Ax was sitting in business class with all the other suits. The pretty air-hostess offered him another champagne, which he accepted. He wondered idly why it was always the most pretty in business class. If anything were to happen to the airplane it would be more useful to have an older, more experienced hostess, but as he could see, most passengers appeared to prefer the young, pretty ones. This one was very pretty, she knew it, and was trying to make sure that he knew it also. But today he was not interested. A different day? Perhaps. But he knew he could take any pretty anywhere. Just walk up to her and say, “OK, now.“ And she would follow and he would fuck her. Sometimes a guy, some boyfriend or other tried to stop her, or him. Mistake. He always walked off with the girl. If she could not get power herself she wanted to be with someone who could. Easy.
Ax was good at his job, computer consulting. Rainbow, a Swiss company. had branches world-wide. For this reason he travelled often and far. Sometimes his trips were quite short. Sometimes they were longer. It all depended on the job. On what he had to sell.
Today he was in Zurich at one of the main offices of Rainbow. They had several main offices throughout the world. He entered the glass hall, passed the main reception desk and pressed a button recessed in the wall. If you didn’t know where the button was and what it did you would have stopped at the normal lifts, where they were marked, but Ax had walked past these lifts. Where he stood was hidden from open sight. Nothing looked like a lift. Before him was just a door marked “Private” and the number “2” in gold at eye height. There was a small camera disguised as a screw hidden in the dot of number “2.”
Ax turned the handle and waited. The door did not open, but the lift came. The golden two flashed, and Ax turned the handle, opened the door, and got into the lift. The door closed behind him. There were no buttons to choose a floor. He approached what looked like a small mirror and looked at it. After a few moments the lift started, down. He had passed the first test. The retina scan.
The lift went down and came to a stop twelve stories underground. The door opened and he got out into a small circular space as the door closed behind him. There was nothing in the space, nothing at all except a slight recess with a machine that looked like a small A.T.M. There were, he knew, cameras recording his every move from every angle.
He walked over to the machine, leaned forward and spoke a single word. “Rainbow,“ he said. His voice was neither deep nor high. Non-remarkable, one could say.
After a moment a keyboard slid silently out of the machine. He quickly pressed some keys, entering an eight digit number. The machine had no screen, but a blinking red light changed to amber, still blinking. Ax typed in another set of eight numbers. The light stopped blinking, and turned green.
Once again Ax typed in a new set of eight numbers. This time the light went out and the door opened again.
He turned and got into the lift. The door closed and the lift started down.
It went down another 20 stories before stopping. Again the door opened and again Ax got out. This time, however, he was in what looked like a large reception area. A stunningly beautiful young lady sat at a computer on a large, glass desk. He could see her long legs through the glass. She was wearing a very short skirt and her shoes had very thin, high heels. She was not an ordinary secretary, however. She was a highly trained assassin.
Ax smiled and stood still, waiting. “Please take a seat,” she said. She did not look up. Ax walked over to a leather sofa and sat. He knew the drill. Someone would come and get him. There was nothing to do but wait.
He waited six minutes before a slim, gaunt man came up to him. He did not introduce himself, nor did he ask Ax for any identification. All that had been done by the cameras after he had correctly entered the three codes. If he had answered incorrectly or if his body had not been matched by the biometric scanners he would have still have been presented with a lift. It would just have gone to another floor. He would not have returned.
“Good Day, Sir, please follow,” was all the man said.
Ax got up and followed.
They walked for a few minutes and eventually came to another door. One of many in the long corridor. The man opened the door. “You may enter, “ he said, looking at nothing.
Ax went in. The gaunt man followed then closed the door and walked to the table as the door closed behind them. There were four men standing at a large, round table.
“Come, sit, there is much to discuss,” said the man furthest away. Ax knew of this man and recognized him. He was the head of Rainbow itself. A very dangerous man. Very rich and very powerful. His word was literally life or death to many.
Ax heard the door click locked as he followed the gaunt man to the table. Like a lamb to the slaughter.
But who was the lamb?
They were all standing. Four of them. It was more formal that way. Friends stood closer to each other. The door clicked behind Ax and someone entered the room. They were all near their seats, but it was the one at the head of the table who spoke.
“We all know Anne, “ he said, almost bowing as he turned his hand in her direction. Despite themselves all four looked at her. Ax turned and looked, too. She was pretty,
today. A pretty shark. He almost smiled, even he had to admit, she looked, actually? “Fuckable” he thought. Shit.
“Take a seat, Anne”, said the man standing at the head of the table.
Anne walked to the table and sat down, waited for the others to sit, then looked around the table. She wanted to get on with it.
Ax remained standing. He did not approach the table. Anne began to talk. “Gentlemen, “ she said. “You all know me. You know that my organization gathers
intelligence. I, we, have intelligence that Bakr Nadir is the source of our current problems. It is he who is behind the recent bombings. And it is he who has taken Ms. Redcroft. We are sure of it. And here we are. Do we know why?”
Anne stopped talking and looked around the room. They were all looking at her, all, except Ax. He was looking off to the side, boredom written across his face. “Anne, please clarify. Get to the point,” said the man at the head of the table.
Anne looked at him, a hard look. He disgusted her, this ape. Head of Rainbow, a man with too much power. This is what she hated. Men with too much power. Fat, rich men who would lay their huge, overweight stomachs on pretty young women at night while their wives watched television in their huge houses getting drunker on Chardonnay.
“The point, “ she spat, “is that we need this man here,” she indicated Ax, “to kill our terrorist. He is the most qualified, he knows the target, and he is, quite simply, the best. Not one of you, not even all four together would stand the slightest chance against this one man. He knows Bakr Nadir, he knows how to track. He speaks perfect Arabic and he knows the country inside out. And he is only here because I called him on the phone.“
She stopped and looked around.
The others followed her look. They were all looking at Ax.
Ax looked long and hard at each one of them.
Very slowly he put his hands in his pockets. “I only came here to find out what you were doing to get her back, I see you are doing nothing, well, fuck you all, and especially you,” he said, directly at Anne.
He turned and walked out.