What Emily wanted to do was slam down another shot or two. However, the faintest bit of instinct told her, no, to wait, to actually pace herself for once. This was a conversation she wanted to be able to remember, without a pounding headache the next morning. She just had that sort of feeling. And instead, she pushed the glass to the side, waiting to get an answer. “You didn’t mention that you had a cheat code. That completely changes things, doesn’t it?”
God, Marissa was taking her sweet time in actually saying anything worthwhile, wasn’t she? If it hadn’t been raining and if Emily hadn’t been in a calmed mood from the Jager, she would have thrown some cash on the bar (regardless of how much she owed) and walked out. And then, just as Emily’s patience was about to snap, Marissa actually divulged, well, something. “And does this private organization have a name?” she asked, ignoring the comments about Carmen for now. “Because I feel like just Googling ‘private investigation’ won’t be all that helpful.” The offer, as limited as it was, she couldn’t help but admit that it was tempting. Wherever Carmen had gotten those skills? Emily would love to learn more, get some training in with them too. “And if I do decide to open the box? Anything I should know before unwrapping the ribbons?”
Marissa felt the tease wind down, keen to come to a close which Viper was sure Emily Matthews would be happy about. Of course, she wasn’t about to divulge every secret of her private organization but this was coming to something close to the climax. If you Googled them, you’d find a lot of boring, vague, carefully placed misleads. Some sky-high office building in San Francisco- with international offices when needed. A company that dealt with, ah, this-and-that. Boring stuff. Legal work, mostly paper pushing. Their external reputation, their outside aesthetic was just a facade of course. Something she was willing to divulge free of charge.
“Googling’s rarely helpful, you just end up being fed the bullshit you’re supposed,” she smiled, shrugging with one shoulder. “To answer your question though, we’re called ‘The Institute’. TM or Ltd... I forget what they’re putting on the website these days. None of that’ll matter though. We want to give you the real tour- none of the corporate bullshit.” Marissa chuckled at Emily’s question. Was there ever... Some people asked too many questions, some not enough. Viper put her in the category of ‘freelancer’, at least for now. No deep ties and loyalty like Carmen had but could still make a very valuable asset (especially for when the Old Man finally fell off the throne). “The big boss is an asshole but no place is perfect. There’s lots of cool toys for you to play with, other charmers like Ms Caffrey around for Q and As. Don’t mess with the nerds. Oh, and if there’s something you wanna know- anything you wanna find out about- ask for it. Our resources are far from limited.”
Marissa slipped her hand into her pocket, bringing out a manila business card with a black and white snake printed on the front. She pulled the cap off a pen with her teeth and proceeded to write down one of her more personal numbers. “Carmen can give you a ride if you name the date and time. You like what you see? Give me a call.”
