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2030-JONE
“Excuse me, may I take your drink order?” the waitress in- tervened.
“Sorry about that,” said Corin. “Go on.”
“A breach occurred at a place called the Key’s Job Place- ment Agency. The owner was a bitch named Anita Key. All of her subordinates were very cooperative, but she wasn’t. I left without an argument because I didn’t want an altercation with all those women watching. Later that night when they closed, I caught her alone and told her I didn’t appreciate being made a fool of. She just flew off the handle again as if she was going to chastise me. I wasn’t trying to, but I killed her.”
The waitress returned with their drinks.
“My boss would have none of it. He didn’t see it that way at all. To tell you the truth, I had the eerie feeling he was waiting on me to change my story.”
“So who is your boss?”
“Why, Matthew of course.”
“So how do you know about me?”
“When you two met the other night, I was following him and
eavesdropped.” Truth is I know quite a bit about what’s going on and I haven’t given you away nor will I. I have no love for Mat- thew or the task force, so I decided that I might as well trade valuable information for an early retirement. I offer you the names of the team members and where I will be sending them. Think a half million is too much to ask?”
“Well under the circumstances, it’s a bargain. Anyhow, this is an opportunity to find out if there really is honor among thieves. But I’m really curious about something.”
“Go ahead.”
“I understand everyone wants to retire comfortably, but why did you tell me that story, and what is the real reason you’re doing this?”
“Actually,” said Dan, after taking a sip from his glass, “trust has to start somewhere. And the reason I am doing all of this is because after all these years, Matthew has just forgotten about me. I have
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