Pax

Silas had turned, Pappy wouldn't have much of a reason to be right behind him. Nathan quickly ran forward and knocked Pappy backwards before putting on a drunk voice.

"Gunther! Buddy! How's it going? I haven't seen you in ages mate! It must have been... what?" Nathan started counting his fingers. "Four days! No..." He counted his fingers again. "Wait, four years! Four bloody years! What's been up with you?" Nathan subtly turned to see Silas was looking at someone else. Nevertheless, this place was dangerous. Anyone in the bar could be keeping an eye out for Silas, he continued his drunken chat.

"Here mate! I got someone I want you to meet!" Nathan lunged over and grabbed Oliver. "This here, is Oli...Il... Oliver! That's it! Oliver! Great guy! He helped me fix up my home! Miracle worker this guy is!" He said, shaking the detective around.

Nathan noticed a man watching them, his robotic eye seeming to focus on Pappy. The man had a scar running down his face. "Gunther! You and Oli...Oliver, you two get to know each other. I'll go get us a table!"
Nathan wanted to get closer to this guy. He needed to find out just how much this guy knew. Was he a spy, or did he just think Nathan was a drunken idiot?

Nathan staggered over to the man and heavily sat down next to him. "Hey mate! You mind if me and me friends sit here?"

 

He saw the weapon, if only for the briethest moment, he spotted it, something important was going on here. He watched as the apparent target turned, then someone came in from further in the bar and rescued the “would be” assassin from being caught. The act was laughable that his friend put on, but it served its purpose. They moved away from the target, then moved towards Richard, they’d spotted him taking an interest in them, seems he was starting to get rusty at observing targets.
"Hey mate! You mind if me and me friends sit here?"
“Sure, the seats are free, make yourself at home”
He wanted in on whatever was going on, a nice change of scenery from his normal operations would be nice, if he changed his mind and decided this was a bad idea, he could always report he’d been under cover to the military.
“So what brings you here?”

 

“So what brings you here?”


Nathan eyed the young man. "Well, my, my father, was having his 55th, so we came here on vacation. He's gone home, but I thought I'd stick around and look for an old friend." Nathan slurred his words. He nodded to Pappy and Oliver.

 

“Is that so? You may want to tell your friends to watch were they point there toys then… So what are you really up too?”
Richard leaned forward at the last, keeping eye contact with his “Drunken” friend. He was ready to draw if need be, but kept his gun hidden up the sleeve of his trench coat.

 

“Is that so? You may want to tell your friends to watch were they point there toys then… So what are you really up too?”

Nathan cursed under his breath and leaned in so only Richard could hear him. "Look, bud, this isn't your business. I'd suggest you forget what you saw today, and leave."

 

"Now you see, I've never really been the forgetful type, it's just my way, remember every detail, it comes in mighty handy"
He lent forward. "So you can let me in on things, or I could make a nice little scene and arange alot of publicity very fast, my memory is picture perfect, so you wont get very far" He tapped his robotic eye, snearing.

 

"So you can let me in on things, or I could make a nice little scene and arange alot of publicity very fast, my memory is picture perfect, so you wont get very far."

Nathan thought to himself. He could make up something, something about the thieves...

"Alright. We're undercover detectives. We've been tracking down organ thieves for the last few months. You just wait. News will arrive pretty soon of a warehouse full of the bastards that was blown up tonight." He paused. He didn't dare to look back to see Pappy and Oliver, he didn't want any more attention. "Alright buddy. How 'bout you? A normal guy doesn't walk around spying on people. How'd you get the eye?"

 

“Nice to know what the noise was about, I wasn’t too far away from there earlier, seems a bit of a harsh way to deal with just a few organ thieves though… and that doesn’t explain what you’re doing here”
He was beginning to grow annoyed; he hated it when people danced around things.
“Let me join up with what your doing, get me up to speed, or I’ll put a slug between your eyes”

 

Nathan laughed. "I'm sorry buddy, but I'm not just gonna let you join up with us. Besides, you didn't answer my question, for all I know, you're an organ thief yourself." Nathan pushes back in his chair before adding. "Oh, and before you feel sympathy for the thieves, think about how many lives they've ruined. My friend died in there, and I feel no regret that the place blew up. Now, before I leave, here's a present for you." Nathan pulled out a copy of the girl who Carter had found. He took one last look at the woman and her family before pushing the small picture across to the man. "I found her body, half open on a table. Still don't think the thieves deserved it? Now piss off before I have the UEAF arrest you on suspicion of being a spy." Nathan roughly got up from the table and left the pub, the image of the body still fresh in his mind.
He went around the back to get Carter only to find a group of police officers getting into a car.
"Excuse me officers, have you seen anyone around here? He's a... friend of mine." Nathan said.
One of the officers walked over to him. "He's in the car and under arrest. We believe this man, David Carter, is linked to an explosion down by the warehouses." The officer stated.
"But... What... what happened? Was anyone hurt."
"I can't reveal much information to you, but I can say multiple good men were killed during a raid. Your friend's going away for a while..." The cop finished before getting in and driving off.
Nathan sighed. Carter would've come after him, but was it really worth it? This wasn't just stealing some food. It wasn't curfew. This was murder. They COULD charge Carter with murder. If he got involved, he risked the entire team's cover, he couldn't let that happen... Nathan decided he'd talk to Pappy first and come up with an idea from there.

 

Richard sat and watched this stranger as he left the pub. He felt tempted to shoot,his finger itching over the guns trigger, but relaxed... he'd get himself involved one way or the other with what was going on. He looked down at the photo, it wsa a nice photo, everyone looked happy... If the organ theifs had killed her, then it was fair what happenned to them.
He wondered if he should go after his new friend, but decided against it for now, he was still waiting to see what the wouldbe assasin was going to do.

 

Silas pulled a crazy Ivan on Pappy, who was thinking of a convenient way to avoid an awkward stare-down when a familiar face came with impeccable timing.

"Gunther! Buddy! How's it going? I haven't seen you in ages mate! It must have been... What---Four days! No---Wait, four years! Four bloody years! What's been up with you?" Nathan slurred. Good old boy.

"Here mate! I got someone I want you to meet! This here, is Oli...Il... Oliver! That's it! Oliver! Great guy! He helped me fix up my home! Miracle worker this guy is!"

Pappy was going to have to dress the boot down for bringing along a stray, but otherwise the guy named Oliver seemed straight and arrow, a sharp looking man, clean cut and no doubt some kind of professional.

"Gunther! You and Oli...Oliver, you two get to know each other. I'll go get us a table!"

“Fine---Stuart!” Pappy played along and checked ‘Oliver’ out.

“I don’t know who you are, but my, er---friend here sometimes likes to tell tall tales. Just know that he sometimes gets that way when he drinks.” Pappy said and winked, hoping to holy Hannah that he didn’t compromise their cover any further by mentioning a top secret ongoing mission.

Nathan staggered over to a table and introduced himself to a regular, heaven knew why, maybe he was trying to get some local tail. Pappy kept an eye on Silas, who was being flagged down at a table by some brooding, suspicious looking men.

“Oliver, I don’t know if you’re a drinking man, but today I’m buying so just accept this one as a gift.” Pappy said and ordered four drinks. He had no ides how he was going to shake the stray, or if he needed to. Damn undercover missions were such a pain, not like the good old days of shooting stuff up in the war.

“Alright new jack, come with me and play along. This is like a game, you ever been to New Vegas? Never mind, just keep your eyes open and follow my lead. We’re going to be playing team blackjack, the only way to beat the house is to jump on the dealer. Play along and I’ll uh, cut you in on the prize. Yeah. Come.” Pappy grabbed the drinks and walked back to the table where Dog and his queer friend were swapping war stories. Not far from them some odd fella with a cybernetic eye was checking them out. One of Silas’ men?

Sitting, Pappy dispensed the drinks and introduced Oliver.

“Dog, this is a friend of ours, don’t ask---it’s gonna be that type of night I guess. Updates: the target has moved to a table with some heads in it, maybe hired help. Oh, and I think we may have a tail, probably hired help too. Now where the hell did Nathan go?”

***

Akinlabi and Wolf squatted, using the shadows of a nearby bar and cuisine as cover as they spotted groups of well dressed patrons on their way to Underworld. The revelers were dressed in some unique apparel, dark, leathery, often with odd paraphernalia attached.

“Well look at that Akinlabi, what a bunch of freaks. Heads up, two males, vector my twelve. Guy on the left looks about my size, his freak suit looks custom made but it may fit me. His wingman is a big and tall, may be perfect for your frame. I say we drag ‘em here, bust on their grapes, and peel their stuff. We get in, we tag this joker Andres, then high tail it back to the safe house before they get back up.

Without saying anything Akinlabi stood and stealthily stalked them, coming just behind them. He smashed their two heads together as if he were closing a two panel closet. The men collapsed without so much as a whimper, Akinlabi smiled and dragged them along.

“Yes, the man on the left’s clothes should fit you nicely.” He said and smiled.

Wolf shook his head and chuckled.

“Subtle enough, let’s get dressed quickly---”

 

Nathan staggered back into the bar to a table where Dog, Pappy, Oliver and another man were sitting. From the way they sat, he could tell this guy was good and in the know on the mission. When he sat down, he turned from a drunk guy having some fun, to a soldier.
"Pappy, we've got a slight problem. Cops are pissed that Carter was linked to the warehouse explosion. The one we caused that took down some thieves. That's why Oliver's here. They have Carter, they'll be on the lookout for Oliver too. Anyway, they could charge him with mass murder, so we need to decide what to do. I'm not going to sit here while Carter's executed. I'm thinking if we get our mission done, we can get the UEAF to explain the whole thing... Oh, and by the way, there's a guy interested in joining us. Robo eye, few tables back. Keep a look out for him..."

 

Nathan dashed out, and I smiled at him guiltily, "Hey. I could tell these clowns I'm fleet, but I did need to get to the police station anyway, and hey, turns out these people give free lifts and all you have to do is tell them you blew up a building! How neat it that?"

One of the policemen laughed, "Guiltless ****er isn't he?"

"Yes! MWAHAHA I'm so evil! I like exploding stuff! I'm enjoying this way too much, Nathan, you wouldn't mind giving me back that photo of the charming woman I found?" A pang of disgust mellowed my tone, "Please, it's important."

Nathan briefly dashed into the bar, and when he returned was blocked by the cop, "Woah! What do you think your doing?"

"It's a picture mate. Check it. When you release me at the station, I need to find that girls family. They need to know what happened to her."

The cop whirled around horrified, "You sick ****."

I sighed, "Not what you think. The photo if you please, before I trigger more explosions using my secret evil detonator of death!"

The Cop fixed me with a filthy look before letting the photo drop on my lap.

"Much obliged," I thanked him as he slammed the door.

*****

The car pulled up to a station in chaos. Stretchers carrying wounded officers were dashing back and forth, officers were shouting incoherently. A few were sobbing over the bodies of their fallen friends. The gruff officer yanked me out of the car and shoved me forward, "Bet your real ****ing proud of this huh?"

"Taking down an entire organ thieve ring in one day aint too shabby," I winced as a copper missing a leg was wheeled by, "I'm sorry about the loss. Truly."

I turned to my guard with a compassionate eye, "I'm Midshipmen Carter, with the fleet. Front left pocket. My credentials."

The cop hesitated, then gingerly extracted my wallet from my pocket. He groaned, "****! I'm sorry sir! My mistake!"

He unlocked my cuffs, and I rubbed by wrists before taking back my ID, "Not at all. I appreciated the lift."

I winked, before dodging a sprinting officer, and shouldered my way into the tumultuous station. The overworked officer at the desk was busy dealing with dozens of shouting civilians, so I took the opportunity to slip down the hallway. I was looking for the database of the station. If this was anything like Earth the police station should have a database of everyone in the city, and I would be able to find the family of the girl by scanning the photo in the system. I checked in every door before stopping. The pretty officer who I had helped in the warehouse was standing over a dark man on a stretcher. The lack of movement silently broadcasted his demise.

I sombrely approached her and tapped her on the shoulder. She whirled around, her cheeks red and puffed, stained with tears.

"You..." That was all she seemed to be able to muster. She returned her gaze to the body.

"Who was he?" I asked softly.

"Richard... My best friend..." She clasped the cadavers limp hand.

The body's eyes were wide open and vacant. I reached over, and despite a gasp of protest from her, I closed his eyes.

"What was that?"

"It's an... Earth thing. See it looks like he's sleeping... At peace."

She looked up at me, "Is that part of your Earth religion?"

I chuckled, "Religions. Theres dozens of them. I'm not really into any of them. I'm not the sort of guy who likes commitments."

"But you're fleet?"

"... Not the sort of guy whos consistent either."

I thought I saw a flicker of a smile, but then it was gone, and she was looking back at poor Richard.

"I'd like to go I think," She said after a while, and then she was out the door. I was left slightly startled in her wake and had to stride to catch up with her.

"You're names Maggie right?"

"What do you want? I've got a lot to do," she snapped, before wiping a fresh bout of tears from her eyes. Her aggressive stance then relaxed a bit, and I took the opportunity to pursue my goal.

"It's just a loose end I need to tie, this girl," I scrabbled in my pocket for my photo and presented it to her, "She was a victim of the organ thieves, and I'd like to find her family."

Maggie looked up, "Why?"

"Thats a... good question," I sighed, "I dunno, I feel bad that the fleet is just... I dunno, fighting a war for no reason, and people like this are suffering... I dunno, I really don't... It just feels right."

"I've never met someone from the fleet who actually seems to give a ****," she looked at the photo, "We can run her family through the database."

"Thanks," I held out my hand, "I'm Carter."

"Carter?"

"Just Carter."

She shook my hand, "I'm Eve. I kinda lied before about being Maggie, I don't like handing my name out to sleazy strangers."

I laughed, "Well you managed to crack my entire personality in one go. And one word. Sometimes I think of adding charming to that, but then I wake up in between the tits of some harlot and remember that sleazy is perfectly adequate."

She smiled, "Alright hotshot, lets see if we can find your family... And try to resist hitting on the mother of this poor girl."

"Great, Oh and, has anyone seen two others from the fleet? A bulky guy about my age, handsome, tall, named JJ? And a fierce woman with a scar and short hair called Trin?"

She shook her head, "No I'm sorry. There are a lot of burnt bodies yet to be identified though. I'm sorry."

"Oh... Thanks anyway."

"Come on, lets deal with what we can, then worry about everything else."

She gestured for me to follow and strode down the hallway, her sorrow replaced by determination. I tapped my radio, "Carter here. I was wrong, a lot of the cops survived the explosion. Trin and JJ are MIA and possibly KIA. I'm tying up a loose end, I'll be back shortly... By the way, can someone ask Oliver if he knows what a charming young officer named Eve likes to eat?"

 

Before anyone said another word, Nathan's ear piece screamed. It was still damaged, but with some quick tapping, he could hear Carter's voice come through, Nathan guess he wasn't in trouble after all.
"-wrong, a lot of the cops survived the explosion. Trin and JJ are MIA and possibly KIA. I'm tying up a loose end, I'll be back shortly... By the way, can someone ask Oliver if he knows what a charming young officer named Eve likes to eat?"

Nathan smiled to himself, that was Carter. Pappy got the message too, he'd leave this one for Gunther, Nathan was still worrying about the guy who was watching them. He turned back to the young man a few tables away.
"Alright buddy, how much is it gonna take you to leave us alone?" he asked, pulling out some of the local currency.

 

Oliver roused back into consciousness. He was on the ground, and his eyes squinted open to a clear view of the night sky. The stars were dim, and to either side walls of the alleyway funnelled them into smaller, more livid specks of white. He tried moving, but the pain in his leg flared, the bullet Mel had shot him with had perforated clean through. So he assumed he wouldn't bleed out, as long as a vein wasn't hit. He relaxed.

Voices. Two of them, and close enough for him to make out everything as if he had been part of it. Oliver would quickly find out they were talking about him.

".. Just led an entire police force to their deaths. It wasn't his fault, but if they want to, they'll be able to twist it into looking like it. He'll be locked up," the first said, matter of factly. Oliver recognized the voice immediately. The fleetman, Carter! He had believed the UEAF soldier had gotten himself killed in the raid, and if not that, how did he get out in time before the warehouse erupted? He must be a hard kid to kill, despite his comic disposition.

"Well... We can't leave him for them... What about..."

"What about what?"

"What about we... take him with us?" the second suggested. This voice Oliver wasn't so sure he knew.

"Nathan Brown. That has got to be the stupidest thing I've heard from you," he said, "let's ask him."

He strode over, and nudged the detective with his boot on his flank. Oliver bristled, and waved the show away with a dismissive hand.

"I'm not roadkill," Oliver said lightheartedly, and hoisted himself to his feet warily. He kept most of the weight on one leg, wobbled a bit. In his semi-daze, and utterly indecisive about what he was going to do now that the organ thieves had been handled, he resolved that he'd stick with them, for now.

They had made some progress, but it seemed to him after a couple streets, they had not a clue as to where they were going. That was, until the starkly familiar Hun Tavern loomed into view. Oliver found it ironic, how events had brought him full circle to where his investigation had brought him in the first place.

At first, detective Davis had only siezed the chance at getting the organ thief case after it had been brought to his attention of the mounting murders and disappearances. He revelled in the idea of putting together the sophisticated web of unassociated diseased victims, and tracing them together to the organ thief guild itself. After all, it was his job, and he was damned good at it.

If he had even the slightest thought that he'd be the reason a dozen well trained officers went to their demises, and of Mel sacrificing himself to exact revenge on Urick Kayle, he didn't think he'd have come this far in one piece. Well, that is, beside the irksome sting of every left step he took, although it was feeling better already.

Oliver took a moment to compose himself, and before he knew it, the three of them were right in the midst of Hun Tavern's liqour smelling atmosphere.

* * *

When they entered, Carter's friend named Nathan, had apparently spotted someone, because his demeanor had changed entirely as he stumbled into him. If he was trying to pass off as a drunk, the guy had some actor genes in him. Or past experience. From the way he mangled his sentences, Davis hoped it was the first option.

"Gunther! Buddy! How's it going? I haven't seen you in ages mate! It must have been... what?" he said, "Four days! No...Wait, four years! Four bloody years! What's been up with you?"

Carter beside him smirked. Equally as amused as Oliver watching it play out.

"Here mate! I got someone I want you to meet!" he said suddenly, and Nathan whirled in his direction, reached for him, tugging him to the scene by his black leather longcoat. "This here, is Oli...Il... Oliver! That's it! Oliver! Great guy! He helped me fix up my home! Miracle worker this guy is!"

Oliver shot him a fast, quizzical, why-did-you-drag-me-into-this look, and then snapped to the role. He was short for words for a moment, not exactly sure if he was supposed to follow Nathan's drunk theatrics, or a sober wingman. Either way, he wasn't going to flash his CPF badge and reveal his real position. Miracle worker hmm? I can work with that, he said to himself.

"You give me too much credit, you weren't living in a straw hut now were you?" Oliver said, assuming a slightly humorous but not as drunk compatriot of Nathan's.

"Nice to meet ya, you can call me Oli," he said, offering a handshake. The man glanced at him briefly, and gripped his hand, albeit strongly. Davis didn't flinch, and held the man's gaze for a horribly long second.

The man didn't look like he was someone to mess around with. He exuded a gritty, jaded aura that could only be from a person whose been in the front lines. A war vet. And he hadn't even spoken yet.

"Gunther! You and Oli...Oliver, you two get to know each other. I'll go get us a table!" Nathan said, and stumbled over to a table, planting himself heavily in the seat.

“Fine---Stuart!” the man replied. Oliver stifled a smile at Nathan's change of name.

“I don’t know who you are, but my, er---friend here sometimes likes to tell tall tales. Just know that he sometimes gets that way when he drinks.” he said, and winked.

"I can imagine."

“Oliver, I don’t know if you’re a drinking man, but today I’m buying so just accept this one as a gift.”

"Ha, don't have to tell me twice," Davis said, and watched as he ordered four with a smart hand gesture to the bartender.

“Alright new jack, come with me and play along. This is like a game, you ever been to New Vegas?"

"I don't belie-"

"Never mind, just keep your eyes open and follow my lead. We’re going to be playing team blackjack, the only way to beat the house is to jump on the dealer. Play along and I’ll uh, cut you in on the prize. Yeah. Come.”

"Sounds interesting. Count me in."

They made their way to the table with the drinks, where two other man sat. They chatted away, like they'd lost touch and had a mountain to catch up on. Oliver observed one small move though, an almost imperceptible tilt of the man's head, as he spotted someone in the crowd. Davis mimicked him, trailing his focus to a person with a robotic eye. He turned away, careful not to be noticed.

At the table, he was introduced to the others.

“Dog, this is a friend of ours, don’t ask---it’s gonna be that type of night I guess. Updates: the target has moved to a table with some heads in it, maybe hired help. Oh, and I think we may have a tail, probably hired help too. Now where the hell did Nathan go?”

Oliver sat, and knocked back a swig of the alcohol. Then perked up as he caught up with what the man had just said. Target? And the man keeping eye on them, a tail?

He decided he'd leave the thinking to these guys for now. He'd sit back, a level more silent, and soak up some information and see what this deal was really about. And if his sleuth instinct was right, he'd only hit the surface of the iceberg.

 

Lasky didn’t know exactly why she remained on the scene for hours and used all of her victim’s possessions at her discretion after a job, but she always did. There was something soothing to her in using her mark’s shower, washing the blood off her skin and using his shampoo to wash her hair. There was something comforting in walking around his house with nothing on but his shirt from last night, even if it still had the blood on it.

She didn’t have to sleep with them either, but she did anyways. Her checks from her employers were generally small, so she felt she got her own special payment towards her interests through this. One has to be a little strange in the mind to go through with being a cold blooded murderer, just for one time. Lasky had murdered 48 people in nearly this fashion. Seducing her victims was an exceptional game, sleeping with them was pleasurable, and slicing them open with her viscous looking knife was ecstasy.

Alison slipped off the oversized shirt and lightly stepped into the warmed up shower. The steam rolled fluidly around her slender, yet curvaceous, body, and up the ceiling. She was by no means a short woman, being in fact taller than the poor man she had last night. Five ten is not a bad height for a woman. Lasky washed herself with the man’s soap slowly, soaking in her own brand of enjoyment from it. She washed her fine, semi-short hair with his shampoo. His distinct smell soaked in to it, allowing her to smell her victim’s scent for part of the day. The auburn hair contrasted beautifully with the soft white of her skin. A few drips of someone else’s blood fell out of it to the shower floor.

She grabbed a towel and dried herself off while walking to his window. It was quite the view, about as good as anybody could really find on Ceres, which really wasn’t saying much. But the view of the stars was worthwhile. Alison wanted to expand her enterprise some; she wanted to get off of this rock. There were still good victims, like the broken man lying half on the bed and half on the floor, ruining his nice sheets, but the sense of adventure had been lost here. It was too easy.

She picked up her white dress, and the rest of her clothes, from around the room. She put them on, not even noticing the fact she hadn’t gotten any blood on them, since she put the dress over there for that reason in the first place. She grabbed her knife off of the sink were she had cleaned it, the first thing she had done, and then slipped it into her large purse. Alison put up her hair a little, and slipped on her small shoes. Lastly she put on her white gloves, set the timer on the small, incendiary bomb she packed in her purse to two minutes, threw it on the bed, and gently walked out the door.

The bomb went off the moment she exited the elevator, just as planned, and she acted to be a frightened woman and ran out of the building with the ensuing panic. When she got out she pulled out her PDA as she walked down the street a ways off. “Jerod Anderton is dead, transfer the funds immediately,” came softly from her lips. The man she was talking to didn’t bother to respond, he just hung up. Lasky gave a slight smile and placed the PDA back in her bag. Now it was a decision where to go next.

What should I do in the boring city? Who can I go see? Wait, I know, I’ll go see if Silas is hiding at Hun Tavern. I’ll see if he has a job for me. Yes, he always has them, hopefully a cute one.

She strolled down the wide street to the tavern, paying no heed to the men and women of the street who eyed her. Some of the called to her and begged her for a night with them, others could see how dangerous she was. Alison Lasky just walked, eyes forward, arm lightly holding her bag.

Her entrance was interesting, to say the least, to many of the patrons. Many young men stared at her and one called out. She looked at the rough worker, thought about how her blade could slide so easily along his tough skin, and gave him a small smile, quickly turning off towards a small table of her own. The waitress didn’t bother asking if she wanted anything, but instead sent a White Jamael Wine her way immediately. The waitress poured her a glass, not questioning the fragile looking woman in the rough bar of mostly men. Lasky turned away from her and looked for Silas.

It didn’t take long. The man she was looking for was hard to find unless you knew him, then it was easy. All she had to do was wait for him to notice her, which she knew wouldn’t take too long. But there seemed to be something more interesting going on on the side. Many military looking men seemed to be watching Silas intently and trying to act on something. She would be surprised if he hadn’t noticed it yet. One of them almost ran into him, yet was clumsily saved by one of the others, who took him to a table and collected the group together. Silas would have to be an idiot not to notice this. They’re going to try to kill him. I bet they’re special operations. Alison remembered shooting a special operations soldier in the head. It the last time she had used a gun in one of her assassinations. She preferred the comfort of the blade instead.

But Silas seemed much more interested in something else, and this was turning out to be a good show, watching would-be assassins try their first mark. It was laughable, clumsy, and obvious. It should be a decent show.

So she decided to watch them. She angled her chair, crossed her legs, sipped her wine, and decided to see if anything interesting would happen. Maybe this could be an even more entertaining night.

 

Eve spun the cars wheel expertly and swerved it down a narrow alleyway. We had found the address of the family, and Eve insisted that she came along stating that 'It's just another day at the office, telling mothers that their beloved daughter has been murdered.' I had no qualms with her accompanying me, and so we had piled into her polished police car which was livened up with a pair of pink fluffy dice hanging from the mirror.

"Tasteful," I had remarked sarcastically.

"I bought them off a trader from Earth. Cost me a weeks pay," She looked at me, "Whats wrong with them?"

"Their just... retro I guess," I stifled a laugh.

"Their all the rage at the moment. I guess I'm a sucker for keeping up with fashion."

The car pulled up in front of a chrome metal house that was fast falling into disrepair. As we exited the car and approached the front porch I could see from the overgrown lawn that had been overrun with colourful exotic plants that it was once pretty and well maintained. We walked down a concrete path that had all but been reclaimed by the encroaching flora, and knocked on the front door.

Suddenly all my confidence drained away like water in a sieve, I turned to Eve, "I'm not sure I can do this, can you sorta take the reins?"

She looked at me, "You start, tell her how you found her, and I'll handle the rest. Deal?"

Before I could respond the door opened, revealing a harassed looking woman with sore red eyes, frazzled hair and a pale livid face. Her clothes were rumpled and torn. I winced knowing that this was her mother and pitied that the joyful creature in the photo could be reduced to this. How long ago was her daughter kidnapped? It couldn't have been more then a few days, from the way her body looked. She must have been stored in a freezing unit for some time.

"Yes?" She said looking at me.

I opened my mouth to reply but then she noticed Eve and her police uniform and she stumbled forward taking Eve's shoulders, "Sarah! Did you find her? Where is she?!"

I took the woman by the shoulder and sat her down, she didn't fight my grip.

"Your daughter..." I began, "I found her... She..." I didn't know how to finish, but the mothers eyes were already welling with tears.

"Sarah's dead..." She didn't seem to be able to muster anything else.

I rested my hand on her shoulder, "Erm... She was abducted by Organ Thieves," Sarahs mother whimpered, and buried her head in her hands.

I didn't know whether to continue or not, but Eve gave me an encouraging nod. I cleared my throat, "Those responsible... I made them suffer, their not going to be...," I tailed off. The woman was shaking her head, "It's not what Sarah would have wanted.. She was so sweet but... It's good to know... Oh god" she began sobbing in earnest. Eve waved me away and took the woman inside. I sat on the front steps rubbing my forehead feeling guilty and depressed in equal measure. After ten minutes or so Eve quietly shut the door and sat down next to me.

"Welcome to my world," she said, "It never loses its sting, trust me, no matter how many times."

I nodded. Silence.

"Come on, lets go."

I slowly got up, and we both entered her car again. There was another moment of stillness.

"I don't know who you are, or why you did any of that, but, thank you. You saved us back at the warehouse and this... Well you didn't have anything to do with this but you did it. Your a good man."

To my surprise but not disgust, she kissed me on the cheek.

"I owe you dinner if I remember right," my inate flirtatiousness overpowering my melancholy.

She smiled but shook her head, "That sounds nice, really, but it wouldn't work. I'm guessing your shipping out in a day or so?"

"Yeah. Sooner if things go to plan."

"It'll have to be a no then. Less complicated. But if your ever stopping by Ceres, look me up at the station."

"Will do," I was surprised by how disappointed I was by her reply, and how much of an urge I felt to return to this planet to see her.

She started the engine, "Where do you need to go?"

"Hun Tavern please."

*****

We pulled up at the scummy bar getting dirty looks from a crowd of burly miners.

"Thanks Eve," I looked across at her pretty face, and I ran my thumb across her cheek, "I'll try and see you before I leave."

Her eyes twinkled, "I look forward to it"

I lingered for a moment before opening the door and leaving the car. I raised my hand in farewell as she pulled away.

Sighing I entered the bar, and stopped dead at the door. Silas. The bastard was right there. I spun around, hiding my face for reasons I wasn't quite sure of. I then glanced back, Nathan, Pappy and the others were gathered around a table at the far end of the bar with a stranger. Silas himself was chatting at a table full of thuggish looking compatriots. Pappys table was getting crowded and I doubted anything Pappy had to say to me was good so rather than create a scene I sat at the nearest chair to me, still gazing over at the rest of the group. So it was to my surprise that when I turned around I found a very attractive woman with luscious auburn hair and soft white skin already occupying the seat opposite me. She looked very out of place in the rough rundown bar, but an easy confidence evident on her face made me suspect that she could handle herself.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't see you there. Really, I was... distracted. Do you mind if I sit here? I shouldn't be long, and theres a free drink in it for you."

 

"Alright buddy, how much is it gonna take you to leave us alone?"
Richard got up and dragged his chair to the table his new friend sat at. “Oh I’m not bothered about money, I’m more interested in taking part in what your doing, I didn’t introduce my self properly last time, I Mason, Richard Mason, militia odd job man, I do anything that seems to have plausible reasoning behind it, and I’ve taken a little interest in what’s going on here… so, what will it be?”
He held his hand out to his new friend.

 

“Oh I’m not bothered about money, I’m more interested in taking part in what your doing, I didn’t introduce my self properly last time, I Mason, Richard Mason, militia odd job man, I do anything that seems to have plausible reasoning behind it, and I’ve taken a little interest in what’s going on here… so, what will it be?”

Nathan accepted the hand and shook, intrigued. Militia, maybe this guy could help after all.

"Well Mr Mason, maybe you can help. If what you say is true, you know as well as I do that there are dangerous people on this rock, but you don't know who they are..." He leaned in so nobody could hear them talk and put his money away. "Take that guy over there for example." Nathan nodded to Silas. "Look at him. He looks like he could have a lot of stuff going on. Like if he had the money, he'd have people doing certain jobs for him."
Now, take a look over there. Nathan nodded at a couple of drunk guys dancing and singing. "They don't look so dangerous, right?"
Not waiting for Mason to answer, Nathan nodded to one of the men's legs. A short thin dagger was disguised cleverly as a bandage. "Wrong."

"These people, Mason, are never dressed up like the bad guys. Now, you might know all of this, but you're no expert, if you were, you would have known we weren't the bad guys. But don't worry, nobody can ever know for sure. Not until the other person makes their move..."

Nathan pointed to a girl sitting on her own sipping wine. "And her, think she's strange? A lonely girl in a pub of men. Wine to beer." He heard a door open and caught a man sit down beside her, but didn't see who. "Now, like I said before, someone needs to make the first move, and that's what's about to happen, even if the guy isn't planning on it.." Nathan watched as the one with the knife fell back into Silas's table, knocking drinks to the floor.
The man truly was drunk, he must've kept the knife for safety.
Silas jumped up from his seat, some expensive drink staining his clothes. He picked up the drunk guy who threw himself back.
"You see Richard, this guy just made that first move. Come with me." Nathan stood up from his table, strode over to the struggling men and watched from a small distance. Right now, this was nothing, just a small fight. It happened every night, but Nathan knew it'd be different. Because there weren't weapons every night. "Mason, we're about to make our move, and it needs to be perfect."

With that, Nathan ran forward, watching the drunk man pull his knife out to Silas's throat. Silas knocked the knife away and pulled out a gun. Panic. Nathan knew the rest of the team would be trying to keep people calm, but it was hard when the rest of the men Silas was with stood up, gripping their guns too.
Nathan screamed into his communicator. "Pappy, I can get Silas on the ground! I'm up by the main bar area! If you get here in time, you'll be able to tag him, but be quick!"
Nathan reached Silas and the drunk guy, pushing Silas's gun away, just as Silas pulled the trigger.

Nathan didn't know if Mason was with him, but he was determined to keep Silas here until Pappy arrived. The drunk guy tried to stab Silas, but was shot in the arm. This guy was a civilian and wasn't trained to handle any pain, so he fell back and screamed in a sober moment of terror. Now he realised his life was in danger. One of the men with Silas tried to tackle Nathan, but instead crashed into a table, losing their weapon. He kicked it back, hoping Mason was nearby and would pick it up.
He then pulled out his own weapon and pointed it at Silas, then his friends, and back. They would have all been in this sort of thing before, they knew that moving was a bad idea. By now, most people had gotten out of the pub. One of the men ran at Nathan. He shot nearby to try and scare them off, only to hear the clicking of no ammo.
The man threw himself at Nathan with a knife, and Nathan knew that now, his only hope was that someone from the team, even Mason or Oliver, were on their way to help...

 

Richard moved when Nathan did, keeping one step behind him, as he tackled their target, someone shoved into Richard from the side; a man was backing away from the fight, trying not to get involved. Richard landed on the ground.
“God dam it, stupid”
He began getting back up, the man scuttled away for the door. Someone began to charge Nathan, a knife in hand, Richard reacted instantly, drawing his gun, he glanced down for a millisecond making sure that his tranc rounds were loaded, then fired. The gun made a dull thump as the round fired, the instant it hit, the assailant was down on the floor, his muscles tensed and locked until the tranc effect wore off.
He laughed. He loved the adrenalin rush in these situations. He shifted his gun from side to side, looking for another assailant. “We’ll need to get moving, hope you have a ride”

 

“We’ll need to get moving, hope you have a ride”

Nathan smiled. This is what he was waiting for. For this Mason fellow to prove that he was worth it. That he would put himself in danger for Nathan. To show that he was trustworthy. Nathan looked for Silas. He was down on the ground, confused. Nathan decided it'd be best to get Silas to Pappy, he had no way of tagging him now. He pointed to Silas. "Grab this guy. I got no ride, I'll find us one..."

A shock of guilt smacked into Nathan. Mel. He had just been living and driving, and now, this. He should have looked out for Mel more, maybe they'd have a ride now if he had.
He looked around and couldn't find anyone he recognised.

"Mason, there are more on the way, the police are going nuts and so are Silas's men. We're not gonna get a lift from anyone anytime soon, so let's move through the roads. I may not have a way to get there, but I have got a destination.

Three cars came to a halt by them and from each, three armed men got out. "MOVE!"
The two men took cover as Silas's men came looking for him. "Richard, take the legs, I'll take his head." They lifted the big man up and continued moving. "Move towards to police lights, they'll help us..."

 

"Richard, take the legs, I'll take his head."
Richard holstered his gun and grabbed the legs. Moving towards the police normally would have been the worse thing to do, but Mason saw the logic in his thinking. They moved as fast as they could, shouts erupted behind them, a gun went off, there was then a loud crack. Someone shouted “You hit Silas you idiot!”
They carried on running with the sound of foot falls behind them.

 

"Pappy, we've got a slight problem. Cops are pissed that Carter was linked to the warehouse explosion. The one we caused that took down some thieves. That's why Oliver's here. They have Carter, they'll be on the lookout for Oliver too. Anyway, they could charge him with mass murder, so we need to decide what to do. I'm not going to sit here while Carter's executed. I'm thinking if we get our mission done, we can get the UEAF to explain the whole thing... Oh, and by the way, there's a guy interested in joining us. Robo eye, few tables back. Keep a look out for him..."

Pappy was too tired to be angry.

"Well ain’t that all just a kick in the head. Carter, you dumb son of a---and you! Where the hell is Trin, she was supposed to watch you pups. I suppose you had some hand in all this.” Pappy thrust a thumb at Oliver.

“Aww cripes, alright, you just stay your butt right there while daddy takes care of business. And Nathan, maybe you can care of our mister googley eyes over there.”

Nathan rose and walked over to the mysterious stranger, exchanging some words with him as Pappy assessed the situation at Silas’s table. Who were the other guys? Goons? Clients? Recruits? How was he going to get closer to the table? Musical chairs? Leap frog?

***

“You have the package gentlemen?”

“You have the creds?”

Silas tapped at his PDD.

“All I have to do is tap the right button and they can be sent to the account to have chosen. The package?”

One of the men motioned under the table and retrieved something about the size and shape of a briefcase. It’s contents must have been very heavy, it took a great deal of effort to hoist it.

“Let me see it.”

“Here? You must be insane or an idiot.”

“Give me the case.”

“I wanted to talk about that.”

“What?”

“We want more money.”

“We had a deal.”

“You didn’t tell us what you were planning to do with it.”

“It’s none of your business, you’re just delivery men, hand it over or no credits for you, asshole.”

“Such language,” the smuggler said and smiled as one of his men motioned for something on him, a hideaway no doubt.

Silas was beginning to hate espionage and secret mission, it was so much easier to get things done from a hundred kilometers away with artillery strikes, or in an office with a red pen.

“That would be a mistake---”

“Another ten million.”

“---your mistake is in being greedy, when you can take a million each and walk away still breathing.”

“No good to us if we can’t spend it, with the UEAF chasing us around the system, not how I want to spend the rest of my life. We should make you pay us a million credits for every light year we’ll have to run to escape investigation you lying prick.”

“You’re the goddamned smuggler, you’re supposed to have the connections and the way out. If you don’t have the balls that’s you’re damn problem!”

“Shut up Silas.”

“What?”

“I said shut up, you Martian dog, someone is watching us---”

“Damn dogs, give me the package!”

“The creds!”

“Curse you! I should turn you in to the Cerean police.”

“Maybe we should just kill you and sell this to the Syndicate.”

“Five million?”

“Five? You insult us, we should use this case ourselves---”

“Seven, and that’s all that I have left, I’ll have to fly home in a spacesuit if I give anything more.”

“Ha! Deal.” The man offered his hand.

“I don’t shake hands with smugglers, excuse the superstition. Now follow my lead, I’m about to use a distraction to cover our getaway.”

Silas watched as the stumbling drunk came his way, he loved drunks. Body of a full grown man but the mind of a child. Silas could tell the drunk was armed, and in a bad mood to begin with. It wouldn’t take too much to get him started, Silas overreacted a bit, but it worked.

“Move!” He shouted as the smugglers followed. Nearby his men in waiting would be watching and covering his escape. Then some do-goodie Samaritan punk ran up and forced his hand, casing him to fire. Damn Mercurian models, putting hair triggers on everything.

The bar erupted into a brawl, some apes swarmed around him and he ended up on the floor.

“The case!” Silas yelled.

“One of you idiots get the case,” he screamed at his useless bodyguards, hoping that one of them would get their hands on the priceless package.

***

Pappy saw all of the nonsense that was going on, grinned, and cautiously aimed his MEM gun at the spy on the floor, firing from the hip.

“Tag you Martian bastard, you’re it. Specter, you got a track?” He whispered into the mic and watched as Nathan and his new buddy with the cybernetic eye did the funky chicken on the floor.

"What the hell are you guys doing?"

 

A small object flew into Silas. Nathan dropped the main with a thud and motioned for Mason to do the same. "Our work's done, Mason. Now, question is, can I trust you?" Nathan remembered the man saving him back at the bar. "I think you've already answered that anyway. Follow me."
No longer needing to carry Silas around, Nathan could freely grab a taxi. They got into the nearest one and Nathan gave an address.

They arrived at a police station, the very same he had been in before. He whispered to Richard. "Follow my lead. Try to act like you're UEAF."
Nathan's brain was going mad. He knew he shouldn't be here, the rest of the team would be wondering, but he needed to get Carter out.
He went to the nearest officer.

"Excuse me," he began, but the man at the desk stopped him.

"Is this important? We've got trouble down at Hun Tavern, so if it can wait, please, get it to wait."

Nathan pulled his UEAF ID out. "Yes, it's important."

The man cursed under his breath and called over a woman to talk to Nathan.

"Hi, I'm Eve." She introduced herself.

"Hi, Nathan Brown, I'm from the UEAF. I was looking for someone who may be in one of your cells. I believe he may have been accused for the wrong reasons."

"Do you have a name for me Mr Brown?"

"Carter, David Carter? He was arrested earlier this night."

"Your a friend of Mr Carter?"

"Well, we work together. So, do you know anything about him."

"Actually, he was released a while ago. I um, I saw him out."

"Did he mention where he was heading?"

"Hun Tavern, although with the recent madness, I'd assume he left."

"Thanks for that, ma'am."

He turned to Richard. "C'mon, let's go."

Nathan called for another Taxi and prepared himself. Maybe the fact that he got Silas down for Pappy to tag him would be enough to drown out the fact that he had left the squad without telling anyone... again.

 

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't see you there. Really, I was... distracted. Do you mind if I sit here? I shouldn't be long, and there’s a free drink in it for you."

The boy was cute enough she supposed, but I’ve already had my fun tonight. Don’t want to spoil a good memory. But she would accept him sitting here nonetheless. It kept some of the annoying patrons from hooting at her, even though she didn’t particularly mind it.

“Thank you hun, but I already have drink, and, frankly,” she smiled at him and looked him in the eyes, “I’m too expensive for you.”

She knew he was a military type by his build and how he held himself. It was obvious he was part of whatever was going on in the tavern tonight. Alison stayed quiet as far as drawing Silas’s attention though; he seemed to be preoccupied anyways. And the sloppy efforts of this military group were amusing enough to watch, if infuriating at times.
She sipped her wine. It was the most expensive drink available at Hun Tavern, but that wasn’t saying much. It was a bit bitter for her fine tastes. Why couldn’t Silas find more comfortable places to do business?

Lasky looked back at the young, brazen man, “you’re completely allowed to sit with me and watch the show –“ being cut off by hearing a slight tension over where Silas stood.

She didn’t whip her head over to their direction, but slowly moved and held firmly to her wine, keeping her other hand quite near her purse. The tensions built till Silas moved into an uproar. Maybe this will get out of hand in here. Maybe I’ll have to clean up the mess. I don’t feel like tearing up a bar tonight though. If she wanted to, she could with ease.

The table containing the military people, and a few who weren’t, started to get into positions to do something, but she couldn’t tell if it was an assassination or not. If it is, it’s one of the sloppiest ones I’ve ever seen. Then she saw the gun, knowing immediately it was for tagging. She had used ones at the very beginning of her career. Now she just walked right on up to her marks.

“How about you go help out your friends hun, this bar will turn into a mess when they stir it up.” She wasn’t speaking to him when she talked, but instead watched older man come up.

And then it happened. Something went wrong with whatever deal Silas was pulling. He was down on the ground, his men were floundering around, and whatever the briefcase was, was lying on the floor. It was a whole big mess for him and the bar was in an uproar. Silas, you idiot, you were never this brazen and exaggerated before. Everyone in this bar knows you’re pulling things out of your league now. You’re going to be dead even before you’re tagged and hunted down. She smiled a sweet, but quick smile, at the event. At least it makes my evening even more colorful.

The older man tagged him while he was down. It was the obvious time to do it. Lasky watched from her seat, away from the craziness going on and mused on what the government would do with a soldier like Silas. None of it looked good. She didn’t know what he was in to, but he made a poor job of it. I could have done far better, by myself.

She decided to wait till the group hunting Silas was going to leave, and find out what they were up to. If they were government, they might have some jobs for her. She knew their dark inner workings. All I need to is find the leader and size them up. This kid here will be way in, and maybe I can make him my own target later. We'll see. He looks good be a good time though.She turned to him and gave an innocent smile, then sipped her wine and continued to watch the chaos.