The Ragdoll Sequence Box set

by J P Carver

  “Ordering people around, are you?”

  “Thought I’d try it, seems to be one of your favorite things.” I crossed my arms and then uncrossed them. My hands felt like they were just in the way.

  “Ah, still pissy. Just want me here to take shots at?”

  “No,” I said and tossed the piece of paper on the counter. He walked over and picked it up. “I need to know what’s in that email server.”

  “Okay, then crack it,” he said as he read over the piece of paper. “It’s just an older address, shouldn’t be too hard.”

  “I can’t take the chance of them knowing I’m trying to get in. I need distractions.”

  “You got the credits.” He tossed the paper back down on the table. “You said you work better on your own.”

  He was going to make me say it. I swallowed what little pride I had left and looked to the counter, my nails scratching the stone. “I was wrong.”

  “What?”

  “I was wrong, you asshole. You were right, I was being dumb and getting myself in trouble when there were options. I won’t apologize for trying to protect my friends though.”

  “Huh, booting your neural fried your brains,” he said, but the laughter in his voice died as I continued to stare. “You’re being serious?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Shit,” he said and turned from the island. “I never thought you trying to keep people safe was a bad thing, Ragan. I want the same, but not at the expense of you. That’s all I was trying to say. Losing you would…” he trailed off, and I nodded. “I know you don’t go looking for it, but I’m getting real tired of you almost dying. I don’t think my heart can take anymore of it.”

  “Ask Sera for a new one, I got an awesome liver from her,” I said, trying to lighten the mood, but it didn’t work.

  “I’ll keep that in mind. We good?”

  “If you wipe that smug look off your face and help me with this,” I said and tapped the piece of paper.

  He looked back to it. “You shouldn’t need any help with this, which means it’s not as simple as it looks.”

  “It never is.”

  “Not with you involved,” he said and picked up the paper. “Thinking dark web?”

  “My guess so far, got the address from a drug dealer. This was their contact for Honeykite when they were dealing it.”

  Ziller nodded. “It’s gotta be just a routing server for email. Forwards it on to another account. Could even be a burner box.”

  “Thought of all that, but it’s my only lead.”

  “We go digging and it’ll be shut down and spring up somewhere else.”

  “Yeah, but… we could try something,” I said and Ziller grinned. “Don’t smile too much, you won’t like the idea, which is we set it up like we’re looking to deal and get a meet. Then we grab the person and get them to spill.”

  “You think that’ll work? Doubt they’d send anyone with any knowledge of who is doing what.”

  I nodded. “Not normally, but we set up some servers, get info out there about us being big-time drug dealers and willing to purchase a large amount of Honey from the source, and they may step up. They gotta be doing it for the money, they won’t let a big pay day pass them by.”

  “It’s a long shot.”

  “I want to nail whoever tried to kill me, and this is our best bet. Someone cracked into Chris’s account and stole the formula. Someone called in a tip to the droopers on us, they didn’t just show by accident, which means they're trying to clean up their old messes now that they know people are sniffing. They can’t be that big of an operation yet. A deal with a lot of money? They’ll want to be there in person to make sure it goes smoothly.”

  Ziller frowned. “Still not so sure. Who will be at the meet? Just you?”

  “I don’t think it’d be a good idea if I’m visible, so I was hoping you would be there, too.”

  “Why, ‘cause I look the part?” he asked, his tone mostly joking.

  “No, because you spend all this time on your hair and it’s a shame no one else gets to see it.”

  “Don’t be envious.” He sighed and glanced at the living room where the others were talking in low voices. “This is dangerous. What if they show up with gunners? What are we going to do then?”

  “We have the droopers and CES show up too,” Marcus said as he walked into the kitchen. He glanced at Ziller and then caught my eye. “That cop from October. I doubt he’d mind being the whistle blower on Honeykite.”

  “He’s likely to arrest us too,” I said.

  Marcus shrugged. “I hope so otherwise it would be weird, but if we talk to him first he may let us all off if he gets to kill the distribution of Honey.”

  “You think CES gives a damn about junkies offing themselves?” Ziller asked.

  “No, but the media does. They eat shit like this up, imagine the headlines. How could any glory hound tight-ass pass that up?”

  Ziller laughed. “When d'you get a brain?”

  “Guess I never used it much before,” Marcus said as he went to the fridge. “Hanging out with all of you means I need to step up my game.”

  “From idiot to idiot savant?” I asked and Ziller barked a laugh. “You willing to go down to central with me?”

  "Just walk into that lion’s den? Like, not arrested or anything?" Marcus asked as he took a bottle of water from the fridge. “Rather chew glass, but if you’re going, then I guess I am too.”

  “I mean, I can arrange for you to do both.”

  Ziller looked down to the band on his wrist where a digital clock appeared. “Best you get going, doubt the detective works the night shift.”

  “I’ll shoot him a message to make sure he sticks. I need you and the rest of the Stars to get our cover set up. We need bank accounts, servers, reports on us… anything you can think of to sell it.”

  “I’ll rope the rest in, just don’t piss off the cop so much that he throws you in a cell.”

  “Then she can’t talk at all? That seems harsh, Ziller,” Marcus said with a grin at me.

  I shook my head. "Let’s go, we can catch the late train."

  Central was a fortress in a city of glass. When we came out of the underground, we both paused and looked at the building, at how it loomed over the street. Its grey stone looked almost sickly in the white of snow and fog.

  “They had to do that on purpose,” Marcus said and shoved his hands into his pockets. “They knew they were putting up an evil building. Probably designed it to be used in dark magic and summoning demons.”

  “You’ve been playing too much Autumn Sin,” I said and grabbed the shoulder of his jacket and pulled him along to the crosswalk. As we came to a stop in a small crowd, my link beeped. I opened the message and sighed. “Dougherty says he’s waiting.”

  “Demons, Doll. They’re all demons.”

  “Then break out your holy water, cause we’re going in.”

  We crossed the street and made our way up the steps. It felt there were a thousand of them

  “I should call my dad and tell him I love him,” Marcus said, and I gave him a questioning look. “I mean, if it’s likely we’re never coming out alive, I should, right?”

  “We’re gonna be fine, stop freaking.”

  “I didn’t know this was so routine for you,” Marcus said and I shrugged.

  Guards stood out front of the door, dressed in a white uniform and a patch on their arm denoting their division. Both were from CES. I dropped my head some as we entered the lobby.

  People of all sorts milled about. Yelling could be heard further in and beyond that, screams of pain could just be made out. A man was arguing with the woman at the front desk. She looked like she was far more interested in her terminal than what the man was going on about.

  A few seconds later, a guard showed up and escorted the man from the lobby. By escorted, I mean he dragged the man by his arms after hitting him hard on the side of the head with the butt of a gun.

  Marcus froze
beside me and I took his hand, pulling him along. “Ignore everything else. We’re here to see Dougherty. Just in and out.”

  “Why in person?” he asked, still watching the man as he disappeared around the corner.

  “Because he likes to play his stupid power games. He wants us to know that he’s aware of who and what we are. Only way he’d even look at the information was if we came here in person.”

  “Is it really the best idea for me to come with?”

  I looked up to him, released his hand. “You can leave if you want.”

  “Not what I meant,” he said and took my hand back. “Just wondering if me being here will cause more trouble.”

  “I wouldn’t come here by myself.” We went up to the reception desk and were face to face with the same bored woman. I cleared my throat and her eyes darted to me for a moment.

  “What?” she asked and went back to working on the terminal.

  “Hi, we're here to see Detective Dougherty.”

  “Who?”

  “Dougherty. Do I need to spell it?” I asked and her eyes darted over again. She gave a sigh and tapped on her screen.

  “Fine. He’s on the fifth floor, third door on the left.” She tapped the screen again and a slot in front of us produced two visitor badges. “Not that I care, but I would make sure not to lose those in here.”

  “Yeah. Thanks.” I took the badges and made my way toward the elevators. We stepped into a crowed one and I handed Marcus his badge as we were shuffled in the mix of people. After what felt like forever we arrived at the fifth floor and pushed our way out.

  We stood at one end of the hall. The walls were painted a pale white that made the ceiling lights almost painfully bright. With a deep breath I started down the hall to the third door.

  Dougherty’s name was printed in silver letters across the middle of the solid metal door. I reached out and knocked twice.

  “What?” A gruff voice called from the other side.

  “You know what. You’re the one that set the damn time,” I said. There was a squeak of a chair and then footsteps came to the door. It opened to show a tired looking Dougherty, his red-brown beard bushier and more unkept than the last time I saw him. Circles were heavy under his eyes and they seemed to darken when his gaze landed on me.

  “This better be worth it.” He stepped away from the door and we entered. He closed it behind us. “See that your boyfriend is back.”

  “He wasn’t my boyfriend and we’re not here to talk about me.”

  “I hope not, you haven’t been very interesting the last few weeks.” He made his way back to his desk and sat down heavily. “Kind of disappointed after the last two months.”

  “Thought I earned time off your radar,” I said and sat in the chair in front of his desk. I looked around the room as I settled. It felt lived in, a room that you might see as a study in a nice home, if not for the cement walls. He had several shelves filled with digital photos and a few awards. The shelf next to me held a digital display looping a photo of a woman around my age that had the misfortune of taking after her dad more than her mom in looks.

  “You did, but I got bored. Figured I’d make sure you’re being a good little girl. If you’re here, then I guess that hasn’t been the case.” He took a sip from his mug and leaned back in his chair. He eyed me as he swallowed the coffee. “What shit did you step in this time and why do you think I want to hear about it?”

  “Cause you’re my biggest fan, Dougherty,” I said in a mockingly pleasant voice. He snorted. “Okay, because I know you’ll lap up any closing you can get. Well, I can make you look good to your superiors by helping you get Honeykite off the street.”

  He lifted a brow and took another sip of his coffee. His chair squeaked a little as he leaned back. “Drug dealing, Ragan? I’m disappointed in you.”

  “We’re not, not really, but—” Marcus started but closed his mouth when I looked over. Dougherty smiled.

  “We’re not dumb enough come here and confess to you, you aren’t that lucky.”

  “I dunno, I’m pretty lucky.” He sat up in his chair and put the cup down on the desk. “But I also know that it’s a big risk for you show your face here, especially with Officer Jepsen wanting to bake bread using your bones as flour.

  “She said that?” I asked and Dougherty nodded.

  “Demons…” Marcus whispered from the side of his mouth and I smacked his leg for it.

  “She needed a lot of dental work, so I can’t really blame her,” Dougherty said. “So, how would you be able to help our wonderful police force get a dangerous drug off the street? To add to that, why do you even care?”

  “Because someone tried to kill me with it.”

  Dougherty cocked his head. “You just can’t stand being bored either, can you?”

  “Believe me, I could use some boredom after all this,” I said and reached into my pocket. Dougherty eyed me but didn’t move. As I expected, he feared nothing from us, especially in his own office, I took out the holopod that I borrowed from Ziller and placed it on Dougherty’s desk. It flashed on, showing an image of an email. “I got a meet with the main producer of Honeykite.”

  “This means nothing, you could have easily faked this,” he said as he read through the letter.

  “Why? What the hell do I have gain by doing that?”

  “I dunno, but you’re going to need more than that to get me to believe you got anything.”

  “Christ, Dougherty, you said it yourself, coming here is a big risk. I want the asshole who tried to kill me, so I’m going to this meet either way, but I could really use your backup.”

  “When did you get it in your head that we’re partners or some shit?”

  “Never, but just think of the air time you’ll get for taking the deadliest drug in years off the street.”

  “Or get air time as an idiot cop wasting police resources.”

  Marcus shifted next to me. “Come on, he’s not gonna help us. He’s lazy, rather sit behind his desk than do anything good for this city.”

  “Cute, kid, but you’re right. I only give a shit about me and covering my own ass.”

  I sighed as Marcus got up from the chair. I did the same and picked up the holopod and then paused, facing Dougherty. “Here,” I said and tossed a data-chip to him. “That will give you the location of the drop, in case you change your mind.”

  “That’s awfully nice, Ragan. Try not to get yourself killed,” he said as he looked over the chip. “You really think they’re the source?”

  “Pretty sure, we already got contacted by them after our covers went up on the net.”

  “Covers?”

  I shook my head and went to the door. “Not telling, you’d use that shit to put me away.”

  “Some day, I’m sure I will put you away.” He held up the data-chip between his thumb and forefinger. “I’ll keep this close by.”

  “You’ll be missing out on tons of fun if you don’t show,” I said and followed Marcus out of the room and closed the door.

  “That didn’t go well,” Marcus said as he waited for me.

  “It actually went really well,” I said. He gave me a confused look. “Dougherty is keeping the chip which means he’s interested. He wouldn’t tell us what he's going to do, he enjoys trying to hold all the cards, but I bet he’ll show up.”

  “I hope so since we’re betting our lives on it.”

  I stopped him with a hand to his chest. “You aren’t going to be there.”

  “Funny,” he said, and I glared. “I will be there if you are.”

  “Marcus—”

  He swatted my hand away and bent a little so that we were eye to eye. “Just because I’m into you doesn’t mean you have control over me, Doll. Don’t tell me what to do and I’ll try to do the same for you.” He walked off toward the elevator.

  “I’m not trying to control you,” I called as I hurried after. “It’s just… it’s gonna be dangerous, and it’s my thing, not yours.” />
  “It’s my thing if I say it is. Come on, we got a lot of stuff still to do.”

  I cursed and followed him into the elevator. “If you get killed, I’m going to kill you.”

  He laughed and kissed the top of my head before reaching over and hitting the button for the lobby.

  Ten

  The Meet

  “Is the car gonna be ready in time?” Merigold asked as the group sat in the living room of my crash spot. “What about the fake cases?”

  “Check and check,” Nina said. She was on an omni-pad and sitting on the armrest of the couch beside Merigold. “It’s an auto-driver so we don’t gotta worry about another person. What about you, Ziller?”

  “I still think this is a bit much,” Ziller said as he adjusted his jacket. He looked like he walked out of a city rave. “No one is gonna buy a nerd like me is a dealer.”

  “At least you're big enough to pull it off,” Marcus said. He stood in front of me as I tried to get his tie straight. “I look like some corp drone.”

  “Because you’re the one fronting the money, and no one would believe you had money with the way you normally dress.” I swatted his hands down as he tried to help. “Stop fidgeting, the vest is making it hard enough as it is.”

  “Vest?” Sera asked. She sat on the coffee table, preparing notes for Marcus and Ziller to study about the drug.

  “These two idiots like to get themselves into trouble almost as much as Ragan. They’re bullet-proof vests,” Merigold said.

  “Bullet resistant,” Nina corrected.

  “Shut up,” Merigold said and turned to me. “Speaking of which, I still think you going is a terrible idea.”

  “I am full of them.”

  “Full of shit, too. There is no reason you have to be there,” she said and stood. “What’s the point?”

  “The point is I’m the only one that has dealt with this person before and I’ll be able to tell if they are the same person that tried to kill me.”

  “And they’ll probably try again,” Merigold said. “You’re just another body to watch out for.”

  “I’m going, so deal with it,” I said and finally got Marcus’s tie right. I checked the clock on my neural and faced Nina. “We got forty minutes before we gotta be there. You hear from them?