Seattle, 21 December 2050
I think I'm going to have trouble with the Yakuza. I've been keeping a watch on the Green Ronin, but a couple of days ago I noticed that he had picked up another tail. Three suits, two asians and one causasian. I couldn't tell if they were yaks or feds. In either case, I decided to keep my distance for a while.
Then today, I come out of the coffee shop after a meet with Danny Kinkaid. A meeting that didn't go down too well. Danny had found an address for my folks. I told him I wasn't sure if I should contact them after seeing how the senator reacted to the recovery of his daughter. Maybe it would be better for them if they keep thinking I'm dead.
But what about me. I think I need to know and had hoped Danny might be my middleman. Instead he gives me the open palm gesture and tells me he's just a reporter. I was hoping for more but it's not to be.
As I leave, I spot a nondescript car pull out behind me. I'm heading out of town and the car is following me, when bam! Some idiot pulls out a side street right into them. Two asians jump out of the tail and start arguing with the driver of the car that hit them.
I should just of drove on, but my blood was still up from the meeting with Danny so I pull a U-turn and drive back to get their licence number. I make eye-contact with the one on my side and the fragger snaps a shot of me with his phone. I roll on a block then make another turn but by then the cops have arrived. I circle the block until the cops leave and the two asians are picked up by another equally non-descript car. I follow but haven't gone two blocks when I spot a grey van in my mirrors. Frag me, what have I got myself into. I give up on tailing the japs and spend the next hour shaking off the grey van.
I go to ground in an alley just off tourist town in Redmond. As I wait out the heat I get a call. I assume it's one of the crew but the voice on the other end just says, 'Pull another stunt like that and I'll hand you to the yaks myself!' then hangs up. Fragging uppity fed asshole! If he's going to use me as bait, he could at least of let me know.
I'm still spitting teeth, when the phone rings again. Finlay almost gets an earful, but I recognise his number in time. He's got a job. Seems like Martha needs some backup for a deal. I get to be scout. I make my way carefully back to the garage and let the guys know there might be some shit going down with the feds and yakuza.
Zero checks out the licence for me. It's a dead trail, but she says someone else has been in the DMV. Several discreet queries have been made about my license number but didn't turn up anything because someone else altered the number of the plate linked to my fake ID. Means that I better not get stopped by the cops until I can get the plates on the Harley changed as it now belongs to someone else.
I grab some grub and check my gear then head out to the meet. I am running interference. Martha is uncertain about the guys she is going to meet so is sending them on a little drive around the barrens first. I need to check them out at their first stop before Martha gives them the real meet location.
I get there early and find a quiet alley to stash the bike. Unfortunately it's not quiet enough. A couple of gangers roll me for protection money. A 50 gets me a guarantee that they won't frag with my bike. Little racketeering creeps. I would just of shot them, but there might have been more hanging in the shadows.
I climb onto the roof of the building and take up a spot to wait near the heating vents. After an hour and a few sips of Jack to keep me from freezing, the marks turn up. The van is beat up and the goon who gets out looks more street trash than gun dealer. He also seems pissed. I pass on the info to Finlay and the rest of the team who are waiting at the real location and when angry man gets back in the truck, I follow after them. I keep one eye on my mirrors just in case I have a tail, but it seems clear.
By the time I get the bike stashed at the second location the deal is practically done. Martha has a vanload of military weapons and we will get half of what she can shift it for. Hope she negotiates the sale as well as the buy. Although Finlay tells me he thinks new girl Cleo might have cast some spell to smooth the deal.
We are barely back at the garage, and I am just thawing out with some black soykaf, heavy on the sugar and with just a tiny shot of bourbon, when Finlay gets another call. It's Seaside and he wants to see us, like right away.
I gulp down the kaf and get back into my winter gear and we all drive over to Seaside's. He is there with his brother, who has the full injun look going, and doesn't look right happy to see me. I stare him down. He is fussin' over some scrawny woman, who looks sick to me, but waves me away when I mention she needs medical treatment. The brother, Richard explains that his lady friend needs some help from people like us.
The lady says that the spirits led her to a man, David Tom or was it Tom David. Anyway, this guy was on his last legs, but told her that someone called Martha was going to do something that would kill a lot of people up in Timshian territory. I don't know that territory so well, as I usually stick to Salish lands when I need to get out of town. Some of the other territories aint too friendly to whites, particularly those dressed like me. I figure that Timshian is one of those. Turns out it's worse.
Anyway, the lady finishes her spiel and hands Finlay lump of gold the size of his hand. And he's got big hands. She is offering ten times that as payment. Don't know how much that lump is worth but that seems like a lot of cash and damn little to go on. Finlay says as much but the lady cant tell us anymore. Seaside tells us he thinks he can get us in to Timshian through some of his old injun buddies while the padre takes a look at the lady to see if he can fix her up.
Afterwards he tells us she was an eagle shifter, not a real person at all but an eagle that could take on human form. Sure explains some of the weird shit she was saying.
New girl Cleo seems a little out of her depth, but at least we aint under fire. Well shit if I shouldnt keep my yap shut as just then some young girl just wanders into the hangar asking for Seaside. He seems surprised to hear his name. I spot Finlay going for his piece and then the girl shouts out something about 'Saving the planet' and then takes a run at us. Finlay snaps off a shot at her, but misses.
You know all those stories about wired guys that shoot their friends by accident. I always thought they were just street lore. Well, I aint really sure what's going down, but I draw my piece and put a round between that little girl's eyes before I am really aware of doing it. Her head snaps back and blood sprays the padre and Cleo as she cartwheels backward and hits the ground.
Finlay pushes past me and fumbles a detonator switch out of her hand. I move up next to him and open her coat. She is wired with several kilos of C4. Each packet is stuffed full with ball bearings and it's all hooked up to the switch and also to a cellphone. I hear myself shout 'Get out' and then I'm running.
I hear a grunt from Finlay as I run out of the hangar. He's picked up the girl and is heading for the old APC that Seaside has been working on since we met him. He shoves the body inside just as the phone starts ringing.
The explosion leaves me deaf for a couple of hours but the APC contains most of the blast. Even Finlay gets off unscathed, although the door he pushed her through almost takes off his head when the blast blows it off it's hinges.
After searching Seaside's place and finding no-one else around, we decide its probably best to get started on this run as soon as possible.
Seattle, 22 December 2050
Zero does some digging on the matrix, while Finlay and I pack gear. Seems these Tim's have a bit of an issue with eco-warriors. They put them down hard a few years back, although it was also linked to some tribal trouble. Sometimes these braves have more problems with each other than with the white man.
Weather's closing in so we pack for snow. Zero bitches about leaving the city as usual and seems to want to take all her gear with her. Finlay and I end up hauling it for some peace and quiet.
We return to Seaside's around nightfall and load our stuff onto his boat. He takes us out to one of the islands in the sound. One of the indian ones. There is a small airport facility there, little more than a few sheds to keep the cold off a body. Seaside's buddy Russell is waiting for us and introduces us to Osprey. The mohawked rigger flies his namesake, one of them tilt-rotor bastard crossings of a plane and a helicopter. It's set up for hauling cargo, so facilities are limited to say the least. Finlay just stows his gear and tucks his arms into the webbing along the walls. I get the feeling he's done this before.
The flight takes about four hours but feels longer and by the time we arrive I can barely feel my fingers and toes. We unload in a snow-filled clearing and another injun with an assault rifle points into the dark and shouts that our ride is over that way.
On the limit of the lights from the flares in the clearing I can just about make out a limo van. We crunch through the snow. Finlay is playing soldier and edges up alongside. I just tap on the driver's window and it hums down halfway.
Well blow me down. I was expecting some local brave, but the lady inside is a blond, blue-eyed caucasian and when she speaks, I could swear she has a German accent. She helps us load our gear in a hidden compartment in back, then while Finlay gets in front the rest of us pile in the back.
December 19, 2010
December 12, 2010
Billie's Journal - Catnip
Seattle, 17 December 2050
I am woken in the middle of the night by a frantic Finlay. He's got Zero cradled in his arms. She is moaning and twitching with blood leaking from her nose and eyes. Not a good sign.
Lucky for them I have been going easy on the booze lately or I would just have shot him and gone back to sleep. I roll out of bed, my reactions running faster than my brain. Finlay lays Zero on the bed and I check her out as best I can. I know how to set a broken bone and stop someone from bleeding to death but I'm no doctor.
I bark at Finlay, who is hovering nearby like a worried dog, to go get the fraggin medkit while I check Zero out as best I can. She is burning up, her heart is racing and her milky white eyes are twitching like crazy. It's almost like she's being hit by ice in the matrix but she's not logged in.
Finlay returns with the kit and I attach the probes. Elevated heart rate and temperature, EEG all over the place. I hate being right but I hate it more that the damn medkit is better at diagnosing her than I am. I follow it's instructions, doing my best to stabilise her without any real idea what's wrong.
I tell Finlay to check on her deck, but he comes back to say it is switched off. Then her temp spikes and she starts thrashing about. I pretty much order Finlay to carry her into the bathroom and put her in the bath. I grab up the medkit and follow him, turning on the cold tap as soon as he eases her into the tub.
The medkit's alarms start squealing as I reattach the probes. For the next few minutes things are touch and go as to whether she's going to make it, but then all of a sudden her brain activity drops back to normal then into REM sleep and her other stats begin to stabilise.
We haul her back out of the bath and put her back into bed. All the commotion has finally roused the padre. His breath stinks of booze and his eyes are red-rimmed but he summons his mojo and manages to heal Zero a little. I give her a sedative to keep her out and then go get a glass of Jack to settle my nerves.
For the rest of the night, Finlay and I take turns keeping an eye on her and as light finally dawns late in the morning, she opens her eyes and asks for a slushie. I think she'll make it.
Seattle, 19 December 2050
Zero is getting better. When I gave her the remote for the trid she just glared at it for a second then threw it at me. We gave her sugary drinks and her deck, mainly for our own sakes.
She gets a call from Martha who has been contacted by Zero's new friend Cleo. As a sort of test to see how serious Cleo was about getting out of the corp and into the shadows, Zero pulled some sort of matrix trickery to make it look like Cleo wanted to have elective surgery to get some secretary ware installed. Looks like she's taken the bait and wants a meet with a decker to find out who set her up. Of course, Martha immediately thought of Zero.
Against the medkit's and my advice, we haul Zero out of bed and help her into a suitably street outfit of knee-length black platform boots, a short denim skirt, a too-tight t-shirt of some rave band I have never heard of and a denim jacket that matches the skirt and is cut to conceal her Glock's shoulder holster. I am wearing jeans and boots, a heavy check shirt and duster. And my Cavalier is in it's quick-draw leg holster.
Figuring that Zero is not up for driving to the meet herself, we call Jamal. His fake Jamaican accent is as bad as my texan one, but he agrees to take us down to Redmond tourist town.
We arrive early and after settling Zero at a table, I take a quiet booth at the back, while Finlay sits up at the bar. The padre drew short straw and gets to cover the ouside from a damp alley across the way.
His grumbling turns to surprise as Cleo arrives with some muscle in tow, a red-leather clad street samurai. The sam' enters first. He could be the real thing but if he is, he's not top class. He completely overlooks Finlay at the bar, sitting amongst the other orks, and his gaze doesn't come anywhere near me in the back, focusing instead on the denim clad Zero. She does have that effect on men, though.
He heads back out and returns with Cleo. She hesitates a moment when she spots Zero, but recovers quickly. She moves over to speak with her and Zero just asks her directly if she is Mrs J. I can hear the padre sniggering over the comms at that.
Cleo quickly comes clean, but as Zero set up the whole thing, we already know the details. Nonetheless, she pushes her hard, initially asking for four thousand then letting Cleo negotiate it down to three and half before demanding half up front.
I can see Cleo's eyes widen at that. There is some negotiation, then Finlay steps over to the table to escort her to one of few armored ATMs still working in this part of town.
Her friend complains but she convinces him to stay and watch Zero. I settle back to wait for them to get back only to hear a deep, accented voice near me say 'Cavalier?'
I glance to my right. An older guy, with short-cropped graying hair, and an obvious cyberarm and eyes nods towards the table. I grunt a yeah and give him a quizzical look. He shrugs and points at his ears saying he could hear me working the cylinder and that if he could hear so could Harry. I ask him who Harry is and he tells me he's the bartender. Frag. I put my hand on the table and tell him that it has a mind of his own. He holds up both arms and says he knows all about that. I ask him how he got them, choice or accident. He says it was a stupid accident.
We chat guns to pass the time. He likes automatics, bigger clips. I say I can understand that and tell him I have a pair of Kimbers for when I need to be quiet. Nice guns he replies, asking where I got them. I shrug and just say that they came into my possession. He smiles at that. He tells me his name is Vlad and that he's from Lithuania. Could by Vory. I tell him he can call me Billie. He asks if it's short for something and I tell him it's just Billie.
Finlay and Cleo turn back up around then. Cleo hands over a credstick and then she and red-leather jacket head out. We give them a few then call Jamal to come pick us up.
Seattle, 20 December 2050
Next day it's back to Redmond for the follow-up meet. Zero spent the evening pulling together a nice little file pointing to Green Ronin as the decker who sent the message from Cleo's terminal.
Cleo seems disappointed, wanting to know why this guy was setting her up. Zero plays it cool and offers a number of realistic reasons. Then Cleo asks Zero to help get her out. Bingo. Finlay, the padre and I join them at the booth to discuss the 'extraction'. Cleo already has a cover story, so she just needs a place to chill and a new ID. We tell her we can help with that. Finlay seems uncertain, but I feel like I owe it to her. After all, when Shariff pulled me out of that Bunraku palace, he did the same for me.
The padre asks her what skills she can bring. We know she's a mage of some sort but not what. Her eyes flicker for a second going a bit wider as she scans us. I guess she's putting the old astral sight on us and wasn't expecting to find a mage and two adepts sitting next to her. Her nose twitches as she focuses on Zero, then she looks somewhat confused and disappointed.
Padre says nice try, but that no heathen witch can overcome the power of the Lord. Don't know what she tried but for a change the priest had his spell defence up. Hope he remembers that next time we are on a run. We spend the next ten minutes listening to him ranting about shamen being the devil's servants.
Then we try to dissuade her, saying that the shadows are not a nice place to be in, no matter what she has heard. Finlay even tries the 'have you ever killed someone' angle. She gulps but say she would if she had to. Guess we got ourselves a new team-member.
I am woken in the middle of the night by a frantic Finlay. He's got Zero cradled in his arms. She is moaning and twitching with blood leaking from her nose and eyes. Not a good sign.
Lucky for them I have been going easy on the booze lately or I would just have shot him and gone back to sleep. I roll out of bed, my reactions running faster than my brain. Finlay lays Zero on the bed and I check her out as best I can. I know how to set a broken bone and stop someone from bleeding to death but I'm no doctor.
I bark at Finlay, who is hovering nearby like a worried dog, to go get the fraggin medkit while I check Zero out as best I can. She is burning up, her heart is racing and her milky white eyes are twitching like crazy. It's almost like she's being hit by ice in the matrix but she's not logged in.
Finlay returns with the kit and I attach the probes. Elevated heart rate and temperature, EEG all over the place. I hate being right but I hate it more that the damn medkit is better at diagnosing her than I am. I follow it's instructions, doing my best to stabilise her without any real idea what's wrong.
I tell Finlay to check on her deck, but he comes back to say it is switched off. Then her temp spikes and she starts thrashing about. I pretty much order Finlay to carry her into the bathroom and put her in the bath. I grab up the medkit and follow him, turning on the cold tap as soon as he eases her into the tub.
The medkit's alarms start squealing as I reattach the probes. For the next few minutes things are touch and go as to whether she's going to make it, but then all of a sudden her brain activity drops back to normal then into REM sleep and her other stats begin to stabilise.
We haul her back out of the bath and put her back into bed. All the commotion has finally roused the padre. His breath stinks of booze and his eyes are red-rimmed but he summons his mojo and manages to heal Zero a little. I give her a sedative to keep her out and then go get a glass of Jack to settle my nerves.
For the rest of the night, Finlay and I take turns keeping an eye on her and as light finally dawns late in the morning, she opens her eyes and asks for a slushie. I think she'll make it.
Seattle, 19 December 2050
Zero is getting better. When I gave her the remote for the trid she just glared at it for a second then threw it at me. We gave her sugary drinks and her deck, mainly for our own sakes.
She gets a call from Martha who has been contacted by Zero's new friend Cleo. As a sort of test to see how serious Cleo was about getting out of the corp and into the shadows, Zero pulled some sort of matrix trickery to make it look like Cleo wanted to have elective surgery to get some secretary ware installed. Looks like she's taken the bait and wants a meet with a decker to find out who set her up. Of course, Martha immediately thought of Zero.
Against the medkit's and my advice, we haul Zero out of bed and help her into a suitably street outfit of knee-length black platform boots, a short denim skirt, a too-tight t-shirt of some rave band I have never heard of and a denim jacket that matches the skirt and is cut to conceal her Glock's shoulder holster. I am wearing jeans and boots, a heavy check shirt and duster. And my Cavalier is in it's quick-draw leg holster.
Figuring that Zero is not up for driving to the meet herself, we call Jamal. His fake Jamaican accent is as bad as my texan one, but he agrees to take us down to Redmond tourist town.
We arrive early and after settling Zero at a table, I take a quiet booth at the back, while Finlay sits up at the bar. The padre drew short straw and gets to cover the ouside from a damp alley across the way.
His grumbling turns to surprise as Cleo arrives with some muscle in tow, a red-leather clad street samurai. The sam' enters first. He could be the real thing but if he is, he's not top class. He completely overlooks Finlay at the bar, sitting amongst the other orks, and his gaze doesn't come anywhere near me in the back, focusing instead on the denim clad Zero. She does have that effect on men, though.
He heads back out and returns with Cleo. She hesitates a moment when she spots Zero, but recovers quickly. She moves over to speak with her and Zero just asks her directly if she is Mrs J. I can hear the padre sniggering over the comms at that.
Cleo quickly comes clean, but as Zero set up the whole thing, we already know the details. Nonetheless, she pushes her hard, initially asking for four thousand then letting Cleo negotiate it down to three and half before demanding half up front.
I can see Cleo's eyes widen at that. There is some negotiation, then Finlay steps over to the table to escort her to one of few armored ATMs still working in this part of town.
Her friend complains but she convinces him to stay and watch Zero. I settle back to wait for them to get back only to hear a deep, accented voice near me say 'Cavalier?'
I glance to my right. An older guy, with short-cropped graying hair, and an obvious cyberarm and eyes nods towards the table. I grunt a yeah and give him a quizzical look. He shrugs and points at his ears saying he could hear me working the cylinder and that if he could hear so could Harry. I ask him who Harry is and he tells me he's the bartender. Frag. I put my hand on the table and tell him that it has a mind of his own. He holds up both arms and says he knows all about that. I ask him how he got them, choice or accident. He says it was a stupid accident.
We chat guns to pass the time. He likes automatics, bigger clips. I say I can understand that and tell him I have a pair of Kimbers for when I need to be quiet. Nice guns he replies, asking where I got them. I shrug and just say that they came into my possession. He smiles at that. He tells me his name is Vlad and that he's from Lithuania. Could by Vory. I tell him he can call me Billie. He asks if it's short for something and I tell him it's just Billie.
Finlay and Cleo turn back up around then. Cleo hands over a credstick and then she and red-leather jacket head out. We give them a few then call Jamal to come pick us up.
Seattle, 20 December 2050
Next day it's back to Redmond for the follow-up meet. Zero spent the evening pulling together a nice little file pointing to Green Ronin as the decker who sent the message from Cleo's terminal.
Cleo seems disappointed, wanting to know why this guy was setting her up. Zero plays it cool and offers a number of realistic reasons. Then Cleo asks Zero to help get her out. Bingo. Finlay, the padre and I join them at the booth to discuss the 'extraction'. Cleo already has a cover story, so she just needs a place to chill and a new ID. We tell her we can help with that. Finlay seems uncertain, but I feel like I owe it to her. After all, when Shariff pulled me out of that Bunraku palace, he did the same for me.
The padre asks her what skills she can bring. We know she's a mage of some sort but not what. Her eyes flicker for a second going a bit wider as she scans us. I guess she's putting the old astral sight on us and wasn't expecting to find a mage and two adepts sitting next to her. Her nose twitches as she focuses on Zero, then she looks somewhat confused and disappointed.
Padre says nice try, but that no heathen witch can overcome the power of the Lord. Don't know what she tried but for a change the priest had his spell defence up. Hope he remembers that next time we are on a run. We spend the next ten minutes listening to him ranting about shamen being the devil's servants.
Then we try to dissuade her, saying that the shadows are not a nice place to be in, no matter what she has heard. Finlay even tries the 'have you ever killed someone' angle. She gulps but say she would if she had to. Guess we got ourselves a new team-member.
November 21, 2010
Billie's Journal - Stuffer Shack
Seattle, 15 December, 2050
Winter arrived while I was lying in bed, doped up on painkillers and antibiotics, as my injuries slowly healed. You would think that getting shot hurt the most. But that's a short sharp pain. Bones knitting back together, especially ones reinforced with plastic is an agony that seems unending.
Finlay has been great. I think he feels responible for our well-being. He's been cooking up chicken soup by the gallon. Well, when I say chicken, I mean chicken flavoured soy. But it is hot and drives out the cold, and even though he practically had to spoon feed me the first couple of days, it made me feel better.
And whether it's the drugs or the fact that the feds freed the senator's daughter and all those other girls, I have been sleeping like a log. No bourbon required to drown out the nightmares.
As the physical injuries heal and I can slowly hobble from my bed to the sitting room on my own, it feels like my mental wounds are also on the mend. Not healed, not by a long shot. Hell I'm not sure if that is even possible, but they somehow feel less raw. Zero even catches me smiling and humming an old country and western number at one point. She asks me what I did with the real Billie.
After a couple of weeks, I manage to do some light exercises with Finlay. He laughs at me when he sees me working out with weights in both hands. I sometimes forget that my right arm just needs charged. In fact the new arm can easily lift twice what my left can, well unless I kick in the magic.
We have been keeping a low profile since we got shot up during the extraction. Hell, Zero has even taken a temp job at some jap corp. She tells me they can be real unfriendly to non-japs and seem to think that metahumans are second class citizens. I wouldn't put up with that sort of crap, but I guess she just likes being around people more than I do.
She has also made a new friend, another corpsec called Catherine. They have even been out clubbing together. In fact, they are going out again tonight. The rest of us haven't been invited. I guess Zero wants to keep her corpsec and shadowrunner lives separate.
I've just settled in front of the trid with my first drink in nearly a month when Finlay shouts up to me. Apparently Jamal, our fake Jamaican taxi driver has a couple of open spots for a poker game and has asked if we are interested. Hell, I've been going slowly stir crazy here so I jump at the chance to get out.
Even though it's cold and wet we take my bike. Like me, it could use some exercise. Finlay's big ass means the Harley is sitting low on its shocks, but his weight gives some extra traction. I open her up and she responds like the thoroughbred she is, hauling us through the rain and traffic with a deep, satisfying roar that you can feel in your guts.
We are about halfway to Jamal's place when my phone buzzes. I take the call, easing off on the gas and steering with one hand. I can barely hear Zero's voice over the rain and the purr of the engine. But I get that she is in trouble. I pull over as she whispers an address then tells me to pretend I don't know her before she hangs up.
The address if for a Stuffer Shack not far from where we are. I spin the bike round and open the throttle wide. I let the rev counter creep into the red as we tear across the barrens, dodging through traffic and leaving a trail of spray and honking horns behind us.
In less than two minutes we arrive at the place. I let the bike's revs drop to a low rumble as we drive past the store. Several bikes sit outside, marked with the same gang colors. Not good. I find a quiet spot to park and drawing the Deputy, we make our way quickly but quietly towards the store.
Through the rain slick window, I can see that things are much worse than 'not good'. There's a big dude with a combat shotgun stuffed in some fat mama's mouth. Behind him I can see Zero and another woman huddled on the floor.
There's a guy near the door with an SMG and another one is using a long blade to undress a trembling checkout girl. I whisper what I can see to Finlay as he draws his spear and moves towards the door.
There's a ding and he's gone before the door is fully open. The kid with the SMG doesnt even have time to react. Hell, I can only watch in horror as Finlay takes the kid's head clean off with one powerful sweep of the spear's bladed tip.
As my reactions catch up, and believe me I'm no slouch in that department, Finlay is already moving towards the guy with the blade. I spin inside and spot the dude with the shotgun across the store. My revolver comes up and I take the shot. The heavy caliber round should have taken his head clean off, but he must of moved at the last moment or something, because it only grazes the side of his head. The scary part is that he seems pretty unfazed for a guy that just got shot in the head.
There's a roar of fire as he opens up. Fortunately I don't see what that first burst does to the fat woman's head till later. Even more fortunately as the gun comes up to bear on me, that first burst gives me enough time to get the frag out of the line of fire. Stone chips shower me as the heavy slugs tear into the wall where my head was a fraction of a second earlier.
A women screams in anger, rushing at Finlay with her gun blazing. Luckily for him, her shots go wide, just tearing up the cans and packages on the shelves and displays. Then two heavy pistol shots to the head take her down from behind. Zero obviously has her new Glock with her.
Finlay makes short work of knife boy, the spear's length giving him a significant edge over the ganger's blade. I put another two shots into shotgun dude, but he just fragging shakes them off and returns fire. I barely make it into cover, the heavy bullet rounds ripping chunks out of the store's plascrete walls as I duck.
I move further into the store, using the shelves as cover and picking my way carefully around glass and spilled liquids. Finlay goes the other way. Hopefully we can pincer this guy before he can get us in his sights. Shotgun dude blindfires a couple of bursts through the racks of shelves and I also hear more shots from Zero's gun.
Taking a chance, I step out from behind the shelf. Shotgun dude is right in front of me. He's not even looking at me. Instead he's got the shotgun pointed squarely at Finlay's head. I let my magic do it's thing. The revolver comes up smoothly, almost like it knows what it's doing.
Time slows. I can see the fragger's finger tightening on the trigger, but I have all the time in the world to aim and fire. Unlike my previous shots, where range, cover, armor plates and sheer goddamned luck kept them from doing any real damage, this one is dead center on his head. It tears through his ear and into his brain, the metal plates bonded to his skull keeping it from going clean through. He manages to mutter a surpised frag, then his knees go out and he topples back. Lucky for Finlay he doesn't reflexively pull the trigger.
We check on Zero and her pal, playing ignorant but turns out its all in vain. Zero tells us later that Catherine, or Cleo as she wants us to call her, had overheard Zero's call to us and put two and two together when we turned up a couple of minutes later.
Finlay groans. Seems one of those big shotgun rounds clipped him. I grab a medkit off a shelf and a bottle of bourbon out of a shot up cabinet. The owner of the joint, a dwarf, is badly hurt. But he waves me away as I try to help him, telling us to get clear as the Star are on their way.
We book and find a quiet alley where I patch up Finlay. It's not a bad as it looked. Either his armour took the brunt of the impact or his magic heals him faster than I thought. Wish my powers were more like that. While I can ignore pain to some extent, I don't heal as fast. I think he got the better deal.
We're both too wired to go back home, so we continue onto Jamal's. It's good that we do. He has some premium weed and his girl makes a damn fine mojito. Helps that Jamal somehow got hold of some real Jamaican rum to put in them. Finlay's injury is obviously bothering him and his game is off. He ends up owing us all, but we're only playing small stakes. The booze and the weed help take the edge off and when we finally do head home, I drive a lot more carefully.
Winter arrived while I was lying in bed, doped up on painkillers and antibiotics, as my injuries slowly healed. You would think that getting shot hurt the most. But that's a short sharp pain. Bones knitting back together, especially ones reinforced with plastic is an agony that seems unending.
Finlay has been great. I think he feels responible for our well-being. He's been cooking up chicken soup by the gallon. Well, when I say chicken, I mean chicken flavoured soy. But it is hot and drives out the cold, and even though he practically had to spoon feed me the first couple of days, it made me feel better.
And whether it's the drugs or the fact that the feds freed the senator's daughter and all those other girls, I have been sleeping like a log. No bourbon required to drown out the nightmares.
As the physical injuries heal and I can slowly hobble from my bed to the sitting room on my own, it feels like my mental wounds are also on the mend. Not healed, not by a long shot. Hell I'm not sure if that is even possible, but they somehow feel less raw. Zero even catches me smiling and humming an old country and western number at one point. She asks me what I did with the real Billie.
After a couple of weeks, I manage to do some light exercises with Finlay. He laughs at me when he sees me working out with weights in both hands. I sometimes forget that my right arm just needs charged. In fact the new arm can easily lift twice what my left can, well unless I kick in the magic.
We have been keeping a low profile since we got shot up during the extraction. Hell, Zero has even taken a temp job at some jap corp. She tells me they can be real unfriendly to non-japs and seem to think that metahumans are second class citizens. I wouldn't put up with that sort of crap, but I guess she just likes being around people more than I do.
She has also made a new friend, another corpsec called Catherine. They have even been out clubbing together. In fact, they are going out again tonight. The rest of us haven't been invited. I guess Zero wants to keep her corpsec and shadowrunner lives separate.
I've just settled in front of the trid with my first drink in nearly a month when Finlay shouts up to me. Apparently Jamal, our fake Jamaican taxi driver has a couple of open spots for a poker game and has asked if we are interested. Hell, I've been going slowly stir crazy here so I jump at the chance to get out.
Even though it's cold and wet we take my bike. Like me, it could use some exercise. Finlay's big ass means the Harley is sitting low on its shocks, but his weight gives some extra traction. I open her up and she responds like the thoroughbred she is, hauling us through the rain and traffic with a deep, satisfying roar that you can feel in your guts.
We are about halfway to Jamal's place when my phone buzzes. I take the call, easing off on the gas and steering with one hand. I can barely hear Zero's voice over the rain and the purr of the engine. But I get that she is in trouble. I pull over as she whispers an address then tells me to pretend I don't know her before she hangs up.
The address if for a Stuffer Shack not far from where we are. I spin the bike round and open the throttle wide. I let the rev counter creep into the red as we tear across the barrens, dodging through traffic and leaving a trail of spray and honking horns behind us.
In less than two minutes we arrive at the place. I let the bike's revs drop to a low rumble as we drive past the store. Several bikes sit outside, marked with the same gang colors. Not good. I find a quiet spot to park and drawing the Deputy, we make our way quickly but quietly towards the store.
Through the rain slick window, I can see that things are much worse than 'not good'. There's a big dude with a combat shotgun stuffed in some fat mama's mouth. Behind him I can see Zero and another woman huddled on the floor.
There's a guy near the door with an SMG and another one is using a long blade to undress a trembling checkout girl. I whisper what I can see to Finlay as he draws his spear and moves towards the door.
There's a ding and he's gone before the door is fully open. The kid with the SMG doesnt even have time to react. Hell, I can only watch in horror as Finlay takes the kid's head clean off with one powerful sweep of the spear's bladed tip.
As my reactions catch up, and believe me I'm no slouch in that department, Finlay is already moving towards the guy with the blade. I spin inside and spot the dude with the shotgun across the store. My revolver comes up and I take the shot. The heavy caliber round should have taken his head clean off, but he must of moved at the last moment or something, because it only grazes the side of his head. The scary part is that he seems pretty unfazed for a guy that just got shot in the head.
There's a roar of fire as he opens up. Fortunately I don't see what that first burst does to the fat woman's head till later. Even more fortunately as the gun comes up to bear on me, that first burst gives me enough time to get the frag out of the line of fire. Stone chips shower me as the heavy slugs tear into the wall where my head was a fraction of a second earlier.
A women screams in anger, rushing at Finlay with her gun blazing. Luckily for him, her shots go wide, just tearing up the cans and packages on the shelves and displays. Then two heavy pistol shots to the head take her down from behind. Zero obviously has her new Glock with her.
Finlay makes short work of knife boy, the spear's length giving him a significant edge over the ganger's blade. I put another two shots into shotgun dude, but he just fragging shakes them off and returns fire. I barely make it into cover, the heavy bullet rounds ripping chunks out of the store's plascrete walls as I duck.
I move further into the store, using the shelves as cover and picking my way carefully around glass and spilled liquids. Finlay goes the other way. Hopefully we can pincer this guy before he can get us in his sights. Shotgun dude blindfires a couple of bursts through the racks of shelves and I also hear more shots from Zero's gun.
Taking a chance, I step out from behind the shelf. Shotgun dude is right in front of me. He's not even looking at me. Instead he's got the shotgun pointed squarely at Finlay's head. I let my magic do it's thing. The revolver comes up smoothly, almost like it knows what it's doing.
Time slows. I can see the fragger's finger tightening on the trigger, but I have all the time in the world to aim and fire. Unlike my previous shots, where range, cover, armor plates and sheer goddamned luck kept them from doing any real damage, this one is dead center on his head. It tears through his ear and into his brain, the metal plates bonded to his skull keeping it from going clean through. He manages to mutter a surpised frag, then his knees go out and he topples back. Lucky for Finlay he doesn't reflexively pull the trigger.
We check on Zero and her pal, playing ignorant but turns out its all in vain. Zero tells us later that Catherine, or Cleo as she wants us to call her, had overheard Zero's call to us and put two and two together when we turned up a couple of minutes later.
Finlay groans. Seems one of those big shotgun rounds clipped him. I grab a medkit off a shelf and a bottle of bourbon out of a shot up cabinet. The owner of the joint, a dwarf, is badly hurt. But he waves me away as I try to help him, telling us to get clear as the Star are on their way.
We book and find a quiet alley where I patch up Finlay. It's not a bad as it looked. Either his armour took the brunt of the impact or his magic heals him faster than I thought. Wish my powers were more like that. While I can ignore pain to some extent, I don't heal as fast. I think he got the better deal.
We're both too wired to go back home, so we continue onto Jamal's. It's good that we do. He has some premium weed and his girl makes a damn fine mojito. Helps that Jamal somehow got hold of some real Jamaican rum to put in them. Finlay's injury is obviously bothering him and his game is off. He ends up owing us all, but we're only playing small stakes. The booze and the weed help take the edge off and when we finally do head home, I drive a lot more carefully.
October 10, 2010
Billie's Journal
Seattle, November 8, 2050
Boosted reflexes and a short fuse sure don't mix well. The Green Ronin slumps back unconscious as the rest of the team glare 'WTF' at me. I shrug and offer a weak apology.
Digging out my medkit, I consider hitting him with a stim patch, but a quick look at his eyes makes me hesitate. I don't want him croaking on us from an overdose, at least not yet. I pull out some smelling salts instead and wave them under his nose. That gets his attention although he's still pretty out of it.
Still wearing just a sheet, Zero appears with his deck. She takes his hand and places it on the palm reader. She purrs at him, asking for his password. I don't quite get what he says, something about images or icons, but Zero grocks it and soon a sultry female voice is talking to her from the deck in Japanese. She heads back into the living room leaving me to handle qestioning the jap.
Intimidation isn't going to work so I have to try charming him, all the while trying not to think about the last time I had to do this with Duncan the octopus in Scotland. I ask him who he was watching the hospital for and he proudly announces that his boss is Hanzo Shotozumi.
Yeah, the Hanzo Shotozumi, oyabun of oyabuns for Seattle and the big cheese of the yakuza in North America. My stomach sinks at that. I had hoped his connection was somewhere further down the ladder, not up in the frakkin' penthouse. No wonder Mr Kurso Tomori, aka the Green Ronin, has such a nice pad. That also explains the rather extensive and expensive cybertattoos covering most of his back.
I ask how he gets in touch with him and he rattles off the LTG of a dead drop box, well at least that's what Zero tell me it is, whatever that might be.
Then I ask him what he knows about the girls. He's snuggling up close to me trying to kiss me. I have to fight down the sick feeling in my stomach. I recognise it now as my system getting ready to kick my strength into overdrive. Warning symbols flash in my vision, as the new arm's limiters go offline. With a supreme effort I fight it down, pulling away from Kurso and taking a walk to calm down. I tell him I need a drink and frag me I really do.
He calls after me saying there's champagne and strawberries in the fridge. When I feel my heart slow to something approaching normal, I raid the fridge. Finlay is sitting in one of the chairs in the living room, his glare flicking between the entrance door, the bedroom and Zero. Zero has finally put her clothes back on and is currently curled up in a leather office chair, jacked into Green Ronin's deck.
The padre is hanging by the bedroom door, keeping an eye on the jap and sustaining the compel truth spell he cast on him. I saunter past him with the champagne and the strawberries, real ones at that. If I'm going to have to seduce this snake to get the info, I might as well enjoy it. I pour us each a glass of the champagne. It's good stuff but it's taste pales against the fresh, real strawberries. Sitting on the bed next to the Kurso, I take turns feeding him a strawberry, eating one myself and then asking him a question.
He sure is a charmer, I have to give him that. I catch myself almost letting him kiss me, when I lean over to feed him the next strawberry. I need to keep my mind on the job. I try another tack, and ask him how many hospitals he was watching. He sulks, telling me he will only whisper that secret in my ear if I 'share' a strawberry with him.
Yuck! Looks like I need to take another one for the team. No, not for the team, for those 17 other girls still held prisoner by these fraggers. I put the strawberry half in my mouth, holding it delicately between my teeth and lean into him. He bites into his half, then proceeds to kiss me. He's rather a good kisser, but all I can think about is trying not to stab him repeatedly with my hand blade which I had popped reflexively. I pull away for a breath feeling my cheeks flush and ask for the answer, turning my head so he can whisper in my ear.
He whispers, "All of them."
For a moment, I cannot speak, think or act. Part of me is screaming kill him now, the other part just wants to curl up and cry. I look to the padre, but he missed it. So, I ask again if he meant 'all' of them and he just grins and says yes. The padre's eyes go wide and he nods. The smarmy little shit is telling the truth.
I ask him how many girls are on the list and he just shrugs, "A couple of hundred."
A tear rolls down my cheek and I hear myself say, "Enough of this." Smack. I hit him. Hard. And again. He slumps back unconscious. The padre pulls me off with a soft, "Easy lass."
We return to the living room. Zero is still in the matrix and Finlay is still glaring at everyone. I finish up the champagne with the padre, then wash up the glasses and wipe down the surfaces to remove any stray fingerprints.
Zero suddenly jerks upright in the chair. She is breathing hard like she's been running. She tells us that she's just been in yakuza headquarters in Japan and managed to snatch some data on the senator's daughter before the system started to get suspicious.
We beat feet and, fortunately, don't get pulled over on our way home. Zero downloads a copy of the data for me, but there's reams of the stuff and my computer skills are distinctly lacking, okay non-existant. After an hour of searching, I decide to pack it in for the night and go to bed. I consider asking Zero, but she is busy cleaning our datatrail. It can wait.
I'm not long in bed when I hear a shouting match between Zero and Finlay. It starts off with her shouting at him about the broken tail-light then quickly becomes him shouting at her about getting it on with the Green Ronin. She's going to break that poor fragger's heart. Then, I hear the padre shouting at them to keep it down. I pull the pillow over my head and try to sleep.
Seattle, November 9, 2050
I wake late and drag myself to the kitchen for coffee and fake eggs. It works. Zero and Finlay's shouting match seems to have cleared the air a bit as she is back to her usual perky self, although I can hear Finlay working out with his spear downstairs.
I return to the data. After a couple of hours with no luck, I throw in the towel and ask Zero for help. In less than 20 minutes she has found out that the girl is still alive and even where she is being kept. I stare at her in amazement then call Danny.
I tell him I have a lead on our missing person and that we need to meet, now. I give him the address of a 'runner bar in the Redmond barrens. It's a rough place but still close to the edge. He seems a bit worried about getting there in one piece so I ask Finlay if he can get Jamal to pick him up. Finlay hauls Jamal out of bed, and ten minutes later we head down to the barrens.
The place is as bad as I remember. While there is a check for guns, no-one seems to mind me wearing the revolver. Guess it doesn't count as a real gun in here. There are only a few other people in at this time of day; one rough looking guy hitting the shots hard, and another fellow sitting loading his Ruger. The barman is a big muscled human with two cyberarms, both fitted with spurs. The spurs are extended.
Danny sits nervously in a booth, with the locals eyeing him up like a tasty snack. They lose interest when I join him and he visibly relaxes. I order a couple of shots, but Danny isn't drinking so I knock them back myself. Frag, I've drunk some rough booze in my time, but this stuff is only one step up from gasoline.
Coughing, I tell him about the data and hand him the chip. Finlay is blabbing in my ear to get the the money first. I ignore him. Danny scans the contents, his jaw slack. He asks if it's real and where I got it. I tell him it came direct from yakuza HQ in Japan. He is flabbergasted, then starts making calls. He talks to the senator first then tells me the dude wants to speak to me.
The senator has one of those calm voices that gets votes. He thanks me and tells me if the data holds up then he will pay the reward. I tell him that we would need it in cash or certified sticks. He pauses then agrees. I also tell him he should move quick to extract his daughter and that my team is available if more legitimate means aren't. He promises to think about that then asks to speak to Danny again. Danny verifies the data and hangs up. Then he calls his contact with the feds.
I'm getting verbal abuse from the team over my comm about the feds. I just tell them to chill. Danny tells me the government agent wants to speak with me. He can be in Seattle in 30 minutes. He asks me if I think we can get a coffee as I finish his shot. The barman just sneers. Danny suggests a working man's bar he knows down by Tacoma docks. I wait till Jamal arrives to pick him up, then follow him on the Harley with the rest of the team trailing in the van.
I'm on my second coffee and have had a second breakfast by the time the fed arrives. He's a lot younger than I expected, but his eyes are old. He slips into the booth across from me, next to Danny. He introduces himself as Agent Cooper; Danny later tells me his first name is Percy. I tell him he can call me Billie.
He scans the data and appreciates the offer of deniable assets but hopes the information will be enough to get a warrant. We exchange numbers and he leaves. Great, I'm working for the feds now.
Seattle, November 10, 2050
I get a call early. It's Danny. Agent Cooper's just been on the blower to him. The judge tossed out the warrant. Cooper wants another meet and I suggest the same place as we met yesterday. I haul ass over there and find an angry young man. He tells me he has a team in place but can't go in without probable cause.
He needs someone to make some noise, preferably heavy calibre and ideally with a few explosions. I nod and tell him we'll do it. He warns me that as soon as we start making noise, we will only have two minutes to get clear.
I ask about the Felicity Berman. He tells me he would like to hand her over to the senator, but if we think we can snatch her, he's cool as long as we deliver her to him. He tells me his team will be ready to go in 30 minutes. I reply that I better get to work then. He slips me a disk and we go our separate ways.
We return to the garage and load for bear. I take the SMG and a couple of grenades plus one of my little parcels of C4. Finlay has his new AR and spear, Zero her pistol and deck and the padre brings the mojo.
On our way over we work on the plan. Cooper's intel is good with satellite photos and more. The place is big, with a pool and it's own boat dock. There's a pile of cameras on the main building and regular three man guard patrols.
We decide to go in invisible, grab the girl and make a noisy exit. If anything goes wrong, we go straight to noisy and leave the rescue to the feds. We pull off into the woods a few minutes walk from the mansion. The padre mutters and complains as he casts the four invisibility spells needed to conceal all of us. He succeeds but he lets us know that the strain of maintaining all four spells means he is not up for any spell-slinging.
We make it to the wall around the place undetected. Finlay climbs up then helps the rest of us over. Everything is going smooth until we are about halfway to the main building. Then the padre croaks out 'contact' and all hell breaks loose.
First thing I feel is magic wash over me, but the padre gets between us and the spell and I shrug it off. Finlay is also unaffected but both Zero and the padre groan in pain. Finlay reacts fast, spinning around and firing a grenade at the wall behind us. Plan B he screams as two air elementals manifest around us. I pull a smoke grenade from my pocket and lob it towards the building but it goes wide, only covering the right hand side. Just my luck, as then about half a dozen goons pop up, most of them on the left, and open fire on us.
I hit the dirt and roll away from the incoming fire. The padre grunts as he takes a couple of rounds and I hear Zero cry out too. I mentally switch the SMG to full auto and lay down a line of fire towards the guys on the left, driving them into cover behind some parked cars. Finlay throws a smoke grenade, then draws his spear and moves to take on both the elementals, giving us a chance to run for it. Padre and Zero take off towards the hole in the wall.
Finlay is moving so fast it's hard to see. There's one shimmer then two as the air elements fall to his blows. A guy appears on the roof and I catch a burst as I get to my feet. I hiss as I feel the bullets punch through my armor. I keep my attention on suppressing the guys on the right as I stagger towards the wall. Finlay calmly sheathes his spear and switches back to his AR, suppressing the guy on roof. I tumble over the remains of the wall, tasting blood. Zero and the padre don't look to be in much better shape.
Finlay retreats behind the wall and I lob an HE grenade towards the house to discourage pursuit. He reloads his grenade launcher and sends an air-timed grenade towards the guy on the roof. There's a bang and a scream. Well, at least we got one of the fraggers.
I drop my little package behind the wall. Two minutes I call, then stagger off into the woods. Zero and the padre follow after me, while Finlay lays down some covering fire. He then catches up, scooping Zero off her feet and hustling back to the van.
I'm not surprised to find Percy the G-man waiting for us. Finlay is glaring at him with his AR held ready. I spit up some blood and push the gun away. I tell him to help the others into the van. From behind us I hear a large explosion, then the reports of heavy calibre rifles. Percy makes some comment about our condition and I reply with a tight grin that at least we are still alive, if barely. He hands me a card. It's for a doctor who owes him a favour. I ask about the Berman girl. He holds up a hand and touches his ear, then tells me that his men have just secured her.
I turn away, my shoulders slumping in relief and pain and climb in the van. Vision blurring, I call the doc and tell him who gave me his name. He ask what I want. I tell him we have multiple gunshot wounds and need treatment on the quiet. He gives me an address and tells me to pull into the garage.
Finlay drives while I try to bandage up Zero and the padre. I can't do much for myself so just have to press my hand against the hole in my side to stem the bleeding. When we get to the doctor's place and he opens the back door, he frowns that I didn't say there were several people injured. I cough up some more blood and point out I did say 'multiple' gunshot wounds. He asks who is the worst injured and I tell him I thinks it's me.
He gets me onto a table and starts cutting away my armor and clothes. I tell him about my 'ware, clinically listing the stats for the arm, bone lacing, boosters and eyes. I finally tell him that I am awakened and then promptly pass out.
When I awake it is dark. I feel numb and distant. Finlay's face slowly comes into focus. I ask about the others. He points to my left and Zero is lying there. Finlay tells me that the doc is working on the padre now, but he was able to heal himself a little, so isn't in as bad a shape as the two of us. I pass out again.
Seattle, November 16, 2050
It's been a week since we got shot to shit but we are healing nicely. The doctor gave Finlay a box of painkillers and antibiotics, which he has been feeding to us every day. It's almost funny to see him playing nurse but as he won't let me have a drink, something to do with booze not mixing with pills, I've been sober and cranky for most of the week.
Sober and unable to do much but sit up in bed, I've been watching a lot of news. Percy is having his 15 minutes of fame. He explains that while investigating a terrorist attack, his team stumbled on a prostitution ring and that the senator's daughter was amongst the girls recovered. There are no shots of any of the girls, but the senator makes several appearance making prepared statements about the return of his daughter, explaining that she is receiving medical treatment. Yeah, to remove all the drek they put in her head.
Danny is also in the news with a couple of hard hitting articles on the subject. The feds are denying any leaks from their department. That makes me laugh so hard it hurts.
Seattle, November 16, 2050
I finally get a call from Danny. The senator wants to meet us. We're all pretty much recovered, although my ribs still hurt a bit and I'm still sober.
The meet is on a boat on an out of the way dock. The senator is still a public figure and even though the case is old news, he probably doesn't want to be seen dealing with shadowrunners. Away from the camera, the senator looks older with a bit of a paunch. Or maybe those lines around his eyes are from seeing his daughter again.
He shakes all our hands and offers us drinks. The padre asks for a scotch, but I just ask for water. I tell myself its because I'm still on the drugs. He hands over a small briefcase, which I pass to Finlay to check. I ask him about his daughter and he tells me she is undergoing surgery to remove the cyberware the yakuza installed in her head and will then receive therapy to help recover her memories. He looks despondently down at the cabin floor and says that he thinks his little girl may be gone for good.
I growl at him, harsher than I intend to, that she is still his kid. Is this the sort of reaction I can expect from my own parents?
Then with another round of thanks and handshakes, we are ushered out. Back on the dock, I ask Danny how many girls the feds rescued. Eighteen, of which none apart from Felicity matched the names on the list from the hospital. Well, it's a start.
Boosted reflexes and a short fuse sure don't mix well. The Green Ronin slumps back unconscious as the rest of the team glare 'WTF' at me. I shrug and offer a weak apology.
Digging out my medkit, I consider hitting him with a stim patch, but a quick look at his eyes makes me hesitate. I don't want him croaking on us from an overdose, at least not yet. I pull out some smelling salts instead and wave them under his nose. That gets his attention although he's still pretty out of it.
Still wearing just a sheet, Zero appears with his deck. She takes his hand and places it on the palm reader. She purrs at him, asking for his password. I don't quite get what he says, something about images or icons, but Zero grocks it and soon a sultry female voice is talking to her from the deck in Japanese. She heads back into the living room leaving me to handle qestioning the jap.
Intimidation isn't going to work so I have to try charming him, all the while trying not to think about the last time I had to do this with Duncan the octopus in Scotland. I ask him who he was watching the hospital for and he proudly announces that his boss is Hanzo Shotozumi.
Yeah, the Hanzo Shotozumi, oyabun of oyabuns for Seattle and the big cheese of the yakuza in North America. My stomach sinks at that. I had hoped his connection was somewhere further down the ladder, not up in the frakkin' penthouse. No wonder Mr Kurso Tomori, aka the Green Ronin, has such a nice pad. That also explains the rather extensive and expensive cybertattoos covering most of his back.
I ask how he gets in touch with him and he rattles off the LTG of a dead drop box, well at least that's what Zero tell me it is, whatever that might be.
Then I ask him what he knows about the girls. He's snuggling up close to me trying to kiss me. I have to fight down the sick feeling in my stomach. I recognise it now as my system getting ready to kick my strength into overdrive. Warning symbols flash in my vision, as the new arm's limiters go offline. With a supreme effort I fight it down, pulling away from Kurso and taking a walk to calm down. I tell him I need a drink and frag me I really do.
He calls after me saying there's champagne and strawberries in the fridge. When I feel my heart slow to something approaching normal, I raid the fridge. Finlay is sitting in one of the chairs in the living room, his glare flicking between the entrance door, the bedroom and Zero. Zero has finally put her clothes back on and is currently curled up in a leather office chair, jacked into Green Ronin's deck.
The padre is hanging by the bedroom door, keeping an eye on the jap and sustaining the compel truth spell he cast on him. I saunter past him with the champagne and the strawberries, real ones at that. If I'm going to have to seduce this snake to get the info, I might as well enjoy it. I pour us each a glass of the champagne. It's good stuff but it's taste pales against the fresh, real strawberries. Sitting on the bed next to the Kurso, I take turns feeding him a strawberry, eating one myself and then asking him a question.
He sure is a charmer, I have to give him that. I catch myself almost letting him kiss me, when I lean over to feed him the next strawberry. I need to keep my mind on the job. I try another tack, and ask him how many hospitals he was watching. He sulks, telling me he will only whisper that secret in my ear if I 'share' a strawberry with him.
Yuck! Looks like I need to take another one for the team. No, not for the team, for those 17 other girls still held prisoner by these fraggers. I put the strawberry half in my mouth, holding it delicately between my teeth and lean into him. He bites into his half, then proceeds to kiss me. He's rather a good kisser, but all I can think about is trying not to stab him repeatedly with my hand blade which I had popped reflexively. I pull away for a breath feeling my cheeks flush and ask for the answer, turning my head so he can whisper in my ear.
He whispers, "All of them."
For a moment, I cannot speak, think or act. Part of me is screaming kill him now, the other part just wants to curl up and cry. I look to the padre, but he missed it. So, I ask again if he meant 'all' of them and he just grins and says yes. The padre's eyes go wide and he nods. The smarmy little shit is telling the truth.
I ask him how many girls are on the list and he just shrugs, "A couple of hundred."
A tear rolls down my cheek and I hear myself say, "Enough of this." Smack. I hit him. Hard. And again. He slumps back unconscious. The padre pulls me off with a soft, "Easy lass."
We return to the living room. Zero is still in the matrix and Finlay is still glaring at everyone. I finish up the champagne with the padre, then wash up the glasses and wipe down the surfaces to remove any stray fingerprints.
Zero suddenly jerks upright in the chair. She is breathing hard like she's been running. She tells us that she's just been in yakuza headquarters in Japan and managed to snatch some data on the senator's daughter before the system started to get suspicious.
We beat feet and, fortunately, don't get pulled over on our way home. Zero downloads a copy of the data for me, but there's reams of the stuff and my computer skills are distinctly lacking, okay non-existant. After an hour of searching, I decide to pack it in for the night and go to bed. I consider asking Zero, but she is busy cleaning our datatrail. It can wait.
I'm not long in bed when I hear a shouting match between Zero and Finlay. It starts off with her shouting at him about the broken tail-light then quickly becomes him shouting at her about getting it on with the Green Ronin. She's going to break that poor fragger's heart. Then, I hear the padre shouting at them to keep it down. I pull the pillow over my head and try to sleep.
Seattle, November 9, 2050
I wake late and drag myself to the kitchen for coffee and fake eggs. It works. Zero and Finlay's shouting match seems to have cleared the air a bit as she is back to her usual perky self, although I can hear Finlay working out with his spear downstairs.
I return to the data. After a couple of hours with no luck, I throw in the towel and ask Zero for help. In less than 20 minutes she has found out that the girl is still alive and even where she is being kept. I stare at her in amazement then call Danny.
I tell him I have a lead on our missing person and that we need to meet, now. I give him the address of a 'runner bar in the Redmond barrens. It's a rough place but still close to the edge. He seems a bit worried about getting there in one piece so I ask Finlay if he can get Jamal to pick him up. Finlay hauls Jamal out of bed, and ten minutes later we head down to the barrens.
The place is as bad as I remember. While there is a check for guns, no-one seems to mind me wearing the revolver. Guess it doesn't count as a real gun in here. There are only a few other people in at this time of day; one rough looking guy hitting the shots hard, and another fellow sitting loading his Ruger. The barman is a big muscled human with two cyberarms, both fitted with spurs. The spurs are extended.
Danny sits nervously in a booth, with the locals eyeing him up like a tasty snack. They lose interest when I join him and he visibly relaxes. I order a couple of shots, but Danny isn't drinking so I knock them back myself. Frag, I've drunk some rough booze in my time, but this stuff is only one step up from gasoline.
Coughing, I tell him about the data and hand him the chip. Finlay is blabbing in my ear to get the the money first. I ignore him. Danny scans the contents, his jaw slack. He asks if it's real and where I got it. I tell him it came direct from yakuza HQ in Japan. He is flabbergasted, then starts making calls. He talks to the senator first then tells me the dude wants to speak to me.
The senator has one of those calm voices that gets votes. He thanks me and tells me if the data holds up then he will pay the reward. I tell him that we would need it in cash or certified sticks. He pauses then agrees. I also tell him he should move quick to extract his daughter and that my team is available if more legitimate means aren't. He promises to think about that then asks to speak to Danny again. Danny verifies the data and hangs up. Then he calls his contact with the feds.
I'm getting verbal abuse from the team over my comm about the feds. I just tell them to chill. Danny tells me the government agent wants to speak with me. He can be in Seattle in 30 minutes. He asks me if I think we can get a coffee as I finish his shot. The barman just sneers. Danny suggests a working man's bar he knows down by Tacoma docks. I wait till Jamal arrives to pick him up, then follow him on the Harley with the rest of the team trailing in the van.
I'm on my second coffee and have had a second breakfast by the time the fed arrives. He's a lot younger than I expected, but his eyes are old. He slips into the booth across from me, next to Danny. He introduces himself as Agent Cooper; Danny later tells me his first name is Percy. I tell him he can call me Billie.
He scans the data and appreciates the offer of deniable assets but hopes the information will be enough to get a warrant. We exchange numbers and he leaves. Great, I'm working for the feds now.
Seattle, November 10, 2050
I get a call early. It's Danny. Agent Cooper's just been on the blower to him. The judge tossed out the warrant. Cooper wants another meet and I suggest the same place as we met yesterday. I haul ass over there and find an angry young man. He tells me he has a team in place but can't go in without probable cause.
He needs someone to make some noise, preferably heavy calibre and ideally with a few explosions. I nod and tell him we'll do it. He warns me that as soon as we start making noise, we will only have two minutes to get clear.
I ask about the Felicity Berman. He tells me he would like to hand her over to the senator, but if we think we can snatch her, he's cool as long as we deliver her to him. He tells me his team will be ready to go in 30 minutes. I reply that I better get to work then. He slips me a disk and we go our separate ways.
We return to the garage and load for bear. I take the SMG and a couple of grenades plus one of my little parcels of C4. Finlay has his new AR and spear, Zero her pistol and deck and the padre brings the mojo.
On our way over we work on the plan. Cooper's intel is good with satellite photos and more. The place is big, with a pool and it's own boat dock. There's a pile of cameras on the main building and regular three man guard patrols.
We decide to go in invisible, grab the girl and make a noisy exit. If anything goes wrong, we go straight to noisy and leave the rescue to the feds. We pull off into the woods a few minutes walk from the mansion. The padre mutters and complains as he casts the four invisibility spells needed to conceal all of us. He succeeds but he lets us know that the strain of maintaining all four spells means he is not up for any spell-slinging.
We make it to the wall around the place undetected. Finlay climbs up then helps the rest of us over. Everything is going smooth until we are about halfway to the main building. Then the padre croaks out 'contact' and all hell breaks loose.
First thing I feel is magic wash over me, but the padre gets between us and the spell and I shrug it off. Finlay is also unaffected but both Zero and the padre groan in pain. Finlay reacts fast, spinning around and firing a grenade at the wall behind us. Plan B he screams as two air elementals manifest around us. I pull a smoke grenade from my pocket and lob it towards the building but it goes wide, only covering the right hand side. Just my luck, as then about half a dozen goons pop up, most of them on the left, and open fire on us.
I hit the dirt and roll away from the incoming fire. The padre grunts as he takes a couple of rounds and I hear Zero cry out too. I mentally switch the SMG to full auto and lay down a line of fire towards the guys on the left, driving them into cover behind some parked cars. Finlay throws a smoke grenade, then draws his spear and moves to take on both the elementals, giving us a chance to run for it. Padre and Zero take off towards the hole in the wall.
Finlay is moving so fast it's hard to see. There's one shimmer then two as the air elements fall to his blows. A guy appears on the roof and I catch a burst as I get to my feet. I hiss as I feel the bullets punch through my armor. I keep my attention on suppressing the guys on the right as I stagger towards the wall. Finlay calmly sheathes his spear and switches back to his AR, suppressing the guy on roof. I tumble over the remains of the wall, tasting blood. Zero and the padre don't look to be in much better shape.
Finlay retreats behind the wall and I lob an HE grenade towards the house to discourage pursuit. He reloads his grenade launcher and sends an air-timed grenade towards the guy on the roof. There's a bang and a scream. Well, at least we got one of the fraggers.
I drop my little package behind the wall. Two minutes I call, then stagger off into the woods. Zero and the padre follow after me, while Finlay lays down some covering fire. He then catches up, scooping Zero off her feet and hustling back to the van.
I'm not surprised to find Percy the G-man waiting for us. Finlay is glaring at him with his AR held ready. I spit up some blood and push the gun away. I tell him to help the others into the van. From behind us I hear a large explosion, then the reports of heavy calibre rifles. Percy makes some comment about our condition and I reply with a tight grin that at least we are still alive, if barely. He hands me a card. It's for a doctor who owes him a favour. I ask about the Berman girl. He holds up a hand and touches his ear, then tells me that his men have just secured her.
I turn away, my shoulders slumping in relief and pain and climb in the van. Vision blurring, I call the doc and tell him who gave me his name. He ask what I want. I tell him we have multiple gunshot wounds and need treatment on the quiet. He gives me an address and tells me to pull into the garage.
Finlay drives while I try to bandage up Zero and the padre. I can't do much for myself so just have to press my hand against the hole in my side to stem the bleeding. When we get to the doctor's place and he opens the back door, he frowns that I didn't say there were several people injured. I cough up some more blood and point out I did say 'multiple' gunshot wounds. He asks who is the worst injured and I tell him I thinks it's me.
He gets me onto a table and starts cutting away my armor and clothes. I tell him about my 'ware, clinically listing the stats for the arm, bone lacing, boosters and eyes. I finally tell him that I am awakened and then promptly pass out.
When I awake it is dark. I feel numb and distant. Finlay's face slowly comes into focus. I ask about the others. He points to my left and Zero is lying there. Finlay tells me that the doc is working on the padre now, but he was able to heal himself a little, so isn't in as bad a shape as the two of us. I pass out again.
Seattle, November 16, 2050
It's been a week since we got shot to shit but we are healing nicely. The doctor gave Finlay a box of painkillers and antibiotics, which he has been feeding to us every day. It's almost funny to see him playing nurse but as he won't let me have a drink, something to do with booze not mixing with pills, I've been sober and cranky for most of the week.
Sober and unable to do much but sit up in bed, I've been watching a lot of news. Percy is having his 15 minutes of fame. He explains that while investigating a terrorist attack, his team stumbled on a prostitution ring and that the senator's daughter was amongst the girls recovered. There are no shots of any of the girls, but the senator makes several appearance making prepared statements about the return of his daughter, explaining that she is receiving medical treatment. Yeah, to remove all the drek they put in her head.
Danny is also in the news with a couple of hard hitting articles on the subject. The feds are denying any leaks from their department. That makes me laugh so hard it hurts.
Seattle, November 16, 2050
I finally get a call from Danny. The senator wants to meet us. We're all pretty much recovered, although my ribs still hurt a bit and I'm still sober.
The meet is on a boat on an out of the way dock. The senator is still a public figure and even though the case is old news, he probably doesn't want to be seen dealing with shadowrunners. Away from the camera, the senator looks older with a bit of a paunch. Or maybe those lines around his eyes are from seeing his daughter again.
He shakes all our hands and offers us drinks. The padre asks for a scotch, but I just ask for water. I tell myself its because I'm still on the drugs. He hands over a small briefcase, which I pass to Finlay to check. I ask him about his daughter and he tells me she is undergoing surgery to remove the cyberware the yakuza installed in her head and will then receive therapy to help recover her memories. He looks despondently down at the cabin floor and says that he thinks his little girl may be gone for good.
I growl at him, harsher than I intend to, that she is still his kid. Is this the sort of reaction I can expect from my own parents?
Then with another round of thanks and handshakes, we are ushered out. Back on the dock, I ask Danny how many girls the feds rescued. Eighteen, of which none apart from Felicity matched the names on the list from the hospital. Well, it's a start.
September 26, 2010
Billie's Journal
Seattle, day 1
My dreams are haunted by the image of a freckle-faced elf girl. She looks a bit like me, but not as pretty. But then, she hasn't had the plastic surgery yet. She is in a car crash. Tattooed asian men drag her from the car. She tries to get away from them, running, running, but there are too many of them. They stick wires in her head and do terrible things to her.
I wake in a sweat, my tongue thick with the taste of whiskey. Even the booze can't keep the nightmares away any more. For a moment, I don't know where I am, then remember that we are in the garage in Tacoma. I pull the sheets over my head and try to get back to sleep.
My meeting with the journalist, Kinkaid, had been a waste of time. He had looked at me like I was a crazy woman. I think maybe I am.
With no other leads to go on, I ask Zero to see what she can find on the Green Ronin. She seems a little peeved at first, asking why I don't use my 'other decker friend'. I explain again that I only used Aurora to keep the rest of the team out of trouble. She relents but I can see she is still mad at me for not going to her first. I feel bad and it's not just the hangover. Apart from Sheriff and Aurora, these are the only people in the world I feel I can trust. I don't want to lose them.
She gets back to me later in the day. A couple of hours in the matrix and a few caffeinated sugary drinks seeem to have improved her mood, while dark clouds still circle over my head. Seems our guy is a player, likes to hang out at the flash clubs like Dante's Inferno and Penumbra. Strangely, the decker community doesn't like him. Too much attitude plus his alleged ties with the yakuza. And he like blondes, preferably well-endowed ones, so at least that means I won't be the bait this time.
We don't know his schedule, so we take turns staking out the two clubs. I try to fit in, even wearing a skirt and drinking whisky sodas instead of straight shots. But my feeble attempts to converse with the few sararimen that try to hit on me fall flat and after a couple of days people just seem to ignore the crazy lady in the corner.
The padre has more luck, striking up conversations with the bar staff at Penumbra and getting to know a couple of them well enough to crack jokes and talk politics late into the night.
Zero and Finlay play a couple. Our plan is to identify the nights when the Green Ronin comes to the clubs then for the two of them to have a fight and hopefully our man will make his move on the 'dumped' Zero. When they leave we grab him and the padre uses his magic to get some answers out of him. Then I will kill him.
Seattle, day 10
Finally some luck. After hanging about the damn clubs for over a week, Finlay finally spots our man. On subsequent nights the padre and myself also make him and we can start watching him more closely to tie down his schedule and favourite spots. The fragger seems to be with a different woman every night and even when he runs into an old flame, they are still friendly to him. He's not that good looking, but definitely seems to have a way with the ladies.
Seattle, day 12
I missed a call from Kincaid last night. He wants to meet. Maybe he's changed his mind about me being crazy. We agree to meet at the coffee shop in a couple of days.
Seattle, day 14
Zero has got in contact with an old mage buddy of hers. He has a line on some Rohypnol, one of the date-rape drugs. As well as making it's victims more susceptible to suggestion, it has the nice side effect that they remember nothing of the time they are under it's influence. Maybe I won't have to kill the Green Ronin after all, although the fragger still deserves it if he's working with these scum.
I meet with Kincaid in the afternoon, with the padre providing backup. He's sitting in the cafe typing on an old fashioned laptop computer. He doesn't notice me coming in, until I slip in across from him. I offer him some of the contents of my flask and he shakes his head. I shrug and add a shot to my coffee.
I ask him why he called me back. He tells me he's done some digging and some of the info I gave him adds up. His contacts have heard rumors of these bunraku palaces, where the girls are programmed with fake personalities to become and do whatever the customer wants.
Also, he has turned up missing person's report posted with Lone Star by a Mr McCullough shortly after the girl that looks like me went missing from the hospital. He gives me a disk with the report and information on the people that could be, that are, my parents. I stare at the disk for a long moment, only looking up at him when he asks me a question. He wants to know what my stake is in this whole affair. Am I just after the money, out for revenge, or something else.
I look up at the ceiling, thinking before I reply. What do I want? He catches the eye of a waitress and orders two more coffees. I add a shot to mine and we drink for a minute in silence before I reply.
I tell him that when I started looking into my past, I had the idea that I could just pick up my old life where I had left off. But I am not that girl, not anymore. I think I would still like to meet my family, but I wonder how they would react to me. Can I go back to being Wilhemina McCullough? I doubt it. Will they accept Billie back into their family? I don't know.
What about the yakuza he asks. I tell him straight that if a few of them end up dead, I won't lose sleep over it. But that's not what I really care about. I don't particularly care if they die or go to prison. But there are seventeen other girls out there, possibly even more and possibly including the senator's daughter, that might still alive and in one of these places. Aurora and Sheriff got me out. I can't leave them behind.
He gives me a smile at that and his shoulders relax a bit. He tells me that as an investigative reporter, his job is to expose these sort of things but that he needs more information. He offers to talk to the senator about the reward for his daughter; he is still in touch with him. He also mentions a contact in the agency. I don't ask him which one, but I do tell him that I've done things that any agency wouldn't approve of. But if his agency contact can accept that, then he's just another Johnson to me and I'm willing to at least talk to him.
He tells me he'll talk to him and get back to me. I explain that he can contact me at any time, but that if I am 'working' I might not answer. He nods and shakes my hand. Call me 'Danny' he says. Billie I reply without thinking. After all, that's who I am.
Seattle, day 16
Tonight's the night. Zero has the drugs from her contact and is dressed to the nines. Finlay is also dressed up and the two head into Penumbra, with the padre following shortly after. I stay in the van. Zero is transmitting a live feed from her goggles to a screen in the back in case anything goes wrong.
Around midnight, Zero is dancing with a plain-looking asian sarariman. She pulls on his tie and grinds against him. I close one eye and look away from the video. Then Finlay is there. He looks angry but I can't hear him over the music. A troll separates the two of them and I watch him being led towards the exit. Zero has a few words with the man she was dancing with and head's to the bar and orders a drink, gulping it down.
Finaly comes back to the van and suits up in his armor. He also stashes his spear in his duster and attaches the sling of his new P90 SMG to the harness of his armor jacket. On the screen Zero watches as the Green Ronin approaches her with a drink. Soon the two are in conversation. Finlay reminds her to keep her mind on the job and she responds by looking the mark up and down. We both groan in unison.
The two of them get a lot friendlier over the next couple of hours, but with nothing much happening I drift off with my hat over my eyes. Finlay nudges me awake around 3:20 am and I can see from the monitor they are on the move.
They climb into a small sports car and after some kissing the car moves off. The kissing continues as the car drives itself into the night. The padre climbs into the back taking up Finlay's seat as the ork has moved up front to drive. We aim to intercept them before they get back to Green Ronin's appartment, but the little sports car is fast and we are struggling to catch up in the van.
As we head down I-90 towards Bellevue, disaster strikes. Zero has moved from the passenger seat and is sitting astride the decker unbuttoning his shirt. Astounded I relate what's going on to Finlay. We are almost on them, when out of nowhere a Lone Star cruiser pulls up behind us and flashes his lights. I can hear Finlay cursing as he pulls over to the hard shoulder.
The cop comes up to the driver side. Finlay opens the window halfway, trying to conceal the fact he is wearing armor and carrying weapons while the padre and I duck down out of sight in the back. It's a shakedown. The cop tells Finlay one of the van's side lights are out and when Finlay says they were fine when he last checked the bent cop smashes the driver's side light with his baton. I can hear the steering wheel groan under Finlay's grip as he works to stay calm. Zero will be pissed at the damage to the van.
Finaly pays off the cop with 100 yen in cash and they let us go with just a warning. Fraggers! Once they head off, Finlay drives like a maniac to catch up to the sport's car. We catch up just as they take the off-ramp to Bellevue. We're ready to take them at the next light when another cop car, KE this time, pulls out from behind a sign and flags us down. As the sport's car pulls away, Finlay quickly hands his weapons into the back.
One of the KE guys is grilling Finlay about what he is doing in Bellevue this time of night, while his buddy pokes around the van. Cop two asks what's in the back just as Finlay replies he is here to pick up a friend who went home with some guy who turned out to be a jerk and called him for a lift. As the padre and I prepare to take out the KE guys, they decide he's on the level and let us go. With big sighs of relief we move on. The cops follow us a couple of blocks then turn off. Finlay pushes the speed limit as much as he can but we arrive too late and Zero and Green Ronin are already in the lift on the way up to his appartment.
After what seems like forever, Zero finally gets her mind on the job and suggests that she invite her friend over for a threesome. The decker is a bit hesitant at first, claiming he is feeling the drink - or more likely the drugs, but after some more kissing and fondling, he finally agrees.
We feed her the van's current licence number and my new name. Even I have to think for a second. I switch places with Finlay and with the two boys invisible in the back, we pull up at the entrance some fifteen minutes later.
The guard just rolls his eyes when I tell him who I am coming to see and lets us in. We take the lift up and buzz his door. I'm surprised when Zero opens the door wearing just a sheet and a grin. Her cheeks are flushed and her hair messed up. Finlay and the padre nearly knock us down as they push past me and into the flat.
It's pretty swish place, even nicer than the one we had downtown. In the bedroom, the Ronin is lying on the bed, naked and half asleep. I lean over to check on him and he mumbles something and tries to kiss me. I react before I realise what I'm doing. The new arm responds fast, snapping back and smashing into his face. Lucky the safety limiters were on, but he still slumps back unconscious. Shit.
My dreams are haunted by the image of a freckle-faced elf girl. She looks a bit like me, but not as pretty. But then, she hasn't had the plastic surgery yet. She is in a car crash. Tattooed asian men drag her from the car. She tries to get away from them, running, running, but there are too many of them. They stick wires in her head and do terrible things to her.
I wake in a sweat, my tongue thick with the taste of whiskey. Even the booze can't keep the nightmares away any more. For a moment, I don't know where I am, then remember that we are in the garage in Tacoma. I pull the sheets over my head and try to get back to sleep.
My meeting with the journalist, Kinkaid, had been a waste of time. He had looked at me like I was a crazy woman. I think maybe I am.
With no other leads to go on, I ask Zero to see what she can find on the Green Ronin. She seems a little peeved at first, asking why I don't use my 'other decker friend'. I explain again that I only used Aurora to keep the rest of the team out of trouble. She relents but I can see she is still mad at me for not going to her first. I feel bad and it's not just the hangover. Apart from Sheriff and Aurora, these are the only people in the world I feel I can trust. I don't want to lose them.
She gets back to me later in the day. A couple of hours in the matrix and a few caffeinated sugary drinks seeem to have improved her mood, while dark clouds still circle over my head. Seems our guy is a player, likes to hang out at the flash clubs like Dante's Inferno and Penumbra. Strangely, the decker community doesn't like him. Too much attitude plus his alleged ties with the yakuza. And he like blondes, preferably well-endowed ones, so at least that means I won't be the bait this time.
We don't know his schedule, so we take turns staking out the two clubs. I try to fit in, even wearing a skirt and drinking whisky sodas instead of straight shots. But my feeble attempts to converse with the few sararimen that try to hit on me fall flat and after a couple of days people just seem to ignore the crazy lady in the corner.
The padre has more luck, striking up conversations with the bar staff at Penumbra and getting to know a couple of them well enough to crack jokes and talk politics late into the night.
Zero and Finlay play a couple. Our plan is to identify the nights when the Green Ronin comes to the clubs then for the two of them to have a fight and hopefully our man will make his move on the 'dumped' Zero. When they leave we grab him and the padre uses his magic to get some answers out of him. Then I will kill him.
Seattle, day 10
Finally some luck. After hanging about the damn clubs for over a week, Finlay finally spots our man. On subsequent nights the padre and myself also make him and we can start watching him more closely to tie down his schedule and favourite spots. The fragger seems to be with a different woman every night and even when he runs into an old flame, they are still friendly to him. He's not that good looking, but definitely seems to have a way with the ladies.
Seattle, day 12
I missed a call from Kincaid last night. He wants to meet. Maybe he's changed his mind about me being crazy. We agree to meet at the coffee shop in a couple of days.
Seattle, day 14
Zero has got in contact with an old mage buddy of hers. He has a line on some Rohypnol, one of the date-rape drugs. As well as making it's victims more susceptible to suggestion, it has the nice side effect that they remember nothing of the time they are under it's influence. Maybe I won't have to kill the Green Ronin after all, although the fragger still deserves it if he's working with these scum.
I meet with Kincaid in the afternoon, with the padre providing backup. He's sitting in the cafe typing on an old fashioned laptop computer. He doesn't notice me coming in, until I slip in across from him. I offer him some of the contents of my flask and he shakes his head. I shrug and add a shot to my coffee.
I ask him why he called me back. He tells me he's done some digging and some of the info I gave him adds up. His contacts have heard rumors of these bunraku palaces, where the girls are programmed with fake personalities to become and do whatever the customer wants.
Also, he has turned up missing person's report posted with Lone Star by a Mr McCullough shortly after the girl that looks like me went missing from the hospital. He gives me a disk with the report and information on the people that could be, that are, my parents. I stare at the disk for a long moment, only looking up at him when he asks me a question. He wants to know what my stake is in this whole affair. Am I just after the money, out for revenge, or something else.
I look up at the ceiling, thinking before I reply. What do I want? He catches the eye of a waitress and orders two more coffees. I add a shot to mine and we drink for a minute in silence before I reply.
I tell him that when I started looking into my past, I had the idea that I could just pick up my old life where I had left off. But I am not that girl, not anymore. I think I would still like to meet my family, but I wonder how they would react to me. Can I go back to being Wilhemina McCullough? I doubt it. Will they accept Billie back into their family? I don't know.
What about the yakuza he asks. I tell him straight that if a few of them end up dead, I won't lose sleep over it. But that's not what I really care about. I don't particularly care if they die or go to prison. But there are seventeen other girls out there, possibly even more and possibly including the senator's daughter, that might still alive and in one of these places. Aurora and Sheriff got me out. I can't leave them behind.
He gives me a smile at that and his shoulders relax a bit. He tells me that as an investigative reporter, his job is to expose these sort of things but that he needs more information. He offers to talk to the senator about the reward for his daughter; he is still in touch with him. He also mentions a contact in the agency. I don't ask him which one, but I do tell him that I've done things that any agency wouldn't approve of. But if his agency contact can accept that, then he's just another Johnson to me and I'm willing to at least talk to him.
He tells me he'll talk to him and get back to me. I explain that he can contact me at any time, but that if I am 'working' I might not answer. He nods and shakes my hand. Call me 'Danny' he says. Billie I reply without thinking. After all, that's who I am.
Seattle, day 16
Tonight's the night. Zero has the drugs from her contact and is dressed to the nines. Finlay is also dressed up and the two head into Penumbra, with the padre following shortly after. I stay in the van. Zero is transmitting a live feed from her goggles to a screen in the back in case anything goes wrong.
Around midnight, Zero is dancing with a plain-looking asian sarariman. She pulls on his tie and grinds against him. I close one eye and look away from the video. Then Finlay is there. He looks angry but I can't hear him over the music. A troll separates the two of them and I watch him being led towards the exit. Zero has a few words with the man she was dancing with and head's to the bar and orders a drink, gulping it down.
Finaly comes back to the van and suits up in his armor. He also stashes his spear in his duster and attaches the sling of his new P90 SMG to the harness of his armor jacket. On the screen Zero watches as the Green Ronin approaches her with a drink. Soon the two are in conversation. Finlay reminds her to keep her mind on the job and she responds by looking the mark up and down. We both groan in unison.
The two of them get a lot friendlier over the next couple of hours, but with nothing much happening I drift off with my hat over my eyes. Finlay nudges me awake around 3:20 am and I can see from the monitor they are on the move.
They climb into a small sports car and after some kissing the car moves off. The kissing continues as the car drives itself into the night. The padre climbs into the back taking up Finlay's seat as the ork has moved up front to drive. We aim to intercept them before they get back to Green Ronin's appartment, but the little sports car is fast and we are struggling to catch up in the van.
As we head down I-90 towards Bellevue, disaster strikes. Zero has moved from the passenger seat and is sitting astride the decker unbuttoning his shirt. Astounded I relate what's going on to Finlay. We are almost on them, when out of nowhere a Lone Star cruiser pulls up behind us and flashes his lights. I can hear Finlay cursing as he pulls over to the hard shoulder.
The cop comes up to the driver side. Finlay opens the window halfway, trying to conceal the fact he is wearing armor and carrying weapons while the padre and I duck down out of sight in the back. It's a shakedown. The cop tells Finlay one of the van's side lights are out and when Finlay says they were fine when he last checked the bent cop smashes the driver's side light with his baton. I can hear the steering wheel groan under Finlay's grip as he works to stay calm. Zero will be pissed at the damage to the van.
Finaly pays off the cop with 100 yen in cash and they let us go with just a warning. Fraggers! Once they head off, Finlay drives like a maniac to catch up to the sport's car. We catch up just as they take the off-ramp to Bellevue. We're ready to take them at the next light when another cop car, KE this time, pulls out from behind a sign and flags us down. As the sport's car pulls away, Finlay quickly hands his weapons into the back.
One of the KE guys is grilling Finlay about what he is doing in Bellevue this time of night, while his buddy pokes around the van. Cop two asks what's in the back just as Finlay replies he is here to pick up a friend who went home with some guy who turned out to be a jerk and called him for a lift. As the padre and I prepare to take out the KE guys, they decide he's on the level and let us go. With big sighs of relief we move on. The cops follow us a couple of blocks then turn off. Finlay pushes the speed limit as much as he can but we arrive too late and Zero and Green Ronin are already in the lift on the way up to his appartment.
After what seems like forever, Zero finally gets her mind on the job and suggests that she invite her friend over for a threesome. The decker is a bit hesitant at first, claiming he is feeling the drink - or more likely the drugs, but after some more kissing and fondling, he finally agrees.
We feed her the van's current licence number and my new name. Even I have to think for a second. I switch places with Finlay and with the two boys invisible in the back, we pull up at the entrance some fifteen minutes later.
The guard just rolls his eyes when I tell him who I am coming to see and lets us in. We take the lift up and buzz his door. I'm surprised when Zero opens the door wearing just a sheet and a grin. Her cheeks are flushed and her hair messed up. Finlay and the padre nearly knock us down as they push past me and into the flat.
It's pretty swish place, even nicer than the one we had downtown. In the bedroom, the Ronin is lying on the bed, naked and half asleep. I lean over to check on him and he mumbles something and tries to kiss me. I react before I realise what I'm doing. The new arm responds fast, snapping back and smashing into his face. Lucky the safety limiters were on, but he still slumps back unconscious. Shit.
September 8, 2010
Karnak the Killer
Chapter 3 - The Tower of the Magi
Karnak was disappointed. They had been escorted quickly through the tower with barely a chance to see anything beyond brief glimpses of the building’s impressive architecture and into this non-descript room with a single window. He stood, squeezed between Aardaal and Carrick, in one corner of the small room. Juniper dressed in her Elementalist’s robes, with her staff held in one hand stood before them on one side of a small plain table.
On the other side sat three old men, all mages. Although of which exact discipline, Karnak could not tell. They were explaining the rules of the initiation to Juniper. She would have one full day to complete the task. She could take as many companions with her as she wanted, although they would face the same dangers as she did and would need to sign a waiver that they accepted these risks of their own free will.
With the paperwork out of the way they were led down narrow twisting steps to a dusty cellar under the Tower. With a few formal words, a young apprentice presented Juniper with a necklace containing four different coloured gemstones, then pulled a lever and a section of the wall slid back. The four entered cautiously and the panel slid back into place behind them.
The hallway ahead of them was dimly lit with fading light quartzes. The walls and floor were bare stone and the passage was just wide and high enough for Carrick to pass through. The only feature was a large rune on the floor halfway along the corridor. As they approached the rune, one of the gems on the necklace flared into life, giving off a faint red glow.
“This is the symbol for fire” explained Juniper to the others.
As they approached the end of the corridor, they could see another fire rune on the wall, which slid aside revealing a four-way junction. At the centre of the junction was another rune. As they entered, the door with the fire rune slid silently back into place behind them.
“This one is water.” confirmed Juniper as the blue gem on her necklace flared into life. The walls of the other passages also showed runes and Juniper pointed them out for the others.
“Fire behind us, water to the left, air straight ahead and earth to the right.”
“Only fire and water are glowing on the necklace” said Karnak, thinking out loud. “We came through fire, so I guess that means we go through water.”
Juniper approached the door with the water rune and indeed it slid back into the wall. Ahead lay another corridor similar to the first. The rune in the middle of this one was the symbol for earth.
“Mayhap, we simply need to activate all four gemstones to complete the trial”, suggested Aardaal.
“I hope it is as simple as that”, muttered Juniper with a frown. “But I fear it may be more complex. And more dangerous.”
The third gem, an emerald began to glow with an green light as they passed the symbol for earth. With three gemstones glowing they had high hopes of finishing the trial quickly. But the next junction contained the symbol for water and as they entered it, the light faded from the blue gem.
Over the next hour, the four explored several corridors and junctions, often backtracking to activate one or more of the gems. They made slow progress through the maze until they realised they were in danger of having no gems active.
“What happens if they all go out?” asked Karnak.
“I suppose we fail the trial.” rumbled Carrick.
“You mean we will be stuck here forever? Won‘t they let us out?” demanded Aardaal.
Juniper gulped as the true danger of the trial became apparent, “I-I don’t think so.”
With their lives on the line, the party took a moment to consider their options. Karnak had picked up some fish pies on the way to the tower that morning and offered the still warm pastries around. Carrick had mapped out the maze on a piece of parchment and they studied it carefully, while they munched on the pies.
“There must be a solution,” muttered Juniper, her brow furrowed in concentration.
Karnak picked at his tusks, deep in thought. He looked carefully up and down the bare corridor.
“Maybe we missed something” he grunted as his eye caught what looked like the outline of a doorway on the opposite wall.
“A hidden passage”, declared Aardaal. “Carrick help me open it.”
The obsidiman pushed at the wall where Aardaal indicated and a section of the wall twisted open.
Aardaal slipped through the opening. Beyond was a large dimly-lit room. He could hear water lapping against stone and a damp, musty smell assailed his nostrils. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, he could see a narrow strip of stone leading across the room to the far wall, black water on either side.
However, more worrying was the hunched figure in the middle of stone walkway. Its head cocked up as he entered, sniffing at the air like some beast. Studying the figure, Aardaal could now see that’s the creatures eyes were sewn shut and it’s arms ended not in hands but short, broad blades.
Back at the entrance, Carrick gulped. He was more concerned by the dark water on either side of the narrow walkway, than the creature on it. Obsidimen could not swim.
Aardaal edged cautiously out along the walkway towards the creature. As he got closer, he could see that it was tethered to the middle of the walkway by a chain. The creature hissed and lunged at him, only to be pulled up short.
Aardaal dropped into a crouch and edged closer. When the creature lunged again, he waited until the chain pulled it to a halt then slashed at it with his father’s sword. The beast howled in rage. It thrashed against it’s tether and to the shock of the four adventurers, ripped the chain clean from the floor. It immediately charged at Aardaal in a blind rage, but the sword master kept his cool. As it reached him, he twisted to the side and gave it a gentle push that took it off the side of the walkway and into the dark water with a loud splash.
The water settled and of the creature there was no sign. The four edged carefully across the walkway to the other side, the obsidiman on his hands and knees. With some pushing at the wall they managed to open another concealed doorway that took them back into one of the corridors they had previously traversed. This gave them some additional possibilities for changing which gems were lit. While Carrick waited, for he was not keen to cross the walkway more than necessary, the rest of the party moved back and forth between the passages and corridors until they had the right combination of gems activated to move deeper into the maze.
They returned to water room and called out for Carrick to join them. As the obsidiman stepped onto the walkway, Aardaal‘s keen eyes spotted a movement. The creature they had thought dead, was climbing out of the water and up the wall at the obsidiman’s feet.
“Carrick, ware! The creature is still alive.”
Carrick backed out of the room, setting his shield and drawing his heavy spiked mace. Dripping with water, the pale cadaver crawled onto the walkway. It sniffed at the air and turned towards Aardaal at the other end of the walkway. Spotting his chance, Carrick smacked it on the head with a bone crushing blow. The creature roared as the obsidiman’s blow crushed the back of its skull, then turned and lashed at him with a frenzy of blows.
‘Too fast’ were Carrick’s last thoughts as the beast’s blows stung his flesh. A normal man would have been flayed alive, but his training allowed him to parry some of the blows and his thick skin absorbed the worst of the others. Still the pain and shock were overwhelming and he sank to his knees and toppled sideways.
Juniper’s earth dart hit the creature in the back and it spun towards the others. Aardaal and Karnak were already edging out onto the walkway. Aardaal had his sword at the ready and Karnak followed banging his sword on his shield and shouting, “Hey, blind and ugly. Over here.”
The creature charged again. Aardaal set his footing and drove his blade hard into it’s chest as it reached him. There was a squirt of liquid from a pouch sewn into it’s chest and it stopped with a croak, then tumbled slowly into the water. They rushed to the other side and checked on the fallen obsidiman.
“Still breathing,” sighed Juniper. “His wounds are not deep. He will live.”
While Juniper patched him up, the two men watched the water for signs of movement. This time the creature did not resurface. They rested for what seemed like hours, but could not tell for sure. Then, with a soft moan, Carrick’s eyes flickered open.
“Welcome back my friend,” grinned Karnak. They helped the obsidiman back to his feet and proceeded slowly onwards.
However, they had no sooner gone past the next junction when they realised that they could again go no further without being trapped. While Juniper and Carrick studied the obsidiman’s map, Karnak and Aardaal checked the walls for concealed doors.
“Here” announced Aardaal and Carrick pushed at the wall where he indicated. A cold mist billowed from the hidden room as the door swung open. Karnak and Aardaal slipped inside. The room seemed to soak up the light from quartzes in the hall, so even with their sensitive eyes, they could only see a few paces into the room.
“I like this not” uttered Karnak. They edged across the room, but could see no doorway in the opposite wall. Then Karnak shivered at a cold touch on his shoulder. Spinning around he could see nothing. “There is something in here.”
The two hurried back to the door and Carrick pushed it closed behind them.
“No way out that way,” wheezed Karnak, his heart pounding more from fright than exertion.
The group huddled together in silence, while Juniper studied Carrick's map. Quite some time later, she finally looked up. “I believe I have the solution." She explained the sequence of corridors and junctions they needed to follow to activate the gems to get them through the next door.
“The only problem is that once we go through it, we will be unable to return.”
The group was silent for a moment. Aardaal stood statue-still, Carrick seemed lost in thought and Karnak picked nervously at his tusks.
“Well, we can sit here and die or go on. I vote we go on.” he offered at last. One by one, the others nodded.
Juniper walked the planned route and came back to them with the required gems lit. They stepped into the junction and the ruby dulled, leaving only the sapphire representing air lit. She approached the door with the air symbol and it slid aside revealing a set of stairs leading upwards. Behind her, the three men breathed out a collective sigh of relief.
At the top of the stairs, the same young novice who had let them into the maze was sitting at small reading desk. He looked up from the heavy book he was poring over and raised an eyebrow.
“We were on the verge of giving up on you. Initiates normally complete it within the first couple of hours or not at all.”
“And what happens to those who don’t make it in the allotted time,” questioned Karnak.
The novice shrugged and nodded towards the injured Carrick. “Looks like you already found out.”
Closing his book, the novice stood up from the desk and escorted them back to the room where they had first met the Tower’s mages.
They waited for about an hour before the mages assembled. Karnak yawned realising that it was approaching dawn and that the novice was probably rousing the mages from their beds. Once they finally arrived, they sat conversing in hushed whispers amongst themselves for a few minutes before the eldest turned to them and addressed Juniper.
“Juniper Elderberry”, he intoned. “You have successfully completed the trial of elements. We welcome you as a novice of the Tower.
Nodding towards the necklace she still wore, he continued, “Your token of completion will allow you access to the tower at any time. You may freely use the library, but for now the rest of the tower is off limits. For your own safety, of course.”
Juniper nodded. She was glowing with pride and could barely contain her excitement. When the old mages finally shuffled out of the room, she jumped up and hugged first Carrick then Aardaal and finally Karnak.
“Thank you,” she gushed. “This means everything to me.”
“Carrick deserves most of the credit”, laughed Karnak. “He took on that creature on his own and has the bumps to show for it.”
Carrick nodded, rubbing at his bandaged arm.
Karnak was disappointed. They had been escorted quickly through the tower with barely a chance to see anything beyond brief glimpses of the building’s impressive architecture and into this non-descript room with a single window. He stood, squeezed between Aardaal and Carrick, in one corner of the small room. Juniper dressed in her Elementalist’s robes, with her staff held in one hand stood before them on one side of a small plain table.
On the other side sat three old men, all mages. Although of which exact discipline, Karnak could not tell. They were explaining the rules of the initiation to Juniper. She would have one full day to complete the task. She could take as many companions with her as she wanted, although they would face the same dangers as she did and would need to sign a waiver that they accepted these risks of their own free will.
With the paperwork out of the way they were led down narrow twisting steps to a dusty cellar under the Tower. With a few formal words, a young apprentice presented Juniper with a necklace containing four different coloured gemstones, then pulled a lever and a section of the wall slid back. The four entered cautiously and the panel slid back into place behind them.
The hallway ahead of them was dimly lit with fading light quartzes. The walls and floor were bare stone and the passage was just wide and high enough for Carrick to pass through. The only feature was a large rune on the floor halfway along the corridor. As they approached the rune, one of the gems on the necklace flared into life, giving off a faint red glow.
“This is the symbol for fire” explained Juniper to the others.
As they approached the end of the corridor, they could see another fire rune on the wall, which slid aside revealing a four-way junction. At the centre of the junction was another rune. As they entered, the door with the fire rune slid silently back into place behind them.
“This one is water.” confirmed Juniper as the blue gem on her necklace flared into life. The walls of the other passages also showed runes and Juniper pointed them out for the others.
“Fire behind us, water to the left, air straight ahead and earth to the right.”
“Only fire and water are glowing on the necklace” said Karnak, thinking out loud. “We came through fire, so I guess that means we go through water.”
Juniper approached the door with the water rune and indeed it slid back into the wall. Ahead lay another corridor similar to the first. The rune in the middle of this one was the symbol for earth.
“Mayhap, we simply need to activate all four gemstones to complete the trial”, suggested Aardaal.
“I hope it is as simple as that”, muttered Juniper with a frown. “But I fear it may be more complex. And more dangerous.”
The third gem, an emerald began to glow with an green light as they passed the symbol for earth. With three gemstones glowing they had high hopes of finishing the trial quickly. But the next junction contained the symbol for water and as they entered it, the light faded from the blue gem.
Over the next hour, the four explored several corridors and junctions, often backtracking to activate one or more of the gems. They made slow progress through the maze until they realised they were in danger of having no gems active.
“What happens if they all go out?” asked Karnak.
“I suppose we fail the trial.” rumbled Carrick.
“You mean we will be stuck here forever? Won‘t they let us out?” demanded Aardaal.
Juniper gulped as the true danger of the trial became apparent, “I-I don’t think so.”
With their lives on the line, the party took a moment to consider their options. Karnak had picked up some fish pies on the way to the tower that morning and offered the still warm pastries around. Carrick had mapped out the maze on a piece of parchment and they studied it carefully, while they munched on the pies.
“There must be a solution,” muttered Juniper, her brow furrowed in concentration.
Karnak picked at his tusks, deep in thought. He looked carefully up and down the bare corridor.
“Maybe we missed something” he grunted as his eye caught what looked like the outline of a doorway on the opposite wall.
“A hidden passage”, declared Aardaal. “Carrick help me open it.”
The obsidiman pushed at the wall where Aardaal indicated and a section of the wall twisted open.
Aardaal slipped through the opening. Beyond was a large dimly-lit room. He could hear water lapping against stone and a damp, musty smell assailed his nostrils. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, he could see a narrow strip of stone leading across the room to the far wall, black water on either side.
However, more worrying was the hunched figure in the middle of stone walkway. Its head cocked up as he entered, sniffing at the air like some beast. Studying the figure, Aardaal could now see that’s the creatures eyes were sewn shut and it’s arms ended not in hands but short, broad blades.
Back at the entrance, Carrick gulped. He was more concerned by the dark water on either side of the narrow walkway, than the creature on it. Obsidimen could not swim.
Aardaal edged cautiously out along the walkway towards the creature. As he got closer, he could see that it was tethered to the middle of the walkway by a chain. The creature hissed and lunged at him, only to be pulled up short.
Aardaal dropped into a crouch and edged closer. When the creature lunged again, he waited until the chain pulled it to a halt then slashed at it with his father’s sword. The beast howled in rage. It thrashed against it’s tether and to the shock of the four adventurers, ripped the chain clean from the floor. It immediately charged at Aardaal in a blind rage, but the sword master kept his cool. As it reached him, he twisted to the side and gave it a gentle push that took it off the side of the walkway and into the dark water with a loud splash.
The water settled and of the creature there was no sign. The four edged carefully across the walkway to the other side, the obsidiman on his hands and knees. With some pushing at the wall they managed to open another concealed doorway that took them back into one of the corridors they had previously traversed. This gave them some additional possibilities for changing which gems were lit. While Carrick waited, for he was not keen to cross the walkway more than necessary, the rest of the party moved back and forth between the passages and corridors until they had the right combination of gems activated to move deeper into the maze.
They returned to water room and called out for Carrick to join them. As the obsidiman stepped onto the walkway, Aardaal‘s keen eyes spotted a movement. The creature they had thought dead, was climbing out of the water and up the wall at the obsidiman’s feet.
“Carrick, ware! The creature is still alive.”
Carrick backed out of the room, setting his shield and drawing his heavy spiked mace. Dripping with water, the pale cadaver crawled onto the walkway. It sniffed at the air and turned towards Aardaal at the other end of the walkway. Spotting his chance, Carrick smacked it on the head with a bone crushing blow. The creature roared as the obsidiman’s blow crushed the back of its skull, then turned and lashed at him with a frenzy of blows.
‘Too fast’ were Carrick’s last thoughts as the beast’s blows stung his flesh. A normal man would have been flayed alive, but his training allowed him to parry some of the blows and his thick skin absorbed the worst of the others. Still the pain and shock were overwhelming and he sank to his knees and toppled sideways.
Juniper’s earth dart hit the creature in the back and it spun towards the others. Aardaal and Karnak were already edging out onto the walkway. Aardaal had his sword at the ready and Karnak followed banging his sword on his shield and shouting, “Hey, blind and ugly. Over here.”
The creature charged again. Aardaal set his footing and drove his blade hard into it’s chest as it reached him. There was a squirt of liquid from a pouch sewn into it’s chest and it stopped with a croak, then tumbled slowly into the water. They rushed to the other side and checked on the fallen obsidiman.
“Still breathing,” sighed Juniper. “His wounds are not deep. He will live.”
While Juniper patched him up, the two men watched the water for signs of movement. This time the creature did not resurface. They rested for what seemed like hours, but could not tell for sure. Then, with a soft moan, Carrick’s eyes flickered open.
“Welcome back my friend,” grinned Karnak. They helped the obsidiman back to his feet and proceeded slowly onwards.
However, they had no sooner gone past the next junction when they realised that they could again go no further without being trapped. While Juniper and Carrick studied the obsidiman’s map, Karnak and Aardaal checked the walls for concealed doors.
“Here” announced Aardaal and Carrick pushed at the wall where he indicated. A cold mist billowed from the hidden room as the door swung open. Karnak and Aardaal slipped inside. The room seemed to soak up the light from quartzes in the hall, so even with their sensitive eyes, they could only see a few paces into the room.
“I like this not” uttered Karnak. They edged across the room, but could see no doorway in the opposite wall. Then Karnak shivered at a cold touch on his shoulder. Spinning around he could see nothing. “There is something in here.”
The two hurried back to the door and Carrick pushed it closed behind them.
“No way out that way,” wheezed Karnak, his heart pounding more from fright than exertion.
The group huddled together in silence, while Juniper studied Carrick's map. Quite some time later, she finally looked up. “I believe I have the solution." She explained the sequence of corridors and junctions they needed to follow to activate the gems to get them through the next door.
“The only problem is that once we go through it, we will be unable to return.”
The group was silent for a moment. Aardaal stood statue-still, Carrick seemed lost in thought and Karnak picked nervously at his tusks.
“Well, we can sit here and die or go on. I vote we go on.” he offered at last. One by one, the others nodded.
Juniper walked the planned route and came back to them with the required gems lit. They stepped into the junction and the ruby dulled, leaving only the sapphire representing air lit. She approached the door with the air symbol and it slid aside revealing a set of stairs leading upwards. Behind her, the three men breathed out a collective sigh of relief.
At the top of the stairs, the same young novice who had let them into the maze was sitting at small reading desk. He looked up from the heavy book he was poring over and raised an eyebrow.
“We were on the verge of giving up on you. Initiates normally complete it within the first couple of hours or not at all.”
“And what happens to those who don’t make it in the allotted time,” questioned Karnak.
The novice shrugged and nodded towards the injured Carrick. “Looks like you already found out.”
Closing his book, the novice stood up from the desk and escorted them back to the room where they had first met the Tower’s mages.
They waited for about an hour before the mages assembled. Karnak yawned realising that it was approaching dawn and that the novice was probably rousing the mages from their beds. Once they finally arrived, they sat conversing in hushed whispers amongst themselves for a few minutes before the eldest turned to them and addressed Juniper.
“Juniper Elderberry”, he intoned. “You have successfully completed the trial of elements. We welcome you as a novice of the Tower.
Nodding towards the necklace she still wore, he continued, “Your token of completion will allow you access to the tower at any time. You may freely use the library, but for now the rest of the tower is off limits. For your own safety, of course.”
Juniper nodded. She was glowing with pride and could barely contain her excitement. When the old mages finally shuffled out of the room, she jumped up and hugged first Carrick then Aardaal and finally Karnak.
“Thank you,” she gushed. “This means everything to me.”
“Carrick deserves most of the credit”, laughed Karnak. “He took on that creature on his own and has the bumps to show for it.”
Carrick nodded, rubbing at his bandaged arm.
August 29, 2010
Billie's Journal - Aurora's message
Hello Billy,
The tripswitch I left on the tracer paid off. Your hunch was right. Someone did run a check on Seattle Children's Hospital's records. And whoever was doing the sniffing was good. He found the trace and report, tripped it on purpose and then waited around to see if anyone would come to have a look...cocky bastard. I watched the whole scene unfold in stealth mode. The decker that showed up was good, but the snooper was better.
I only realised the 'snooper' had mirrored himself when the new arrival tried to ambush and crash him, only to find too late that he shredded a decoy while leaving himself open to a counterattack. It was over really before it began. The snooper crashed our guy and then went and checked where his signal came from.
I waited for a short while and then went and checked myself.
Anyway, the guy that was paid to keep an eye on the hospital files is Yoshi Takemura aka 'the green ronin'. He's a cocky and elitist SOB. He calls himself an 'independent' data specialist but almost all his work involves the Yakuza.
The address the hack originated from is Pacific Heights Road N° 22 in Bellevue. Posh condoplex in a real nice neighbourhood. Top notch security. Also, Bellevue is a stronghold for the Yakuza.
I figured your case wouldn't be unique, so I also ran a few pattern recognition and data mining programs on the hospital records looking for data gaps. I found quite a few. Looks like the hospital's got some skin traders inside. Unfortunately no name to link the gaps together, but when I ran a search and analysis on a couple of variables such as accidents and patients brought into Seattle's Childrens and crosslinked that to records of missing girls around the suspected year of your abduction, I came up with a long list of girls that vanished without a trace.
Details on each of the girls are in the attached files. I also attached the search parameters I used in case your decker friend wants to do some further snooping, but one case is interesting: Felicity Berman, daughter of then Senator of NY Eckhart Berman. The case raised a pretty big stink when it broke, because Lone Star completely bungled it. When the father got a court order to have the case transferred to the FBI, LS had to admit they had lost all forensic material which could have led an FBI mage to the girl. There were strong suspicions at the time that LS bungled the case deliberately because the Senator was one of the people that got LS taken off the NY city contract.
The girl disappeared about 9 months before we got you out, while she was visiting Seattle. She was involved in a minor traffic accident and taken to...drum roll: Seattle's Children. After that nothing. Once the Feds got involved they checked what they could, but there were no records of her in the hospital's system, no sighitng of her on sec camera's and the pediatrician on duty at the emergeny ward when she would have been brought in swore he'd never even seen the girl.
A couple of possible sources worth checking further are LS's databases, but good luck with that. Hospital staff records of the last 6 years may be interesting as well - amazing how easy those were to access and copy. Privacy just ain't what it used to be ;).
Good luck hunting.
A.
Attached files:
Dora Craig, elf
Flower Tuci, elf
Esmeralda Bennet, elf
Wilhelmina McCullough, elf [this girl looks a bit like you]
Jane Summers, human
Felicity Berman, human [the senator's daughter]
Jade Goodall, human
Yuan Yi, human, chinese
Mai Ling, human, chinese
Myatsuko Yoko, human, japanese
Iris [no family name], elf
Finella Laurelin, tir tairngire citizen
Mira Wallcot, elf
Jain Zar, elf
Leila Haraldson, elf
Star Haraldson, elf [Leila and Star are twins]
Torrun Hallmaren, elf
Maria Hindmarsh, elf
Search algorithms
Personnel records [folder]
Berman case articles [folder]
The tripswitch I left on the tracer paid off. Your hunch was right. Someone did run a check on Seattle Children's Hospital's records. And whoever was doing the sniffing was good. He found the trace and report, tripped it on purpose and then waited around to see if anyone would come to have a look...cocky bastard. I watched the whole scene unfold in stealth mode. The decker that showed up was good, but the snooper was better.
I only realised the 'snooper' had mirrored himself when the new arrival tried to ambush and crash him, only to find too late that he shredded a decoy while leaving himself open to a counterattack. It was over really before it began. The snooper crashed our guy and then went and checked where his signal came from.
I waited for a short while and then went and checked myself.
Anyway, the guy that was paid to keep an eye on the hospital files is Yoshi Takemura aka 'the green ronin'. He's a cocky and elitist SOB. He calls himself an 'independent' data specialist but almost all his work involves the Yakuza.
The address the hack originated from is Pacific Heights Road N° 22 in Bellevue. Posh condoplex in a real nice neighbourhood. Top notch security. Also, Bellevue is a stronghold for the Yakuza.
I figured your case wouldn't be unique, so I also ran a few pattern recognition and data mining programs on the hospital records looking for data gaps. I found quite a few. Looks like the hospital's got some skin traders inside. Unfortunately no name to link the gaps together, but when I ran a search and analysis on a couple of variables such as accidents and patients brought into Seattle's Childrens and crosslinked that to records of missing girls around the suspected year of your abduction, I came up with a long list of girls that vanished without a trace.
Details on each of the girls are in the attached files. I also attached the search parameters I used in case your decker friend wants to do some further snooping, but one case is interesting: Felicity Berman, daughter of then Senator of NY Eckhart Berman. The case raised a pretty big stink when it broke, because Lone Star completely bungled it. When the father got a court order to have the case transferred to the FBI, LS had to admit they had lost all forensic material which could have led an FBI mage to the girl. There were strong suspicions at the time that LS bungled the case deliberately because the Senator was one of the people that got LS taken off the NY city contract.
The girl disappeared about 9 months before we got you out, while she was visiting Seattle. She was involved in a minor traffic accident and taken to...drum roll: Seattle's Children. After that nothing. Once the Feds got involved they checked what they could, but there were no records of her in the hospital's system, no sighitng of her on sec camera's and the pediatrician on duty at the emergeny ward when she would have been brought in swore he'd never even seen the girl.
A couple of possible sources worth checking further are LS's databases, but good luck with that. Hospital staff records of the last 6 years may be interesting as well - amazing how easy those were to access and copy. Privacy just ain't what it used to be ;).
Good luck hunting.
A.
Attached files:
Dora Craig, elf
Flower Tuci, elf
Esmeralda Bennet, elf
Wilhelmina McCullough, elf [this girl looks a bit like you]
Jane Summers, human
Felicity Berman, human [the senator's daughter]
Jade Goodall, human
Yuan Yi, human, chinese
Mai Ling, human, chinese
Myatsuko Yoko, human, japanese
Iris [no family name], elf
Finella Laurelin, tir tairngire citizen
Mira Wallcot, elf
Jain Zar, elf
Leila Haraldson, elf
Star Haraldson, elf [Leila and Star are twins]
Torrun Hallmaren, elf
Maria Hindmarsh, elf
Search algorithms
Personnel records [folder]
Berman case articles [folder]
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