Chapter Seven
"The city is not a concrete jungle, it is a human zoo."
--Desmond Morris (1928- )
Renraku Acrology
Downtown, Seattle
April 3, 2059
11:02 pm
Kie Sekcuro had been working late. At the start of the day her screen was filled with faxes and overflowed with spreadsheets. Files lined her desk like so many cars on the street. Each of them bustling through to get on their way. Now her desk was clean and her terminal had been logged out for the night. Her office was unusually quite with no one barging in and demanding her attention. There was no secretary to interrupt nor meetings to attend.
She stood quietly at her window. It was a massive sheet of glass that took up most of the wall behind her desk. She enjoyed looking out it as this time of the night when the sun had set. The lights of the city lite up the sprawl like another world. Skyscrapers with their elegant beauty and testament to man's art seemed dwarfed under her view. Indeed, she did have one of the highest vantage points in all of Seattle. There were not that many buildings that rivaled the size of the self-contained Renraku Acrology.
The telecom on her desk beeped once. Kie had an idea who it was. She clicked the call in before returning to her envious contemplation of the sprawl.
Montague's face appeared on the screen. "Ms. Sekcuro."
"Tell me what happened, Montague." Kie silently wished that Testsuo would have chosen a more traditional alias. Montague sounded like a cheap British joke.
"Yes, ma'am." Montague cleared his throat. "As I was instructed, I observed the deniable assets as they engaged in their extraction. I must note that they performed something less than dogs would do. Apparently they had no trouble getting inside, but trouble encroached on the way out. They were able to liberate the subject, however. They retreated along 405 and hooked into 90. There they retrieved a person that I believe was the team's computer expert. I am sorry to report that I lost contact when they entered the Glow City region of Redmond."
Kie could understand that. Glow City was nothing more than a ruined neighborhood in the shadow of the Shiawase Atomics power plant. The power plant had suffered a meltdown decades ago. The area was full of lowlife squatters and other rejects of humanity.
"I have a casualty list from the subject entity and from responding Lone Star units."
"Don't bore me with details, Montague."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Tell me how you plan to locate them."
"Ma'am, we are developing a plan and seeking out their hiding places. However, we have come across some additional information that will further our goals."
"What is that?"
"Ma'am, we feel that the target entity may already have a lead on their location through some unknown means. Perhaps a trace of some type was performed."
"Perhapes." Kie mused. "I trust you will pursue this lead to it's final conclusion.
"Yes, ma'am."
"I'm an most honored, then. I'll be expecting the groups leader to be giving me a call in a few hours. I will delay them long enough to give you an opening. One opportunity is all that you are allowed under the circumstances."
"One is all that I will need." Montague let a grin cross his features. "Goodnight, ma'am."
Black Diamond Neighborhood
Auburn, Seattle
April 4, 2059
12:00 am
Michelle was just now beginning to orientate herself. In the hours since the shadowrunners had pulled her out of Mauss Chemicals she figured that they had crossed sprawl twice. It was only the distinctive stench of the streets that lead her to believe that she was still in Seattle.
When the group finally made it off Highway 90, Riggs dove through the crumbling streets of Glow City. He spent a good twenty minutes making narrow twists and turns. He stopped when he came to what looked like an abandoned house with a large garage next to it. The garage door opened up and Riggs stowed the van inside.
Michelle was about to get out when the runner's leader, a human male named Lenny, told her to stay in her seat. This was only a pit-stop.
Sure enough it was, but each of the shadowrunners were in action before the garage doors slammed shut. The dwarf rigger that Michelle thought was a little idiotic looking hopped out of his seat. Much to her surprise, he began literally pulling the paint off the van like it was plastic. She later figured that it was some kind of spray on polymer that would peel off on its on after a few hours. The new color of the van was black and gray. Though Michelle had no way of knowing if this was the real color or not. The dwarf also removed the old license plate and put on a new one. He even went as far as to slap on a bumper sticker that advertised the Screamers Urban Brawl team.
The hulking ork that had manhandled Michelle in Mauss also stepped out, but he came back a few minutes later. He held a large ammo box in his hands. Without speaking a word to her he went to the back of the Bison and popped a panel off on the ceiling. He was soon feeding a new explosive belt into the minigun that rested in the pop-up turret.
The elf that Michelle now knew to be a mage got out when the van stopped. Apparently she knew something about medicine as she was giving first aid to the odd-looking man with the sinister smile. She seemed to use some kind of magic on the decker that the team had gotten off the highway. Michelle thought that the little decker looked trampy and smelled of trash. The decker's tank-top and jeans were torn in a few places. She had a few deep gashes on her elbows and her face. The cuts bled a little. Her palms were also black with dirt. This made her look like a squatter in Michelle's opinion. The decker didn't talk much. The eccentric samurai talked a lot, but he rarely made sense.
Michelle was watched during the fifteen minutes that the group made the stop over. Most of the time by the small human that Michelle thought was not over twenty. Michelle had overheard something about him breaking his wrist at the condoplex, but it looked fine now. She shivered when her mind flashed her the image of what this lithe human had done to the guards in the elevator. It unnerved her more when she realized that the human was still armed. The sword that had dismembered the guards was in the shadowrunner's hands.
All the runners still carried their weapons. They had also taken great care to place the unused weapons in a metal box in the back of the Bison. Is was locked and required a keypad code to open. Michelle thought that was so she wouldn't have a chance to get a hold of one. The shadowrunners didn't trust her and had no reason to.
Michelle had to admit that this wasn't the way she expected to be relieved of her contract with Mauss Chemicals. In fact, nothing was as she expected it to be. The shadowrunners weren't even what she was expecting. They weren't the glorified individuals in the trideo shows. They weren't exactly the heartless killers that the media made them out to be either. A few of the runners Michelle saw did fit the archetype, like the ork. Their leader didn't seem like a runner at all. The elf, who was actually quite striking, wasn't like anything the trideo produced. She didn't wear something that barely covered her body. Instead she wore a grungy looking black jumper and a lined coat. The dwarf seemed to be arrogant and a little edgy in his own way. A typical halfer in Michelle's view. Still, the runners didn't breakdown and have a party after the extraction. That surprised Michelle. There was a great variety amongst them. Their personalities were as different as their appearance. The shadowrunner's ages seemed to vary from thirty-five to less than eighteen. Michelle thought that the decker looked to be the youngest.
The runners left Glow City and headed on a winding course across the sprawl. Michelle soon lost her bearings and had no idea where she was. Anywhere outside of downtown or Bellevue, she was lost.
The runners came to a stop after what seemed like an eternity on the road. The Bison parked itself in a much smaller garage than the one she had been in before. It was the lower level of a small house. The garage took up about half of the basement while the other half held storage and various pieces of mechanical equipment. Michelle was hustled into a house quickly and lead to a small bedroom. She had no idea what was going to happen to her.
The shadowrunners immediately spread out when they arrived, checking out the building and declaring it safe. Then they separated themselves into pre-arranged shifts. One stood sentry in the narrow hallway next to the room that Michelle was staying in. Michelle recognized the runner as the young human with the monosword. He often watched out the window at the end of the hall.
The eccentric samurai that Michelle thought of as a complete loon also made rounds. He stuck to the doors more than anything. The difference with him was that his movements seemed random.
The dwarf driver spent most of his time in the garage. Apparently the runner's vehicle had suffered some damage during the escape. Every so often Michelle could hear the whine of a cutting saw or drill as he worked.
Michelle had lost track of the others. Whatever they were doing couldn't be legal. She just hoped that it was in her best interest. At least the runners had seen fit to provide her with a change in clothes. The clothes weren't much, a pair of generic jeans and a large, long sleeve red shirt.
Michelle sat, brooding in her small room. She kept wondering what the runner's leader would do next. At the same time, she wondered how she was going to express her disagreement with the way was she was taken from Mauss Chemicals. After all, Michelle was a legal SIN carrying citizen. What right did this criminals have to tell her what to do? She made it a point to ask that to the runner's leader, Lenny, if he ever came in to speak with her.
12:30 am
Tart ran her fingers over her Cyberdeck. In the Matrix she modified the datastream of the telecom and rerouted it to a dozen different hosts. It was a difficult job that had to be done. Lenny wasn't leaving anything to chance when he called Mrs. Johnson. The last thing he wanted was to be traced.
When a icon blinked at the edge of the telecom screen, Lenny dialed the number. It beeped a few times. For a moment he thought that she would not answer. Lenny knew that the Johnson was there, just biding her time.
Finally the image clicked on. "Yes?" Mrs. Johnson asked in a rather alert voice for the time of the night.
Lenny made a glance at Tart, seeing that her hands were still working on her deck. There wasn't a hint that he was being traced yet. Gideon stood quietly in the background of the call. He was making sure that Lenny didn't miss anything. Shard would be present, but she was responsible for most of the security around their bolthole. She had a handful of spirits patrolling the perimeter.
"I've got your mark." Lenny said, keeping his words simple and direct. "We need to arrange a pick up."
Mrs. Johnson kept her oriental features stern and focused. A small, red icon started blinking in the corner of Lenny's screen. This was Tart signaling that there was a trace in progress. "I would be pleased to. However your extraction has caused a flare in Lone Star patrols."
"I am aware of this." Lenny knew that they had caused Lone Star a big headache during the trip down highway 90. He wouldn't be surprised if the Star was still looking for them along with Mauss Chemicals.
"Yes, but this affects our recovery timetable." Mrs. Johnson explained. Again, this was expect. "It would be unwise to bring the subject out in the open so shortly. Even if the parent entity were to keep the extraction a secret, they would have agents searching for her."
"I know this too." Lenny reminded. He had figured that it would be too dangerous to bring Michelle out now. Her name and face would be the buzz on the streets if it wasn't already.
"In light of this fact, I feel that it is necessary to allow the increase in activity to subside. I would like to schedule a recovery at eight on the morning of the fifth."
Lenny checked the icon at the bottom of his screen. It hadn't turned critical yet. "Acceptable, that will give ample time to patrols to calm down."
"I'm glad that you understand, Lenny-san. I will personally be at the recovery. It will be in front of Kobe Terrace Park, next to the bridge in downtown."
Lenny knew the park. It was right in the middle of downtown and was one of the most beautiful parts of the city. It was also in the shadow of the Renraku Acrology which meant that security would be very tight.
"Agreed."
"I trust that no harm has come to the subject?" Mrs. Johnson asked.
Lenny glanced at the icon. It was starting to blink a little faster. "None so that you fulfill your half of the contract." He reached for the disconnection. "I must go." He added before cutting the call off.
He breathed a sigh of relief. The conversation had gone a little better than the one he had with her a month ago. Though he sensed that Mrs. Johnson was stalling for time. Lenny didn't like that. It meant that she might be up to something.
"The slitch is hiding something." Gideon grumbled.
Lenny nodded his head. "She might be."
"There is no might be about it. That breeder smells like a scam. I don't like that."
"She hasn't done anything yet." Lenny countered, trying to maintain a little faith in their employer even though he did not trust her either. The problem was that he could allow the rest of the team to lose confidence in him.
"Doesn't mean that she won't." Gideon added as Tart removed the datajack from behind her ear.
"I know." Lenny stood and stretched. "But she's got the contract. She's the only buyer we got for the mark."
Gideon snorted as Tart looked at both of them with naive eyes. Every time that Lenny saw those eyes he felt like the decker did not know what was going on. Lenny knew better than to assume that. Lenny had learned in the month that he had known Tart that there was a lot more going on behind those eyes than most people thought. Gideon might still think of her as a weakling decker, but decking was what she was good at. None of the other team members could claim her status. That made Tart valuable.
"They tried to run a trace on you." Tart said. It sounded like she didn't realize the consequences of what the trace could mean.
"I thought she might."
"They didn't get close. They made five hosts that I routed the call through. That's wiz work considering that the call was encrypted to begin with. Whatever she was using was SOTA." Tart mused, letting Lenny know that Mrs. Johnson had access to some advanced technology.
It didn't surprise him in the least. The fact that Tart was able confirm that it was Mrs. Johnson tracing them interested him more. Lenny had figured that somebody would try to trace the call, like Mauss or Lone Star. It made him wonder what Mrs. Johnson's motivations were.
"The whole thing scans looks like drek." Gideon maintained his opinion. "We go to that meet, we better fragging be ready. It's too close to the Acrology not to have decent Star patrols."
"I know. We'll worry about that when it's time."
Gideon grunted, glancing off at something. "You talk to the normie?" He meant Michelle McVey. She had been left in her small room with a change of clothes. Nightsky was still on shift. He was watching her.
"Not since Mauss." Lenny went for the door. "Now's a good of a time as any."
Gideon started to wonder into the kitchen. His M-23 clutched loosely in his hand.
"Change the guard, Gid, I'll have a word with out guest."
The ork made a stiffened nod followed by a small snort. With Gideon, that meant okay. Sometimes he didn't feel like talking. Well, that was his business.
Lenny made his way down the narrow hallway to Michelle's room. At the end of the hall Nightsky sat crouched on top of a small table, looking out a window. He had rearmed himself, forgoing the MP-5 compact for a larger HK227 with a bulky gas vent system and a monosword. Normally that lead Lenny to believe that Nightsky was nervous about something, but the adept looked relaxed enough.
Nightsky watched Lenny as he came up.
"I'll take the shift." Lenny explained, Nightsky shook his head. "Go get something to eat and some sleep if you can."
Nightsky hopped of the table. He was about to walk away when he stopped and looked at Lenny. "You were right."
"About what?"
"The elevator."
Lenny smirked. "I thought you didn't agree?"
Nightsky lowered his eyes. He seemed a little embarrassed to admit that he was wrong. "I didn't, but you knew what to do. I shouldn't have second guessed you."
"No harm done."
"What about next time?"
Lenny thought of how to answer that one. It was all a play on words, he knew that much. It was the same with everyone. People did not want a reason, they wanted some comfort in their lives. All Lenny had to do was give it to them. "Worry about next time after we get through this one." He said. That seemed to make Michael happy. He gave a shallow nod before heading to the kitchen.
Nightsky seemed distracted to Lenny. Originally Michael had turned down the opportunity to be on the run. Then he had shown up in the middle of the night, saying that he wanted in. Though Lenny didn't know what happened between the hours he saw him in Redmond and when he showed up on the doorstep in Tacoma, he figured that it still had to be bothering him. Nightsky's presence helped the team so Lenny wasn't going to turn him away if the adept wanted in.
Lenny pushed open the door to the room where they had put Michelle McVey. She was sitting on the bed looking a little anxious. At least she had changed into the clothes they had bought for her. Gideon had taken her old clothes outside and burned them in a garbage can. She looked at Lenny when he entered. He could tell that she remembered him. Something about the look gave that fact away.
"You are Lenny, aren't you?" She asked, her voice was strong and confident. That was odd.
"I am." Lenny pulled a small folding chair up and sat it in front of Michelle.
"Your the leader?"
Lenny eased into the chair, leaning his arms across the back. "They listen to me, yes." He said as he pulled a cigarette from a crumpled pack and lit it with a cheap plastic lighter.
"Then I must be addressing the right person."
Lenny blew out a stream of thin smoke. "Must be."
Michelle straightened herself. "Then it must be you I need to complain about for the actions taken to get me out of Mauss Chemicals."
Lenny raised an eyebrow. "Complain?"
"Yes. You were violent, had a total disregard for safety, and nearly got me killed. I'd say that gives me a good reason to complain."
Lenny snickered a little. He was a little entertained at her bickering, it made her seem like a spoiled child.
"You find it funny? You...." She seemed to search for the right word. "...criminals probably injured or killed a number of loyal company employees. For That act alone you deserve nothing less than what the full extent of the law can punish you."
"May I correct you on something?" Lenny held up his hand.
Michelle crossed her eyes, showing her dislike at him interrupting.
"First of all we've been through more of these extractions than you have. We know what we are doing. We did what we had to do at Mauss to get you out. I don't give a drek if it wasn't the way you liked it." Lenny made that clear to her. "It was, however, the best way for us to get everyone out in mostly one piece. Secondly, us criminals are the only thing that stands between you and the flesh eaters over in lower Puyallup."
Michelle was about to say something, but Lenny cut her off.
"Now you will do exactly as we tell you. There's a lot of people out on the streets looking for us right now. You mess up once and you'll endanger the rest of us, I won't have that. You'll do as we say, understand?"
Michelle seemed hesitant to give into him. "What makes you think you have any right to tell me what to do? You not better than me."
"I'm not any worse either, Michelle." Lenny took another drag on his cigarette. "I'd be just as happy putting a narc dart in you. That way you'd be asleep and leave me nothing to worry about. Don't let me come to that."
Michelle nodded her head a little. Her eyes wondered around the room. It had no windows and only the one door.
"Now let me explain some things." Lenny thumped the ashes off his smoke. "You can leave this room, but you can only go down the hall, the bathroom, or the kitchen. You go anywhere else and we'll know. I've had our mage summon a spirit to tail you. It's mainly there to warn us of magical sending, but it also follows you in the astral. You can close the door to the bathroom, but remember the spirit will be watching you. Do not use any of the doors that lead to the outside. Each of the doors has a trap attached to it. Some of the traps are magical, some are not. Just remember that the traps are indiscriminate and will be triggered by you. We will be on shifts the whole night, there's not much you can do without us knowing. Do as we say in the event of an emergency and we will keep you safe. You be perfectly safe while your with us. If we are attacked, one of us will be by your side all the time. Do you understand?"
She nodded, it seemed that Lenny had broken through her bravado. This made her feel a little insecure. "What are you going to do with me?"
Lenny paused, stamping out his cigarette underneath his boot. "You will stay with us until the meet when we will hand you over to our Johnson."
"Johnson?" She sounded confused. "Oh, I understand. You mean Mrs.--" She cut herself off, afraid to reveal Mrs. Johnson's name. She knew that she probably shouldn't. Lenny noticed this, but he didn't say anything. Pushing for a name would only get him ignored now. "When is the meeting suppose to take place?"
"That's something you don't have to worry about." Lenny assured. In truth he didn't want her to know. "You can relax in the fact that the meet is setup and will take place."
Michelle nodded, she was learning to watch her bounds. To her, these shadowrunners were dangerous. If she decided that she wasn't safe with them in the future, it would be easier to get away from them if they didn't have a reason to watch her closely.
Lenny stood and replaced the chair next to the door where he had gotten it. "If you need anything, there will always be one of us in the hall."
Michelle said okay to Lenny and watched him leave. When he was gone she was left with mixed ideas. She still held a conflicting thought. Lenny had said that the runners would keep her safe. At the same time she resented having to rely on the runners. Michelle had always thought of herself as independent. It was a hard choice, but she would try to put up with it as long as she could.
Yarrow Point
Bellevue, Seattle
1:00 am
Jagger, Montague said to himself. He had found out that Jagger was what Termushi was calling himself these days. He had to admit that the man had changed a lot since the last time he had seen him. He wasn't the giddy young member in the Yakuza Sword Water Clan anymore. He had become so devoted to his art and forging his body that he excluded all else. Sometimes Montague doubted that he was all human anymore. His aura screamed of energy and power. He was a physical adept with a glowing ability. Yet he was methodical and cold, he didn't care about anything else.
Termushi was Montague's leading muscle on his assignment. The man could handle nearly anything. When the time came, it would be the Jagger who will take care of the runners. This left Montague to save the subject, Michelle McVey.
Montague shifted a little in the back of the modified Citymaster. The shell of the vehicle had been redesigned to make it look like a hauling van rather than the urban assault vehicle that it was. A portion of the inside was crammed with electronic equipment. Montague had four members to his group besides Jagger. One was a driver who knew how to run the Citymaster. Besides that he was the same as the other two. They were muscle, pure and simple. All except for one. One, a young Japanese woman named Tarkie, was an expert at electronic surveillance as well as drones..
"Montague." Tarkie said, he voice a little empty because she had herself jacked into her terminal.
"Yes?"
"I've got a report coming out of the Mauss Chemicals Condoplex."
"Tell me about it."
"Yes sir." Tarkie cleared her throat. "They've got a location......"
The Plastic Jungles
Redmond, Seattle
1:15 am
The Plastic Jungles. Once upon a time wealthy agriculturists built twenty of the largest greenhouses in the world. The tent-like buildings were several kilometers in diameter and stood on land considered to be too polluted with toxic waste to grow any crops. The agriculturist proved the skeptics wrong. Well, he almost did. The land did yield amazing harvests of food, but the food was too contaminated for public consumption. After that the huge greenhouses grew tropical flowers until the Crash of '29 when the entire project was abandoned. Since then the old greenhouses have become a haven for the districts lower class.
Including its population of troubled gangers in the Blackhearts. Jackal, for one, sat hunched over a small table while a small fire raged a short distance away. Around the fire five other gangers of varying degrees had gathered.
For the most part, Jackal had kept track of where his Blackhearts were. He had also heard of the problems that they were getting from the Night Hunters, but most of it was in Purity. Far away from where they were now. There had been more fights and more people had gotten hurt. Sand, who had been in a terrible fight only yesterday, was by the fire. She had found out that Stumpy had died and Floppy was no where to be found. Currently she was crying profusely with no sign of stopping.
Jackal was getting tired of it. He couldn't stand the idea of the Hunters ruling his gang and terrifying them. He sat hunched away from the others assembling his gun and cleaning it. It was obvious that he was about to lose his patience.
"You don't look wizzer." Spark mouthed as he leaned up against a support beam.
Jackal looked over his shoulder at the elf. Spark didn't make any sign of seeing him. He was staring at the ground. His eyes were focused on something else.
"Not that you have any reason to be." He added.
Jackal slid the firing port back into the chamber of his Manhunter. "If I wanna sit here and stew, that's my business."
Spark curled his lip, Jackal had a point there.
Jackal looked at the small fire the others had going. The flames cast ghost like shadows from the crumbling greenhouse. It made it seem like spirits were among them. "What're they thinking?" Jackal motioned at the Blackhearts gathered around the fire.
"Mostly scared." Spark shrugged. "Half of them won't admit it."
Jackal attached the housing to the pistol and checked the action. "They got good reason to be." He shoved a clip in and chambered the first round.
"Sand is still crumpled over it."
"Not surprised." The ruby dot of the integral laser sight on the Manhunter lite up as Jackal squeezed the trigger. The dot was faint and it shook a lot. A testament to the age of the handgun.
Spark watched Jackal with some concern. He had a guess to what the ork was planning. He didn't like it either. "What you thinking about doing, Jack?"
The ork stood and shoved the pistol in the inner pocket of his synthleather jacket. "Gonna set some things right. The way they should be."
"We're not going to back down?"
"Frag, no." Jackal cursed. "We're not backing down. If they want to wipe us out, let's see how many of their racists ass we can take with us."
Spark didn't feel right with the choice. Jackal was willing to go up against the Night Hunters when he knew they outclassed the Blackhearts in number and firepower. The reason he didn't speak up was because Jackal had done this before. He had lead the gang up against staggering odds. It wasn't a fairy tale, though. Many of those times the Blackhearts had gotten torn up, but Jackal kept bringing them back.
Spark would follow him. Just like he had done before. The rest of the Blackhearts would follow him too. Loyalty to the gang was too strong to allow them to quit even if Jackal wanted them too.
The only thing that Spark hated was seeing the look on the younger kid's faces. Their looks of anger when they didn't even know what they had to be angry at. He knew that those faces would be the first ones to go before the week was out. That thought haunted him. He knew it wasn't right, but there was no other way.
"You coming?" Jackal grumbled.
Spark looked around. He saw the decaying garbage that his life had become. A desolate wasteland where there was nothing to live for. Then he saw Jackal, looming in front of the fire like some kind of knight. There was something there, but was it worth living for?
"Yeah," Spark said. "I'm coming."
Black Diamond Neighborhood
Auburn, Seattle
4:50 am
Riggs tossed a ruined mess of wires and connectors on the floor. He had sprouted more profanities than man knew while trying to replace the missile firing mechanism on Big Bertha. Riggs thought that once he had invented an entirely new vulgar word until he realized that he was cursing Sperethiel.
Sperethiel, Riggs said to himself. Frag me, I've been around Shard way too long.
"You want an eggroll, Riggs?"
Riggs stuck his head out from the bulk of rotodrone. Nightsky was stepping over a collection of junk parts that had collected on the floor. His SMG was slung on a strap and he held two eggrolls in his hand. Each had a nice steam coming from them that carried a refreshing scent of baked eggs and cabbage.
"Frag yes I want an eggroll." Riggs snorted as he closed the panel on Big Bertha. He replaced the screws in record time, working with one hand while he took the eggroll from Michael.
"Fresh from the nuker." Nightsky said. The group had picked up a lot of instant foods ready out of the microwave before they hit Mauss Chemicals.
Riggs took a sizable chunk out of his roll and began chewing. He pointed to Michael's HK227. "That a sound suppressor?" He said with his mouth full.
Nightsky nodded.
"Why you got that thing on? Just makes the barrel fragging longer."
Nightsky shrugged, chewing on his own eggroll. "I don't like the noise it makes without it."
Riggs snorted at that. "Then what's the point in having a gun?"
Nightsky climbed up on what was left of a trideo. "To stop someone that's not at arms length."
"That'll work too." Riggs closed off his drone rack and started to put up his tools. "You know what Lenny said about me a while ago?"
"What's that."
"He said I was paranoid. Frag, a while ago, Hector said I was too." He stuffed the last of the eggroll into his mouth and started chomping. "I'm not fragging paranoid. I don't know where they get that drek."
"Well, you are in your own way."
"Nah, I'm just level headed."
Nightsky grinned. "About as level headed as Smiley."
"Hey, Lenny is more paranoid than I am. Only thing is that no body ever mentions it." Riggs belched. "So what makes everyone think I'm paranoid?"
"I don't have any answers for you."
"I didn't figure you would." Riggs put his tool kit in the Bison and shut the door. "It's an unfair mark, I tell you. I mean, if I was really paranoid, I would be dancing around like a fragging nervous cat with fleas."
"So I guess that just makes you arrogant?"
"Arrogant? Frag, I'm not arrogant either."
"Then what are you?"
Riggs found that he mind drew a blank. He clasped the end of his beard in thought. He opened his mouth to say something once, but nothing came out. It was like he didn't know what he was. "I'm a dwarf, that's what I am."
Nightsky laughed a little. "I don't think that anyone can argue with you there."
"Thank the frag for that." Riggs squatted next to the rear wheel of the Bison. "Where's our honored guest?"
"Sitting in her luxurious cabin."
Riggs shook his head. "Frag me if I still think that we were followed."
Nightsky looked at him, suggesting that he was worried at that thought. It the team was followed that meant there would be hell to pay.
"I mean I know that were weren't. I stayed off the main highways and took more curves than a two nuyen joygirl. I even changed the look of the van. Shard put up here little spirit thingies to watch that girl and everything." Riggs said. "I still can't shake the feeling."
"Look at it this way, Riggs, If we were followed they would've struck us by now."
Riggs nodded at that.
"Wouldn't they?"
"After five hours I would think so, yeah."
Nightsky held his arms out. "So, then, where are they? You see anyone?"
Riggs looked around. He almost looked nervous, but it passed. "No one here but us eggrolls, huh?"
"Better than the alternative." Nightsky added with a smile.
4:55 am
Shard rested her head against her hand. She hadn't been able to sleep. For that matter, none of them seemed to be able to rest. It seemed that a nervous spirit had drifted into the house and cursed each of the runners with it's own affliction. Shard smiled at this fluttering thought. To think that all of man's problems can be blamed on spirits. It was even stranger to think that less than a sixty years ago man still didn't acknowledge the existence of spirits.
She had pulled a lot of mana during the extraction and hadn't had a chance to completely recover. It showed in her appearance. Her hair was a literal mess now. Her hair was knotted in wild frizzes that would be impossible for her to get out. She had deep lines running on her dimples, a sign of exhaustion for her. Still, Shard pressed on.
Suddenly a small light flickered into existence. The light could've been mistaken for a firefly. Only when it came up close could someone recognize the vague humanoid shape int eh heart of the light.
A sprite? A fairy?
No, Shard's watcher spirit. It's appearance here could only mean one thing.......
Immediately the elf jumped out of her seat and ran into the kitchen where Lenny was talking with Gideon.
"Lenny!" She startled. "We've got trouble!"
5:00 am
At that moment, across the street from the shadowrunners' bolthole, two black GMC hovertrucks silently parked near the ruined skeleton of a building. The lights shut off as silently as the trucks arrived. A few moments later, people stirred. Five men in black-clad uniforms filed out of the hovertrucks. They approached the front door and used a hooligan tool to break the lock. Then they backed off and prepared for entry. Each of them had a patch on the shoulder with a simple phrase.
Mauss Chemicals..........
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