Crusade For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 2)

by Adrian D. Roberts

  Hanna’s smile was impish. “I’ll work on it.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  “Alright, I’m here, Sneaker,” Valerie said as she walked into the Dawning Sun, her hair still wet from the shower. “What was so urgent, I had to get back from my run in such a rush?”

  The tall, blond, dark-skinned man turned from where he stood chatting to Frank at the bar. Hanna and Deni were both sitting on stools next to him.

  “An old friend of mine just got into town and we need to go and see him. Come on, my car’s out back.” The two girls hopped off their stools and followed him as he headed to the back door. Evidentially they knew what was going on and as no one saw fit to tell Valerie, she rolled her eyes, shrugged and followed.

  Despite earning quite a lot of money from leading the gang, Sneaker never changed his battered old wheelie. The rundown silver car with its worn seats, sat in the small yard at the back of the building, next to Rush’s black, much sleeker vehicle. Sneaker preferred his low-key approach. While Valerie would much prefer he drove something better defensively, she saw the sense in using an inconspicuous wheelie.

  It didn’t stop her from unclipping her holsters from her thighs and setting them under her arms. They would be easier to draw while sitting. Valerie waited until they were all in the car and Sneaker pulled them out into the street, before asking the question.

  “So who’s your friend and why are we going to see him?”

  “As I’m sure you know, it’s pretty rare us Manuals leave Blaze.” Sneaker said with a glance in the back to show he said it for the girls benefit. Valerie had a very good idea they knew this and would have responded with a rolling of their eyes to his back as a bare minimum.

  “And?” Valerie prompted.

  “So there are actually very few specialists in the art of inter-system passports and ID’s. My friend is one of a select few who has that particular skill-set on Blaze. He’s in town for a only a few days. Trust me, Scribe is the guy you need, if you want the credentials to get onto Olympus.”

  “Sounds good, but what’s the rush?”

  “Scribe moves around a lot, partly because his unique services are needed all over the planet by only a few people, but mainly as he is also one of a handful of people actively hunted by the Blaze PD. For some reason, they don’t like the idea of us Manuals being able to move around freely without their say-so.”

  “Why am I not surprised?” Hanna asked rhetorically from the back.

  Sitting back Valerie relaxed as much as she was able. Traffic was fairly light and Sneaker drove well as he cut from one side street to another. The car did have a screen showing the view from behind. Valerie kept an eye on it in case anyone was tailing them. It was more by reflex than an actual worry.

  The streets all looked the same, no matter how far they went. It was the same grey permacrete buildings and roads. All differentiating one from another were the names on the streets or over shops and businesses. Eventually they pulled into a small warehouse, set in the bottom few levels of the standard Ghetto forty storey building.

  Two Enforcers stood at the entrance of the open loading dock, their weapons were clearly visible. Valerie stepped out of the car first and moved around it, so there was nothing to get in her way if she needed to defend Sneaker and the others. They waited in the car until she was in position before joining her. Scribe may be a friend, but in their world and, especially outside of Sneaker’s territory, it paid to be careful.

  The two Enforcers made no hostile move, Valerie’s precautions would be normal for their clients. She waited for a nod from them and led their small party forward. An aircar sat inside the loading dock out of sight, three more hired guns stood by it and one of the Enforcers indicated a small office off to one side.

  “One of you only,” she said.

  “It’s alright. You and the girls wait here, Carter.” Sneaker said her name quite clearly. All of Scribe’s Enforcers stood up a little straighter and looked more alert.

  “They know who she is,” Hanna whispered to her friend.

  “You think?”

  Valerie jerked her head slightly to the girls, they understood and moved to stand opposite her, whilst she was turned sideways to the two groups of Enforcers. Hanna and Deni could watch her back, while she kept an eye on the office Sneaker entered and still watch the Enforcers in her peripheral vision.

  The next few minutes were tense, at least for the others. The girls continued to dart looks in all directions and the Enforcers stood almost rigid, their hands close to, but not on their weapons. Valerie was relaxed, her feet a shoulders width apart and her hands by her sides. With her pistols under her arms, they were as far from her hands as it was possible to be and still be on her body. Despite this, she was confident she could draw and fire before anyone else raised their guns, if she had to.

  The minutes continued to tick by. Finally Sneaker stepped out laughing with another man. He was a similar age to Sneaker, late fifties, Valerie guessed, and a few centimetres shorter with a ruddy complexion.

  “So where is the indomitable Miss Carter I have heard so much about?” the man practically boomed.

  “Right here, Scribe.” Sneaker clapped the man on the shoulder and pointed to where Valerie stood.

  Scribe strode right up to Valerie and thrust his hand out to her. She stood looking at it consideringly for a moment and behind Scribe’s back Sneaker gave her the look, telling her to take it. With a mental shrug and leaving her left hand free and clear, she took his hand.

  “It’s an honour.” His voice was deep and seemed to almost echo around the room as he pumped her hand up and down. “I’ve heard so much about you. How would you like to come and work for me? I pay very well you know. You’ll get to see the planet rather than being stuck here in one city.”

  “Hey! We didn’t come here so you could steal away my Crew.” Sneaker interjected before Valerie could reply. His voice was light, but there was a slight edge to it.

  “A young beauty like this shouldn’t be kept holed up here. She should be out seeing what the world has to offer. Come with me and you’ll see it all.”

  He had not released her hand and she gently extracted it as gracefully as she could.

  “Thank you for the offer, Scribe, but I work for Sneaker and I’m not looking for a new employer.” The smile she gave him was mostly genuine. It was funny how he thought she was more than half his age, when actually she had twice his years.

  “No hard feelings, Scribe?” Sneaker said and clasped the other man on the shoulder again.

  “Hah. So long as you don’t blame a fella for trying. I wouldn’t want the man who has this woman on a leash mad at me.”

  For an instant Sneaker, Hanna and Deni froze. Valerie almost smiled again at their reactions. Not long ago she would have in all probability done something precipitous and violent. Today she simply shook her head and indicated the office Scribe came out of.

  “Perhaps we could talk in private and get down to business?”

  “Of course, of course,” Scribe boomed and waved ahead of them. “This way. Follow me, follow me.”

  In the run down room, a new table was set up in the middle. What Valerie recognised as a very high tech bio scanner sat on it with a datapad plugged in. Scribe dropped into a large comfy work chair behind the table.

  “So what can I do for you? Off on holiday, Sneaker?”

  There were no other doors in the room. Valerie moved over and leaned against the wall opposite the entrance. With no other chairs, the two girls stood by Sneaker in the middle. None of them got directly between her and the door.

  “I need complete sets of passports, ID’s and DNA masks for these three. They have to be good enough to get them onto Olympus and back again.”

  “DNA masks? That’s expensive, Sneaker, and why all three? I can imagine the beauty, oh-so-casually leaning against the wall and watching the door, may well have got on the wrong list, but not these young ones.”

  Sneaker shrugged as
though it was of no concern. “What’s the point of giving the authorities more than you need to? As you say, they’re young and I think they’ll be around for a while. It’ll pay me back in the long run. You know how I like to be careful.”

  “Hmm. OK. It’s your money. Please step forward ladies so I can get a baseline.” Hanna went first and stood in front of the bio scanner. A spread of lasers swept her from head to toe, taking a simple measurement of her dimensions. Deni went next and when Valerie stepped forward she kept her eyes closed and fists clenched. She didn’t want Scribe taking a record of her finger and retinal prints.

  Once the scans were complete, Scribe leaned forward and accessed his datapad. He spent several minutes flipping through various files while they waited patiently before looking up.

  “You’re in luck. I already have the DNA sequences on file with a close enough match.” Faking a DNA scanner was not complicated. A spray similar to the common skinseal could be used to layer your hands in someone else’s DNA. As long as the sequence you were using matched your basic body type, such as skin colour, height and ethnicity, no one would be the wiser. If you gave the authorities cause to look at you more closely, it would be no protection. All they would need is the smallest hair or blood sample and they would know instantly something was wrong.

  “It will take a few days and you can pay on delivery. The price will be two hundred thousand, payable in metals.” Valerie raised her eyebrows. Payment in rare metals was not surprising, but the price was very steep. On one of her more covert missions for the Legion, her five person team from Shadow Company had been caught on a Boundary world. Their covers blown, along with their exit, she needed to buy the services of Scribe’s counterpart to get off world. For five ID’s and DNA masks, it cost her half the price Scribe wanted today.

  “That’s over the top, Scribe,” Sneaker argued. “First you try to poach one of my Crew and then rob me blind. Fifty thousand on a Bullion chip.”

  “Hah. That was quite rude of me. One fifty, metals.”

  “Rude? You did it right in front of me. One hundred, in metals.”

  “Now who’s robbing who blind?” Scribe said, waving his arms in the air. “How can I afford to feed my children on a measly hundred?”

  Sneaker raised his eyebrows. “Children? Really?”

  “Alright, alright. It’s nonsense but a classic. One hundred in metals.”

  “Excellent.” Sneaker leaned across the table with his hand outstretched. “It’s always good to do business with you.”

  “So it should be for a hundred grand.” Scribe accused, but it was only light sarcasm, with no vindictiveness behind it.

  “You’re welcome to come by the casino while in town and try to win the difference,” Sneaker offered.

  “I might well do. Miss Carter isn’t the only thing I’ve been hearing about. Word is The Dawning Sun is the place to be, if you want to have a good night and do some decent business on the side. I’ve even heard some are calling it neutral ground.”

  “We have an excellent set of conference rooms and, let’s face it,” he pointed his thumb at Valerie. “Would you start any trouble with her on the door?”

  “Not a chance, my friend. Give me a couple of days and I ‘ll bring the ID’s round and enjoy the hospitality of your establishment.”

  “A table will be ready for you and you won’t be disappointed. Until then.” Sneaker shook Scribe’s hand and turned to leave. Valerie swept by him to exit first.

  Outside there was a perceptible relaxing by the Enforcers as the five of them came out of the room. Scribe stayed by the door while Valerie led them out of the loading dock. Once back in the car and on their way, Valerie turned to Sneaker.

  “Can we trust him?”

  “As much as you can trust anyone in this business, besides, you saw how impressed they all were with you. I don’t think crossing you is something they would contemplate. Anyway, he and I go way back and he knows exactly what I can do to his systems. He relies on that large database of his and I can shut it down, no matter where he is on the planet. It’ll be fine. In a couple of days you’ll have your ID’s and a week more the freighter will be back from Olympus. We’ll know then if the route is safe for you all to use.”

  Valerie nodded. “I’ll cover the ID’s. I haven’t used any of my cuts from the Jobs. I have plenty to cover it.”

  “What? Do you have it all stashed under your mattress or something?”

  “Never you mind. It’ll take me a day to get it.” She turned to the girls in the back, who barely said a word for the whole trip. “What do you say? The two of you fancy a road trip?”

  “Where to?” Hanna enquired.

  “It’s a surprise. Deni, can you get the keys off Rush for the aircar?”

  “Yeah,” Deni said a bit bemused. “It won’t be a problem. I’ll have it in the yard for eight.”

  “Excellent.” Valerie turned back.

  “OK. Now I’m curious. Where on Blaze have you stashed your stash?” Sneaker asked

  “As I said, never you mind. I’m not going to tell you, so stop asking, and don’t even think about trying to get it out of those two. They fear me a lot more than they do you.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Unsurprisingly, Valerie was already in the yard, at the back of the Dawning Sun, when Hanna arrived. “Morning,” the older woman greeted her. “Good to see you’ve dressed appropriately.”

  Knowing it would be cold up in the mountains, Hanna picked out a jacket and trousers made of thicker and warmer materials than she normally wore. They didn’t look a lot different from her usual attire, but cost a lot more.

  “I thought it would be worth giving them a go before we head out to Olympus. Deni said it’ll be spring there when we arrive.”

  “Early spring, yes,” Valerie was wearing her ever present dark trousers and long dark coat. The only concession to the weather was the long sleeved shirt underneath, also dark.

  The whine from the engines of a descending aircar made them both look up. It came down gracefully and landed in the area specifically set aside for it in the yard.

  “I’ll fly, Deni,” Valerie said as they entered through the side door.

  “You could just tell me where we’re going,” Deni replied a little indignantly.

  “Don’t worry. You’ll both understand when we get there. Now shoo,” Valerie told her, waving to the co-pilots seat. With obvious reluctance Deni did as she was told. “Hanna. I need you to do the usual with Traffic Control. I don’t want any records of this flight.” She ordered as she took over the pilots seat.

  “On it,” Hanna got out her Quartz and started to pull up the back door Sneaker and herself built the year before.

  “Deni. Get into the aircars internal systems and make sure it won’t remember this either.” That surprised Hanna. It was pretty much business as usual to take them out of the Blaze traffic control, but to ensure the aircars system was wiped wasn’t. Valerie really was serious when she told Sneaker to mind his own business. She felt proud Valerie trusted Deni and her with her secrets.

  This trip was nothing like the last time Hanna had been in an aircraft with Valerie piloting. There were none of the sudden dives and climbs she previously experienced. Of course, this time they weren’t being hunted in the air by four armed Helos. Valerie took the aircar all the way up to the Indigo zone, as her fake pilots licence allowed her. She then let the aircar have its head, pushing the engines and electron power cell harder than they normally had the opportunity to do within the confines of Inferno city.

  With her part done, Hanna leaned back in her seat and enjoyed the view from the Visual Image screens. With the exception of the cockpit, there were no windows in the aircar, only screens on the walls showing input from the external cameras.

  From this high up, the segregation within Inferno was obvious. The centre had its gleaming towers, a solid Speedway fully encompassing it. Unlike all the other Speedways, it was on the ground and not suspended above t
he buildings. There were no Speedways in amongst the towers, they weren’t needed. The Privileged all used aircars and, as there were no parking facilities for wheelies in the centre, Manuals could only use the underground trains.

  On the other side of the Speedway ringing the centre, were the dark and grey Ghettos. They spread out in all directions, as far as Hanna could see, factories intermixed with the residential buildings and Speedways suspended above them all. Scattered amongst the Ghettos were the suburbs of the Privileged, designed for those who preferred sky over their heads. Each of these had a solid band of red a kilometre across, made up of the local red bark trees and blood grass, around them. Where it met the Ghettos stood a wall ten metres high it ensured none of the Manuals could make use of the space and go where they were not wanted.

  Every time she saw this landscape she felt angry. She knew the statistics, there were over ten million people living in Inferno. Approximately one hundred thousand of them were made up of the Privileged. Yet from this vantage point she could see they used almost ten percent of the land. None of theirs included the factories.

  Feeling somewhat helpless, there was nothing she could do, Hanna turned to where Valerie sat in the pilot’s seat.

  “Yesterday when we met Scribe, did it worry you how everyone was afraid?”

  Hanna saw Valerie’s shoulders tighten at the question and didn’t worry about it. If the woman didn’t want to answer, she wouldn’t, but Hanna thought she needed to ask, if only to keep her engaged with them. There was a long pause before Valerie answered.

  “No,” was all she said and there was silence for a while until she continued. “As Sneaker said, if they’re afraid, it means the chance of them double crossing us is much lower. If other gangs are afraid, they won’t want to start anything with us. If the people in our area are afraid they won’t try and betray us.”

  “What about our people?” Deni asked. “Most of them are frightened of you as well.”