Page 21 of Fool’s Gold

His first act that morning was to ask for a procedure review between the GBI team and corporate security. Someone had dropped the ball—all of their manufacturing facilities had been secure sites since the eighties and the great Tylenol tampering incident. He didn’t feel bad for ordering a review under those circumstances—Besse couldn’t, and shouldn’t, afford another blunder.

Then he had to take meetings with law enforcement, which was only natural at a time like this. Resentment wasn’t a reasonable reaction right now. They were there to do a job, and they were helping. Or at least trying to help. They’d probably stopped dozens of attacks Matt didn’t know about, right?

Morales showed up for these meetings, and Matt found himself relaxing ever so slightly. Morales was young, but he was extremely competent and he had no weird hang-ups about admitting he didn’t know something. Matt liked him. The fact that he was good-looking didn’t hurt.

Jack was forced to disclose his actual identity and purpose to the local police, but that was inevitable. They both had to give their statements, several times, and detectives from the GBI found it difficult to accept that Matt had stolen Jack’s gun to shoot the assailant. “What the hell do you mean, you made a shot like that and don’t carry?”

Matt sighed and propped up his head with his hands. “I don’t carry, Detective, because ninety percent of the time more guns just make a bad situation worse. I’m a good shot because I grew up on an isolated farm, and I was a gay teenager. Back then and in that place, we had to do what we had to do. A small farmhouse surrounded by rye where the police are half an hour away at best is very different from an Atlanta high-rise.

“The man I shot—how is he?”

Morales cleared his throat. “Your shot was clean. He lost a lot of blood, and there’s definitely some ligament and bone damage, but they were able to save his life. If you’re thinking about a career change—highly recommended by the way—allow me to steer you toward the FBI. You’re still young enough to join, and while they might try to steer you toward the white-collar divisions we can always use more sharpshooters.”

Matt blushed. “You’re too kind.”

“It would be a pay cut.” Jack nudged him.

“I don’t care about that.” Matt snorted. “I’ve got enough saved to support me and Gram for the rest of time, plus the payout when I leave Besse. I’m just a little concerned about giving me a badge and a gun when I was stupid enough to fall for the crap the other execs were feeding me. Or anyone dumb enough to fall for that crap, for that matter.” He took a breath. He had been dumb, and there was no way they should be putting him in any position to harm civilians. Plus, he couldn’t leave Norah alone. “Any idea who the gunman is?”

“He’s known to police.” An Atlanta detective spoke up. “Name is Nate Burke. He’s a hanger-on with a lot of the anticorporate groups, but he’s not really part of any of them. Probably because most of them don’t see shooting CEOs in the head as a legit form of protest, except in memes.” He rolled his eyes. “Save us from memes. He latched onto some of the groups who were angry about the super flu, and the rest is history. There’s no evidence so far that he was part of a larger conspiracy, but the investigation is ongoing.”

“That’s the problem in this kind of case.” Jack sank back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. “There doesn’t have to be a larger conspiracy. You can have a hundred bad actors, all on their own, all gunning for the same guy.”

“Fair enough.” The GBI detective grinned, wolfish. “I caught a dose of that super flu myself. My ma wound up dying from it. I know it wasn’t you who made the calls, but I can definitely see where some of these guys are coming from, you know? Not that they should be taking things out on you, but they’re right to be pissed off. And I can see where some of them would take the law into their own hands. It’s not like they’ve gotten justice.”

Morales’s demeanor turned frosty. “I’m sure you’re well aware, Detective, that the wheels of justice turn slowly—especially with more complicated cases. The court cases for the executives are still pending.”

The detective shrugged. “Sure, but everyone knows how it’s going to go. No one’s ever held a CEO responsible for murder before. Not for something like this. And not everyone believes this fella wasn’t involved.” He jerked his thumb toward Matt.

Matt didn’t care. He’d heard it all before. “Theycan believe what they want, Detective. I know the truth. But incidents like this run the risk of harming a lot of innocent workers—ordinary people just trying to get through their workday.”

The detective sniffed and didn’t respond.

The Atlanta detective turned to his state counterpart. “I think we’ve gotten all we can. Detective, let’s head out. I want to bounce a couple of things off you.”

They walked out the door together, speaking in hushed tones. Matt heard the GBI detective mutterwould’ve given him a medal if he’d succeeded.

Matt, Jack, and Morales were silent for a moment as they waited for the others to get out of earshot.

Then Morales pulled out his tablet. “So, I’ve just opened up an investigation into our friend from the GBI there. Hope no one minds.”

Matt shrugged. “He’s entitled to his opinion.”

Jack gave him a tense smile. “He’s not entitled to allow his opinion to color the investigation. Which I suspect is why the Atlanta detective hauled him out of here. He basically told you the guy was justified.”

“Do you really think that’s the first time I’ve heard something like that?” Matt met Jack’s eyes. “The first time I got beat up for kissing a guy behind the bleachers in high school, I was told it was justified. The first time social services got called to my ma’s trailer, they said she was justified in what she’d done too. This shit is nothing new, and at least I can vaguely understand it. Besse did do something unforgivable. There was always a risk to this job. Sure, I kind of want to throw punches whenever I hear it, but I can’t because the folks who lost people deserve to be heard and deserve to have their say.

“I’m hoping it will die down after the court cases are addressed and some measure of justice is served. But there’s no real justice for unleashing a devastating virus out into the world just to collect data. There’s only revenge, and if this is what people need to do to get that, nothing’s going to stop them.”

Jack stood up and got in his face. “So what, are you just going to hang yourself out there like a martyr?”

Matt rolled his eyes. The heat radiating from Jack’s body was giving Matt conflicting signals. Everything in Jack’s body screamedchallenge. The heat screamedcomfort, like last night’s cuddle session.

He couldn’t let his confusion show. “Not even a little bit. Otherwise, I’d have let that guy shoot me instead of picking your pocket and shootinghimwithyourgun. I’m doing my best to stay alive until I get things on the right page for the company. There are a lot of good people working for Besse, and it’s kind of shameful to make them suffer. All I’m saying is I understand where the grieving people are coming from. And once they’ve decided revenge is the best strategy, they’re not going to stop. Nothing changes that person’s mind.”

Morales sighed. “Well, you’re right about that part. I’m hoping the hunger for revenge will just fade away with time, but for some people it never does. We have to take that into account. But Matt, you’re not just dealing with a bunch of unaffiliated individuals obsessed with revenge. You’ve also got people who can afford to send Russian assassins after you. That’s greed, not revenge.”

Matt shook his head. “I’ve got money, but Gram gets everything if I get killed. If she goes before I do, it gets split between my niblings and a handful of charities. There wouldn’t be enough left to make hiring a killer worthwhile.”

---