COMING BACK
The run had taken 5 days in the bush and another at sea. They were beaten and bloodied, but they were alive and successful. Some more than others.
Steel had taken it the best. He had been cut off from his main talents for the better part of the week, but when they got back to civilization he just melted back into the net as if nothing had happened.
JoeBoy and RC stayed with Spanner the entire time that she was at the clinic, being looked after by Doctor Sigmund. She needed a great deal of work, including re-threading the cyberwires into her new legs.
So it was that Brick, the newest member of the group, was the one to meet with Underhill when he arrived the day after their return.
He was under house arrest until Steel could verify his personal details and check out his reputation on the street. The elevator was locked and he didn’t have a card or code to open the security doors. Sure, he could have found some weapons and broken out if he absolutely wanted to, but this was a good place to be. It was a pretty decent lair and he could see that these guys were completely strapped up. They had a chopper. They had a roller. They had weapons and armour. There was a magic stockpile that would see them past Ragnarok. No, this was a good group to latch onto. He had gotten lucky. Still, they needed some workout equipment …
Ferta stuck her head into his room to get his attention. When he looked up, she tossed him a gun and motioned with her head. Never one to leave a good fight before it’s over, Brick tucked the revolver into his waistband and followed her to the elevator. After the slow descent, he could see the slowly pulsing glow around the security door at the rear of the building. It had been cleverly built into a SecurCube just like the hundred that lined this building. He guessed that the glow was to let them know that the door was cycling. The blue switched to a steady green and the door slowly opened on hidden extension hinges from inside. A smartly dressed man stepped out with a red leather briefcase in one hand. He remembered seeing cases like that before. A fixer he once knew had a shotgun built into it, just in ‘case’ of trouble. Very nice.
Well, he assumed his traditional role as muscle and moved to the side to give Ferta a clear view of him. She’d let this newcomer in, but wasn’t completely sure of him which is why Brick was there, he knew.
“Underhill. You don’t waste any time. You ever hear of a cooling off period?”
“Sorry. I just got back into town this morning and have to leave again this afternoon. All this time in the Tir is making my sense of time a bit wonky. You haven’t really done much else with the place yet, I see.”
Brick noticed that all of the power doors were closed and the building looked like it was completely empty aside from them. Ah. Underhill didn’t know about all the hidden swag. Okay. Good to know. Ferta had waited for him to come to her and then turned to re-enter the elevator. She handed the man a cup of sycaf and when Brick got on she cycled the door shut and mentally sent them to the gantry level. Nobody said a word until they were sitting at the conference table in the War Room. Underhill sat in the middle, with Ferta and Brick on the ends. This would make it difficult for him to watch them both if trouble arose.
“So … who’s the new guy?”
“Mr. Underhill, this is Brick. We’ve added to our team as necessary.”
“Fine with me. The fee remains the same.” Ferta rolled the keys to the boat across the table to him. “Okay. That’s what I was going to ask next. Bringing the keys with you was smart. I mean, it wouldn’t be impossible for someone to steal it from the marina, but there is a much more effective security presence than there was in Haiti.”
He put the keys into a small resin case and sealed it, then tucked it in his case with his papers. “Now, the bonus. Your employer was extremely satisfied with the end result of this little foray. If you’ll pass along the credstik, we can process your payment. Before that, though, there are a couple of other items that I’m meant to pass along. First of all, the medical situation of your driver is being handled. Her doctor checks out and a tank has been requisitioned for your pickup. You should be able to hook it up to your power grid here and I believe that you have at least one member who is capable of monitoring her condition during the recuperation process. The tank is yours to keep, and its cost is taken from the bonus. These are difficult to procure, which is why your employer has done it for you. I’m sure that you ALL might have need of it at some point.”
He handed the CredX over to Ferta and she didn’t manage to hide her surprise one bit.
5,000,000 Transfer
500,000 Tip
-----------------
4,500,000 Balance
Approve? Y/N
“This is a bonus?” she said incredulously.
Brick was curious as to which way she might mean that, but he kept his hands on the table and waited to find out.
She missed the code the first time but eventually the transfer was approved.
The numbers ran through her head …
10% for me, that’s a half-a-buck! Geez! Okay, I guess I don’t need to worry about where the coffee’s coming from now.
Another 4 bucks gone 5 ways gives them … no wait. Calis was adamant that Brick get nothing from this run and there didn’t seem to be a lot of dissent. Brick got his rescue and thought that was a good deal. Okay, so that makes it an even buck for everyone. Next time, 16% instead of 20%. Maybe I should take less. No, I still have to pay for the upkeep and taxes on this place out of my cut. I’m going to keep taking my tithe and they can deal with the rest as they see fit.
“Well, I have to keep an appointment on the other side of town, so I’ll just move it along. I may stop in again in a couple of weeks to see if William is in. I need to talk to him. Thanks for the caf. Good to meet you Brick.”
Ferta didn’t get up for a minute. She used the cameras to monitor Underhill’s progress, opening and operating the elevator and security doors remotely.
The thoughts in Brick’s head were almost ready to form words … when Ferta tipped her chair backwards and tumbled out of it. She rolled backwards and stood up with her legs spread wide and her arms in the air. “WOOOOOHOOOOOO!” she screamed, eyes screwed shut with excitement. “Sorry, man. None for you, but the rest of us are fapping RICH! We’re eating steak tonight! I’ll just get Savannah to drive … oh. Right. Shit.” As quickly as she had risen, she deflated again. The thought of her friend in the hospital was killing her.
“Screw it. Come on. We’re going out. I don’t care if you’re cleared or not. My house, my rules.”
Brick wasn’t exactly sure what she meant by that, but he was as loyal as they came. He’d come back to find out what they decided they wanted to do with him. They seemed like a good crew and he was pretty sure they saw his respectable talents by now. What better way to keep on their good side than by, what, carrying groceries for the house mother? Yeah. If that’s what it took.
It was early November and was getting chilly, so they put on boots and coats for their trip into town. She left a Dmail for Calis. He’d find it when he came up from his dive.
“You know, I don’t live too far from here,” Brick said. “If we got a cab there I could pick up my van and drive us around.”
They were walking along the rail spur back down the dock to the main road. She turned to him and said, “Sure. I saw you leave the gun in the War Room when Underhill left, so I trust you a little bit. Oh, I’m sure you could probably kill me with your bare hands. You’re scary! Still, you’re gentle and professional. I like that.” She motioned to the broken street. “It’s a hike from here to a spot where we can get a cab. Let’s go. Oh! I suppose I can get my own car now!” Her face took on a serious cast as she said, “I’ll wait to get Savannah’s advice though.”
The cab ride to Brick’s flop in East Renton was uneventful. He picked up some clothes, but left most of his stuff there. He wasn’t sure if he’d be staying at the warehouse. Ferta glanced around the tiny room from the doorway. When he motioned that he was ready, she backed out to let him lock up. He took his spare keys and turned the Bulldog on from up the block. No point in taking chances.
They toured around the city, stopping in little grocery stores to pick up this and that. The only trouble they had was at the butcher where they had to put up with some queer stares while they drooled and shopped. Brick wasn’t sure that he had ever had real meat in his life, and didn’t know if he’d like it. Still, the smell was intoxicating and they paid a small fortune before they left. Ferta sure knew the back side of Seattle. She found stores that had exactly what she was looking for in the backs of houses and one time in what looked like an abandoned church. They had the best cheese that Brick had ever tasted. One last stop at the fish market and they were done.
It had only taken 20 minutes for Robert Orlaz, former corporate muscle, to spot the tail. A large black truck was following them. He wasn’t sure at first, but his memory was pretty good and when he spotted it again later in the day, he knew.
He considered trying to lose them, but wasn’t sure who they were or why they were following him. Jagging them now would only tip his hand that he was aware of them. Besides, he had those 4 bottles of red from Tir na nOg that wouldn’t take kindly to what he had in mind.
Luckily, their last stop was a high security loading area where they picked up the HealCase and supplies. There were 4 entrances and that gave him a 75% chance to lose them. He pretended to get lost on the freeway twice on the way back and didn’t spot anything suspicious, front or back.
Ferta was smiling when she looked at him. “I hope you can scan for electronics with that building of yours because I can’t promise that this van isn’t bugged.” Her smile faded and she got a faraway look in her eyes as she started working on an entrance plan.
There was nothing to worry about in the end, but it was wise to take precautions.
Calis had come out of his dive and was sitting in the kitchen. He had made his way through most of a bottle of gin that he’d had stashed in his room. He watched the outside door roll up and the hinged mechanisms open the tunnel through the ground level cubes to let a van come in and drive right onto the elevator.
When it got to the gantry level, Ferta and Brick were out of the van and ready to unload the food into the kitchen area. She looked at him and said, “The van’s clean. No worries. Well, clean may be a bit generous. What is that mess on the seat?”
Calis waved his nearly empty bottle at them and said, “Hola. Hello there my great friends. The lovely Elf and the not so lovely Ork. OO! Foods! Nice. Good. Good. Hey! You know what? I’ve been on the net. Yes, I have. I have. What did I find there? Great question. I found a lot of things that need answers. You don’t know me because you don’t go where I go. Where I go, nobody knew me either, last week. Today I’ve got so much mail that I needed a minute just to sort it! Yes! A whooooooole minute! That’s, like, forever! Why is that? Why do people shy away from the awesome power and mighty might of my burning avatar? Hmmmm? Don’t know? No. Neither do I. I need a little sleepy time and I’ll be ready to go in there again to find out. First though, I really wanned to get drunk. REAL drunk. Hey there Momma. Momma. That’s fun. Maw Maw. Can I be the Daddy, Momma? Come on. Have a drink.”
Ferta looked at him and just shook her head, a stupid smirk on her face. Brick looked at him and winced. “Ouch. That’s gonna hurt” he said.
“Wha?” asked Calis.
“The hangover tomorrow and the mouse on your eye if you keep talking like that.” Brick was quietly menacing and more than a little intimidating.
“Okay. Sure. I’ll go finish this in my room. Bye now.” He stumbled back to his room and only barely managed to get to the bed before collapsing, the bottle remarkably standing upright on the floor, close at hand.
She got the food put away and sent the van back down to the main level where Brick managed to wrestle out the HealCase and unbox it. He set it in a corner and laid out all of the connections, equipment and fluid mixtures for when the others came back.
It was late before Imaget and William arrived on the bike. They weren’t fooled into thinking that there was anything at all that they could do at the clinic except to stand around and fret, so they went back to The E. Imaget walked the bike in through the regular security doors instead of opening the tunnel. It was late and people were probably asleep. When they saw the van inside and Brick sitting cross-legged on top of it, they became a bit more alert. He put his hands out to the side and motioned to the corner where they saw the tank. They were both excited, but knew that it would have to wait until morning when they were more awake. Setting that thing up would take most of a day.
They all woke at the same time. Maybe it was that loud clanging sound. Running and stumbling out of their rooms, the boys all hurried toward the elevator, trying to wake up and looking out the full-length windows to see if something was going on downstairs. The smell from the kitchen though stopped them all in their tracks. Calis had on a pair of shorts, socks and his dark sunglasses. William was similarly attired, but without the sunglasses and with a couple of knives. Robert was mostly dressed with pants and a shirt on, with a boot in his teeth and another one half on. Imaget had on a flimsy housecoat. It was completely comical the way they all turned to the heavily laden table with greedy twitches in their faces.
Ferta was standing there with a metal bar and a triangle that she had struck with it. “Sit. Eat. Then we’ll talk.”
They ate with great gusto. Fresh, real eggs. Sausages. Bread with butter. The porridge was supposed to have been made with real foodstuffs, but everyone was too entranced by the other real foods to try something that looked so much like krill paste. The pile of orange halves on the counter proved that the juice was the real thing. Coffee. Oh, god. Coffee! 30 minutes later they all took a steaming cup of it into the War Room for the house mother’s briefing. Nobody sat at the table. She shooed them all to the comfortable chairs and couches in the room.
Ferta slowly walked around the room, finally leaning against the short wall between the two windows at the far end. She smiled at them and said, “Gentlemen and our missing lady, let me begin by saying that we can eat like that every day if you keep getting jobs like that last one. If I understand the terms you worked out with Brick, he gets shafted on the payout on this job, right?” A chorus of nods, including Brick’s. “Alright. After Underwood’s cut and my own, the 4 of you get a buck apiece. Yeah, you heard right. One million nuYen. Each. That doesn’t include the HealCase downstairs that was given by our employer. Underwood said that he wouldn’t be surprised if we needed it again. After what happened to Savannah, I don’t doubt him. Get down there and get that thing working so we can get our girl home. Calis, finish your checks on Robert here so we can get him a card. He’s on the team. No arguments! We spent some time getting to know each other yesterday and while he isn’t exactly charming, he is probably as honest a man as I’ve met. He stays.”
Either they were too full to complain properly or they were cowed by her arguments.
So over the next couple of days, many changes took place. The power was hooked up to the new MedBay and from there to the HealCase. Once it was confirmed to be working fine, they went to pick up Savannah.
Doctor Sigmund double-checked the monitor that kept track of her vital stats while she would be in the tank before letting her go. At that point it was mostly a mechanical process to put her in the healing nutrient bath and hook her up. 6 very long weeks went by before she was scheduled to get out. There were faster methods of healing, but none were as complete.