by Mel Odom
Counter-Offer
“My name is Hwang Jae-Min. I run the Blue Heaven Seoulpa Ring. You’ve just stolen something from Eastern Tiger.”
Whoever this guy was, he knew entirely too much about our biz.
“Don’t bother denying it,” he said. “I’ve got your employer’s commlink hacked. I heard the whole exchange.”
I just looked at him, waiting. The fact that I didn’t immediately hang up was a sign of weakness, and we both knew it.
“We both have to live and work in Hong Kong,” Hwang said. “You’ve made a bit of a name for yourself, and I respect that. But just like you, I have a job I’m being paid for—and that’s to make sure your employer doesn’t ever get his hands on the data and samples you’ve got. I think we can help each other.”
“How do you figure?”
“You’ve been lied to from the very beginning. Once that elf has the data and samples, he’s going to kill you and dump your body in a shallow grave—if he bothers to bury you at all. I have access to information you don’t.”
“I’m listening,” I said.
“The elf’s full name is Tigath Wright, and he’s a spy for Tir Tairngire. Some kind of field agent for the Council of Princes.”
The fact that the elven nation was interested in the Omega Sequence wasn’t surprising, and it was scary as hell. The odds against our completing this run alive had just gone up dramatically.
“Tigath launched a failed attack on the original research lab in Tacoma,” Hwang said. “That’s why Eastern Tiger is moving the project equipment and data to Seoul. He’s also tried attacking that ship near Perth and Riau Islands.”
“How do you know all of this?”
“Tigath may be skilled, but he’s piss-poor at Matrix security.” Hwang waved dismissively. “We cracked his encryption within an hour of his landing in Hong Kong. We’ve had eyes and ears on every call, every report, and every take-out order he’s made in the Free Enterprise Zone. He’s left every team he’s hired out in the cold—or worse. You’re just the latest in a string of disposable hired help.”
That would explain why Tigath wasn’t putting up the cred he’d promised for the run.
“I understand it’s bad for business to cancel a contract,” Hwang went on, “but it’s much better than being shot in the back of the head.”
“Roger that,” Duncan said quietly.
“Here’s my proposal,” Hwang said. “You give me the data and samples from Omega Sequence #358G, and I’ll give you a cut of what I’m being paid. Then we take care of Tigath together. It’s not optimal, I know, but we both come out on top and get to send a simple message—don’t fuck with us.”
I made no mention of the fact that I was breaking my contract while Hwang was ending up with the goods we’d risked our lives for. I also noticed he wasn’t offering to pick up the tab.
I took the path of least resistance. For the moment. “All right. How do you want to do this?”
“I’ll message you with a time and location near to Tigath’s safehouse. Meet me before you go to talk to him. We can spring an ambush on him, and do the trade afterward. I’ll bring plenty of backup so you don’t have to go in alone.”
“Send me the location of the meet.” Once he did, I gave him an ETA and broke the connection.
“You’re going to deal with this man?” Is0bel asked.
I shook my head, still thinking about the thing in the cryo chamber and all the nightmares I’d been having. “I don’t like him any more than I do Tigath.”
“You realize we’re trapped between two devils,” Gobbet said quietly.
“I do, so we’re going to have to be very careful with this one. Do you have any friends you can reach out to in order to find out more about these guys?”
Chapter 64
“How Do I Know I Can Trust You?”
By the time we got off the MTR in Ho Chung, we were into the small hours of the night. No one talked much. We weren’t in the mood for it after everything we’d been through, not to mention the trials that still remained ahead. Gobbet and Is0bel had reached out to a couple of friends they had in the shadows. Both Wichita Red and Timber agreed they’d heard that previous dealings with Tigath had gone exactly as Hwang had described. No one knew anything about Hwang, but the bottom line was that Eastern Tiger wasn’t reputed as a trustworthy employer.
The streets stank of urine, and mold covered the nearby buildings, but I took that as a sign that everything within was rotting, too. Shadows of men and women and children, more shambling wrecks than people, got out of our way. We were strapped, and didn’t bother hiding it.
“I hate this place,” Is0bel said as she looked around. “Everybody gave up on Ho Chung fifteen years ago. They don’t get any kind of sanitary service.”
I stayed focused and relied on the commlink’s GPS to find the address I was searching for. Too many of them had been worn away or removed.
At the meeting site, Hwang Jae-Min stood in the shadows, a sec drone hovering next to him. Not all of his gear was on his face; it consisted of cutting-edge tech: signal amplifiers, trid projection systems, and a dozen tiny screens over his jacket. He was shorter than I’d expected, but compact and on point.
He bowed and straightened just as I reached him. “Thank you so much for seeing me tonight,” he said. “I realize what an inconvenience it must be for you.”
Duncan snorted behind me, but I ignored it. “You treated me with respect. That got my attention.”
“I’m glad it did. I don’t tolerate rudeness. Neither should you.”
I smiled at him. We were all friends here until the bullets started flying. “You said you had proof Tigath isn’t who he said he was.”
“I wouldn’t waste your time with a face to face meeting unless I had data to show you.” Hwang pulled a datachip from one of his pockets. “Go on, slot it. You’ll see what I mean.”
I inserted the chip into my comm and pulled up the contents. The initial images were of a gun battle at an Eastern Tiger facility parking lot. Lone Star blasted four people I presumed were shadowrunners into dead meat.
The second set of photos was closer to home. Literally. I immediately recognized the streets of Touristville, Redmond. Two of the runners from the earlier battle stood in front of a tall and haughty elf who was the spitting image of Tigath Wright. He held a large handgun at his side.
“Your employer,” Hwang said sarcastically, “was responsible for a botched shadowrun against the Omega Complex project facility in Tacoma. The entire team responsible was killed, but Eastern Tiger managed to track their movements. The second set of photos came from a private citizen’s drone footage—and, as you can see, Tigath is hiring them.”
“That’s suspicious,” I admitted, “but it doesn’t prove anything.”
“You wouldn’t be the first he’s lied to.” Hwang folded his arms over his chest, and I knew I was getting scanned from top to bottom. “The only question that remains is what you intend to do about it.”
“Tell me about the Omega Sequence project.”
Hwang snorted and shook his head. “Do I look like a scientist to you?”
“Maybe not, but you’re a guy who does his research.”
Hwang’s eyes gleamed in appreciation at my point. “There’s not a whole lot of information on the Omega Sequence project or any of its predecessors. There should be, because back in the mid ’40s, that kind of research was big news with corporate and academic scientists alike. Three major studies were underway. The thing is, there’s no record of most of those studies anymore. They’ve all disappeared.”
“What happened to them?”
“Funding lapsed and the test data vanished, in some cases. Some scientists disappeared, others were disgraced. Two committed suicide—or were killed in a way that looked like suicide. At UC Berkeley, for instance, Dr. Derek McLean headed up the Omega Sequence style project. But there was an organized smear campaign in ’48 which left him unemployed and his theories on
other subjects disgraced.”
Whoever had been behind the purge had been thorough. Drake Wang, a contact of Gobbet’s and a mage who specialized in HMHVV-afflicted entities, had confirmed that.
“The thing is,” Hwang continued, “McLean’s ‘disgraced’ theories have been largely proven right over the last eight years, but it’s too late. He’s been blacklisted. That’s the way it went with all of these scientists. Most are out of a job, some are dead. Others are just missing.”
“What’s Tir Tairngire got to do with this?” I asked. That had been a troubling point Drake Wang had brought up too. Gobbet hadn’t given him much, but the mage had still focused on that with keen interest.
“The research related to the issue of possible elven immortality—or at least extreme longevity. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine.” Hwang rubbed his chin. “All I know is that the money funding anti-immortality research comes out of Portland. At the end of the day, though, it doesn’t matter to me if they stifled the research, or why. I’m getting paid to make sure they don’t take Eastern Tiger’s property.”
He was getting paid. No mention of paying us yet. Since I wasn’t asking for payment, I wanted to push back a little so he wouldn’t get suspicious. “How do I know I can trust you?”
He spread his hands and smiled. “If I break my word to someone as respected as Kindly Cheng, my life won’t be worth the subway fare it’ll take to get home. You can trust me because if I betrayed you and lived, it would only be the start of my troubles.”
I mulled that over, letting him get the full effect he needed to buy what I was selling. “I’m ready.” I nodded. “Let’s go see what Tigath is up to.”
“Good.” Hwang slapped my shoulder, and I decided to sweep my jacket for a tracker later. “You go to the spot where you arranged to meet him. I’ll collect my crew and get them ready. When you’re prepared, ping me. Tigath won’t know what hit him.”
“Sounds good to me.” We separated, and I led the way through the broken streets and black shadows to our next meet.
Chapter 65
Impasse
Tigath Wright stood in the center of an abandoned outdoor marketplace. Rusted tables and chairs occupied the cracked concrete that was surrounded by a sea of dying grass. During better times, the marketplace had probably been a neighborhood gathering place families had enjoyed.
Now it was a windblown, shadow-filled combat zone waiting to be lit up. I measured out the room we had to maneuver, and where I’d post up snipers and cover fire. Duncan would be doing the same. Gobbet and Is0bel had been around enough to know the lay of the land, and they also had the advantage of having been here before.
I didn’t like our chances, especially caught between Tigath’s crew and the Seoulpa ring. But they were what we had to work with, and the fact that the gangers hated each other should work in our favor.
I hoped.
Tense from head to toe, Tigath tracked me as I approached. He wore an elegant coat that was cut to disguise whatever he had under it. He seemed to relax a bit when I stopped in front of him.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he said in a melodic voice. “I could swear I’m being watched everywhere I go.” He glanced around nervously. “I don’t like being out here. It’s too exposed.”
I didn’t fall for his innocent routine because I kept remembering that single eye in that horrible cluster of pustules and cancers.
A police siren wailed in the distance, and Tigath’s hand slid under his jacket, confirming he was armed as well.
“Did you bring it?” he asked. “The faster I can get those documents and specimens and leave Hong Kong, the safer I’ll be.”
“I’ve got some questions that need answering first,” I said. I didn’t know how long it would take for Hwang to get his people into play, but I didn’t want to engage Tigath before Hwang and his troops were ready to take on part of the load.
Tigath’s innocent look darkened into a glower. “My life is on the line, and you want to ask questions? Do you have any idea how stupid that sounds?”
“Hey, my neck’s on the block, too,” I replied. “I’m gonna have to explain to my employer why I wasn’t finished with this when I was supposed to be.”
“Fine, fine!” Tigath swore. “Whatever. Ask whatever the hell you think you need to know. I just want to get this over with.”
“How did Eastern Tiger find out what you were up to?”
Tigath bared his teeth in a grimace. “If I knew that, don’t you think I’d have taken extra precautions when I landed in Hong Kong?” He shook his head. “Maybe they’ve been spying on me for longer than I suspected. Or maybe they only suspect what I’m up to, but I don’t know for certain.”
“Maybe you should let us keep the data,” I said. “That way if they find you, they won’t get it back. It’s a more powerful position.”
“I can’t take that chance, okay?” He looked desperate now. “I want my family and my life back. If that means giving in, so be it.”
“What’s this change of plans mean for your family?” The background we’d gotten on him showed that he didn’t have a family, but it was a question I could raise to fill time.
Running a hand through his hair, Tigath sighed. “I don’t know. But if they got criminals hunting me, they’ll obviously have my family under guard as well.”
“Shouldn’t they be making threats or issuing demands by now?” That was another inconsistency I’d spotted in his story.
“Well, aren’t you the goddamn expert?” the elf snarled.
I held a hand up to halt Duncan, because I knew he was already moving forward.
“Look, I don’t know what they’re thinking,” Tigath said. “Maybe they believe it’s easier to just eliminate me. All I know is that I thought I could get away with exposing Eastern Tiger. I guess that was just a pipe dream.”
I pinged Hwang. “I’m not handing over the specimens or the documents.”
Tigath’s eyes narrowed in confusion. Then he got angry. “What do you mean?”
“It means I’m here to collect the goods, you lying little bastard!” Hwang shouted from behind me. “You didn’t think shadowrunners would show you any more loyalty than you showed them, did you? You expect them to honor the word of a lying, cowardly dog?”
Tigath bolted, unlimbering a large-caliber handgun and firing at me. I was already moving as well, retreating with the hail of bullets, letting them drive me to shelter behind one of the tables.
The elf took cover behind a kiosk, with shimmering waves coiled restlessly around his hands. “What now, then?” he called to me. “It seems we’re at an impasse. And I’m not about to go back to Portland empty-handed.”
I whipped the Ingram out on its shoulder sling and raked Tigath’s position with a dozen rounds, then dodged just ahead of the fireball he threw at me in return.
“Company’s coming!” Duncan bellowed.
Beyond Tigath, I spotted armored men moving in the shadows, all of them headed for the party.
In the next minute, auto-rifle fire and incendiary spells lit up the darkness.
Chapter 66
“Friendly” Fire
I grabbed more cover as the fireball’s flames wrapped around the table where I’d taken shelter. The heat caused the heavy lacquer finish to bubble up and explode in little puddles that reminded me of the thing in the cryo chamber.
Duncan, Gobbet, and Is0bel had already taken cover as well.
I emptied the Ingram and cut down two of Tigath’s men, then slapped in a fresh magazine. The flames clinging to the table heated up, interfering with my low-light vision. I opened a comm channel to the others. “Head south! Let these two kill each other!”
“Copy that,” Duncan responded. He swiveled with his shotgun and fired almost point blank into a spherical drone zipping toward him. The drone bobbled, but kept coming as Duncan fired two more rounds. It exploded only a couple meters from him, bursting into a falling cloud of shrapnel around him.
>
By that time, I was running, following Gobbet and Is0bel as we sprinted for the buildings to the south. The cover was more solid there, but I knew we’d be pursued. We still had the data and samples Hwang and Tigath wanted.
Gobbet waved a hand and a wave of shimmering energy slammed into a fire spirit, rocking it back. I added a full magazine of rounds to the carnage, knocking embers and chunks off the thing and driving it back even more.
Only a couple of steps behind me and closing fast, Duncan fired two more rounds into the spirit and it went to pieces, disappearing in a whirl of flames.
The battlefield behind us looked like a war zone with all the muzzle flashes. The harsh cracks of gunfire trapped between the building created a din that blocked normal hearing.
Breathing hard, Duncan and I reloaded while Gobbet called up an earth spirit, the huge thing taking shape next to her in the alley.
“We need to get out of here,” Is0bel said as she reloaded her grenade launcher.
“We can’t,” Duncan said. “Even if we somehow manage to escape, they’d come after us.”
“But Kindly Cheng will provide protection.” Is0bel looked hopeful.
Duncan snorted. “If you think that old woman would be happy with us dragging this drek to her door, you’re whacked. She’d slot us herself and figure out a way to collect the bounty on our heads.”
“He’s right,” Gobbet said, not sounding happy about it. “One way or another, we have to end this.”
“Then hope those guys out there can all shoot straight,” Duncan growled. “Even if they don’t manage to all kill each other, it’ll cut down on the odds.”
I swapped out the Ingram for my AK-97, pulled out the telescoping stock, and started picking off gangers on both sides, adding to the confusion and panic on the battlefield. Duncan did the same, and for a moment our luck held. Then we got noticed and bullets and astral missiles pummeled the building where we took cover.
“Fall back!” I said.
Even as we turned and ran, though, a knot of Seoulpa gangers rounded the corner at the end of the alley. For a moment, they held up, not counting on coming face to face with an earth spirit. The thing waded into them, swinging fists the size of anvils, cracking armor and splintering bones.
