Part 14 (2/2)
”Yes.” A faint stab of midriff pain through the combat calm. ”Why?”
”SIB on the way, among others, if we leave now we can claim hot pursuit a he did go out the rear window, didn't he?”
”Yes.” Ari had very good links indeed if he could track that. ”I'll meet you out back. What about these guys?”
”I think I just convinced them. This place is as good as surrounded, they're not going anywhere. ”
Zaiko, the next thought occurred to her. Hotbed of activity. Underground and mafia groups in close proximity. A techno haven. No doubt such proximity had been useful in the past, all such underground activity thrived on access to illegal technologies-the GGs for profit, Ari's underground friends for reasons of ideology and lifestyle. Now relations between the two groups seemed a case of familiarity breeding contempt. Another thing Ari hadn't precisely laid out for her.
She walked backward to the window, pistol not wavering from the doorway. Eased herself up onto the ledge, onehanded. Stomach mus-Iles refused to cooperate, shot uncontrollable pain and cramp through her back and legs. She hissed, softly, grabbed the overhead sill with her free hand, pistol still levelled, and glanced under her arm and down. A short s.p.a.ce of backyard/garden, high-walled and green. A driving lane beyond that, with a heavy-locked gate for people access. Five storeys, straight down. s.h.i.+t. This was going to hurt. The garden gra.s.s looked a little softer, so she got her feet on the ledge beneath her, and jumped gently outward.
Fell, turning as she went, extending her legs and tensing for impact. Her body not cooperating-that didn't feel right. The drop lasted a long time.
The impact smashed her knees up into her chest, which wasn't supposed to happen, the stunning shock ripped right through her body. Curled up on her knees, she fell slowly onto her side, gasping, in shock more than pain.
”Sandy!” Footsteps running from nearby, and a hand grabbed her arm a dangerous, in her present state, but she withheld a reflex shove with effort. ”Jesus, are you a d.a.m.n, you're shot. How a ”I'm okay.” Hoa.r.s.ely, struggling upright with his a.s.sistance. Her legs nearly failed to cooperate, she felt weak and trembling all over. Pressed her free hand to her stomach a there wasn't much in the way of capillaries between the hard stomach muscle and surface dermal layer, and GIs required very little blood compared to humans, but losing large quant.i.ties was still not a good idea. The s.h.i.+rt felt very wet beneath her hand, and she knew the jump hadn't helped. ”Where's the car?”
”It's coming, I called it as soon as I got that transmission a” Leading her by the arm, pausing briefly as his linkup codes overrode the rear gate, and swung it open. ”a what happened? Lucky shot?”
”No.” An, it seemed, had a very high opinion of her martial capabilities. She wondered vaguely if he were disappointed. ”GI.” Out into the laneway-high-walled to the sides and a long walk to either exit. An leaned her against the side wall, his own hand pressed over her own. She breathed deeply, pain returning as the combat reflex diminished, trying to loosen her diaphragm as breathing became awkward. ”Smart one. d.a.m.n smart.”
”How smart?” Thoughts racing at lightning speed through his dark eyes, a thick eyebrow furrowing. ”Better than a than what, a 35?”
”Ari, I have no idea.” Breathlessly, half doubled over, backside to the wall, his hand steadying on her shoulder. ”But he sure wasn't any reg. I think that whole job downstairs wasn't a five person team at all, I think it was just him.” Remembering the speed, the dark shape flying down the corridor. Not as good as her, that was sure. But good enough.
”d.a.m.n League special delivery,” Ari muttered, eyes even more intent. Thinking fast. That wasn't good. But she was too dazed to probe further. Sirens from the street out front, local cops first on the scene. ”How bad is it?” Attention switching abruptly back to her, looking very concerned. ”I mean, it didn't penetrate, did it?”
”No. Muscles stop anything low-calibre. But it beats the s.h.i.+t out of them.” She tried straightening, and found that she could, barely. ”I'm okay. Didn't realise those d.a.m.n CSA toys packed such a punch. He'll be limping too, at least.”
”You hit him?”
”Yeah, about three times in the thighs. Won't bother him so much, thigh muscles are isolated.”
An stared. ”Hang on a if he's a GI a” gesticulating with one puzzled hand, ”a and he got enough time to hit you twice in the stomach a he wasn't trying to kill you?”
”No.”
”Then what a ?” He was interrupted by a low, sleek vehicle that turned into the far end of the laneway, accelerating to zoom quickly toward them-police cruiser, blue with flas.h.i.+ng lights. And she caught a sense of Ari's brief burst-transmission in that direction.
”Tell you later,” she said, straightening a bit more to avoid unwanted questions from the police, zipping her jacket to hide the blood. The police car pulled up quickly beside them, two blue-uniformed officers climbing quickly out.
”You two all right?” one asked.
”Fine,” said An, ”you better get in there, we've got a lead on the guy that got away, we're going after him.”
”You need backup?”
”No. Careful with those fools in there. They were expecting guests, they're armed but they seem willing to reason with emergency legislation a but be f.u.c.king careful, and don't put your guns away for anything. Got it?”
”Got it.” A can-do nod from both police as another two cruisers appeared up the end of the lane, closing fast. Then Ari's car, driving on auto.
”Come on.” With a surrept.i.tious hand on Sandy's shoulder, Ari led the way past the two police cars as they pulled up behind the first, then his own car pulled up, doors opening, and they climbed inside. Ari did a fast uplink to the navcomp and the car backed out the way it had come. Sandy half-collapsed in the chair, pressing hard with her hand and wincing in acute discomfort.
”What's up with those guys, anyway?” she asked, to deflect further questions as he glanced worriedly across at her.
”The thugs?”
”Yeah.” With a hiss, s.h.i.+fting position carefully.
”Umm a” He shrugged. ”a just crims. Like crims anywhere, I suppose.”
”They're allowed to carry guns around like that?” Incredulously. ”Why don't you arrest them? I thought firearm possession was mostly illegal?”
The car reached the end of the lane and pulled out into a gap in the traffic, several more police cruisers waiting for them at the end, lights flas.h.i.+ng. And accelerated away. Ari shrugged again.
”They work there. You'll never find weapons there normally, they always get tipoffs and hide them, and there's too much red tape in getting search warrants. Law gets sick of trying eventually and tries to bust them for something else.” d.a.m.n infotech society, Sandy thought sourly. Everyone seemed to know what everyone else was doing. ”Besides, they have their uses, we overlook the odd bit of black mar-keteering in exchange for information on the big boys or bad crims. We have inside sources, keep the small stuff contained and nail the big stuff to the wall. Priorities, you know.”
Sandy gave him a dubious sideways glance.
”That works?”
An glanced back. ”You're really going to have to get more precise with this vague terminology, Sandy a I mean, um, works, for example, has multiple possible translations available within the, um, broader law enforcement lexicon.” Sandy just gazed at him, unblinkingly. Ari coughed. ”We keep the small stuff contained, generally, and nail the big stuff. Generally.”
”I'm pleased to hear that. Generally.” The car paused at a traffic light. It seemed a pointless inconvenience, in the circ.u.mstances. She wished Ari had an aircar.
”So what do you make of this GI?” A little tentatively, Sandy thought.
”The p.r.i.c.k shot me.” She was not, she felt, in the right mood to discuss it presently. ”I'm not happy about it.”
An blinked. ”Well, logically, I'd imagine that might follow. What'd he look like?”
”Black. Where are we going?”
”Oh, um, I figured we didn't want a hospital since the SIB might track that a and they probably couldn't help much, anyway a so I thought a friend's place, just to patch you up. So a African-black? Or Indian-black?”
”African a f.u.c.king Norwegian-black, I don't know. Which friend's place?”
”You wouldn't recognise the name.”
Jesus. She was losing her temper now. That rarely happened. Being shot with her own weapon infuriated her. The way it had happened doubly infuriated her. The fools with their guns who hadn't believed she was CSA infuriated her. The fact that there were GIs in Ta.n.u.sha again, breaking into places and stealing their databases a oh, that was it, she could feel the anger surging, at that single thought.
”f.u.c.king GIs,” she muttered into An's continuing silence, as the lights went green and the car accelerated once more. ”I hate f.u.c.king GIs.”
An gave her another, tentative sideways look. ”Surely you don't mean that?”
Sandy stared out the windows, and fumed. Silence was her only answer.
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