We Only Need the Heads Read Free Page B

say so,” Jefferson said.
    “I do say so,” Wilson said. “My first mission, I almost wet myself. Throwing up is fine.”
    “Thank you, sir,” Jefferson said.
    Wilson patted Jefferson on the back and glanced over at Vasily Ivanovich. The man was a mess, bloated and with a significant amount of his abdomen chewed away by scavengers. From his vantage point, Wilson could see into the gnawed-on remains of Ivanovich’s digestive system.
    Inside of which something glinted.
    Wilson frowned. “What is that?” he said.
    “What is what, sir?” Jefferson asked.
    Wilson ignored him and looked closer and then, after a minute, thrust his glove into what remained of Ivanovich’s stomach.
    Jefferson gagged but didn’t have anything else to throw up, so instead he stared openly at the small, glittery thing in Wilson’s gore-coated hand. Wilson delicately picked out the thing with his other hand and held it up in the light.
    “What is that?” Jefferson asked.
    “It’s a data card,” Wilson said.
    “What was it doing in his stomach?” Jefferson asked.
    “I have no idea,” Wilson said, and then turned his head. “Lee!” he shouted.
    “What?” Lee shouted back from the other side of the hut.
    “Have your people look for a functioning PDA and bring it to me immediately,” he said. “One that takes data cards.”
    Shortly thereafter, Wilson had jammed the data card into a handheld and connected his BrainPal to the computer.
    “Why would he swallow a data card?” Lee asked, as she watched Wilson.
    “He wanted to keep the data out of enemy hands,” Wilson said. He was simultaneously going through the file hierarchy on the data card.
    “That’s why he destroyed the computer and communications equipment,” Lee said.
    “I’d have more answers for you if you let me actually concentrate on what I’m doing,” Wilson said. Lee shut up, slightly annoyed. Wilson ignored this, closed his eyes and focused on his data.
    Several minutes later, Wilson opened his eyes and looked at Ivanovich with something that approached wonder.
    Lee noticed. “What?” she said. “What is it?”
    Wilson looked up at Lee blankly, and then back to Ivanovich, and then at the body of Martina Ivanovich.
    “Wilson,” Lee said.
    “I think we better take back these bodies,” Wilson said.
    “Why?” Lee asked, looking at the corpses.
    “I’m not sure I can tell you,” Wilson said. “I don’t think you have the clearance.”
    Lee looked back at Wilson, annoyed.
    “It’s not about you,” Wilson assured her. “I’m pretty confident I don’t have the clearance either.”
    Lee, not precisely satisfied, looked back at the Ivanoviches. “So you want us to haul these up to the Tub .”
    “You don’t have to bring all of them,” Wilson said.
    “Come again?” Lee said.
    “You don’t have to bring their entire bodies,” Wilson said. “Their heads will do just fine.”

     
    “You feel it, too, don’t you,” Abumwe said to Schmidt, during a break in negotiations. The two were in the conference room hallway, drinking the tea Schmidt had gotten them.
    “Feel what, ma’am?” Schmidt said.
    Abumwe sighed. “Schmidt, if you don’t want me to keep believing that you are entirely useless to me, then you have to actually be useful to me,” she said.
    Schmidt nodded. “All right,” he said. “There’s something not right about Sub-Ambassador Ting.”
    “That’s right,” Abumwe said. “Now tell me what that something not right is.”
    “I don’t know,” Schmidt said. He saw Abumwe get a look on her face and held up his hand peremptorily. This surprised Abumwe into silence. “Sorry,” Schmidt said, hastily. “I say I don’t know because I’m not sure what the cause of it is. But I know what the result is. She’s being too easy on us in the negotiations. We’re getting too many of the things we want from her. We’re getting something close to a rubber stamp.”
    “Yes,” Abumwe said. “I’d like to know