Chapter Ten
Strange Behavior
Loveland
Puyallup, Seattle
April 18, 2059
11:00 pm
The door swung open slowly. Too slowly in Lenny's eyes. Thermographic imaging did not pick up any trace of heat, but that was no reason not to be careful. Gideon stepped through the open door. The Crusader machine pistol in his hands was like a piece of black death. EX Explosive rounds made it capable of blowing a man's head off. Gideon was well versed in using his it as well.
Lenny stood by the doorway guarding the ork's back. Only when Gideon made sure that the apartment was empty did Lenny let his grip loosen on his Predator II.
"It's clear." Lenny spoke into his commlink.
"All that looking for nothing." Riggs cursed. It had taken the better part of an hour to find Abigail Starlight's apartment. Riggs happily released a mouthful of complaints when the apartment turned out to be empty.
Smiley mumbled something into the commlink, but it was hard to make out. The samurai was watching the main floor of the flop house. Nightsky was watching the back alley. The Bison was parked across the street where Riggs was holding an ice-pack on his head.
"This place is a wreck. Somebody was here before us." Gideon observed. Clothes and what little furniture present had been scattered everywhere.
"I'd say that somebody was looking for something." Lenny remarked as he walked around. "I wonder what Abby could have that would be so valuable."
"How you know they were looking for something?"
Lenny pointed to the door. "The door's been forced open by somebody with superior strength. You check out the dent on the door? Looks like it was hit by a battering ram. That's no thief's work. A thief would pick the lock or get in through the window." Lenny motioned at the floor. He pointed at a white shirt that was near the door. "Look there. Do you see anything."
"An old shirt."
"Look closer." Lenny picked up the shirt. "There's more than one kind of footprint here. Some are flat like this one." Lenny pointed at a smooth, gray mark. "That comes from an expensive shoe. That print probably belongs to the guy that broke the door down. Then you have these other prints that look like they were made by bare feet or old shoes." Lenny motioned at a few specific examples. "These were made by squatters. They probably happen to walk by and see an open door. Naturally they're going to come in and see what's for the taking."
"Which means?"
"Whoever knocked the door down wasn't looking for money or jewels." Lenny explained.
"what were they after?"
Lenny shrugged, tossing the shirt on the floor. "I don't know."
Gideon huffed at that. "Think they found what they were looking for?"
"Who can say?" Lenny replied as he wondered into the bathroom.
Gideon followed Lenny. The ork was watching him more than he was paying attention to the apartment.
"Although, it does not look like that Abigail owned a lot of things." Lenny said, mainly to himself as he noticed that Gideon wasn't really paying attention. He continued to fumble through some of the lesser items that were scattered on the floor. Most of it was junk. Keepsakes from another lifetime.
"Where do we go from here?"
"I'm not sure......." Lenny replied as he picked up a card from the floor. ".......yet."
"What've you got there?"
The card was small and it looked like it had been through a rough life. The corners of the plastic were well rounded. It also looked like it had been folded at one time. The front advertised the Spirit Focus. Nothing more than a business card advertising the club. However, Lenny found something more interesting scribbled on the back.
"What's it say?"
"Kray: 56-3369." Lenny answered. "Looks like Abby's got a friend."
"Who's Kray?"
"That's what we're going to find out." Lenny put the card in his coat pocket. He dug out his flip-phone and punched in the number of the Boise Safehouse. After three rings, the answering machine on the telecom kicked in. The line to the safehouse was a private number. Which meant that it took some serious searching to find it. The line also had an encryption system. With this in mind Lenny wasn't too worried about what he said. He left a message for Tart to run a trace on the telecom number he had found.
In the back of his mind he wondered why Tart didn't answer, but he concluded that she was probably in the Matrix. She would get the message soon enough.
"I don't know about you, Lenny, but my stomach tells me that it wants some attention." Gideon grumbled, putting his weapon away.
"Did someone mention food?" Riggs said through the commlink. "I'm all for food! I saw a Waffle Hut earlier."
Lenny checked the time. "Might as well. Call up Smiley and 'Sky, tell them we're leaving."
Puyallup Proper
Puyallup, Seattle
11:30 am
Answer the door Kray, Abigail kept repeating to herself as he fist pounded on the door. Come on, please? I take back every bad thing that I ever said about you if you'll just answer the door!
The heavy steel door soon put a bruise on her hand. After that Abby resorted to kicking it with her foot.
"Who is it?" A voice demanded from the other side.
"It's me, Kray." Abigail glanced nervously around the alley. "Let me in."
"Who's me?"
"It's Abby, who do you think would be pounding on your door in the middle of the night?" It did not take much to get her flustered. The Seattle night was chilly. The fact that Abby wasn't dressed for a night in the cold made her more irritable.
There was shuffling from behind the door. One of the many locks was undone. Another followed. The first two locks sounded like old fashioned mechanical ones. Then the high-tech keypad was decoded before the door opened.
"Abby?" Kray, a human in his mid-twenties with a scrappy beard and greasy hair, peered at Abby. She was shivering from the cold. "What are you doing out there? Don't you know it's cold at this time of night?"
Abby frowned at him. "Of course I know that!" She snapped as she forced her way past Kray.
"Make yourself at home." Kray said sarcastically as he closed the door. It took him a few minutes to reset the locks.
Abby went straight for the electric heater. She curled up and sighed happily, letting the heat thaw her freezing fingers.
Kray ran a hand through his hair. "Mind if I ask why you're here?"
"I'll let you know as soon as my rump gets warm." Abby's teeth chattered.
Kray sighed, that could take a while. After a good stretch he headed into the kitchen. "I'll see if I have any soycaf left."
"Good idea." Abby huffed. "While you are there try and figure out why I ever wanted to borrow your video camera."
At first the question had caught him off guard. A few days ago Abigail had shown up at his doorstep. She wanted to borrow his video camera that night. Kray let her, not knowing what she wanted it for. Oh, he had a few guesses, but thought it best to keep it to himself.
"Well, the next time I get a bright idea, please stop me before I do it."
"Whatever you say." Kray came back with two cups. One he handed to Abby who drank it like it was the only thing she had all day. "I never knew what you needed it for in the first place."
"I didn't know what I was doing either. I can't believe what I was thinking." Abby pulled her knees to her chest and rested her head on her arms.
To Kray's credit, he didn't pursue his curiosity. The way he figured it, Abby would tell him anything she wanted him to know.
"Can I stay here tonight?" She asked quietly.
"Stay here?"
"Just for tonight, Kray. I don't want to go back home. Somebody broke into my place. I can't go back there." She pleaded.
"Okay, Abby, but just for tonight."
"Thanks Kray."
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