Chapter Fourteen
Apparent Truth
Boise Safehouse
Auburn, Seattle
April 19, 2059
2:20 pm
"Mr. Frost, I have Abigail." Lenny spoke into his phone. He was sitting in the back of the Bison. Riggs had the van's array of electronics activated. With a little help he had managed to hook Lenny's phone up to an encryption system. The system would make it harder for his call to be traced.
"You do?" Gabriel sounded a little surprised. "That is excellent."
Lenny shook his head. "We need to arrange a meet. Abigail needs to be returned to her family."
"Her family?" Gabriel gave a blank look. Like he did not understand what Lenny was talking about. It only last a moment. "Oh, yes, of course. Abigail's mother is very worried about her."
"Someplace public." Lenny continued. "The Auburn Mall."
"I'm sorry, but that is not possible. It would be best for my employer if Abigail did not come into the public eye." Gabriel said firmly. "A candid photo could start all sorts of rumors in the press. A more private meeting is in order."
Lenny leaned forward. "What did you have in mind?" He did want to have the exchange take place in a secluded spot. Public places offered a lot. The least of which was a vast number of escape avenues. Lenny had done his share of private meets. In a private meet the odds of an ambush were doubled. Lenny could be walking into a trap and not even know it until it was too late. Years of being in the shadows bred a cautious mind.
"Pier ninety-one in Tacoma. It is a quiet little spot that will ensure the exchange goes as quietly as possible."
Lenny did not know the Pier personally, but he did know the rumor of the docks. Those in parts of Tacoma were known for shady dealings. Most of them were deserted when ships were not in.
"That is a little secluded, don't you think?"
"Yes, it is. That is why I favor it."
Lenny shook his head. "Would you consider an exchange in front of the Omnidome in downtown?"
"Absolutely not. The close proximity of Lone Star and corporate security make such a meet very risky." Gabriel replied. "Pier ninety-one."
Lenny nodded. "Pier ninety-one it is. Since you have set the location, I will set the time." Lenny may have to meet at the docks, but he was going to do it on his terms. "Six thirty tomorrow morning."
"Tomorrow morning?" Gabriel flinched.
"Either that, or a meet this afternoon at Auburn Mall. Those are my conditions."
Gabriel groaned. "Tomorrow morning, then." Gabriel hanged up.
Lenny folded his phone down. As he put it in his coat pocket Riggs stuck his head up from behind the driver's seat.
"Now we can get rid of cold, hard and intolerable?" Riggs said with no degree of excitement.
"Give the girl a break, Riggs. She's been through a lot." Lenny replied. "Did they try to run a trace?"
Riggs shrugged. "Not that I could tell. This sort of thing is really not my cup of java."
"I would have gotten Tart to do it, but she is still in the Matrix." Lenny got to his feet. "I didn't want to yank her jack out. I heard that it can cause dumpshock to a decker."
Riggs nodded. "That it can, bossman. Same thing goes for these little guys." The rigger held up a fistful of datacords that were part of his Vehicle Control Rig. "If these get pulled out suddenly I'm liable to have a splitting headache that would take a bucket of Tylenol to cure."
Lenny walked out the back of the van. "You might want to get some sleep and something to eat, Riggs. We've got a meet at sunrise."
"Don't worry about me, bossman, I've got it all covered." Riggs replied.
Lenny stepped into the garage where Gideon was working on some equipment. The ork had been listening to the conversation that Lenny had with Gabriel Frost. During the call Riggs had pumped the signal through the Bison's speakers so the ork could hear. On the table in front of Gideon was a complicated gyro-mount system. It had been broken down. Gideon was in the process of replacing the servos. The mount was a piece of second hand equipment that Hector had come across. There were a few problems with it, but Gideon was working them out. Riggs had supplied a light machine gun to mount on the gyros once they were functioning again.
"So, Lenny." Gideon said. "You like the female or the male Johnsons better?"
Lenny shrugged. "I don't know, Gid. Something about a female in a suit that makes you think better, though."
Gideon grunted.
Lenny leaned against the table. He pulled his own Predator II out of its holster and proceeded to disassemble it. "What do you think about the meet at the Pier?"
"I don't like it very much. A classic situation for an ambush. Nobody around, lot of space."
Lenny cleaned the receiver of the pistol's action. "I set the meet for tomorrow morning. I thought it would give us some excess time to scout the area. Maybe set up a little insurance of our own. I wish we had Shard with us, but she's still in the hospital. I called her earlier. The doctors want to keep her for a few more days."
"Did you catch what the girl said when I took her back to her room?" Gideon asked. "The part about her parents being dead?"
Lenny nodded his head. "Yeah, I thought about that when I went back to bed. Then I remembered what Gabriel said at the meet when he first took this run. He said that it was possible that Abigail had been doing some drugs. With that in mind, she might say anything. Gabriel told us that she was never really close to her parents. Maybe saying that he parents were dead was a way she was expressing it."
"Need to ride down to the Pier today." Gideon said. "Get a lay of the land."
"Riggs can take us." Lenny replied. "My car's busted."
"Null presp, chummer." Gideon reassemble the gryo-mount. "Just let me get a few things together."
Seattle Hilton
Downtown, Seattle
2:50 pm
"They have her? They've found Abigail?"
Gabriel nodded respectfully to his boss. "That's right, Mr. Wesson. I got the call a little while ago. Arrangements have been made to pick up Abigail Starlight early in the morning."
"Well now." Mr. Wesson thumbed his beard. "These shadowrunners are more resourceful than your men, Gabriel. I hope you don't find that insulting."
Gabriel shook his head. "They know the area, Mr. Wesson. It's their home ground. This is not Washington."
"No, it is not Washington."
"My men will pick up Abigail tomorrow. By noon we will convince her to give us the tape. Once it has been destroyed we can put Abigail to bed."
"I like the way you think, Frost. That is why I hired you. By getting rid of the tape and Abby there is no one left to tell the story." Mr. Wesson poured himself a class of wine. "No one except for those who found her, that is."
Gabriel lifted his head. "Sir?"
"The shadowrunners, Frost. They are the only ones who know about her."
"Not to worry. I told them a different story. They think they are returning Abigail to her parents."
Mr. Wesson chuckled. "Small chance of that. Abigail's parents are long gone."
"Yes, but the shadowrunners don't know that."
"Really, Frost, do you take them for complete fools?" Mr. Wesson sipped at his glass of wine. "Those shadowrunners managed to located Abigail Starlight in less than twenty-four hours. That's something that you're men couldn't do it two days. Wether it was luck or not, I don't care."
"Sir, what are you saying?"
"What I'm saying is simple. If those people managed to find Abigail I would not put it beyond them to find out everything else about her. Including the fact that her parents are dead. They may have been able to deduce my involvement as well."
"I see, Mr. Wesson. What would you like me to do about this situation?"
"Tell me, Forst, how much of my money are we paying them?"
"About forty thousand nuyen."
"Then save me some money, Frost. Once you have Abigail, eliminate the shadowrunners."
Boise Safehouse
Auburn, Seattle
3:00 pm
Tart's hand stripped the cord from her datajack. She fell back onto the couch with a splitting headache. Her hands went to either temple, trying to contain the pain. The room spun violently in her eyes. For a moment she felt like she wanted to throw up. Blood as trickling from her nose.
She pushed the cyberdeck off her lap and got up, but the spinning room made her drop to her knees. Pain raked every pore of her head. It felt like somebody held her in a industrial press. Carefully she got to her wobbly feet. Tart made it halfway across the lounge before she feel again. She hurt to much to get up.
She took a deep breath and filled her lungs, calling out with all the force she could muster.
"LENNY!"
It was by far the loudest word that had ever come out of her mouth.
Nothing happened at first. Then the lounge door that Tart had closed for privacy burst open. It flew open like someone had hit it with a battering ram. Instead of Lenny rushing into the room, it was Smiley. The samurai had the same grin on his face as he always had. The Manhunter with the external smartlink was in his hand. Razors were sticking out of his other hand. He scanned the room for any hostile threats before moving towards Tart. She was still laying in the middle of the floor.
"What's wrong? Why did you scream?" Smiley's voice contained something that Tart had never head before. It was almost like concern, but it was missing something. He did not touch her. From either fear of harming her or because Smiley wasn't the emotional type. It was hard to say.
"I need to talk to Lenny." Tart was almost in tears.
"He left with Riggs and Gideon." Smiley answered. "They went to go check out the meet site."
Tart's eyes went wide. "He has already made the meeting?"
Nightsky came to the door. He looked alarm, but ready for action. Smiley's attention focused on Nightsky for a moment.
"Get back and watch the slitch. If she busts out again Lenny's going to give birth to a live cow." Smiley sneered.
"Everything fine here?" Nightsky said out of concern.
"I'm okay." Tart answered. "I need to talk to Lenny."
"What happened?"
"It's about Abigail." Tart curled up on her legs. Her headache had eased a little. "She's not who Mr. Frost said she was."
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