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Edward took a sip of his microbrewed beer then glanced nervously at his watch. He knew he was early, but he was still on edge, waiting for his colleagues to arrive. Normally, a bar would not have been his first choice of a place to meet, but this bar had two advantages over most other public spaces—there were private rooms at the back where small groups could meet behind closed doors; and the manager was a Uryuom, and could be counted on for discretion.
He came to a decision he’d been wrestling with all day, and made a few arrangements in the room, then sat back to wait for his people to trickle in.
Instead of a trickle, they arrived from work en masse, all six at once: Hannah and Lillian Ishihara, Julio Cavallero, Rachel Weiss, Jonathan Patel, and Gabriel Heron. All good agents whom he’d worked with for over a decade, all people he knew and trusted.
There was a few minutes of settling in, removing coats and ordering drinks and bar snacks, then Edward cleared his throat. Everyone fell silent and looked at him.
“Well. I suppose you’re all wondering why I called you here today,” Edward began with a sardonic smile.
“To drink this excellent beer?” suggested Jonathan.
“That too. But I need—want—to ask a favor of one of you.”
Hannah cocked her head curiously. “Only one of us?”
“Then why are there six of us here?” continued Lillian.
“Because I don’t want to know who—if anyone—performs this favor.”
“Well, that’s not at all ominous,” said Julio drily.
Edward held up a hand. “This is nothing illegal, or immoral. Nor is it work related. It’s personal. And it’s not a favor for me, but for Grace.”
Rachel arched an eyebrow at him. “Does she know you’re asking for this favor for her?”
Edward gave a tight little smile. None of these people were stupid or slow. “No. And I’d prefer to keep it that way.”
“Okay, this is getting all very mysterious and odd,” Julio said. “Although keeping secrets is part of our jobs, you just said this wasn’t work-related. So…what is this mysterious favor you want?”
Edward took another sip of beer to fortify himself. “First off, let me reiterate that I don’t want to know who, if anyone, fulfills this favor. I don’t want Yes’s or No’s from any of you, if you don’t mind.”
“Okay…” said Gabriel dubiously. “And why is that?”
“Because of the…intimate nature of the favor.”
“And the mystery keeps getting deeper,” said Julio.
Edward sighed. “Sorry, I’m not trying to be deliberately abstruse. Let me take this from the top. You all know Grace Sciuridae, who works in Huang’s department, yes?”
“Of course.”
“Yes.”
“Hard to miss.”
“She’s a sweetie.”
Edward smiled at that and continued. “I believe you all know, she is…somewhere between being an adopted daughter and a daughter-in-law to me. She would have become my daughter-in-law in fact, if my son Tedd hadn’t died in the Incursion.”
Everyone around the table nodded again; no one looked surprised.
“She’s now married to Sarah, who was also in a relationship with my son. They were a polyamorous trio. A ‘triad,’ as they called it.”
A couple of people chuckled. “They worked with the Chinese mafia?” asked Rachel.
A ghost of a smile flickered over Edward’s face as he shook his head. “For some reason, that connection never occurred to them until long after they’d begun using the term.
“But in any event, Sarah and Grace have told me they would like to start a family. And they asked me…”
Edward paused, his face turning faintly pink. He looked out at the six others around the table, all watching him with expectant expressions on their faces. “They asked me if I had any way of getting them a sperm sample from Tedd. My son.”
Gabriel blinked. “The one who’s dead.”
“Yes.”
“I assume you have the scan data for his clone form on file?” asked Julio.
No, none of these people were stupid. “Yes.”
Hannah and Lillian exchanged a look, then turned to Edward. “I believe we see what you are asking for,” Lillian said. “But you know that for us Uryuoms, taking the form of a deceased loved one is somewhat taboo.”
“Yes, I know. But in this case, whoever undertakes this…favor will not be meeting with any of Tedd’s loved ones face-to-face. I know I certainly have no desire to meet someone wearing Tedd’s form.”
“Then who would we be meeting with?” asked Jonathan.
“Dr. Guzikowski in the medical division has agreed to act as an intermediary. Collecting the…sample, and transferring it to the IVF clinic on Sarah and Grace’s behalf. There will be a fairly standard anonymous sperm donor contract to be signed, absolving the donor of any rights to, or responsibilities for, potential offspring.”
“So, just to lay it all out on the table and make sure there’s no misunderstandings here,” Gabriel said, “You’re asking one of us to transform into a clone form of your deceased son in order to jerk off and provide a sperm sample for the purposes of artificial insemination of one or both of your kinda-daughters-in-law.”
Edward grimaced. “That is a…blunt if accurate précis, yes.”
“You weren’t kidding about the ‘intimate’ nature of this request,” said Rachel drily.
“Yes.” Edward looked at Hannah and Lillian. “I know this dances around the edges of Uryuom taboo, but no one other than Dr. Guzikowski would ever need see the person who is transformed into Tedd. So I hope it would be something you would be willing to consider, out of friendship for Grace.”
Lillian nodded slowly, and Hannah said, “We will…consider it.”
“That’s all I ask.” Edward looked around the table. “Does anyone have any questions?”
“If anyone agrees, they’d contact Dr. G?” asked Jonathan.
“Yes. Any other questions?”
“No, Gabe laid it out pretty clearly,” Jonathan said wryly. Edward nodded in agreement.
Edward downed the rest of his beer, then stood up. “Thank you all for listening to this…unusual proposition. Even if no one decides to fulfill this task, I appreciate you all listening to me. I’ll settle the bar tab on my way out. Anything you drink after this round is up to you.”
“Thanks, boss,” said Julio. The others around the table echoed his sentiments, and Edward headed out.
Once he’d paid the bar tab, Edward headed outside, and ducked into the doorway of the closed frozen yogurt shop next door. He pulled out his phone, and opened a monitoring app.
He heard Jonathan saying, “—at’s two bugs so far. Do you think that’s it?”
Lillian laughed. “This is the boss. He always says you need a backup on your backup.”
“So, there should be three?”
“Four,” opined Gabriel. “Because he knows we know him.”
“Ah. Yes. Which implies a fifth, because he knows we know he knows we know him,” said Rachel with a laugh.
“Stop it, you’re making my brain hurt—”
The line went silent, and Edward grinned to himself. He hadn’t really expected it to work; his people were too good for that. But his curiosity had driven him to try anyway.
Putting his phone away, he headed toward the Metro station to catch the train home. He hoped one of the group would be willing to help Grace out. He was pretty sure that someone would; Grace was a well-liked colleague of theirs. It was hard not to like her.
He wondered what Lavender was making for dinner.