by Unknown
"To the other end of the tunnel!" the rigger said, setting off.
Stooping, sometimes crawling, they moved along the tunnel. They were drawing away from the house. The crack of light at the end grew larger. After about a hundred meters under the earth, they had reached the opening.
"An old, brick-lined well shaft," said Festus, his head in the opening and his gaze directed upwards. "There are climbing rungs in the wall. We won't have any trouble getting out of here. The only question is what sort of shit's waiting for us up there."
Pandur tried to scrape together in his memory the fleeting images of their arrival. It had still been too dark and they had been led straight from the helicopter's landing place to the house. He remembered the farm buildings, which were probably in ruins now like the farmhouse. But they had been right next to the house. He hadn't noticed a well about a hundred meters away.
"Doesn't matter," said the rigger. "I'll just climb up and have a look."
He thrust himself into the shaft, two feet and one hand on the rungs. Then he took the time to arrange his Combat Gun in such a way as to enable his synthmuscles and reflex boosters to bring it into play immediately it was needed. Then he climbed up the shaft. Pandur crouched at the opening, looking up at the rigger.
Over the well-head lay a wooden lid, but it had slipped, exposing half the hole. Festus cautiously put his head through the gap and looked around. The result seemed to satisfy him, since he pushed the lid a little further aside and squeezed past it through the gap.
"Come on up, chummers!" he called down quietly. "There's no one around and we're out of sight."
One after another, Pandur, Jessi, Magnus, Imogen and finally Tassilo climbed up. The well was at the edge of a cow pasture. A few cowpats nearby pointed to the nature of the field's users. None of the animals could be seen. Either they were grazing in another pasture or, like the elves, they had fallen victim to the hail of bombs and the ensuing fire. The opening of the well was fenced round and lay against a hedge. Bushes and a few trees shielded most of the field from the farm. The fire was no longer burning brightly but a dense pall of smoke hung in the air. Through the twigs and branches, shattered walls, charred ruins and a few smallish fires were to be seen. Not one stone had been left standing. Not a person nor a vehicle was visible far and wide. Nobody seemed to have noticed the incident, or nobody was behaving as if they had.
The refugees looked across to the ruins.
Twenty people, who'd done AG Chemie no harm, had to die, thought Pandur. Because some crazy exec wants to see me in Hell. You'll pay for this, you fucking drekhead.
They had hunted him and he had accepted it. There were reasons for the pursuit. But his enemies had now long been operating way outside all the rules of the game. They were making up their own game, their own rules. Up to now Pandur had accepted that he was subject to these rules. But now he'd had all he could take. This time, running away, hiding and waiting till grass grew over the affair wouldn't be enough for him. He would devise his own rules. He'd show the damn drekheads they had gone too far. He yearned for the moment when the data would be made public and the shares of this accursed megacon were in the cellar. But he wanted more. He suddenly realized what he wanted. Revenge! The head of the man who had had Natalie and him hunted like animals. Who was still having him hunted and in the process mowing down everything in his way. Natalie. Patrick. The elves. Enough was enough. First the data. Then the eyes of the rigger. And then, if I haven't turned up my toes by then, the head of the guy who has Natalie and the others on his conscience. The drekhead has earned pride of place on Uncle Lucifer's kebab.
"Our car's over there somewhere," said Magnus, pointing out the direction. "Behind the wood. Unless it's been discovered and blown up as well."
"Who knew you were coming to see us?" Jessi asked.
"Several people in the Federation are in on this," Tassilo replied. "It seems there was no way round it. If you ask me, too many knew where you were and which data was involved."
"Fucking policlubs," said Festus. "There's too much blabbing goes on in them."
"Oh, yeah?" went Jessi. "You've got no right to open your big mouth. You keep yourself out of everything, on principle."
"And you throw yourself into everything, on principle," Festus came back angrily.
"Not getting involved at all is no solution either," Jessi countered.
"Stop it, you two," Pandur interposed. "This is no podium discussion on the subject 'The Sense and Purpose of Political Commitment'." He wondered which of the two he would have agreed with. At Jessi's age he had seen things as she did, but the years in the shadows had made him think like Festus. And at the same time he knew that this attitude was only good for the lone wolves in the shadows.
"So ka," Jessi apologized. "But I can't stand it when this blockhead questions everything."
The rigger looked at her darkly and then turned to Tassilo. " The drekheads didn't necessarily follow you. Maybe the car's undamaged. They might not even have booby-trapped it. Let's give it a go. We've got to head for the road anyway if we want to get our asses outa here."
They made use of the cover of the bushes and trees until they were almost at the side of the road. All the time they had no illusions. They could be easily spotted from the air. And any megacon patrol, whether it was in a helicopter or in a land vehicle, couldn't help but connect them with the burnt-out farm. The nearest village was too far away to give the group an excuse for being there.
"If we're unlucky enough to encounter a police car," said Magnus, "we'll even end up being taken for arsonists and terrorists, and they'll pin the attack on us."
"Yep, Prof," said Festus drily. "That's how it could turn out. You oughta get yourself wired up and find yourself a shootin'-iron. Then at least you'll have a few counterarguments up your sleeve if they start messing round with you. Not academic arguments - cogent ones. But I guess you don't need to. You can sling 'em a few fireballs or have them slide on ice into the nearest ditch, huh?"
"I'm no combat mage," Magnus replied with reserve. " Pity," said Festus. "But I always did believe you never learnt anything useful at university."
"Usefulness is defined by the respective needs of the individual," said Magnus in a friendly tone. "What benefits one, may indeed be ballast for the other. But don't forget that requirements can change."
"True," said Festus, grinning. "If I get myself a different gun, I need different ammo."
"Our jackhead's only trying to provoke you," said Jessi. " He's coming the street samurai and prole, but under the bedclothes he secretly pops vidchips on Kant."
"I don't need that sort of stuff," Festus replied. "I'm my own categorical imperative."
The truth's more like you don't know what you really are, thought Pandur, because you want to be too m.uch.
Although they had reached the road, they continued to march across the fields and came to the wood behind which Magnus and his companions had parked the car. Consultation wasn't necessary. Festus, Pandur, Jessi and Tassilo, who was also armed and drew his H&K P48, spread out and worked their way through the wood as quietly as possible. Magnus and Imogen followed at some distance.
Their concern proved groundless. A dark-red Mercedes E160 stood unharmed at the side of the road. No security men. Nor could they be lurking nearby, as the wood would have been the only place to hide. Pandur and Festus signalled the others to stay back, and examined the car closely. Festus even crawled underneath it. No plastic explosive, no apparent tampering with the codelocks.
Festus waved the others up and had Magnus open the passenger door with the codechip. Then he inspected the on-board electronics, released the hatch to the battery compartment and checked the contacts. No one had tampered with the car.
"So ka," said the rigger, in a hurry all at once. "Come on, get in. We gotta get outa here."
Without getting involved in a long discussion with Magnus, Festus laid claim to the driving seat, switched on the on-board computer and jacked
in. In the next moment the electric motor started purring. Festus waited just long enough for Tassilo to haul his last leg into the car before driving away.
The professor and Imogen sat in the front with Festus, while Pandur, Jessi and Tassilo shared the rear seat. Magnus had taken off his mage's hat during their escape and given it to his assistant for safekeeping. Mages loved their hats, and academic mages especially, but in some predicaments they did prove a hindrance. The Mercedes moved down the road. It was ten minutes before the first vehicle passed them, going in the opposite direction. An EMC Blitz II with two people in it who didn't seem to be in a hurry.
"They're going to pass the burnt-out farmhouse in something like ten minutes," said Pandur. "They might stop, they might drive past. But I suppose they'll pass on a message. Could be they'll remember a burgundy Mercedes they encountered."
"By that time we'll be on the freeway," said Jessi. "They're hardly likely to have noted the number. Then we'll be just one vehicle among many."
They went through Egestorf and then got onto the A7. Festus chose to head for Hanover. They merged with a steady stream of traffic. Only then did Festus switch over to autopilot and let the traffic guidance system ALI take over. He unhooked his rigger lead and stashed it in his jacket pocket.
"Your buggy's in good shape, Prof," he said. "Except for the dirty upholstery... you oughta be more careful about the sort of passengers you choose. Kinda new, the auto, huh?
"Six months old," Magnus confirmed.
"Hope you don't have to scrap it after this. She won't be fast enough to keep pursuers off our backs."
"We ought to plan our next moves," said Jessi. "I take it you want to go back to Heidelberg, Professor?"
Magnus nodded.
"Then let us out at a used car dealer's somewhere," she said. "We'll rent a different car." As if she had divined Pandur's unposed question, she went on, "My ID chip's okay, and my ebbie too."
Pandur shook his head. "If someone in the Hobgoblin Federation has betrayed our hiding place with the elves, he also knows your name, Jessi. Forget the idea with the ID chip."
"We'll work it differently," said Magnus. "You let us out at the first good opportunity and go on to Prague in the Mercedes."
"No chance, Prof," Festus replied. "You see, me and Pandur are Big Bad Boys, wanted everywhere. Undesirables for the Czechs, so ka? Shit-scared that we might stir up their own Big Bad Boys too much. We've got to move our asses over the green border. Without your Mercedes. To be honest, your upholstery's too dirty as well."
"What do you say to a compromise?" Tassilo put in. "We take you to the border, and you make your own way from there?"
"I like it," said Pandur.
Since no one else raised any objections, Festus had the onboard computer project a route map on the overhead screen. Before they could get round to fixing a new route together, Pandur suddenly slapped his palm against his forehead. The road map had given him an idea."
"We'll accept the prof's offer after all," he said, pointing to the territory of the Council of Marienbad. "I was once in the Council lands. The border between the AGS and the CFR runs straight through the Council and isn't policed. On the German side there're only checks on trucks at the inter-German Council border. I bet it's no different with the Czechs. With a bit of luck we'll get through to Prague in the Mercedes."
"You sure there're no checks?" the rigger asked skeptically. " The only sure thing is that there's a box waiting for everybody somewhere, sometime."
"Even that's not certain, chummer," Festus replied. "Some people have to make do with a cardboard box. So ka. For my part, I agree."
"Let's risk it," said Jessi.
Magnus leant back and studied the road map. "Then you'd best drop us off in Wurzburg. I'd like to go with you to see Master Vladek but I've got an important examination date and..."
"That's okay, Prof," said Festus. "Academic wizardry takes priority. We'll get along with your colleague okay. Give him a call and tell him to put his conjurer's hat on."
Magnus put the suggestion into practise without delay. He wired his multi-function wrist strap up to the computer and made the stored vidnumbers appear on the screen. Then he punched in Vladek's number in Prague.
"Yes?" a male voice answered. The screen remained blank. " Professor Magnus. My dear Vladek, I have a Federation problem... "
"I see, Professor Magnus," the reply came. The man rang off. " Christ Almighty," Festus marvelled. "That's what I call short and to the point. Wizard job, Prof."
"Not wizadry, just a little conspiratorial secrecy, my good man," Magnus said in elucidation. There was a trace of arrogance in his voice. Probably he'd had enough of being teased by the rigger all the time. "Master Vladek is now switching to a scrambler code and will call back."
The vidphone buzzed. Magnus pressed the combination of keys on his wrist strap that added the agreed code and took the call. This time, too, the screen remained blank.
Magnus explained in few words what it was about. He announced the arrival of the runners that evening. Vladek's replies were delayed and spoken by a computer voice-simulator. It was impossible to tell from the smooth electronic voice what emotions Vladek had shown. But judging by his words at least, he was immediately willing to take on the matter. And he was optimistic about being able to solve the problem.
Pandur had only been listening with one ear. His thoughts were wandering. As soon as the data in the cyberdeck was accessible, he would view the logistics material. He hoped to find the personal dossiers of the execs. He wanted to know at last the name of his pursuer, where he lived, how to get at him. He unsuccessfully racked his memory for pointers. He couldn't remember Natalie ever having mentioned the name. But Natalie's mother would know the name. He considered whether to visit Manda Alexandrescu on the return trip from Prague. He didn't doubt that she was still to be found in Konigsberg Castle with her clan. She was hardly likely to be thrilled to see him, and probably wouldn't even let him into the castle. But it had to be possible to talk to her. And it should be in her interest to know that Natalie's murderer would be punished. There was someone else who knew the drekhead's name: Ricul. What was going on in the head of that damn mafioso? How could he work for the murderer of his half-sister? Or didn't he see the connections? Had Natalie's ex-husband sold him some other story?
Pandur thought he could hear a helicopter somewhere. When he tried to concentrate on it, the noise wasn't there anymore. Presumably a product of an over-stimulated imagination. He had been thinking of Ricul, and his sub-consciousness spun the thread on to the killer elves. To the question of what they had done to pick up the trail again. Whatever possibilities Pandur took into the equation, he could rule out one variant. That the killer elves would give up. Their path led to a cemetery, one way or another. The only question was who would feed the worms: Pandur or them.
Then he heard the chopping of a rotor, and this time there could be no doubt. The helicopter was real. It was in the sky somewhere above them.
"Festus! The helicopter!" he got out.
"What about it, chummer?" asked the rigger.
"Is it following us? Can you spot an emblem?"
Festus bent forward and gazed upward. He shrugged his shoulders. Then he changed the angle of the front vidcam and put the picture on the screen. He corrected the scope and selected a section of the picture. Now they could make out the helicopter clearly. An MK Kolibri. A private aircraft without an emblem. Glassed-in all round but it was not possible to see into the cockpit. Specially coated glass with reflection breakers.
"How long's he been keeping up with us?" Pandur asked.
"He isn't keeping up with us, he's only just appeared," said Festus. "It's not the first copter to pass us. Following the freeway. Some pilots navigate by the roads. Or some rich fucker with no idea is flying the chopper himself."
"Or someone thinks he ought to take a closer look at a dark-red Mercedes E160," put in Tassilo.
"Come on," Festus replied. "The
y're not interested in us."
He seemed to be right. The helicopter stayed at the same height and slowly pushed on above the stream of vehicles. For a while it flew ahead, steadily increasing the distance between them. At some point they lost sight of it.
Half relieved and half reluctantly Pandur had to admit the rigger was right. It really did seem to have been a chance encounter. Still, a trace of unease remained. The elves knew the rigger's firepower by now. With his Combat Gun and the ammomix he favored, Festus could easily bring down an unarmored copter. If they really were in the Kolibri, they would bide their time and wait for a better opportunity to attack.
Pandur tried to take his mind off his thoughts. He eyed the three Klabauter people who had become their unplanned traveling companions. Professor Magnus bore himself well. Not a trace of fear, although normally his life as an academic mage certainly took a quieter course. His assistant was different. Imogen looked pale and nervous. And she was as mute as a fish. But Pandur didn't blame her for it. The bombing raid on the elves had anchored images and impressions in her mind that she wouldn't easily forget. It was bound to be the first time she had experienced at first hand how brutally the megacons exploited their extra-territorial privileges. It was images and impressions such as these that had driven many a person into the shadows. Tassilo was calm, at least outwardly. As an arranger he definitely wouldn't be a total innocent and he was the only one of the three who knew his way around in the shadows. Pandur doubted though that he'd taken part in the hard stuff. His metier was more likely to be the grey zone between legality and illegality, the world of the intermediary, close to the milieu of the fence.
He also eyed Jessi surreptitiously, marvelling at her youthful grace and beauty. Many a lonely night he had wished for a girl like this as a companion in the shadows. Brave, intelligent and yet feeling. Natalie, more mature and somewhat more bitter, whom life had treated more harshly, had also been such a woman. Both were beautiful, Natalie in a more astringent way at first glance, but a not less appealing way. They were two very different women, both interesting and delightful, the one more inaccessible, the other more spontaneous, but both complex personalities in their own right. He didn't know if he was in the process of falling in love with Jessi. In his heart there was still one who had fascinated him. Who had betrayed him. Who was dead. He was afraid of letting in anyone else. But he knew that his heart was already working at it. Because Pandur could no longer stand the loneliness as easily as Thor Walez had done for so many years.
