Chapter Three
Normalcy
Tacoma, Seattle
July 12, 2059
12:02 am
"What did you say, Hector?" Lenny blurted into his phone. "You've got to be drekking us."
Anything Hector was about to say was drowned out by Riggs as he sat down on the horn. Traffic had slowed to a standstill around much of the neighborhood. Less than an hour ago Flight 1118 from Tokyo slammed into the Redmond Barrens, leaving a path of debris, fires, and bodies in its wake. The streets became clogged with large sections of the suboribital as well as emergency vehicles.
"Riggs, keep the honking down." Lenny snapped at the dwarf.
"Huh?" Riggs gave a non-concerned shrug. "Oh, right. Sorry, bossman, if my foul language offended yer sensibilities." Riggs scorned, pausing only a moment to yell at another driver.
"Shuttup, Riggs!" Nightsky snapped back. "We're trying to listen to the scanner."
"Hey, frag off!" Riggs snorted. "I'm the one who's driving so the rest of you sobs can kiss my stumpy arse! If I wanna yell at the other drivers than I'm bloody hell going to do it! Now shuttup yerselfs! I got's profanities to utter."
"Quiet!" Lenny hushed everyone with those words. "Go ahead, Hector." Lenny turned his attention back to his phone. "You want us to what? That wasn't the deal. We were hired to bring him in, not go searching for a corpse in the middle of this."
A moment of silence passed. Hector's words could barely be heard by the other people.
"Yes, I know how much Mr. Johnson's paying us."
Riggs began to give unsupportive snorts.
"An extra ten percent? That will cover it." Lenny glanced out the windshield, seeing the slow moving traffic was backed up for miles. In the distance police lights could be seen. "But we're not going to make it down there by road. It's a mess out here. Traffic's clogged with ambulances and fire trucks. I'll wager that it's worse at the crash site. We need an air unit, helicopter preferably. Who have you got on retainer? Eve? She'll do. Mr. Johnson pays expenses." Lenny paused. "Well make him see it this way."
Silent chatter came the back of the Bison.
"Okay. We'll need a pick up. Give me a call once you get a hold of Eve." Lenny folded up his phone suddenly.
"What's happening, Lenny?" Shard asked. "What did Hector say?"
Lenny settled into the passenger seat.
"What did that ole coot want now?" Riggs spat.
"Hector got a call from the Johnson. He knows all about Flight 1118's crash."
"Whoop-de-do." Riggs pointed at the smoldering orange light in the distance. "Hard to miss a ball of fire plummeting past downtown. Hope the Johnson didn't lose any fraggin' sleep when it barreled past his shiny office window."
"The Johnson's still wants David Hague even if he is dead. Mr. Johnson's willing to pay us an extra ten percent for it."
"Heh," Smiley smirked. "More money for bringing back a corpse. Maybe we should always bring back corpses."
"Ten percent?" Cinder mused. "That's over seven thousand nuyen."
"There's more." Lenny continued. "Mr. Johnson wants two things from the crash site. One is David's body. The second, and most important, is a briefcase David had handcuffed to him. If we find the body we should find the briefcase."
"Assuming his arm is still attached to the rest of him." Riggs spat.
"But, Lenny, the suboribital crashed in the barrens." Nightsky said. "There'll be scavenger's and squatters all over the site. By the time we get there it'll be picked clean. There won't be anything left of David much less his briefcase."
"Yeah, I realize that." Lenny lit a cigarette. "Getting to the site quickly is our only chance of recovering Mr. Hague."
"One thing's for bloody sure." Riggs cursed, pointing at the traffic jam. "We're not getting anywhere fast in this drek."
"Thanks to Hector, I've got it covered." Lenny explained. "Eve is being recruited. We're going to use her helicopter to get to the Barrens. We will be able to run some fake signals to get us pass the no fly zone."
"Eve!? Not that overbearing ork! Fer crying out loud she can be so picky."
"If you know of someone better, Riggs, then why don't you call them?"
Riggs quieted down.
"That's what a thought. Wake up people because we've got a job to do. The plan has changed a little, but there's nothing in it that we haven't done before. So get in line."
"Lenny?"
"Yes, Shard?"
"You don't find this at all strange, do you? We were suppose to pick up David Hague at the terminal and now his flight goes down? That is not something that just happens, Lenny."
"Yeah, I'm with Shard on this one, bossman." Riggs spat. "You think this was a coincidence? Hell no! No way this could have just happened. This was set up. Somebody else wants David on their wall. They're going to go after him, Lenny."
"I know." Lenny admitted. "It doesn't feel like this should all be an accident, but we don't have any proof of it being anything else. I don't expect to walk into the Barrens and get David without running into some trouble. We'll be ready."
"Kind of a assume the best and prepare for the worst type of thing, eh, Lenny?" Nightsky thought.
"Something like that." Lenny said. "On the bright side, whatever protection David had died with him when the suborbital plowed into the Barrens."
"Great, bossman. Now all we have to worry about is murdering gangers and flesh eating ghouls."
The Barrens
Redmond, Seattle
July 12, 2059
12:15 am
People dash across the street in a flash of color and moving limbs. They are engulfed in a looting spree as a hellish orange glow settles over this edge of the Barrens. The glow comes from the dozens of maelstrom-like fires that had sprouted up since a suborbital slammed into the ground. The sounds of ambulances and Lone Star cruisers can be heard in the distance.
A cluster of kids run down the street, youthful and happy and without a care in the world. Their laughter comes from the lack of law or anyone else of authority. Not that authority is anything common in the Barrens. All the adults are occupied. Occupied with the disaster that has fallen only a few short miles away.
A molotov cocktail explodes on the street. The children's laughter grows. They race into an alley playing an innocent game of tag. The youngest of the group, a girl named Sand, lead the group, giggling all the way.
Her laughter came to a sudden stop as she hit a man that had appeared out of no where. His features are sharp and well defined like an ancient samurai sword. He stands proudly, not letting the dusty church soil his fine white suit. His hair is a dull blonde, pulled into a ponytail. There is an air of uneasiness about him. Something that feels like a predator.
Sand is a loss for words. As are her friends.
"S-" Sand stutters. "Sorry, mista."
"Sorry?" The man loathes.
A tattoo on Sand's cheek draws his attention. Only a few weeks old. It is small, only barely noticeable on her young features, in the shape of a heart.
The man's hand, strong and boney, snatches Sand by the jaw. He lifts her head up, straining her neck. Terror crosses her face. Utter fear that she has experienced only once before when the Night Hunters came for her. Now, like an old friend, the fear comes to consume her again. The man's eyes, empty and soulless, interrogate her.
"A heart?" His words are nails on a chalkboard. "Where are they?"
Sand forces her words out in a trembling voice. "Where're who?"
"The Blackhearts. Where are they?" More forceful this time. The other children take off in a run, abandoning Sand to her fate. "You know. You carry their mark." A sharp finger nail scratched at the tattoo.
"I-I don't-"
"Tell me where they are!"
Fear gripped Sand's soul. A trembling finger lifted into the air. She pointed it towards a small storefront. Abandoned and emptied for years.
"There?"
Tart nodded her head as much as she could in the man's iron grip.
A smile crosses the man's face. An evil, unnatural smile. He walked in stride, dragging Sand along behind him. His boots make a clicking sound as he crosses the street. The street lamps give his features a ghostly glow. Sand struggles, but to no avail. The strength behind the man's grip is uncanny.
The man pressed Sand's face against the cold, steel door. The hard surface made grimy smudges on her cheek.
"Here?"
Sand grunted, slowly nodding her head. "They won't let you in. You not one of us."
The man's hand slammed into the steel door, forcing a dent into its surface. Another impact loosened the screws holding the door in place. A third and a fourth blow sent a ringing through Sand's ears. A fifth jarred the screws loose. The door creaked open.
Shock filled Sand's eyes. "Wha-?"
The man tore the loosened door out of his way.
"What are you?"
The man grins, showing teeth for the first time. An elongated canine slips over his lower lip. "I am you're destiny. You are my pawn."
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