Free The Aeschylus by David Barclay

she had their attention and didn't want to waste it. “I didn't come down here to disrupt anyone's life. I came to offer terms, and that's all. Valley Oil is willing to compensate you for your time. They don't think you'd be gone for more than twenty-four hours. All your transportation is arranged, so all you'd need to do is say yes.”
    “How much?”
    Kate turned to Dutch.
    “How much are they willing to compensate?”
    Kate threw up her hands. “They're not willing to compensate you, Mister—”
    “Jones. Henry Jones.”
    “Right, Mister Jones. And here I thought you were Mister Dutch. How silly of me.”
    “That's a nickname,” he said. “You know, like a pseudonym.”
    Kate blinked.
    “You know, so people don't know who I am,” he said with perfect lucidity.
    “I can't tell you how much. The offer is for Mister Trenton.”
    “How much?” AJ asked.
    She turned to the desk. “Maybe we should speak in private.”
    “Nah. How much?”
    She looked at Greg Marten, who only shrugged.
    When AJ asked again, she told him.
    Dutch whistled. “That's pretty good, boss.”
    “I'll take it,” AJ said. “But I want the same for Dutch. He's coming with us.”
    “I can't authorize that!”
    “Geez, lady. No need to shout.”
    Kate rubbed her eyes. “Look. I can't authorize what I don't own. I'm not some top level CEO, here. I'm just a grunt, like you. I'm just doing my job, and here you are—”
    “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Dutch said. “I'm not a grunt, AJ. Are you a grunt?” He looked back to Kate. “I don't think we're grunts.”
    “Whatever it is that you are,” she said, speaking over him, “you're not authorized to allocate funds for the mine. I'm not authorized to allocate funds from your former employer.”
    Dutch pointed to his companion. “ His former employer.”
    Kate took the paperwork from out of her hand bag and slammed it onto the desk. The noise made all three men jump. Dutch actually looked scared. Had he really been holding a gun a few minutes ago? She thought right now she could reach out and take it from him like a mother confiscating a toy. She was half tempted to do it.
    “This is the contract and liability form. They told me the job was only for Mister Trenton, but seeing as this is my call, I guess I can put up with Mister Jones for the duration. But let me make this clear: there will be no second payment. What you do with the money after it's yours is none of my business. So if you want to split it, I suggest you do it then. Now you can fucking take it, or you can fucking leave it.”
    “All right, all right,” AJ said. “No need to get ugly, lady.”
    “McCreedy. Kate McCreedy is my name.” She pointed a finger at him as she said it. She felt absurd doing it, just letting it hang out in front of him, but she thought it got the point across.
    AJ looked at her finger a moment, then grabbed it with his free hand and shook it. “Pleased to meet you, Kate.”
    She yanked her hand back. “Let's stick to 'Ms. McCreedy' for now, okay?”
    “Sure,” he said, signing the paper.
    “And I guess it's nice to meet you too, Angus.”
    Dutch sputtered a laugh. When everybody looked at him, he looked confused. “What? Who?”
    “I'm afraid we don't have much time,” Kate said. “I can give you half an hour to get your things together and get your replacements down here, but not much more than that. We've already wasted too much time.”
    AJ stood up. “I'll make the call. Stanski and Richards can cover for us if it's only going to be a day.”
    Kate couldn't get out of there fast enough, and when AJ picked up the phone, she took it as an excuse to head outside. It was hot, and the wind had picked up, blowing brown dust through the air in translucent waves. Her head still hurt, but one thing was going right: the first part of this was over. She was already tired, and the thought of putting up with the two chuckleheads in the trailer for the rest of the day made her head spin. She'd done