by Selina Rosen
They had left the car a half an hour ago. Hammer had put on a long jacket that successfully covered her tool belt, but was thin and not very warm. Elantra wore Conner’s jacket, which was soaking wet. The rain didn’t look like it was going to let up, either. They ducked into a parking garage and snuck into the shadows. Elantra had been helping Conner walk the last fifteen minutes, and now Conner all but collapsed against the wall of the garage. Elantra grabbed her arm and managed to stop her from smacking into the floor.
“Conner!” Elantra knelt down beside her. Conner looked up at her, an unhealthy glaze in her good eye. Her teeth were chattering, and she was shaking all over. Elantra touched her. “My God, you’re burning up.” Elantra tried to think, but it was harder than it sounded after all she’d been through in the last few hours. “Conner... where are we heading?”
“SlumTown. I have lots of contacts... friends there,” Conner answered. “Just give me a few minutes to rest.”
“Conner, you’re sick... are you sure... SlumTown?”
“I know the streets there. How they work. Places to stay, people who will help me. Help us, no questions asked.”
Elantra nodded and sat down beside Conner. A car went by. The lights hit them for a minute, and she almost came out of her skin. Conner put an arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry.”
“No. I’m the one who’s sorry,” Elantra cried then. “This is all my fault. We could have been happily tucked away half way across the country by now.”
Conner mustered a smile. “You said it, not me.” Conner released her and started pushing herself up the wall. “Come on, we’d better go.”
“Conner, I think...”
“We have to go, Elantra. Come on, just help me.”
The woman opened the door a crack with a crowbar. “Hammer!” She forced the door open, grabbed Hammer by the collar of her jacket and pulled her in. Elantra followed. “Don’t just stand there, girl! Hit the button half a dozen times hard and kick the door. It will close.” Elantra did as the woman ordered.
She was a short, large woman with huge tits and little bitty feet. But she had the same sort of sleazy charm that Dedra had, and Elantra was sure that she was meeting yet another of Conner’s old girlfriends.
The woman pulled Conner over and set her on one of four couches in the room, each one covered in a different floral print.
Conner started to introduce them. “Pinky Widefronts, this is...”
“I know who she is, baby, and I know what kind of trouble you’re in, so just lay back and let mama take care of you.” She started taking Conner’s boots off. “Oh, child, you’re soaked to the skin. Doc Parker told me he pulled a bullet out of you. Told me all about your problems, too.” She gave Elantra a compassionate look, and Elantra relaxed a little.
Pinky apparently saw the gun sticking out of Elantra’s waistband. She’d stuck the other one in a jacket pocket.
“You might want to put that some place safer,” she said, pointing.
Elantra nodded, pulled the gun out of her pants and stuck it on the end table. She took the jacket off and lay it on the floor.
Elantra moved closer to look at Conner. “You told me you had your vest on...”
“I never said the bullet didn’t go through it,” Conner said with a smile.
“Poor baby,” Pinky cooed, and started to help Conner off with the rest of her clothes.
Elantra coughed. “I can do that.”
“Good, then I’ll just go put the kettle on.” Pinky ran off towards the kitchen. Elantra knelt at Conner’s feet and helped her get first her jacket and then her tool belt off. Their eyes met.
“I... I thought I’d never see you again,” Elantra said with tears in her eyes.
“I knew you would,” Conner said through chattering teeth. “I’m so cold.”
As if on cue Pinky ran in with a couple of blankets. “Young love,” she cooed, and then ran out of the room again. Elantra took the rest of Conner’s clothes off and wrapped the covers around her.
Elantra had tried to ignore the dressing on Conner’s ribs. Some sort of gray tape had been wrapped all the way around her, and the cloth beneath was obviously soaked. The dressing needed to be changed, but that could wait till Conner stopped shaking. Conner probably needed a shot of antibiotics, at the very least some sort of pain and fever reducer. Elantra wondered if those things were going to be available here.
Pinky walked in with hot tea. She handed a cup to Conner first.
“Thanks for everything, Pinky,” Conner said.
“My pleasure, honey.” She smiled at Elantra. “You really ought to get out of those wet things, sugar. The bathroom’s that way, and you can wear one of my robes. Pretend like it’s a tent and wrap it around a bunch of times. Goodness knows you’re not big as a minute.” She turned back to Conner. “We’re going to have to put some meat on that girl’s bones.”
“I’m not really worried about me right now.” Elantra got up and walked a little away, giving Pinky a meaningful look and Pinky followed. “As soon as she warms up I need to change the dressing on her wound. I was wondering what sort of medical supplies you might have.”
“All that I have is in my medicine chest in the bathroom. You can check it out when you go to change. I have some old rags you can use for gauze. I’ll just go get them. God knows I’ll never be that size again anyway.”
“Thanks,” Elantra said and started towards the bathroom.
Elantra allowed herself a quick hot shower before she got into the huge floral print robe and started going through the medicine chest. She found alcohol, cotton balls, some aspirins and a bottle of antibiotics obviously left over from an ear infection Pinky’d had. Elantra was glad that Pinky hadn’t bothered to follow the instructions that said to take them all. She found no tape, and hoped that Pinky would have something that would work. It wasn’t what she had hoped for, but it would have to do.
When she carried the items into the living room Conner was sipping at the tea and appeared to have quit shaking. Elantra put the things on the coffee table as Picky walked in with a stack of rags and set them on the table as well.
“Have you got any medical tape?” Elantra asked.
Pinky smiled helplessly. “All I’ve got is duct tape.” She apparently noticed the lack of recognition on Elantra’s face. “Like the stuff she’s wrapped up with now.”
Elantra started to protest. “That will be fine,” Conner said.
Pinky went to get the tape.
Elantra pulled the cover off Conner and knelt on the floor beside her. She kissed Conner gently on the mouth, and Conner kissed her back.
“Everything you said about my father was true. I’m so sorry. I’ll believe anything you tell me from now on, so I have to ask... Do you love me?” Elantra asked, close to tears.
Conner smiled. “Of course I love you. Would I sit in the rain and get shot just to get back at your fucking father?” She sounded angrier than she wanted to.
“He killed Peggy. He admitted to me that he had her killed. How can you love me when I come from...” She did start crying then, “from that?”
“Baby, if I don’t blame you for all of this, and I don’t, why would I blame you for that? Now either change my bandage or cover me back up, you are freezing me to death,” Conner said.
Pinkey came in with a pair of scissors looped on one finger, a sponge floating in a bowl of warm water in her hands, and a roll of duct tape around her wrist. Seeing this Elantra immediately knew that Pinky Widefronts was a very resourceful person.
Elantra was glad that the rain had loosened the tape in spots, because where it hadn’t it was stuck tight. She pulled at it gently, loosening it a little at a time in spite of Conner’s constant protests that Elantra should, “Quit farting around and just rip it off.” Elantra wasn’t about to do that and risk pulling the wound open, so it took her fifteen minutes just to get the tape completely free. Then she carefully pulled the dressing away from the wound. She let out a screech and made a face i
n spite of herself.
“Oh, baby, that is nasty,” Pinky said making a face to match Elantra’s.
“Tyetheyl gabardine!” Elantra breathed in shock.
“Huh?” Pinky and Conner said at the same time.
“That purple stuff,” Elantra said in horror.
Conner and Pinky looked at each other and smiled.
“Purple gack,” they said.
“They use this stuff on farm animals,” Elantra said in disbelief. “You’re not supposed to use it on humans. It’s not sterile it’s... and what the hell have they done here? It looks like he cauterized the entire area! That only damages the whole area so that it will take longer to heal. Who are the butchers that did this?”
“Calm down,” Conner said. “Pinky can take care of it if you don’t have the stomach for it.”
Elantra was more than a little disgruntled. “It’s not that. It’s just... who ever did this has done more harm than good.” She started to clean the wound and the surrounding area as well as she could with the meager supplies she had on hand.
“If they hadn’t done it, I would have bled out,” Conner said.
Elantra only then noticed the tiny red spot on Conner’s arm. She pointed at it. “What the hell is that?”
“They gave me a pint of blood,” Conner said shrugging.
“Please tell me you’re kidding!” Elantra all but screamed.
Conner smiled and looked at Pinky. “Did I not tell her that I was bleeding to death?”
“Do you have any idea how many diseases you can get from blood? How many hundreds of thousands of blood born pathogens there are?” Elantra asked hotly.
“No, and I’m hoping that you aren’t going to tell me, because I’m starting to feel queasy. Could you please not scrub so hard? I’m not a virtual patient, you know,” Conner begged.
“Sorry.” Elantra was more careful. The purple “gack” was not going to come off, so she gave up. She redressed the wound and reapplied the tape. Then she looked at Conner’s wrist and shoulder. These wounds were all but healed, still despite Conner’s protest, she put salve on them both and dressed them. She gave Conner a sponge bath with the warm water, and by the time she was finished drying her off Conner seemed to be almost asleep. Pinky had run to get a glass of water at Elantra’s request, and Elantra handed the glass, an antibiotic, and two aspirins to Conner. “Honey, are you allergic to aspirin or any antibiotics that you know of?”
“I’m not allergic to shit. Are you kidding? I’ve had dozens of complicated surgeries. If I was allergic to anything I would have died by now.” Conner sat up and took the pills. Pinky helped her slip on a loose – fitting floral print shirt. “I’m tired.”
“Well, I can’t imagine why,” Pinky said. “Come on, I’ll help you. I’ve already fixed up the guest room for you.”
Pinkey showed them to a bedroom that was – as you might have guessed – decorated in twenty different floral prints. “Maybe you should sleep alone,” Elantra said as she helped Conner into bed.
Conner grabbed Elantra and dragged her into bed. Elantra had to move quickly to keep from landing on Conner’s wounded body.
Pinky laughed. “Well, I’ll just leave you two alone, then. Good night.”
“Good night, Pinky, and thanks for everything,” Conner said.
“Anything for you, baby,” Pinky said and closed the door.
Conner looked over at Elantra. “I never want to sleep alone again.”
Elantra felt Conner’s hands working at the knot that was holding the three layers of robe closed. Elantra took Conner’s hands and held them.
“You’re wounded and you’re sick,” she protested with a laugh.
“But I’m not dead,” Conner said.
“Come on, Conner. You are way too sick for this. Being close to you is enough.” She ran her hand down Conner’s arm. “I never thought I’d even see you again, so just this is wonderful... I’m so sorry, baby...”
Conner put a finger over Elantra’s lips. “Shush.” She moved her finger, and kissed Elantra gently on the lips.
“I love you. We’re together, and we’re going to stay that way, come hell or high water.” Conner moved to lie on her back, trying to get comfortable. She was obviously in pain.
“I wish there was something else I could give you besides aspirin,” Elantra said gently.
“It’s all right, I’ll go to sleep and I’ll be fine.” Conner promised. “I’m too tired not to sleep.”
Elantra snuggled against Conner, pulling the covers up over both of them. “Honey... is Pinky... well, is she one of your old girlfriends?”
Conner laughed then. “Is that’s what’s bothering you? Pinky’s not one of my old girlfriends.” She laughed again. “Pinky’s not any sort of girl at all, at least not physically.”
“What do you mean?” Elantra asked.
“Honey, Pinky’s a man.”
Elantra was completely confused.
“But she looks...”
“He’s dressed up like a woman because he likes to dress up like a woman. However the boobs are real... well, sort of, and he prefers that you treat him like a she. You might say that me and my generation of street thugs are the children Pinky never had. She’s always been very good to us. She makes a lot of money as a performer; she could live like a queen. She lives here in this dump because she spends all her money taking care of building brats who wind up in SlumTown. If Pinky sees a kid who’s lost and afraid, she makes sure they have a place to sleep, a meal, and if they want to go back home she makes sure they get there. If they want to stay here she tries to make sure they don’t get a rough deal.”
“We’re safe here, at least for the time being. Pinky would never turn us over, and no one would ever rat Pinky out.”
Conner moved, trying again to get comfortable and not having much luck.
She lay her head on Elantra’s chest and lay her arm over her. She sighed, as if finally finding a place where she was comfortable “Don’t move,” she told Elantra.
Elantra brushed the hair out of Conner’s face. “I won’t move. Do you feel better?”
“Yes.” Then she asked in a voice suddenly filled with fear, as if afraid of the answer she might get. “Elantra... Do you... Do you still love me?”
“Of course I do,” Elantra said.
“Say it.”
“I love you, Conner McVee.”
Conner was almost asleep. “Elantra?”
“Yes.”
“The minute I saw you, I knew that I was supposed to find you.”
“And the first time I saw you... you took my breath away.”
Elantra watched Conner go to sleep. She wasn’t really comfortable, but Conner was, and that was more important right now. Whatever they threw at them they could handle together.
She thought of how she had broken out of PowersTower, and felt smug. She had worked, she had used her tool, and she had escaped. She thought of how her father had ordered Conner shot, and anger boiled inside her. For the first time in her life a red-hot hatred that demanded to be fed burned inside her, and she understood why Conner had worked so hard to avenge Peggy’s death.
But Tarent hadn’t stopped there. Her own father had ordered her shot. But with all she now knew about her father, this wasn’t shocking, and therefore not as traumatic as it probably should have been. And for some reason the fact that he had ordered her killed didn’t make her as angry as the fact that he wanted Conner dead – had in fact gotten her shot.
Right then nothing seemed as important to her as the fact that she was no longer her father’s captive, and that she was back in Conner’s arms. She wasn’t stupid; she knew this wasn’t over yet, that they were still in danger and that things were likely to get a whole lot worse before they were clear of FreightCity. But Conner had assured her that they were safe here, and so she fell asleep dreaming of the ocean, the sky, and her lover’s touch.
Jason Hunter was starting to sweat. He hadn’t counted on Hammer�
�s nail gun being a beefed up version of the one he had purchased. He’d seen Hammer’s gun shoot nails through cars and bricks and shatter a man’s head. He had assumed the one he had purchased to kill James Rank would do the same thing. It hadn’t.
James Rank was in bad shape, and he still wasn’t conscious, but he was by no means dead. To make matters worse, no one had a bead on Hammer McVee, which meant she had successfully gone underground.
They had found her car abandoned, the front end of it smashed in one of the twenty crashes that had occurred in the city that night. It was a record in FreightCity since the invention of the computer-driven car.
Conner McVee was out there somewhere, and no one had any idea where. They had set up roadblocks to HammerTown, but she could have gotten there anyway. If she got to HammerTown, no one would be able to pull her out till she wanted to leave. If she had gotten into SlumTown it wouldn’t be much better. SlumTown was her turf. She had contacts there. While money could usually pay those scum to sell their own mothers out, they probably wouldn’t sell out Hammer McVee.
Hammer had a rep in SlumTown. She didn’t go after the small timers, in fact rumor had it that she would actually cover for them, and it was a fact that she had bailed a couple of the more seedy members of Slum Town out of jail on more than one occasion. Then there was that other part of her rep. If Hammer was after you, she caught you, and she had a record of bringing most of her collars in dead. This also was completely true.
The scum in SlumTown lived by two rules. Money buys happiness. Dead people can’t spend money. So no amount of money is worth getting killed for.
In short, the only people who were trying to hit Hammer were those stupid enough to think they could kill her.
People like Jason Hunter.
Jason had made things harder for Hammer by framing her for the attack on Rank, but just having all her rights and privileges removed and having every police agency in the city after her wasn’t likely to root her out.
When and if James Rank woke up and fingered him as his would-be assassin...
And then there was Tarent Powers. At one point he had ordered his daughter killed, and in the next breath recanted the order. He’d doubled the price on Hammer’s head and promised to kill anyone who so much as touched a hair on his daughter’s head. Since Elantra was now with Hammer it made killing her that much harder. Then of course there was Mishy, who had apparently decided that if Hammer and the girl got killed that would be good. But Tarent dead was better, and that was where he was putting all his manpower and his money.
