Returning to the computer room, we got an even more accurate picture of how things were breaking down. Tom Electric, a heavy-set man with a florid face and a head full of blond curls, gave us the bad news. "George Van Housen has apparently offered a general amnesty to any gang willing to try to stop us from getting Nadia to the Howell estate. The two biggest gangs, the Ancients and the Tigers, turned him down flat, but lots of other little gangs seem to be taking a flyer on his offer. My guess is we’ll have snipers pot-shotting us anywhere we go, but it’ll only get serious near the estate." Nadia folded her arms across her chest. "There’s no reason for you to get yourselves shot up in this. Lattie and I can handle it. We’ll go to the estate and talk to Yamamoto." Raven shook off her suggestion. "No. Were we only dealing with the Yakuza, I would accept your offer. Hondisumi is a possible side player in all this, and Cortez’s apparent ties to Van Housen mean Lone Star is a wild card. Whereas the Yaks will honor a safe passage going in or out, Lone Star and its new affiliates probably won't."
Nadia heard what Raven said, but did not accept it that easily. "What happens when I refuse to sign the deal that Yamamoto says is the only proof of my identity?"
"I don’t know What I do know is that the only chance of NAT not becoming Natural Vat’s trucking company is if you meet and negotiate with Yamamoto." Raven rested both hands on Nadia’s shoulders. "I am no more happy about this than you are, but the Yakuza are a problem I cannot make go away with the snap of my fingers or a spell. What happened at Bob’s Cartage and Freight a few nights back is merely the overture to what could happen in Seattle if we don’t play this out the way the oyabun has directed. Up till now, the Yakuza have concentrated on winning the trucking contract, but imagine what would happen to everything you’ve tried to do with Natural Vat if they decided to torch it because of our abrogation of this agreement."
"Damned if we do and damned if we don’t," Nadia said softly. She glanced at Lattie. who gave her a silent nod. "All right, we do it."
"Good." Raven pointed at Stealth. "You and your Redwings will head out first. I want you to use the half-track.
Make a direct run at the estate, then start cruising the area around it. breaking up any pockets of resistance. This is not a free-for-all. I don’t expect your men to wait until they’re shot at to shoot back, but I don’t want neighborhoods shot up just because. "
The Murder Machine nodded. "What about Lone Stars?"
"Avoid them if possible, destroy their vehicles if not, and take them as a last resort. Clean-up will be tough enough without having legit cops in boxes. Valerie will keep you posted on activity and will direct your fire missions. When we reach the estate, I want you and the Redwings in to guard. You'll pull onto the grounds, making those outside think we’ve already brought Nadia inside."
Raven looked at the rest of us. "Lattie, you, Tark, Tom, and I will take the Rolls." He turned to Zig and Zag. "I need some good guns along, and from what Wolf has said, I understand you’re two of the best. If you’re willing, I’d like to have you ride with me."
I don’t think Zag could have looked more stunned if he’d learned that he’d just won a role in a simsense tape with Vita Revak. Zig gave Raven a thumb's-up and Zag slowly aped the gesture. He recovered just enough for his eyes to focus on Valerie, who gave him an encouraging smile, then Zig dragged him off to follow Tark to the armory so they could resupply themselves.
That’s one of the things I like about Raven; he always comes up with great plans.
Lattie, reading between the lines, fumed and pointed at me. "I refuse to entrust Nadia to him!"
My lips peeled back from my teeth in a lupine snarl. "Listen, chummer, your French cuffs may make you aces in corporator pissing contests, but they won’t stop bullets. You may also be a crack shot with witty repartee or know just when to kiss up to your boss, but that don’t mean spit in hell-on-Earth. Out there, they don’t worry about oysters being in season or if you’re using the right fork. You want her to get there safe, you leave her with me."
Again Raven intervened. "I understand your feelings, but there is no other way. In addition to what Wolf has so accurately pointed out, you are known as Nadia’s paramour. No one would imagine you would abandon her in such dire straits. When you are seen in the Rolls along with me and the others, the hit teams will assume we have Nadia. We will become the bait that everyone will chase, which means Wolf and Nadia should have an easy time making it to the estate."
I gave Lattie a big, toothy grin. "Don’t worry the starch out of your shorts, chummer. I’ll deliver her safe and sound."
Lattie’s bloody eyes flared scarlet. "You will, you little bug, or I'll . . ." Before he could complete his threat, Nadia slipped her arm through his and calmed him.
Raven, ignoring Lattie, gave me my instructions. "Take your Mustang and drive through the city. Stick to areas you know well so you’ll be able to find alternate routes in ease you get marked and chased. Head out about a half hour after the rest of us and monitor the radio so you can avoid concentrations of opposition."
"Got it."
We headed out of the computer room and through a set of double doors into the brownstone’s underground garage, Tark joined us en route and tossed Raven a kevlar-lined longcoat, then presented one each to Lattie and Nadia. Zag carried Raven’s Uzi and a belt of clips.
I hit the switch to open the garage, then slipped my right hand inside my jacket to pull the Viper. The two silhouettes I’d seen lurking outside the door held up their hands and I relaxed slightly because those tall, willowy forms could only be elves. They waited in the half-light without saying anything. so I turned and walked back to Raven and Nadia. "Doe, you’ve got visitors I think they're Ancients."
As Raven walked toward the two elves, Nadia frowned "Ancients?"
"The Ancients are one of the largest gangs in Seattle. It's made up entirely of elves and they’ve survived some of the nastiest street battles Seattle’s ever seen. Most of them still have a good hit of a hate on for humans who hunted meta-humans during the riots."
Nadia shook her head. "I should think that if they didn’t like the city, they’d move to the Sinsearaeh lands to the south to be with their own people."
I chuckled lightly. "A bunch of these clowns have been kicked out of the preserves down south. In other cases, the Sinsearaeh are smart enough not to invite them into the preserves. Last but not least, there are plenty of elves in Seattle who think leaving the city to eat twigs and leaves is nuts, but only the real hard eases join the Ancients."
I had a sinking feeling just then. "If Tom’s sources were wrong and the Ancients have joined up with Lone Star, I think you and I should head for San Francisco."
The elven shadows vanished into the night as Raven returned to us. "What did they want?" I asked.
"They wanted to know if I wanted to call in a favor. "
"Yahoo!" With the Ancients acting as outriders for us. I could hitch a team of turtles up to my Mustang and arrive with no trouble at all. "Well, this makes for a decidedly different ball game."
Raven shook his head. "I told them no."
"What?" I stared at hint in disbelief. "Why not?"
Stealth shot me a sardonic grin. "It’s not worth it."
I swallowed hard. "Richard, what about the people shooting at us?"
Raven threw me a wink. "Try not to get hit."
"Words to live by," I sighed. Everyone mounted up on the Rolls, with Tark in the driver’s seat, Zig riding shotgun, and Stealth on the running board for the short drive to the warehouse where the half-track was stored. "Hey, when you get to the Howell estate, save me one of those cucumber sandwiches, O.K.?"
"Done, lad."
The Rolls engine purred to life, and the machine cruised quietly out of the garage. I closed the door behind it, then turned to Nadia. She looked very small and alone, so I gave her a big smile. "Don’t look so glum. Lattie will be fine and we'll be with them inside an hour."
She looked up at me. "What did St
ealth mean when he said I wasn't worth it?"
I held my hands up. "He said ‘it’ wasn’t worth it, and he meant wasting a favor from the Ancients. Unleashing them to clear a path for us to the estate would be the rough equivalent of what Yamamoto did in Kobe. We wouldn't want them to do more than open a corridor, but things could easily get out of hand. That’s one genie to leave in the bottle."
She nodded thoughtfully, then focused those green eyes of hers on me again. "Why does he do it. Wolf? Why is Raven putting his life—and those of his people—on the line forme?" I shrugged. "Because Raven is Raven." I searched for more precise words, but they did not come easily. "I don’t mean to be flip, but for as long as I’ve known him, for as long as he’s been in Seattle, Raven has helped people in tight spots."
"A thankless job, I’ll bet."
"Not really." I grinned slyly. "Raven’s got one rule: everyone pays for our services. Some who come to us can only pay a little, and Raven wouldn’t ask for more. Getting you to the estate, on the other hand . . . Well, just wait until Nat Vat gets our invoice."
Nadia arched an eyebrow-. "And if we refuse to pay?"
I laughed. "With Valerie around, the invoice is just a courtesy."
Her laugh in return made me feel warm inside. "Raven definitely is an unusual man. He’s gathered a strong crew around him. Besides that, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an Amerindian elf before."
"True—they’re about as common as your average Dragon. And Raven’s a bit more uncommon than that." I smiled broadly. "He’s refused a command to move to the elven preserves, and repeatedly declines invitations to move to the Indian Nations."
"A command?"
"Yeah." I threw my right arm over her shoulder and guided her back toward the stairs. "I don’t know if that’s the way the High Elven Lord put it, but it’s how one of his Paladins delivered it. Raven told him ‘no,’ because, he said, his place was here in the city."
I thought for a moment, searching for more words. "From the elven point of view, life is a struggle between the old ways and the new. For you corporators, it’s all hostile takeovers and friendly mergers, poison pills and golden parachutes. The gangs see everything as them against the world. The problem is that normal folks can get caught in the middle and busted up real good. Raven tries to keep that from happening."
That example seemed to work for Nadia. "So Raven sees himself as a buffer between the horrors of the world and the defenseless?"
I laughed aloud. "Stealth says when you’re a predator, you’ve got to hunt where there’s prey. I don’t think Raven sees it that starkly, but it is true that if you consume what's at the top of the food chain, you take the pressure off the things below. Still, we’re just bit players in the grand drama of Seattle. In fact, Lattie’s fixer probably put you on to us because he figured we’d be less likely to offend your sensibilities than other shadowrunners."
Reaching the top of the stairs, she stopped me. "Why was Raven working on the theft of my file before any of this went down?
"Remember? He said he knew of you because of the things you’d done for the workers and their kids at NatVat. Now, I don’t ever remember Raven mentioning your name, but opening a child care center or starting an educational program are things he notices." I tapped my head. "He's got more information locked up in his gray cells than I could learn in a century of study. When your file was stolen, he recalled your name and decided that someone was out to hurt you. Chances are excellent that if you’d not gotten in touch with him. Raven would have visited you in the near future."
We headed up another flight of stairs to the second floor armory. "Do you know how to shoot?"
Nadia shook her head.
I frowned as I turned on the light and heard her gasp. The room, while not particularly huge, is lined with racks of weapons ranging from wire garrotes and rings with poison needles to a couple of mortars. The really heavy stuff we keep broken down at the warehouse. I crossed to the submachine gun rack and grabbed my H&K MP-9. I unlocked the trigger lock and slung the weapon over my shoulder. Nadia pointed to my MP-9. "It’s not a smart gun."
"Nope. I’m not chromed, just straight off the showroom floor." The Old One howled in protest. Smiling, I added, "Of course, I’m running to the top of specs and then some."
"Of course."
Returning to the ammo bins, I handed Nadia a web belt with two ammo pouches. I grabbed several clips and started loading them from the bin with my name on it. She watched me stuff bullets into the staggered box magazines for the Viper, then I handed her the clip. "Viper ammo goes in the small pouch."
She looked at the black box. "You use silver bullets?"
I nodded. "Yeah. They're drilled and loaded with silver nitrate so they explode when they hit. I’m superstitious."
She continued to look at me, demanding an explanation.
I sighed. "Six years ago. when Raven first showed up in Seattle, a guy the newsfax called the Full Moon Slasher was running around. He only killed under a full moon and his last victim was a girl I knew. Silver bullets stood me in good stead then, and I’ve used them ever since."
Nadia nodded as if that made perfect sense to her. "Good. I’d hate to think I’ll be running around with someone who thinks he’s the Lone Ranger."
I laughed. "Yeah, well. Raven’s not the Tonto type. Those Humanis Policlub jerks might hope I run the show instead of some metahuman, but it’s Raven who’s top dog." I handed her a clip for the MP-9. "Now it's time for you to answer a question. Why do you help people?"
That clearly caught her off-guard, but she didn't remain so for long. "Why do I try to make life better for the Natural Vat employees? It makes sense to treat the people right and provide their kids with every opportunity to make the most of themselves. It’s just good business."
I shook my head. "The only thing that makes sense for business is what they do down in Brazil in the Dexi-factories. Treat your workers like cattle. Give them twelve-hour shifts and pump them full of drugs so they can perform. Provide room, board, simsense, and brothel to take care of all their needs, but charge them for it so they can never leave.
"You don’t operate that way, Nadia. If you were just business, you’d never have left Hondisumi. As a wagemage there. you had to be making twenty times what you’re pulling down at Natural Vat. You had a good life," I grinned, "and could afford to swim in ‘Rialta Odalisque.’ Not many folks would voluntarily leave that sort of nest."
Her eyes grew distant. "It wasn't a nest. It was a cage."
"A gilded cage."
"But a cage nonetheless. Hondisumi spotted me early on and discovered I had the ability to handle powerful magicks."
She hesitated, debating inwardly how much she dared tell me. It felt good when she continued.
"Corporations have all sorts of secrets, both industrial and magical. I could function at a sufficient power level that Hondisumi put me in charge of a research and development team working on devastatingly powerful spells. I admit I found the power very seductive, and the material rewards more than enough to salve my conscience."
"Conscience? What did they have you do that made you feel guilty?"
Nadia closed her eyes and I regretted the pain that shot across het lace. "If there were employees they could not trust, they had me crack their minds the way Valerie cracks computer files. Most often, all I did was sort through some minor guilty secrets, but when I came up against someone who had the ability, conscious or otherwise, to resist simple telepathic magics, I had to turn the power level up. Most of the time it did no permanent damage, but in some cases, it would have been kinder to take the person out and shoot him."
Her eyes opened and she looked at me with an emerald stare full of fear and anger. "And that was the least of the things they wanted me to do. I realized, as did they, that I knew too much to be trusted with a guilty conscience. I either had to remain in the fold, or I had to be managed, and from what Stealth said, they’re offering someone 2.36 million nuyen to do that
. I skipped out of Hondisumi and swore never to use the spells they taught me."
The edge in her voice and the cold clarity in her eyes told me she’d not made that vow lightly. I knew that she was as frightened by things she had done as by what she could do, but her fury at the corp would make her keep the promise she'd made to herself.
I handed her another clip. "Lattie helped you escape?" She smiled and I felt instantly jealous. "No. I’d known of him during my Hondisumi days, but we only met five years ago. We became involved about two years ago and that prompted my move to the Seattle area."
"Gotta be something there I don’t see ..."
Nadia laughed throatily. "Oh, Lattie is quite special." She let her answer hang there long enough for me to know questions about him were verboten. "As for your original question. the reason I help the people at Natural Vat is to atone for what I did in the name of another megacorporation. Maybe the educational programs will give the kids enough information and experience that they can avoid the trap that got me. I wouldn't wish it on anyone else, ever."
"A worthy goal, but tell the truth, isn’t there anything you regret leaving behind when you left Hondisumi?"
She chewed her lower lip for a half-second, then nodded sheepishly. " ‘Rialta Odalisque.' I tried to deny it because it seemed such a vanity, but the fact is I really liked the perfume. Unfortunately, because of the cover story, Nadia is not in a position to afford the pherotyping. Even so, when Lattie bought it for me. I was in heaven. Then we both realized the risk and returned it, but we didn’t get all traces of the transaction."
"Don’t worry about that. Val will cover those."
Nadia smiled, then gave me a probing stare. "Turnabout is fair play. Why do you do it. Wolf?"
"Huh?"
"Why do you help people?"
The metallic click of bullets sliding into the MP-9’s magazines filled the silence as I thought about her question. "Well, I guess it started because I owe Raven my life." The Beast Within howled angrily, which brought a smile to my lips.
Into the Shadows Page 29
