by Sarah Lin
Something about the way he said it sent a chill down Rick's spine. He heard the door to the chamber open behind them and someone stepped inside. Even before he heard the voice, he knew.
"Hello, dearie. Did you miss me?"
Chapter 40: Sharing A Ride
Granny Whitney was exactly as he remembered her: the floral dress, the over-sized purse, the hair in that tight little bun. And of course the gentle smile on her face, as if he was a favored grandson who she was delighted to see and still not sure if she intended to tear out his guts.
"You." Rick's instincts told him to run, but she was blocking the only door and her threat was more influence than raw power anyway. "Why are you here?"
"I just want to chat, dear boy. I have an offer that I think you'll l-"
"No. Just let me go on with my life."
Her eyes became harder, boring into his. "Don't be tiresome, dearie. I'm not here to harm you, and I'd never do anything so gauche as threatening your sister. Last time I got you to work for me via blackmail, and that turned out alright, didn't it? This time you can actually negotiate your terms."
Rick took a deep breath, accepting that he probably didn't have a choice. It did seem like she expected him to be useful to her, which was all the protection he had. Still, he didn't want to just give in, so Rick turned on Tom angrily. "Why are you doing this? You'd betray me for one of your enemies?"
"It's not like that." Tom stepped closer, glancing between the two of them nervously. "Look... Alger's demands were relentless and constantly increasing. I thought I could arrange something else, something better, but... it didn't go as planned."
Chuckling, Granny Whitney reached up to pat his cheek, though she needed to stretch on the tips of her toes to do so. "Tom here was very obliging in getting himself in debt to me. So when I heard he was going to meet you, I had to give him an opportunity to pay a bit of that debt off, didn't I?"
Tom winced. "She just wants to talk, Rick. At least I'm fairly sure..."
"But you were willing to take that chance with me," Rick said. He reluctantly accepted it and turned to Granny Whitney. "Alright, we can talk. What is this all about?"
Instead of answering, the old woman turned and headed back out the door, gesturing over her shoulder at them. They moved after her reluctantly and it occurred to Rick that it was no accident that they had chosen this fighting chamber on the edge of the property. There was only a small passage behind it, and instead of returning to the main area, they left via a small door he hadn't noticed before.
The street outside was quiet, almost suspiciously so. Granny Whitney walked to the curb and scrabbled around in her purse for keys before manifesting a lucrim vehicle. It was different than the previous car, this one a lime green, yet somehow every bit as much of a granny car. She glanced over her shoulder at them.
"Hop in, boys. We're just going to go on a little trip so that I can explain better."
Tom climbed into the back seat while Rick hesitated on the sidewalk. He didn't want to get into her car, but he accepted that he wasn't really any more in her power there than in the street. If she had wanted to do something to him, the fighting chamber would have been the ideal place. Eventually he opened the door and stepped into the front seat.
The vehicle immediately rose into the air, some sort of defensive field shimmering into being around it that made the world outside look fuzzy. Granny Whitney sat back with her hands clasped over her purse as if some chauffeur was driving them, then turned to smile at him.
"Sorry to do things this way, dearie, but unfortunately you're not so easy to contact these days. All branches of the Lucrim Authority keep their employees under various kinds of scrutiny that are... mildly frustrating for my purposes, to say the least."
"And so you arranged this meeting." Rick sighed and made himself meet her gaze. "Fine. What do you want?"
"Oh, but why start so aggressively? I'd much rather begin by talking about what I can do for you." Granny Whitney smiled at him, her eyes twinkling. "I understand you're having a bit of trouble with a man named Jack. You do seem to collect vendettas, don't you, dearie?"
Rick stared at her. "You mean that you sent him after me to force me into this?"
Granny Whitney put a hand to her chest. "Rick, you wound me! Do you really think that I'm the type of old woman who would threaten you with such a crude thug? No, if I wanted to threaten you, I would become exceedingly kind to your dear sister and let you work out the rest. You're a reasonably smart boy, after all."
The obvious threat left Rick grinding his teeth. As the pause stretched, Tom spoke up from the back seat. "She didn't send him, man. Jack is working for the American Basilisk, who's one of her oldest enemies. I'm not sure what she needs from you, but she actually thinks your interests align."
"That's right. Such a helpful comment deserves a piece of hard candy." Though Granny Whitney began looking through her purse, her next words were clearly directed toward Rick. "I don't care about this Jack fellow, but I do want to see Gerald frustrated. That's the American Basilisk, if you don't recall. So I think we can actually work together here."
Rick didn't answer at first, looking through the haze around the car to try to figure out where they were going. Somewhere outside Branton, and they were picking up speed as they got higher and further from the center of the city, but he wasn't sure where. For now, he put it out of his mind and focused on the old woman rummaging through her purse menacingly.
"This conversation is pointless until you tell me what you want from me. Out with it."
"Alright, dearie. If you insist on not chatting with a lonely old woman, we can talk business." Granny Whitney flicked something from out of her purse into the back seat, then focused on him with dark, beady eyes. "These exercises by the CSLA are interfering with one of my businesses. I need you to abuse your authority working with them to remove that interference. In exchange, I will have Jack murdered for you. If you perform well enough, I'll provide additional lucrim-based compensation."
Not having expected his demand to actually work, Rick swallowed and stared back at her. Well, it was all out on the table now. He forced his brain not to flinch from the implications and responded to what mattered. "I don't want him killed, I just want him to stop attacking me."
"Trying to bargain for a larger lucrim reward, are you? I think it'd be cleaner to have him killed, but if you insist, I do have some lovely little pills you might like."
He had actually been more concerned that she would implicate him in the crime and blackmail him just like before. The most logical thing would have been to refuse her categorically and leave. There was definitely part of his mind that said it would be safer to open the door and hurl himself at the ground than to work with her. Yet he didn't think that she would give up that easily, so...
"What business, and how is my job relevant?"
"Drugs, dearie. I have many industrious little worker bees making all manner of drugs outside the city, where the residue isn't so easily tracked. Unfortunately, all these surveyors moving about have increased scrutiny, and I've lost a few workers thanks to them."
"I don't control CSLA policy. I'm just working not to get fired."
"But you do have their proprietary technology to locate, analyze, and eliminate lucrim anomalies." Granny Whitney sat back primly, eyes fixed at him like a predator. "I need you to locate an anomaly without noticing anything suspicious. After that, I will need you to run a few packages for me. Those lost workers have attracted some unfortunate attention."
Rick took a deep breath, wondering if he was insane for even considering the offer. Of course, one thing was absolutely unacceptable. "I'm not going to run drugs for you. I'm willing to do my job and not go out of my way to interfere with your operations, but I refuse to do anything illegal."
"That's no fun, dearie. I could have eliminated Jack for you, so thoroughly and effectively..."
"Don't you want to do that anyway, to humiliate the American Basilisk?"
"I don't want to get involved in anything excessive. I'm dealing with a lot right now." Rick rubbed his forehead briefly, then glanced back at Tom, but the other man was completely silent. After thinking about just how much trouble Granny Whitney could cause him, much less Melissa, he decided that he didn't have a choice. "So you need me to get rid of a lucrim anomaly. Where and how?"
"Below us, actually." Granny Whitney flicked a finger and the windows slid down... except they continued sliding so the doors themselves faded away, leaving a large expanse of open sky on either side of the car. They hovered over an expanse of wilderness that looked much the same as many other areas outside Branton. "We took our little ride mostly because I needed a secure place for this conversation, but we've also reached the location. Take good look, dearie, because I don't want to give you any incriminating evidence."
Rick gripped the edge of the car tightly and leaned out slightly to get a better look. There weren't a lot of identifying characteristics, but he'd roughly kept track of their position. "Even if I know the approximate area, finding the anomaly can be difficult."
"I trust you'll be an industrious young man."
"And all you need me to do is report it normally?"
"There are a few other details we'll have to discuss." Granny Whitney only chuckled when he turned to glare at her. "Simple details of technique, dear boy, no new changes to our agreement. If you fulfill your end, I'll arrange something to deal with Jack."
"How, exactly?"
"By putting a little pressure on Gerald - you see, I imagine that he hired Jack in order to get someone inside the CSLA who isn't associated with him. Having that information leaked would be very inconvenient for him, so he'd be displeased to learn that Jack is drawing so much attention to himself. With the right word whispered in the right ear, he could be out of your hair for good."
That might be about the best deal that he was going to get. Rick thought that he had no choice but to accept the offer, but he remained silent for a long time, trying to think of an alternative.
"Granny's time is very valuable, dearie." Her fingers tightened on her purse. "I have no vendetta against you, truly. You might have been a pain in my ass, but you gave me what I needed and you could be counted on. Do this one thing for me and I'll be out of your life for good."
Rick scowled at her. "I thought that was the deal the last time."
"Oh, but we're only meeting again because you have the CSLA position. Without that, you'd have nothing I want and I'd leave you alone. You don't think the position is going to last long, do you? Believe me, you don't have much more time to get in my good graces."
"Alright, fine." Rick closed his eyes and wished to whoever was listening that this wasn't a mistake. "Let's talk about the details."
Chapter 41: Paying Granny's Dues
Even though he wasn't technically any safer, Rick felt relieved when he finally stepped out of the car. Granny Whitney gave them a cheery wave and then her vehicle shot up into the sky, disappearing above the clouds. Just like that, he had underworld obligations again.
Setting aside those concerns, Rick turned to look at Tom. The larger man shifted uncomfortably, as if he wanted to start walking away but was held by something. Possibly guilt. Though Rick was pissed off at him, he knew that venting those feelings wouldn't accomplish anything. A moment later, he realized that there was actually a better way to exploit the situation.
"A long time ago, after I lost an arm helping you win a fight, you promised to help restore it." Rick eyed Tom coolly. "This is what you had in mind for repaying me?"
"Look, I didn't..." Tom winced and avoided eye contact, but didn't move away. "Granny Whitney took care of your injury and after that we were on opposite teams. And now... I didn't want it to be this way, I just..."
Though Rick felt a bit dirty, like he was taking a page out of Granny Whitney's book, he knew he couldn't afford to play this situation clean. "I know she pushed you into a bad situation. But now you've put me in a position where I could very well end up maimed or killed."
"You... deserve better than that. Sorry."
"If you really want to apologize, make it up to me with your technique." Rick stepped closer and stared up into Tom's eyes. "I want to test my defensive core against your lightning technique, under completely controlled conditions."
Tom blinked in surprise. "Uh, now?"
"No, not now. I need to take care of Granny Whitney's problem and I'm betting things will get worse with Jack before they get better. But soon."
"Okay." Tom took a deep breath and nodded to him, his nervousness giving way to a hard expression. "After doing this to you, that's fair. You have my number, so just call me."
"Thanks, I'll do that." Rick was about to leave, but hesitated and looked back at the other man. "Tom, you should already know this, but you could use a reminder. Making yourself useful to her will just get you pulled in deeper. You need to make a deal that lets you get out."
Tom nodded but didn't respond. They stared at each other a while longer, then they headed in opposite directions. After walking for a time, his thoughts overflowing, Rick manifested his bike and hopped on. They'd been dropped off not far from his apartment, but he didn't want to wait any longer to get started.
Along the way, he thought over the messages he'd seen recently at work. The quotas had been getting more difficult and judging from some of the threads, a few surveyors had been fired. He had a comfortable buffer thanks to the allowance from his time in the demon realm, but it was obvious that his life was going to get more difficult. That was before he even thought about Granny Whitney's demands, though at least she would let him take credit for the find.
Back at the apartment, he found Melissa sitting in the middle of the living room floor, surrounded by several books. They all looked like old technical manuals from the library, some of them a bit strange. She glanced up and grinned at him, though, so he decided that she must know what she was doing.
"Hey, Rick. Meeting go okay?"
"Uh, no. Got kind of a shitty surprise, but we should talk about it later."
"That's cool, I have a lot on my mind." Melissa frowned and then pointed to the small table. "Right, Lisa dropped off some more stuff for you. It's not just mixtures this time, she wants you to give something to whoever you got the jackalope extract from."
"Thanks, sis." Rick padded over and found the box from Lisa. In addition to the usual complement of experiments, there was an odd package that was actually vacuum sealed. Presumably a derivative of the extract that she wanted Adsila to test in some way, because there was no note or explanation beyond what Melissa had said.
Rick stared down at the box, wondering if he'd seriously messed things up. Lisa seemed so distant these days. Even though it had been an awful and stressful period of his life, he missed the time when he could just enjoy hanging out with various friends. The peace made everything more complicated.
Deciding that he would get out to the Peakless Wildlife Refuge later, Rick instead just put all the mixtures aside. Instead he spent time online researching the area Granny Whitney had indicated, trying to get a feel for the area before he went out to survey. It was too far to reach that day, but the actual area wasn't that large and had some old abandoned buildings, so hopefully it wouldn't be a pain to fulfill her request.
As soon as he thought it, he regretted it. Not likely. Rick sighed and went through his exercises before going to sleep.
~ ~ ~
The next day, Rick got up bright and early to head out to the site. Though the bike ride was refreshing, everything else was not. By the time he arrived, the sun was beating
down unpleasantly and he knew that it would only get worse.
When he first made an attempt to use the surveying technique, he got a large amount of feedback - not natural feedback, either, but a nasty residue that he could almost feel instinctively. No wonder no one had located the anomaly yet. He had to wonder if there even was one, or if this was part of some trickier scheme by Granny Whitney, but decided that was paranoia. Locating anomalies was the only real thing she was likely to want from him, since she had access to plenty of stronger fighters.
For an hour he simply moved through the region, surveying periodically to get a sense for the distortions. It wasn't a random route, however, as he moved to target the buildings he'd seen from the maps online. Even if those didn't contain the anomaly, they would serve as good reference points and he might be able to get some shade if the sun became oppressively hot.
The first of the buildings came into sight sooner than he expected: a vast concrete structure, still in solid shape except for the stains creeping up the side. Huge painted letters read "Branton Lucrim Depository" - or at least that was what he thought it said, guessing about missing pieces. It had been a long time since lucrim had been stored in such crude containers, so it wasn't a surprise that the building was abandoned.
As he got closer, he found himself wondering about why it had been so far outside the city. He didn't think the city had moved all that much over time. Maybe it was to discourage anyone from making attempts on it... he did see a few bits of concrete rubble that might once have been defenses.
Fortunately he was close to the entrance, so he headed for it. The doors were locked with a rusted chain, so after checking the windows, he left it for now. If necessary, he could break through the chain later, but hopefully that wouldn't be required. When he tried the technique again, the surveying aura vibrated strangely. Probably not an anomaly, but he couldn't put his finger on why exactly he thought that - it was just instinct from his work so far.
