Madigan scowled down at the young man sitting at the computer
terminal and looking over at the display asked him, "They're all shell
companies?"
"Yes, ma'am," the young man nodded meekly. "I've started
tracing them back, but it's like following ghosts," he explained.
"So all the recent purchases of Quincy's stock has been
through these companies," Madigan summarized. "None of which have any
greater existence than a post office box or email address. But why
didn't we catch this sooner?" she asked.
"Because we weren't really looking," the young man sighed.
Madigan scowled at the visibly pale young man, "I want you to
trace the money back to it's source, you can use whatever resources
that you need." Her voice dropped to a growl, "We must know who's
buying up all that stock, it could be vital."
"Yes, ma'am," the man nodded.
Madigan strode away, running the situation through her mind.
The stockholders meeting was coming up in less than two weeks, and she
didn't want any surprises. It could be that the purchaser of the
stocks wanted privacy for some personal or professional reason. A
politician, for instance, who had voted in favor of Genom projects and
wanted to cash in.
But that was too easy an answer, Madigan just knew it. Her gut
instinct was telling her that this wasn't a simple thing, and after
working at Genom for as long as she had, she had learned to trust in
her gut. 'If Quincy goes down, I go down also,' she thought to herself
grimly, 'which means that I cannot allow that to happen.'
Linna settled down in her chair even as Reika sat in the seat
opposite her. The restaurant Reika had chosen was high class enough
that Reika felt comfortable, but not so high class that Linna felt too
uncomfortable. She wondered if Reika had learned to make that kind of
choice in business school, or if it was just something she had picked
up from her family?
"Thank you, for agreeing to go out with me," Reika smiled at
her gently.
"Your welcome," Linna smiled back.
A server arrived and Reika ordered for them, selecting out a
dinner and wine to go with the meal. Linna recognized a few of the
more expensive dishes and thought about protesting the cost, but held
herself back. If Reika wanted to do this, it was her choice. The food
was delivered swiftly, and the servers left as quickly as they came.
They ate silently a few moments, then Linna looked up, finding
herself meeting Reika's eyes. She smiled slightly, "I saw your video
for 'Desperately Wanting' this morning."
Reika actually blushed, looking down at her plate. "I'm sorry
about that," she said softly, "I don't really think I had considered
how you might feel on seeing it."
"The song is beautiful," Linna said quietly, then she grinned,
"the video, on the other hand, I haven't quite made up my mind about."
"I'm glad you liked the song, then," Reika blushed. She toyed
with her food a bit, "It's about you, more or less."
"You don't really know me," Linna said as gently as she could.
She wasn't quite sure what Reika was expecting, and she didn't to hurt
the lady.
"I know," Reika nodded, "but I'd like to." She put her fork
down, looking across the table, "My sister mentioned you a lot in her
letters, you know. Then when I met you, it came as a surprise how...
kind, even caring you were to me."
Linna blushed, looking down. Almost as soon as she had met
Reika she had been concerned about her, worried about the intense
young woman. She still didn't understand where that rapid connection
between them had come from, but it had been deep and strong.
Reika reached across the table, gently laying her hand over
Linna's as she said, "I just want to get to know you a little better.
If something else develops, that would be fine, but I'd be happy just
being your friend."
Linna looked across the table, trying to read Reika's brown
eyes. "All right," she smiled at her, "lets try to be friends."
"That's it?" Priss blurted out, looking over at Linna in
surprise the next morning. She hadn't really expected to see Linna out
and about that early, especially after she heard that Linna and Reika
had gone out together that night.
"Yes, that's it," Linna said grumpily.
"She was practically throwing herself at you," Priss waved her
arms in the air, "and you didn't take her up on it? I know there's
armies of Vision fangirls who would give their right arm to be where
you were last night."
Linna looked down with a blush, "I'm not a Vision fangirl." A
bit defensively, "And I am not such a smooth operator as you are, all
right?"
"Somebody ought to be giving you lessons," Priss sighed. She
shook her head, "All right, so what are you going to do next?"
"I'm not sure," Linna sighed. "I was thinking of showing her
the sights around Mega-Tokyo, take her over to that underground golf
course I showed you..." she trailed off at the look on Priss face.
"Bad idea?" she asked her meekly.
"Golf," Priss sighed, shaking her head.
"There's nothing wrong with golf," Linna said with wounded
dignity.
"I should track you down the old 'Dating for Dummies' book for
you," Priss shook her head. She looked over at Linna, "You like
Angelic Layer, right?"
Linna blinked in surprise, "Well, yes."
"Bring her over to one of those tournaments. At least there
you can try to impress the lady while doing something you like," Priss
offered.
"That could work," Linna nodded thoughtfully, "That way, I can
tell them about that party Sylia's organizing."
"Just make sure that Reika doesn't think that you're involved
with any of the Layer players," Priss thought to add.
"The Layer players I know are all couples," Linna said with a
great deal of dignity.
"Doesn't stop a threesome," Priss smirked.
"Priss, you're a pervert," Linna sweatdropped.
Priss just laughed.
Later that day Priss smoothly coasted her bike to a stop in
front of the office building. She read the directions again off the
business card her Aunt had given her and nodded thoughtfully, 'I guess
this is the place."
She made her way into the lobby, the human security guard
looking up at her suspiciously. The dark haired woman asked Priss
stiffly, "Can I help you?"
Priss narrowed her eyes, instantly not liking the young
woman's attitude. Even though she was in her biker leathers, it didn't
mean the woman should jump to conclusions. "Priss Asagiri," she
dropped her wallet open to her id on to the desk top, "I'm here to
visit the A.M.N.Y. agency. They know that I'm coming."
The woman checked the name against a computerized list, her
eyes widening slightly as she spotted the name. She handed the wallet
back with an apologetic look, "Sorry, Ms. Asagiri. You can go right on
up. They're on the tenth floor, and have the entire western wing."
"Gee, thanks," Priss snarled as she stepped into the elevator.
As the doors were closing she turned to see the pale face of the
guard. 'I guess a complaint could get her fired, or worse, replaced by
a Boomer,' Priss thought. She smiled wryly, 'And from the look on her
face, she isn't going to make that little mistake again.'
The elevator opened up on the tenth floor, and Priss blinked
at how upper class the place looked. 'I guess detective work pays
pretty well,' she thought. She headed west, eventually coming to an
older style door with frosted glass in it. Etched into the glass was,
'A.M.N.Y.' and underneath was, 'Investigation Agency.'
Priss knocked, and heard Yoriko's cheerful voice call out,
"Come in."
"Hey, Yoriko," Priss waved to the woman behind the reception
desk. When Priss asked her Aunt about it she had explained that
theoretically they all took turns sitting there, but usually it was
either Yoriko or Aoi, because of their good naturedness. Other than
that the reception had a few plants and a fair sized couch for
customers to sit on.
"Hey, Priss," Yoriko answered cheerfully. "Natsumi and Miyuki
are in their offices," she explained with a smile.
Priss looked around her with raised eyebrows, "You all have
your own private offices?"
"Yep," Yoriko bounced up out of her desk to lead Priss back
into the office suites. "Of course, we don't mind trading off gear if
we need to," she added, "like when I used Miyuki's computer to do
research on you."
"I guess that makes sense," Priss agreed. They knocked on
Miyuki's office door first, but got no answer, so they moved on to try
the next one. Priss raised her hand to tap when they heard an odd
noise coming from inside Natsumi's office. Priss exchanged a long look
with Yoriko before asking, "They wouldn't be...?"
Yoriko blushed slightly and shrugged, "Dunno."
Priss tried the door handle, finding it unlocked. With an evil
smile she turned it and swiftly pushed the door open, catching Natsumi
and Miyuki necking on top of the desk.
"Oh, god," Yoriko covered her blushing face with her hands.
"Priss!" Natsumi went beet red, both she and Miyuki getting
off the desk as quickly as possible. She tidied her short hair, even
as Miyuki checked her braid and straightened her skirt.
"Priss, hum, you're early," Miyuki was blushing fiercely.
Priss made a show of checking her watch, "Actually, I'm right
on time." She smirked, "I guess you must have lost track of time,
somehow."
"You couldn't have stopped her?" Natsumi raised her eyebrow at
Yoriko.
Yoriko smirked, a blush on her cheeks, "Why? It was so
educational."
"What was educational?" Aoi came up to them to ask. She nodded
to Priss, "Hi, Priss. How's it been going?"
Yoriko beamed at her lover, "Priss caught them necking at work
again."
"Again?" Priss raised her eyebrow at that. She shook her head,
remembering why she had come by today, "My friend Sylia is holding a
party at the store she runs, the Silky Doll, and I've arranged for you
all to be invited."
"A chance to meet all your friends, I take it?" Natsumi asked.
"Pretty much," Priss nodded. "She's invited a few other
friends, too, so it won't be too much of a grilling," she smiled, "but
there probably will be some."
Natsumi exchanged a glance with Miyuki before nodding, "We'd
love to go."
Yoriko and Aoi both agreed as well, "We're in."
"So when is this party?" Miyuki asked reasonably.
"In one week," Priss smiled.
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