Lover

by Valerie J. Long

  So far, nobody had been able to see me due to my camouflage, but the sounds of dropping bodies might have alarmed someone inside. I shouldered my victim, became visible—whatever that meant for a black suit in an unlit area at night—and ran off.

  Two blocks later, I paused and listened. Still, there were no sounds of pursuers. Here, far from the town limits, no gang members were roaming—after all, what business would they have here?

  With my nano enhancements, I could have carried my booty for kilometers. But that would have given my abilities away in case someone saw me running. So I stole a car, dropped him into the backseat, and drove away.

  I was heading eastward, deeper into the ZONE, as nobody would expect that. Nor should I have to expect people to stop me there, and probably no road barriers.

  Too easy.

  I saw the last houses ahead of me, beyond them open country, and stopped.

  This was too easy. Okay, nobody would expect an invisible woman, and Frostdragon armor suits were too rare to use them against a few criminals in the ZONE, not to mention that any opposition would then be hopeless anyway, but with those measures I had seen so far on this side of the town, any soldier unit could simply walk in?

  Okay, I didn’t know much about military and tactics, but to encircle an enemy was elementary. So the people here had to protect themselves somehow.

  I understood that they had little high-tech surveillance. This town was too large in comparison to tighten security the same consequential way as in Belgium, with ultrasonic and cameras and all. But I wouldn’t put a few tripwires in the right places, or something similar, past these people. Once there’d been a decent boom, they’d all be awake.

  One step after the other, Jo, I told myself and left the car. The access to the next house left of the road looked neat, nevertheless I examined it in detail. No, it seemed to be clean. And the garage door?

  Only my sharpened vision could spot the thin wire through the crack at the side. Oh, a nasty trap!

  Likewise, the house entrance and the garage’s side door were prepared. On a closer look, I found hidden levers for all doors to unarm the traps. Understandable—for maintenance purposes or if the defenders had to take cover themselves, they surely didn’t want to trigger their own traps.

  Why was the road open then?

  It wasn’t. Fifty meters ahead, there were a few cracks in the road surface from which only little moss and grass grew. I didn’t want to know how the trigger worked. Here, my drive ended.

  After deactivating the blow-up trap, I could hide the car in the garage. Next, I closed the garage door and armed the wire-triggers again.

  Finally, I shouldered my victim and went off on foot, and I watched very cautiously where I placed my next step.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  “Hello, Gomez.”

  He bolted up, and his hand reached toward his holster, where I stopped it with gentle pressure. “Quiet. It’s me, Velvet.”

  “Velvet! Man, you gave me the creeps. You’re already back? No way through, was there?” He reached for a lever, let the backrest of his seat come up, swung his legs around, and pushed himself out of the driver’s door. “Come, let me see you. You’re still in one piece, that’s good.”

  Then his gaze fell on the unconscious human bundle that I had rested against his car. “I’ll be damned. That’s him?”

  “Yes, sure.”

  “Dragon crap. How did you do that?”

  “I’ve snuck in without letting myself be seen, knocked him out and shouldered him, returned to my car and left. Again without letting myself be seen.”

  And without stepping into one of the numerous mines. He needed to know neither about the guards I had put to sleep nor about the stolen Martian that I had returned to the door of its innocent owner. I had run the last leg to our meeting point under the cover of darkness.

  “Before they find out that their guest has left them, I’d like to put some distance between Houston and us. Can we?”

  “Yes��yes, sure, darn, come, I’ll load him up, then we’ll go.”

  I was quicker. Gomez was so distressed that he didn’t notice how little effort I needed to place the heavy male body onto his car’s back seat before he could even lend a hand.

  “You must be tired. A coffee first?”

  “Elsewhere. Let me drive, Gomez.”

  “Well, okay.”

  We entered and drove away. Only few cars frequented the roads in the hours before dawn, so I could push the accelerator way down. A ticket for speeding was my least worry now.

  “Ey, Velvet, don’t get us killed!”

  “No worries, Boss. I’ll bring us home in one piece.” There, I relied more on my accelerated reflexes and my Analogy’s calculations than on his car’s spongy steering. “Where exactly do we have to go actually?”

  “Dallas would be fine, as there I know a few people, just in case. I haven’t fixed a place yet.”

  “Well then, give them a call. It should better be on the highway.”

  Dallas was on our way. For me, or Yori, respectively, time was running short. If I wanted to meet Harold on Monday morning, I’d have to start my way back soon.

  “Why’s that?”

  “We can see people coming.”

  “In exchange, there are fewer escape routes.”

  “That’s what the others think.”

  I could always get away on foot. Gomez—well. If he couldn’t manage his clients, I didn’t owe him anything. Now, he should make the call.

  “Okay. Fort Worth, Interstate 35 West and Texas 114, Lone Star Circle, at the Texas Motor Speedway. In four hours.” He looked at me. “We can make it, can’t we? No three hundred miles.”

  I only nodded.

  “We’ll be there.” Gomez hung up, pocketed his mobile phone and stared at the empty road ahead.

  I kept focused on the road. At our current speed, each bump, each crack in the road required a gentle response with the wheel. I wouldn’t have wanted to try a full stop with this car at this speed.

  “It’s been a walk in the park for you again, hasn’t it?”

  “At least nobody shot at me. What’s happening to him?”

  “They’ve got a few questions, they told me.”

  “After the change in power now, the old government’s followers wouldn’t be interested in seeing his knowledge spread, would they?”

  “Surely not. Velvet, I’m no killer.”

  “No.”

  “I want to say, I’m not known for being a killer. Those who need a killer won’t hire me. That means, they want him alive, although they don’t need him anymore. The others needed him alive until he talked.”

  “Mm.”

  “That guy should be glad you got him out there, Velvet.”

  Maybe. Perhaps he already had regretted fleeing to the ZONE. I wasn’t happy anyway having been involved in kidnapping.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “Good morning, Yori.” He glanced at his watch.

  “Good morning, Harold. Excuse me, I’m late.”

  “On the second, Yori. No problem, I’m simply used to you showing up five minutes early.”

  I had granted myself these five minutes to walk the last steps at normal speed and catch my breath after having sprinted once across Vegas invisibly.

  “Had a long weekend?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re looking somewhat worn-out. Hangover?”

  “No alcohol. Only little sleep.”

  “And no breakfast yet, what?”

  “No.”

  “Okay. We have a lot to do today, but there’s still time for coffee and a donut. I’ll invite you, okay?”

  Should I object? The recovery fee had only been split among two this time, so I had collected two-hundred thousand dollars. I was rich, only Harold shouldn’t know about it.

  “Gladly.”

  “Then come. We’ll get some.”

  “Tell me, Yori, where’s your place, actually?”

>   I had long feared this question.

  “On the streets.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I have no room, bed or such. Each night, I find myself a quiet corner and sleep. Usually somewhere up.”

  “Up?”

  “On a roof. There’s rarely anyone checking.”

  “Yori, that’s not possible!”

  “Come on, of course that’s possible. Normally, I eat in the Casino, can wash myself there, and otherwise I need nothing.”

  “Nothing?”

  “I have clothes and the money I earn. What else do I need?”

  “But—when it rains?”

  Not very likely in Las Vegas. “Then I’ll go inside and gamble a little. I only have to spend a few coins here and there so that I’m not kicked out. In exchange, I save the expensive room rent. Do you know what they take for a fleabag of three square meters?”

  “No. I still own this flat. My grandfather’s.”

  “Under one thousand a month, you’ll find nothing, or it’s no better than to sleep outside. What do you think why most girls here are so easily available for sex? The alternative is to share one large bed among three or four people and sleep in shifts while the other tenants are working. No thanks, I’d better stay outside.” Which also had the advantage of not providing an address where a Cartel killer could surprise me.

  Apropos. I looked outside. “Harold, visitors for you.”

  I didn’t like the two similar-looking guys in their dark suits.

  Harold came to the same conclusion. “Better leave now.”

  “Sure?”

  “Let me alone with them. ‘Til later.”

  “Okay.” I left his office through the back door, became invisible outside, and came right back to watch and listen. This way I didn’t miss anything.

  “Hello, lamp man,” the first visitor greeted him. His colleague assumed a silent post at the door.

  “Good morning, Mister—?”

  “Doe. John Doe. Lamp man, you’re too expensive.”

  “I’m charging good money for good work. I’m reliable and fast.”

  “You don’t even pay a security fee.”

  “No, and it will remain that way.”

  “That’s not common practice.”

  “I’m safe anyway. My clients—the large casinos’ owners—wouldn’t appreciate if I could no longer do my work. If anything would happen to me, my shop, or my car, I could no longer do my work. So I don’t pay fees.”

  “Correct. However, our procurement department found out that your prices are too high. They’re including a security fee that you’re not paying. So you’ll offer a discount from now on. Procurement has fixed the discount at thirty percent.”

  “Thirty percent? That’s outrageous!”

  “Quiet, lamp man. I only deliver the message.”

  “The material is expensive. At this price, I can’t buy, so that won’t leave anything for me and my running expenses!”

  “You’ll find a creative solution.”

  “No. If it doesn’t add up any longer, I’ll quit. Find someone else.”

  “You should think about it.”

  “You can’t threaten me—we had that before. Beat me up, and Vegas stays in the dark.”

  “You know, lamp man”—he spread and flexed his fingers—“it would be better if you’d cooperate. You don’t want anything happening to your little assistant, do you?”

  Then he simply turned away. His twin held the door open for him, and they left. Harold silently voiced what I thought, “Dragon crap.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  “Hi, Harold. They’re gone, are they?”

  “Hi, Yori. Yes, they’re gone for now. Dragon crap.”

  “Why?”

  “They’re cutting my earnings. For years, I’ve successfully fought a security fee, now they’re turning it this way. Shoo, or something will happen.”

  “Why now?” I asked, although I already knew the reason. “Why didn’t you have to pay until now?”

  “I’ve always said, you can kiss my ass. Find another for climbing around up there. They won’t find one. Then they left, and everything remained as always. They can’t beat me up, because then I won’t go up.”

  “But now they can threaten you.”

  “Yes.”

  “Because you’re no longer alone.”

  “Exactly. No—not because they believe you could replace me. For that, you still don’t know all the tricks, and they know it. No, they threatened to harm you.”

  “Then I’m to blame for your business going down the sink now. If they don’t pay you decently, you can’t continue here.”

  “No, it’s not your fault. But—aw, Dragon piss.”

  “Harold, if I’d drop out, could you go on?”

  He looked at me with puzzlement. “Maybe. But these people usually won’t backpedal. They simply won’t pay more, or just enough for me to survive and slide deeper and deeper into debt. No, as it stands, we’ll have to bite the bullet.”

  “Isn’t there another option? What would you do if I wasn’t here?”

  “Can it.”

  “Really?”

  “I have some savings they don’t know about. I’d disappear and make a new start elsewhere.”

  “Do that, Harold.”

  “And what about you? You’re just struggling your way out of the hole you’ve been in, and then—no, old Harold won’t do that.”

  “So? That’s really kind of you, Harold—but I quit.”

  “Yori, please. Think, you need the job.”

  “We’d been interrupted. I don’t pay rent. All I own, I’m carrying with me. I only need enough money to pay my meals, and my savings will carry me along for quite a while.”

  I dug in my belt pocket—from nano material, too—and produced a small bundle with forty one-thousand-dollar notes. “Harold, take that and leave. I’ll stay here.”

  “What’s that money?” he asked very suspiciously.

  “This is a small part of a recovery fee. The ex-government pays well for lost goods that the Cartel isn’t entitled to keep.”

  “The ex—oh.”

  “I must apologize. I’ve used you as cover and thereby destroyed your existence. I didn’t consider that they could utilize me to blackmail you.”

  “No, no. I looked for assistance. That’s not your fault.”

  “The work was fun.”

  “Yes, I’ve seen that. Damn, when you dangled under the Invasion and then unhooked yourself—you didn’t see your face. You love the danger, don’t you?”

  “Somewhat.”

  “Somewhat, you say. Put your money away. You’ve surely earned it. I don’t want to know about it.”

  “Take it. I earn more than I could spend, and it will help you getting away quicker than the Cartel expects. Or do you think you could simply go to the bank and withdraw your savings?”

  “Yes—well, no. That won’t work. But once I’m—”

  “Once you’ve found a new place, you don’t want to be connected to your former existence. No phone, no account. Your identity was burned during the Invasion. You’ll start from scratch.”

  “Darn…you’ve had experience, do you?”

  “Once you’re past that door, there’s no Yori anymore, Harold. Even if they might find you one day, don’t buy their stories.”

  “Somehow I knew there’s more to you. Your name’s not Yori either, is it?”

  “No.”

  “No matter. Watch for yourself, little one.”

  “Fare well, Harold.”

  Part Four

  Errands

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  “Hi, Gomez.”

  He flinched. Then he looked around. “Velvet! Damn, you terrified me.” He pointed at the empty dark side road. “How could you get so close? There’s no place to hide.”

  “I’ve got my tricks. You seemed to be looking for me.”

  “Yes. You haven’t been in the Black Hole for a
while, have you?”

  “At the moment, I prefer to be hard to find.” That wasn’t entirely true. I was preparing for a new entrance as gambler. If I didn’t come up with a better idea, I might have to hope for the Cartel finding me. For that, I needed a lot of startup capital, and I was bit by bit collecting it. The guests in the better suites of Bellagio and Wynn could get over the loss.

  “Oh, why’s that?”

  “As it seems, the city backyards are cleaned up. So far, there’ve been a few individual tradesmen who could evade the Cartel’s tight caress, and quite a few independent, well, entrepreneurs. This fun is over.”

  “That’s why Jesse was so unsettled.”

  “His shop is due, too. That it’s a place to initiate deals of which the Cartel won’t hear anything must be a thorn in their side.”

  “He didn’t say anything about that.”

  “If he wants to keep his bar, he must learn to listen and not talk—except to the right people.”

  “You mean he’s already turned over?”

  “I didn’t pay attention to that, but his venue is no suitable meeting place anymore.”

  “What about you?”

  “Me? I’m sitting on the fence.”

  “You’re no longer in business?”

  “I remain independent.”

  “Although the Cartel’s cleaning up?”

  In lieu of an answer, I winked at him. Stop—there’s been a noise. “Someone’s coming.”

  “Where?”

  I pointed behind me and pushed him gently into the opposite direction. Not being seen still was the best conflict-avoidance strategy. Sadly, with his initial remark he’d been right—here was no place to hide.

  Gomez’ hand wandered toward his axle. I placed one hand on his arm and my other index finger on my lips. He nodded, and then he produced a flick knife with his other hand.

  He was noticeably tense. Nevertheless, we shouldn’t run if we didn’t want to stand out. We walked quickly, but silently, to the next corner together, while the steps behind us, behind the other corner, approached.