CHAPTER 11
SHARP JABS EVERYWHERE
I came to on a cool rush of chemical well being. It was dark, and my body remote. A very familiar numb, I drifted in the happy sea of painkillers. Couldn’t quite lock it down, but I’d been here many times before, so I lay still, soaking it in. Just visiting - like a vacation, I thought, and felt the endorphins tug a grin at the corners of my mouth.
“He’s coming around.”
Now that voice sounded familiar. I tried, but I couldn’t remember from where. It was still all far away. Nevertheless, somewhere inside I figured that was a good sign: recognizing the voice, and the fact that no one was hitting me. Time to move then. I shifted my head and felt my brain slosh over a second later. Pain surged thru the padding, then got pushed back by white analgesic billows.
“Take it easy.” I felt hands on my shoulders. I was on my back. “Give it a minute or so.” The accent - it was Ibram. A sound filtered in: the beep of an autodoc. I’d definitely been here before.
“OK.” I kept my eyes shut. “Tell me again what happened.”
“They tried to off us, that’s what happened!” That was Tam. Loud, and yelling from my right. Alejo cut him off from somewhere on my left.
“We got out. That’s the important thing. Jace, you batted back a grenade, remember?
“No, but I can feel it.”
“The explosion bought us time to get away. Good thing you had that jacket on. Concussion only knocked you down, and Tam and I carried you through the underground.”
“Thanks for that.” I tried moving again. That only earned me more sharp jabs everywhere. I sniffed. “What’s that smell?”
“Sewers. We had to go through the sewers the last few kilometers before we got home.”
“A trace? They get a trace?” Things were clicking in place faster. The mosque. In the basement.
Alejo spoke up again. “No one came after us in the tunnels, if that‘s what you mean. Good thing too – except for a couple knives, we were empty handed. Sniffer sets might pick us up at first, but once they hit the sewers, it’s gone for sure.”
“Damnit Jace. APAC tried to off us! Some corporate twat issued a D.N.R. and tried to bury us.” Tam, still loud.
“You don’t know that for sure.” Ibram’s thick accent came from somewhere behind me.
“The hell I don’t. You weren’t there! They were shooting at me! Christ sake, they were shooting at everyone.” Bad sign: Tam was getting louder.
Carmen spoke up. “I thought you went to rendezvous: to arrange delivery and extraction.”
“So did I!” Tam was mad. More than that, he was off balance on high wire tension.
“Looks like someone wanted to renegotiate the terms.” Ibram said quietly.
“Major goddamn ballistic counseling session, that was. They were cutting people down just to get at us. That girl was planting headshots like nothing. Who did APAC send after us?” Tam was almost yelling.
“More like what did they send? They weren’t human.” Alejo countered quietly.
Ibram again, “You sure they were APAC? What about the Turks? Would they try to pinch the product? You trust them Alejo?”
“Trust them? No. But they knew nothing, and we had nothing on us. Besides, they wouldn’t jeopardize business, not like that.”
My brain got back on track. I piped up. “Had to be APAC. They’re the only ones who knew about the meeting.”
“See? See? I knew it. Bastards are trying to burn us. Sending a team in heavy like that.” Tam started in again. My head pounded at every word. “We need to wave Rao, and have him tell those-
“Tell them what? To screw off ‘cause we’re fencing the product to some other Corp?” I croaked. I felt Ibram’s hands lift my head up and bring a cup of water to my lips. It went down cool and spread some clarity in my veins. I opened my eyes and the Garcia’s basement swam into gritty focus.
“Yes! They violated the contract! Hell, they violated the code. We were there to deliver! We kept our end of the contract. We always keep our side” Tam was on his feet, pacing now. I could see the veins standing out in his neck. He turned on me, pointing. “Word of this gets out, no outfit in the system will work for them. They won’t have trash pickup.”
I could see the wheels turning in Tam’s mind; we’d been left out in the cold, and were running exposed, vulnerable. He was shaken, and figured we needed backing, fast, to give us cover. Some kind of leverage against the Corporate glaciers. And laying there in the Garcia’s basement just then, battered and plugged on an autodoc, I could certainly feel why he thought that. I tried to sit up and but dropped that idea like a hot rock. My head was killing me, especially when I tried to think. Or move. Or breathe. I lay back, but some dim still thought nagged in my mind.
“Tam, hold on. Maybe I’m slap happy on pharm-patches but it doesn’t tetris. Why would APAC sign a burn notice to cut us loose? We got out clean. The kid’s still viable.”
“The kid?” Ibram this time. “You mean the little boy I saw earlier?”
“Yes, the boy. Don’t ask.”I glanced back at him. More aches were surfacing all over my body, but I reached over and pulled the autodoc derm-tab off my forearm. I managed to look around before I sank back. “Hey. Where is he? Where are the Triplets?”
Carmen pointed up. “I had Curro take them upstairs. I didn’t want Gibson around to see or hear any of this. Besides, he said he wasn’t feeling well. So I gave him something for his headache, and now the boys won’t let him out of their sight.”
Tam was still furious, but he was staring off into middle space, gnawing at his lip the way he did when he was anxious and thinking. “What was that that flew out of the big guy’s hand?
“Looked like a mister to me. A med spray.”
“Was he trying to snatch me? And they started shooting when it went south?”
“Well that’s obvious.”
“Maybe the kid’s not viable like they thought? It’s a cut & run.”
“Why not just wave Rao and call us in then? Contract has standard abort clauses. We’d be sniveled, but so what? No need for an eraser. You’re right – all APAC black ops would grind to a halt.”
Alejo spoke up from his chair, a bandaged hand stroking his moustache. “And if the child isn’t still valuable, why did Madrid declare martial law and give DH security forces run of the entire Barcelona Metro Zone?”
Tam wasn’t answering. I could tell he didn’t like the situation, the questions, or any of the possible answers. “We could call another Corp.” he finally said. “Like the Americans - M.S.I. projects have dumped in the last 3 years. They’d snatch him in a microsecond. At least we’d get paid something and be under cover. We could lay low on the other side of the globe.”
My ribs creaked when I laughed at him, “There’s a reason Microsoft Systems International is tagged ’Messy’. They’d want us running wet ops in down in Venezuela. Counter-insurgency strikes on Amazon Indians. We wouldn’t last 6 months.”
“We could drop the mission altogether. Give the boy back.”
“Right! You want to wave Dawson Hull and say ‘You don’t know us but we found your top secret clone boy wandering the streets and wondered if you wanted him back. Is there a reward?’ ”
He turned to me, exasperated, “You got any ideas? Because I’m fresh out. The district just got sealed. Poet’s still down. Doc K just pulled 3 stray darts out of me, 4 out of Alejo, and you’re on your back because someone started juggling grenades in a crowd during our meeting.”
Staying down, I looked up and behind me. “How is Poet9, Doc? He’s not fused… is he?”
Doctor Ibram Kalahani stepped into view, looking back at me upside down. There was a grim smile on his tanned face as he spoke. “From what I can tell, the internal breakers in the interface module tripped in time, and even though his central nervous system was shocked from the blast, there is no permanent damage. Problem is Poet’s stuck in a light coma. His body is protecting itself and trying to heal.”
Tam spoke up from near my feet. “So he’ll pull through then. How long until he comes around Doc? We need to slip out of here ASAP.”
“That’s just it. Cyber gear, especially that sophisticated, connects directly with his cerebral cortex. It’s wired into the nerve bundles in his brain. That machine is part of him, so to bring him out of the coma, it needs to be reset. He’s not going anywhere until that happens.”
“So hit the button and reset it.”
“It’s not that easy. That’s an advanced Chiba-Essen series. A state of the art military and corporate security interface module. It doesn’t get much better. I can’t just run into CompWorld and pick up the softs and gear over the counter. The unit needs specialized equipment. Equipment I don’t have.”
“Where do we get it?” Tam asked. I could tell by the look on Doc’s face we weren’t going to like the answer.
“Only two places I know of: a top level prosthetics and micro surgery department in an upper city hospital, or an advanced cybernetic medical spec ops trauma unit on a military base. Take your pick.”
I was right. We didn’t like the answer.
I came to on a cool rush of chemical well being. It was dark, and my body remote. A very familiar numb, I drifted in the happy sea of painkillers. Couldn’t quite lock it down, but I’d been here many times before, so I lay still, soaking it in. Just visiting - like a vacation, I thought, and felt the endorphins tug a grin at the corners of my mouth.
“He’s coming around.”
Now that voice sounded familiar. I tried, but I couldn’t remember from where. It was still all far away. Nevertheless, somewhere inside I figured that was a good sign: recognizing the voice, and the fact that no one was hitting me. Time to move then. I shifted my head and felt my brain slosh over a second later. Pain surged thru the padding, then got pushed back by white analgesic billows.
“Take it easy.” I felt hands on my shoulders. I was on my back. “Give it a minute or so.” The accent - it was Ibram. A sound filtered in: the beep of an autodoc. I’d definitely been here before.
“OK.” I kept my eyes shut. “Tell me again what happened.”
“They tried to off us, that’s what happened!” That was Tam. Loud, and yelling from my right. Alejo cut him off from somewhere on my left.
“We got out. That’s the important thing. Jace, you batted back a grenade, remember?
“No, but I can feel it.”
“The explosion bought us time to get away. Good thing you had that jacket on. Concussion only knocked you down, and Tam and I carried you through the underground.”
“Thanks for that.” I tried moving again. That only earned me more sharp jabs everywhere. I sniffed. “What’s that smell?”
“Sewers. We had to go through the sewers the last few kilometers before we got home.”
“A trace? They get a trace?” Things were clicking in place faster. The mosque. In the basement.
Alejo spoke up again. “No one came after us in the tunnels, if that‘s what you mean. Good thing too – except for a couple knives, we were empty handed. Sniffer sets might pick us up at first, but once they hit the sewers, it’s gone for sure.”
“Damnit Jace. APAC tried to off us! Some corporate twat issued a D.N.R. and tried to bury us.” Tam, still loud.
“You don’t know that for sure.” Ibram’s thick accent came from somewhere behind me.
“The hell I don’t. You weren’t there! They were shooting at me! Christ sake, they were shooting at everyone.” Bad sign: Tam was getting louder.
Carmen spoke up. “I thought you went to rendezvous: to arrange delivery and extraction.”
“So did I!” Tam was mad. More than that, he was off balance on high wire tension.
“Looks like someone wanted to renegotiate the terms.” Ibram said quietly.
“Major goddamn ballistic counseling session, that was. They were cutting people down just to get at us. That girl was planting headshots like nothing. Who did APAC send after us?” Tam was almost yelling.
“More like what did they send? They weren’t human.” Alejo countered quietly.
Ibram again, “You sure they were APAC? What about the Turks? Would they try to pinch the product? You trust them Alejo?”
“Trust them? No. But they knew nothing, and we had nothing on us. Besides, they wouldn’t jeopardize business, not like that.”
My brain got back on track. I piped up. “Had to be APAC. They’re the only ones who knew about the meeting.”
“See? See? I knew it. Bastards are trying to burn us. Sending a team in heavy like that.” Tam started in again. My head pounded at every word. “We need to wave Rao, and have him tell those-
“Tell them what? To screw off ‘cause we’re fencing the product to some other Corp?” I croaked. I felt Ibram’s hands lift my head up and bring a cup of water to my lips. It went down cool and spread some clarity in my veins. I opened my eyes and the Garcia’s basement swam into gritty focus.
“Yes! They violated the contract! Hell, they violated the code. We were there to deliver! We kept our end of the contract. We always keep our side” Tam was on his feet, pacing now. I could see the veins standing out in his neck. He turned on me, pointing. “Word of this gets out, no outfit in the system will work for them. They won’t have trash pickup.”
I could see the wheels turning in Tam’s mind; we’d been left out in the cold, and were running exposed, vulnerable. He was shaken, and figured we needed backing, fast, to give us cover. Some kind of leverage against the Corporate glaciers. And laying there in the Garcia’s basement just then, battered and plugged on an autodoc, I could certainly feel why he thought that. I tried to sit up and but dropped that idea like a hot rock. My head was killing me, especially when I tried to think. Or move. Or breathe. I lay back, but some dim still thought nagged in my mind.
“Tam, hold on. Maybe I’m slap happy on pharm-patches but it doesn’t tetris. Why would APAC sign a burn notice to cut us loose? We got out clean. The kid’s still viable.”
“The kid?” Ibram this time. “You mean the little boy I saw earlier?”
“Yes, the boy. Don’t ask.”I glanced back at him. More aches were surfacing all over my body, but I reached over and pulled the autodoc derm-tab off my forearm. I managed to look around before I sank back. “Hey. Where is he? Where are the Triplets?”
Carmen pointed up. “I had Curro take them upstairs. I didn’t want Gibson around to see or hear any of this. Besides, he said he wasn’t feeling well. So I gave him something for his headache, and now the boys won’t let him out of their sight.”
Tam was still furious, but he was staring off into middle space, gnawing at his lip the way he did when he was anxious and thinking. “What was that that flew out of the big guy’s hand?
“Looked like a mister to me. A med spray.”
“Was he trying to snatch me? And they started shooting when it went south?”
“Well that’s obvious.”
“Maybe the kid’s not viable like they thought? It’s a cut & run.”
“Why not just wave Rao and call us in then? Contract has standard abort clauses. We’d be sniveled, but so what? No need for an eraser. You’re right – all APAC black ops would grind to a halt.”
Alejo spoke up from his chair, a bandaged hand stroking his moustache. “And if the child isn’t still valuable, why did Madrid declare martial law and give DH security forces run of the entire Barcelona Metro Zone?”
Tam wasn’t answering. I could tell he didn’t like the situation, the questions, or any of the possible answers. “We could call another Corp.” he finally said. “Like the Americans - M.S.I. projects have dumped in the last 3 years. They’d snatch him in a microsecond. At least we’d get paid something and be under cover. We could lay low on the other side of the globe.”
My ribs creaked when I laughed at him, “There’s a reason Microsoft Systems International is tagged ’Messy’. They’d want us running wet ops in down in Venezuela. Counter-insurgency strikes on Amazon Indians. We wouldn’t last 6 months.”
“We could drop the mission altogether. Give the boy back.”
“Right! You want to wave Dawson Hull and say ‘You don’t know us but we found your top secret clone boy wandering the streets and wondered if you wanted him back. Is there a reward?’ ”
He turned to me, exasperated, “You got any ideas? Because I’m fresh out. The district just got sealed. Poet’s still down. Doc K just pulled 3 stray darts out of me, 4 out of Alejo, and you’re on your back because someone started juggling grenades in a crowd during our meeting.”
Staying down, I looked up and behind me. “How is Poet9, Doc? He’s not fused… is he?”
Doctor Ibram Kalahani stepped into view, looking back at me upside down. There was a grim smile on his tanned face as he spoke. “From what I can tell, the internal breakers in the interface module tripped in time, and even though his central nervous system was shocked from the blast, there is no permanent damage. Problem is Poet’s stuck in a light coma. His body is protecting itself and trying to heal.”
Tam spoke up from near my feet. “So he’ll pull through then. How long until he comes around Doc? We need to slip out of here ASAP.”
“That’s just it. Cyber gear, especially that sophisticated, connects directly with his cerebral cortex. It’s wired into the nerve bundles in his brain. That machine is part of him, so to bring him out of the coma, it needs to be reset. He’s not going anywhere until that happens.”
“So hit the button and reset it.”
“It’s not that easy. That’s an advanced Chiba-Essen series. A state of the art military and corporate security interface module. It doesn’t get much better. I can’t just run into CompWorld and pick up the softs and gear over the counter. The unit needs specialized equipment. Equipment I don’t have.”
“Where do we get it?” Tam asked. I could tell by the look on Doc’s face we weren’t going to like the answer.
“Only two places I know of: a top level prosthetics and micro surgery department in an upper city hospital, or an advanced cybernetic medical spec ops trauma unit on a military base. Take your pick.”
I was right. We didn’t like the answer.
