Company - Max Barry [73]
“Who?”
“Please,” Blake says.
“I'm serious. I don't know what you're talking about.”
Blake purses his lips. Then he leans closer, hanging his arm out the window. “The thing to know about Eve, Jones, is she's bloodless. Whatever happened to that girl, she wasn't there the day they were handing out consciences. She shouldn't be here; her ideal job would be giving lethal injections in San Quentin. Maybe you've seen a glimpse of that, but you don't know the half of it. She doesn't have feelings like you and me. She knows she should have them. But she doesn't. I'm telling you this, Jones, so the next time you think you're being clever and sophisticated around Eve, you might instead realize that to her you are nothing more than a big, gangling puppet.”
“I didn't realize you were so insightful,” Jones says. “Do you want me to lie back and talk about my mother?”
Blake snorts. “Look, I don't blame you for being interested in her. She's a terrific lay. One of those girls who acts like she's never done it before. You wouldn't pick it, would you?” He sees something on Jones's face that satisfies him. The Porsche's window begins to whir upward. “Take care, Jones.”
“So let me get this straight,” says Penny. She and Jones are clearing plates in the kitchen of their parents' suburban home; above Penny's head, a clock in the shape of a cat swings its pendulum tail to mark each second, its eyes swiveling from side to side. “This Blake guy thinks you're working with Eve.”
“I guess so.”
“Aren't you Alpha people all on the same side?”
“We're meant to be. But there are politics. When Klausman retires, they'll probably kill each other for his job.”
“He's retiring?”
“Um . . . no, I don't think so.”
Penny fixes her hair, a few strands of which have escaped from her ponytail. “Okay. Back up. You're working for Alpha.”
“Right.”
“And that's why you can afford things like these nice suits.”
“Well, actually, I still owe Eve for those.”
“Fine. Then she gave them to you. Because you're her flunky.”
“Protégé.”
“Whatever.”
“I'm not a flunky.”
“What's the difference?”
“Um,” Jones says.
“You know, you talk about her a lot,” Penny says suspiciously. “This Eve.”
“Well . . .”
“What?”
“I'm very attracted to her. Didn't I mention that?”
“No! I thought you hated her!”
“I do. But also . . . I don't know. I'm confused. When Blake said he used to be with her . . . I felt jealous.”
“Oh boy.”
“I'm not defending it. I'm just being honest. Eve and I did spend a night together.”
“You spent a night together. She was passed out.”
“Before that, though, I saw something. And since that time at the bar, she's . . . been less evil.”
“Wow,” Penny says. “What a recommendation.”
“Also, I don't want to be crass, but she is incredibly hot.”
“Ste-phen.”
“You were obsessed with that guy at the gym, you didn't even know his name.”
“Hmm.”
“But you're right, the things Eve does, you have to hate her. She leaves you no alternative. That's the problem.”
“Putting aside your weird feelings for evil women, and regardless of what's between Eve and Blake, everyone in Alpha is united in wanting to squeeze blood out of the Zephyr staff, am I right?”
“Right.”
“And you want to stop this.”
“You haven't seen this place. It's brutal. And remember, it's not just Zephyr. The techniques they invent end up in thousands of companies. They're probably applied to millions of workers.”
“And rather than quit, you're going to work undercover, as a kind of saboteur.”
“Yes.”
“Even though you have no real authority in Alpha. And in Zephyr you're a desk jockey.”
“Uh . . . yes.”
“And if you do sabotage Alpha—if, say, you tell everyone in Zephyr what's going on—they'll just fire everyone, close the company, and start again. Right?”
Jones sighs. “Yes.”
“And then there's the fact that one of the people you'd be sabotaging is this woman you're quote very attracted to unquote.”
“Exactly.”
“Well. That's some pickle.”
“I thought you might have a solution.”
“Sorry, Stevie. I don't