Page 20 of Raven

I see. It’s a disaster, but everyone supports Archer in going public with the medication.

Let’s clarify. Gen-Alpha’s main business is manufacturing the drug that controls DNA and prevents its mutation in future generations due to radiation. Up until now, it was the most expensive drug in the world, affordable by—you guessed it—only the very rich. Archer decided to take the company public, making the drug available to almost anyone through healthcare.

So, it’s a disaster for the board members and investors who could control to whom and where the drug was sold, literally filling their pockets with billions at an astonishing speed. Now the honeypot is tightly controlled by the public sector. It’s a Godsend for ninety percent of the world. The poor rejoice. The rich are angry, of course. Life sort of always works like this.

“We are on our own,” Archer says, rubbing his chin. “The board members suggested we move the lab elsewhere.”

Bishop finally cuts in, “Like?”

“Australia, Peru, Canada.”

“Don’t you have labs there already?”

“Yes.” Archer nods. “The Ayana lab is mine, though. It’s our main research facility. Now, no one wants to spend extra money on Zion’s security, and let’s just say, it’s a bit complicated to move the entire enterprise during lockdown. So, this can’t happen overnight.”

What he is not saying is that Ayana is a community. If Archer didn’t give a fuck, he could’ve moved elsewhere in a heartbeat. That would mean that this place would start falling apart. The truth is, Archer does care.

Archer’s phone beeps with a message. He exhales heavily as he checks it and switches the big screen to video chat. After several rings, Mr. Alex Ortiz is live, nodding to us in greeting.

Katura Ortiz and her father are staggeringly similar. I’m glad she is not here. She might be good at working with intel, but her nineteen-year-old attitude should not be involved when it comes to discussing Ayana security. Even Marlow, the head of security, is distracted by the party life more often than he should.

Thank God for Chase Bishop and Alex Ortiz who actually have backgrounds in military training.

Alex Ortiz doesn’t need to watch the commercial to know that the world can celebrate this as a victory while Ayana will have to hold on tight to its panties, because it will soon be assaulted, and it won’t be pretty.

We have these meetings almost daily now, because every day something goes wrong. After a long chat about the arms contracts and cutting down on personnel because of the lack of funding, inevitably Port Mrei is brought up.

“You are up, Raven,” Ortiz says. “The local town is your domain. You need to figure out that mess with Butcher.”

“You want me to take a dozen guards and have a shootout? The way I see it, that’s where it’s leading.”

“No. But you have over a hundred contractors on your island, several former CIA agents, yet, people are still smuggled in and out. So are weapons. Butcher’s men can easily get anything they want to Zion. I checked the logs. Your guards denied several shipments at the port, but the boats turned around and somehow got access to the Ashlands.”

I stare at him on the screen, not liking that he’s stabbing a finger at me. “I’m not in charge of security. I handle the contracts as well as imports.”

“Irrelevant,” Ortiz says calmly. “This is a bigger problem than security. Butcher is a problem. This fucked up dichotomy must be sorted out. And no one can figure out Butcher like you.”

I know that. “After Secretary Crone’s death, we lost ties with the Defense Intelligence Agency. That’s unfortunate. It was our biggest partner, and Butcher knows that. Don’t ask me how. There is nothing I can do unless we completely change security. And I’m afraid?—”

“We can’t afford it right now,” we all say at the same time.

“Right.” I nod. “We can’t be in the middle of changing things when Archer just made Gen-Alpha public, the board members are pissed and pulling back funds, and outsiders can find holes in Ayana security.”

“I know. It’s a bit of a pickle,” Ortiz’s says thoughtfully.

“It’s a disaster,” I correct him calmly. “Sure, I can talk to Butcher. But as long as we don’t make changes, Butcher knows that we are sinking.”

The conversation is pretty much over. We can’t get more funds unless someone big gets a specific interest in this island. By big, I mean someone on the scale of the former Secretary of Defense. But Archer’s dad is dead, and now we are on our own. Somehow, before, this was Archer’s problem. Now, everyone’s eyes are on me like I should let Butcher take me in the ass to guarantee our security.

Archer walks out with me as I leave the Center, slightly irritated at everyone’s expectations.

“I will take several of my guys and try to arrange a meeting with Butcher,” I say.

“Is it safe?”

“What do you think?”

I always liked Archer. He went through a long party streak back at Deene. Sure, he was arrogant and constantly high on something. Granted, I met him after that drama with Kai Droga. But when Archer was sober and talking science, there was no denial that he was one of the most brilliant chemists out there.

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