Chapter Twenty-Two
Window to the Soul
Bellevue Central DocWagon Hospital
Bellevue, Seattle
April 21, 2059
6:00 pm
The beeping in the sterile hospital room fell into time with the heaving respirator. The room is dark. The window is closed and its blinds shut. If it had curtains they would be drawn. The only light comes the medical equipment working hastily to repair the damage inflicted to the human body. Footsteps echoed down the hallway. Patients and doctors going about their business. All of them oblivious to the patient in the room.
The door opened, allowing brilliant light to flood the room. The light was gone just as quickly as it came. The nurse shut the door as she walked in. The nurse went to the patient's IV and checked it. She moved methodically through the rest of the equipment. It had become a generic task for her for this was only the hundredth time she had done this tonight.
The door opened again.
"Well, nurse, how is the patient this evening?" The doctor said as eh entered with file in hand. "Has his condition improved any since his arrival in the ER?"
"His condition has improved somewhat. However he lost an extensive amount of blood before the response team was able to retrieve him."
The doctor stood at the foot of the bed. "He's lucky to be alive."
"Yes doctor." The nurse agreed.
"We'll let him rest." The doctor said, leading the nurse out.
As the door closed the heartbeat monitor gave an awkward beat. Slowly the patient's eyes began to open. Blood streamed from a bruised lip as he tried to voice words out of his mouth. Sadly, only a few words escaped. They came out in a whimper instead of a scream.
"...........Lenny.......I won't forget this...." Gabriel Frost cursed. "....I'll see you in hell."
Des Moines
Tacoma, Seattle
April 21, 2059
7:20 pm
Nightsky sat on top of a metal work bench. The group was staying in an old building that Riggs had refurbished. It use to be an auto-body shop. Now Riggs used it as his home. It was the perfect place for the rigger. It was greasy, musty, and filled with equipment. At the same time it was cold and had a leaky roof. Riggs liked it chilly. He kept the temperature at a constant sixty degrees. As for the roof, Riggs did not care so long as no water leaked into the garage. It was home sweet home to the dwarf.
"Let me get this straight." Nightsky said from his perch. He looked tired, but he tried not to show it. The business of the past few days was starting to take its toll. "We are suppose to break into a Lone Star impound yard and steal Free Air's transmitters so they can put that tape on the air waves?"
"That's the idea." Lenny replied as he looked over the inventory list for the warehouse.
"Or so says the fearless leader." Smiley and Lenny exchanged glances. The eccentric samurai grinned happily. Apparently he had been getting too much soycaf.
"I thought we didn't take charity jobs?" Nightsky would have said something to Gideon about it, but the ork was not around.
"Things change." Lenny said without a second thought.
Nightsky hopped to his feet. "What's that?" He pointed to the printout that Lenny had been reading.
"It's an inventory list." Lenny explained. "Lone Star impounds a lot more than pirate broadcaster's transmitters."
"Like what?" Nightsky snatched the list from Lenny's hands. He read through it with interest.
"Am I missing something, Lenny?" Riggs groaned as he stuffed his face with pastry cakes. "Just what are we suppose to do tonight?"
"You mean you don't know?" Smiley sneered. "I thought that dwarf's were suppose to be smart?"
"Stow it, Smiley." Riggs spat. "I didn't ask for your opinion. When I want you opinion I'll give it to you." The dwarf snorted, brushing off crumbs of cake from his beard. "I know exactly what we're doing. We're breaking into a Lone Star impound yard-"
"Warehouse." Lenny corrected.
"Whatever." Riggs gripped. "All I know is that we're breaking into it."
"That's it, Riggs?" Lenny asked. He wasn't really looking at the rigger. Nor was he really paying attention to him. The majority of Lenny's attention had been diverted to cleaning his firearm.
"That's what I thought." Riggs replied. "Don't tell me I'm wrong."
"No, not wrong." Lenny said. "But you left some stuff out."
"What's that?"
"We take out security." Lenny reminded. "Then Glitch can bring in Free Air's truck to move their equipment away."
"Oh, yeah." Riggs chuckled. "I knew that part."
Nightsky looked over the list again. Lenny was right. There was a lot more in the warehouse than just the transmitter. Lone Star had impounded all sorts of things. Everything from weapons and ammunition to chip recorders. A few items on the list caught Nightsky's attention.
"Lone Star does have quite a collection, Lenny." Nightsky said quietly. "I wonder if they would miss any of it?"
10:20 pm
Lenny rubbed his eyes. The few hours of sleep he managed to steal away did not help as much as he would have liked. The past few days were starting to take their toll.
He leaned against the doorframe with a weary sigh. The old composite plastic creaked under his weight. He fumbled out a bottle of pills from his coat pocket. They were not narcotics even though the pills could be habit forming. Lenny unscrewed the cap and took two of them. With a sharp gulp he forced them down his throat. In the back of his mind he hoped that they would keep him alert for the next few hours. Lenny would have to rely a stimpatch after that.
"Ahem?" A sharp voice screeched.
Lenny glanced to his left. Abigail was sitting in the room across from him. She had a sad look on her face. Her hair had gotten greasy from not being washed. It now fell into her eyes and caused Abigail endless amounts of discomfort.
"I didn't know shadowrunners were drug users too."
Lenny smirked a little at that. Idly, he fumbled with the bottle of pills in his hand. "Not drugs, girl. Stim pills to keep me alert."
Abigail looked doubtfully at him.
"It's better than relying on wires to keep me active." Lenny said, shifting his arm a little. He had been shot when the meet had gone bad with Gabriel at the Pier. Lenny's wound was not as sore as it had been before, but it got worse depending on how he moved. "Otherwise I'd probably end up doing something I don't want to."
Abigail now regarded him with a blank face. Nothing of what he said made any sense to her.
Lenny shook his head. "The trids don't show that, do they?"
"Show what?"
"That wired reflexes can have its disadvantages?"
"What do you mean?"
"Never mind." Lenny turned away. "It's something that you will never have to worry about." For a moment he considered what the team was doing this night. It wasn't the glory seeking adventure nor was it the cinematic encounters that were to follow. This was grunt work, the nitty-gritty of shadowrunning.
"Than what do I have to worry about?" Abigail caught Lenny before he could leave.
"You don't have to worry about anything, Abigail. The only thing that you have to do is be brave. Brave enough to get on the air and tell your story. Leave the rest to us."
"Excuse me, Lenny." Shard called from down the hallway.
Lenny met her gaze with one of his own. He ignored Abigail for the moment. Abby was a little curious about Shard. Shard was the only shadowrunner who was not hired by Gabriel in the beginning. That made her unique in Abigail's eyes.
"I'm coming." Lenny gave a slight not at Abigail before following Shard into a room that he used to sleep in.
Lenny closed the door behind him. "What's on your mind, girl?"
"I just want to say thank you."
He grinned. "For the lunch I brought you a few days ago?"
Shard afford a little giggle at that. "That too." She smiled warmly, lighting up her brilliant green eyes. "But for what you're doing. Not many people in your position would go through with this. You've put this girl's needs ahead of your own."
"I am just trying to do what's right." Lenny added. "For a change."
"I know and that's what worries me."
"Worries you?"
"Yes." Shard sat on a small chair in the corner of the otherwise barren room. She folded her fingers on her lap. "I don't mean to sound like I don't support you. That's not true. I'm proud of what you've done for Abigail. I just think that you might be putting her ahead of the team's safety."
"Everybody knows what they are doing."
"I know, Lenny." Shard smiled warmly. "But going inside a Lone Star warehouse? Lenny, you are asking for trouble. Lone Star is not going to like this."
"It's my choice, Shard." Lenny said. "It's the only way we can get Abigail's story out."
"There has to be some other broadcaster?"
"There is no time to find one. We were lucky to find Free Air."
"Lenny." Shard paused. "If something goes wrong and somebody gets hurt, it will be on your shoulders."
"I know." Lenny admitted. "I'm willing to take that chance."
10:40 pm
Tart bounced happily into the garage. Unfortunately the spring in her step did not last long. It disappeared when she saw Riggs. The dwarfish rigger was huddled next to a drone that sported a sinister looking barrel. Riggs was cursing at the drone every few minutes. Apparently the drone was not performing the way that he was expecting. Smiley was also present, though he did not look at all interested in what Riggs was doing.
"Fragging piece of military drek." Riggs spat as he fumbled with the drone's innards. "I thought I fixed this thing."
Tart shut out the rest of what Riggs was saying. Aside from the profanities, most of it was technical babble. That subject did not interest her, even though she was a decker. The technical aspect never interested her. It was the freedom and experience that she enjoyed.
Nightsky was in the garage as well. Tart did not notice him at first because he was inside the Bison. The adept was by far the easiest of the shadowrunners for Tart to approach. Riggs was more likely to complain about his drone while Smiley would probably do something rash.
"What you doing?" She asked out of curiosity.
Nightsky pulled an armored jacket out of his duffel bag. "Getting ready for tonight." He replied.
Tart picked up the jacket and fumbled it between her slender fingers. "Are you scared about going in?"
Nightsky shook his head as he removed a HK227. "Not really." He admitted. "A little concerned if Free Air will keep up with their part of the plan, though."
"Oh? What do they have to do?"
"They're providing a truck to transport the transmitter in. It's our job to make sure they have a chance to get the truck into position."
"What will happen if something goes wrong?"
Nightsky shrugged. "Who knows. Besides, I always thought it was best if things didn't go wrong."
"Hmp?" Tart squeaked. "So you're leaving everything up to Lenny?"
"That's his job, remember." Nightsky replied. "It's his place to come up with the plan. He's the one that has the mind for it. You could learn a lot for him."
Tart shrugged. "Sometimes I think that we rely too much on his ideas."
"Maybe." Nightsky loaded a clip into the firearm. "I'll go along with it as long as it makes sense to me."
Tart pulled over a small box, taking it for her seat. She laid her cyberdeck across her lap. Datacords dangled off one side. "Lenny said that I have to stay here. I'm suppose to stall in case Lone Star sends a response."
"I heard. You are suppose to take some of the pressure off us. We're going to need it too. It's not going to be like walking in and walking out. It's going to take time to get that stuff loaded into the truck. Free Air better not be late."
"What if they are?"
"We'll end up holding off against Lone Star's finest."
Tart sighed. The thought of Lone Star was not comforting. There was something else on her mind, though. It had nothing to do with Lone Star or what the team was involved with. Her mother was still with the hospital. She had not seen her since Nightsky saved her from the Fuchi bounty hunter. That was almost five days ago. Tart's sister, Samantha, would be mad at her. Tart flinched when she thought about her sister. Samantha would be furious.
"Hey, Nightsky."
"Yeah?"
"Do you remember your mother?"
Nightsky didn't say anything at first. "Barely." He replied, turning his attention back to his gear.
"Do you know where she is?"
"Yes." That much was true. Nightsky knew exactly where his mother was. He also knew that his mother would not be doing much there.
"My mother's in the hospital." Tart said quietly. Almost like she was hoping that he would not hear her. "They told me she wasn't doing very good. I went to visit her a few days ago. I think my being there helped her." She sniffed, pushing away a tear. "What does your mother do?"
"Not much of anything now." Nightsky said. "She-" He stopped abruptly, searching for the right way to phrase his reply. "-she's in California."
"Do you ever see her anymore?"
"Once a year." Nightsky said without hesitating. Every year he visited the resting place of his mother on the seventeenth of August.
"It's time to pack up." Shard said as she entered the garage. "Lenny says we move in fifteen minutes."
"Fifteen minutes?!" Riggs gripped. "How does he expect me to work a mechanical miracle in fifteen minutes?"
"Riggs...." Shard said with a tired voice.
"Seriously!" Riggs waved his arms in the air. "Does he think I'm Mr. Scott or something? Do I look Scottish to you!? Does it look like I have the fragging power?!"
"Riggs!" Smiley called.
"And you!" Riggs pointed a stumpy finger towards Smiley. "You sit on your butt and carve things into my table with your spur. What have you got to complain about?"
"Riggs." Lenny said as he came in behind Shard.
"Er-" Riggs stuttered. "Yes, bossman?"
"Be quiet and get a move on."
"You got it, bossman."
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