The Sentient Collector (The Sentient Trilogy Book 1)

by Ian Williams

  The man surveyed the crowd. He did not stop while he spoke. “And who told you that?”

  “I’ll only explain to your boss. So, can we see her or not?” Graham said.

  After he had satisfied his paranoid search for something amiss, the man adjusted his trouser belt and sighed before turning away. “Wait here.” He then approached a dark brown door and knocked heavily on its scratched and splintered surface.

  The three of them waited until the door was answered. They were left out of any conversation that occurred. The volume of the music made it hard to hear much of what happened more than a few metres away anyway. Whoever had answered stayed out of sight with the door opened just enough to peek through. They were nearing the bowels of Petra’s lair and only moments away from making a large step toward finding the illusive figure known as The Sentient Collector.

  With the bar still pushing the capacity limit, and a consistent beat of loud tales and heaving laughter ringing out, it was time to accept they were going to be there for longer than they wanted. Graham had not really thought past this point, so when their meeting was eventually granted he felt a sting of nerves at facing the unknown.

  He expected the rooms beyond the bar to be equally as noisy and overpopulated, perhaps a hidden gambling room or a brothel. Whatever it was it was worth keeping safely behind closed doors and away from strangers. Strangers such as them. At the earliest available moment he knew he would have to persuade this Petra that he had no interest in her business, only her dealings with Elliot.

  “I’m not going with you,” Dino said. He looked to Ruth and then back to Graham with pleading eyes, his mouth trembling.

  “Nonsense.” The t-shirt wearing man surprised them with his unannounced reappearance. He gleefully pulled Dino forward and ushered him through the large door, which creaked open to receive him, looking like an animal being led to slaughter. Dino twisted his head to see Graham behind him as he was taken under the man’s deceptively friendly wing.

  Before following, Graham became distracted by a sudden argument over by the dancers. He scanned across the crowd and saw the image of the two women flickering and fuzzing. They were holograms. An unexpected glitch had caused them to lose clarity, angering the lascivious punters encircling them. It was a relief to see. He disliked the idea of anyone having to work in such a dive. “Stick close to me, Ruth,” he said.

  Once through the door he could see the makings of an organised gang, with an emphasis on intimidation. Behind the door was a tall man with a gun tucked in the back of his trousers. The first of many armed guards Graham expected to see. He knew they had a hand in the drug trade, of which D-Stims were the profit making product of choice. So it was hardly a surprise to see such an obvious presence of muscle.

  The few rooms they walked by were locked tight, giving nothing away. He could just about make out the sounds of people working away inside of them, possibly making the D-Stims themselves. He could only guess. If this alone was the extent of Petra’s business then they were dealing with a relatively small organisation. Except from what Dino had told them, this was one of many places she owned in the area.

  They wandered around the corridor with a troubling lack of other people around them. Even the guards had thinned out to leave only the one already with them in sight. Ahead, a door had been left open and it appeared to be the one they were heading for. He suspected this was where their agreed meeting was about to be held. Perhaps Petra was already inside?

  The guard stopped by the open door and pushed it further before waving them on. Graham hesitated, but was soon left no choice other than to enter, behind the shaking body of Dino. As soon as the three of them were inside the door slammed shut, leaving them alone with only a weak light above. It was not the biggest of rooms to conduct such a conversation, with barely enough space for the small table tucked in the corner. They had been ushered inside what seemed to be a waiting room of sorts.

  “What now?” Ruth asked.

  Dino walked to the table and sat upon it, his legs swinging nervously under him. “How should I know?” he said. “I usually deal with Petra out the back. This room is new to me.”

  “I’m sure this Petra woman is just busy at the moment,” Graham tried to reassure his sister.

  “Really, too busy?” Ruth aimed a look of disappointment squarely at him. “She’s probably deciding whether to have us disappeared or not. Shit, shit, one of us should have waited outside.”

  “Ruth, calm down, we’re fine–”

  “Fine? Graham, if we don’t convince this woman to help us, what do you think she’ll do?”

  “I don’t know. Let us go?”

  Dino let out a laugh that he tried his best to hide behind his hand.

  “What?” Graham snapped. “Sorry for trying to stay positive and all.”

  “That won’t do you any good, Mister.” Dino pushed himself off of the table and walked a few paces over to the blacked-out window beside it. It had not been done in any fancy way, just one thick layer of tape stuck haphazardly over the top of another until the glass had been roughly covered. He bent down slightly to see through a tiny gap. “These people don’t think twice about murder. Hell, she’s probably right -” He said pointing to Ruth. “- this time tomorrow we could be in a ditch somewhere outside the city.”

  “Shut it, Dino.” Ruth turned her back and crossed her arms.

  “Don’t forget, I’m armed,” Graham said, flashing a peek at the Taser-stick stuffed in his sleeve. Although the giggle it elicited from Dino effortlessly undermined this threat and stripped his confidence away.

  Before a reply could be shot back, the door swung open and two burly men entered. Both flexed their muscles to convey the correct level of danger to those occupying the room. It was clear they were not the brains, but the steroid abusing brawn of this organisation. He felt certain they had come to make a point, and only hoped that it was not to leave and never come back; those points were ordinarily made with violence.

  “Look, we didn’t come to cause you a problem.” Graham raised his hands and took a dominant step in front of his sister.

  The two men stopped and stared back, none willing or required to speak. They had done their job of putting pressure on the group, so nothing else was needed. Graham felt his stomach relax after having automatically clenched tight moments earlier. He was expecting a punch to his middle that thankfully never came.

  “Please do not speak,” a woman from behind the burly men said with a strong Eastern European accent.

  When they parted and stood aside, a small woman roughly Ruth’s height was waiting there. She was in her late sixties by the look of the occasional grey hair poking out from underneath the artificial colouring, and the crow’s feet wrinkles a thick slather of black eyeliner had failed to conceal around her eyes. Old age had not stopped her wearing a lurid layer of make-up, with deep red lipstick painted on thin lips. “My name is Petra Vuković. I am owner of this place. You have come to speak to me, for what?” she said.

  Dino shuffled forward to answer. “Erm, hello ma’am,” he began. “They forced me to bring them to you. They said they’d hurt me if I didn’t–”

  “Zaveži idiot!” Petra shouted, sending a flash of her nicotine stained teeth and a modicum of spit in Dino’s direction.

  “Sorry Miss Petra, I didn’t–”

  The large bouncer nearest to Dino sent a jaw juddering punch into his cheek, dropping him to his knees instantly. “She said shut up, idiot!” the man barked.

  Even though Dino was in the process of creating a fiction that would most likely have seen them joining him in taking a hit, Ruth scrambled to his side to stop a follow-up boot to his face. The man stood with his leg raised, waiting patiently to make use of his body weight. No longer able to get to Dino, he returned to Petra with a frustrated grunt toward the protective shield of Ruth.

  “Hey, we’re no trouble,” Graham said.

  “I decide if you are problem. Now, you…” Petra gestured fo
r him to approach by giving the come hither motion with one bony finger. “Explain why you are here.”

  “Thank you.” He checked the two guards before continuing. He wanted to make sure they had not chosen to pounce on him unexpectedly. The choice to stand in front of Ruth never left his mind. If he could create some room between them he could keep her safe. At least for as long as he could take two large men stamping repeatedly on his face, should they suddenly turn on him. “You’ve been helping my friend Elliot with a regular exchange: D-Stims for a metal box, say this big…” He held his hands a foot or so apart to demonstrate the size and then proceeded to shape an imaginary box in the air.

  “Yes, I know of this. What they contain is big mystery to me. I am curious, why are you here and this friend you speak of is not?”

  “He’s been injured. We’re trying to save his life. To do that we need to find the person you give these boxes to. I know this sounds odd, and I know you are a very busy person, who doesn’t have to do anything I ask, but I’m begging you to please help us.”

  Petra stayed silent in response to his plea. She licked her top lip slowly, smudging her lipstick in the process; a sign that she was deep in thought, although there was little to think over. Here were three people, one of which she already knew and obviously did not trust, and two that clearly did not belong in her street let alone her building. Their worlds rarely met and were even less likely to in happy circumstances, as Elliot had shown. So the choice was to help a stranger or not. “I have no reason to tell you anything.” She picked the latter. “You will leave now.”

  As she turned to leave the room, Graham edged closer only to be stopped by two massive arms. He looked on as the two men each used little effort to hold him back. “Wait! Please, I just need to find someone called The Sentient Collector.”

  Petra stopped a few feet away, then spun back around to face him. “How do you know of The Sentient Collector?”

  “I know he’s the one who gets the boxes in the end. He can help Elliot, if I can find him,” he lied. It did not seem appropriate to tell her that he wanted the location to give to another group. The people who had fitted his best friend with a ticking murder machine had only asked for this much. So he kept it to himself. When he had the address he planned on getting it to whoever wanted it as soon as he could. The two factions could then fight each other without him and his own being involved in any way after that.

  “Interesting. You know much for someone so reckless. If I do help you, what can you give me in return? My time is precious and it must be shared with many.”

  He had not considered this at all. How could he be of any use to a drug-lord? Then it hit him like a bird hitting a Mag-Lev car’s window. “I’ll deal for you, D-Stims for a location.”

  “Graham wait,” Ruth interrupted with a tug of his leg. She was still supporting Dino as he struggled to find his breath while hunched over on the floor.

  “I’ve got this, Ruth, don’t worry,” he said, looking down at his sister’s worried face. “How about it, Miss Vuković? I’ll deal D-Stims until I’ve paid you back for the favour.”

  When she again took her time in licking her top lip, he knew he was making progress. After blindly feeling his way through her world like he were left in the dark, he was finally getting the hang of it. In his mind it all came down to holding your own while keeping something in reserve for what may happen unexpectedly. In this case a weapon neither Petra nor the two guards knew anything about. It had remained the sole reason for his confidence in dealing with her. Without it he would have crumbled.

  He backed away from the guards when he remembered his weapon required a swinging distance. The deal had yet to be made and if it went against him he was not about to be caught out. Of course getting Ruth out would still take a magicians vanishing act to achieve. Such a small room. There would be no space to fight.

  Thankfully Petra spoke, which calmed his increasing apprehension – loosened his grip on the Taser-stick too. “I will agree to this. I will tell you where I take them, but I cannot help you find The Sentient Collector. Nobody finds him unless he wants to be found.”

  “Fine. So?” Graham asked.

  Again she required some thinking time. He was relieved to see things were starting to go his way. He expected to be strolling out the exit with nothing in the way of injuries and the location of the mystery man in less than ten minutes time.

  Except the meeting was cruelly and seemingly inexplicably cut short.

  With the timing of a bad joke, and just as Petra was about to speak, the lights went out. In a split-second the only light getting through to them came through the tiny slit in the blacked-out window behind. No-one could see a thing. To add to the panic the noise from outside the room was that of a bar full of drunken revellers all shouting and fighting in semi darkness.

  “Bastard! Bring them,” Petra shouted from behind the two large men.

  Graham could see just enough to know they were both bounding toward him with fists of rage. He ducked to the side and pushed in what he thought was roughly the direction of the table at the back of the room. When he heard a scuffle from the floor he realised he actually shoved the man into Dino. The poor sod screamed as the man grabbed at him.

  Ruth, by the sound of things, had done the right thing and backed away. He could not hear her struggling thankfully. It was now time to bring out his back-up. In a blindingly bright flash of light the Taser-stick came to life and spat its energy out with a frothy growl of electricity. For a brief second he could make out each different player within the room. The man fighting Dino had now taken the skinny drug-dealer by the neck and was throttling him.

  Without hesitation, Graham swung the stick into the face of the man on top of Dino, sending him jerking away from the sudden shock. Unfortunately, he hit the guy so hard that the Taser-stick shattered in his hand, sending sharp pieces of plastic and metal bouncing off of the wall. The second man kept his distance while the weapon was swinging. Now that it was broken he had nothing to wait for at all.

  A bone crushing impact sent Graham flying toward the back wall and into Ruth’s waiting arms. She screamed and slapped him, believing he was one of the large men. The darkness made fighting much harder to cope with. After he pushed his sister away – and insisted she stopped hitting him – he lunged forward, swinging his fists at the black world around him. When he found a surface he continued to swing his punches, one after the other, until the last was held in the air. Then his other hand too.

  He wrestled the overwhelming strength keeping him locked in place. Nothing budged at all. This was what he had been dreading all along. He had been overpowered after only taking one of them down. His fight had ended and the guy in front of him was now in charge.

  “I have him,” the man said.

  Graham could see the only light in the room reflecting off of the man’s wide and bloodshot eyes, and he considered his options. He could send a knee into the guy’s groin, or head-butt him, or even stamp on his toes. No use, he thought. The guy would soon end him with a fist or two in retaliation. He would last merely seconds before the floor would claim him.

  “Bring them outside, now!” Petra ordered, followed by an angry sigh.

  The man hauled him through the door. He could hear the reactions from Dino and Ruth as others manhandled them out behind him. With the hallways equally as dark he found it impossible to tell in which direction they were dragging him. He could hear the noise from the bar becoming quieter. That at least suggested he was heading toward the rear of the building.

  Ahead a door swung open, letting the outside world and all of its missing sunlight to storm back in. Graham had no choice but to avert his gaze from the brightness as they forced him toward it. The death-like black quickly began to fade in response to a new light his eyes just could not cope with.

  Once out he was thrown to the ground. Except the ground felt a little softer than expected. When his sight cleared he saw why. After a couple of seconds he r
ealised he had been thrown out like a bag of trash and was lying with the rubbish.

  Ruth soon followed in being violently forced into the pile. “Hey!” she protested, as Dino landed beside her.

  “Shut up, bitch,” the man who dragged Ruth out said.

  No less than four men had now joined the party, each with far too large a collection of muscles. Petra stood between them, her face as pale as milk and her cheeks twitching. She nodded toward Dino and one of the men pulled him free of the trash. He was then forced to his knees in front of Petra.

  “Please, I didn’t have anything to do with this,” Dino said with a pathetic sniffle afterward.

  “You all trick me? Think I am weak, think I will fall for your lies?” Petra leaned forward and spat on the floor just by Graham’s feet. She then reached around her back and took something from her skirt. None of them had noticed a gun there before. When she flung her arm back around they could see the small weapon in all its old fashioned and silvery glory. And then her finger on the trigger. “Kopile!” she said with a look of disgust before squeezing.

  Dino rocked back on his haunches as the bullet passed through him. A puff of blood spurted out the back of him as his insides failed to stop it. But one shot was not enough. Petra took no joy – or emotional reaction at all – in hammering another two straight into him. A small piece of shrapnel could be heard taking a chip out of the wall behind. Then Dino breathed out for the last time and fell to the side.

  “Jesus Christ!” Ruth screamed. She turned her face away from Dino’s body amid a flash of tears.

  Graham could not believe what he had seen. Everything had gone wrong so quickly. He was shocked to have learned just how serious these people were. Nothing felt right anymore. His earlier feelings of confidence now appeared as superficial as the graffiti on the walls surrounding him. He faced the very real prospect that his life was about to end too. He sat next in line after all.

  “Now,” Petra said, waving her gun from him and then to Ruth. “I want truth. Are you here to bring me down? Did you stop the power?”