The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)

A Night Like None Before

Previously: "A Day Like Any Other" 

The gym is plunged in darkness as you enter, and your crew are just shapes in the echoing gloom; only Patterson's duplicate is distinguishable by his height. They are standing silently in a wide, loose circle, as though preoccupied by their own thoughts, but they turn to watch as you approach. None of them speak as your eyes flick from one to the other to the other.

Steve Patterson. Chelsea Cooper. Kelsey Blankenship. David Kirkham. Will Prescott. Jack Li.

"Report," you crisply demand. "Number Three."

"Got it," he says, and hands you a key on a loop of wire. "I went straight to Lynch, told him he had to give it up, and that if he wants into the loft, he'll have to go as Gordon's guest from now on." He hesitates. "Gordon's going to make trouble about it, though."

"Number One, make Gordon understand that you don't want Jason in the loft, ever again. Tell him that you and Number Three—Steve—are on the same page, and that you won't stand for it if you ever catch Jason up there again." To Number Three: "Your next job is to start turning everyone at the alpha lunch table against Lynch. Make it clear that anyone who does something to or against him gets your approval. Anyone who takes Lynch's side is going on your shit list, permanently. Number One, the same order for you. Get Kendra and Gloria to help."

The Chelsea duplicate nods and smirks, but— "Gordon won't like that, either," Number Three warns.

"Gordon will be one of us soon. Anyway, you're just conducting a kind of test. Anyone who goes against Jason is someone we can trust to follow our lead. Anyone who doesn't— We'll have to think about using ... other means."

"Ah." An icy, mirthless smile appears on the duplicate's face. "I get it."

"Of course you do. Number One, what do you have for me?"

"I told Coach Tesla that Michelle wants to quit the squad, and I had Kendra and Gloria explain to Michelle that she wants to quit the squad, and what would happen to her if she didn't."

"Did you give her a positive reason to quit, or did you just threaten her?"

Chelsea's doppelganger looks discomfited. "I didn't think—"

"Tell her that if she quits, you can set her up with any guy at school. If we have to, we can replace him with a substitute who'll do as he's told."

"Then that's what we'll have to do," she says, "if it's Michelle we're trying to set up with a guy."

"Then that's what we'll have to do. How long until the squad is reorganized?"

She looks at Jack Li's double. "I can have Number Seven on the squad by the end of the week."

"Good. Number Four?"

"I told Karl I wanted to try a threesome," Kelsey's duplicate says, "with him and his friend Justin. I managed to turn it into a fight like you ordered, but I think Karl's going to give in."

"Really! Well, if he does, then that's the way we'll have to play it. But it'll have to be Karl who does the asking, not you, so pester him until he talks to Roth. Number Five?"

Kirkham's duplicate takes the toothpick from his mouth.

"I told Chen I wanted to start buying fifty spliffs a month, to deal on my own account. But he said no. He says I'd take sales away from him and his crew. I told him we could divide up the territory, told him he could put his regular customers off limits to me, but he declined."

"'Declined'?" you query.

"As in, he told me to go fuck myself. Then he gave me the name of someone I could fuck myself with, and where, and how often, and who I could then get to fuck me after the first guy got done fucking me."

Your eyebrows go up, and when you feel the Patterson duplicate's gaze on you, you turn to him. "Comment, Number Three?"

"Sounds like we need to make a substitution there. And you know, a duplicate in Chen's spot could be ... useful."

"Which is why I wanted Number Five to try taking his business over for us. If that won't work— Well, I'll consider making a direct replacement. For now— Number Five, you're working on a plan for a new distribution network. Who, specifically, would you try adding as a sub-dealer?"

"Justin Roth," he says, glancing at Number Four. "He's one for sure, as long as we're talking about him. He uses, but he doesn't buy from Chen's crew, and he stops a lot of other people from buying. But he could sell a lot for us, and get a lot more people into the product. Andrea Varnsworth is someone else who could help out that way, by giving it cred."

"Do you think you could talk them into sub-dealing?" He shakes his head. "So you're proposing we replace them?"

"I guess. Yeah."

You shake your own head. "We need a better payoff than that, if we're going to put in substitutes. Otherwise, we'd just duplicate Chen and take the business over direct. For now, draw up a detailed list of potential sub-dealers—ones who won't have to be replaced by one of us." You turn to the next in line. "Number Six."

"Carson and James haven't told me anything about their latest scheme or target."

"Do they have one?"

"I think so."

"Then keep in touch with Caleb and Keith, Jenny and Paul. See if they've picked up any hints." The copy you left in your place nods, and you turn to the last of your lieutenants. "Number Seven?"

Jack Li's duplicate pulls a folded paper from his shirt pocket.

"I underlined the key people, and put a box around the groups they basically lead," he explains as he hands it to you. "I also connected the leaders," he says, tracing a fingertip along a line that connects two names, "showing who's friends with who, and who ... isn't. I went ahead and added Jack's name and groups and relationships, so you can decide where and how I can help." He glances at Kirkham's doppelganger. "And I'm with Number Five. Justin Roth is too perfect a candidate for us not to replace him with a duplicate. He should be at or near the top of any list. The same with Andrea."

You point to the paper. "Justin doesn't have a lot of names with his. And what's this 'I' next to his name?"

"That's for 'influencer', same as Andrea and Catherine and some others."

"You told me Andrea doesn't have a lot of social contacts."

"But she's an influencer. She and Justin don't have a lot of contacts, but they each influence a lot more people than I could write down. In Justin's case, for instance, there's a lot of guys, a lot more than Karl, who would jump into a three-way with him, and because of him more than because of the girl."

"Really? Number Five, you're closer to Roth. Is that true?"

The Kirkham duplicate sucks meditatively on the toothpick. "Yeah, I think that's right."

"Would you jump into a threeway, with him?"

"I'll do whatever you tell me, boss."

"I mean, would it be believable? Would Kirkham have jumped into a threeway with Roth?"

He spreads his feet and folds his arms.

"That's two different questions," he says. "Kirkham would'a been interested in a threeway with Roth, sure, if Roth offered. But the girls— That's where the believability comes in."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, would he have kept it a secret, or would he have bagged, tagged, 'n bragged? For Kirkham," continues his replacement, "it always came down to cred. Everything, but especially getting laid. Like, if the girl was hot enough, or skanky enough, sure, he'd'a bragged about being in a threesome with Roth, because it would'a got him cred. Because him and Roth, they'd'a been sharing someone hot, or if she was a skank, he'd tell 'em Roth was in the mood to bang 'n hang some roadkill, and wanted a friend along to share the fun. Either way, it would'a looked like him and Roth were on the hunt together, for sport. And hunting with Roth always gets you cred." He glances at Jack's duplicate. "That's what Number Seven is getting at, why we wanna take out Roth and put in someone who can look and act just like him, except following our orders."

"I understand. But go on about Roth and threeways and—"

"Well, the hot girls and the skanks, those are the extreme. The ones in the middle, the not hot, the not skanks— Kirkham would'a worried about those cases, some of them. I mean, he'd'a still done them, because doing a threesome with Roth would get him cred with Roth. But he'd've made fucking sure that no one else heard about them. Because in those cases, it would'a looked like he was licking the crumbs off'a Roth's ass."

"I see. What about Number Four? Where does she fall on this ... spectrum?"

He looks at the Kelsey duplicate, chews on the toothpick, then shakes his head.

"In her case, no, not even with Roth asking. It would'a looked to him like she wanted Roth, not him, and that he, Kirkham, was only riding along on Roth's invite. There wouldn't be any cred there, only the risk of him looking desperate, or even like he was gay for Roth. Now, a three-way with Number Four and Hennepin—" He catches himself and cocks his head at you.

"Go on. And never mind that it's Number Four. What if it was him and the real Kelsey?"

"A three-way with Kelsey and Hennepin? That he'd've gone for, fast and hard. 'Cos he'd'a been the alpha, letting Hennepin squeeze in only 'cos he was feeling generous. And he prob'ly would'a ended it by punching Hennepin in the eye and kicking him out. That's what I'd do, if you sent me into a room with them, and it was up to me to improvise in character."

"Huh. Interesting. I'll keep that in mind. Okay, is there anything anyone needs to inform me of?" you ask the assembly. There are murmured negatives. "In that case, you're all dismissed."

They turn to march off, almost in unison, for the door.

Next: "The Next Phase" 

*
"Table of Contents (Vol. 3)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)"