Cheat, page 20
“I brought him. Seriously, you should have talked to him, and then you could have ridden in the Limo, instead of taking the bus. We saved you a seat.” She seemed exasperated about the whole thing, like it was all Carry’s fault.
Mason was nearly certain that there had been no mention of any ride provision for the other woman, however. It was still tense for him, though it was clear that everyone else seemed to just accept that all the anti-Mason talk earlier had been due to Carry being surprised that he was there. Her explanation seemed about right, now that he’d heard it. No one had said that any of it was wrong, anyway.
Still he didn’t speak as they left the big gray house, surrounded by large bodies that protected them from the people that suddenly gathered. Most of them were trying to take pictures, but a few called things out that took him by surprise.
“Rich fuckers!” It turned into a chant, though it came from the back, where about twenty people stood, holding signs. “Down with the rich fuckers!”
They were followed the entire time they walked, and most of the other people were just trying to have things signed, or to hand things to the group. Mainly to Lexi and George. That surprised him a bit, since he’d kind of figured that the forty something looking guy wasn’t that important. The crowd seemed to think he was though.
“Lexi! Are you seeing anyone this week?” It was called out from a group of people that were a bit more subdued, but that all had cameras, and some hovering drones to capture what the reply was.
She kept walking, and waved at the person, a man, who didn’t let being ignored stop him.
“Lexi! What about you and Charlton Warburg? I hear things are getting hot there?”
Others called out different things, and it was pretty clear that the best plan was to flash Adam, since the three women that did that had him stopping each time, to chat with them for a moment. It made the trip slower, but as Ben had taught him, the entire point of being there was publicity.
The trip was a bit like that the whole time, with people screaming about the evils of the rich, and paparazzi trying to get a response from various people. That, and some fans doing much the same thing. They also screamed a lot. Squealing, mainly.
Off to the left the ocean pounded and roared. There were a lot of different scents in the air. Burning wood, salt and dead sea life, mainly. The street lights along the wide walkway they were on started to glow. They were on old fashioned looking metal poles that seemed to stick up from the low concrete wall that separated the promenade from the sand on the other side. Most of the angry sounding people were over that, about forty feet away. At first he didn’t get why that was, but when one of them came running up, clearly ready to throw something, several rather quick assistants were suddenly in the way. Each holding a weapon that looked to be more or less lethal.
The man aborted his move, and jumped back.
“Fuckers! We don’t need you!”
It was probably true, but started a chant, which was a bit hard on the ego, by the time they got to the place they were supposed to eat.
It was, as Lexi had mentioned, a mid-priced place. That was the only thing that impressed him about it. Other than the prices, the place looked an awful lot like a fast food joint. Bright yellow and red signs, Booths along the walls, and a few large tables in the center, one of which had a sign on it that said reserved.
The man that came over had a badge on that claimed he was the manager, which didn’t instill a lot of confidence as far as Mason could see. Neither did the fact that he looked like he was about to orgasm, upon seeing who was there.
“Miss Horn, Mr. Wender! What a wonderful surprise. We held a table for you, Miss Horn. This way, please?” The man was chubby, and his skin had a greasy look to it. So did his hair, which was lank and slightly sweat soaked. It was warm in the place, which was probably why that was. His clothing was casual, being a simple short sleeved shirt in blue, along with white shorts.
Everyone working there had the same outfit on.
The menu flashed on his eye as soon as he got to the table. To his mild shock, Carry was right next to him on the left. Tara took the other side, bumping into his shoulder as she did it, with her chest. He ignored that part, not wanting to be arrested for statutory rape anytime soon. It didn’t help that the girl looked about ten years older than she really was, at the moment. He knew the truth, and that was enough to get him to play things correctly.
The service wasn’t bad really, and the place actually had waiters, who scurried to get them drinks and then stood by while they decided what they wanted. Carry looked up, reading the menu that was floating behind her eyes.
“I… We should make careful selections.” Her voice was nervous again, and at first he figured that the problem was about the portion sizes. They did look big, from what people had on their plates at the other tables when he stole a glance. The Slimtrix would prevent him from eating even half of that. Closer to a quarter, most likely.
Then Tara sighed, and nodded.
“I hear that. This place is pricey for burgers and fries. We can split a few dishes?”
Mason nodded.
“Sure. I can’t eat that much anyway. Um, I’ll get this one?” He didn’t know if that was the right thing to say or not, but no one slapped him, or did more than grin.
Tara leaned in again.
“Well, in that case…” She was teasing though, since when it came time to order they went with the sharing things plan.
That turned out to be a smart move, since even then he had too much food. He wasn’t the only one either. Carry ate about what he did, and looked guilty the whole time, even though she was nowhere near being fat. Tara nibbled at things, and left more than he did. Down the table Sam did about the same, though she kept looking at him as she did it. Ben took a few bites of his rather full plate and then left the rest untouched. It was decent food, and all real, but Mason understood the implied judgment of it from the man.
He whispered, down the table to the rest of them.
“Don’t get dessert. We have something planned for later.”
When the man, the greasy manager, came by later, as people were finishing, Mason smiled at him.
“Could I get the check?” He nearly whispered the words, and a second later the bill for the entire table came up. It was a nifty amount, but not that high. Mid-priced, but for a lot of people. Just the ones at that table though, and not the assistants, who were also eating. It took a second and some gesturing to get that included, but he paid with his thumb print, rather covertly, for everyone.
It was clear that he wasn’t going to do that every night they were there, he decided. He added enough of a tip that no one would think he was being cheap, because that might be reported, in the press. No one would care about him doing that, but they’d blame Lexi, or possibly George, if it wasn’t enough.
It had been handled well enough that no one seemed to get that he’d done it. Which was good. They all left without looking around, probably getting that someone had done it, since the manager and his waiters didn’t try to tackle them on the way out.
“Thank you all for joining us! Come again soon!”
Ben moved in next to him, and spoke as soon as they got out the door.
“That was not good. I’ll do dinner for everyone tomorrow. Can you help with that? I’m starting to see that printables can work, if they’re used right. I just never considered having someone that did nano design in on it before. I’ll have to make a run at doing a new show, won’t I?” He grinned and then tilted his head. “I mean that, too. Do you want in on that?”
Mason thought about it for a few seconds, and then realized that it could, in potential, be useful to the plan. If there was a reason for them to be doing massive nano assembly, then it would get less scrutiny. A show could be used as a commercial for products. They were still going to have to provide power sources for people, somehow. They could add free packets of thermo-electric compound, and solar capture matrix, to the things they sold. At the moment that didn’t seem to fit however, so he put that on the back burner.
“Rich fuckers!” The call went up almost instantly as soon as they got out the door of the place. No one inside had yelled at them, but they were there as soon as Mason was ten steps into his walk back to the house.
He nodded at Ben.
“We should get Adam and Lexi in on it, too. Maybe Carry and Tara?” He didn’t know if that was how things were done, but Ben grinned at him.
“Like any of them would do a cooking program? Maybe as guests. Probably not.”
The planning for the thing, it turned out, could be left to Ben, who’d done several of them before. He really just needed someone to do design work for him, which was about the speed that Mason was ready for anyway.
It was what he was thinking about when the ten or so men rushed them. They were throwing things, in groups. Launching handfuls of muck it seemed, that were mainly aimed at Sam and George.
Mason saw it starting to happen, and moved first. John, Mike and Lisa did too, at about the same time, heading toward the line of men. It was hard to see them, or what they were tossing, and there was a low wall in the way, giving them a bit of protection.
He ran, moving the fifteen feet or so toward Sam, who, along with George, was clearly the main target. Even in the dark Mason could see that, the lines in his mind showing where the things would have to land. He moved between her and the muck being thrown, and tried to cover her with his body. That meant holding her, and pushing her half way over, so he could rest on top of her. It was reflex, and didn’t help totally since the stuff being hurled at them splashed a bit when it struck his body.
When he glanced over to the side, Ben and Adam were doing the same thing for George, who, if anything, was being targeted harder than any of them. The remaining assistants moved them toward the house at a fast walk, one of the men bellowing.
“Keep your wall! Get them inside. Go. Move! We’ll break the line.” It was the guy that had shot Adam before.
What he was saying meant nothing to Mason in particular, but the idea was to get inside, so he kept trying to cover Sam as they walked. More stuff hit him, but it mainly missed his friend. It wasn’t until they were on the doorstep itself that the smell hit him. The crap being thrown was literal excrement. Since there was no handy collection of dogs around, he didn’t want to think about where it had probably come from.
“Take that you rich fuckers!”
About that time the throwing stopped, since several large people started to toss the ones doing it into the sand. That part wasn’t done all that brutally, considering the nature of the assault on their friends. It wasn’t until they were all inside, being pushed that direction by muscular people that had been in the back, that he turned to look at Carry and Tara.
He expected them to be covered with the stuff, but thankfully the men had gone after the really famous people in the lead. Carry was untouched, and Tara had a spot on her nice dress, but only the one. He, on the other hand, would need to burn his clothing.
Adam and Ben, too. Looking at them he shook his head. He didn’t say anything though, since that would mean opening his mouth, and he really didn’t want to risk that, since he had reeking shit on his face.
Sam, or Lexi, seemed like she was in shock, and George was wide eyed, but silent.
Carry however, went to the door and screamed into the night.
“You’re sick mother fuckers! Sick!”
Then she was pulled inside, before anyone could hit her with anything. Melinda did that part, then moved to look at them all, her head shaking side to side.
“Not a horrible response. Mr. Wender and Miss Horn should call this in to one of the networks. Talk up how Genesh and Starky here saved you. People love hearing about heroes, and praising others will make you look good.”
Lexi nodded, as one of the big people opened the door to let John, Lisa and Mike in to join them.
John looked around and smiled. He wasn’t covered with anything, Mason noticed. None of them were.
“We should be fine for now. We should clear the beach, if you want to do that bonfire tonight still? It should be fine.” The man looked at Mason directly, then over at Melinda. “Mel, stay with Sims. We have more bodies coming, and a reason for it now. Mason… Why don’t you and the others go get cleaned up? We’ll get the wood together.”
That seemed to mean several of the muscular people, who moved to do that like they had orders for it already.
Carry looked scared though, and she wasn’t the only one.
Her words showed insight however.
“We can’t give in to terrorism. I… Right. Let me change?”
John seemed happy enough with that, and moved to Adam, who covered in shit or not, got slapped on the back. “Good job. I almost didn’t recognize you, being all heroic and brave like that.”
Adam started to stick his tongue out, then realized that would be a poor plan.
“Yeah, well, I couldn’t let Mason show me up, could I? If I didn’t do my part, then how would I get him into bed later?”
Everyone chuckled at that, except Mason, who just moved toward the closest shower, stripping as soon as it was safe. The other men, and Tara, came with him.
Melinda dashed to get a flimsy trash bag, for their clothing. Then she tied it shut, and followed them into the shower itself.
More to the point, he realized, the square and powerful lady followed him.
Because that didn’t seem strange.
Chapter fourteen
After the communal shower, which ended up being him and Tara sharing at the same time, while Melinda watched, Mason felt a bit better. For the girl it was mainly a psychological thing, having only been hit by a tiny bit of the gunk that had been thrown. For him it was a bit of both.
A real scrubbing was needed, and while the actual shit came off quickly, under no more than regular water, his own peace of mind required him to actually wash with a bit of will. It wasn’t until Tara started doing his back that he realized being naked with her was probably breaking some law or another. The fact was he simply wasn’t going to do anything with her, so hadn’t thought about it. Not while he’d been all gross. Now that she was touching him, he realized that it was time to be done.
His body wasn’t betraying him yet, but there was no need to push things. After all, the girl looked good, and being wet didn’t harm that at all.
So he rinsed without comment and got out of the open shower area. It was a large room, all done in bright tile, so that it wouldn’t matter if water got all over the place. There was no curtain or shower door, and the instant he was out, Ben and Adam took their turns.
Then, almost as if nothing strange had taken place in the slightest, Ben found a towel and started speaking.
“Chocolate. We should do several types. First let’s try for something like an old fashioned milk chocolate candy?”
None of them had clean clothing with them, so wrapped in towels to traipse through the house. As they went up the stairs, he started to nod.
“We can set that up. Let me get my float screen. I work better when I have it.” The virt screen that projected over his eyes was fine, but he felt odd working with his eyes closed and always had.
In the room he found Carry, who was changing clothing for the bonfire.
She looked at him, her eyes lingering a bit longer than was needed to be polite.
“That was really brave, that woman told the others to call in about Adam and Ben, but-” She stopped, since that woman, Melinda, was right behind him.
The powerhouse of a female nodded, her face held in a grin.
“Mason isn’t a celeb, so doesn’t need the exposure the others do. It wasn’t lost on any of us who moved first. That he worked out who was being attacked was sharp. Probably due to how smart he is. It can give you an edge in real world situations like that.” Then she stood there, waiting for him.
He got the idea, so went to his bags, and found a simple short sleeve shirt some underwear and shorts. Carry looked at him and shook her head.
“You’ll need more than that. A sweater, and slacks at least. The wind coming off the ocean will be cold, and if you get too close to the fire you’ll burn. Here, let me… How about these?” She pulled some rather boring looking clothing out, which was all brown.
He glanced at it and nodded.
“I get it. That way when those people come back to throw more shit, I’ll be ready? Good plan, thinking ahead like that.” It wasn’t really funny, but the two women both acted like he was making a joke.
Melinda looked at him for a bit, her eyes on his waist.
“Not very likely. They won’t be back. I think John and Mike sort of implied that if they didn’t leave and stay gone the police would be called. They’re willing to take a bit of a beating in order to make their point, but no one wants to risk police involvement. That tends to get violent.”
Which was a thing that he’d seen now, first hand. It was weird, but even a month before he would have looked at anyone saying something like that like they’d lost their last marble. Now it just seemed like what would happen, no matter what.
Carry didn’t seem to get it, but also wasn’t too bothered by the idea now.
“I just think it will look good on you. I’m… I was a bit mean earlier. I don’t know if you heard about it?”
He could have lied, but didn’t bother. That wouldn’t help anyone.
“I heard you. I can sleep in the basement. I already set that up. It, I guess I don’t know the rules, for things like this. I figured that you were just looking to get some free things from me, to be honest. Imbeds and things like that. Really, I kind of thought that some of the others had asked you to invite me.” Which was the truth, but got first a wince and then a head shake, as she responded to what he was getting at.
“I was kind of trying to get you to like me, and yes, giving out that stuff is why. No one said anything about getting you here. I really didn’t think you’d come. Even if you said yes. There was no way you could find the place. Then, next week I’d show up at your door, with a bottle of wine, and ask why you stood me up. Then I’d ply you with some grown up grape juice and guilt trip you into hooking me up with free hardware. It didn’t work very well. I look like an idiot now.”
