sat down beside Boony’s desk. “I am as well.”
“I expressed this to Dr. Lee, too.”
“And what was his reaction?”
“After I explained the violent nature of our prisoners and what they’d do if these chips failed to control them, he became quite nervous.”
“He should be nervous. We all should be.”
“Jonas?” a voice said over his transmitter. “This is Bert.”
Jonas tapped it. “Yes?”
“We have Cain in custody. Where do you want us to take him?”
“Is he conscious?” Jonas asked.
“Barely.”
“Bring him to my security office.”
“Yes, sir. On our way.”
“Bert? How is Jessica?”
Silence.
“Bert?”
“Well, sir, she seems to be doing some kind of odd dance in the nude. She not responding to Cain’s CAM-L, either.”
“That’s because I’ve allowed Boony to override Cain’s control,” Jonas said. “We’ll take care of her. Bring Cain to me.”
“Copy that.”
Jonas glanced toward Boony. “Perhaps you can get her to stop dancing and into bed to sleep?”
“On it.”
“Thanks.”