Alice's Point of View
The whore looked at her insolently. "Pass me the soldering iron," she barked, as if Teresa Tsai had the right to order her around in her own home! Alice passed it without a word. She didn't want to give Teri the satisfaction.
It was getting warmer now, and the two women were in a bit of a war over how much skin they could show. Alice was quite convinced Teri was wearing a padded bra, but couldn't prove it.
All four of them, Alex and Alice, Teri and Terry, were sprawled on the floor of their Arlington apartment, assembling her boyfriend's electronic abacuses. The first batch had sold out. Once Alex told the Tsai twins about his side hustle they wanted in, so here they were.
One month of paid leave was about to turn into an indefinite period of unpaid leave for the ANIS team at Lockhole-Merlin, unless something was done fast. People were scrambling to look for a new source of income, and this "Mr. Math" thing might turn into something larger than Alex had initially planned.
There was a bit of a learning curve, but once Alex adjusted his videos to information-dense bite-sized content, views and subscribers started rolling in. And they were getting more abacus orders than they could fill. The key was to move fast and cater to short attention spans. Initially, he'd planned longer videos for Youwatch while keeping the short stuff for NikNak. It turned out spamming short form content was the "meta" for both. His first Youwatch check was coming soon and promised to be a fat one.
"Don't count on the money being stable," Alex had warned her. "Youwatch is notorious for fluctuating booms and busts depending on the will of the algorithm."
The "algorithm" was what they were always chasing, making micro-adjustments to maximize visibility. To her displeasure, they found out the less Alex wore the better the videos did. Her boyfriend was a hunk. It would be stupid not to utilize that fact, but it still rankled. He was wearing a tight tank top so millions of strangers could drool over his muscles and tattoos! The jealousy was driving her crazy. The only thing worse was watching that slut Teri Tsai moon over him at close range.
"Hey dude, I got that script for your video on factoring," Terry said from the other side of the room.
Terry, while a man, was somewhat tolerable. He kept his eyes to himself, for the most part, and refrained from ogling her. Beyond that, he was Alex's closest friend. Of course, blood was thicker than water.
"I'll get it!" Teri popped up to hit the ball Terry lobbed at her, making sure to step right in front of Alex. Alice ground her teeth watching those long bare legs pass right by Alex's field of view. She bent over to pick up the script and turned her head around."You want to start filming soon, Alex?"
She was presenting her ass to him!
Alex was putting the finishing touches on an abacus, pretending not to notice. "Pretty soon, Teri."
Her loyal man!
A shadow passed over the skinny bitch's face at being ignored. "Did you hear? Rebecca Rodriguez-Cooper secured the nomination! First woman of color president here we come!"
Not slick, not slick at all. Her ass was still out and Alex still wasn't looking.
"Oh, word?" Alex asked. "Think she can win?"
Teri deflated. "She's behind in the polls, but there's still plenty of time left! She's closing the gap with older and moderate voters, her two weakest demos. I think she can really do this."
Poor, deluded fool. Rebecca Rodriguez-Cooper was in bed with Aaron Hacker, quite literally. Alice wondered how Richard was holding up on his long-term infiltration assignment. The rookie hadn't cracked yet, so that was something.
Alice and Alex's eyes met in silent communication. They would keep that information to themselves and leave Teri to her fantasies. Maybe Richard was right and the outcome of the election was arranged in advance by the Powers That Be. Maybe they were doomed. An Aaron Hacker administration all but guaranteed world war three.
Feeling a bit cruel, Alice got up and walked over to where Alex was sitting. She bent down and gave him a kiss, long and lingering, making sure to angle herself so Teri could see her cleavage.
Look what I've got and you don't, bitch!
Teri's nose wrinkled in disgust. Alice luxuriated in her discomfort. Mine! Alex is mine! All mine!
From what she could tell, the boys were completely oblivious to this silent contest, which was probably for the best.
Alex checked his phone. "Okay, we've got three hundred boxes." He indicated where they were stacked up. "Once we've got three hundred abacuses assembled we can start packing for shipment."
They were doing this every day now, working furiously to keep up with the orders that kept coming in. Just when they were about to switch gears, Alex, Terry, and Teri all received a text message at the same time.
"Who could that be?" Alex wondered.
"I almost don't want to know," Teri said.
Terry, usually the positive one, looked grimmest of all. "Either we're going back to work tomorrow, which is unlikely, or they're cutting us loose. I know which one I'm betting on."
"On three?" Alex asked.
The Tsai twins nodded.
"Okay, then. One, two, three!" They got out their phones all at once. Nobody said anything for a while.
"Well?" Alice demanded. The suspense was killing her.
"Severance package," Alex told her with resignation. "That's a wrap, guys. We're unemployed."
Alice wanted to weep. Her man really liked that job. They could live off her assassin money, but losing a stream of income was going to delay their house-buying plans.
Terry looked crushed. Teri looked like she wanted to say something and couldn't quite work up the courage.
"Guess we're going all-in on 'Mr. Math' for now," Alex said.
An uncomfortable silence hung in the room for a while.
"We should form an LLC!" Teri said suddenly. Everyone looked at her. "And outsource the manufacturing of these." She waved the abacus in her hand around. "There is no way we'll keep up with demand doing all of this by hand. It's hundreds a day right now, but it could be thousands. What about selling them to schools, in bulk? Licensing lesson plans? Maybe even write a textbook. There's so much we could do!"
An excuse to spend more time with her boyfriend, no doubt. "Teri, this is just supposed to be a side hustle until Alex can find a new job," Alice tried to redirect the conversation from dangerous ground.
Teri ignored her. "We could go big, turn this into an educational software company. What do you think, Alex?"
Please say no. Please say no. Please say no.
Alex looked from Teri, to the pile of abacus parts, to the stack of boxes, and back again. "I actually have an idea for a literacy app," he said. "Back in college I took a couple of linguistics classes just because it interested me. We could do color coded phonics. For example, 'c-h' as in 'chair' could be blue, but the 'c-h' as in 'christ' could be green, sort of like training wheels for reading. It's something I've been turning over in my head for a while."
"That's perfect!" Teri praised him. "This could be our big chance. Why work some dead end job at Lockhole-Merlin for the rest of our lives when we could be founders?"
Teri was latching on. Alice was panicking. Her boyfriend losing his job was a great reason to separate them but if they founded a company together? There'd be no getting rid of her.
Should I just kill her?
It wouldn't be the same as a man. Alice didn't know if it would even do anything for her that way. Still, it couldn't hurt to try!
Her phone vibrated on the living room table. Alice's miniskirt didn't have pockets.
Shit...
"What a coincidence, it looks like my work needs me to come in," she said, trying to sound unbothered.
Leaving Alex alone with the Tsai twins twisted her guts into knots.
You better not take any liberties, skank! Or I'll end you!
***
Dahlia did not look pleased to see her. "Hello, Alice," she said coldly.
Was she in trouble? "Uh, hi, Dahlia."
Those glasses that Dahlia always wore slid down to the very tip of her nose. "Hi? HI? Is that all you have to say for yourself?"
Alice flinched. Dahlia was scary when she was mad. "I'm...sorry?" The apology was embarrassingly weak, even to her ears.
"You've caused us all a lot of trouble, Alice. Senator Lackland has been asking where his son is. Do you have any IDEA what I've had to do to cover for you this time? There were witnesses in that Astrobucks, Alice! You were the last person seen with him! Security footage from the coffee shop, traffic cameras showing his vehicle following you home, I could go on. This is serious, girl. Lackland has been a favored patron of the Corps, and you butchered his son. His face was unrecognizable! Did you have to go so far?"
"I...I..."
Dahlia raised a hand to silence her. "Save your excuses. I had to move heaven and earth to keep you alive. Consider yourself suspended. There were those in the Powers That Be who wanted to sacrifice you like a pawn, hand you over to appease the senator. He doesn't know it was you, but he definitely suspects. People in power have a good idea of what happened when somebody disappears without a trace in the district. You can't keep doing this! You're a loose cannon, Alice Adelman, and I'm worried about you."
Alice looked down in shame. Her recklessness had gotten Alex fired, and now she was causing problems for Dahlia too! She was so awful. Tears stung her eyes.
Her boss let out a long, tired sigh. "I'm sorry, dear. I know you must've had your reasons. Chip was a real asshole, right?"
She just nodded mutely.
Dahlia took out a cloth and started cleaning her glasses. "I'm stressed, too. Brad and I aren't getting any younger, you know. It feels like time is running out. My oldest girl is starting college soon and I want just one more. I want another baby more than anything. We keep trying, but..."
She trailed off, not saying more.
"I want that too, someday, with Alex," Alice said sincerely.
"You have him to thank, you know. I was able to use 'Mr. Math' as an argument for why you should keep your job."
What?
"You can't mean...the Powers That Be want to use him?" Alice felt bile rising in the back of her throat. She'd always worked hard to keep her personal life separate.
"He won't be expected to do anything dangerous," Dahlia said placatingly. "Aaron Hacker is going to have a big rally in Norfolk in one month's time. He will also be filming his podcast. We can arrange for his guest to be Mr. Math. They can talk about education policy, their time in the Marines, that sort of thing."
"But why?" she asked in a panic. "What then?"
"You're suspended from hunting, Alice, but you can still work infiltration. Richard is our man in the the RRC camp. We need eyes on Hacker as well. Mr. Math going on his podcast could be your excuse to get close to him. If possible, see if Hacker might bring Alex on as an educational policy advisor. That would be ideal. As a bonus, he can plug his math toys on the biggest live stream in the country."
Alice's head was swimming. "You want us both to go undercover?"
"Husband and wife teams are ideal for infiltration. You have somebody you can trust, and aren't tempted to go outside for your needs."
Alice breathed deeply to steady herself. She knew an order when she heard one. It was going to be tough, but she could do this. It was for her future with Alex, to make it up to him, to everyone. One thing still bothered her, though.
"And what about...my needs?"
Her boss looked at her pointedly. "You will require direct approval from me personally. If you feel the, er, urge, contact me with the identity of your prospective target. That's the best I can do for you."
She bowed her head. "Understood, Ma'am."