Wunderkind

1.04-Wire Cutter

PHOENIX RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

THE ACTUAL THINK TANK PART

Mac is bored. Extremely bored. He doesn't think he's been this bored since tenth grade AP physics when he memorized the textbook cover to cover in the first three weeks of classes. He did the same thing in AP chem but at least there they had lab every week and got to occasionally blow things up. Physics was just Mrs. Donihue with her drony voice and her little rimless glasses and lots and lots of homework he wasn't allowed to use shortcuts on. He almost failed the first test for using formulas that were easier but that the class hadn't learned yet.

But at least physics on principle was interesting. And felt like it might be potentially useful one day. Now he's sitting at a desk watching fifteen different charts on the longevity of automobile tires start to blur into one giant mess of colors and numbers.

I know plenty about the average automobile tire. I know that the rubber can be used to resole a shoe or create a semi-effective protective vest, the support wires inside provide enough metal to rig a decent snare trap, and that a flat can still be driven on if absolutely necessary as a getaway vehicle. I know how to avoid hydroplaning by utilizing vehicle weight and friction coefficients. I know the smoke from burning tires is thick enough to act as a distraction or to clear out a building. I know slitting them, laying them over a wooden structure, and nailing them down makes a fairly rain-proof roof. I do not for any reason need to know how long the average LA commuter's tires will last. He's sure that last statement will inevitably end with their survival hinging on this knowledge, because that's just how his life tends to go, but at the moment, he'd rather take his chances.

As soon as Thornton found out he'd broken a rib on the Myanmar op, she'd grounded him for three weeks, no questions. It's been one. And he thinks this might kill him faster than an injury in the field.

Working in Phoenix's Research and Development division should be fun. It sounds fun. Except that Doctor Barstow, the head of R&D, has it in for him for some indefinable reason. Well, maybe the reason is that I came in and immediately picked up the synthetic polymer he was making for lightweight body armor, checked his chemical formulas, and told him he could reduce production time, increase material strength, and reduce brittleness if he changed his component ratios. Or maybe it was when I took half the fine motor robotics assembly apart to give the swing arm joint a 3.8 degree increased range of motion. Whatever the case, apparently Dr. Barstow would prefer to remain the unchallenged genius of Phoenix R&D.

After the third time Mac challenged one of the man's suggestions, because there really was a much less complicated way to create an undetectable signal transmitter, Barstow had hauled him bodily out onto the loading dock, accused him of challenging his status, and pulled Mac off all three engineering projects Thornton had assigned him, for absolutely no reason. Mac had accomplished more on them in three days than Barstow had in two weeks.

It wouldn't even be so bad if the lab assistant who's in charge of the project, an assistant, that's how low priority and mindless this project is, didn't absolutely hate him. The guy's one of the techs who was working on the van from Como the first day Mac was here, and he clearly remembers that Mac showed up in a CCI jumpsuit. Mac knows the guy told everyone in R&D within a day, because instead of smiles he was met with cold stares, concern, or a flat-out clear desire to get as far away from him as possible. He's heard one of the more vicious staff members whistling "Folsom Prison Blues" as he walks past the woman's workstation.

Working with Jack and Riley, it was easy to forget how most people react to a former convict. Now every day, he's reminded of it, whether it's the snatches of music he hears over the server stacks or the innate fear he sees in the intern from CalTech who brought over the data files when he got reassigned. This is how it's going to be for the rest of my life. The thought hurts, and he tries to focus on the mindless data entry to ignore it.