Suzie Elliot, Evil Genius?

Chapter 17

By the next morning, Suzie felt much better. Her fever had broken, her appetite was back and she had all her energy. She felt like today would be a great day. She felt that she would hire her scientist and then hopefully find the team Fire Ant people so that she could trade that information to Major Dillon in exchange for being left alone. If she could get that information, she'd be thrilled.

She started out the day with a shower and then a good breakfast while checking out the news on the kitchen television. There was nothing new going on in the world that she could see, which didn't mean anything really. She learned a while ago that the news didn't get everything, and even when it did it was too late to matter.

After breakfast she went back upstairs and got ready for the call with Melissa. She carefully hooked up the voice modulator and tested it until she sounded like an older version of herself, or at least she assumed she did. She taped it and then played it back to listen, and it sounded pretty close to her mother's voice in her opinion. At 9AM Suzie dialed the number for Melissa.

"Hello?" answered a very young voice.

"Hi, is this Melissa?" Suzie asked.

"Yes, it is. Is this Amanda?"

"Hi Melissa, yes it is, sorry it took so long to get ahold of you."

"Oh, it is no problem. I hope you're feeling better!"

"I am, thank you. Yesterday I wasn't feeling so great, but I'm doing much better now. So, what can I tell you about the project I'd like to get up and running?"

"Well, I have several questions. First, do you have a site planned for the laboratory?"

"Actually, yes, I have a site near Charlotte that I think will do nicely. It is an old bottling plant with a hot spring in it."

"That sounds like it will be perfect! When would you like me to be there? I would have to move to do it."

"I would like to start it as soon as possible actually. I know we'll have to tear apart the bottling plants to put in the lab, and I was going to let you design it. You'll have free reign to make the lab of your dreams."

There was silence on the line for a moment. "Is this for real?" asked Melissa wondrously.

"Yes, it is. I need to get a plant up and running as a prototype. If it is successful, I'll need a larger one that could be used to power a small city. And if we can get that working, we'll have it even larger, and then we can go public once we have it perfected."

"That is amazing. Can I publish papers on the work?"

"I was thinking about that. At the moment, I don't want anything published, but keep notes and once we have the plant up and running that can power the city, you can publish. Before that, we need secrecy," explained Suzie.

"That sounds more than fair. Can I ask how much it pays?"

"How much do you think is fair? I honestly haven't thought too much about it." Suzie admitted. She was used to hiring mercenaries and thieves, not respected scientists.

"Wow. Umm. Would $150,000 be too much? That is about what the laboratory leader here makes."

Suzie thought about it, and realized she didn't want to miss this chance. "Melissa, that isn't enough. If you're making what he makes, you might regret it. Let's make it $200,000 with bonuses when we get the prototype up and when we get the city sized one up. Plus, when we're ready to make this public, and you're publishing, you'll get a stake in whatever we make when we sell the power."

Melissa was silent once more. "Amanda, are you sure you want me on this job? I've never done anything this big, and I haven't run my own lab before."

"Melissa, you were my first choice. You're truly the one I want to run this lab. I'll let you pick two assistants to work with you, and you can tell them I'll pay them $100,000 if you think that is fair, and I can set up an account for you to use in outfitting the lab. You'll have free reign, and we'll see how it goes from there."