Concrete Chaos

by Earle, Michael-Scott

  "There were a bunch of Mormons at the train station. They looked like they were dressed really nice. I don't think the Daughters of Smith would murder their own people to get to Caliph Lodi. This has to be another group."

  "And here we fucking go," Xiu Mei almost never swore, so when the cute Chinese girl said anything foul, she got attention.

  "We've just gotten word that Shia-ni-Ismail Sun has taken credit for the bombing of the MaglevTrac train in San Bruno. They claim that they caused the death of Caliph Lodi and have released a..." the news reporter looked off screen and then nodded, "twenty-page document with their manifesto about ending Lodi's oppression of the Islamic faith."

  "Sue Zay, I have an incoming call from Jae Moon." My three friends and I turned to my watch. I saw Kate Tee cut the sound off the TV with a quick touch to her wrist by her bracelet.

  "I want to see this hottie," Stacey Jones said.

  "I don't think it is safe for you all to be involved," I told them.

  "Bullshit, we are already involved. You're at my house right now," Kate Tee's jaw hardened, "besides; I also want to see what kind of man would make you walk around dripping wet all day."

  "Fine, but I want him to think this is private. Don't make a fucking sound. Hogan, put it on screen but kill outgoing video." The thought of seeing Jae again made my emotions spin. I felt like the jerk-off had set me up on this job, or at least not been truthful with me about the danger involved. Damn it all to Smith, I should have known this guy was dangerous by all the men trying to fucking kill him.

  "Sue Zay?" I saw that his video was blacked out as well. My bitches gave me an exasperated look, and Kate Tee rolled her eyes.

  "I'm here, Jae."

  "I've just wired the ten thousand dollars to your account," he said.

  "Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better about you lying to me about the fucking danger of this little assignment." I tried to keep my voice from sounding too upset, but I think I failed.

  "I didn't think this would happen-"

  "What did you think would happen? Because you told me this was going to be a few hours of easy work 'just to get a feel for things,' but now hundreds, or maybe thousands of people are dead, and I was almost killed."

  "I can understand your frustrations and fears. I apologize for what has happened. We did not foresee this series of events transpiring today." Xiu Mei looked at me and raised her arms with her palms facing the ceiling. Her face showed obvious outrage.

  "So you thought that this would happen someday? Just not today? I don't understand."

  "It will be easier to explain in person. Can you come over?" My bitches waved their hands at me and shook their heads.

  "Caleb wasn't interested in me coming over earlier. Did you guys change your mind?" I crossed my arms and put on my best angry face, but I realized that the handsome man couldn't see me, just as I couldn't see him.

  "He had to make sure you hadn't been seen by any of the airport traffic drones." The three of us looked at each other, and Stacey Jones mouthed the question that we were all thinking.

  "Did any of the traffic drones see me?"

  "Caleb has found no footage from them. It appears that the videos were deleted before he hacked them. If whoever deleted the video is working for the group that caused this explosion, then they could be searching for you. I'd prefer you come here so that we have a better chance of protecting you."

  "But maybe someone else hacked them?"

  "Caleb was on the scene with you when the bomb went off. It is unlikely that someone other than the ones responsible were looking to cover their tracks. Can you come over?"

  I glanced at the girls. Xiu Mei looked thoughtful, but both Stacey Jones and Kate Tee shook their heads.

  "I'm going to think about it. Let me talk to my AI. Hold on a second." I slid my fingers across the skin by my watch and then double checked to make sure that the audio was muted.

  "So no?" I looked at the bitches.

  "Fucking fuckity fuck no way." Stacey Jones shook her head. "You don't know this guy at all. He could have been the one responsible for all this. Then you go over to his house and.... Blammo!" she put her fingers to her red hair like a gun and made a splat sound. "All loose ends are tied up."

  "I agree. Don't go. Just lie low here for a few days. You can stay with me." Kate Tee had been trying to get me to move in with her for the last few years, but I had declined because I wanted to feel like I had my own space and owed no one my livelihood.

  "Where is the car?" Xiu Mei said, and the other two girls looked at her.

  "The car?" Kate Tee asked.

  "The executive pod that you were following. You told us you put a tracking device on it. Where is it now?"

  "Don't you also have your video recording from when you saw the fucker get out of the car and board the train? You could mute the sound and then hand it over to the police. That should exonerate you," Stacey Jones said.

  "If that guy even carried the bomb. He could have had a suitcase full of cash. The bomb might have already been on the train. He may have been the target, and not all these religious groups." Xiu Mei shrugged her shoulders.

  "Good point," Kate Tee sighed.

  "So what do I tell Jae?" I pointed at my watch.

  "You should tell him that you are supposed to say 'made' instead of seen. He used the word incorrectly a few moments ago. Did you tell him you were a secret agent?" Hogan's voice cut in from my watch. The girls all stared at the image of Hogan on my wrist with amused expressions on their pretty faces.

  "Hogan, did you just try to make a joke?" There was silence in the room for a few moments.

  "Yes," the AI answered.

  "I can appreciate your effort, but we've got to work on your timing." I still leaned my head back and laughed. Then I motioned for my bitches to be quiet, and I unmuted the phone.

  "Are you still tracking the executive pod that I was following?" I asked Jae.

  "Yes," he answered hesitantly.

  "Where is it?"

  "It is in Oakland."

  "Did it make any stops along the way?" I asked. Fucking Oakland. Figures.

  "No. It's parked in the industrial area near the airport."

  "I'm going to go investigate," I said.

  "No, Emma is sending drones. She'll have visuals on them in five or ten minutes. If you come over, you can see it through our feed."

  "I'm having some trust problems with you, Jae. I want to see this place by myself. If you're for real, then you'll send me the coordinates and let me do my own legwork."

  "It is too dangerous. I-"

  "You have a short history of identifying danger poorly, Handsome. Send me the coordinates, and I'll go get my own video of the car, and maybe its owner. If you don't send me the info, then I'll just figure you were behind all this shit. I won't go to the cops, but if they try to pin any of this shit on me, I'll have a real loose tongue." The girls all waved their hands at me with a look of horror on their faces. They wouldn't want me to be in any more danger. I could understand their panic. Racing motorcycles was a peril we'd all gotten used to handling, but dealing with terrorists who had bombs and guns was out of our wheelhouse.

  "Alright. I'm sending you the coordinates now. Be careful please. We'll have drones on the location when you get there. It seems that the vehicle might be inside a building, so if you're able to get eyes inside, it could help us."

  "See? I'm all sorts of useful. You should try giving me more information at the start."

  "Sue Zay, please believe me, I didn't think-"

  "Whatever. I'll call you when I get there. Bye." Hogan knew me well enough to hang up when I said bye, and I saw the line go dead.

  "We're coming with you," Stacey Jones grabbed her black and green striped helmet off the couch.

  "No, the girl that works with Jae will have drones in the air. They will see you, and he'll start to ask questions."

  "He won't notice us; we'll break off early, do a ride by, and then let you know what w
e see from the ground. We can ride away at a safe distance so your lover boy won't even know we are around," Stacey Jones argued.

  "No, it will be dangerous, you three are already too involved. I have a feeling this shit is going to run deeper than the Marinas." I grabbed my own helmet and took a few steps towards the garage, but I was quickly blocked by Kate Tee and Xiu Mei.

  "No, we are coming with you. What is that you said about samurai never leaving their daimyo in time of need?" Xiu Mei's pretty lips made a cute smirk.

  "Oh, and fuck you," Kate Tee stuck her tongue out and crossed her arms over her riding leathers. "Bosozoku Bitches forever."

  "Fine, fine, fine. Fucking Bosozoku Bitches forever." I sighed and raised my hands in surrender.

  Chapter 10

  "Fucking Oakland. What a shit-hole," Kate Tee said what was on everyone else's mind as soon as the 880 freeway crossed the twelve-foot concrete wall that separated the shantytown from San Leandro.

  It was almost as if we'd passed our gaze from the healthy skin of a supermodel to the ragged infections of a burn-victim's corpse. Any industry buildings that had once stood proudly in the city were now hollowed-out skeletons with tents decorating their innards. The tall apartment buildings were burned and then rebuilt into towering layers of jagged, cut metal, brightly colored canvas roofs, solar panels, and graffiti. The freeway was in good repair, of course, since rich corporations and residents had to commute between Berkeley and San Leandro, but all a driver had to do was glance left or right over the short, machine gun-dotted wall to see the endless sludge of broken humanity.

  Oakland's airport was still functional, but only military or corporate jets that could afford armed escorts bothered to use it. The State of California had taken it over after the race riots of '52, but they couldn't really keep a handle on the situation. Various corporations had vied for the security duties of the airport and freeways that ran through the rotting city. I forgot which security firm currently had the contract, but I wouldn't have been surprised if it was one of the divisions of Zato Industries. My mom had her claws in every pie in California, and most of the rest of the other money-making schemes in the world.

  "I'm getting off the freeway. You sure you want to come with?" I asked them again. We'd ridden up and down the 880 countless times, but had only ventured into Oakland half a dozen times for some fiery street races. Even though the city looked like shit, it wasn't as dangerous as the media made it out to be. In reality, most of the folk there were just trying to make a living. The majority of them just couldn't afford to rent a place anywhere else.

  But it was still a different world than Cupertino. Or even the slums of East San Jose.

  "Yeah. We got your back, bitch. Let's do this," Stacey Jones said across our helmets. I grunted an approval and took the exit marked for the airport.

  We hit the next cross street and stopped at the red light to let a convoy of smart shipping trucks pass. Each vehicle had a pair of armored goons hanging from the grips on the sides of the cab, and they pointed submachine guns at us. It made for a tense few seconds before the group of unmarked trucks passed us on the way to the airport.

  "Maybe we'll wait a bit for them to get ahead?" Xiu Mei's voice had a slight edge of fear.

  "Fuck that. They can tell we are sexy bitches. They aren't interested in shooting. Let's burn by them and get to our destination. Every second that passes means that the pod might decide to leave." I spun Funakoshi's engine and slid out onto the pavement after the trucks. The other girls followed me without a word, and we quickly caught up to them.

  The men readied themselves and pointed their weapons at us, but I waved casually and then pushed Funakoshi's engine to pull his nose off the asphalt. My girls followed my example, and we passed the armed convey in a group wheelie. As soon as it was obvious that we were out for a joy ride and not interested in robbing their truck, the guards dropped their weapons and returned our wave.

  Then we blew past them and headed towards the warehouse buildings that surrounded the airport.

  "It is up ahead, Sue Zay," Hogan's voice filled my helmet. I had his audio set up so that the other girls could hear him through our communications. AI technology was no longer considered interesting by most people, and the development of super-smart predictive devices made a personal assistant like Hogan practically useless. The girls already had the location tagged on their own helmets and displayed on their bikes and had whatever mapping technology they ran telling them to turn. I just loved Hogan's accent and virtual friendship, so I kept the asshole around. It also helped that I made him and kind of felt like he was my baby.

  "Why don't you let us scout on ahead, Sue Zay," Xiu Mei's voice entered my helmet dripping with concern.

  "Why? I'm fine to lead."

  "Yeah Sweetie. You're fine to lead. But Funakoshi sounds like one of those old propeller planes going down the street. Also, your boyfriend is probably watching this area. Why don't you let us do a quick fly by, and then we can see if there is anyone standing outside of the place?" Stacey Jones asked.

  "Yeah, ugh, you're right." One of the qualities I loved most about Funakoshi was his loud gasoline roar, but it proved to be somewhat of a hindrance now. I slowed my speed and made the right where the map display told me. The girls followed my turn and shot ahead of me to the next intersection. Stacey Jones went straight, Xiu Mei made a left, and Kate Tee made a right. I saw their position on my map, and they cut neatly towards the building that had the red glowing dot inside the walls.

  A few massive cargo jets were taking off from the airport, and they cast vulture-like shadows over the decrepit buildings that surrounded me. The street looked so abandoned that I didn't even think anyone wanted to squat here. In fact, I didn't see anyone walking around or any signs of homeless camps. The area may be too close to the airport for most people to consider safe or perhaps the image of the buildings were meant to be deceiving and each housed corporate research labs that performed ghastly experiments.

  But that shit sounded straight out of a movie.

  "Incoming call from Jae Moon," Hogan said.

  "No outgoing video," I replied, and Hogan's image glowed green to let me know he followed my order.

  "I'm here," I said.

  "I've got good news and bad news," Jae said. I actually saw the handsome man sitting on a chair next to Emma. It looked like they were at her work station in his garage. Both of their faces were lit with a mixture of blue computer screen tones and white LED lighting.

  "What is the bad news?" I felt my stomach lurch.

  "There were a few drones patrolling the building already," Jae began.

  "And they were packing some heat, girl!" Emma leaned into Jae and smirked at me. "Wooweee!"

  "Ummmm, so what is the good news?" I saw that Hogan had muted my outgoing audio with my Bosozoku Bitches, and they were almost to the building where the pod was located. They might be heading straight into a battlefield, and my imagination started to ride wild with images of their leather-covered motorcycle suits shot full of red-leaking holes.

  "I'm a better drone pilot than the fucking jack-off that they hired." Emma laughed, and I felt the air leave my chest in a sigh of relief.

  "The camera on our drone was damaged. We have no visual support for you. Can you feed me the video from your helmet?" Jae leaned forward in his chair when he asked the question.

  "Maybe," I said.

  "Maybe?" He looked confused.

  "Yeah. I don't know if I trust you yet," I snickered. "I'll go check out the building. If I need you, I'll give you a call."

  "Wait, Sue Zay, this is dangerous. You shouldn't be getting near-"

  "Bye Jae," I said. Hogan got my cue and cut off the line.

  "He's calling back," the AI unit said after a few seconds.

  "Let it ring. I'll call him when I am ready. Open the audio with my bitches." Hogan glowed green around his image.

  "Looks like you are just about to pass it? Anything?" I asked them.


  "It's abandoned-looking. Maybe this was an old unpacking warehouse or something. Looks like it was built a hundred years ago, shitty crumbling red brick, lots of rusted air conditioning units, and a big parking lot. Whole thing is surrounded by a tall chain-link fence," Kate Tee said.

  "Fence is opened on the north end. There is a big roller door for the garage. It looks a little new compared to the rest of the building," Xiu Mei said.

  "What about windows? You see any movement in them?" I asked.

  "The parking lot is big. At the narrowest sides, it is still a hundred yards from the building. From where I am, the windows are all broken or painted black. I didn't see any movement," Stacey Jones said. I saw that their locations pass the building on my map.

  "Should we do another ride by?" the redhead asked.

  "Yeah. Look and see if there is a way inside other than the roll-up door that Xiu Mei spotted." I saw their dots turn around on my map and then move back towards the building.

  "Jae Moon is calling again," Hogan reminded me.

  "Ignore it."

  "I see something that might work. There is a kicked-out window near the top of the west side. There is a cover over the entry way into the warehouse, and then some giant air-treatment units that we can climb," Kate Tee said.

  "It is the middle of the day. Anyone can just look over and see us climbing. Besides, everything on this building looks like it is falling apart. We should call the police." Xiu Mei was always the voice of caution.

  "Fuck that. These assholes just killed hundreds of my people. I'm going to see what the fuck is going on." Kate Tee's voice was filled with anger.

  "Yep. I'm not going to wait around for the police to figure this shit out," Stacey Jones agreed with her Muslim friend.

  "Alright. Don't forget about me. Have you found a place for me to park?" I asked.

  "There is a spot by the west side. Shouldn't be too noisy if you ride there. I'll come lead you," Xiu Mei sighed, and I saw her trajectory on my map change and head to the distant street where I sat on Funakoshi.