Concrete Chaos

by Earle, Michael-Scott

  "Maybe," Jae said over the line.

  "No, no, no. What kind of bullshit are you trying to pull, Jae?" I twisted Funakoshi's throttle and quickly put half a mile between me and the pod.

  "Let's go private with this conversation," Jae sighed. I saw my helmet display show that Caleb had dropped off the call. I hadn't hooked my girls into the conversation.

  "You knew that this was going to be a dangerous relationship," Jae began, and the purr of his voice in my ear made me shiver against my will.

  "Yeah," I admitted.

  "Is it a question of the money? We still need your help." I couldn't see the man's face on my display and that was probably good. I might not have been able to resist his gorgeousness.

  "Money is important, but I also don't want to get shot full of holes." The bruise on my back was still aching. I was looking forward to putting ice on it back at Kate Tee's house later today.

  "I don't want you shot full of holes either, Sue Zay. I am quite fond of you." My heart did a little ballerina spin in my chest, and I tried to keep from giggling. Focus, Sue Zay, you're a badass bitch and not a sex-starved, twitterpated schoolgirl.

  "The fact of the matter is that you may have just saved thousands of people's lives by snatching this computer," Jae continued. "We'll know once Caleb can hack into it, but I think it is safe to say that everyone in Silicon Valley owes you one."

  "Too fucking bad they'll never know." I laughed and felt my shoulders relax a bit. I had thought Jae would pull some sort of heavy-handed tactics to get me to continue to work with him, but I now realized he was going to compliment the hell out of me until I cooperated. His strategy would probably work.

  "But I know, and my team knows. The bad guys also know."

  "Did you just call them 'bad guys'? Come on, Jae. That sounds cartoony." I smirked into my helmet, but the male model couldn't see me.

  "I don't recognize the hacker from your helmet video, but I am guessing who he works for. If they find out who you are, you will not be safe."

  "This story sounds like it is going to end up with me doing more work for you so that I have to protect myself," I said. "Who is that tall, bearded fucker working for?" I asked.

  "I would prefer not to say for now, but they are neither Mormon nor Muslim. They are trying to play each faction against each other. I might not be correct with my assumptions either. That is why I still need your help today, and in the future."

  I said nothing for a few seconds while I chewed on his words. There was an organization trying to pit Mormons and Muslims against each other? It sounded like the obvious plot of a shitty B movie. Both religions had practically been at war with each other since the 50s. Way the fuck before I was born. There didn't need to be a shadowy organization in the background pulling the strings.

  But then again, there had been Mormons on that train and Muslims in the buildings that were wrecked by the bomb. The entire world seemed to always be teetering on the edge of another Crusade, or Jihad, or whatever they fucking called it when assholes just killed everyone who didn't pray to the same name.

  "Will you help us again?" he asked after my silence seemed to become too much for him.

  "You said you needed my help today? I already got you the computer. What else do you need?"

  "They are going to continue to chase the device. I'm asking Caleb to see if it is a hardware or software tracker. If it is the former, then we can detach it and keep it sending a signal."

  "You don't think they will know it has been tampered with?"

  "Didn't you say they chased you into the parking lot of a McTacoKingJr? If they didn't need the computer, then they would have just let you go and used backup software. I will bank on their hubris and desire to get the device back."

  "You seem to know these assholes better than me. What is the plan?"

  "We keep the tracker going, deliver it to a safe house, wait for them to show up, and then capture them." His voice sounded confident in the plan.

  "They have three big-ass fuckers with big-ass guns, Jae. You've got a crazy Russian motherfucker, a cute girl who pilots drones, and a skinny guy who can cook a mean steak. This sounds like a terrible idea."

  "And I have one of the best motorcycle riders in the world," he said. "I'll also pay you fifty thousand dollars."

  My brain spun at the number he said. Ten grand had been a really nice chunk of change that would have paid for a bunch of new parts for Funakoshi, gas for the next six months, and maybe an upgrade to my soy-noodle diet. Fifty thousand meant I could buy a bunch of new clothes, a new riding suit, enter any race I wanted this year, and, most importantly, not have to rely on my girls to pay my way anymore.

  But then again, Mom wanted an answer from me tomorrow about her job offer. The salary she was throwing around at me made Jae's offer seem cute.

  Did he really need my help that bad? Despite my earlier joking, the man did seem to have a capable team. Pavel alone was scary as fuck. If Emma was a great pilot and Caleb was a good hacker, then he might not need to worry about the three goons with the big guns. Maybe Emma's drones could deal with them before they presented any danger.

  I thought again about the mushroom cloud hovering over the train tracks. I saw the scraps of metal and magnet flying through the air. I recalled the thousands of craters in the buildings next to the tracks. What did the rescue crews find inside each apartment? Probably families riddled with dozens of holes, hallways filled with blood, and the screams of dying innocents. It may have been dumb luck that had gotten me mixed up with Jae and his friends, but I was in for a pound now. I wanted to see this shit through and bring whoever these fucking assholes were to justice.

  "You're wrong, Jae," I said, "You don't just have 'one of the best motorcycle riders in the world.' I am the best. Don't fucking forget it."

  Chapter 12

  "Annnnnddddd, you just want me to fucking park my bike in front of the house?" I tried to keep the dismay from my voice.

  "No, park across the street, then walk a few blocks over so that you aren't in any danger."

  "Didn't you hear me say a few hours ago that I was the best motorcycle rider in the world?"

  "Yes, I did, and I'm sure you are. However, that doesn't mean you are prepared to go toe to toe with these men," Jae said over my helmet.

  "You're 'sure I am'? I have the fucking trophies to prove it," I lied. I'd actually never kept one. Still, the man I wanted to make my fuck toy was probably right. Caleb had pried the tracer chip out of the terrorist's computer and hooked it up to an external power source. But my new partners decided that they wanted to leverage the story that a bunch of girl bosozoku riders had stolen his device. Jae and Caleb both guessed that the four armed terrorists would pursue the device if they knew it was at a girl's home somewhere. If they managed to capture one of them alive, we might be able to figure out who they were working for and what software was on the computer.

  "Regardless, of your racing victories, the car you helped us bug earlier is approaching, and you don't have any trophies for engaging in gunfights. Please make yourself safe."

  "Fine."

  "Drones are in the air, Jae." Emma's voice came across my helmet, and I stopped talking. I realized that the rest of the team had been hearing me argue with Jae, and I felt my cheeks start to heat. These people were professionals, and if I wanted to hang with them, then I needed to stop whining.

  I keyed the back of my hand to mute my phone and sighed. I guess I should be happy. It seemed like I wasn't going to really be doing any sort of work this afternoon and I'd still get paid. I looked around the quiet suburban street, parked Funakoshi across the road from the house where Caleb and Pavel were waiting, and then got off the saddle.

  "Hogan, open the line to the girls." His picture glowed green at my command.

  "I'm here," I said to them.

  "What do you see?" Stacey Jones asked.

  "Just a bunch of suburban homes. Bungalow style. What is this like an historic district or something?
"

  "Alamitos didn't want any skyscrapers. Those old houses are probably worth ten million each," Xiu Mei explained.

  "Half of them look abandoned." The windows of the home where I parked Funakoshi were boarded up. There was orange spray paint over the wood, stucco, and brick parts of the home. None of the lawns I could see had been mowed, and there were dry, dead stalks of grass rising as high as my shoulder. There were a few cars on the street, older-model pods or beat-up manual drive shipping trucks. I'd parked Funakoshi by a rusted one that looked like it was closer to piece of 2020s depression art than an actual vehicle.

  "Chinese own most of the real estate here. Have for the past eighty years. They are waiting for the city to change the building codes. Then the investors will sell or develop the land into apartment towers," my Chinese friend said.

  "Why don't they just rent them out?" I glanced at the home that Pavel and Caleb were supposed to be inside. It actually looked like one of the nicer ones within view. Or at least, the lawn seemed to have been mowed recently, there was no spray paint on the white stucco, and the roof wasn't falling apart. It still appeared as if it was a hundred years old, and it probably was.

  "Too much hassle. California has all these renter-rights laws that would prevent them from raising the price. Yeah, it is dumb." Stacey Jones sighed.

  "Meanwhile, I'm living in an abandoned garage in East San Jose and spending two thousand a month. I should just squat in one of these." I laughed and began to follow Jae's orders by walking down the street.

  "You could just come live with me, bitch. I've asked you like thirty times," Kate Tee huffed.

  "Yeah, I know. I'll think about it some more. You are starting to tempt me with your tight little ass." The four of us laughed.

  A group of kids carrying various sticks and poles walked by and gawked at me. It must have looked odd that I was still walking around with my helmet on. They were probably in junior high, or maybe high school, or maybe not. Their clothes were pretty dirty, and they were thin. They could have been squatting in one of the nearby homes.

  "Hey, you four wanna make some money?" I stopped a few steps after we passed each other and turned around.

  "Yeah," one of them said. He was the tallest of the group and was carrying a golf club and baseball in his hands.

  "You play on this street?" I asked.

  "Yeah," the boy confirmed.

  "See my bike?" I pointed at Funakoshi. The kids glanced over and then looked back at me.

  "See that house?" I pointed to the home across the street.

  "What about it?"

  "Play around here, there is going to be a bunch of ugly fucks that pull up on the street. They might ask you if you saw me get off my bike. Tell them that I went into that house if they ask. Got it?" I pulled a few hundred dollars out of my suit pocket and held it out to the kid. If Jae hadn't paid me for the job already, then it would have been the last of my funds for the month.

  "What if they don't ask?" He eyed the cash in my hands, but didn't reach for it.

  "Then you don't have to say shit. Oh, and if they walk toward that house, then get the fuck out of here. They are mean ass motherfuckers."

  "Alright." He glanced at his friends, and the other three kids were hungrily eyeing the money. He stepped forward to snatch the bills from my hand and turned back to the other three. "Let's play here," he gestured with his club and then set down the ball. It looked like they were playing some bastardized version of hockey and baseball with football tackling rules.

  "Yeah, yeah, I shouldn't be getting kids involved," I said to the girls when I rounded the corner of the first street.

  "Fuck, that was a good idea, actually," Stacey Jones said. "I hope the little buggers will get the fuck out of there after they rat on you."

  "Does Jae want you to patrol the streets on foot?" Kate Tee asked.

  "Even worse, he wants me to walk a few blocks away and wait. He wants those guys to see my bike and think I am inside. I'm just decoration for the trap."

  "Thank the Holy Father," Stacey Jones sighed. "Want us to come pick you up?"

  "Naw, but stay ready. I'm going to find a place to hide. This looks good. Abandoned house with a high-walled front porch. It is only a block or so away, but I'll be able to get to Funakoshi quicker." I walked up the stairs of the porch and sat behind the four-foot stucco wall of the front of the house. There were a few old beer bottles littering the space, but I kicked them aside and found a reasonably clean place to sit.

  "So he just wants you to sit here? It will be dark in an hour or so," Xiu Mei said with concern. "What time is your class tomorrow?"

  "Nine. Ugh, don't remind me. School is going to feel rather tame after this weekend."

  "Tame is good. Tame isn't terrorists blowing up trains, killing thousands of people, and trying to shoot you," my Chinese friend said.

  "Fuck, they are talking on the other line. I'll catch up with you bitches in a bit." I held the call with my girls and told Hogan to pull up the audio from the other line.

  "The car is driving in front of home, Boss." Pavel's thick accent came in a whisper.

  "We see them on Emma's screen," Jae said, "they just went by. Sue Zay, what is your position?"

  "I'm on the next block. I turned north and am hiding behind a patio wall on the third or fourth house."

  "Okay, make sure they don't see you. Looks like they are going to drive past and circle back around."

  I waited another agonizing few minutes for Jae or Pavel to update. I was just about to ask, when Jae spoke.

  "They are approaching the house again. There are some kids playing hockey or something in front. Okay, looks like they are asking the kids something. They pointed to the house, which is weird." I thought about telling Jae that I'd asked the kids to spot for us, but decided that it was probably better to just let it go for now.

  "Wait, second car. Look at this," Emma said.

  "Might just be someone random," Caleb said. His voice sounded surprisingly calm.

  "No, I think we have a problem. They are approaching from the east on the same street. I think it is safe to assume that they are our target's back up," Jae said.

  "Fuck, what do we do?" Caleb asked.

  "Let's abort. Head out back and get to the car. Emma will cover you."

  "Understood, Boss." Pavel's meaty voice sounded upset about the change in plans.

  "Ahh shit," Emma said. "I've got drones on my radar. Three of them from the west. You'll be running right into them." I felt my blood freeze at Emma's words, and I hugged my arms over my chest.

  "Can we get out in time?" Caleb asked.

  "They probably have eyes on the house now. I'm going to need to take them out before you can move. Hang tight for a few minutes. I'm gonna lose my visual on the car at the front of the house while I engage them."

  "Men getting out of car in front of house, Boss," Pavel said. His voice now sounded rather happy. "There are three. Two carry ARX-230 assault rifles. One has Glock pistol and bandage over his other arm."

  "Do you see the tall, skinny guy with the beard?" I asked. I guessed that the goon with the bandage was Robby, and then I reasoned that the other two were his partners in the building. Where was the tall hacker fucker?

  "No, Girl With Motorcycle. Perhaps he is in other vehicle?"

  "Or he didn't even bother coming because he suspected it was a trap," I said with a heavy sigh.

  "That could be, but I would want to be on the front lines of taking my own rig back if someone stole it," Caleb said. "I need a few more hours to crack the password. Then I'll know all this cocksucker's secrets."

  "You don't have a few more hours, Caleb. Keep your eyes on the back door." Jae's voice was urgent and filled with concern.

  "Don't worry Jae, we got this shit." I heard a shotgun load and then the sounds of metal scraping metal.

  "What can I do?" I asked the team.

  "Just sit tight," Jae said.

  "Take control of Wasp, Jae," Emma ordere
d, "I can't dogfight both of them at once."

  "I am not good with drones," he said.

  "I've got four out the back. I see the tall, bearded fucker Sue Zay was talking about." Caleb's voice was a hushed whisper. "Two have auto shotguns. The hacker has a pistol. Last guy has an assault rifle. This is going to get messy." I was surprised he wasn't pissing himself. My stomach was twisting into knots, and I didn't know if I should run away or run towards them and try to help.

  How could I even help? I didn't know how to shoot a gun. I didn't even have one. Even though Caleb and Pavel sounded calm, there was no way they would win against more than three times as many goons that had guns.

  "Here we goooooooo!" Emma yelled, and the voice line went crazy with shouts, gunshots, breaking glass, and what sounded like explosions.

  I sprung to my feet and paced around the dirty, forgotten patio on the empty street. I should do something. These people weren't quite my friends, but they were acting to stop a group of terrorists. Now I was just going to stand here like an asshole and listen to them die.

  Fuck that.

  "What are you doing, Sue Zay?" Hogan's Australian voice seemed to echo in both of my ears as I sprinted down the street.

  "I'm going to go help them!" I saw my AI had muted my outgoing audio and dropped the volume from Jae's friends so that I could hear him speak over the violence.

  Something fell from the sky about sixty yards from me. It was a smoking, reflective-looking black platform with four helicopter propellers on it. While it plummeted toward the street like a flicked cigarette, the drone began to spit bullets as if it was in desperate need of emptying its payload.

  "Get down!" Hogan screeched, and I jumped to my right side. A half dozen plastic trash barrels were placed on the edge of the pathway leading up to one of the homes, and I slammed into them like a pink-striped bowling ball.

  "Got one!" Emma shouted triumphantly. "Sue Zay, watch out!"

  "Shit!" I screamed as bullets slammed into the ground around me and the trash barrels I hid behind. I felt something hit the side of my helmet, and my head ricocheted into the drive way where I lay. Panic fill my chest again, but I quickly realized that I wasn't dead or injured and that my super strong kitty cat motorcycle helmet had probably deflected the bullet like a champ.