Chapter 2
Do It With a Smile
Ramada Inn
Auburn, Seattle
11:48 pm
Smiley never had been one for plans. In fact, he hardly ever thought anything out. He was direct and blunt by nature, disliking anything less. This fact presented him with a unique problem. One that he wasn't prepared to solve. He had to find which room David Gill was in.
Since the Ramada was hardly a high security motel, he wasn't too worried about any threat from the locals. As he entered the lobby he noticed that there were three guards. Each of them seemed to stare at him like he didn't belong. That was probably true, he didn't belong here. As he made his way to the front desk he noticed a few of the guards shifted quietly. They were spread out in the lobby. One by the front door, one across from the front desk, and one by the rear exit that lead to the rooms and a pool.
The lobby itself was decently decorated. A number of couches and chairs made up a small lounge. The tile floor was covered by a thick rug and polite "No-Smoking" signs were scattered about. All of it seemed to show the motel's rather cost-effective prices. A nice place to stay without paying all the price. Too bad the neighborhood couldn't be better.
Behind the front desk a young clerk watched Smiley approach. She was no more than twenty-two and about a foot shorter than the samurai. Her red hair made him think of someone for a moment, but he dismissed the thought like a bad habit.
"Can I help you, sir?" She asked in a passively innocent voice.
Smiley plastered his grin on his face and glared at her. It probably made her nervous, but Smiley didn't care. He was on a job and he was here for what to him was a good reason. He was here to keep himself from being bored. "Has a David Gill checked into the hotel yet?" He asked.
"One second, sir." The girls voice sounded shaky, unsure of what Smiley wanted. She typed a few keys on a computer that was built into the desk..
Smiley looked at her name-tag. "Nice perfume, Connie." He complimented, trying to sound friendly. Connie glanced casually at him, then back at her screen.
"Sir, Mr. Gill checked in this afternoon at two."
"Could you have him come to the lobby, please?" Smiley asked. "I'm afraid I have some bad news for him about his job interview. Please, it's important." He knew that she would never give out David's room number, so he had to have another way to get to him.
"Sir," She hesitated. "I'm sure that he's asleep. Could this wait till some other time?"
Smiley shook his head. "No, no. I must tell him in person. He'll want to know as soon as possible."
"Well, Sir, would you like me to ring him?"
Smiley was about to say no, but he stopped short. "Yes, please." He replied.
Connie picked up the phone on her desk and punched in the number. Smiley leaned against the desk as she pushed the button on the phone. Connie handed the receiver to Smiley who took it and nodded his thanks to her. When David answered the phone, he breathed hello in a tired voice.
Smiley was unsure what to say next. He didn't really need to talk to him, but he did need Connie to dial in the number. He remembered that Weezer said that David was looking for a new job. So he played on that fact. "David Gill? Congratulations on having a job with us." He said quickly. He chose his words carefully, not knowing if the he already got the job or not. Smiley hung up the phone quickly enough to cutoff anything that David was about to say in return. He grinned at Connie as he returned the receiver to her. "Thank you, Connie."
She tended to shy away from his eyes.
Smiley started to head out the front door, then he turned around. "Excuse me, Connie, do you have a drink machine here?"
"Yes, sir." Connie replied, pointing out the large glass doors that lead to the rooms. "Just down the hallway and to your right."
Smiley nodded back at her and went through the glass doors. The guards seemed to watch him as he passed. Yet he could care less what they did. Smiley remembered the numbers that Connie punched in. He picked out the last four numbers as Gill's room number, 1023. Fortunately that was on the first floor. He headed down the hallway, past the drink machines, at a brisk walk. His feet stamping on the plush carpet and leaving deep tracks. His movements were fluid as his wires revved him up, anticipating the action they were about to see. He counted off the rooms, anxiously making his way to number twenty-three. With each step the grin on his lips grew wider. When he past number twenty he pulled a Predator II from his coat, not bothering to attach silencer. He kept it low in his hand. When he came up outside the right door, he tapped the butt of the pistol against the hard metal.
"Who is it?" A tired voice replied.
Smiley cleared his voice and spoke with a high pitch. "Housekeeping, I have you towels."
"But I didn't ask for any."
"But, hum, sir you asked for towel, yes?" Smiley continued, speaking in a woman-like voice with a bit of a foreign accent.
"No thank you."
"But towel you order, why you order towel if you don't want?"
"I didn't order them." The voice sounding more annoyed by the minute. This was good to Smiley.
"But this room 2-3, yes? You order towel, yes. Take please."
There was a loud groan from inside followed by the sound of somebody crashing around. Smiley pulled himself away from the peephole and waited calmly. He head footsteps come up behind the door. Then the door creaked open.
"I told you I didn't order--"
"Towels?" Smiley said in his natural voice as he pushed the door open and planted the butt of the pistol against the man's face. A loud crunch followed as the metal slammed into his nose causing bits of blood and bone to splatter Smiley's hand. The man stumbled and fell to the floor.
"Oh, my god!" He screamed, his hand holding his ruined nose.
"Not quite." Smiley sneered as he leveled his Predator at the man's throat. Smiley's smartlink came online and lite up a bright red triangle over his target's windpipe. He pulled the trigger twice. The explosive round nearly took his head off, making a puddle of blood and gore that soak into the carpet. David's eyes immediately froze. The second round blasted the vertebrae into, making for a light crunching sound as blood and spinal fluid oozed from the gaping wound.
Smiley lowered his weapon. Hmm..it was proof that Pisser wanted. Smiley grinned sinisterly and popped his spurs from their housing. It took some work, but he managed to carve off the slots head from the ruined neck. Blood by now had made deep stains in the carpet and was splattered over the trid. Smiley held up the head to his eye level.
"I guess this counts as proof." He said to himself as he removed an ice bucket from the top of the trid and dropped the head into it.
"Freeze!" A voice screamed. "Stop or I'll shoot!"
Smiley was about to turn when the loud report of a firearm sang from down the hall. A bullet smashed a small lamp on the wall, spraying sparks from the shattered lightbulb. A second bullet clipped Smiley's long coat and grazed the back of his leg.
Smiley hardly noticed that he had been hit. He dropped the ice bucket with the head inside and rearranged himself in the doorway, bringing his Predator up to two guards that had been in the lobby. They were both a little over ten meters down the hall. One was running up to meet him while another had crouched in the doorframe of a room. His Predator lite up a triangle on the guard by the doorframe.
The guard running toward him covered the distance in less time that it took to spit, firing two rounds from his Max-Power. One round misfired completely and bounced off a door while the second smashed into the doorframe behind the crazed samurai. The second guard by the door stopped shooting, probably to avoid hitting his partner. He two made a cautious approach down the side of the hall. He pressed himself up against the wall, trying to get a better shot.
Smiley switched his aim and centered his targeting triangle on the guard that had ran right into his arms. He pulled back the trigger, the heavy auto thumping in his grip. A hole appeared dead center of the guard's chest, blowing him backwards. However, instead of switching targets, Smiley snapped off another round into the crippled guard. This time the back of the guard's head exploded, splattering blood and grey matter all over the walls. He hit the floor with a meaty sound, like ground beef being thrown against a steel mesh.
"You son of a bitch!" The second guard screamed in protest. By this time Smiley was giggling insanely. He guard's handgun fired once after he had carefully aligned his shot. The bullet smacked Smiley's right leg, tearing into the meat and forcing a generous dose of blood out of the wound.
Again, Smiley hardly noticed that he had been shot. He started unloading his gun into the guard, laughing like a madman even though his leg had been dealt a serious blow. One round blew out the guard's eye, leaving the body twitching on the floor. Another round blew a chunk out of the the shoulder, leaving him a blood mess.
"Stupid fucker." Smiley cursed as he limped back into the room and retrieved the head of David Gill. He ambled his was to the lobby with a casual grace. People opened up their hotel room doors to see what had caused all the commotion. However, they closed them quickly after they saw two dead bodies and a bleeding man caring a severed head in one hand and giggling madly.
When Smiley pushed the lobby door opened, three guards were scattered about. One was the front desk talking frantically to Connie while two others where only a short distance away and arguing between themselves. Smiley caught enough of their conversation to determine that they were discussing who should go and check on the other two guards that Smiley had just flatlined. The guard next to Connie was almost screaming.
"Connie, how long did they say? 911 is suppose to work faster than that, get Lone Star down here!" He blurted.
Smiley felt his vision haze over in red. His body flew into a natural rhythm, kicking in the wires and bringing the smartlink online as he pushed through the door and leveled his Predator at the two arguing guards. They looked at him with astonished faces just before his firearm barked fire. One guard dropped like a rock, the explosive round tearing a whole in his gut. Smiley's second shot went wide, smashing the glass on the front door.
"Holy shit!" The guard near Connie's desk screamed.
Smiley was a blur, his reflexes kicking into overdrive. He dropped and made a short roll before popping up and snapping off a round, cutting the second guard down and putting a couch between himself and the guard by Connie's booth.
Connie screamed her head off.
"Get down girl." The guard shoved as he pointed his gun at Smiley and opened fire before diving cover cover behind a chair.
A bullet flattened out against Smiley's armored coat. He tracked the guard with cold efficiently before unloading his Predator. He squeezed the trigger as fast his wires would allow. The guard stuggled, then blood bursted from his body and he dropped to the ground after Smiley had all but emptied the last of his clip on him. The explosive rounds that Smiley packed turned him into an unrecognizable smear on the tile floor.
Smiley laughed loudly at his actions, proud of himself. He pulled the clip out of his pistol and found that he still had a round left. "Heh, one last bugger left in there." He glanced around the lobby as he chambered the round.
Connie peaked over her desk, but quickly ducked back down when Smiley caught her eye. A whimpered scream followed as Smiley approached, but he stopped short of the desk. Connie was screaming her head off. Though the high pitch was annoying, Smiley found it confusing. He couldn't comprehend why she was so afraid. Had she seen a mouse? Had she seen a spider? Smiley couldn't figure it out. His mind didn't wrap around the fact that he had probably just killed five people and was bleeding from his leg. Not to mention the decapitated head in the ice bucket that he carried under his arm.
Smiley shrugged and moved toward the front door, reloading his pistol and dropping the empty clip on the floor.
Yarrow Point Neighborhood
Bellevue, Seattle
March 17, 2059
12:50 am
Wonderful, Sharon thought to herself as she unlocked the door to her condo, a marvelous night of club hopping without a single thing going wrong. No spilled drinks, no stupid words, not even a bad song. Wonderful!
She stood in her doorway and took deep breath, smelling the fresh, cool air that filled her home. She was convinced that there wasn't a thing in the world that could ruin her mood right now. Everything was perfect and there was nothing to worry about. She had spent the entire night out on the town, roaming from run club to another. From Dante's Inferno to the Rubber Suit. She had dressed in a fashionable dress, gloriously decorated with sparkling jewels and a deep green in color. Strapless and absolutely beautiful in her opinion.
"Nice dress, Shard. I specially like the color, it brings out your eyes." A voice rumbled from the shadows behind the door.
Sharon spun around to see the eccentric samurai standing in quiet awe of her. "Smiley?!" She blurted, the samurai gave slight bow. "What are you doing here?"
Smiley grinned. "At first I thought about offering to take you to Plaza, but it's closed at this hour." He still held the ice bucket underneath his left arm. The sleeve of his coat was stained red.
"How did you get in?"
He pointed at the door. "Front door, how else? You think I sprouted wings and flew up here?"
Shard shook her head. "Never mind, I don't want to know. It's been a long night and all I want to do is crawl in the bed. So, is you please?"
"I been busy tonight too, Shard. I'm a big one for clubs too." He grinned wildly, limping a little as he approached her.
For the first time she noticed that he was bleeding at the leg. A gaping wound was easily visible. "Smiley, what have you been doing? You've been shot."
Smiley looked at his leg. "Dog took a bite out of me."
"Come here." She motioned, leading Smiley to a couch. "Let me see if I can find my medkit."
Smiley sat down on the couch and lifted his leg up and laid it carefully across the cushion. He sit the ice bucket on a small table next to him. "I was kind of hoping you could wave your fingers in the air and say a few words of mojo to make it all better."
"Smiley, it's not that easy." Shard replied after she came out of the bathroom with a medkit. "Specially not with you."
"Maybe you could just kiss it and make it better then?" He grinned, intending it as a joke and not being serious.
Shard frowned at him. "Well, when you put it that way." She glanced over her should. "Wait here." She added and disappeared into her bedroom.
"Yes, nurse." Smiley said as he picked up the ice bucket. The slots head he'd stuffed in there was starting to show a little, so he pushed it down as far as it would go. Still, blood oozed from the top. Maybe he should've gotten a plastic bag?
Shard came back in a few minutes as Smiley replaced the bucket on the table. She was holding something in her hand.
"Okay, hold still, Smiley." She knelt next to his leg. "I mean it."
"Yes, nurse." He replied.
Shard unfolded her hand, revealing a small packet of herbs. She quietly spread them over the wound, both side seeing as how the bullet passed right through. She started to chant, muttering words that Smiley couldn't understand. Her face tightened up as her hands grew in a warm light. She touched his wound and it immediately started knitting itself back together. Muscles reattached, cells regenerated, blood vessels strengthened, the wound was healing.
"O grand Appafus," Shard chanted, "bring your healing power to his man. Grant him your strength and cure his broken body. Give him the warmth of life and the treasure of soul, great one." She continued for a few more moments, but the spell was having difficulty. The metal in Smiley's bones was causing problems as was the artificial muscles. The wound was left partially open and it looked very painful. Smiley didn't seem to notice.
Shard dropped the spell, looking a little drained from the ordeal. "That's the best I can do, Smiley. You almost waited too long to see me."
Smiley looked at his wound as Shard fumbled in her medkit.
"This will help a little more. How did you get this?"
"Told you, a dog bite me."
"A dog with jacket metal teeth?"
Smiley nodded. "You know him?"
"No, Smiley." She dismissed as the medkit started dispensing drugs and painkillers. Not the Smiley acted like he needed them. Shard was able to construct a decent bandage for the wound before she noticed the ice bucket sitting on the table. "What's that?"
"Proof." Smiley replied.
Shard thought a second, and started to reach for the top. Smiley's hand shot out in a blinding flash and stopped her before she could pull it off.
"I wouldn't do that, Shard. It's a secret and all."
He held her arm for a second longer before letting go. Shard didn't know how to take it, but she knew that whatever Smiley got himself involved in wasn't something that she wanted any part of. Smiley picked up the bucket and held it in his arms. The samurai was dangerous and unpredictable at the best of times. No sense in making it worse.
"Well, that's the best I can do with your leg. Perhaps if you weren't so....artificial, I could've done more."
"I'm happy with the thought, Shard." Smiley said as he stood up. "It feels better than having it bleed on your floor. Sorry about that stain, by the way."
"It's okay, Smiley, I can fix that."
"Goodie, cause I got a delivery to a pisser to make."
"Pisser?" She wondered as Smiley headed for the door.
"Yeah," Smiley said back to her. "A pisser."
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