Mina Cortez: From Bouquets to Bullets by Jeffrey Cook Page B

work.”
    The Deputy Mayor nodded. “You'll work with
select agents sometimes, if they get sufficient clearance to know
that some of you are undercover, though they never know precisely
who you're undercover with.” Mina could sympathize. Miss Lasko
continued. “Please come and have a seat, and I'll give you the
standard history lesson.”
    Mina started towards the desk. “You do this a
lot, um, Ma'am?”
    “Please, Mina, call me Deborah,” she said,
then shook her head. “Not as much as I used to. Certainly not as
much as my predecessor. The role of your organization has been
steadily decreasing with each generation.” she explained, as she
moved to the other side of the desk.
    “So there used to be more than ... what, four
of us in the city?” Mina checked, trying to get a sense of what
size organization she was a part of.
    She nodded. “In your grandfather's day, there
were quite a few just in Seattle. Now, there are, yes, less than
half a dozen normal agents, a few contacts who know part of the
story, and a few emergency contacts.
    The allied governments are paying a lot of
money for each fully chipped agent to be doing another job. In some
cases, where they're still doing police or security work, the
politicians who know what's going on are more easily convinced that
it's still a worthwhile investment.
    Police have strict limitations that private
investigators don't, though, and then there's all the delivery
people, people who run import/export companies, translators,
private chefs, wine tasters, and others whose jobs give them
excuses to end up in sensitive places or getting close to just the
right people. Instead of grasping that, the paper-pushers just see
expensive chips and salaries for everyday jobs and don't want any
more.”
    Mina settled in, considering the Deputy
Mayor. “So ... my organization, the secret police, the
....Inquisition? We work with the FBI, but we're not part of them.
It's been around since my grandfather, but ... I'm still missing a
lot of details here. What organization am I working for,
exactly?”
    The Deputy Mayor nodded. “Ultimately, you're
the Allied Investigative Agency, or AIA. A multinational
organization with broad investigative powers.
    “I'm not an expert on that sort of thing,”
Mina said carefully, “But aren't limits actually a good thing for
... secret police?”
    “I know the term often makes for images of
brute squads, people disappearing in the middle of the night and
Big Brother listening in on every word... ” Deborah Lasko smiled,
her hands in a 'but wait' style of gesture. “This organization is
tied to no one country or regime, does not support or oppose any
political party, and only gets involved with high profile organized
crime and similar concerns. The program only selects agents with
psych profiles with the highest scores as far as personal integrity
and responsibility.”
    Mina managed a sheepish smile. It was a
little flattering, certainly. Some of the commentary still made her
uneasy, but she was glad to hear that there was at least some kind
of checks in place.
    “Historically, the AIA have always tried to
intrude on the day-to-day lives of most people as little as
possible, aside from keeping them safer from multinational cartels
and threats on a similar scale.”
    “Historically?” Mina was glad for the
opening.
    Miss Lasko settled back in her chair a bit,
Mina taking her easy smile as approval of the general line of
thought. “It started after the Decimation Event. After the
supervolcano in the American Midwest, there was almost no sunlight
for a year and a half. Earthquakes, floods, armies of refugees. No
one was prepared for a disaster on that scale. Uncontaminated
drinking water was going for fine wine prices in some regions.
Survival necessitated international cooperation on a massive scale.
Problem was, it took a lot of people a long time to realize it.
Wars broke out—everyone wanted organization to be on their terms.
Eventually,