Danger Money

by John Van Stry

  "What into the bathroom? So you can shoot me there? Really now Jaime, what kind of fool do you take me for?" I took a step forward, closer to her bed. "I'd suggest you just tell me what I want to know. It'll make your death that much less painful."

  "Fuck off!" She snarled again and pulled the trigger.

  And nothing happened. The look of confusion and surprise on her face lasted only until I grabbed her ankle, then it was one of total hatred.

  "Come to papa!" I grinned and dragged her kicking to me.

  "I'll kill you with my bare hands you fleabag!"

  I didn't waste any breath talking. I just attacked.

  It didn't take too long to overpower her, she did put up a decent fight I'll admit. But then she wasn't able to bite and claw like I was. Not with any real effectiveness at least. I ended it by hitting her head against the floor until she passed out.

  Then I carefully tied her to the bed with the rope I had brought along. Her own rope didn't look strong enough to me.

  "Wake up!" I called as I threw a cold glass of water in her face. She came to slowly.

  "Let me go you ..." and she called me every name I had ever heard of and then a few dozen more I hadn't.

  "Or what?" I smiled and drew out my knife. "You'll tell? I don't think so." And then I started in on her right leg for a while, peeling back the skin and carving carefully into the muscles and tendons, paying particular attention to the nerve groups. It was very messy, and she screamed rather loud at first.

  "Good thing these walls are sound proofed, huh?" I looked up and smiled at her. "I'd hate to have to gag you and miss those wonderful screams of pain."

  "Please! Stop!" She begged, I could see the terror in her eyes. I couldn't smell it very well anymore though. She had fouled herself several minutes ago.

  "Then tell me what I want to know. Who gave up my friends."

  "I don't know!" She cried.

  "Opps, wrong answer," I sighed and started to work on her other leg for a few minutes. "Bet you though you couldn't feel anymore pain huh?" I asked when I stopped. Her voice was pretty horse now, all that screaming was rough on the throat.

  "I don't know who got Azelett," She croaked, "I swear to you I don't!"

  "But you know who got Rieselle and Shotoon, don't you?"

  She looked real scared.

  "Listen, I'm here. Whoever you're scared of isn't. Get the picture?" And I slowly drew my knife across her belly drawing more blood. She was really quite a mess now.

  "Siedman did it!" She croaked out.

  "Oh really now!" I said feigning disbelief, "Why would he do that? We were working for him!"

  "It had to look good for the Senator. The whole thing was calculated to kill Kanarr while making the Senator look like he had tried to stop it. Of course you almost ruined it by trying to kill him too!"

  "Why?"

  "Why what?" She asked confused.

  "Why were we trying to make a senator look good? Why was Kanarr a target?"

  "Kanarr owned the Senator, but he was in the way. If we didn't make it look good Kanarr's people would have destroyed the Senator's career."

  She sounded a little breathless. Blood loss I guess.

  "So why were we helping the Senator?"

  "Siedman needed him, he had to have more power to make his move to the head of the corporation."

  "What about the hit on New Hope?" I wondered how a Senator could help Siedman become Corporation President.

  "That was Siedman's old boss, the former head of Corporate Intelligence. He had the goods on Siedman and Siedman needed him out of the way."

  "And all those other hits in those last few months?" I asked angrily.

  "To stir up anti-corporation sentiment on Earth, give his government allies more power. After the raid on the Moon he negotiated a deal with the Earth government."

  "Let me guess, he negotiated it with the Senator."

  "Right, and did so well that the influence was enough to sail him into the Corporate Presidency."

  "That bastard!" I growled, "And you were more than happy to help him too."

  "Let me go now, please Jotun!" She begged.

  "Sorry, there's still a little matter of a picture you supplied the police on the moon." I sighed and quickly drove the knife through her chest and into her heart.

  She looked shocked as she suddenly realized what I had done.

  "I only promised to end the pain. Not let you live." I whispered. Then I reached up and closed her eyes after I saw the life go out of them.

  I took a while to clean up the room, especially any traces I might have left. Then I went through her things and took what I though I could use. Weapons and ammo mostly. Some hard cash too. Then I made a nice little incendiary bomb and hooked it to the door. Whoever came in next would take care of any remaining evidence for me.

  I spent the rest of the night getting out of the city and finding a place to hole up for a few days. Siedman was obviously my next target, and he knew I was coming. To try and pump him for information would probably be a bad idea, he'd be ready for me, even if he didn't know I was gunning for him. But after tonight he'd probably figure that out, and he had the whole corporation's resources to draw on. Plus there was that little group that was after me already. I expected them to show up any day now.

  I needed a plan, and I needed one quick. I considered e-mailing my 'friend' again, but I was reluctant. His info still checked out, but my paranoia was running rampant. Then of course there was the fallout from tonight's little adventure:

  I felt remorse.

  After all the people I'd killed, it was funny how I could feel remorse over killing someone like Jaime. But I did. Killing Siedman would be easier, I hoped, after all he had set up my friends. And used up a lot of people for his personal gain. But I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. It was just something that had to be done.

  I guess I really was changing, finally. I wonder if a time will come when I won't be able to kill in cold blood at all? Azalett would be proud of me then I guess. Maybe living through this wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. But once I hit Siedman, then what? I honestly didn't know.

  Also I still didn't know who got Azelett. If I was going to go to all this trouble to take care of Rieselle and Shotoon's memories, I should take care of hers as well. I realised that I had forgotten to ask Jaime about the drug-dealer hit too. Oh well, nobody's perfect I guess. But would Siedman know about Azelett? Jaime didn't, and if had told her about the others I think he would have shared that as well.

  I sighed feeling black for a moment. I probably would never find out about it. I should feel lucky that I was able to get as much information as I had. Jaime had been a lot better informed than I would have expected Siedman to have allowed her to be.

  The next day I was reading the news in a public street viewer I had rented, when I noticed a small article about a fire on Roosevelt Island earlier that morning.

  "Damn" I softly swore to myself. That meant the body had been found already. That wasn't good.

  I selected the article for the follow up story, and sure enough it listed one dead, Jaime. The death was listed as caused by the fire, but that didn't fool me. The Newspapers were controlled by the corporations, just like everything else. Somebody, probably Siedman, decided to squelch it.

  I wonder if he had figured out I was after him? Or if he just though I went after Jaime because of the hate that had always existed between us? Might be worth investigating, maybe it would help me get close to him. I thought about it long and hard, an idea coming to mind.

  I left the data booth in a more positive frame of mind.

  And almost walked straight into a trap. If the wind hadn't shifted for an instant they would have had me. As it was I caught a very familiar female feline's scent an instant before rounding a corner. I backpedaled quickly, dropped a peppergas grenade and took off running.

  I was dodging through people as I heard the cries of 'Stop or we'll shoot!' and 'Police!'. Both lies I fi
gured, the local Police didn't hire animorphs and they couldn't shoot through the crowd without hitting humans. Or so I thought, I got hit just as I dove into a moving car.

  "Hey, get outta my ..." the guy in the car started to say.

  "Drive or get out!" I snarled in pain as I shoved a gun against his head.

  He drove.

  I was glad about it too, I had been hit in the thigh and it hurt like the devil. I examined the hole, small caliber, no exit wound. Why the hell would they use a low speed, small caliber? I had an evil thought and grabbed my knife and started to cut away the material of the jumpsuit.

  "Where are we going?" He asked keeping his eyes forward. I looked behind us, there was no sign of pursuit, yet.

  "You see this?" I asked and held up one of my wiretap gadgets.

  "Yeah," he said slightly nervous.

  "Okay, when I say stop, you stop and let me out. This stays," I nodded at the box. "If you're still within five miles of me in five minutes." I paused for dramatic effect, "Boom!"

  He looked nervous.

  "Same thing happens if you stop, it's got a motion detector in it." I looked behind me as he turned the corner, then looked around. The street wasn't too crowded.

  "Slow down, real slow."

  He did and I set the box on the ledge behind him. Then I opened the door and leaned out. "NOW GO!" And I jumped.

  He went, and I rolled under a parked car. Hitting my head hard in the process. I saw stars and the world took on a definite yellow like tinge for a moment or two. Then I crawled out and started into the alleyway I spied, on my hands and knees.

  I ducked in quickly when I heard a car come speeding around the corner. They took off in hot pursuit of my ride, so I crawled way back into the alley.

  Once there I put the handle of the gun in my mouth, then took the knife and started to cut into my leg.

  "UHHHHHHHH!!!" I growled. The pain was tremendous, and my eyes watered as I dug in. I pulled the knife out and probed with my finger, I could feel the bullet. I cut with the knife again and my teeth clamped down even harder on the gun butt with my fangs. Then I dug in with my fingers and gouged out the bullet with my claws.

  When I came to I had several sharp shards of plastic from the pistol grip sticking into the roof and base of my mouth. I carefully picked them out then looked at the gash on my leg, there was about a half pint of blood on the ground and it was still bleeding well. I made a bandage out of my other pants leg and tied it down tight. Then I examined the bullet they had shot me with.

  It was small, about a twenty two caliber. And it was hollow in the back, plugged with some kind of wax that was already melting off. I sniffed at it. It didn't smell like any poison that I knew, maybe it was just a soporific. I glanced down the alley then and noticed the people watching.

  "Time to go!" I muttered and shakily got to my feet. I growled in pain and they quickly took off. I stumbled off in the opposite direction. I'd have company pretty soon I knew.

  When I got to the street at the other end of the alley I looked around. It seemed quiet and somewhat normal, and I knew I had to get far away from here real quick. I looked for an opportunity and after a few seconds found one. Stumbling quickly over I crawled into the back of somebody's pickup truck and pulled some rags over my body and prayed to whatever God there was to watch out over my butt.

  After what seemed like an eternity somebody came out and the truck moved off. I breathed a sigh of relief and passed out.

  It was dark when I came to. I was still in the truck, I guess some of whatever was in the bullet had gotten into my blood. My leg was totally numb, as well as my hip. I carefully crawled out of the back and looked at where I was, some cabin out by a lake. Another resort area I guess. I slowly limped off into the woods, then stopped.

  I had left a lot of blood in the back of that truck. Whoever owned it would surely find it. And start wondering. I limped back over to the cabin and listened quietly at the door.

  Just two people I concluded after listening for a while and sniffing at the base of the door. I checked my watch, it was almost ten, late enough that nobody should be around.

  I knocked on the door.

  "Who could that be this late?" I heard the woman ask.

  "I'll go see," said the man.

  I heard him get up and walk up to the door.

  "Hello?" He asked as he open it.

  I hit him hard as he did, then clipped him hard again behind the head as he spun and knocked him unconscious.

  "Shhh!" I said to the woman pointing one of Jaime's guns at her. She looked scared, but I'll give her credit for being made of sterner stuff than most, she didn't panic.

  "What do you want?" She said as I stepped inside the door and closed it behind me.

  "I am hurt and desperate," I began slowly. "While it would be easier to kill you both," and I motioned at the man and then her with the gun. "I would prefer not too.”

  "So if you do as I tell you, you will have an exciting story to tell your friends."

  "And if I don't?" She asked calmly.

  "I'll kill you both," I sighed and then tried to smile, "But I promise to regret it. Now come over here."

  She had blanched a little when I said it, but she wasn't dumb. I had the gun and there was no place she could go. She came.

  "What do you want me to do?"

  "Tie him up." And I directed her to tie, gag, and blindfold him. I didn't think he had gotten a good look at me and I figured the less the better and even told her so.

  "But I know what you look like," She said and blanched again.

  "So do the people who did this," and I motioned at my leg. "So don't sweat it." I checked her work, then had her sit down while I made a crude leash.

  "Okay, here's how it works," I told her. "I'm going to put this on you, and tie the other end to me. You're not fast enough to untie it before I can get you, believe me." And I put it around her neck.

  "Now, where's your first aid kit?"

  She led me to the bathroom, and I made her sit on the toilet while I sat on the tub and took care of my leg. It was still totally numb from whatever was in the bullet, so I was able to clean it good and even sew it up without feeling a thing.

  She threw up in the toilet however.

  "Sorry," I apologized. "I should have blindfolded you I guess, huh?"

  "Should have," she agreed quietly.

  "Let's go see how your friend is doing, okay?"

  "Husband," she said automatically. "Tom is my husband."

  "Oh."

  He was struggling to free himself when we entered.

  "Stop that," I said quietly and he did.

  He tried to talk with the gag on, making quiet a bit of noise.

  "That's rather useless and I'm not going to remove it so please be quiet." I turned to the woman, "Tell him you're okay please?"

  "I'm fine Tom. He hasn't done anything to hurt me."

  "Okay? Now listen, as your wife will tell you after I've left I'm rather badly hurt. And I'm desperate. Otherwise I would never have bothered you folks. Do what I say and no one gets hurt."

  "How long until you leave?" The woman asked unexpectedly.

  "Tomorrow sometime I guess. I need to eat and rest. Once I leave you two I expect the police will get a report rather quickly." I smiled sadly as she shook her head no.

  "We won't tell, I promise."

  "Please don't lie okay? Anyway, once I get going I want to be rested so I can get safely away from here. I'll try to leave the truck someplace where it'll be found."

  Then I hobbled over to the kitchen table and made her cook and serve me until I was so full I could barely move.

  "Come here," I motioned her close. "I'm going to tie you up like he is." I motioned towards her husband who was still awake and listening. Had been for the last hour I guess. "Okay?"

  She nodded and lay down on the floor. I tied her legs first, then the rest of her. Gagging but not blindfolding when I was done. Then I settled in for a short nap myse
lf.

  I awoke two hours later, as I had planned. My leg was still useless, I could feel it somewhat and it hurt terribly. But I could barely move it and I didn't feel anything more than the pain. I bent over and sniffed at the wound, I didn't smell any rot or infection. Also my leg felt fine to my hands as I examined it and seemed to be the right temperature. I guess there was some kind of a nerve block in that bullet. Could have been pretty nasty if I'd gotten a larger dose.

  It took me forever to get up off the floor without making any noise. The two of them were both asleep from the sound of it, so I dug out my bag of tricks to see what I had. There were some sedatives from what I had liberated at Jaime's place, so I made up two injectors and gave each of them a good dose.

  Once I was sure they were out cold I untied them and dragged them onto a couch, so if anybody looked in a window, they would appear asleep. Then I set all the clocks ahead eight hours, destroyed all the phones and went outside and shut off the power to the house. Hopefully they wouldn't wake up until much, much later. I noticed a second car while I was looking for the fuse box. I decided to take that instead of the truck, less conspicuous.

  I was about five miles from the house and just turning onto the Highway when two large sedans passed me moving in the opposite direction, rather quickly. I ducked. I don't think they were looking too closely at the car and I didn't see any brake lights.

  "Damn!" I swore softly to myself. How had they found me again so quickly? I flashed briefly back to that terrible day in April, which was only a year ago for me. Things weren't going good, they were getting closer every minute. What I had expected to be a six hour lead was now only a twenty minute one. Two bad private aircars were illegal in the United States, I could have put some real distance between me and my pursuers in one of those. I spun the car around in a U-turn and started heading away from New York City. Siedman would have to wait a little while longer. Survival was more important.

  I found the interstate fairly quickly, and drove down it for about ten miles. I had the computer on and was busy digging through its brain making changes and pulling out circuit modules. What I finally did was get in a program to make it take a random direction at every interstate connection it got to. It had enough fuel for about twenty hours of travel, hopefully that would keep them occupied. Then I pulled the transponder circuit, so only the car showed on the traffic computer, not the ID. Once that was done I let the car see one of those electronic 'deer' and when it slowed, I jumped.