Danger Money (22 page)

"So you've come here bearing gifts, that I might welcome your requests?" He looked pointedly at the drink.

"Drink it, I'm not greek." I said with a slight sigh.

"Ah, someone with an education I see!" He smiled, kind of tough to do with those tusks, and picked up my offering. "Cheers!" He toasted and I nodded back, watching him drink.

"So, what is it you want?"

"Fake ID," I said bluntly.

"That is really quite a lot to ask you know. People get executed for that all the time here."

"You mean Morphs get executed all the time. Last I checked we still weren't people." I smiled sourly.

"You're not one of
those
are you?" He asked disappointedly.

"One of what?" I asked looking honestly confused.

"A revolutionary, my dear sir. What else?" He looked at me closely.

I laughed, and tried not to spill my beer, "Oh no! Not me! I'm not out to change the world, just even some scores."

"Ahh, so why a fake ID?"

"That's my business. I need one, two if possible. Both for someone who looks just like me, except with black fur. Problem?"

"How good?"

"Good enough to get on a plane, or pass a simple check. Nothing more. I expect these will be used a few times to make a record that I can point to later on."

"Getting somebody else in trouble isn't the polite thing to do you know." He looked disappointed.

"No it isn't, that's what makes paybacks such an enjoyable exploit. Revenge is a dish best served cold is it not?" I growled quietly. He raised an eyebrow and so I related the story of my mate’s return and my possible departure before her return.

"Ahh, I see. In that case I guess we can do business. How soon do you need them?"

"Tomorrow or sooner. I can't stay here long, I've got to be back at work. How much?"

He named a high price, and I made my counter offer. He came down some, more when he heard what I had to trade. I had stolen a few really expensive items on my little shopping spree.

"Come back here in six hours. Meet me outside at the back door."

"That soon?" I was surprised.

"Sir, you injure me! I'm a professional, and this is actually a common request, though perhaps your use is different than most."

"Fine, see you in six then." And I got up and left.

Back at my room I found my possessions still undisturbed, which was reassuring. Then I set my watch and when to sleep. Four hours later I awoke, cleaned up and checked out. I got to my meeting spot a good ninety minutes beforehand, and found a nice dark spot to wait. It was a busy alley; I watched ten drug deals, and three prostitution deals, one of which was consummated right there. And four handoffs of merchandise of some kind.

The Boar showed up right on time, with only one friend which surprised me, I thought he would have brought two. But then this was a pretty busy place.

"Do you have the things we agreed upon sir?" He asked quietly.

"Of course. First the ID's?" and I held out my hand.

He passed them over and I gave them a careful look. They were what I had asked for, better actually. I guess quality wasn't a big problem down here. I nodded towards the bag on the ground.

"It's all there, check it out."

He motioned to his friend who did just that.

"It's all there Boss."

"Good." He turned to me, "It's been a pleasure doing business with you sir. Until we meet again?" he smiled.

"Yes, who knows. I may have need of other things in a few months if these don't turn the trick." And I smiled very carefully back at him.

He gave a little nod, then turned and left.

I headed in the other direction and made for the outskirts of town.

I had what I wanted in the way of a cover, now I just needed some kind of a plan. I stopped on the fringe of the city and found myself a private data terminal. After pumping it full of hard cash, I made sure there weren't any spy cameras or such in it, then logged in.

It took me a while to connect up with my old accounts. Those on the moon were long dead of course, it didn't take long to discover that. And about half of my Earth bound ones were history too. But not the important ones, they had self logging features so they looked like they were used at least once a week.

There was a lot of mail of course. A lot of my old net contacts wanted to know what had happened to me. I just dumped the mail onto a card for later examination. Then I came across the reply I had been hoping for.

It was three years old.

I cut through the header and other junk and read what it had to say.

'TU952-4RIZ99E is an extremely difficult person to identify. Can you give me a little more on why I should tell you? Assuming of course I can find out.'

The bastard was hedging on me! After all the stuff I'd fed him too! I hit the next key, and was suddenly surprised to see another message in the Que.

This one was two years old.

'In regards to the mystery man, and it
is
a man. I have finally discovered today who it was. Quite by accident. His name is Siedman, and he is now the president of the corporation.'

That hit a nerve all right! I read some more.

'I fear we are all in for some serious trouble now, he was behind the Lunar thing it seems.'

How the hell did he know about that? I spent the next two hours net surfing and found out a little more about my contact. He wasn't a junior VP anymore, he was a senior one, a very senior one. Curiouser and curiouser, all right.

Then I looked into Siedman. He was living in
New York City
. And living pretty high too. I dug up some images on the net, it was Siedman, and I could even see Jaime in the background of some of them. Still riding his coattails I guess.

I burned for a moment when I remembered that picture she had sold me out with. I was going to have to pay her a visit, and soon. I took a few moments to track down her address in the company payroll roster, which I had cracked into years ago. Then on a lark I took a look for Harold. Strangely enough I couldn't find him anywhere. I jumped over into personnel and found out why, he'd quit the company over three years ago. About a month after the moon Raid.

Guess he couldn't handle the strain. It didn't say anything further about him either, but then the file had been closed by Siedman's personal order.

I was just about to log off when suddenly a message arrived in my account, from my VP contact of all people. I put it up.

'Siedman sold you out. Your two wolven friends as well. He thinks you're still loyal to him and he knows you're here. Don't trust him, he is trying to have you killed. Good Hunting Jotun.'

I cleared the board, logged out quick and took off running. I didn't know how he had found out who I was, or that I was back even, and I wasn't going to stay around and find out. As for what he said, well he had never lied to me before. But I'd have to check out the info, and I think I knew just the person to ask.

And I wouldn't even have to ask nicely.

15

It was cool on the rooftops of
New York
. Jaime had a rather nice apartment in an exclusive section of
Roosevelt Island
. I was surprised that she lived so far from her meal ticket, namely Siedman. But perhaps he preferred to keep a little distance between them. After all, he was a Corporate President trying to make the move to CEO. She was still just a bodyguard, and in my opinion a rather poor one at that.

Of course you couldn't screw most bodyguards either, but then I suspected that in one way or another Siedman screwed everybody. It sure looked like he had screwed me.

I made my way down inside the building, I had spent a couple of days preparing for this. The Phone Company outfit made me look like just another of the myriad of workers in the city. Lucky for me the phone company was one of the few companies that had stopped using Human workers. Most Unions in
New York
wouldn't allow it, but the phone company had broken their union over a hundred years ago and didn't care.

I carefully let myself inside her apartment when no one was watching. During my time on the roof I had found her connections to the building security system and made some major changes. Once inside I carefully searched the whole place. It was quite enlightening, and I'm not just talking about all the strange toys I found in the bottom draw of her dresser. Obviously Jaime suffered from some major kinks.

But there were three guns stashed around the apartment, one in each room, plus a forth in the bedroom under the pillow. I disabled each by pulling the firing circuit out. Next I looked for knives and alarms.

I did find a panic switch on the regular alarm, and a rather large knife tapped under the dresser, but nothing else. Obviously she was just not paranoid enough in my opinion. I checked again to be sure, because I was more than paranoid enough. After satisfying my peace of mind, I took a shower and cleaned myself up. The black dye I had placed on my hands, feet, and head was fairly annoying. But I had needed it for the fake ID. But when Jaime came home from work in six hours I didn't want there to be any doubts.

Once I was done I carefully cleaned things up, then crawled into the closet and curled up to sleep.

I woke to the sound of a key turning in the lock of the front door. I checked my watch and saw that it was
ten PM
. She must have gone out after work I guess. Perking up my ears I carefully listened to her enter the apartment.

"Let’s see, bills, bills, and junk mail," I heard the rustle of paper and the sounds of her dropping something on a table. Next I listened as she played back her answering service. From the sounds of it she wasn't just Siedman's plaything. I wonder what he thought about it? I'm sure he knew, he probably used Jaime to get at others, maybe she was great in bed. She had to be good at something.

I lay there comfortably and waited. It didn't take long, she went into the bathroom and took a shower. I slipped out of the closet and quietly went into the living room and hid in the closet there. Then I listened some more as she came out of her bathroom, put on a nightgown I guess, then climbed into bed.

For my part I just sat there and waited for a while. I wanted to be sure she was in a deep sleep. After about an hour I though it was about time and quietly made for the bedroom. I stopped to check that her work gun was still in her purse, then when I entered the bedroom I did a careful search to see if she had brought another one in. There was a holstered one on the back of a chair, and I quietly removed it.

Then I just stood at the bed and stared at her in the dark for a few minutes, deciding.

"Hello Jaime," I finally said turning on the lights.

"Huh? What?" She asked groggily. "YOU!" She was suddenly wide awake.

I watched carefully as she pulled the pistol out from under the pillow and pointed it at me.

"Freeze furball, or I'll spread your brains on the wall."

"Gee, is that anyway to treat an old friend and co-worker?" I said smiling. But I carefully spread my arms and let her see I wasn't carrying anything. "Thought I was dead, didn't you?"

"I had hoped, nobody thought you could stay underground for as many years as this. Especially on the Moon or Earth."

Boy she was dumb. "I guess Siedman didn't tell you I was here then huh?" I deadpanned.

"Siedman knows?" She looked surprised.

"Of course. I'm shocked he didn't tell you. You were out with him tonight weren't you?"

"Yes I was." She looked at me rather suspiciously, "Did he send you here?"

"No, of course not." I smiled slowly, "This is between us. I want to know why you had Shotoon, Rieselle and Azelett killed." I paused and stared hard at her, "and how." I added as an after thought.

She laughed, "You thought I did that?"

"Who else? It was obviously an attempt to kill me made by someone on the inside. You're the most obvious candidate."

"Well it wasn't me." Then she added craftily, "My plan was to get you killed after the hit. Bill had said he probably wouldn't need you anymore afterwards."

"Then who was it?" I growled.

"That's none of your business," She smiled. "And watch that growling. I'd hate to have to clean your brains off the wall."

"Sorry, I forgot myself," I pondered a moment. "So you don't know who was responsible then either."

"I didn't say
that
!" She gave me that evil grin again.

"Then tell me who!" I demanded.

"I'll take it under consideration," she laughed nastily. "Now move towards the bathroom."

"No," I growled. "You tell me who. Or else."

"I'd rather you suffered not knowing," She snarled. "Now move it or you'll die where you stand."

"What into the bathroom? So you can shoot me there? Really now Jaime, what kind of fool do you take me for?" I took a step forward, closer to her bed. "I'd suggest you just tell me what I want to know. It'll make your death that much less painful."

"Fuck off!" She snarled again and pulled the trigger.

And nothing happened. The look of confusion and surprise on her face lasted only until I grabbed her ankle, then it was one of total hatred.

"Come to papa!" I grinned and dragged her kicking to me.

"I'll kill you with my bare hands you fleabag!"

I didn't waste any breath talking. I just attacked.

It didn't take too long to overpower her, she did put up a decent fight I'll admit. But then she wasn't able to bite and claw like I was. Not with any real effectiveness at least. I ended it by hitting her head against the floor until she passed out.

Then I carefully tied her to the bed with the rope I had brought along. Her own rope didn't look strong enough to me.

"Wake up!" I called as I threw a cold glass of water in her face. She came to slowly.

"Let me go you ..." and she called me every name I had ever heard of and then a few dozen more I hadn't.

"Or what?" I smiled and drew out my knife. "You'll tell? I don't think so." And then I started in on her right leg for a while, peeling back the skin and carving carefully into the muscles and tendons, paying particular attention to the nerve groups. It was very messy, and she screamed rather loud at first.

"Good thing these walls are sound proofed, huh?" I looked up and smiled at her. "I'd hate to have to gag you and miss those wonderful screams of pain."

"Please! Stop!" She begged, I could see the terror in her eyes. I couldn't smell it very well anymore though. She had fouled herself several minutes ago.

"Then tell me what I want to know. Who gave up my friends."

"I don't know!" She cried.

"Opps, wrong answer," I sighed and started to work on her other leg for a few minutes. "Bet you though you couldn't feel anymore pain huh?" I asked when I stopped. Her voice was pretty horse now, all that screaming was rough on the throat.

"I don't know who got Azelett," She croaked, "I swear to you I don't!"

"But you know who got Rieselle and Shotoon, don't you?"

She looked real scared.

"Listen, I'm here. Whoever you're scared of isn't. Get the picture?" And I slowly drew my knife across her belly drawing more blood. She was really quite a mess now.

"Siedman did it!" She croaked out.

"Oh really now!" I said feigning disbelief, "Why would he do that? We were working for him!"

"It had to look good for the Senator. The whole thing was calculated to kill Kanarr while making the Senator look like he had tried to stop it. Of course you almost ruined it by trying to kill him too!"

"Why?"

"Why what?" She asked confused.

"Why were we trying to make a senator look good? Why was Kanarr a target?"

"Kanarr owned the Senator, but he was in the way. If we didn't make it look good Kanarr's people would have destroyed the Senator's career."

She sounded a little breathless. Blood loss I guess.

"So why were we helping the Senator?"

"Siedman needed him, he had to have more power to make his move to the head of the corporation."

"What about the hit on
New Hope
?" I wondered how a Senator could help Siedman become Corporation President.

"That was Siedman's old boss, the former head of Corporate Intelligence. He had the goods on Siedman and Siedman needed him out of the way."

"And all those other hits in those last few months?" I asked angrily.

"To stir up anti-corporation sentiment on Earth, give his government allies more power. After the raid on the Moon he negotiated a deal with the Earth government."

"Let me guess, he negotiated it with the Senator."

"Right, and did so well that the influence was enough to sail him into the Corporate Presidency."

"That bastard!" I growled, "And you were more than happy to help him too."

"Let me go now, please Jotun!" She begged.

"Sorry, there's still a little matter of a picture you supplied the police on the moon." I sighed and quickly drove the knife through her chest and into her heart.

She looked shocked as she suddenly realized what I had done.

"I only promised to end the pain. Not let you live." I whispered. Then I reached up and closed her eyes after I saw the life go out of them.

I took a while to clean up the room, especially any traces I might have left. Then I went through her things and took what I though I could use. Weapons and ammo mostly. Some hard cash too. Then I made a nice little incendiary bomb and hooked it to the door. Whoever came in next would take care of any remaining evidence for me.

I spent the rest of the night getting out of the city and finding a place to hole up for a few days. Siedman was obviously my next target, and he knew I was coming. To try and pump him for information would probably be a bad idea, he'd be ready for me, even if he didn't know I was gunning for him. But after tonight he'd probably figure that out, and he had the whole corporation's resources to draw on. Plus there was that little group that was after me already. I expected them to show up any day now.

I needed a plan, and I needed one quick. I considered e-mailing my 'friend' again, but I was reluctant. His info still checked out, but my paranoia was running rampant. Then of course there was the fallout from tonight's little adventure:

I felt remorse.

After all the people I'd killed, it was funny how I could feel remorse over killing someone like Jaime. But I did. Killing Siedman would be easier, I hoped, after all he had set up my friends. And used up a lot of people for his personal gain. But I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. It was just something that had to be done.

I guess I really was changing, finally. I wonder if a time will come when I won't be able to kill in cold blood at all? Azalett would be proud of me then I guess. Maybe living through this wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. But once I hit Siedman, then what? I honestly didn't know.