Bradbury's Jar #193

ElectricWhite Gatchamaniac posted 5 Sep 2015 21:03

[unrecoverable text]

RIgirl Gatchamaniac posted 6 Sep 2015 13:38

Since I'm not swamped with housework yet (see what I did there? *snerk*), here's my next installment: Jun groaned at the thought of going back to the PI building, at being in those horrid rooms again, but this time at least she would not be stuck listening to someone drone on and on about how great their business was at making and designing housing covers and parts for all types of small engine machines. Setting the salad on the bed, Jun got up and went over to the dresser. She looked towards the bathroom door, where she still heard the water running. If she hurried, she probably had enough time. Moving quickly, she stripped out of the suit, put the black sweatsuit back on, then pulled the dark blue overalls on top of them. Again, all she had in the way of shoes were her gold flats, which she retrieved from her purse and put them on. She hesitated a moment, then took out the small USB figure, unzipped the overalls and put it into the pocket of her sweatpants. She zipped up, then patted the pocket to make sure it was secure. Satisfied that it was, Jun turned and, just as she was putting the bag back on the dresser, something just at the edge that caught her eye, something she had not noticed there before. Her heart thumped in her chest and her breath caught in her throat when she realized what it was. Red Impulse's billfold. And he had left right out in the open. All she had to do was take a small look and she would finally know who he really was. Jun glanced back at the bathroom. The water had stopped, but the door remained closed. But for how long? Before another second was wasted, Jun scooped up the wallet and flipped it open to the clear window part where people usually put their driver's licenses. Sure enough, there was a driver's license with his grainy photo on it. She held it up close to her eyes to read the name on it. Last name: Idero. First name: Tatsuo. Tatsuo Idero. Was that really Red Impulse's real name? Jun was excited ... until she realized that there was more than one card stuck in the pocket. Carefully, she drew them out and gasped when she realized that they were all driver's licenses, all with the same bad photo of Red Impulse on them, all issued from different countries, and all of them bearing a different name. William Benson. Alfred Solang. Nicholas Talbot. Jun went through the rest of the billfold, finding credit cards, all of which had the names that matched at least one of the driver's licenses. He had a small amount of cash on him, though more than she would have thought he would have been carrying. But then again, she considered, it was probably better to leave no trace by buying things with cash than to use a credit card. They were probably only used for the bigger things, where they insisted on having a credit card number, like for renting cars. To her immense disappointment, there was nothing else. No photo, no small scrap of a note or letter, absolutely nothing that would give any clue as to who the man really was. Jun closed the wallet and put it back on the dresser. His phone was there, too, but she did not dare start playing around with that now. Things had been quiet for a while now and she knew her time was short. Sure enough, Jun no sooner sat back down on the bed and began picking at the salad again when he emerged from the bathroom. Like her, he was now dressed in the dark blue jumpsuit that had the cleaning company's name embroidered across the back, Swamp Land Janitorial Services. She wondered where he had gotten his hands on not one, but two, pair of overalls. Probably Masaki and Oniishi, Jun thought. It was nothing short of amazing how those two were able to procure just about anything, just at the time when they needed the things. Jun watched Red Impulse as he took up his wallet and slipped it into the pockets of the pants he wore underneath the overalls. After he zipped up the overalls, he went over to the briefcase, opened it, and popped out a false bottom. From there, he took out a thin laptop and booted it up. He worked without comment, connecting his phone to the computer and from where she sat, Jun could see that he was downloading photos. Only when that was completed did he turn and address her. "Where is that compact you had?" he asked. Jun swallowed the bite she had been chewing. "In the purse, over there," she indicated with the fork. "Why?" As Red Impulse opened the purse and took out the compact, he explained. "I want to add this photo to the others before I send the lot over to the ISO." Jun stilled. "You ... you're in communication with them?" Red Impulse gave her a quick, wondering glance, then turned back to the computer, his fingers dancing over the keyboard, his large hands making the small laptop look like a toy. "Of course we are," he said. "Most of these people are exactly who and what they say they are, average business people going about their business. There are a few, though, that I'm fairly certain I've seen before who I know deal with Galactor." "Really? Like who?" Jun asked, bouncing up from the bed and walking over to where Red Impulse was leaning over the computer. She looked over his shoulder as he pointed them out. "This woman. I know I've seen her before, but not as a redhead. I've also seen him before, and this one as well." He pointed them out to her, one after the other. "And this one, if I'm not mistaken, is pretty high up in the ranks." He pointed to the final photo in the group, the one she had taken that morning. "So if you know who they are, then why don't we just go after them?" "Because," Red Impulse said, hitting the 'send' button, then straightening and turning slightly to face her, "first of all, I'm not one-hundred percent sure they are who I think they are. Once the ISO gets these, which should be right about now, they'll start on identifying them and putting them under observation. Secondly, we would need ironclad proof that they are dealing directly with Galactor and proof that those dealings are treasonous acts against either the government they are under or against world peace treaties. Amassing that kind of information takes time and the sooner we start, hopefully the faster we can get what we need. What?" Until his sharp question, Jun had not realized that she had been staring at him. "Who are you?" she asked bluntly. "Not just Red Impulse, but who are you, really?" He stared at her a moment, long enough to make her think that perhaps he was actually going to answer her. "I am Red Impulse," he answered, his voice low and curiously flat. "But who are you?" Jun insisted. "What's your real name?" He flinched slightly at her words, as though she had struck him. "I gave up any name long ago. It doesn't matter now." "Of course it does," Jun insisted. "You were someone before you were Red Impulse. Weren't you?" "Who I was ... before ... has nothing to do with who I am now." "But you still must have a name, something that you are called." Red Impulse gave her an unreadable look, sadness in his eyes so deep it hurt her just to look at him, and then it was gone in the blink of his eye. "My name is whatever I need it to be, whatever suits the purpose." "But ... but suppose I need to call you?" "Why would you need to do that?" "I don't know. Suppose I have to warn you or something. What should I call you then?" "In that case, I would think a simple 'look out' would do the trick. Come on," he said, turning back to the laptop, shutting it down and slipping it back into its place in the briefcase. "We should get going. We don't want to arrive after the real cleaning crew gets there." Jun only nodded and put the now empty container, cup and fork back into the plastic bag they came in and knotted it. Realistically, she knew that he never would have answered the direct question with a direct and honest answer, but still, it bothered her. Nambu knew who he was, but somehow she got the feeling that he would not answer her any more directly than Red Impulse had. Why? As they walked along, retracing their steps back to Parnell's corporate office building, Jun's mind spun a dozen different stories to answer the question, each one more fantastical than the last. He was a prisoner working off time for the crimes he had committed. He had tragically lost his family and was out for revenge. He had been part of Galactor and now turned against them. But Nambu trusted him. That was the part that Jun could not reconcile with any of the stories that she was able to come up with. If there was one thing she knew about Nambu, it was that Hakase was an extremely cautious man, and one who did not trust others easily. So there was something else, something more, but what?

ChrisW Gatchamaniac posted 6 Sep 2015 15:18

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