Page 36 of Only the Wicked
“Good.”
A male voice says, “How good?”
“Am I on speaker?” What the fuck? “Can you take me off?”
“Ignore him.” Static crosses the line, along with footfalls and a loud click that I assume is a door closing.
“Who was that?”
“A juvenile jerk. Backup Hudson called in should you need it. Are you stopping by the house today?”
“No. And I’ve got to jump. I’m meeting him for breakfast in thirty.”
“Awesome. I won fifty bucks.”
“What?”
“Oh. When I was bringing Jake–your backup–up to speed, he bet me you’d spend last night with him. I bet you wouldn’t. I win.”
“Noooo,” a muffled deep voice groans.
Grand. Quinn bet I wouldn’t do what I did. Whatever. Juvenile is a good word for any bet.
“It doesn’t matter. Look, I need you to do me a favor. Tell Hudson to hold my paycheck.”
My first payment should hit my account on Friday.
“What?”
“I told Rhodes I’m between jobs. It’s too likely he’ll see a deposit to my account or payroll tax or something will be picked up on his systems.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Quinn says. “It’s not hard to verify employment and salary. Are you not going with the cover I created?”
“It’s not that I don’t believe you’re good, but his systems?—”
“You told him the truth? Right down the line?”
“Yep.”
“These are things we should all be in agreement on. To back you up, this is need-to-know.” There’s clear annoyance in her tone, and she’s right to be annoyed.
“I know, I know. I adapted on the fly.”
“I’ll run a check to see if anyone’s pulled a background check. Will be good to know if he’s curious about you.”
“If he’s using his system, he likely won’t need to resort?—”
“Yep. What else you got?”
“He’s leaving for D.C. Friday. Any news from San Francisco?” I pointedly don’t mention the KOAN operative’s name. If there’s no reason to mention a name, then it shouldn’t be mentioned.
“She’s scheduled for HR orientation on Friday.”
“Orientation for consultants?”
“Yep. It’s a process. Welcome to corporate America.”
“Did you access the phone?”
