previous chapter: Abetment [20]: 3.5: 2089, June 21st, Tuesday. 23:25

1048 words

Stephany looks at herself in the bathroom mirror. She always assumed the presidential bathroom would be extravagant, but the fact that the tub and sinks and toilet were decorated with a gold coating was maybe a bit much. “Focus Steph” she mutters to herself. “You don’t have much time.”

She finishes hiding the bags under her eyes, and the scars around her mouth with concealer.

She closes her eyes and slowly counts to ten, in the hopes to calm down. Yet, when she reaches ten, her heart is pounding just as fast and loud as before.

“Come on Steph.” She mutters to herself in the mirror. “You can do this. You are the queen. You conquered most of North America. you can do this.”

She keeps staring at the mirror. But what if this was the time it finally went wrong? What if someone would finally call her bluff? “No!” she tells herself. “Just act like you always do. As long as you act like you have already won, people will not call your bluff. They never did. Why would they start now?”

She takes a small heartbeat monitor out of her purse. The device is very small, it looks like a small sticker, one side is an adhesive and the other is a small display. She tapes it to her wrist.

128 bpm

Ye, no way this was gonna work. She slowly removes the belt from her shorts and wraps her belt around her upper arm, restricting her blood flow. She takes a large syringe out of her purse, and carefully injects it into a swollen vein in her lower arm.

Immediately, she feels like a wave of relief floods her body. She feels her breathing becoming deeper and slower and feels her muscles relax, combines with a strange feeling of euphoria. She checks the heart monitor again.

72 bpm

Now, with this, she can work. She puts her belt back and straightens her worn-out t-shirt. Some of the fabric did wear away and revealed some of her skin. She actually liked that from her outfit, it both added to her “I don’t care” image and was distracting for some targets, keeping attention to her body and not to her words. The crazily short denim shorts and her going barefoot added to the illusion too.

She puts the syringe back into her purse and takes out a piece of bubble gum. She really didn’t like the texture of bubble gum, but it really finished the whole illusion, and her constant chewing made it harder for anyone to read her face.

She walks out of the bathroom, where a security guard is waiting for her. He looks at her through his red metal helmet.

“Ready to go when you are, Miss President.”

“Ye, let’s roll,” Stephany says while walking to the prison cell.

After the guard opens the door for her, she steps into the cell without knocking. The woman she is looking for is sitting at the table, playing with a book of cards.

“Hello, Jennifer.” Stephany blurts out. “Or can I call you Jenny? Or Jenn.”

Jennifer looks up at Stephany and looks at her from top to bottom. Even through the metal implant, Stephany can see her confusion. “Jennifer is fine.”

Stephany spins around the chain and sits on it. It is very uncomfortable, but what is she gonna do? Part of the act.

“So, Jennifer,” Stephany says. “I have a proposal for you.”

Jennifer looks at her. “Which is?”

“Many witnesses saw you pull a gun outside of a school, in a crowd of parents and kids, Very naughty of you. With the right prosecutor, we can make it attempted murder. Of a child.” Stephany says.

“I was just trying to save my stepdaughter,” Jennifer exclaims. “My gun wasn’t even loaded.”

Stephany pops a new piece of gum in her mouth. “I am sure Catherine would see it that way.” She looked at Jennifer’s face. The many implants made it hard to see if Jennifer was falling for her bluff. In reality, she probably could not make any of it stick. Catherine would dismiss the case in an instant. Then again, they usually do. “I can wipe away your record, and settle it outside of court. I only ask a small thing in exchange.”

Jennifer keeps just staring at her. So Stephany continues.

“Do you know who Thorn is?”

Jennifer shrugs. “Yes, it was a crime lord, that turned out to be Jasper Bale. After he was incarcerated and killed himself in prison, his empire is now run by a woman.”

“Yes,” Stephany exclaims. “And that woman happened to have killed your husband and stole your daughter.”

“Okay.”

“I did create a special unit to track them down. But the leader recently was killed in a gunfight, why almost apprehending him, so I want you to take his job.”

Jennifer thinks for a bit. “Ok, I’ll do it. Where do I sign.”

“I have a court cleric come over with the documents, you just have to sign a tablet. And I will arrange for you to be released as soon as possible.”

Stephany walks out of the room and curses. That went well, but it nearly didn’t. She just should have killed Ellie when she had the chance, now everything is way more risky. She walks over to the guard. “Release the prisoner tomorrow, first thing.”

Stephany rushes back to the bathroom. The moment she is out of sight, she starts running a beeline for the toilet bowl. There she immediately vomits. This amount of stress really is taking a toll on her battered body. She doesn’t know how she can take it any longer. But she had to.

She shakes her head. She isn’t safe yet. She needs more leverage on Jennifer, otherwise, Jennifer might backstab her. The sooner she makes work from it the better.

She takes her phone and calls her only number on special. A soft voice answers.

“Hello, what can I do for you.”

“I need you to kill a man and kidnap his five-year-old son. Would that be possible?”

“Sure, send me the names and address, and where to deliver the boy, and I’ll be set.”

“And I need it tonight.”

“Consider it done.”

next chapter: Abetment [22]: 4.1: 2091, June 16th, Saturday. 19:00

all chapters: Abetment