The Robbed That Smiles Steals From The Thief
Alana parked the rover near the northeast side of the city. Gulls circled and squealed overhead. “That hasn’t changed,” she said.
“What hasn’t?” Kerr was eager to start a conversation after an uncomfortably silent ride.
“The smell.”
Kerr disabled her olfactory suppressors. The oily stench of frost melting on warming asphalt. The rotting permafrost and petrichor. Old urine, rubbish and seaweed – a veritable bouquet.
“It smells like a home I hated,” Alana said. “You’re too young to understand what a mindfuck nostalgia can be.”
Kerr suppressed the urge to argue. “Is this the first time you’ve been back since you left?”
“Yes, and I plan on spending as little time here as possible.” Alana strode off toward the docks with purpose. She wasn’t tall by any means, but Kerr still had trouble keeping up with her. Pausing at a corner, Alana waited impatiently. “Which way?”
Kerr noticed the circle of melted frost around her feet. “You have a Thermabulle.”
“Yes. Why wouldn’t I?”
“I mean,” Kerr exaggerated her shrug, hoping Alana would assume she didn’t know anything. Prying a conversation out of her was like dealing with a sealed power pack. “I don’t know much about the Adlets, only what Lusa told me.”
“And what did she tell you?” Alana snapped. The hoped for conversation moved to interrogation a little too quickly. Kerr hoped she wouldn’t get Lusa in trouble.
“That she doesn’t have a biosig blocker. Or any cyberware. Neither do any of the Adlets her age.”
Alana leaned against the side of salt crusted Hexaline wall and lit a simcig. “A biosig blocker? That’s what you called it?” She blew a stream of smoke. “I’d hoped for a better name for this secret tech you made up.”
“Sorry, I’m not on the naming committee for mystery tech.” It sounded stupid to her ears now. “What were we to think? We were to know it was a genetic thing, yeah?”
Alana narrowed her eyes. “Who’s we.”
“Everybody.” Kerr shrank back. “That’s what everybody thinks.”
“And who else knows?” Widening her green eyes, Alana used Kerr’s fear of the Styx to her advantage.
“Lusa only told me last night.” Kerr fidgeted with her fingers. “Or maybe this morning.” She looked away, sheepish. “We lost track of time, yeah?”
“I really don’t need the details.” Alana kicked herself off the wall. “Now which way?”
Kerr pointed. Alana stuffed her hands in her pockets and barged ahead.
Kerr changed the subject. “How long were you with the Styx?”
Alana walked faster.
Kerr raced to catch up. “It’s okay. I was born into the Chargers.”
“You weren’t born into gangs when I was around. And the Chargers weren’t a gang then either.” Alana’s sentences were as clipped as her pace. “They were where Chem addicts ended up when their cyberware died.”
“So, you joined the Styx.” Kerr scurried in front of her.
Alana stopped abruptly. “Are you always this nosy?”
“I am, yeah.” Kerr had no issue admitting it. “I want to know more about the Styx. It’s not like we get to talk. Sit down for tea. We’re usually killing each other.”
“If I tell you, will you keep up?” Alana sighed.
“Grand!” Kerr hopped. “Tell me everything!”
Alana sucked her teeth and glared. “You think this is a happy story? That we’re besties now?”
Kerr’s head dipped. “No, I just…”
Alana cut her off. “Before they got into full blown trafficking, they ran clubs. The kind with top shelf Chem and escort services.” Her eyes shone with venom.
“A loose-lipped fuckwit told me he was going to kill a district head. Normally it’s bullshit pillow talk, small-dick losers complaining about their bosses, but this one had a plan.
Daveed.” Alana pulled from her simcig and blew his name away in a long thin stream.
“Ears, they used to call him, ‘cause he seemed to hear everything. But he hadn’t heard this.”
“I know him.” Kerr interrupted. “He got killed on Harpy turf, yeah? He was taking trophies when he got caught.”
Alana finished another drag. “That sounds about right. The name went to his head and he started cutting off ears as some bullshit signature. Anyway.” Alana paused.
“I thought if Ears found out I knew and didn’t tell him, he’d kill me, so I tipped him off.
They pulled the little shit off the street and got me to pull the trigger.
That’s when I got these.” Alana pointed at her fangs.
“First kill.” Kerr said, almost reverently.
“Yeah, well it meant I got pulled from escorting. I got initiated without understanding what it meant.” Alana swept the hair out of her face.
“I did a job where we were supposed to plant a car bomb in Adlet turf – some rat we needed to exterminate. It went off early. The fucker who held the detonator used to be a regular and he was upset that I wasn’t putting out for free. A coincidence, I’m sure.”
“Doesn’t sound like a coincidence,” Kerr said confidently.
Alana strained her forehead. “No, it wasn’t.”
Kerr caught the sarcasm that time, but wanted Alana to finish her story. “What happened?”
“The car door flew off and pinned me against a wall. It acted as a shield for most of the shrapnel. A guy named Tornit found me and brought me in. I blabbed everything and they hid me in one of their clubs. That’s where I worked to save up enough scrip to change my face.”
“But you didn’t change your face.” Kerr worried that Alana would mock her for stating the obvious, but she didn’t.
“I met someone. We got a chance to leave this crumbling corpo paradise for good.” Alana walked faster.
“But you have DocPods. I know you do. And you can use them, but Lusa can’t.” Kerr looked at her fingers like they might be able to make sense of all of the new information.
Alana paused. Kerr tried to remember whether Alana knew she knew that detail. It didn’t matter now.
“None of them can. Including my daughter,” Alana said. It sounded like regret, but couldn’t place why. “The latest tech and I can’t even use it to erase what your girlfriend did to my daughter.”
Kerr knew she should ask about what Lusa had done, but all she could think about was the word girlfriend. She must have stood still for too long because Alana moved on.
“It’s a good thing I didn’t use one.” She thumbed a fang.
Kerr must have looked confused, because Alana only shook her head.
“I knew the reason Lusa asked for me the minute she told me her plan. You’ll see.” Alana continued toward the docks. Kerr raced to catch up.
A haze of frozen brine obscured the docks, but the scent of fermenting algae protein was unmistakeable. They were at the docks. Kerr was unbothered, but Alana wrinkled her nose.
“There it is, yeah?” Kerr pointed at a filthy cube-shaped lorry.
“You’re sure?”
Kerr nodded. “341 is on the bottom right corner.”
“Your Opti must have better resolution than mine.” Alana handed Kerr her rifle. “How good are your aural processors?”
“I can hear them arguing about which one of them is going to get their fangs for this. It’s a trap.
They must have found out about Dimitri.” Kerr should be annoyed at Lusa for killing them, but she found herself biting her lip, remembering the dazzling ballet of carnage Lusa had performed.
She only wished she’d been conscious for it. “What if they didn’t bring the DocPod?”
“I know how these deals go.” Alana thumbed her fang again. “The Chargers would have sent two as well. They lure one inside to inspect the merch, kill him quietly and then take care of the other one.”
Kerr blanched at how casually Alana had described the execution.
“There’s good news, though.” She examined her pistol before holstering it. “They have the DocPod. That trick doesn’t work if it’s obvious the moment they open the hatch.”
“How are we going to get it?” Kerr was sure she looked ridiculous holding Alana’s rifle that was clearly too big for her.
“I’m going to talk to them.” Alana started walking toward the truck. “You’re going to hide and use those audio processors of yours to jump in if needed.”
Kerr hid behind a concrete pillar and tuned her aural processors, familiarising herself with the rifle.
Alana rapped on the passenger side door.
“Who the fuck are you?” The voice belonged to a kid so young, she was surprised it didn’t crack. The boy in the driver’s seat eyed her sceptically and drew his pistol. The IntelArms targeting system booted up. Kerr trained the crosshairs on him and waited for the rifle to catch his biosig.
Alana flashed her fangs. “Change of plans, cumstains. Out. Now.” The rifle chimed. Biosig captured.
The boys glanced at each other. “We didn’t hear anything.”
“Does your Opti have reception? When was the last time you updated the firmware?” Alana kicked a hunk of filthy snow off of the tyre.
“We sent three messages with no reply, so now I’m here and in a shit mood.
You think we want a DocPod sitting on the docks while you toothless nobs suck each other off? ”
“Is that what’s in the back?” The driver looked worried. “Shit, we had no idea.”
“You’d better fucking hope it’s still there. Open it. Now.”
The driver leapt out of the cabin. Tall and lanky, clearly undernourished, he scrambled to open the back. Kerr trained the rifle on him next, capturing his biosig as well. “Fuck!” he swore, dropping the keycard in the snow.
Alana scooped it up. “Moron,” she hissed. The back rolled up with a clatter revealing the DocPod.
“Oh, thank god,” he said, just before his head exploded, coating Alana with gore.
“Fecking hell.” Alana drew her pistol.
The other fool hopped out of the cab at the disturbance. He made it about three paces.
Kerr scurried over, the smoking rifle slung over her shoulder.
“We could have driven away with the DocPod without firing a shot.” Alana wiped at the gore. It only smeared the blood around like face paint.
“Yes, but then they’d still be alive.” Kerr kicked at one of the corpses staining the snow red.
“That was the point.”
“They’re Styx. We usually kill them on sight.” Kerr explained.
“I see.” Alana snatched her rifle back before Kerr could do any further damage. “And do they do the same?”
Kerr scoffed. “No. Chargers aren’t dumb enough to wear gang affiliation you can see from that far away. We’re more discreet.” She pointed to the two red marks Lusa had thought were freckles.
“Were you planning on killing me?” Alana emptied the chamber.
“Yes. But you threw me your rifle without a magazine.”
“And now?”
“Lusa would get mad.” Kerr grinned.
“You’re a little shit, you know that?”
Kerr only smiled wider in response.
Alana jerked her head toward the lorry. “Get in. Let’s get this to Model 2 before you attract any more attention.”