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SIMONE GUSSET parked her sled under the trees at the edge of the garage slots attached to Dreamedia Laboratory, the facility owned by Timothy Langeton and his two partners. When she stepped out of her sled, she stood a long time scanning the area around the lab before she was sure no one was around. It was after midnight and she suspected her boss in the Red Conclave was having her watched, but she had been careful to make sure she lost the tail before she came here. She had dressed to blend into the night; a dark, mottled skinsuit clung to her excellent figure. She had added a dark helmet with a night vision visor. She worked here during the day, but she didn't want anyone to realize she was making an unauthorized visit tonight.
Dr. Langeton and his partners thought none of the lab techs realized Randal had returned from earth with a valuable data crystal. Her first week working at Dreamedia Labs, Simone had planted listening devices in all the partners' offices and in the lab where they commonly worked together so she knew everything going on. As instructed, she had reported the find to her boss in Red Conclave, and he had ordered her to steal it. She intended to obey of course, it would be worth her life not to, but she also intended to make a copy of the data crystal. Simone was an opportunist. If she could copy the information, she figured she could sell it for enough to set her up for life.
When the lab closed for the evening, Dr. Langeton had locked the crystal inside the vault. Privately, Simone thought the word 'secure' for a room she had managed to obtain the codes for her first week was laughable.
It took her only a few minutes to open the lab door and shut off the security vids. The vault where they had secured the crystal was as easy to open. She took an empty crystal out of her pocket and set the office copy machine to transfer a copy of the data.
Not wanting to take the copy with her in case her boss had her searched, she hid the copy in the base of one of the flowering plants Mrs. Langeton had used to decorate the office. Simone had barely closed the Security door when a voice spoke behind her.
"I'll take that," he said.
She turned around to face Antoni Giuseppe, her boss's right hand operative. Giuseppe was a small, non-descript man whose specialty was hiding in plain sight. He was also a stone killer.
"No," she said. "I was told to bring it to him myself."
"Not going to happen, girlie," he said. "He's decided he can't trust you. Did you think he wouldn't find out about your little blackmail schemes?"
"What schemes?" she demanded, her heart in her throat. "I haven't been blackmailing anybody he doesn't know about."
"Oh, please," Giuseppe said. "He knows you went to all the partners and demanded money not to tell their wives you were sleeping with them. You didn't turn it in, Girlie."
"Underhill is the only one who agreed to pay me. He hasn't paid it yet," she said. "I'm going to turn it in as soon as he does."
Giuseppe took out a poniard and flipped it from hand to hand. "You're a fool," he said.
Simone watched the knife the way a small animal watched a viper as it prepared to strike.
"You can't kill me here," she said. "They have inside security vids. You'll show on them."
"But you so kindly turned them off," he said. The knife throw was fast and sure. The poniard buried itself hilt deep into her heart.
"No!" she cried and tried to run, her hands pressing the knife to her chest. She staggered and fell a few inches from where she had been standing.
Giuseppe watched her die before he removed the knife, wiping it on her clothes before he slid it into the sheath under his sleeve. He searched her pockets until he found the crystal. He put it in his own pocket before leaving.
Once outside, he set the alarm to go off in twenty minutes before mounting his air sled and speeding away.
The policeman who responded to the shrilling alarm found the front door open. He went inside and discovered Simone's body.
Shaking his head at the waste of such a pretty woman, he called in the homicide and waited for the coroner and detectives to arrive.
