Normal Expenses

“Take a vacation Jack.” said Wynn. 

Jack blinked. “Oh, I’d love to!” he said. “Are you sure you can handle things without me?” he asked. Wynn looked up at him. He stammered. “Not that you can’t, but, I thought this would be an all hands situation.” 

Wynn shrugged. “The data guys don’t think there’s a pattern. Just random violence.” Wynn glanced at their desktop and rolled over to it. “Not connected to us, anyway.” they said. They didn’t make eye contact with Jack. 

“But how can that be?” asked Jack, leaning in his chair, straining to draw Wynn’s gaze. Wynn glanced at him, then back to the monitor. 

“Well, um.” said Wynn. They paused, and typed something out on the keyboard, clicked a few times with the mouse. They rolled back to the desk and faced Jack. “We’re still investigating of course, but there’s nothing connecting them.” she gestured at the report. “You gathered some good analysys, but the idea that they’re connected is just conjecture right now.”

Jack shook his head. “There have been three bombs in a week Wynn! That’s not just a connection, it’s evidence. We need to figure out who had a reason to hit the rockets and the foundation.” He realized he was standing. Wynn’s eyebrows were raised. He sat back down. 

Wynn sighed. “Have you considered that there might be more than one person in the world with a motive to bomb Steele?” 

Jack’s mouth gaped. 

---

“It can’t be a coincidence. Someone has to be directing it!” Jack bolted up and started to pace back and forth across the room. Rul propped herself up on a pillow and stared at him as he reached the far side of the room and turned back towards her. 

“Ok, but what do we do about it?” asked Rul after a long pause. 

Jack threw his hands up. “More!” he exclaimed. He righted himself and spoke more calmly. “We need to hire more security, more investigators. We need more data.” he shook his head. “There’s only one group with a motive for both bombings, and I can’t be the only one who sees this as an unacceptable risk. 

“Well, you’ve asked for that haven’t you?” asked Rul. “Its out of your hands, why worry?” 

Jack folded his arms. “Someone’s going to die! How can I not worry.” he said sternly. 

Rul laid down and sighed. “I didn’t mean it like that.” she said softly. 

“I’m sorry.” said Jack. He dropped down on the couch again and put his hand on hers. She held it. They stayed like that, silent, for a long minute. 

“Steele made my family.” said Jack, sullenly. “My dad would have died without this company, and I don’t want to let Mr. Steele down.”

“Of course you’re going to worry.” said Rul.  “I just want to help you forget about it while you can.” 

“I know.” said Jack. “Thank you.” He lay down next to her, and held her. She held his hand. 

---

Jack opened his mouth to say “Thanks for seeing me.” but Wynn jabbed his back, and all he got out was a faint “Thank-.” Steele didn’t even glance away from his monitor. 

Jack and Wynn stood by the door of Steele’s office for several minutes while the man worked at his computer, then, suddenly, he addressed them. 

“Ok, what’s up?” asked Steele.

Wynn stepped forward and set a folder on Steele’s desk. “This is the security report. I wanted to hand it to you in person since things have been hot lately.” they said, and stepped back. 

“That’s fair.” said Steele. “Anything else?” 

Jack opened his mouth, glanced at Wynn, and glanced at Steele. Wynn shot a hard look at Jack, then glanced at Steele. 

Steele shrugged. “Spit it out if you’re going to say something.” he said. 

Wynn started to raise a hand towards Jack, but Jack stepped forward, almost losing his balance, but turning it into an energetic lunge. He grinned and held out his hand to sell it. Steele took his hand to shake it. 

“My name’s Jack.” said Jack. “I work in investigation and analytics, and I think the bombs are related.” he said. 

“They’re related?” asked Steele, eyebrows jumping. 

:”That remains to be seen.” said Wynn. They hesitated. “But we’ve had four in a week now, and Jack has a theory.” 

“Is it in the report?” asked Steele. 

“Yes.” said Wynn. 

“I’ll make sure and read that part.” said Steele. He turned back to his monitor. 

Wynn smiled, and stepped backwards toward the door. Jack glanced at Wynn, then made to follow. He hesitated. “Thank you.” he said. 

Steele glanced up. Wynn froze. Steele grinned. “Any time.” he said. 

---

Jack pushed his way through the rows of reporters. Steele didn’t react on stage, but a few reporters did. The managers at the edges of the room signaled furiously and hissed into the headsets. The cameras focused on Steele, and he began to elaborate his answer to the question.

Jack reached his quarry and grabbed the microphone out of his hand. He gasped a protest, but the device had already been cut from the live feed. Jack began to search him.

“What is this?” they demanded. Jack didn’t reply. 

Jack worked methodically. He didn’t expect to find anything in the coat, but that was procedure. It was only likely to be empty because they knew he would search there first. He moved down the man’s body, and into the shoes. 

Finally, he took the man’s phone. 

“You can’t have that.” snapped the man, but Jack struck his neck. When he rose back up, Jack hit him with his baton. It shocked him, and he fell to the floor. Jack deftly plugged the device into his wrist set to search it. There was nothing obvious, but that was to be expected. 

As the minutes dragged on, Jack felt the eyes of the other reporters on his. His face got hot. 

There wasn’t a detonator in the phone. 

Then, Jack and everyone else died. 

---

The bomber slipped out the door, then everyone in the room died. She was never caught. The experience didn’t agree with her, and she decided that she wouldn’t return to terrorism.