Deadly
Game
Chapter
Nine
By Fade
The bodyguards hadn’t been worried when the alarms started going off. There were two of them, neither of which worked for the same principle. Although they didn’t know each other very well, they both had traveled similar paths to reach a point of ultimate deadliness. You couldn’t go through the organization’s training programs without developing an instant bond with anyone else who had survived the same hellish program. Consequently, they knew exactly how the other would react if something went wrong. Their principles knew enough to stay out of the way and let them do their job. Any attack was unlikely to reach this far down in the complex, so the bodyguards simply waited to see what would happen.
When the alarms changed pitch to signal that the complex had been breached, the bodyguards started making visible preparations. The explosion several floors above was the final signal that the bodyguards were most likely going to see action. Locking the door to the suite where their principles happened to be, the bodyguards arranged the furniture to provide to greatest possible amount of cover.
____
Shadow watched Silk go limp in Hammers grasp, as she left her body for an astral scan of the area. A few seconds later, the mage returned. “Two bends down the corridor there are about twenty people. They seem to be trying to get past a door that leads to somewhere protected by a pretty powerful ward.”
A couple of shots echoed from around the corner, and Hammer wondered if he should just let the group at the end of the hall shoot each other. When no more sounds made their way down the thickly carpeted hall, the troll decided that the team would have to take action after all. After a couple of additional seconds, Hammer looked at the walls, and then smiled as a plan came to him.
Two minutes later, the group at the end of the hall had started yelling and pounding on the door again. Using the noise as cover, the team crept down the corridor with concussion grenades at the ready. Pulling the pins, the three men exploded around the corner and started throwing grenades.
The racists were largely unprepared for any kind of attack, but there were a few of them who had weapons ready. Hammer, Shiver and Shadow each threw two grenades, and ducked back around the corner as some of the racists opened up with their assault rifles. Two seconds later, when the runners had had enough time to make it twenty feet down the corridor, all six concussion grenades went off at almost the exact same time.
At ground zero, the eighteen living racists were subject to a private preview of the hell for which they had destined themselves. The walls in the corridor were only six inches thick, but they covered bedrock. Consequently, after the blast destroyed the walls, it was still confined to the hallway. Just like the last time Shadow had detonated grenades, the blast was contained in a small area, dramatically increasing the force with which it hit the nearby people. Men the size of Ox were picked up and thrown into walls with sufficient force to shatter bones.
What was left of the blast expended itself largely upon the door, and Hammer and the rest of the team as they were running down the hall. The three men just rolled with the force of the explosion, and consequently were largely unharmed. Silk however hit the ground fairly hard, and was a little shaken as well as bleeding from scrapes and carpet burns in a couple of locations.
The team was to have no respite however because the bodyguards had determined that it must have been enemy forces that had detonated the grenades that had warped the door. No sooner had Silk gotten to her feet, than both bodyguards had come around the corner with their weapons ready. As the razors fired their weapons, Shadow was already moving, alerted by his combat sense that he was about to take fire. Unfortunately, the hall provided the physad with no cover, and the nearest doorway was just too far away. Shadow put on an incredible burst of speed to try and dodge the hail of bullets coming from the bodyguards, but it was to no avail-the two sams seemed to be able to anticipate the shape shifter’s erratic course, and they hit him with a pair of long bursts, which took Shadow in the chest and stomach. Silk had just managed to turn in time to watch Shadow fall down as APDS rounds erupted from his back.
A dazed Silk watched Shiver flicker, and saw his Ingram materialize in his hand. Hammer threw himself to the side, pushing Silk in the opposite direction as both bodyguards shifted their aims in her direction. Shiver triggered a short burst at the left bodyguards even as he ran forward.
The bodyguard Shiver was aiming at dived to the right, rolling back to his feet after the burst went over his head. The second bodyguard fired off a bust at Silk through the wall, but missed the mage who had finally retreated out of sight.
Hammer had acquired the first samurai as he stopped rolling, and now triggered off a burst as the other came to his feet. Although the rounds impacted in a tight cluster on the gillette’s chest, they appeared to have been stopped by his armor, because his response was a perfectly aimed burst that punched through Hammer’s right shoulder. The troll’s pain editor automatically kicked in, muting all sensations down to a point where they didn’t even register on Hammer’s conscious mind, but the troll had definitely lost the use of his right arm.
Deciding that the team was sure to loose in a shootout against such uncannily accurate opponents, Hammer followed Shiver’s lead and tried to get to the two razors before their weapons could cycle again. The two bodyguards smiled slightly as they realized what the elf and troll were planning. They don’t have a chance, thought the first bodyguard as he brought his weapon around to take the elf right between the eyes.
The two sams were using the top skill soft chips available anywhere. While that in and of itself would have been enough to make the two bodyguards considerably better shots than either Hammer or Shiver, the two razors were also using expert driver systems. The extra processing power and benefits provided by the expert drivers meant that the bodyguards both shot better even than the masters who had been used to create the skillsofts. Going the skill soft route costs a lot, but it is definitely worth it, thought the first bodyguard. As the gillette’s finger tightened on the trigger in preparation to place three rounds between Shiver’s eyes, two very unexpected things occurred.
The first was that Silk stuck her head out from behind a doorway. The poor mage had finally caught up to the events that initially left her floundering. Upon seeing Shadow go down, and Hammer take rounds through his shoulder, the mage knew that she needed to come up with something big, but everything was happening so fast that she hadn’t been able to get back around the corner before that point in time.
An area effect spell was out of the question, so Silk hit the bad guy that was aiming at Shiver with her most powerful sleep spell. The mage had seen her spell drop trolls in their tracks, but this time it failed to knock her target out. The spell did however succeed in making the bodyguard stagger, and miss his shot. The second bodyguard calculated that he had time to flat line the troll, before turning and killing the elf, who would likely try to kill the other bodyguard first. Dropping the targeting cross from his smart link onto the troll’s nose, the second razor also prepared to fire only to have his shot disrupted when a supposedly-dead Shadow threw a knife at him.
The shape shifter’s sudden movement combined with the glint of the knife as it flew through the air was enough warning for the bodyguard to slide his head out of the way, and narrowly miss taking the knife through the eye.
Hammer and Shiver were both fairly certain that they would both be dead if not for the actions of their teammates, but knew that they were far still from safe. Shiver drew his katana as he finally managed to close with the first bodyguard. By this time, Shadow had made it to his feet and engaged the second bodyguard in melee combat.
The elf and the shape shifter both had a slight edge in speed, and their swords gave them a greater reach than the cyber spurs that the two bodyguards were using, but neither runner was sure if those advantages were going to be enough.
The bodyguard that had been hit by the stun spell was a little rattled. He had always scoffed at people who carried around those stupid Japanese swords. After all, what good was it to become proficient with a weapon that could be taken away from you, or even worse, one that you couldn’t bring everywhere? Time had proven him right again and again as he took opponents down with spurs in places into which he never could have smuggled a sword. The fact that the other guys had greater reach had never mattered before. If you were fast enough and good enough, and the right mods could make you both, you could always find a way to make it past their guard and get up close and personal where their sword was a liability.
These two were different though. The elf was incredibly fast, and used his weapon like a master. The first attempt to get inside the other’s reach and wreak havoc had almost lost the bodyguard his head. The razor half expected smoke to start coming out of his chipjack. There was no question but that his expert driver was the only thing keeping him from being cut down by the elf, the only thing remaining to be seen was whether or not the expert driver was going to be enough.
The second bodyguard had started the engagement out fairly confident, only to find that he too was being hard pressed to avoid a quick death. Where the elf was smooth and willing to wait for his opponent to make a mistake, this thing that looked like a human was nothing less than savage. The elf was keeping his distance by retreating and then counterattacking. Shadow on the other hand was using brute strength and aggression to keep his opponent from advancing inside his reach.
The second razor again tried to get inside and cut Shadow up, only to be hit by a side thrust kick that knocked him into a wall. As the razor bounced to his feet and renewed his attack, he saw that the troll had pulled a heavy pistol with his left hand and was trying to line a shot up on the other bodyguard. Smart, acknowledged the gillette. He is hurt, and there simply isn’t room for him to try and get involved in any other way, he would just get in the way of his own people.
Hammer was having a hard time drawing a bead on Shiver’s opponent. The razor was smart enough to stay on the far side of Shiver, and the two combatants were moving around so much that the troll couldn’t take a shot without risking hitting his student. The bodyguard knew that he was ok for the moment, but decided that it was time to take some risks, before the troll got in a lucky shot.
As Hammer started coughing up blood, he saw the bodyguard change tactics. Realizing that the blood filling up his lung would continue to impair his aim, the big troll held his breath and took a shot at the bodyguard.
Unfortunately, the bodyguard was quite a bit more seasoned than Shiver, so bullets flying past his head, about which he could do nothing, produced no effect. Shiver on the other hand threw himself into a dive before he realized that the shots weren’t meant for him. The dive gave the first bodyguard the opening that he had been waiting for, and before Hammer could fire another shot, the razor had closed the distance to Shiver, and opened up the elf’s stomach with a lightning fast swipe of his spurs.
The second bodyguard heard the shots and decided that he too needed to press the issue. A couple of quick swipes set the stage for a disemboweling strike that ironically was the exact strike that had just been used on Shiver.
As the spur sliced into Shadow, he looked the bodyguard in the eye and smiled. In a flash that the razor couldn’t quite follow, the physad blew out the gillette’s arm, which had been trapped when the spur hit Shadow’s ribs. Shadow then blew out the razor’s left knee with a side thrust kick.
The bodyguard was modified with a SOTA pain editor, but the fact that he couldn’t feel any pain didn’t stop him from falling once his leg was no longer able to support any weight. The lack of pain also didn’t stop the razor from becoming a very easy target once he had lost so much of his mobility. Shadow separated his opponent’s head from his shoulders, ending the threat he posed. Stupid human relied on software that didn’t know what to do if an opponent embraced injury.
The shape shifter turned just in time to see the other razor try to follow up on his slash to Shiver’s stomach. Hammer was angling for a shot, but it was obvious that the troll wouldn’t be able to stop the razor. Shadow lunged towards the combatants, only to see Shiver block the follow up strike. The elf trapped the razor’s hand, and pulled him in closer. A soft click signaled the deployment of Shiver’s hand razors, which he then used to cut the throat of the last bodyguard.
As the razor dropped in a shower of blood, Silk put her head back around the corner-just barely having recovered enough from her last spell that she could see something besides stars. The mage ran over to Shiver, and placing her hands over his wound cast her most effective healing spell. Shiver went slightly white as his body closed the wound up, but that was nothing compared to what Silk did. The mage went a sickly gray, and her nose started bleeding.
Shadow reached out to steady the mage, but she weakly swatted his hand away. “Where is Hammer? I’m basically useless at this point, but I think I’ve got enough mojo left to heal the bones so he can use that arm.”
Hammer walked over to the mage, and then kneeled so that she could reach his shoulder. As Silk cast her spell, the troll felt icy tendrils reach into his shoulder, shifting massive bones around, and knitting them together. Just before the spell ended, a cold tendril slithered down and seemed to patch the hole in Hammer’s lung.
Silk smiled for a second, “I had more juice left in me than I thought.” Before the elf could hit the ground, all three men reached out to catch her. As Hammer place the mage on his shoulder, his radio clicked twice. “Rock one, this is Command Two. The drones are all down, and our people are making some headway, but it sounds like Lonestar is on the way. These guys apparently didn’t file as a corp, so they fall under Lonestar’s fragging jurisdiction. I’ve ordered all the aboveground units to pull back. We’ll try to send some extra support in through the tunnels, but it looks like for the most part, those of you who are down there will have to accomplish the job. As near as we can tell, you are almost to what will be the command center-the other Rock units are all bogged down in firefights-you’ll have to take the command center on your own.”
Hammer acknowledged the command, while Shiver collected the assault rifles from the two razors the team had just dispatched. Inserting new clips of the super-valuable armor piercing rounds, the elf handed the second rifle to Hammer, who signaled Shadow to take point again.
Upon arriving at the door, the team found a grisly sight. Hammer had greatly over estimated the amount of force that the walls and door would absorb when the grenades went off. Broken bodies lay everywhere. It is probably a good thing that Silk is unconscious, thought Shadow dispassionately. She would probably get very sick otherwise.
Hammer and Shiver walked over to the door and began examining it, Shiver looking a little gray. He is probably still suffering some ill effects from his wound, though Hammer. The door had buckled from the force of the explosion, which had killed all the racists. It probably would have been ok, thought Hammer, if the group outside hadn’t been sawing away at the hinges with a Sten blade. Only 18 molecules thick at the edges, the crystal knife represented just about the ultimate cutting tool devised by man. A strand of monowire was better for some applications, but for something like cutting through a door, a Sten blade was the only way to go. Walking over to the door, to pick up the knife, Hammer noticed that there were several bullet holes around the knife, and a trail of blood leading away from the door.
Apparently, the two razors didn’t want the other members of their organization to get through the door, and the fact that they were carrying ammunition that would punch through the door meant that they could do something about it, thought the big troll as he picked up the knife.
Passing through the doorway, Shadow examined the chamber inside, which proved to be some kind of waiting room. The shape shifter, who had spent enough time around Silk to recognize expensive things, noticed that the room’s furnishings would all probably have been worth thousands if they hadn’t been destroyed by being stacked in the center of the room to create a large barricade.
As the team went through the doorway on the far side of the room, they entered what seemed to have been a control center. The displays and consoles were all smashed now, and the four techs who had been running the center, were all dead.
____
Adolph heard the runners walk into the room, but he didn’t break eye contact with his father. The young human tried to banish the ache in his knees, and the feel of the cold gun barrel on his forehead. “Please father, don’t kill me-I’ll do whatever you want to try and make reparations for my mistake, but please let me live. I already killed all of the techs just like you asked.”
Looking to the two figures standing behind his father, Adolph hoped for a moment that one of them would order his father to stop. Looking into the cold dead eyes of the two men who were his last hope, the young samurai realized that he was as good as dead.
Adolph was wired and fast, but he knew his father was faster-almost as fast as those arrogant bodyguards that had accompanied the masters here. Despite the slim odds, Adolph knew that his only chance lay in somehow being faster than the man who had paid for his wires.
Hammer followed Shadow into the room with just enough time to watch the surreal scene play out. The blood covered figure, which was just barely recognizable as the human who had attacked the troll and his protégée in the bar, looked at the two pale men standing behind the muscular human with the gun. Then in a blur that only those with wires, or other mods could follow, the human reached up to slap the gun away from his forehead, even as a curved spur came out of his other hand, which darted towards his captor’s neck.
As impressive as the effort was, it proved to be futile. The human holding the gun stepped back slightly, neatly dodging the strike for his throat, and fired a single round into his son’s head. As the back of the human’s head was blown away, the victor turned and kneeled before the two figures. “Masters, I have done as you required. Those responsible for this failure have been eliminated. I stand ready to accompany you.”
Shiver was looking at Hammer with considerable confusion evident in his face. They are just sitting there ignoring us, thought the elf. They either have drek for brains, or they are the scariest mother fraggers we’ve ever come across.
As much as Shiver wanted to empty his clip into the three humans in front of him, Hammer had signaled for him to wait, so the elf simply shifted the assault rifle around casually so that his smart link was painting the especially odd looking figure, and waited.
After signaling Shiver to hold his fire, Hammer set Silk down behind a large table that looked to be made up of solid metal. About the time the elf was set gently on the floor, the pale, dark-haired figure turned to his companion. “A fascinating proposition. We could take him with us, and not be deprived of his services. His faithfulness certainly seems to be unquestionable, and all those who are responsible for the failure of this installation are no longer among the living.”
The apparent leader of the compound seemed to be relaxing, slightly relieved that he would be allowed to accompany the other two. In a blur of speed that rivaled Hammer’s, the dark haired figure drew a sword and stabbed the kneeling human through the heart. “Actually, the last one responsible is still alive, and faithfulness has never been a satisfactory substitute for success.”
The team was very much on edge, so when both figures suddenly leaped towards the runners, all three men were ready. Hammer fired a three round burst through the chest of the tall, dark haired figure, while Shiver hit the translucent man with a burst through the stomach. Shadow had realized that the translucent figure was moving faster than the other man, so he flipped a throwing knife, which hit the man over the heart.
Both men went down as APDS rounds exited their backs. Shiver and Hammer both switched over to full auto for two seconds, depleting their clips in an effort to insure that the overconfident humans were truly dead. Shadow walked over to the corpses to look for some kind of identification, while Shiver inserted a fresh clip, and walked over to the door. Noting that his protégé was properly place to make sure that the team wouldn’t be surprised by anyone coming through the command center, Hammer contacted Command.
“Command, this is Rock One, we’ve neutralized the command facility, what is the status of the operation?”
"Rock One, Two here. We’ve managed to neutralize the opposition, but Lonestar isn’t buying our story that the ‘intruders’ have been driven off. I think we can keep them out for another 15 minutes or so, but after that they’ll demand entrance to the complex. Grab what you can to help pay for this op, and then leave through the tunnels. The other teams are fully loaded, and on their way out.”
Hammer acknowledged the command, and turned just in time to see Shadow fly across the room and dent a wall.
Shadow had sheathed his katana and walked over to the two corpses only to have his combat awareness go to high alert. The physad tried to get out of the way of the attacks which were launched at him, but the best he could do was avoid the sword slash aimed at his head, and hope that he didn’t end up with a broken neck from hitting the wall.
Both the ‘humans’ were up now, showing toothy grins, that when combined with their ability to regenerate from massive amounts of damage indicated they were actually vampires. Hammer closed with the dark haired vampire, drawing his katana.
Shiver entered the fight with the translucent vampire expecting to quickly cut down his initially unarmed opponent, but the vampire seemed to be some kind of physical adept. The translucent man moved with a speed that was the equal of the elf’s, and early on in the fight had drawn a black rapier that seemed to be some kind of power or weapon focus. Shiver was soon bleeding from a number of small cuts and gashes, and wondering how long he had before blood loss would cause him to faint.
Hammer was having similar problems with his opponent. The big troll had an advantage when it came to reach, but the vampire seemed to be nearly as strong as Hammer, as well as being almost as fast, and considerably more skilled.
The vampire smiled as he continued to control the pace of the fight, blocking one of Hammer’s slashes, and stabbing the troll through the side all in one smooth motion. “You’re very good,” admitted the undead male as he stabbed Hammer again. “I’ve always wondered how a master of Japanese sword fighting would fare against a master fencer. Unfortunately I’ve been practicing for hundreds of years now, so I don’t think I’ll ever meet anyone who can truly give me a run for my money.”
Shiver was still struggling, but he had detected a flaw in his opponent’s technique, which he believed would allow him to behead his opponent. The translucent vampire flared his nostrils slightly before going for a low stab, all Shiver needed to do was wait for the tell, and then launch slash at the vampire’s head.
The vampire betrayed himself with the signal, as he launched the attack that Shiver had been expecting. Already ready, the elf pivoted slightly, dodging his opponent’s strike, while twisting around to make a slash at the vampire’s neck.
The strike was timed perfectly, and executed with mind numbing speed, but Shiver’s initial sense of satisfaction was quickly dulled. In a move that Shiver never would have anticipated, the elf’s still-smiling opponent reached up with his free hand and grabbed the razor sharp edge of the katana. Shiver expected the vampire to lose his hand, but instead the vampire slowed the katana down to about half of its initial speed without being cut. Although puzzled by his opponent’s actions Shiver was still somehow hopeful that his strike would be hard enough to sever the other’s neck.
The katana however didn’t slice through its target. Instead, the blade bounced off of the vampire’s neck with a clang that sounded like it had hit iron. The sudden change in direction of his sword put Shiver off balance, with most of his weight on his right leg. The vampire completed his trap, and lashed out with his right foot, breaking Shiver’s knee, and dropping the battered elf to the ground.
Before the vampire could follow up on the attack, a newly-healed Shadow interposed himself between the translucent man, and Shiver. It is some kind of physical adept judging from the speed with which it moves, but apparently it has developed an invulnerability to weapons, realized the shape shifter as he dodged the other’s first two attacks.
_____
Hammer was desperately searching for a course of action that would let him resolve the fight in a manner that wouldn’t result in his death. A couple of risky strikes had almost landed on the vampire’s neck, but had earned the troll a couple of fairly serious wounds. The vampire was protecting his head and neck so well that Hammer was fairly certain he wouldn’t be able to decapitate the undead fiend.
Just before the big troll decided that he would have to risk everything in a do or die attempt, Shiver yelled. Turning slightly, Hammer saw what appeared to be a table leg flying towards him. Catching the unlikely projectile with his left hand, the razor spun back, parrying a thrust from his opponent, and then catching the vampire in the side with the wooden club.
_____
Shadow saw Shiver crawl to the table and improvise a weapon for Hammer from one of the legs, but the shape shifter knew that such a weapon wouldn’t help him. Luckily, Shiver seemed to realize the same thing because after throwing a club to Hammer, the elf brought his pistol up and prepared to take shots at Shadow’s opponent.
_____
Hammer’s opponent was livid with rage. How dare this jumped up gorilla injure someone so clearly his better. Doesn’t he realize I’ve seen the rise and fall of nations? Kings come and go, but I remain. As Hammer got another sound blow into his opponent’s ribs, the now severely injured vampire decided that staying would be suicidal.
Yelling for the other vampire to follow, the apparent leader fled through a doorway that had been concealed by a monstrous tapestry. Shadow was only a few steps behind the physical adept, when he felt his combat sense got ballistic, and saw the lead vampire pull some kind of remote control device from his pocket.
The shape shifter changed direction, and began running back down the tunnel, only to find that Hammer had followed him into the escape tunnel. The troll had reversed direction as soon as he saw Shadow do so, but he wasn’t quite as fast as the physad, and consequently both runners were caught in the blast that had been rigged to bring the tunnel down. The explosion picked the two men up and threw them back out the tunnel, charring Shadow quite badly since he took the brunt of the force. Rising to his feet after his body had finished healing itself, Shadow turned to find Hammer nursing a broken left wrist.
“I do apologize,” stated the big troll. “I should have known better. It is never wise to follow your adversary into a prepared escape route. I’m afraid I got a little too caught up in the idea of dispatching those parasites. It was most fortunate that neither of us were more seriously injured.”
Shaking his head in regret Hammer continued. “By my estimation, we have eight minutes remaining us before we must flee towards our escape route. If you would be so good as to help me ransack this room for valuables, I’d be very appreciative.”
Something is bothering Sensei, realized Shiver from his spot on the floor. He always gets even more formal than usual when something is really bothering him.
Nodding his acceptance of Hammer’s orders, Shadow went back to the escape tunnel, and began searching the furniture around the opening. The bookcase to the left of the doorway contained two pairs of doors at the bottom, which appeared to lock, so Shadow figured that it was a likely place to leave some kind of bug-out bag. A tentative kick showed that the doors were constructed out of something much stronger than the hardwood with which the bookcase appeared to be made. Guessing that the human would have kept the key to anything very important on his person, the shape shifter walked over to the corpse of the compound’s leader, and began going through his pockets. The shape shifter found a personal credstick, and a pocket secretary before stumbling upon what appeared to be the key to the bookcase on a chain around the man’s neck.
Hammer wasn’t having very much luck with his search. Having only the use of one hand was slowing the troll down quite a bit, but he was still hopeful that he or Shadow would be able to find something that would help Peter defray the expenses of the operation. As the troll finished going through the monstrous walk-in closet, he looked over at the wall and realized what had been tickling the back of his mind.
The pictures on the wall were very nearly the complete works of Itai, but more importantly, they were in the frames that the artist had selected before the works had disappeared from the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art. Hoping against hope that he had found the works of one of the previous decade’s most influential artists, Hammer pulled the frame off of the picture and examined the canvas. Deciding that the odds of the paintings being authentic were too great to leave them, the troll started sliding the paintings to Shiver to pull apart.
Shiver gently separated the canvases from the frames, and then rolled the works up in silk sheets from the bed. A large bag that Hammer had seen earlier while searching the closet, served to contain the whole collection, which Shiver zipped up while Hammer completed another circuit around the suite of rooms.
Shadow hadn’t been idle while his teammates collected the paintings. The key had indeed proved to fit the lock on the bookcase doors. Inside the bottom set of doors, Shadow found what appeared to be the bug-out bag he had been hoping for. A nondescript black duffle bag made out of some kind of Kevlar weave contained an armored vest, a re-breather mask, and a chem suit at the very top of the bag.
Shadow quickly discarded the vest, suit and mask, figuring that the tunnel must come out in the sewers, but that it would be stupid for him to carry around the extra weight, when the three items weren’t worth very much. Reaching further into the bag, the shape shifter found an inner pocket which held ten credsticks, as well as a velvet case with what appeared to be five large, cut diamonds, and several thousand nuyen worth of script. A side pocket contained some energy bars, water, and military rations, while a fairly well concealed outer pocket held some more credsticks, a pocket secretary, two magkeys, and a pair of car keys. Probably some fake id’s and a pair of flops to hide in, thought the physad as he continued his search. The final outer pocket contained a matching pair of custom-built heavy pistols, several spare clips, and a Sten blade. A blanket, a sneak suit, designer slacks, and a dress shirt and tie all served to cushion and protect a Transys Highlander deck while rounding out the contents of the bag.
The second cabinet in the bookcase proved to hold an even frostier Novatech Slimcase-10 deck, which Shadow put in the padded carry case next to it, and added to the contents of the duffle bag. Even more interesting, there was some kind of latch in the top of the second cabinet. Pulling on the latch resulted in a quiet click, and a shifting of the bookcase. Realizing that the shelves were actually a separate unit from the cabinets, Shadow pulled on the shelves, which swung up to reveal an impressive array of guns.
The shape shifter quickly looked through the weapons, pocketing a Savalette Guardian and an Ares Predator, as well as several boxes of armor piercing rounds. Another Sten knife was sufficient to satisfy the shape shifter, who turned to find Hammer finishing up a very large note on the wall written in permanent marker.
The sculptures in this room all appear to be originals. They are very valuable, please insure that they are not damaged in anyway. Hammer surveyed the message a final time and then smiled sadly at Shiver. “For all that he was replete with other faults, this man seems to have been an avid art collector. It is something of a tragedy that the sculptures are too large to bring with us.”
Shiver nodded from his seat next to the bag containing the paintings. “Sensei, we need to be going or we will have to fight our way out past the Star.”
Hammer resumed the impassive façade that he used while working. “Quite correct. Shadow, if you would be so kind as to carry Silk. I will see to the transportation of our friend Shiver.”
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