by Neil Hunter
Suddenly Janek sat bolt upright. He clicked his fingers, a triumphant ‘yes’ coming from his lips.
‘What, already?’ Cade snapped, realizing that his partner had figured something out.
‘You have to give into them,’ Janek said, admiration in his tone. ‘It’s clever. Even inspired.’
‘What, for Christ’s sake?’
‘Why the Darksiders are being hijacked, T.J. The reason they’re being taken.’
‘I’m getting there,’ Cade lied.
‘Hah,’ Janek said. ‘You haven’t figured it out yet, have you?’ A slight smile curled the edge of his mouth.
‘ ‘All right,’ Cade snapped back. ‘So I haven’t figured it out, mega-brain. You want to tell me or play smart-ass all day?’
Janek twisted around in his seat to face him. ‘They’re using the Darksiders for two reasons. First because they are expendable members of society. No one really pays any attention to them during the normal run of things. Who is going to miss them? Only other Darksiders, and they won’t say anything because they don’t trust the authorities and also they want to be left alone. Are we in agreement so far?’
Cade nodded.
‘The second and most important reason,’ Janek explained, ‘is based on the fact that Darksiders are ideal workers for the ore mines. They exist in a subterranean environment. Which means they’re used to living in the near dark. Their eyes and their metabolism have adjusted to it. Darksiders are at home down below the surface. Bring them into the light, and they beg to be let underground again.’
‘Janek, you son of a bitch,’ Cade said. ‘You hit the jackpot. Lexus is using the Darksiders as illegal workers in the unsafe mine. They lost Frakin’s report and brought in the Darksiders because they daren’t use regular miners. The Darksiders can’t complain because they don’t have anyone to back them. And as far as the authorities are concerned, Lexus has never opened the new seam.’
‘The Darksiders are losers all the way down the line, T.J. People are hardly aware of their existence, and even if their plight were known, who would bother to fight for their rights? A few hundred less means a reduction in the Darksider problem. And the mine company gets free labor fit for the task. With plenty of replacements for the ones who die.’
‘An operation on this scale would bring in big bucks,’ Cade said. ‘Lexus is getting the titanium out free. The payoffs will be small change for whoever is running it. Hell, no damn wonder we have so many guns out to blow us away.’
‘It must have upset someone really badly when we stumbled on the operation,’ Janek observed. ‘And all because Bernie Stenner tried to make a deal with you.’
‘Okay, partner,’ Cade said. ‘Let’s not waste what Bernie started for us. I think it’s time we got the ball rolling.’
‘Two other items of news,’ Janek said. ‘The limo you totaled was registered to the freight company. The guy who runs the company is one Leo Krask.’
‘Fat Leo?’ Cade said.
‘That’s one of his aliases,’ Janek answered. ‘You know him?’
Cade nodded. ‘Seen him in lineups a number of times. Never been involved face-to-face, but his name has figured in certain cases over the years. He’s always been in the rackets.’
‘It appears he still is,’ Janek said.
Cade peered ahead into the stream of traffic, then stomped on the accelerator.
‘Let’s go say hello to the fat man.’
Chapter Ten
The light was fading fast by the time Cade pulled the cruiser to a stop near the freight yard. To the south lay the seemingly endless sprawl of Newark’s combined air and shuttle port. From the blast-scorched launch pads the passenger and cargo shuttles lifted off for the orbiting space platform complex.
With the mounting evidence they were gathering, Cade and Janek found the close proximity of the shuttle port taking on a new significance.
The hijacked Darksiders, shipped to the freight yard, could be quickly moved to the port and into cargo bays of waiting shuttles.
Cade stared across the lowering sky to the shimmering halo of light hanging over the shuttle port complex and found himself wondering if Kate Bannion had become a member of one of those illegal cargos. Was she up there somewhere? Maybe already on her way to the distant Asteroid Belt?
‘We’ll find out where she is, T.J.,’ Janek spoke up beside him.
Cade glanced at him. ‘Damn right we will,’ he said.
Pulling out his auto pistol, Cade checked that it was fully loaded.
‘You expecting to use that?’ Janek asked as he exited the cruiser.
‘Depends on the answers I get,’ his partner replied.
‘Is that the best way to approach this problem, T.J.?’ Janek asked.
‘It’s the only way, partner. Besides, I haven’t been greeted with open arms when I’ve asked questions before. Now rack up that SPAS, pass it over and cut the chattiness.’
Janek accepted temporary defeat. He knew there was no reasoning with Cade when he was like this. The human condition tended to change rapidly, giving no indication of how it was going to alter. Calmness and sanity could be replaced instantly by reckless anger, and judgment became immediately clouded by those unstable emotions that seemed to dominate human behavior to an alarming extent. Janek sighed wearily. It was, he knew, one of the penalties for having a human for a partner. The cold, clear logic that controlled his judgment had no chance within the human animal. They were still savages under the skin, ruled by petty, almost base, reactions to each and every situation they faced. The human race had established itself as the most advanced form of biological life on earth. People were, by cyborg standards, less than advanced - despite the fact that they had created and built the robots.
It was a paradox. The creators had become less than the beings they had created. The cyborgs had been fashioned in man’s image, given his view of the world, then set free to exist alongside their creator. Somewhere in the process the cyborgs had gained an advantage over man. Perhaps it was due to their electronic intelligence - the manufactured brain that functioned on pure logic, not illogical thought processes. The oddity was that man, for all his faults, was still capable of greatness. There were the classic artists. The musicians and writers. Intellectual geniuses. So much that had to be accepted as good in the human world.
Yet just a step behind was the base side of man. Janek saw this in his work alongside Cade. The horror and violence. The suffering that the human animal visited upon his own species. Evil stood side by side with good, and there seemed no depths to which the animal side of man could not plummet. It was a complex state of affairs, enough to reduce logical thought to a mockery. But it was the way things were. Janek understood that, and also knew there was nothing he could do to alter it. No more than his human partner Cade could in the short term.
Janek wandered along the street, studying the high fence around the freight yard.
‘I can’t detect anything out of the ordinary,’ he said on his return. ‘How do we do this, T.J.?’
‘Janek, tell me, how many times have we done this kind of thing before?’
‘Exact figure, or do you want a yearly average?’
Cade threw his arms wide in a gesture of defeat and walked away. After a moment Janek followed, muttering in a low monotone.
Arc lights on tall poles illuminated the freight yard. The high fence was topped by electro-beams capable of frying a man in seconds. The gates were secured by internally controlled ram bolts.
‘Here’s one to tax your circuits,’ Cade said as they paused at the gates.
Janek studied the layout for a few seconds. He nodded to himself, then moved to the gates. He gripped the thick steel mesh and tore a hole so he could reach through. Cade watched as the cyborg gripped one of the ram bolts, his powerful fingers closing with crushing power against the chrome-steel shafts. Janek set himself, then began to lift.
The ram bolt held for a few seconds, then began to withdraw from its l
ocking tube. Cade wasn’t sure of the exact pressure that held the ram bolts secure, but he understood the principles behind the pneumatic power packs that held them in the closed position. Janek’s steady lift had the desired effect. The bolt slid free. There was a hiss of air from the main pneumatic power pack. A seal split, and the bolt suddenly offered no more resistance. Janek shoved the gate open and stepped into the freight compound.
‘Let’s go, T.J.,’ Janek said in a fair imitation of his partner. ‘Time to kick some ass.’
They crossed the compound. There were rows of semi-trailers parked along the eastern edge of the compound.
Way across the far side of the area the service bays showed some activity as the night crews carried out maintenance checks on vehicles.
Cade led the way to the office block, the combat shotgun ready in his hands., The lower floor was in darkness. Leo Krask had his living quarters on the top floor where Cade spotted light behind the windows.
There were two armed guards at the entrance to the building.
‘No time for fancy games,’ Cade said.
He slid into the shadows alongside the building and eased in the direction of the entrance. Janek followed close on his heels. They got within range of the gunmen without difficulty. The pair were busy talking and weren’t paying any attention to their surroundings.
Cade straightened up and stepped in close behind one man, touching him on the shoulder. The surprised guard turned, his mouth opening to speak. Cade whacked the barrel of the SPAS alongside his jaw. The guy spun around, dropping his sub gun. He followed it to the ground seconds later as Cade hit him a second time.
Janek had disarmed the second guard and already had him pinned against the wall, feet off the ground. The cyborg watched Cade cuff his man.
‘Ask him nicely to unlock the door,’ Cade said.
‘Did you hear that?’ Janek asked, increasing the pressure of his fingers around the guard’s throat until the man frantically nodded. Janek lowered him to the ground, pushing him to the digital lock that secured the entrance door.
‘Do it right the first time,’ Janek suggested, ‘because you won’t get a second chance.’
The guard punched in the sequence code. The doors clicked and swung open. Janek marched his captive in, and Cade followed, dragging his man along, then dumping him behind the empty reception desk.
‘One more favor,’ Cade said to the gunman. ‘Get us into the elevator to Krask’s apartment.’
The man repeated his trick with the elevator code. The car slid to the ground floor, doors opening smoothly. Cade stepped in. Janek followed, with his prisoner. The man didn’t need to be instructed this time. He keyed in the floor code, and the elevator rose.
The corridor that led to Krask’s apartment was empty.
Cade peered out of the elevator, checking it thoroughly. He glanced at the gunman.
‘Is Krask on his own?’
The man shook his head. ‘Three bodyguards. Krask has a couple of visitors in tonight.’
‘Who?’
‘The legal eagles. Lasall and Lippin.’
Cade smiled when he heard the names. ‘There still is a Santa Claus,’ he said.
‘What?’ Janek asked.
‘How did Lasall get here so fast?’ Cade asked.
‘Well, I don’t know what you mean, but he came in by a hired chopper. Looked like a last-minute visit. He isn’t a happy man-’
Cade took out a pair of plasti-cuffs. He spun the guard around and secured his hands behind him.
‘Hey, I ain’t about to warn ’em.’
‘Hell, I know that, pal,’ Cade replied, and hit him with the SPAS. The guy crumpled in the corner of the elevator.
Cade calmly started walking along the corridor toward the apartment door.
‘I want the key men alive and able to talk,’ he said to Janek. ‘The triggers take their chance.’
‘And we know what that will be,’ Janek said.
Cade rapped loudly on the door.
‘Come on, you guys, we got trouble downstairs,’ he yelled.
‘Do you think such a simple ploy will…?'
The door rattled, then swung open. The man framed in the opening was large, broad shouldered and carried a squat sub gun. He eyed Cade for a few seconds too long before realization set in.
Cade slugged him with the SPAS, driving the weapon up under the guy’s heavy jaw. The sound of the blow filled the corridor. The trigger’s head snapped back, and blood coursed down his shirtfront. Cade whacked him again, hard in the abdomen. The man doubled over, gasping. Pushing him aside, Cade stepped inside.
Right behind him, Janek stepped in swiftly to disarm the dazed trigger and cuff him.
A second trigger came into view, his weapon raised. He took one look at Cade and Janek and yelled a warning. His weapon arced round, spitting fire. Bullets punctured the wall over Cade’s head. He dropped to one knee, leveling the SPAS, and let go with a single shot. The blast caught the trigger in the chest and threw him back into the living room, where he collided with a low table, scattering magazines and drinking glasses before he fell to the floor.
Janek had ducked low and gone for the living room. He headed toward the three carpeted steps, but he was confronted by the surviving trigger. The gunman threw up his handgun, a large, stainless-steel auto pistol, and triggered a three-round burst. Janek took a dive to the floor, then rolled, already firing as he rolled. The hollow point slugs impacted against the trigger’s lower chest, spiraling up in a devastating path of destruction. The trigger, already dying, staggered back to crash against the wall.
Cade came down the steps at a dead run, almost colliding with Krask, Lasall and Lippin as they hastened in the direction of the front door.
‘What the hell are you playing at, Cade?’ Max Lippin shouted. ‘I’ll have your badge for this!’
Leo Krask turned to face Cade. His beefy face was flushed and angry. ‘This is Cade, the SOB you been lettin’ walk all over you?’ Krask shoved a hand inside his jacket. ‘I’ll show you how to handle him.’
Cade didn’t say a word. His sweep into the room had brought him directly into Krask’s path, and as he reached the man, Cade threw a long, looping right that impacted against Krask’s slack jaw line with a crack. Krask fell back across a lounger, hitting the floor on his back. He lay staring up at Cade, blood welling from a split lip. When he tried to sit up, Cade bounced the SPAS’s barrel off the top of his skull, then reached down and hauled the man’s pistol out and shoved it behind his own belt.
‘On your feet, Krask,’ Cade ordered. ‘It’s conversation-time.’
Krask levered himself upright. He dropped into an armchair, sleeving blood from his mouth. His expression was ugly as he stared up at Cade.
‘I have nothin’ to say to you.’
‘Don’t be coy, Krask. We’ve got it all now. Lexus Mining. The Darksiders. You providing the muscle, Lasall the payoffs and legal backup.’
‘If you know everything, what do you want from me? Go suck, cop,’ Krask jeered. ‘You don’t have a thing you can take to court. You don’t know who you’re mixing with.’
Cade turned on him. ‘That’s where you’re wrong. I’m going to hang you all out to dry, even if it means going to Lexus-9.’
‘I suppose I better call this in,’ Janek said, coming over to join Cade.
‘Get through to Milt Schuberg. We need some local cops to take these boys in. Have them shipped out to a secure facility. Only our people to know about it. No contact with anyone outside for these three.’
‘I understand, T.J.’
‘Can he do this?’ Krask demanded.
Cade looked across at Lasall. The lawyer was ashen faced. He knew when he was beaten.
‘He can do it, Leo.’
‘Listen to the man, Leo,’ Janek suggested. ‘He’s a lawyer. He knows what he’s talking about.’
Cade said, ‘Krask, I need straight answers to a couple more questions. Don’t screw these up because the
y’re important to you, and damn personal to me. They concern a very good friend of mine. Give me the wrong answers, and you’re a dead man. I guarantee that.’
Krask’s face glistened with sweat as he stared at Cade.
‘Kate Bannion. Where is she? And how is she?’
Krask closed his eyes for a few seconds. His heavy jowls shook as he calmed himself.
‘She got caught in a Darksider sweep. The snatch team took her along with the rest.’
Cade’s gut began to chum. He was anticipating Krask’s next words.
‘We figured she needed silencing. So she was loaded on a freighter with a shipment of Darksiders.’ Krask stared at Cade, his eyes registering the fear that was making him shake. He didn’t want to speak the next words, because he knew they would damn him in the cop’s eyes, but he also realized that to deny knowledge would place him in even greater danger.
‘She’s gone,’ he said. ‘I guess by now she’ll be on her way to Lexus-9. But I swear I don’t know if she’s alive or dead.’
‘Krask, you’d better pray she’s alive. Because if I get there too late, I’ll be coming for you when I get back. Don’t figure being behind bars will save you. Because it won’t.’
Within the hour the freight yard had been secured. A squad from the Newark Police Department gathered the suspects Cade singled out and bundled them into a department wagon. Under guard the prisoners would be driven to an undisclosed facility and held until Cade decided what steps to take next.
The officer in charge of the squad, a youngish blond man named Tanner, wandered across to get a signature. ‘Looks like you’ve had a busy night, Marshal Cade.’
Cade signed the arrest docket and handed it back. ‘It’s not over yet,’ he said.
‘Nothing but a slave-driver,’ Janek muttered from the shadows behind Cade.
Cade ignored him. He strode across to the cruiser and climbed in. ‘You coming, Buddy Rich?’
Janek dropped into the passenger seat, slipping the SPAS back in its cradle. He took a long look at Cade as he fired the cruiser out of the freight yard.
